Smiling Buddhas Gaze Down on Violen

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Subject: Smiling Buddhas Gaze Down on Violence

                         Copyright 1997 Southam Inc.  
                             The Gazette (Montreal)

                     March  1, 1997, Saturday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: WEEKLY REVIEW; NORMAN WEBSTER; Pg. B5


HEADLINE: In  Burma,  smiling Buddhas gaze down on violence

BYLINE: NORMAN WEBSTER; THE GAZETTE

DATELINE: PAGAN,  BURMA 

 BODY:
    Here on a baking plain about 200 kilometres from Mandalay is one of the
great sights of Asia - thousands of temples and stupas, literally as far as the 
eye can see. Built between 700 and 900 years ago, they testify vividly to the
hold of Buddhism over this land. 
   The country is steeped in religion. Every hilltop has a stupa (shrine). Monks
with their begging bowls are in every marketplace, down every country lane.
Pagodas are centres of community life, with chants and scents and the sound of
children playing happily.

   Even the ruling generals pay regular obeisance, making sure the captive press
pictures them doing so.

   And yet, paradoxically, despite the influence of a religion that stresses
serenity and the sanctity of life, this is a violent land.

   Kings ascending the throne used to murder all potential rivals as a matter of
policy. Your hotel room in Rangoon has a picture book showing Burmese crucified 
by bandits a century ago.

   The nation's liberator was assassinated by a rival in 1947. Governments in
Rangoon have been almost continuously at war, brutal war, with ethnic
nationalities since independence from Britain in 1948. The current junta, the
State Law and Order Restoration Council, has massacred demonstrators without a
qualm. 
   The fighting has abated somewhat in recent years as the SLORC has crushed
domestic opposition and pacified most of the warring ethnic groups. But as one
diplomat noted, "Those were ceasefires, not peace treaties."

   Beneath the gaze of 10,000 smiling Buddhas, the violence goes on.

   - - -

   Part of the reason for the regime's image problem might be found in the two
portfolios carried by one overburdened general - Public Relations and
Psychological Warfare. Unclear on the concept?

   - - -

   Another paradox.

    Burma  is potentially one of the richest lands in Asia. It was a jewel of
the British Raj, known as the Ricebowl of Asia. Yet today it is one of the
poorest, most underdeveloped countries in the world. In the cities, ancient
buses groan under the weight of bodies. In the market, men carefully refill
disposable lighters for resale. Stately colonial buildings sag in non-repair.
The universities have no texts. In a park in Rangoon, people are riding
around on a ferris wheel. But it has 
no engine. What happens is, the operator gets it going by running, like a crazed
gerbil in an exercise wheel.

   In the countryside, the main conveyance is bullock carts. Electricity has not
yet reached most villages. You talk to youths who have not even completed the
compulsory four years of schooling. Road-building is done by women breaking
rocks with hammers.

   For this, the people have Ne Win to thank. A general, he took power in 1962
and instituted a rigid dictatorship and "the Burmese road to socialism," which
led, predictably, to economic ruin. Even rice had to be imported.

   He was a strange duck, a devotee of golf and obsessed with the number nine.
As a result, to this day,  Burma's  generals spend long hours on the links and
the country's currency includes notes for 45 and 90, which makes counting it a
bizarre exercise.

   Under Ne Win, the country took on many of the characteristics of Mao's China.
Some remain. Slogans roar from billboards: "Crush all internal and external
destructive elements as the common enemy." 
   In effect, this place was locked away from the world by Ne Win (who was
succeeded in power by the SLORC in 1988). Like Albania and North Korea,  Burma  
became isolated and xenophobic - at least, on the surface.

   The good news is that, after 35 years, the Burmese seem mostly unaffected by 
the nonsense. As the country opens its doors again, they are courteous,
cheerful, curious, in no way servile, but in no way hostile. Remarkable.

   - - -

   All worshippers or visitors must remove their shoes before entering a
Buddhist temple. One king in Pagan is said to have put to death a mission sent
by Kublai Khan for failing to do so.

   It was a bad career move. The Mongols returned and sacked the city in 1287.

   - - -

   She is one very tough lady, Aung San Suu Kyi. She has had to be, to face the 
constant pressures and threats of the junta. Once, she walked calmly toward
riflemen who had been ordered to prepare to fire. Only the intervention of a
senior officer saved her life. Facing isolation takes courage, too. Since
1988, Aung San Suu Kyi has
sacrificed her family life to the cause. Except for the occasional brief visit, 
she has seen little of her British husband and completely missed her two sons'
teenage years.

   And it continues. To underline her call for tourists to boycott Visit
 Myanmar  Year, her family will not apply for visas throughout this period. The 
sacrifice, and the discipline, are almost mind-boggling.

   Yet she bridles when people suggest she is some sort of saintly figure. "I'm 
not a saint. I'd hate to be a saint. I don't think I could live up to being a
saint."

   Not a saint, then, but a rare moral force. And one tough lady.

   - - -

   Sign in a temple in Pegu: payment is not required - but "a spontaneous
outcome of giving donation will be accepted." Who could resist?

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH