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Looking behind the Mandalay Riots
- Subject: Looking behind the Mandalay Riots
- From: ausgeo@xxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 20:25:00
LETTERS & COMMENT
ASIAWEEK APRIL 18,1997
Looking Behind the Mandalay Riots
Did anybody incite the Mandalay unrest? [ "monks Amok,""THE NATIONS, April
4]. Yes. The answer is simple_SLORC, It's not a first from the State
Law Order and Restoration Council. The military junta did it in 1967
against the Chinese community in Burma. Soldiers doming the saffron
robes of monks went around Rangoon shouting that the Chinese had
raped some Burmese teachers, Result; many Chinese were killed and their
properties looted, ransacked or burned right in front of the military.
I remember the events vividly. The riots started when teachers tried
to end a sit-in being staged by students at a Chinese school in
protest at not being allowed to wear Mao badges in school.
Burmese demonstrators led by the fake monks shooting the rape
allegation against the students, retaliated by attaching the Chinese
quarter. The real issue the military was hiding was rice shortages
and high prices and expected protests. The same strategy has been
applied against the Muslim minority. I followed up on details about
the riots with different sources. The real issue; the monks in
Mandalay received news of the deaths in jail of some 16 monks, who are
among 3,000 monks in Mandalay prison, SLORC learned that monks were
planning to protest the deaths and demand the release of those in
jail.
As a diversion the military created a problem between the Buddhists
and the Muslims. The monks now say they realize that soldiers donned
holy robes to stir up the trouble and that they were made the
scapegoats.
U Hla Shwe
Federation for Human Rights & Democracy in Burma
Long Beach, California