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NATIONAL STUDENTS MOVEMENT IN BURMA
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NATIONAL STUDENTS MOVEMENT IN BURMA
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By Soe Myint
General Secretary, All Burma Students League
@ ALL BURMA STUDENTS LEAGUE
3, KRISHNA MENON MARG,
NEW DELHI - 1100 11
Introduction
Unlike some other Asian countries which achieved independence after
the Second Would War. Burma is entering 21st century with a
deeply-rooted military dictatorial system. The people lounge for
freedom, peace and democracy is still neglected by the ruling military
government. It seems that the people's struggle for the restoration
of democracy and human rights in the country will take some more
years, if not very long. The ruling military clique gets strengthened
with the political and economic support of some governments. These
include the members of Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and China . The individuals like Lee Kwan Yuu of Singapore
and Mahathia of Malaysia are actively supporting the military generals
of Burma with their reasoning of "Asian Values" and "Asian Way to
Democracy" Moreover, the Multi-National Companies (MNCs) which are
based in developed countries are extending their recognition and money
to the military junta by investing military junta by investing
millions of dollars in "National Convention" with their hand-picked
delegates. The National Convention aims to draw a (future)
constitution of Burma in which the dominant and leading role of the
military in the administration of the country is guaranteed. The
people, under the fascist rule of the military generals, continues to
face enormous sufferings in their day-to-day life. Hope for freedom
and prosperity seems very far for them. However, they never give it
up. Whenever there is in opportunity, they show their revolt against
the government, its repressive rule, policies and actions.
Throughout the history of Burma, the liberation movements of the
country, whether that was against the colonial rule or against the
oppressive military regime, were led by the students and youth of the
country. Thus, the students and youth of Burma play a dynamic and
decisive role youth of the country. Thus, the students and youth of
Burma play a dynamic and decisive role in shaping the nation's
destiny. They enjoy a dignified status which the people entrusted for
their fight against injustice, oppression and repression. They,
always with the people and for the people, are still fighting against
the current military dictatorship which has been rooted for three
decades in Burma. It is for the first time in the world history that
the students of a nation has a well-trained and disciplined army
fighting against a well-experienced and equipped forces of a only
inside but also outside the country to fight against the military
dictatorship. In the following paper of "National Students Movement in
Burma', I have presented three periods of modern Burma in which the
students relentlessly have been fighting for the liberation of the
people from the yoke of successive oppressive regimes.
Brief background history of Burma
Burma is a country which is situated in the Southeast Asia and
located in between the world's two largest and populous countries,
India and China, Burma has an area of 676,551 square kilometers with
the population of 45 millions. It is a country rich in human and
natural resources with high cultural heritage. It shares borders with
Bangladesh and India in the west, China in the north and Thailand and
Laos in the east. It has a 1,600 miles coastline at the Bay of Bangal
and islands in the Andaman Sea. The majority of the people, about
88.6% are Buddhists and the rest are Christians, Muslims, Hindus and
animists. Burma was once known as "Rice Bowl of Asia", exporting both
rice and oil. It held 80% of world's teak reserves. The majority of
the people, more than 75% work in agriculture.
It is a country where many indigenous people (more than 130
nationalities) are staying and speaking over one hundred languages.
Each of these people belongs to one of three major racial groups the
Mon-Khmars, the Tibeto-Burmans and the Thai-Shans. The Chins, the
Kachins, the Karens, the Mons, the Arakanese, the Shans, the Burmans
are the major indigenous national races of Burma.
Burma was under the British colonial rule for more than one hundred
years and Burma achieved its independence on 4th January 1948. From
1948 to 1962, Burma practiced a parliamentary democracy system under
the premiership of U Nu. However, the newly democratic independent
Burma was inherent many political and economic problems from its
history. As John F. Cady wrote, "the launching of the newly
independent state of Burma was the preclude to the outbreak of a
series of rebellions, which narrowly missed destroying the government
of Premier U Nu within little more than a year". With the political
turmoil and lawlessness prevailing in the country, U Nu also failed
to resurrect the country's economy which was devastated due to the
Second World War. And at last, "the western parliamentary democracy
as operated in Burma had brought the country to the very brink of
disaster" and U Nu had to surrender the Army's demand for state power
in 1958 amidst the domestic instability. Thus, Burma had an army rule
as "caretaker government" under a democratic parliamentary system for
two years. Although Burma returned to the democratic system in 1960
after U Nu's triumph in the elections, the Army which had already
tasted the power once staged a military coup on 2nd March 1962,
overthrowing the democratically elected government and imposing an
oppressive military rule. The coup team, namely the Revolutionary
Council, led by General Ne Win, abolished the constitution and
suspended all the democratic rights. All the legislative, executive
and judicial powers were vested on General Ne Win. The military used
the gun to control the country according to their wishes, keeping a
tight lid on political activity of opposition inside the country.
In 1974, the military regime transformed itself into a ruling
political party, Burma Socialist programme Party (NSPP). Therefore,
from 1974 to 1988, Burma was under the one party-dominated political
system with so-called "Burmese Way to Socialism". In this 14 years of
socialist regime, Burma became one of the poorest countries of the
world and in 1987 Burma was listed as a Least Developed Country (LDC)
by the United Nations.
In 1988, due to the deteriorating economic situation of the country
and oppressive rule of the one party rule, the people of Burma from
all walks of life took on the streets, demonstrating against the
government. On 8th August 1988 (8.8.88), the people of Burma from all
strata of life participated in this nation-wide peoples' movement.
The peoples' movement which was mainly led by university students
demanded for political and economic changes in the country. The
demonstrators demanded for abolishing of the present political system
and for the restoration fo democracy and human rights in the country.
However, the military responded the people's desire with bullets and
thousands and thousands of demonstrators, most of them were the
students and youth, were killed on the streets of the cities of the
country. The military headed by General Saw Maung took over power on
18th September 1988 by a bloody coup and installed a military regime,
namely State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Martial law
was declared and various oppressive laws and by the repressive methods
of the new military junta.
The students and youth who led the demonstrations became the target
of the military government and most of the student leaders were
arrested. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who emerged as the leader of the
people's democratic movement and founder of the National League for
Democracy (NLD) was put under house arrest. Although the multi-party
elections were allowed to be held in May 1990, the military regime
did not hand over power to the National League for Democracy (NLD),
the party which got landslide victory in the elections. Instead, more
repressive methods were practiced to crack down the NLD party in
particular and the democratic movement in general.
As Burma virtually turned into SLORC's killing fields, many students
and youth of Burma decided to leave the country and fight against the
military junta from the border areas of the country. Many elected
Members of Parliament who were able to escape from the arrest of
military junta came over to the border areas of the country to join
the students and youth in the fight against the government in Burma.
These Members of Parliament grouped themselves and formed the
government-in-exile, namely National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma (NCGUB). With this, the democratic forces of Burma who
are outside the country continue the struggle with the support of the
international community.
After her release from house arrest in 1996, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
reactivated her party, National League for Democracy (NLD), which was
virtually inactive because of the crack down of the government. She
got the wholehearted support from the democratic forces both inside
and outside the country. With this strong support, she leads the
struggle for the restoration of democracy and human rights in Burma.
Students Movement in th Independence Struggle (1930-1948)
Since the time of independence movement, the students and youth of
Burma played a leading role in the affairs of the country. Students
took part actively in the struggle for independence against the
British colonial rule. The University Act of 1920, which placed
Rangoon University under the University of Calcutta without taking
consensus of the people led to the students' first ever strikes in
Burma. There was widespread public support for the students' demand
for national school, free from British control which would teach
Burmese language, literature and history. As a American historian
Joself Silverstein noted, the protest marked the students' entry as a
potent force in national politics and this date is still commemorated
as Burma's National Day.
The Students' Boycott Council claimed: "We believe that at this
juncture, nothing can save the nation but a proud and indomitable
stand on the part of Young Burma with the wholehearted cooperation of
the Burmese people". This spirit of the students during the
independence movement became the source of aspirations for many
student activists who took part in the people's uprising in 1988. By
1930s, Rangoon University had become the focal point of independence
movement with student leaders like Ko Nu (later become first
democratic prime minister of Burma) and Ko Aung San (later became the
Father of the Nation) who were eventually to lead Burma to
independence. Thakhin Thein Phe Myint who later became General
Secretary of Burma Communist Party (BCP) was a student leader. A
student leader Ko ba Hein in 1938 strike defied the British in his
booming voice, "If the colonial police horse kicks once, it should
set the country aflame". He and other student leaders were able to
arouse the entire people of the country to fight for freedom and
dignity.
Students Movement in Burma (1962-1988)
The military led by General Ne Win took over the country on a brutal
coup on 2nd March 1962 and ended the democratic system in Burma. The
Revolutionary Council, the coup team, abolished the constitution (of
1947) and suspended the democratic rights of the people. All
apolitical parties were banned and the whole country became the
breeding ground for the military. Militarism came down into modern
Burmese history along with the dreaded Military Intelligence.
The intellectual students who were always in the forefront of the
movements fighting against the oppression, stated to show their
resistance. After the coup, the students from Rangoon University
started a peaceful protest in the university compound. However, the
military gunned down hundreds of students and crushed the
demonstrations that resisted the military coup. On 7th July 1962,
thousands of students from Rangoon University who had assembled in
the Union Hall were trapped inside and blown up. The military also
took to indiscriminate firing on the hundreds of students who were
assembled outside the Union Hall building. Many students were
arrested and some student leaders were ousted to an island and given
life imprisonment. That was the beginning of genocide, mass massacre,
ruthless and indiscriminate killing of innocent citizens all over the
country by the military regime.
However, the heroic students of Burma have not taken the oppressive
on-slaught of the military lying low. The student activists again
challenged the military regime over the funeral arrangement of former
United Nations General Secretary U Thant (a Burmese statesman). On
December 5, 1974, a large crowd of students seized the body in front
of 50,000 mourners, shortly before it was due to be buried at a
public cemetery. The students viewed that military government's
arrangement for site of bury was an insult to the dignity of the
nationally and internationally respected statesman. The students
wanted more fitting funeral and a special mausoleum in his honour.
The students hurriedly built up a new mausoleum at the place where the
Students Union Office was located before it was blown up in 1962. The
heavy armed forces raided the university and recovered the body and
buried at the officially designated mausoleum. In the process, they
killed many students.
The protest later joined by workers and became the biggest
anti-military regime demonstration in the country. It continued till
mid-1975 resulting in the closure of universities and colleges.
According to government's own admission, nearly 3,000 students and
2,000 workers were arrested between December 1974 and June 1975 and
tried by special military courts. Workers were sentenced to
imprisonment from 10 to 14 years and students were sentenced between
4 and 6 years.
In March 1976, the last major demonstration in the 1970s against the
military government was broken out on the 100th Anniversary of the
Birth of Thakhin Ko Daw Hmaing, the much revered leader of Burma's
Peace Movement. While the student activists of Rangoon University were
preparing a new series of demonstrations to mark his birthday, the
hostels of the students were raided by the military intelligence
personnel and students were arrested. Ko Tin Maung Oo, a biology
student from Rangoon University, was secretly hanged on 3 April 1976
by a special tribunal. After this crackdown on the students'
demonstrations, hundreds of student leaders left the cities of the
country to the jungles where armed struggle was waged against the
military government by various ethnic minority nationalities and
communists.
Students Movement in Burma (1988-1997)
Undeterred by the military's all out crackdown on each and every
sections of Burmese society, the students of Burma carried out their
relentless struggle against the military dictatorship in the country.
In September 1983, all 25, 35 and 75 Kyats (Burmese currency)
banknotes were demonetized by the ruling Burma Socialist Programme
Party (BSPP) regime. The decree eliminated approximately 70% of the
currency and with it the savings of rich and poor alike. The people
found themselves holding worthless banknotes and students without even
fees for hostel mess. This event of demonetization ushered the people
of Burma to come out on the streets to protest against the
government. The students led the demonstrations and with these
demonstrations, "8888" people's uprising broke out in a notion-wide
scale in Burma.
On August 8, 1988, the people of Burma led by the university students
rose up as one to call upon the military rulers to abolish the
ill-reputed one party system, demanding democracy and human rights in
the country. A Student demonstration at Rangoon Institute of
Technology (RIT) on March 13, 1988, preceded this historic event and
it was the spark of the outrage of the people. At 8 minutes past 8
o'clock on the morning of the auspicious date of 8.8.88, the huge
demonstrations began in Burma's cities and towns and villages. Tens
of thousands of demonstrations led by the students marched through
the streets of the country demanding political and economic changes
in the country. The demonstrations of the people continued for weeks
throughout the country and the military opened fore on the peaceful
demonstrators. It is estimated that in the five days from August 8 to
12, more than 3,000 demonstrators were shot and killed throughout the
country by the security forces.
However, the concerted efforts and relentless struggle of the people
in their show of strength through peaceful, unarmed demonstrations
led to the resignation of three Presidents of the country in a short
period. The general strike of the people on a nation-wide scale
brought the administrative machinery to a standstill. Several towns
had passed into the control of Strike Committees in which students
took in charge of. The All Burma Federation of Students Union (ABFSU)
was emerged again on August 28, 1988 as an umbrella group for student
organizations in Rangoon and other cities. The General Strike
Committee (GSC) in Rangoon issued an ultimatum to the government to
install an interim government of face an indefinite general strike in
the country. The students supported the demand with a 40-hour hunger
strikes in various places of Rangoon, Mandalay and other cities.
However, the military intervened again with guns. The military led by
General Saw Maung took over the country on 18th September 1988 and
installed a military regime, namely State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC). After the coup, students continued their striving
for democracy under the banner of newly-formed and legally registered
Democratic Party for New Society (DPNS). On January 2, 1989, hundreds
of thousands of people led by students and youth attended Daw Khin
Kyi's (Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's mother) funeral in the first street
march in Rangoon since the military coup. On March 16, about 1000
students protested against the SLORC at which the soldiers prevented
them at gunpoint from floating wreaths on the Inya Lake to
commemorate a massacre in 1988. On March 24, 1989, Ko Min Ko Naing,
the most prominent underground student leader was arrested and jailed
for 20 years.
After the coup in 1988, the students divided themselves into two
sections: a section of the students to stay inside Burma and continue
the struggle against the military regime with nonviolent ways and
another section to leave the country and join with other revolutionary
groups in the jungles in their armed struggle against the military
regime. With this plan, thousands and thousands of students and youth
left for the jungles, the bordering areas of the country. The general
plan of these students was to get military training and then come
back to Burma to fight out the forces of the junta. Most of them left
for the Thai-Burma border areas, particularly to those areas where
about ten ethnic minorities have been carrying on the struggle
against the Burmese government. Besides, about hundreds of students
and youth arrived at the bordering areas of India and Bangladesh.
In 1989, those students and youth who arrived at the Thai-Burma
border areas formed themselves into All Burma Students Democratic
Front (ABSDF) and established camps along the border areas. Since
that time, the ABSDF has been waging its armed struggle against the
military regime from the border areas of the country. Those of
students who arrived at the Indo-Burma border areas also themselves
formed into student organizations to fight against the ruling
military government in Burma.
The All Burma Students League (ABSL) was formed on 30th July 1994
when India-based democratic forces of Burma namely, Burma Students
League (ABSL), All Burma Students Union (ABSU), Students Army of
Burma (SAB), United Democratic Front (UDF), Mizoram-based Burmese
students and other individuals who were scattered in different parts
of India, came together. It was the first ever historic event in six
years in India that all the students activists joined their hands and
souls together, and pledged to fight for the restoration of democracy
and human rights in Burma by any means possible. On 15 September
1994, the Burmese students and youth in Thailand also formed the ABSL
(Thailand) to conform the political objectives of ABSL against the
illegitimate rule of military junta inside Burma.
In January 1006, the Students and Youth Congress of Burma (SYCB) was
formed as an umbrella students and youth organizations of Burma
representing various nationalities of Burma. It consists of eight
students and youth organizations which are currently fighting against
the ruling military government in Burma.
ABSDF, ABLS, DPNS, Chin Students Union, All Arakan Students and Youth
Union (AASYU), All Kachin Students and Youth Organization (AKSYO),
National League for democracy (Youth), Liberated Area (NLD-Youth/LA),
Overseas Mon Students Union (OMSU) and Karen Youth Organization (KYO)
are the members of the SYCB.
While the students outside the country continue the struggle for the
restoration of democracy in Burma and to get the support from the
international community, their counterparts inside the country
revolts against the military regime. The largest protest of the
students against the military government broke out in the first week
of November 1996. The student demonstrators demanded an end to police
brutality, the right to form a students union and civil liberties and
political freedom in the country. Protesting students eluded police
roadblocks and staged a sit-in outside Rangoon University for four
days. Up to 1,500 students sat in at a key intersection of Rangoon.
The military regime responded this week-long demonstrations by closing
most schools, arresting some students and members of NLD party,
sending students back home, blocking off roads with troops and riot
police and stationing tanks in central Rangoon.
News and Information Bureau, All Burma Students League.
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