Sunday, October 07, 2007 Mercado: Unwelcome world record By Juan L. Mercado Sidebar
NO one in his right mind would welcome this "world record": In just 48 hours, soldiers bludgeoned Burma, once a country of "gentle smiles and tea shops," into a nation of eerie, empty monasteries and desaparecidos.
The "disappeared," British Broadcasting Corp. reports, range from six to ten thousand for People Power style protests. Like the Marcos dictatorship's censored press, Burma's media first claimed 200, then grudgingly admitted to 2,093 arrested. No figures of those killed are available.
This outstrips Philippine martial law arrests in September 1972. Argentinian mothers stenciled the word desaparecidos into today's vocabulary of terror. But Argentinians didn't vanish, in comparable numbers, in so short a time, as Burmese victims did.
In this suppressed "Saffron Revolution," Buddhist monks make up a large proportion of the desaparecidos. Buddishism is Burma's majority faith. The country has about 400,000 monks
As they did in 1988 and 1990, the tatmadaw (armed forces) smashed demonstrators with force Buddhist monks were brutalized.
"All must be treated as disappeared, not arrested, until their whereabouts and conditions are confirmed," Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said.
US diplomats visited 15 monasteries and found them empty. Concertina barbed wires were strung across Shwedagon Pagoda and other shrines.
Filipinos will find it hard to grasp this Orwellian image. It'd resemble this province's cathedral padlocked, along with shrines, like Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Baclaran and the Muslim mosque in Quiapo. Monasteries of Carmelites, Benedictines to Pink Sisters would be forcibly emptied.
Not so, the Burmese foreign minister told the UN General Assembly. "Normalcy" has returned to our cities." It is proving "normalcy of the graveyard." In overnight curfew, arrests continue, says Shari Villarosa, who heads the US Embassy in Rangoon.
Padlocking of Internet cut media coverage drastically. "It was about as simple and uncomplicated as shooting demonstrators in the streets," New York Times reported. The generals who run Myanmar simply switched off "their only two Internet service providers.
As Marcos did, the junta also cut off most telephone and fax access. "The junta turned to the oldest tactic of all to silence opposition: fear. (Those) caught transmitting information or using cameras are threatened and arrested. It is not clear how much longer the generals can hold back the future."
Outwitting censors is a major game. Sen. Benigno Aquino used a courier or "carrier pigeon" to smuggle his protests to Bangkok newspapers. Burmese do exactly the same. Some slip their material to embassies or nongovernment organizations with satellite connections. "Within hours, (these) are broadcast back into Myanmar by foreign radio and television stations, informing and public that hears only propaganda from its government."
Burmese stay glued to BBC, Voice of America, CNN, as did Filipinos during martial law. Through SMS text messages, Catholic priests in Burma plead on behalf of suppressed Buddhist monks.
General Than Shwe, the paranoid 74-year-old junta leader, agreed to meet the detained opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate leader, leader Au Saang Suu Kyi. This is welcome. But history cautions against pinning too much hope on this meeting.
"(This is the) story of how the people of Myanmar rose against the regime and the regime rose against the people. The soldiers have the guns. The monks have the public's support and the courage and determination to defy the regime. But when an immovable junta meets unstoppable protests, much blood is spilled."
