Today’s younger generation did not witness the 1988 unrest. They learn the 1988 unrest as the disturbance or democracy movement that took place at the instigation of internal and external elements.
Destructive elements at home were entertaining constantly the made-up stories and distorted news stories aired by foreign radio stations of colonialists and their expatriate minions such as BBC, VOA, RFA and DVB. Those who placed their trust in the broadcasts were trapped and used at will by internal and external destructive elements. Their plots were intended to disrupt peace and stability and development momentum of the nation, undermine national coherence by driving a wedge among national brethren, and make Myanmar lose its independence or sovereignty following disintegration of the Union and national solidarity. Once the nation lost independence, the Union of Myanmar would be at the mercy of colonialists. National axe-handles of the colonialists, axe handles at home, expatriates, absconders, and national traitors would have a meagre share of (power of the puppet government) from the colonialists.
Myanmar people had experienced untold miseries for 123 years in the time of the British colonialists, three years in the time of the Fascists, and for more than 40 years due to the multi-coloured insurgency incited by those who stuck to sectarianism and were desperate to seize power at the instigation of internal and external elements. In addition, they have suffered a variety of destructive acts of neo-colonialists since independence (for about 60 years). So, destructive acts of lackeys to make the nation lose independence again are absolutely unacceptable to the people, as evidenced by the mass rallies to support the National Convention and the forthcoming State constitution held throughout the nation and people’s marches held in various townships denouncing recent protests.
Myanmar people still remember and should not forget the incidents in which the people lived under the yoke of the colonialists who unfairly exploited Myanmar’s teak, oil, precious stones and crops, the events in which Myanmar lived well below the poverty line, and the independence struggles such as Oilfield Workers’ Uprising and Peasants’ Uprising resulting from various forms of tortures and oppressions that were intolerable for the people.
According to the neo-colonialism, the neocolonialists will have to manipulate the internal affairs of their targeted countries after installing puppet governments. In practice, they invaded a targeted country giving a lame excuse. Although they have installed puppet governments, they fail to withdraw their troops from the nations. The United Nations has decolonized. However, the neocolonialists have occupied Afghanistan for seven years and Iraq for five years, but they have not withdrawn their troops yet.
The UN and international community want the US and its allies to withdraw from the invaded countries and meanwhile the peoples and legislative bodies of the invading nations are calling for withdrawal of the stationed forces. Those exercising combined pattern of neo-colonialism and old colonialism have refused to comply with the wishes of the global community.
Before they occupied the countries, the international community, the UN and the peoples of the invaded countries had objected to possible invasion. Showing total disregard for the instance of the majority of the people and failing to respect democracy, they invaded the countries. The excuses they gave were not correct before the invasion, so they have not been able to prove them. For instance, the US and Britain giving an excuse that the UN was unable to find out nuclear weapons, chemical weapons and biological weapons in Iraq in the time of Saddam invaded the country. Nonetheless, they have not found out any such weapons as yet.
At that time, the US President claimed it was the liberation of Iraqis from the rule of tyrant Saddam Hussein. Now, Saddam administration was toppled, and Saddam Hussein has been hanged. However, Iraqis have not been liberated from the tyrants. According to some world political analysts, Iraqis have not been freed from the US occupation. They also said that in the time of Saddam Hussein, thousands of Iraqis did not lose their lives, Iraqis’ residences did not face bomb attacks, oil wells were not exploited by the invaders, and more than five million Iraqis had not fled their country. Now, thousands of Iraqis have been killed, many houses of Iraqis have been ravaged, and a great deal of Iraq oil has been exploited. The number of Iraqi emigrants has reached more than five million.
The US attacked civilian targets of Iraq such as residential areas and houses with bombs, projectiles and rockets on the pretext of suspecting that there were insurgents and members of Al Queda in those areas. Consequently, dozens of Iraqi people including children, adults and mothers are killed daily. An excuse of suspects frequently used by the US has turned out to be the license to kill Iraqi people.
In their plots to encroach upon other nations the neo-colonialists used to make use of internal national traitors, lackeys and axe-handles. There is a Myanmar saying “ If a mother is in calamity, she disowns even her own offspring”. It means that even a mother fails to save her own offspring when she is in calamity triggered by the disaster. There is not any impact of disaster in Myanmar. There is prevalence of peace in the nation instead. Remarkable progress has been made in education and health sectors. There is no such event in Myanmar to reflect to the Mynamar saying.
Another saying is that one would tread on the prey when the world is on fire. Another version is that one would tread on own offspring when the world is on fire. It means that one would save one’s own life first when one is in great trouble. There is no such incident in Myanmar. Such saying is in total contrast to Myanmar traditions and culture as the nation is now fully enjoying the fruits of peace and development. Although there cannot be such incidents in the nation expatriates and absconders abroad, who have been away from their parents, and internal traitors and lackeys are creating violent protest and unrest in the nation.
Expatriate and fugitives abroad are perpetrating such atrocities to undermine national development and tarnish the image of the nation as they have to rely on their masters and act to their liking. Even though their acts can be forgiven to a certain extent the acts of internal traitors who live in the same land and partake water from the same source together with the people getting the nation and its people into trouble are mean and totally unacceptable.
At the instigation of external destructive elements and the incitement of internal traitors artless people fell prey to some big nations and they together with the waifs and strays took to the streets without the knowledge of the prevailing situation of the nation and the world. Actually, they needed to study the real incident of the “88” disturbance and drew lessons from it.
As I have mentioned in the beginning of the article, nations that have fallen prey to neo-colonialists ran into trouble and suffered much resulting in bloodshed. Such nations became totally destitute and impoverished. The more they became destitute the more neo-colonialists became satisfied.
The “88” disturbance originated from a brawl between two students and some residents at a tea shop in a ward, and it culminated into unrest. The Burma Communist Party (BCP) lacking the support of Myanmar people and the colonialists, who are desirous of meddling in the nation’s internal affairs fueled the incident rather than putting an end to it.
As a matter of fact, the “88” disturbance was not a revolution launched by the entire national people. Therefore, it was not difficult to halt and stop it. The violent unrest staged by those who wanted to grasp power through short cut, saboteurs, touts and unscrupulous self-seekers was put to an end on 18 September 1988. The “88” disturbance met its end in a short period of time as it was not a revolution launched and supported by the majority of people. It was just a riot out of control mixed with violence, looting and breaking of factories and warehouses and it occurred only in some towns and regions.
In Kyaunggon, Ayeyawady Division, about 1,000 demonstrators of the “88” disturbance staged protest walk along the streets of the town. At that time, over 5,000 farmers in the environs came into the town and walked in procession along the streets chanting “we oppose demonstrations” and left there. To get rid of counter-demonstrations as such CIA in collusion with BCP perpetrated a series of beheading. They one-sidely accused about 60-70 people of poisoning demonstrators and cruelly beheaded them.
Bodiless heads were placed on the benches and those who would oppose the protests were threatened. Illegal newspapers featured those bodiless heads on their front pages with headlines reading ‘Public punish destructionists’. Even foreign media (especially Western media) slammed Myanmar by saying savages were reigning the country. Actually, beheadings of four 8’s were created like in the period of Saya San-led peasants’ uprising in which the British government decapitated the arrested persons, put their heads on the benches in the compound of the police stations concerned, publicly announced that each from all the households was to come and see those bodiless heads. This, in a way, threatened that those who rose against the British government would be beheaded.
“Older people from Pakokku may remember” that while the “88” unrest was at its peak, the strike leaders were getting drunk and enjoying themselves with prostitutes at the strike camp in front of the Shweku Pagoda in Pakokku. So, some 80 local people and monks had to storm and demolish the camp with sticks and swords.
In the Pakokku protest, the strike leaders with scarves wrapped on their heads depicting a picture of fighting peacock attacked the people from rural areas who came into town to buy rice as their rations such as rice, gram and broken rice ran out in their villages. As one or two villagers were stopped by the protesters, about four or five came into town later on. Again, the protesters came to threaten the rice dealers. They insisted that it didn’t matter how much rice came into town, but any must not be taken out of the town. The rice dealers did not dare engage in their business. Those coming from the villages for rice had to go back empty-handed. In this regard, the angry rural people came to Pakokku by boat or car in order to crush the Pakokku protest. Fortunately, as the Tatmadaw had taken over State responsibilities, those responsible from the Army requested and stopped some people who launched a counterattack against the protesters.
Likewise, the Tatmadaw had to stop a near clash between the rural people and the protesters at the strike camp in Mahlaing, Meiktila District. The Mahlaing strike leader together with his men arrested a person and family of a village to the north of Mahlaing who won a criminal case over his father. On the way, the victim was forced to wear the letter reading ‘I am a thief, I am a robber’ and tortured. He was ill-treated at the Mahlaing strike camp. Only when the troops of the town stopped their acts, was he freed. When the victim family got back to their village, the whole village marched to Mahlaing to stamp out the strike camp. Again, the Tatmadaw had to handle the situation.
In Kyaukme, Shan State (North), a crowd of protesters confronted with Shan farmers in front of the police station in the town centre. The townslelders had to handle the situation. A similar incident happened in Lashio.
A monk from Mandalay called Galonni U Kaviya made himself a strike leader and staged protests in towns in the upcountry. The protesters threw stones at the cupboards and TVs of the houses of townspeople who did not participate in the protest. U Kaviya insisted that the people of Muse were to participate in the protest. Otherwise, the region would be wiped out off the map, he threatened. The townselders, therefore, had to arrange for a protest the following day. As they didn’t know what they had to shout, they first listened to the news broadcast by BBC at night and then shouted such slogans as ‘for the cause of democracy’, ‘down with the single party system’.
The day they staged the protest coincided with the Muse market day. Taking advantage of the situation, casual opportunists came to get involved in the protest. Among them, some who were not entitled to apply for NRCs raided the immigration department and set fire to all the important documents. The opportunists robbed the warehouse of Muse Township Cooperative Society and looted rice, edible oil, clothing and other consumer products (valued at over K 7.5 million in 1988). They sold the looted things at the border region. The following day, the townsleders became angry and managed to ban the protest.
If the Tatmadaw had not taken State responsibilities on 18 September 1988, the demonstrators committing destructive acts would really have confronted with the peace-loving local people.
Similarly, the recent protests were like another “88” unrest instigated by internal and external destructive elements and a notorious big country using the expatriates and axe-handles. As agitated by BBC, VOA and RFA, some ignorant people took to the streets but the number was very small. The people of every township are holding mass rallies to express their true desire. All in all, the number of destructionists is very small but the number of the peace-loving people very big.