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Despite Official Silence, Burmese



Subject: Despite Official Silence,  Burmese Monks' Riot Is the  Talk of Mandalay

 
                         Despite Official Silence,
                         Burmese Monks' Riot Is the
                         Talk of Mandalay

                         Military Suspected of Provoking
                         Disorders

                         By R. Jeffrey Smith
                         Washington Post Staff Writer
                         Sunday, June 8, 1997; Page A26
                         The Washington Post 

                         MANDALAY, Burma -- This dusty, languorous city was
roiled
                         last March, when a peaceful gathering of several
thousand monks
                         airing grievances about botched government repairs
of an
                         immense golden Buddha turned into a two-evening
spasm of
                         violence and vandalism directed against local Muslims.

                         The mayhem was meant partly as revenge for the
reported rape
                         of a Buddhist girl, and it left in its wake at
least one death, many
                         injuries and considerable property damage.

                         Establishing the cause of a disturbance such as the
riots of March
                         16-17 is a major challenge in Burma, an isolated
nation ruled by
                         a xenophobic military government that rigidly
controls the news
                         media, rarely holds open court trials and represses
public dissent.

                         But one possibly telling detail about the riots
here has seeped into
                         the accounts of citizens and Western diplomats
stationed in
                         Burma -- that some of the supposed monks who joined
in the
                         vandalism at mosques were wearing army boots and
carrying
                         cellular telephones.

                         This has helped sustain a common suspicion here
that Burmese
                         military forces played a role in provoking or
carrying out some of
                         the anti-Muslim attacks. The further suspicion is
that they did so
                         partly to preserve the idea that only a strong
authoritarian hand
                         can keep a lid on the ethnic and religious tensions
supposedly
                         boiling below the surface of this outwardly placid
society.

                         Although Burma is overwhelmingly Buddhist -- and
Buddhism is
                         a central element of the culture -- roughly 4
percent of the 48
                         million population is Muslim and 4 percent is
Christian. In
                         addition, the country harbors at least 15 major
ethnic groups,
                         many of which have long battled the central
government and each
                         other.

                         According to several diplomats, military leaders
typically have
                         dealt with dissent or outbreaks of public violence
with crushing
                         "scorched earth" techniques. Ne Win, the general
who controlled
                         Burma officially until 1988 and evidently still
retains influence with
                         his military successors, began his rule in 1962 by
dynamiting the
                         student union at the University of Rangoon, a
historic meeting
                         place for dissidents.

                         Ne Win also ordered his troops -- who make up a
land army
                         second in size to Vietnam's in Southeast Asia -- to
fire directly
                         into crowds protesting economic problems and
military rule in
                         1988. Some student protest leaders' heads were severed.
                         Because monks had played a role in those protests,
the military
                         orchestrated a purge of Buddhist clergy in the
early 1990s and
                         today has seeded senior Buddhist ranks with spies,
according to
                         several diplomats.

                         The military junta, which calls itself the State
Law and Order
                         Restoration Council, has imprisoned hundreds of
political
                         dissidents without trial, including some who
allegedly are being
                         held in a corner of the walled palace compound in
central
                         Mandalay that was built by King Mindon Min in 1857.
In the last
                         two weeks alone, the junta detained more than 300
members of
                         the chief opposition party to block a meeting in
Rangoon.

                         Disappearances and "extrajudicial killings" of
political dissidents
                         are also orchestrated periodically by the military,
according to
                         the most recent State Department report on human
rights here.

                         When the latest protests erupted in Mandalay, the
nation's
                         second largest city and its seat of power in
ancient times, the
                         military responded at first by deploying troops
with automatic
                         weapons throughout the city and ordering a tight
evening curfew.

                         On the second evening, some of the troops fired
over the heads
                         of the rioters and the ricocheting bullets killed
at least one monk,
                         according to sources here. Annual proficiency tests
for monks
                         were canceled by the government and many were
ordered home
                         from local monasteries.

                         More than a month later, the atmosphere remains
edgy here and
                         in the capital, Rangoon, where several hundred
monks also
                         attacked some mosques. The downtown area in Mandalay,
                         where many mosques are located, is closely watched by
                         plainclothesmen. It is prohibited to take
photographs of the
                         damaged buildings and cab drivers express fear of
transporting
                         passengers to the zone.

                         That monks participated in such a riot seems
bizarre to a casual
                         observer. The Buddhist faith here promotes
compassion and
                         nonviolence and virtually all males spend time in
monasteries as
                         an adolescent rite of passage, when they supposedly
are imbued
                         with values that promote peaceful resolution of all
grievances.

                         But local sources say many of those who wear a
monk's garb are
                         not serious students of the religion. They add that
in this instance
                         a long tradition of political activism and even
violence by some
                         senior monks carried over to some younger monks.

                         "Anything could happen here, anything at all," said
a Burmese
                         businessman whose clientele includes some senior
military
                         leaders. "Things get out of hand quickly here, once
there is a
                         spark," said a Western diplomat about Burmese politics.

                         According to several local sources, the spark that
prompted the
                         March riots was a cry from someone in a crowd of
monks at the
                         Mahamuni Pagoda at the edge of the city that a
local Muslim
                         man had raped a Buddhist woman and gone unpunished.
Word
                         of the crime reportedly came just as senior monks were
                         discussing how the military may have mishandled
repairs to an
                         immense, 2,000-year-old bronze image of Buddha at
the site.

                         The assault actually had occurred several weeks
earlier, may
                         have fallen short of a rape, and apparently was
resolved
                         satisfactorily by members of the families involved,
according to
                         several local sources. But, after hearing about the
crime in a
                         mob, an angry group of young monks stormed from the
pagoda
                         to exact revenge on more than a dozen mosques in the
                         downtown area, where they smashed windows, destroyed
                         furniture and burned copies of the Koran.

                         The government blamed the episode on "elements"
that wanted
                         to embarrass Burma in the neighboring Muslim
capitals of
                         Indonesia and Malaysia, with the aim of blocking
Burma's
                         planned admission this year to the Association of
South East
                         Asian Nations, a regional economic and political
bloc. But few
                         details about the episode have appeared in the
Burmese media, a
                         circumstance that has helped spread rumor and focus
suspicion
                         on the leadership.

                         "People here are willing to believe anything"
negative about the
                         military rulers, because they are so widely
despised, said a
                         resident.

                         @CAPTION: Buddhist novice stands at door of the
                         Shwenandaw Monastery. It once was part of the
king's palace,
                         which was built in 1857 and which now allegedly is
used to
                         house dissidents -- more than 300 of whom have been
detained
                         recently.