Reprisals send Myanmar’s monks running for their lives

BANGKOK – Myanmar’s monasteries used to teem with saffron-robed Buddhist
monks, revered as spiritual guides and moral authorities in a country in
the grip of a repressive military regime.

In September, the junta turned its troops on the monks, beating them in
the streets for leading pro-democracy protests. They also raided
monasteries, chasing anyone who had participated in the rallies and
leaving behind blood-stained floors.

Nobody knows how many of the more than 500,000 monks in Myanmar remain.

The picture that emerges after scores of interviews is that monasteries
around the country have been depleted – especially in Yangon and Mandalay,
where the protests were staged. Many monks have slipped into other
countries or are hiding in their hometowns and villages.

To avoid being caught in a night raid on their monasteries, some stay with
friends, despite rules that do not allow monks and lay people to sleep
under the same roof.

The junta has lifted a night-time curfew, restored Internet access and
ended a ban on public assembly. But the monks remain targets. The junta
said it was still pursuing four monks who led the rallies.

One of them, Mr U Kovida, asked that his location be kept secret in case
the Thai authorities sent him back. “At the moment you will hardly find a
monk in Yangon. Monks are being arrested and sent to labour camps,
tortured and killed,” said the 24-year-old.

A heavy police guard remains outside a few monasteries in Yangon where
some of the best-known shrines were flashpoints.

But there is little left to guard in some monasteries. The Ngwekyar Yan
monastery in northern Yangon used to house 180 monks, said chief abbot U
Yewata, who was ordered by officials to move out. He said 70 monks were
dragged away on the night of Sept 26 and more were arrested later.

An abbot at a monastery in Ahlone township, in western Yangon, said he had
sent most of his 1,200 monks home fearing he could no longer control them.
Only the elderly monks remain.

Residents of North Okalapa township in northern Yangon said when a
traditional daily procession of monks failed to show up they went to the
monastery and were told that hundreds of monks had left.

The last time monks took to the streets was during anti-government
protests in 1990, which the junta crushed.

The junta regards monks as a potential threat. It has tried to intimidate,
bribe and spy on them. It has also tried to gain control over the official
state committee of monks, giving some of its 47 members cars, mobile
phones, televisions and other gifts.

But many say the junta went too far in targeting the monks. Some 90 per
cent of Myanmar’s 54 million people are Buddhists and monasteries are
sacrosanct.

At the height of the crackdown, news footage showed troops firing on
marching monks. A dead monk was shown floating face-down in a river.

For now, the generals appear to have scared the monks into submission.

Mr Josef Silverstein, a retired Rutgers University professor who studied
Myanmar for more than 50 years, does not expect to see monks in the front
line for some time. “Prayers were no match for the guns and determination
of the military,” he said.

Other experts say the monks’ treatment won’t be forgotten. “The next wave
of protests may have to be led by student leaders and political activists.
But monks will remain an inspiration that lends legitimacy to the
movement,” said Myanmar specialist Pornpimon Trichot. – AP