8-8-88 (Four-Shit) Uprising: Anarchy and Head-Choppings

(Direct translation of Soe Naing’s memoir from December Lad’s Facebook page.)

Nowadays there are so many just-over-20-year-olds at my work and I began to realize the 8-8-88 Uprising exactly 25 years ago is now just a history for them. But for me who was     barely 18 in August 1988 the failed Uprising is still recent in my mind.

Back then I was a tenth-grade student at State High School No-3 (SHS-3) in Thin-gan-gyung township in Rangoon. Our school was on the laneway from BOC Bend near former Irrawaddy cinema to Thin-gan-gyun train-station. The local people there were mostly Kalars (Muslims and Hindus).

On 8-8-88 there were mass protests in the city. But we didn’t hear anything about soldiers’ shooting to disperse the crowd then. The whole thing started from a fight between a small group of RIT students and the local youths from the Kyo-gone ward at a teashop where the violent argument broke out on which songs the shop should play.

"8-8-88 Uprising and Me" by Ye Min Htun

(This is the direct translation of Ye Min Htun’s ‘Four 8 Uprising and Me’.)  

Practicing politics in Burma is an extremely high risk profession. A politician in dictatorial Burma could be arrested any time and during the long BSPP (Burma Socialist Program Party) rule it could be outright dangerous for a politician to be arrested. Since I was very young I’d heard the tragic stories of many jailed politicians whose lives were forever destroyed.

I often witnessed the MIS men in a Mazda E2000 mini-truck regularly taking away that old red-flag Communist Yee Mhaing (a) Nyo Mhaing whenever the dates of politically significant events from past approached. Sometimes he came back in few days but sometimes it could take months or even years. His life was so unstable he didn’t have a job. He couldn’t even work as an itinerant laborer and I sometimes felt really bad seeing him wandering from one teashop to another teashop.

8-8-88 Uprising Failed: Aung San Oo or Dr. Tin Myint Oo?

Dr. Thant Myint Oo.
(author & historian)

Nowadays in Burma or Myanmar everyone knows Aung San Suu Kyi and most people especially the educated ones know very well Dr. Thant Myint Oo the famous Burmese Historian and the celebrated author of “The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma” and “Burma And The New Crossroads Of Asia: Where China Meets India” two widely read books on our Burma.

But a lot of people do not know very well Aung San Oo the elder brother of ASSK and the eldest son of our Bogyoke Aung San. And most people never heard of the name Dr. Tin Myint Oo the dear father of Dr. Thant Myint Oo and the only son-in-law of former United Nations Secretary General late U Thant.

But in the late 1988 the names of Aung San Oo and Dr. Tin Myint Oo (now completely forgotten) were the two hottest names among Burmese exiles all over the world and every non-Burmese who were seriously interested in Burma or who had serious interests in Burma.

Leaking Underground Cable Disrupting Internet in Burma

(Translation of news article direct from Myanmah Ahlin Newspaper on 29 July 2013.)

Internet in Burma has slowed down considerably last few weeks due to a severe power leakage in the overland cable directly connecting the submarine cable “SEA-ME-WE3” which connects Burma to the world.

Yesterday the government newspaper Myanmah Ahlin officially reported in Burmese the current disruption and the ongoing urgent repairs of the leaking underground-cable. Following is the direct translation of that news report.

Burmese Dogs For Dog-meat Restaurants In China

(Translation of news article direct from the EMG on 26 July 2013.)

A Dog-meat shop in Yunan, China.

In recent years thousands and thousands of stray dogs in Burma are captured, warehoused, and exported to neighbouring Yunan in China as pet dogs. Exporting live-dogs to China is highly-profitable business in Burma nowadays as there are probably millions of stray dogs in Burma.

But there is a sinister story behind the feel-good headline. All of the exported Burmese dogs end up in the brutal kitchens of notorious dog-meat restaurants in China as expensive dog meats.

The captured stray dogs from all over Burma are kept in horrible warehouses (Dog Go-downs) mostly located in the town of Pa-late in Sink-gai township near Mandalay and then trucked to the border trading gate at Muse by busy Mandalay-Muse trade route.

US Pragmatic Engagement With Burma: Paula Dobriansky

(Paula J. Dobriansky’s article direct from The Washington Post on 22 July 2013.)

Paula J. Dobriansky.

After five decades of brutal military rule, hopeful signs have emerged in Myanmar. The military has partially opened up the political system and released Aung San Suu Kyi, the iconic leader of the country’s democracy movement, after 15 years of house arrest. Since September 2011, ceasefire agreements have been signed with 11 ethnic groups, contributing to national political reconciliation.

Yet, ending the military’s dominance is just one challenge. The daunting task is constructing a durable democracy in a country with limited civil society traditions and a complex ethnic and religious mix. The difficulty is underscored by the experiences of other multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies that have struggled to build democratic institutions after overthrowing a military dictatorship, with democratically elected leaders disregarding the rule of law.

Islamists' Attempt On Nationalist-Monk Shin Wirathu’s Life

(Concise translation of blog posts from various Burmese blogs this week.)

The Islamists' hand-grenade had exploded just 20-ft behind
the decorated vinyl screen behind the preaching-monk.
(It was a true miracle that he was not harmed at all!)

Islamists in Burma have violently demonstrated what they are capable of by their first attempt to kill or maim our nationalist-monk Shin Wirathu.

They threw a hand grenade just behind him while he was peacefully preaching in his hometown Mandalay the second largest city and the former capital of imperial Buddhist Burma.

The place was the open-air nightly Buddhist-gathering at the corner of Mandalay’s busy 36^th and 85^th streets. Shin Wirathu was delivering his regular sermon from his raised throne last night (about 9 pm on July 21) when two Muslim-looking men on a motorbike rode through 36^th street (between 84^th and 85^th streets) behind the preaching-throne and threw an explosive device – most likely a hand grenade – aiming directly at the back of Shin Wirathu’s preaching-throne.

Kidnap, Rape, and Forced-Conversion of Buddhist Girls

(Shin Wirathu’s article direct from Myanmar Defense League on 9 July 2013.)

Her name is Ju Ju. Just 19-year-old tenth-grader Burmese-Buddhist girl from the Mar-la-kar-gyan Ward of Maha-aung-myay Township in Mandalay. Her parents U Johnny and Daw Win Kyi were dead and she had to live with her old grandmother Daw Ahmar.

Mar-la-kar-gyan ward is a Muslim-majority ward just behind the Panset Mosque in Mandalay. Older Muslim man Sharban (a) Than Min Oo also lives there with his parents. He is a married man with wives and children but he keeps them at somewhere else so that he could be a pretend bachelor. Our Ju Ju knew him but not that well and she didn’t know he was a Muslim kalar.

No More Muslim Boats: Kevin Rudd Closing Australia

(News article direct from The West Australian on 20 July 2013.)

A crowded Muslim Boat in Australian waters
near Christmas Island (2012).

Kevin Rudd has sought to slam the door on asylum seekers, declaring that all boat arrivals will be banished to Papua New Guinea and denied the opportunity to settle in Australia.

The plan, announced by the Prime Minister alongside his PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill in Brisbane yesterday, is likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and is aimed at crushing the business of people smugglers.

"From now on, any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat has no chance of being settled here as a refugee," Mr Rudd said.