[Buddha-l] On Myanmar

[Weng-Fai Wong]

Oct 2, 2007   
Myanmar violence blamed on 'opportunists'  

UNITED NATIONS - MYANMAR Foreign Minister U Nyan Win on Monday blamed the
military crackdown against anti-government protesters in his country on
'political opportunists' backed by 'some powerful countries'. 

'The situation would not have deteriorated had the initial protest of a
small group of activists against the rise in fuel prices not been exploited
by political opportunists,' he told the United Nations General Assembly
here. 

He said those 'opportunists ... aided and abetted by some powerful
countries' also took advantage of protests 'staged initially by a small
group of Buddhist clergy demanding apology for maltreatment of fellow monks
by local authorities'. 

The minister asserted that Myanmar security forces showed 'utmost restraint'
and did not intervene for nearly a month. 

He said authorities were then compelled to declare a curfew 'when the mob
became unruly and provocative'. 

'When protesters ignored their warning, they (security forces) had to take
action to restore the situation. Normalcy has now returned in Myanmar,' he
added. 

Mr Nyan Win portrayed the turmoil as part of 'neo-colonialist attempts' to
impose Western-style democracy on Myanmar. -- AFP


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The barriers in Sule and Shwedagon have come down, the UN envoy was allowed
to meet Aung San Suu Kyi  - signalling that the junta is confidental that
they have controlled the situation. The protests inside Myanmar seems to
have died down.

Many died, hundreds (monks and civilians) thrown into jails and many more
will be tortured and perhaps die from that - nothing changed. Sigh...

W.F. Wong