Living Silence in Burma by Christina Fink Read Free Book Online Page B

lived. Perhaps democratic norms would have gradually developed, and the ethnic groups’ political demands would have been resolved at the negotiating table. But growing political tensions and a legacy of authoritarianism had inhibited the development of a stable, open society. Having rid themselves of the British, the Burmans had found a renewed pride in their numerical dominance and their heritage as a conquering race, and this hindered their ability to understand and resolve the ethnic nationalities’ demands. Because of the civil war, the military often ignored due process in areas where it operated, and politicians were able to use pocket armies not only to go after bandits but also to intimidate their opposition. Although the government did seek to develop the country, there was little substantive dialogue between politicians and the people in their constituencies, and too many politicians were consumed with their own personal interests. As a result, democracy was only superficially rooted in Burma, and the military was able to take over with little resistance.

2 | The Ne Win years, 1962–88
     
        One Energy Minister said, ‘To spare the wood, use charcoal.’ But you see charcoal is made from wood. Those kind of people were governing. (U Po Khin)
     
    The Revolutionary Council, 1962–74
     
    After the 1962 coup, General Ne Win and his Revolutionary Council immediately set about imposing order, and the universities were one of the first targets. The military regime announced stricter regulations for university students, one particularly irksome rule being that dormitories were locked at 8 p.m. to prevent students from going out to visit friends or chat in tea shops. Angry students broke through the locked doors to shout in protest for three successive nights. As the protests continued, the students’ union took over the leadership.
    On the afternoon of 7 July, students held a mass meeting in the assembly hall of the Rangoon University student union building. Then, they went out to demonstrate for about an hour. Just as they were dispersing, riot police stormed the campus and took over the student union. According to witnesses, a riot began, with the police firing tear-gas and students throwing stones. Some students also lit fireworks, increasing the chaos. Students shouted insulting slogans against General Ne Win, while soldiers entered the campus with their guns ready. When the protest did not immediately break up, they began shooting. Over one hundred students were apparently killed, although the government admitted to only fifteen deaths. 1 In the early hours of the next morning, the military blew up the student union building, the centre of student activism since colonial days.
    While General Ne Win succeeded in stopping the student protests, his recourse to such extreme measures provoked bitterness against the regime. U Pyone Cho, a university student at the time, recalled:
        You didn’t find a lot of students that were really political at that stage. But because of the killing and all, that really made students start thinking. And from then on, every month there would be a book of poems. And every 7th [July], people would wear black [in commemoration of the killings]. I won’t say all the students, but quite a few.
     
    The university was closed for four months, and as students travelled back to their home towns, they brought with them news of what had happened. The event was kept alive through the memorial song ‘Old Union’, set to the tune of a popular song, ‘Old City of Pagan’. But the crackdown on students was just a taste of what was to come.
    Through his Revolutionary Council, General Ne Win sought to remake Burmese politics and society. Land and wealth were to be redistributed, foreigners stripped of their assets, and self-serving politicians and capitalists replaced with loyal army men dedicated to serving the nation. Approximately two thousand civilian members of the