The Burmese Junta looks to the stars

Jean-Claude Bührer. Photo M. Bührer

21 September 08 -
One of the most feared regimes in the world relied on the stars and auspicious numbers before it cracked down on the Monks in September 2007, according to Burma expert and former Le Monde reporter, Jean-Claude Buhrer

Interview by Carole Vann, Human Rights Tribune - Exactly a year ago, thousands of Burmese monks took to the streets in a show of popular discontent at an astronomical rise in prices. Thanks to mobile phones, these images were quickly seen around the world. But the authorities rapidly and violently put down the protests and Myanmar was once again under the control of the Generals, who despite the ravages of cyclone Nargis in April remain in power.

The former Le Monde correspondent and an expert on Burma, Jean-Claude Buhrer has just published, with Claude Levenson, "Burma: the Monks against the Dictatorship"(*). He gives his view on the powerful yet also superstitious Generals.

A year after the Monks protests, we hear nothing out of Burma. What has been happening?

The Burmese Generals have, as they do after every show of popular discontent, cracked down. Since they grabbed power, the military have always used force. In 1988, when the students took to the streets, at least 3000 people were killed. Last year the military killed dozens when they fired into the crowds, stepped up their arrests and emptied the monasteries. In Burma, there are almost 500,000 monks. With the people too scared to speak out, they were the only counterweight to an omnipotent army of some half a million men. However, as a result of the authoritie’s incompetence, it was the monks who helped the population after the deadly cyclone, Nargis, hit Buma in May.

The authorities failed to act for 10 days after the protests broke out. Why was that?

The government was overwhelmed by the scale of the protests. At first the authorities did not dare take on the monks as they did not want to act against fellow Buddhists. But when it became obvious that the protests were growing and not dying out, they decided to crack down.



The date that they chose to act was also significant. The Burmese attach a lot of importance to astrology and the science of numbers. The military bases all its decisions on numbers. For them the number 9 is a good omen. They therefore decided to unleash the army on the 27 September 2008, because this date has 3 nines in it. 27 that is 2+7=9: September is the 9th month in the year: 2007 is again 2+7= 9. They believed that this was the day to act. Another example of this is that just before the popular uprisings in 1988, as the economy was going badly, the military decided to replace the bank notes of 50 and 100 kyats with notes of 45 and 90 kyats. They thought that they would bring luck. Obviously these changes made life pretty complicated for traders and householders.

Their superstitions mean that when anything is going badly, they just change the name and believe that they have solved the problem. After the major demonstrations in 1988, they changed the name of the country. Burma became Myanmar and the names of many towns changed too. They imposed these changes at the UN, just as the Khmer Rouge had done changing Cambodia into Kampuchea.

In the same vein, they inherited from Britain the tradition of driving on the left, but overnight they decided to switch to driving on the right. As the steering wheels remained on the right and people still got off buses on the left, this caused chaos. People stepped off the buses no longer onto the pavement but into the middle of the road. In 2005 they had another one of their mad whims, when they suddenly decided to move the capital from Rangoon to Naypyidaw, "the city of kings" where members of the Junta live, cut off, in a sort of bunker.

UN efforts in Burma have been a fiasco haven’t they?

In 1992, two years after the military ignored the results of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party’s resounding victory in the elections, the UN appointed a first special rapporteur, a Japanese who did not do much. Then there was a Mauritian who did not even visit. He was replaced in 2000 by a Brazilian, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, but in 2003 he became persona non grata, after he protested when he found hidden microphones while he was talking to prisoners.

It was only in November 2007, following the popular protests and a special session on Burma at the Human Rights Council, that the military let down their guard, letting Pinheiro as well as the special envoy of the UN Secretary General, the Nigerian diplomat, Ibrahim Gambari, into the country. But neither of them, ignored by the Junta, could do a lot. Frustrated, Paulo Pinheiro, threw in the towel in March, while the last mission of Ibrahim Gambari came to nothing.

Is there any way to put pressure on Burma?

The UN Security Council can’t do anything as it comes up against the double veto of China and Russia. Beijing is the main partner and arms supplier to the Junta. China has built hydroelectric dams on the border and has observation towers in Burma. As for Russia, it also provides weapons and has signed a cooperation accord on nuclear energy. For its part, India cooperates with the Junta in order to neutralise various rebellious minority groups that live on its border with Burma.

In spite of EU sanctions, Total remains one of the major investors in Burma. And the Burmese Junta can count on the indulgence of its partners in ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), who are more interested in its gas, forests, precious stones and other natural resources. The military said at a meeting of ASEAN members that it was unmoved by external pressure and that they were used to living as an autarky. And if necessary, they would close in on themselves just like an oyster around its pearl.

Translated from the French by Claire Doole