Myanmar monks flee monasteries, junta

Little left to guard
A heavy police guard remains outside a handful of monasteries in Yangon, the former Rangoon, where some of the country’s best-known shrines were flashpoints of the violence.

But a tour of some of the monasteries indicate there’s little left to guard.

The Ngwekyar Yan monastery in northern Yangon is empty. It used to have about 180 monks, said U Yewata, the chief abbot, 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 and only a few dozen remained.

Monks have played a pivotal role in protests against unjust rulers, from British colonial powers to the repressive military regime. The last time monks took to the streets was during 1990 anti-government protests, which the junta crushed.

Junta: Monks a potential threat
The junta has long regarded monks as a potential threat. It has tried to intimidate, bribe and spy on them, and to gain control over the official state committee of monks, giving some of its 47 members cars, cell phones, TV sets, refrigerators and other gifts considered luxuries in the impoverished country formerly named Burma.

But many say that this time, in targeting monks and monasteries, the generals went too far. In this 90 percent Buddhist country of 54 million people, monasteries are sacrosanct.

At the height of the crackdown, news footage broadcast around the world showed troops firing on marching monks and smashed-up furniture at monasteries. A dead monk was shown floating face down in a river.

For now, the generals appear to have succeeded in scaring monks into submission.

Josef Silverstein, a retired Rutgers University professor who studied Myanmar for more than a half century, doesn’t expect to see monks back in the front line for some time.

“Religious sayings and prayers were no match for the guns and determination of the military,” he said.

But 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,” said Pornpimon Trichot, a Myanmar specialist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “But monks will remain an inspiration that lends legitimacy to the movement.”

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