The Whole World Was Watching [Burma]

by Sarah Stillman

http://www.truthdig.com/, January 22, 2008

Stillman: The U.N. has reported on "grave child rights violations," including the forced recruiting of children into the army. Apparently there's pressure to accelerate army recruitment rates, and brokers are said to be paid $30 and a bag of rice for each child soldier recruited. The U.N. also found that some children who desert from the Burmese military are given prison terms of up to five years. What is the state of the military. ... Is the regime so desperate that it has to recruit kids?

Maung Maung: Yes, the regime is having serious problems recruiting. The military used to be a respected entity, but this is no longer true. Although the top generals are filthy rich, many of their soldiers face great economic hardships. They don't even have basic footwear-many of them go around in sandals or barefoot. It's just not impressive! When a soldier doesn't have any shoes, it not only makes it hard to fight, but it also shakes his faith in his superiors.
We have a database of how many individuals are deserting the military, and it shows that more and more men at the senior levels of the military are defecting. This is due mostly to the hardships that their families face. It's a sad fact, but many of the soldiers' wives and daughters have become prostitutes to cope with the poverty. Reasons like this explain why the military is having a hard time recruiting.
And so what have they done? The regime is forcibly taking children, especially high school kids hanging out at the theater or wherever. The army truck pulls up, and the kids are forced into the back of the truck and taken to the police station, where they are left to sleep overnight. The next morning, the sergeant shows up and tells them that they've committed a crime and that the only way to avoid jail is to join the military.

Stillman: How would you describe the role of the trade union movement in the Burmese opposition? You're a union leader, as are many of the key people who play pivotal roles in charting the next steps for this struggle. How did labor people come to play such a vital role?

Maung Maung: Well, I wouldn't say we're necessarily prominent. But the real key is that the trade unionists are the only unit of activists inside Burma who have unique experience with international organizations. We know exactly how to link up with trade union movements around the world to get basic training materials, and also to get references on the techniques used by other countries in other struggles in history.
We also have people who are well trained in organizing skills, unlike most of the movement's student activists. I can ask any union person to come and offer training to our activists for two weeks, and they'll come-we get tremendous help from the ILO [International Labor Organization], the ITUC [International Trade Union Confederation,] the SEIU [Service Employees International Union] and other groups. The ILO even has an office in Rangoon, working on international monitoring issues and providing protection for us. This isn't true with the students or political organizations, who have a big handicap on the international front. They often lack basic organizing skills.

Stillman: You mention learning from other countries. When the street demonstrations were going on, Bishop Tutu of South Africa strongly backed the monks and other protesters, saying, "It is so like the rolling mass actions that eventually toppled apartheid." Certainly there are many differences, but do you see parallels from the success of the anti-apartheid movement?

Maung Maung: Well, different countries, different struggles. I'd say that the overall similarity is that the international effort must be coordinated. We need a wide array of governments to support the United Nation's initiatives in a coordinated way. The U.S. is doing it, and the UK is, too. France is starting to wake up, and Italy.
But we're been having big problems with the Germans, who've been a pain in the neck. They want to have their own approach. We need unity. Most countries are slowly moving towards working together, with the U.N. at the helm. Even China is starting to think like that. Coordination, like in South Africa, is the most important thing.

Stillman: What do you think is the most constructive role that American advocates can play in the pro-democracy struggle? What forms of action or protest would be most helpful?

Maung Maung: There has been a huge amount of moral support from American politicians, but the U.S. government hasn't fully delivered. Sure, Congress has done a lot, and there is even support from Laura Bush, but we have huge problems with logistics and implementation.
What it really comes down to is money: We need simple things like bicycles and satellite phones. People may laugh, but the movement really needs bicycles. In Burma, fuel is very expensive, so bicycles allow organizers to go around and speak with individuals in different areas.
We also need money for video cameras, digital cameras and cell phones-these things are transforming our movement. It's by bringing the eyes of the world back to the brutality of the regime that we can win out.

Stillman: But how much was the regime able to crack down on this activity in September? I read that they tried to cut off cell phone reception and Internet connectivity. ....

Maung Maung: Well, if you look at the number of bloody images from the protests, you can see that the activists found their way around the regime. In the beginning, the junta didn't know what the hell was happening. Young people were running around with their hand-held mobile phones and passing on photographs to people outside the country. They were two steps ahead.
The regime controlled the gateway to the Internet-it was really more of an Intra-net than an Internet-and they tried to shut it down, but the young people were breaking out for themselves, using their brains to get around the regime's barriers.

Stillman: I'd like to get your take on some U.S. legislative issues. Last month, Congress passed legislation authored by Rep. Tom Lantos that would cut off tax deductions for business activities in Burma by U.S. companies, such as Chevron. The bill will also block the current laundering of Burmese gemstones, particularly rubies, through third countries before they are sold here. If these new measures get signed by President Bush and become law, how big a blow will they be to the military regime?

Maung Maung: Well, the regime wants the world to think that Burma is a free and open economy, but if you scrutinize it, you'll see that there are only two or three real monopolies controlling everything. The first is the U.M.E.H. [Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings], which is owned by the military. The second is owned by a business tycoon named Tay Za, and he's the son-in-law of the regime's top general. The third is a guy named Steven Law [who is alleged to have links to Burma's drug trade].
If you want to do mining for gems or jade in Burma, you have to buy permission from the military's own holdings company, so your very first investment in the project, even before you start digging, goes directly to the government. You also have to give a certain percentage of your profits to the government once you sell the gems, along with an export tax. So, to get a single ruby into the global marketplace, you have to feed money to the government at least three times.
That's why it's so important that Burma's gem and jade business be shut down. A long time ago, before I became an activist, I was a gemologist. I worked for the Burmese government for 12 years, so I know the business well, and I know that Burma has the best gems in the world. In order to get around the sanctions that were placed on Burmese gems [in 2003], they are bought by the Thai traders, recut in Thailand, and resold as "Thai" exports.
But any gemologist can look at a collector's piece and see immediately that it's come from Burma. You can't lie about what we call "internal inclusions," which are always unique to the site of mining: air bubbles, gas bubbles, rubies within rubies. A gem that is mined in, say, Dupont Circle, would be very different from a gem that is mined in Rockville. So you can identify the origins of a gem, if you bother to try.
Although the Thai exporters will continue to claim that their rubies are coming from Thailand, most of the top-quality gemstones are still coming from Burma, and we need to close up these legal loopholes. I think this new piece of legislation is just the beginning.

Stillman: China has significant influence with the Burmese military regime, given its extensive trade and military ties to the junta. And China has blocked meaningful actions by the U.N. Security Council on Burma. What would you like to see done to pressure China on Burma? Some have urged a boycott of the Olympic Games this summer. ....

Maung Maung: We're not calling for a boycott of the Olympics. First of all, the Olympics are time-bound. They come and they go in 2008. Second of all, the athletes have spent their whole lives preparing for this event, and we want to respect that.
Having said that, what we need is to inform China that a stable Burma is good for everybody. We are not looking to kick up China's investments in Burma; we're looking at a system that would allow democratic participation for everybody in Burma's politics and economics, and, therefore, greater stability.

Stillman: And what about India? It, too, could have an impact on the regime, and while China is repressive in its own right, India is a democracy that ought to play a constructive role but hasn't-due to its energy interests, it seems.

Maung Maung: Being a large democracy, India is a very bulky animal to move around-the bureaucracy is so big that it's hard to tell what's going on. They were supportive of the pro-democracy movement earlier, but we don't know what shifts have taken place. It seems like energy and gas availability from Burma has made India more willing to get comfortable with the regime.
Once again, we need to emphasize: Democracy in Burma is the best way to ensure that the raw energy that Indian needs comes from a stable and reliable source.

Stillman: How effective do you think the various targeted sanctions by the U.S. are on the regime's top leaders: the ban on travel visas, restrictions on bank accounts, and so on?

Maung Maung: It's making the regime go crazy. I must point out that, except from the U.S., there have been no sanctions from anybody. Some people say that sanctions haven't worked, but I want to challenge them: Excuse me, but can you tell me who has even tried to place forceful sanctions on Burma? Europeans, mostly, have not. European countries have visa bans, but nothing to strike at the heart of the economic issues. It's only the United States that has done anything substantive. We have to thank the U.S. customs people and other authorities for following up on [presidential] executive orders.
As small as they are, the financial sanctions are making a huge economic impact. The man I mentioned earlier-Tay Za-owned an airline called Air Bagan. It flew to Singapore and Thailand, and the military generals were very proud of it. But then the financial scrutiny hit Tay Za, and the banks in Singapore refused to handle his money. The French, too, stopped servicing his planes, and Tay Za eventually had to give up the enterprise.
The business community in Singapore is scrutinizing Burmese accounts more harshly than ever before. There have been complaints from Burmese merchants about it. We know it's making a big difference.

Stillman: The U.N. has reported on "grave child rights violations," including the forced recruiting of children into the army. Apparently there's pressure to accelerate army recruitment rates, and brokers are said to be paid $30 and a bag of rice for each child soldier recruited. The U.N. also found that some children who desert from the Burmese military are given prison terms of up to five years. What is the state of the military. ... Is the regime so desperate that it has to recruit kids?

Maung Maung: Yes, the regime is having serious problems recruiting. The military used to be a respected entity, but this is no longer true. Although the top generals are filthy rich, many of their soldiers face great economic hardships. They don't even have basic footwear-many of them go around in sandals or barefoot. It's just not impressive! When a soldier doesn't have any shoes, it not only makes it hard to fight, but it also shakes his faith in his superiors.
We have a database of how many individuals are deserting the military, and it shows that more and more men at the senior levels of the military are defecting. This is due mostly to the hardships that their families face. It's a sad fact, but many of the soldiers' wives and daughters have become prostitutes to cope with the poverty. Reasons like this explain why the military is having a hard time recruiting.
And so what have they done? The regime is forcibly taking children, especially high school kids hanging out at the theater or wherever. The army truck pulls up, and the kids are forced into the back of the truck and taken to the police station, where they are left to sleep overnight. The next morning, the sergeant shows up and tells them that they've committed a crime and that the only way to avoid jail is to join the military.

Stillman: How would you describe the role of the trade union movement in the Burmese opposition? You're a union leader, as are many of the key people who play pivotal roles in charting the next steps for this struggle. How did labor people come to play such a vital role?

Maung Maung: Well, I wouldn't say we're necessarily prominent. But the real key is that the trade unionists are the only unit of activists inside Burma who have unique experience with international organizations. We know exactly how to link up with trade union movements around the world to get basic training materials, and also to get references on the techniques used by other countries in other struggles in history.
We also have people who are well trained in organizing skills, unlike most of the movement's student activists. I can ask any union person to come and offer training to our activists for two weeks, and they'll come-we get tremendous help from the ILO [International Labor Organization], the ITUC [International Trade Union Confederation,] the SEIU [Service Employees International Union] and other groups. The ILO even has an office in Rangoon, working on international monitoring issues and providing protection for us. This isn't true with the students or political organizations, who have a big handicap on the international front. They often lack basic organizing skills.

Stillman: You mention learning from other countries. When the street demonstrations were going on, Bishop Tutu of South Africa strongly backed the monks and other protesters, saying, "It is so like the rolling mass actions that eventually toppled apartheid." Certainly there are many differences, but do you see parallels from the success of the anti-apartheid movement?

Maung Maung: Well, different countries, different struggles. I'd say that the overall similarity is that the international effort must be coordinated. We need a wide array of governments to support the United Nation's initiatives in a coordinated way. The U.S. is doing it, and the UK is, too. France is starting to wake up, and Italy.
But we're been having big problems with the Germans, who've been a pain in the neck. They want to have their own approach. We need unity. Most countries are slowly moving towards working together, with the U.N. at the helm. Even China is starting to think like that. Coordination, like in South Africa, is the most important thing.

Stillman: What do you think is the most constructive role that American advocates can play in the pro-democracy struggle? What forms of action or protest would be most helpful?

Maung Maung: There has been a huge amount of moral support from American politicians, but the U.S. government hasn't fully delivered. Sure, Congress has done a lot, and there is even support from Laura Bush, but we have huge problems with logistics and implementation.
What it really comes down to is money: We need simple things like bicycles and satellite phones. People may laugh, but the movement really needs bicycles. In Burma, fuel is very expensive, so bicycles allow organizers to go around and speak with individuals in different areas.
We also need money for video cameras, digital cameras and cell phones-these things are transforming our movement. It's by bringing the eyes of the world back to the brutality of the regime that we can win out.

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