Saffron revolution not just Burman affair: event organizer

^{29 September 2008
By Hseng Khio Fah}

“The monks follow the Buddha’s teaching which teaches people how to solve the problems by peaceful way. Peace is not for only one ethnic group. Many of us are also Buddhists. We cannot therefore say that last year's demonstrations were just only for ethnic Burmans. They did it for all the citizens of Burma,” said Nang Hseng Oo.

“We should not also assume that it only involved ethnic Burman monks,” she added. "Other ethnic monks like Shan, Arakanese and Mons also joined the protests.”

More than a hundred Shan monks were among those detained by the ruling military junta during the crackdown while some were forced to return to their hometowns and some had escaped to the border, according to reports by Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) last year.

While thousands of monks in Rangoon were marching along the streets to demand for lower fuel price from the military government, some monks in ethnic states like Shan and Arakan also staged peaceful demonstrations despite the authorities’ restrictions.

Thirty seven monks from Wat Teuleng monastery in Kyaukme, a town in northern Shan State, staged a peaceful protest by marching and chanting Metta Sutta on the streets, according to a SHAN  report in October last year.

The whole Burma is oppressed by the military regime, but ethnic states are more oppressed, according to Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN), one of the organizing groups.

In Shan State, there have been numerous incidents of monks and civilians being detained, interrogated, tortured and killed by the regime’s troops, said a leaflet from the group.

Likewise, on 27 September, about 150 Buddhist monks in Sittwe in western Burma's Arakan state staged a protest march to observe the first anniversary of the 'Saffron Revolution', according to Mizzima News.