Ashin Kovida on 2 days that shook the world in 2007

This is Part II (here is Part I) of my exclusive interview with Ashin Kovida, Chairperson of the Monks Representative Group. I spoke with this prominent leader of the September 2007 mass protests at a safe house near the Thai-Burma border.

JOTMAN: Where were you the night of the 25th?

KOVIDA: On the night of the 25th of September raids on the monasteries occurred in Rangoon. The next day there were blood stains in the monasteries. They beat up monks. They arrested monks. They left blood stains on the floors.

My monastery had only a few monks. They raided mainly the big monasteries.

JOTMAN: What happened on the 26th? (Note: here is my summary of news reports out of Burma on 09/26, and for further context here is my September timeline ).

KOVIDA: On the 26th the security was very tight. I was at She Shwedagon -- around a kind of bonze Buddha in front of Swadagon. At the times the main roads in Rangoon inside the city were blocked by the security.

JOTMAN: And the protest continued?

KOVIDA: The people couldn't go close to the Shwedagon Pagoda. But fortunately about 300 monks and townsfolk reached it, taking sneaky routes to get there. And as soon as they arrived in the compound, the security immediately came out and pushed them away, telling them to "move, move, move," forcing them down the streets. . .

So they were blocked, and they couldn't go anywhere, so what they had to do was . . .

It was very hot at the time, under the sun. I was negotiating with the police officers there. Meanwhile, the monks started reciting the metta sutta (sutra of loving kindness). During the negotiations, the police kept saying you can't be here. No more than 5 people they said, referring to the curfew. Now they said, "we will prepare the car. we will bring you back to your monasteries." But we don't trust them. Because on the 25th they had raided the monasteries and beaten up the monks. And if we accepted their offer of transport, we had no idea where they would take us.

So after about an hour of negotiations the security forces started arresting -- I mean pulling students out from the group. And I was shouting, "Hey, don't touch the people! You cannot do this!" They were hesitant.

That was when one young novice monk started moving and running so the other people -- you know all the people were under the pressure of a difficult situation -- and so this one person breaks away. I mean he explodes. He's off running as fast as he can. And others break away too, they are racing.

We all ran. We ran hard until we came to a wall. Soon a lot of people are trying to climb the wall. As they are trying to get over it, the security forces are pulling at their legs. They pull some down. Girls and some nuns are pulled down by their sarongs. These they tear off. They beat people on their heads. Brutally.

Only about 70 people were able to escape, including myself; only those of us who could climb the wall to reach the other side. Although I made it there I got hit by a policeman's rubber baton.

JOTMAN: What happened next?

KOVIDA: It so happened that after we crossed the wall, on the other side was a monastery. And we found people gathering there to go to Shwedagon Pagoda. This group of people had gotten very angry because the military had begun beating the monks. So they started throwing stones and bricks at the riot police and soldiers. I think the riot police shot a tear-gas bomb into the crowd. So the situation was worsening before our eyes.

At this point I tried to request to the people not to do violence. Although, of course, the troops had started the violence. So I am trying to explain to the people that we are doing a peaceful demonstration and we want it to end up in a peaceful way.

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Photos: Jotman, map of Rangoon is from the BBC.

My talk with the monk who led the protests in Rangoon (Part I)

I recently had the opportunity to interview the leader of the monks' protest in Rangoon (shown at the center the photo).

He has been in hiding at a safe house in Thailand.

I am not the first to speak with him. I first learned of Ashin Kovida's escape to Thailand in an Oct. 28 article by Thomas Fuller in the NY Times (posted here). The Times' account of how he came to lead the protests, his activities on the streets of Rangoon, his flight to a hideout in the Burmese countryside, and his escape to Thailand evoked a drama of high suspense.

Therefore, I was extremely eager to meet this twenty-four year old hero of the Burma monks' protests when I stepped into his safe-house.

On top of a long table at one end of the main room stood three computer terminals. Several Burmese men worked there. To our left was a stairway; under the stairs, a plastic Barbie Doll lay on the floor. On a blank wall, someone had pinned a photocopied portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi. We all sat down around a large square table.

I found Ashin Kovida to be a friendly guy, sometimes gregarious. I pondered how he must feel now. Faced with starting a whole new life in exile, this new environment, only unfamiliar people. And to think that this was his first trip outside of Burma!

At one point we stopped the interview so Ashin Kovida could eat lunch. A vegetarian meal was brought in for him. Far away from his Rangoon monastery, this Burmese monks' daily routines were supported by the devotion of his new hosts.



Note about the video: Ashin Kovida was particularly concerned that I get his words right, so I should note here that the interpretation in the video is not simultaneous. After Ashin Kovida responded to a question, our interpreter spoke. In the video the English interpreter's voice has been spliced over Kovida's actual response in Burmese.

Photos: Monks march in Rangoon in September 2007 (NY Times), photo from video footage by Jotman

Burma monk leader Ashin Kovida talks with Jotman

Monk leader Ashin Kovida lived in Rangoon where he played a key role in organizing the peaceful protests of September. I took this photo of Ashin Kovida at a safe house in Thailand. During our discussion, he spoke about the protests, his escape to Thailand, and the future of Burma. Look for reports of our discussion in upcoming posts.


Photo: Jotman

Burmese monk leader Ashin Kovida has escaped to Thailand

Thomas Fuller of the NY Times (via KyiMayKaung) reports that a leader of the protests has escaped to Thailand:

During a six-hour interview in this border town, the monk, Ashin Kovida, said he had been elected the leader of a group of 15 of his fellows and led daily protests in Yangon from Sept. 18 through Sept. 27, the day after the authorities began raiding monasteries.

He said he was inspired by the popular uprisings in Yugoslavia against the government of Slobodan Milosevic, videos of which were circulated by dissident groups in Myanmar.

Read the whole story. The tale Kovida tells of his role in organizing the protests and his subsequent escape from Burma is harrowing -- the stuff of which movies are made.