How some protesters survived the crackdown in Burma

I sat on the floor of a safe house on the Thai-Burma border interviewing U Pan Cher, a leader of the protests in Burma.

U Pan Cher had given many speeches to onlookers during the protests, but the aftermath of a speech he gave on the afternoon of September 26th still moved him. I saw that tears were forming in U Pan Cher’s eyes as he described the scene that followed.

U PAN CHER: I'm very sad. I really respect those people over seventy or eighty who joined together with us. I feel very bad. These people were of the age that we look after. They should be able to rest in their homes. But they came out to be with us, giving their lives for the country. . .

U PAN CHER: When we reached to Minigon Pagoda in Alon Township of Rangoon, I got worried about our security -- a lot of old people and also young students were with us by then. I asked some people if they could find some bicycles to go and check on the situation up in front, for our safety. A woman about 25 or 30 years of age who had been cooking food by the side of the street volunteered. Leaving her food stand, she took her own bicycle.

As far as I know, she was the first person to get shot.

(His eyes filled with tears again).

When we reached to Chiminai* thousands of monks came together with us. The abbots from some monasteries had not let their monks participate on the 25th, but on the 26th these monks joined the protest. When we reached to Chiminai, I gave the same speech as before under the flyover. After that the people from the bridge -- the flyover -- came to join.

People from an audience who had been watching the protest from the roadside came to join the protest march. People came out of their homes to join us, bring whatever they had -- knives, and so on. But I explained to them, "We are doing non-violent action. So please no shouting slogans, no violence. Even no clapping. We will only reciting the metta sutta.”

JOTMAN: What time did you give the speech under a pedestrian overpass?

U PAN CHER: 3:30pm on 26 September. Around forty to fifty thousand people stood on the street.

When we tried to reach the Chinese embassy we were blocked again and again. So we couldn't reach it. So I talked with the monks. I said if we continue down this way, we will get shot down again. Our goal was Sule Pagoda. And we had to try to find the easiest way to reach it. When we reached the main road, we were blocked both ways: from the front and the back. That was about 4:15pm. When we got blocked, we sat down. We did a sitting strike for twenty minutes.

So the situation was getting worse. The troop in front of us look arrogant and threatening. So that was the situation: Both sides -- the protesters and the soldiers -- were moving toward confrontation. Some of the monks really wanted to move forward, to face whatever approached us. But I tried to reduce their temper. I said, "If we go ahead then we will get killed." And so we began doing politics. And I said "we should find another way. To put ourselves in a better situation." So after this a lot of people, including monks -- a majority of monks -- accepted my idea.

I myself turned around and walked back down the street. The forces in front of us were armed heavily and overwhelming in number. USDA troops. But behind us there were fewer soldiers, and these looked less menacing than the ones in front. I decided I wanted to negotiate with the commander in the back. So I approached the regiment commander and we spoke. A couple of minutes of discussions and negotiations followed. And then he accepted my request. “OK, the monks can leave: two at a time.” And after that I continued negotiating with the commander to release the townsfolk as well. After the monks, the people began to leave also, two by two. I made one final request to the commander. I said, “Please don't continue arresting the people. Please refrain from violence against anyone.” And he accepted.

But two-thirds of the people had made it out, and the others, about 40-50,000 were blocked again -- immediately -- by the military. And they cracked down on these people. They shot in the air, they shoot into the group, they beat people, they used catapults. I myself was hit by a catapult on the lip. And I was beaten on my right rib cage by a stick. Then a lot of people urged me to leave. By those people's suggestion, I escaped the killing field. That was about 5:30 on the evening of September 26.
____
Note: This is the fourth installment from my exclusive three-hour interview with U Pan Cher. To see all posted segments of our discussion, please click here. You may also be interested to read my other coverage of the Burma crisis, including interviews with escaped monks such as monks' protest leader Ashin Kovida.
* I'm not certain about the spelling of some Rangoon place names.

The bravery of the women was inspiring

Concerning what Time Magazine called "the second biggest story of 2007," Jotman traveled to a safe house on the Thai-Burma border where he listened to the astonishing story of how a non-Buddhist -- an ordinary man -- become so deeply moved by the cause of Burma's monks that he himself became one of the protest leaders.

How did a Sikh named U Pan Cher come to lead his fellow Burmese in protest? Here is the segment of the interview where U Pan Cher answers this question.

JOTMAN: How did you arrive here in Thailand?

U PAN CHER: I participated in the September Movement from the beginning until the end. Because of this, the military government has been looking for me; I could not stay in Rangoon. Now that I am in Thailand, I want to inform the world about what has been happening in my country.

JOTMAN: Please tell me something about your background.

U PAN CHER: I was born in Burma and grew up in Burma. I am a businessman -- a car-broker. I don't belong to any political organizations.

Although I am Sikh, I admire Buddhism. It is also a part of my religious life. I was very shocked that the government had cracked down on the Pakkoku* monks. Not only me -- all the people of Burma experienced a burning saddness about the Pakkoku incident. At that time, around September 11, I heard that monks in Rangoon were going to protest the military regime. So I joined up with some monks I knew.

We had seen the violence against the monks. Also, there were the price hikes.** At that time the military government ignored every demand the people made.

As for my participation in the protests, nobody organized me, nobody motivated me. I participated by myself of my own free will.

You see, in the seven towns, the people came to the protests by their own decision. People dared, they bravely entered the protests. This fact made our protest very different from the military organized protests. Nobody lured me to participate. I had been joined up with the protest movement since September 12th.

Then I left my business, I left my family. In fact, I have had no contact with my family since then.

JOTMAN: Did you know other protest participants?

U PAN CHER: There were some other businessmen. I was participating openly from the 18th, and after the 19th and 20th I came across some friends at the protest. Actually, for me I didn't think I would end up participating at the forefront of the people. I was actually just thinking to support the monks.

But on the 13th and 14th I heard about Mi La Theyn. She left her new born baby to lead the protest. I heard this on the news -- the VOA/BBC Burmese news.

Another time I was in a teashop watching CNN. On CNN, a woman (Su Su Buri from the NLD) was struggling with a USDA plainclothes military agent. They tried to arrest her. It was a moving experience to witness her defiance.

These two women stood at the forefront of the peoples’ movement. These women had decided to lead. I thought hard about how these women had decided to take lead.

JOTMAN: What else were you thinking?

U PAN CHER: And I am thinking: These woman are bravely fighting for justice. And so I made a decision to do something for my people; to participate more openly and strongly together with the monks.

_________
Note: This is the third installment from my exclusive three-hour interview with U Pan Cher. To see all posted segments of our discussion, please click here. You may also be interested to read my other coverage of the Burma crisis, including interviews with escaped monks, and monks' protest leader Ashin Kovida.
* Pakkoku uprising. "On Sept 5, 2007 Burmese troops forcibly broke up a peaceful demonstration in Pakkoku and injured three monks. The next day, younger monks in Pakokku briefly took several government officials hostage in retaliation. They demanded an apology by the deadline of September 17, but the military refused to apologize. This sparked protests involving increasing numbers of monks in conjunction with the withdrawal of religious services for the military. Their role in the protests was significant due to the reverence paid to them by the civilian population and the military. After these events, protests began spreading across Myanmar." (Source: Wikipedia)
** Price hikes. "On August 15, 2007 the government removed subsidies on fuel causing a rapid and unannounced increase in prices. The government, which has a monopoly on fuel sales, raised prices from about $1.40 to $2.80 a gallon, and boosted the price of natural gas by about 500%. This increase in fuel prices led to an increase in food prices. " (Source: Wikipedia)

Protest leader recalls day of terror

September 27, 2007. Suspicious Burmese had predicted violence on this date, whose digits in the Gregorian calendar add up repeatedly to the astrologically powerful number 9: the 27th day of the 9th month in 2007.

The astrologist got this one right.

It was the day Japanese journalist Kenji Negai was murdered a soldier in cold blood. It was the day Burma's junta was irreparably disgraced before they eyes of the entire civilized world.

(Two posts, here and here, summarize what the outside world was learning about this day as it unfolded.)

Protest leader U Pan Cher (more about him here) helped to lead protesters on 27 September, as he had on previous days. At a safe house in Thailand, he shared his firsthand perspective on that ominous and decisive day.*

U PAN CHER: On the 27th, when we got together for the protest, we planned for three columns this time. U Pan Cher then describes the paths of the three columns; he was in the third. Others columns came out organized by others. All together that day there were about 8-9 columns in Rangoon.

JOTMAN: Were you involved in the planning of the three columns?

U PAN CHER: The students organized these. This day the students are the majority. We listened to their plan and said, "that's sounds good, we would support it." On the 27th, there were fewer monks involved in the protests. Because on the 26th there had been heavy raids on the monasteries. There was great brutality. When the monastery doors remained closed they rammed the doors with their trucks. And in some places, guns were fired. I guess about 3-5,000 monks were arrested on the 26th -- and lots of them injured.

The first column to get shot at was the first one. When they reached the State High School #3 of Tamwe. Some two students were killed when they were hit by cars being driven into them.

The parents and students inside Tamwe State High School #3 shouted: "The military orders given by General Aung San are not to kill the people." So they got angry and shot into the school also. So secondary school students got shot and died. . . . A lot of students' parents got injured.

Some other information we got was not exact. Because we were in the protest, and we shared information among ourselves, people to people. So we heard this from others.

JOTMAN: And you were to meet at Sule? All three columns?

U PAN CHER: The meeting point is Sule. As soon as they heard about the shooting of the Tamwe column -- at the time they were at Gabare Pagoda Road -- they dispersed the column and rushed to Sule. All the people rushed there to regroup, by whatever car they found, they asked the drivers to take them to Sule Pagoda.

JOTMAN: You are referring here to the column that got shot at?

U PAN CHER: The first column was the one shot at State High School #3. The other two columns safely arrived at Sule Pagoda. Their target was the biggest column, which was column #1. So the other columns got by.

U pan cher begins to draw a map of the Sule Pagoda area. It would help him explain to me the terrible events that followed:



* Note: This post is Part II (see Part I) of my exclusive interview with U Pan Cher, a leader of the 2007 protests in Rangoon.
Photos: by Jotman.

An ordinary man who became a protest leader

Jotman presents excerpts from his exclusive interview with a most extraordinary leader of the protests in Rangoon of September 2007.

Tens of thousands of Rangoon townsfolk had gathered in the vicinity of Minigon Pagoda in Rangoon; among them were thousands of monks. Suddenly the crowd grew very quiet. A man had begun to speak. He was now a familiar figure to many protesters, distinguished by a beige turban, yellow Aung San Suu Kyi shirt, and long black beard. The Sikh, who goes by the name U Pan Cher, called out to the crowd:

Join together with us! The monks have been beaten brutally in the area of the Eastern moats of Shwedagon Pagoda. If you think yourself as Burmese and Buddhist, think of what we are doing now. Think of the people of Burma and Buddhism. Do we just bow down and accept this oppression?

Now monks have been killed. And tortured. They have murdered our monks! I ask you this question: Are you going to fight and die? Or sit back and die? If you want to fight with me, leave your fear behind. And bring your courage!

I will stand in front to fight. If we all join in this fight, the military regime will be gone within a few hours. Join together with us and fight!

Sitting on the floor of a safe house in Thailand with U Pan Cher and an interpreter, I saw tears form in U Pan Cher's eyes. During my interview with U Pan Cher, I had asked him to recount the exact words he spoke to the crowd -- reproduced above.

U Pan Cher was to give many such speeches, but what happened after he spoke to this particular crowd at 2:45 pm on Wednesday September 26, 2007 was a humbling experience. Here is how U Pan Cher described the remarkable scene that followed:

The surprising thing was that at the traffic junction, the rich people in their cars, they left their car and joined the protest. And the other people on the bus, they left the bus to join. Even the rickshaw men, they left their rickshaws to join with us. All the people were getting angry about what was happening. And everyone was crying. It was as if the tears were flowing into streams, and these streams were passing into rivers, and the rivers were flowing into the ocean. We were united in a sea of resolve. Not only were Burmese Buddhists participating, but also Muslims, Christians, and others -- all joined together as one.

Who was this eloquent leader of Rangoon's protesting townsfolk? What else had he said and done? Our talk lasted three hours, and when I walked away I felt had heard an incredibly inspiring story. In a fortnight, one ordinary man had become somebody extraordinary.

U Pan Cher had discovered something powerful within himself during those fateful days, and neither he nor the thousands whose lives he touched will ever be the same.

What untapped hidden potentials lie dormant within each of us?

Although U Pan Cher and the circumstances may seem exotic, I see in his story a message for people everywhere. Because from the streets of Rangoon, U Pan Cher spoke not only of an oppressed country called Burma, but to a society where racial, religious, and ethnic divisions take a back seat to the common fight for human dignity and freedom.