September 21, 2007 Open Challenge of the Government Ashin Htavara

September 21, 2007

Open Challenge of the Government

            Urgent meeting of the members of ‘monk representatives’ was held at the Bronze Image to share the information of each monk.

            We could decide the plan, and make plans to march into the towns. Then we took our lunch offered by Ko Kyaw Thu and Ko Zargana and other celebrities. The lunch of that day was sponsored by FFSS and other celebrities.

            Yangon activist youths Ko Than Htike, Ko Yarzar and Ko Aung Moe Win of Ma Phyu Phyu Thin’s Group said to me,

            ‘We would support monks for their sundry need.’

            I explained them, ‘We accepted no cash donation because this was our steel discipline for our processing. They understood that. Sometime later, the government made a propaganda that monks received money. In this process, we knew that money was the evil of all things. That’s that! The government failed to accuse monks accepting money in the demonstration. We had no money, no property, no possession_ nothing! There was nothing for us, but they accused us that monks were demanding money.’

             The government spread the rumor that protesting monks were asking for money from people. Nobody believed the propaganda.

            In those days, military men accused the representatives of the monks as terrorists trained in border area of Thailand and professionals to make assassination to the authorities in their newspapers. We felt that as an insult. For me, I reached not beyond Yangon, and had no weapon but a needle to sew my torn robes, and note taking pen to take notes. How could I offence them.

            Monks became enemies to the government later, because the government thugs made us to confront with them. Monks kept a great tolerance because we had to hold strong mentality against the oppositions. The thugs assaulted monks to spark a problem. They tended to spark a problem from us_ meaning that monks initiated that problem.

  They said rude words to the demonstrators while the strength of the demonstration became greater. We witnessed the increase contribution of the public involvement. The more the public involved, the greater the protest became. I had noticed that when we occupied the regions of Yangon, participating monks, nuns, students, people elsewhere, the authority had planned to make a violent crackdown.