| By MOE GYO/CHIANG MAI | AUGUST, 2000 - VOLUME 8 NO.8 |
Bowing to international pressure, the Burmese junta has opened institutions of higher learning across the country, returning students to their campuses. The first development projects performed by the newly formed State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) after the coup in 1988 seemed innocuous at first. They built several elevated footbridges crossing Rangoon’s streets, presumably to prevent jay walking and facilitate the flow of traffic. Many Rangoon residents were baffled by this action, as traffic in Rangoon was not a problem. However, one unexpected utility of the new footbridges came to surface, after a military truck hit some school children in a northern suburb. As a crowd gathered around the accident, previously unnoticed troops appeared seemingly out of nowhere and took position on the new pedestrian foot bridges above the crowd with an advantageous line of fire should the mob turn unruly as they had a few months before. "After the ’88 coup, the whole city plan was geared to take control of the city," according to journalist Bertil Lintner. And while measures were taken to secure the city, the main concern was to prevent a resurgent student movement. In 1988, the students led a formidable challenge to the regime which the junta brutally crushed, earning the students’ ire by killing and imprisoning thousands of them. Over the last twelve years, the government has modified its approach to dealing with student-led opposition movements and in doing so altered the landscape of Rangoon. Underlying this change in modus operandi appears the intention to prevent a challenge to its rule with the minimum loss of standing. The securing of strategic locations and revamping of the educational system have all come as part of the government’s counter measures to deter and quell dissent. In the past few months, political pressure from the Japanese government has prompted the junta to open universities and colleges. But even before students attend school, they must maneuver through a difficult bureaucratic maze intended to discourage any political activity. Students must sign a pledge promising not to join political parties or student unions as well as distributing pamphlets and present recommendations from their local police office, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) township office and the quarter SPDC office stating that the student is not a threat. And as they return to the classroom, they find a different environment than in the past. For one, two new institutions Dagon and Thanlwyin universities have been built to replace the facilities of Rangoon University’s main campus and its three regional campuses (RC), located not far from downtown Rangoon. However, the two new universities are located far from central Rangoon on the opposite banks of the Nga Moe Yeiq Creek and Bago River, which must be crossed by well-guarded bridges. Analysts view the distant location of the new universities in low population areas as an attempt to separate them from centers of support such as downtown and other campuses. During the December 1996 protests, an estimated 3,000 students from Dagon university marched across Rangoon in an attempt to join their comrades-in-protest at Hle Dan junction. However, barricades at each of the brides crossing Nag Me Yeiq Creek stopped them, cutting them off. "The army used a four cuts strategy against us, separating the students from the people," according to one participant in the 1996 demonstrations. "The satellite townships were filled with protesters who couldn’t get downtown." And while foreign journalist and diplomats were discreetly given directions to the protest sites, the barricades of roads and bridges served to keep them away. Faced with strict security and surveillance by the government, campuses have served as meeting points for student activists; however, the government has attempted to divide and compartmentalize the students to limit their ability to organize. Students majoring in different disciplines study in separate buildings and are separated by year. The gates of walled-in campuses serve as checkpoints where students, faculty and staff must sign in and out. Outsiders are not allowed on campuses. The precautions go so far as to ban student poetry associations. The government’s security precautions go beyond the campus to other traditional venues for political protest, including the Shwedagon Pagoda. Aside from its politico-religious significance as the spiritual center of Burma, the Shwedagon has offered advantageous terrain of wide-open areas for crowds, who could disperse easily in the event of a crackdown. Also, the daily crowd of pilgrims provides cover for political activists. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the Shwedagon to hear Aung San Suu Kyi’s first address in 1988. However, after 1988, a wall was built around the area surrounding the shrine, giving the government increased control of the area by creating choke points at its few entrances. Furthermore, the stationing of troops and informants on the pagoda’s platform has assisted the junta’s control of the terrain. Soldiers are stationed in the back rooms of buildings on the rim of the elevated platform. The southern entrance to the Shwedagon has also been remodeled so that heavy weaponry and troops could be brought up to the platform, according to a foreign scholar of the shrine. Other historically important protest sites, such as City Hall, Hle Dan Junction and Sule Pagoda are also closely monitored. Students can’t begin protests in these areas anymore and prefer downtown, according to activists. Security has been beefed up across the city. Some neighborhoods that participated in the demonstrations were forcibly relocated outside of town in distant satellite suburbs with poor living conditions. In 1988, protesters used the trees along Pyay road to build barricades to slow reinforcements from the military bases in Mingaladon Township trying to reach protests downtown. However, the trees were cut afterwards to guarantee efficient transportation of troops. After 1996, Baho Road, running parallel to Insein road, was built to assist troop movements to the downtown core. And, while the junta attempts to open up the schools to improve their image, the move may cause more political problems than it solves. Many analysts agree that it is only a matter of time before student activists show their force again.