I read with great sadness and anger on what the Myanmar
Government is doing to to its people who have chosen a non-violent
way of protest. They are using excessive force against people
without any weapons or intention of harming anybody. This is a
crime against humanity, similar to those happening back in 1989
Tianan Man.
Those who give order to open fire, sending bullets into the bodies
of civilians and monks should be charged in international court for
war crimes. If we could send people in army uniform to war crime
tribunal for massacred of civilians, I do not see why we should
tolerate a regime that apply brutal force against their own
citizens who act in a non-violent way.
I cannot understand how those soldiers could just follow orders
blindly and fire upon civilians that are not armed. Maybe these
barbaric dictators do not have any sense of shame in doing such
things. They do not know the proper way of handling non-violent
protests other than shooting their guns at the protesters. There
are riot gear, water cannon, tear gas or even rubber bullets. Using
small arms to fire at the protesters is totally unacceptable and
this should equate to murder or homicide.
I am calling out to our PAP government to stand on the side of
humanity to condemn the Myanmar Government for its excessive use of
brutal force against peaceful protesters. Our government should cut
any direct involvement in helping the Murderous Myanmar regime to
perpetuate its draconian rule, particularly, those that involve
arms manufacturing and trading. There are some things in this world
that is more valuable than making money and that is preservation of
human lives and the spirit of basic human decency. We should
preserve our own National pride and dignity in not dealing with
these hooligans.
Singapore, as a key player in ASEAN, should exert its influence to
stop the insane and inhumane Myanmar Junta from committing more
bloodshed and crimes to humanity on its own land. When everything
fails, I think the only decent thing left for us to do is to follow
the good old saying of distancing ourselves away from such "bad
influence". When we were young, our parents always told us to stay
away from bullies, gangsters and people of bad characters. It is
only wise to do so. We should boycott the Myanmar Junta Government
totally in protest of such crimes against humanity, until they
could come to their senses and respect basic human rights and
decency.
Goh Meng Seng
From Yahoo News:
YANGON, Myanmar - Soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of
anti-government protesters Thursday as tens of thousands defied the
ruling military junta's crackdown with a 10th straight day of
demonstrations.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official told The Associated Press that
several people, including a Japanese national, were found dead
following Thursday's protests.
The information was transmitted by Myanmar's Foreign Ministry to
the Japanese Embassy in Yangon, the official said on condition of
anonymity citing protocol.
The chaos came a day after the government said clashes in Yangon
killed at least one man. Dissidents outside Myanmar reported
receiving news of up to eight deaths Wednesday.
Some reports said the dead included monks, who are widely revered
in Myanmar, and the emergence of such martyr figures could stoke
public anger against the regime and escalate the violence.
Witnesses told the AP that five men were arrested and severely
beaten Thursday after soldiers fired into a crowd near a bridge
across the Pazundaung River on the east side of downtown
Yangon.
Shots were fired after several thousand protesters on the west side
of the river ignored orders to disband.
In other parts of the city, some protesters shouted "Give us
freedom, give us freedom!" at soldiers. Thousands ran through the
streets after warning shots were fired into crowds that had swollen
to 70,000. Bloody sandals were left lying in the road.
Thursday's protests followed early morning raids on Buddhist
monasteries during which soldiers reportedly beat up monks and
arrested more than 100.
The monks have spearheaded the largest challenge to the military
junta in the isolated Southeast Asian nation since a failed
uprising in 1988. In that crisis, soldiers shot into crowds of
peaceful demonstrators, killing some 3,000 people.
As the stiffest challenge to the generals in two decades, the
crisis that began Aug. 19 with protests over a fuel price hike has
drawn increasing international pressure on the regime, especially
from its chief economic and diplomatic ally, China.
"China hopes that all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and
properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation
there does not escalate and get complicated," Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Thursday at a twice-weekly media
briefing.
The United States called on Myanmar's military leaders to open a
dialogue with peaceful protesters and urged China to do what it can
to prevent further bloodshed.
"We all need to agree on the fact that the Burmese government has
got to stop thinking that this can be solved by police and
military, and start thinking about the need for genuine
reconciliation with the broad spectrum of political activists in
the country," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher
Hill in Beijing.
Myanmar's state-run newspaper blamed "saboteurs inside and outside
the nation" for causing the protests in Yangon, and said the
demonstrations were much smaller than the media are
reporting.
"Saboteurs from inside and outside the nation and some foreign
radio stations, who are jealous of national peace and development,
have been making instigative acts through lies to cause internal
instability and civil commotion," The New Light of Myanmar, which
serves as a mouthpiece for the military government said
Thursday.
Also Thursday, security forces arrested Myint Thein, the spokesman
for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, family
members said.
Several other monasteries that are considered hotbeds of the
pro-democracy movement were raided by security forces before dawn
in an apparent attempt to prevent the demonstrations spearheaded by
the Buddhist clergy.
A monk at Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery pointed to bloodstains on the
concrete floor and said a number of monks were beaten and at least
100 of its 150 monks taken away in vehicles. Shots were fired in
the air during the chaotic raid, he said on condition of anonymity
for fear of reprisals.
"Soldiers slammed the monastery gate with the car, breaking the
lock and forcing it into the monastery," the monk said. "They
smashed the doors down, broke windows and furniture. When monks
resisted, they shot at the monks and used tear gas and beat up the
monks and dragged into trucks."
Empty bullet shells, broken doors, furniture and glass peppered the
bloodstained, concrete floor of the monastery.
A female lay disciple said a number of monks also were arrested at
the Moe Gaung monastery, which was being guarded by soldiers. Both
monasteries are located in Yangon's northern suburbs.
Dramatic images of Wednesday's protests, many transmitted by
dissidents using cell phones and the Internet, riveted world
attention on the escalating faceoff between the military regime and
its opponents.
