NU urges Myanmar ruling junta to refrain from force

Jakarta, NU Online
The Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) has urged Myanmar’s ruling junta to immediately refrain from force to thousands of Myanmar Buddhist monks and people marching through Yangon, Myanmar late Monday. The PBNU believed the protesters that most of them are monks would not make riots.

“In accordance with the Buddha teachings, it is likely impossible that the monks would do anarchy in the demonstration. That is why, we firmly call on the military violence to soon be ended,” General Chairman of the PBNU KH Hasyim muzadi said at a press conference here on Thursday (27/9).<>

The President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace also called on the Myanmar’s ruling junta to be more democratic and realistic in dealing with the peaceful protest in the country.

As many as 100,000 anti-government protesters led by a phalanx of Buddhist monks marched Monday through Yangon, the largest crowd to demonstrate in Myanmar's biggest city since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the military.

Marching for more than five hours and over at least 20 kilometers, a last hard-core group of more than 1,000 monks and 400 sympathizers finished by walking up to an intersection where police blocked access to the street where democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest.

Making no effort to push past, the marchers chanted a Buddhist prayer with the words "May there be peace," and then dispersed. About 500 onlookers cheered their act of defiance, as 100 riot police with helmets and shield stared stonily ahead.

Some participants claimed there were several hundred thousand marchers in their ranks, but an international aid agency official with employees monitoring the crowd estimated the size was well over 50,000 and approaching 100,000. From the front of the march, witnesses could see a one-mile stretch of eight-lane road filled with people.

The current protests began on Aug. 19 as a movement against economic hardship, after the government sharply raised fuel prices. But they have their basis in long-standing dissatisfaction with the repressive military government. (rif)