Burmese Generals Play Waiting Game

Burmese Generals Play Waiting Game

For the third day in succession monks have staged protests in Burma. The clergy seem intent on confronting the military after the removal of fuel subsidies last month caused enormous hardship for many ordinary Burmese, who were already struggling to survive.

In a deliberately defiant act, hundreds of monks marched past the headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma's main opposition party headed by Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi. Separate demonstrations also occurred in downtown Rangoon and in the northern city of Mandalay.

Dissent is uncommon in Burma since the massive "people power" protests of August 1988, when soldiers killed an estimated 5,000 civilians, many of them monks and students. 

For now the generals seem to be playing a waiting game, trying to find a way to control the deeply revered monks. In the meantime, a stand-off exists between the morally courageous monks and a morally bankrupt military junta. The next few weeks will prove decisive for the future of one of Asia's poorest countries. 

ENDS

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