Refugees from Myanmar living in Finland fear looming bloodbath in home country

Internet community and SMS messages urge wearing of red in solidarity with protest movement

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Finland and the European Union should put pressure on the military junta ruling in Myanmar, the former Burma, in order to prevent a bloobath that appears to be looming in the country. An EU delegation should be sent to seek an audience with the ruling junta and to mediate in the crisis. The junta will listen, if the mediators threaten to cut off diplomatic relations with Myanmar.
      These are the messages which a group of refugees from Myanmar, now resident in Finland, wished to send pointedly to Finnish Members of Parliament and to the country’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
      The Myanmar refugees Maung Maung Soe, a former Buddhist monk, Ko Ko Thett, a former student activist, and Hti Aung Khaing, who is familiar with some rebel groups, were visiting Parliament at the invitation of MP Pekka Haavisto on Thursday, and they also met with some representatives of the press.
     
The matter is of the greatest urgency. Otherwise the shootings seen on Thursday could develop into a massacre, they fear.
      "The EU should do something more than just put out empty phrases. The military regime did not care about warnings, and now a number of people have already died", argued Hti Aung Khaing.
     
Maung Maung Soe stressed that the protest movement launched by some monastic organisations calls for help from the international community, in order that the crisis can be resolved by peaceful means. However, the signs are not good, as the armed forces who have been ruling in Myanmar for 45 years have never before made any efforts to resolve domestic problems through dialogue, he noted.
      The international community should wake up now instead of having to pick up the pieces later, said Ko Ko Thett.
      However, Ko Ko Thett regarded it as a good sign that the attitude of China, the most significant friend of the Myanmar military junta, has apparently changed. He claimed that China made an appeal for a peaceful resolution of the conflict to the Foreign Minister of the junta during his recent visit to Beijing.
     
China’s change of mind is linked with the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing , Ko Ko Thett believes. China is not willing to take the risk of disturbing the games because of Myanmar.
      In the same vein, the Burmese nationals living in Finland think that the proposal made by a British MEP to boycott the 2008 Olympic Games would be an excellent way to speed up change for the better in Myanmar.
      Ko Ko Thett noted further that the backstage pressure put on Myanmar by Beijing may already have affected the military junta, as the soldiers have not acted in the same way as during the 1988 massacre.
      Even the opposition is currently stronger than in 1988, the refugees noted. If the military regime falls, the leader of the opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi, is ready to rise to power.
     
The number of the expressions of sympathy towards the anti-government protests in Yangon (the former Rangoon) and elsewhere has also surged on the Internet.
      People have been exhorted on the Facebook website as well as through SMS messages - "In support of our incredibly brave friends in Burma: May all people around the world wear a red shirt on Friday, September 28. Please forward." - to show their solidarity with those on the streets. Others have urged the mass-mailing of Chinese and Myanmar embassies and missions as a means of concentrating minds.
      Next Tuesday a candle-lit demonstration will be arranged in front of Parliament in Helsinki.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  EU criticises China for restricting freedom of expression as ASEM summit ends (12.9.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat