HISTORYPOST-1990 MYANMAR3052002
In March, Ne Win’s
son-in-law and
three grandsons are
arrested for plotting
to overthrow the junta;
Ne Win is placed under
house arrest and dies
5 December, aged 91.2003
Aung San Suu Kyi
and NLD members
are attacked by pro-
government mobs in
northern Myanmar; up
to 100 are killed. ‘The
Lady’ is again placed
under house arrest.2004
Having brokered a
ceasefi re agreement
with Karen insurgents,
Prime Minister Khin
Nyunt, the moderate
voice in the military
who outlined a seven-
point ‘roadmap’
for democracy, is
arrested.2006
General Than Shwe
and the government
move the capital from
Yangon to Nay Pyi Taw,
a new city in central
Myanmar.Unexpectedly, monk-led crowds were allowed to pray with Aung San
Suu Kyi from outside her house gates on 22 September. Two days later,
anything from 50,000 to 150,000 protestors marched through the streets
of Yangon in what would become known as the ‘Saff ron Revolution’. All the
while the government watched, photographing participants.
On 26 September the army began shooting protestors and imposed a
curfew. A monk was beaten to death, monasteries were raided and 100
monks were arrested. The following day, a soldier was caught on video
fatally shooting Japanese photographer, Kenji Nagai at the southwest
corner of Sule Paya Rd and Anawrahta Rd in central Yangon (Nagai may
have been mistaken for a local, as he was wearing a longyi). Two days
later, with around 3000 people arrested and 31 people dead, the protests
were quashed, and an unsettled quiet hung over Myanmar’s cities.
Cyclone Nargis
In the aftermath of the 2007 demonstrations, Than Shwe made promises
to fend off outside criticism. First, he fi nalised the long-delayed new consti-
tution, which had been under discussion since 1993 and which included a
provision that the generals would not be legally held to account for crimes
against the population committed during their governing period. Second,
he announced a national referendum for it on 10 May 2008. But on 2 May
a natural disaster took hold, as Cyclone Nargis – the second-deadliest cy-
clone in recorded history – tore across an unaware Ayeyarwady Delta.
Cyclone Nargis’ 121mph winds, and the tidal surge that followed, swept
away bamboo-hut villages, leaving over two million survivors without
shelter, food or drinking water. Damages were estimated at $2.4 billion.
Yangon avoided the worst, but the winds (at 80mph) still overturned
power lines and trees, leaving the city without power for two weeks.
The government was widely condemned for its tepid response to
the disaster. Outside aid groups were held up by a lack of visas and the
Legend has it
that Buddha gave
eight of his hairs
to a couple of
visiting Burmese
merchants 3000
years ago. They
are enshrined in
Yangon’s Shwed-
agon Paya.BUDDHA
A DIFFERENT KIND OF REVOLUTIONAs David Steinberg points out in Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know, the
Saff ron Revolution was neither saff ron nor a revolution. Burmese monks wear maroon
(not saff ron) coloured robes for a start. The revolutionary part of the events of 2007 was
that, for the fi rst time, they were broadcast via smuggled out videos on satellite TV or
the internet. ‘For the fi rst time in Burmese history, violent suppression by the state was
not simply a matter of rumour but was palpably visible’, writes Steinberg. For a nail-
biting account of how such incendiary video evidence was captured, watch the Oscar-
nominated documentary Burma VJ (www.burmavjmovie.com).