Ashin Sopaka at a discussion
after the Burma VJ screening at the Best Friend Library in Chiang Mai (March
2010)
Do you
expect more protests with the upcoming elections?
Ashin
Sopaka: Do you
want to join? (laughs) it is possible. I can’t say for sure but it is possible.
I heard just yesterday that NLD is organizing. Because of the new election law
they can not register as a party. Most of their members are in prison or have
been in prison. According to the new law prisoners or ex-prisoners can not be
members of a party. Aung San Suu Kyi her self is under house arrest, has faced
trials. So it is very difficult for them to register. They reject the
constitution but if they want to register as a party they would automatically accept
it. The party, their movement is now standing with the back against the wall,
there is now way to move anymore. So they have to do something for this reason
it is possible. This time it is very important for all to coorporate, students,
monks, even soldiers and all people in the country and around the world. Then
we can see the change. I believe in non violence. Non violence is our
background, also Daw Aung San Suu Kyi believes in non violence like many other
people around the world. With this power we have to continue. Inside Burma
there are many people who would like to join us, so with this power we can do.
Of cause we hope that international organizations such as UN will take care of
us. They always say: “We are closely monitoring” but they are in New York. They
are just talking very nicely. What does this mean “closely monitoring”? What
are they doing? In Burma the regime is shooting the monks on the street, people
are dying. But they are only saying “we are closely monitoring”.
In the
past Burma was closed up. I remember whenever I went there you could not see
any international television, only Burmese government radio and TV stations.
How is this situation now? What has changed with the satellite TV and through
Internet. Because this kind of international networks makes it very difficult
for the government to keep people misinformed, what their policy used to be.
Ashin
Sopaka: In this
high-tech age they can not control everything. DVB for example is broadcasting
via satellite. So many people, I heard are watching their program. The DVB is
now broadcasting 24 hours. They repeat the program sometimes for one or two
hours. Many people record it, copy it and spread it. The majority of Burmese
people still rely on radios. That’s why you saw the propaganda in the film.
They know that many are listening to BBC, VIA and Radio Free Asia. They are
broadcasting every day in the morning and in the afternoon. I my self learned a
lot from BBC and VIA. Since I was 14 years old I was automatically listening.
Because my teacher was listening to it every evening and I had to massage him.
I learned a lot and got much information.
Then there is the Internet. Even
though the regime has slowed down the speed and extended the controls. It is
impossible to control the whole Internet. These days there are so many Blogs.
The young people are also very smart, they copy the information and then they
send it via email. I get such emails almost every day. That’s why it is
impossible for them to block. The information technology is like a big flowing
see, they can not stop it. We have to teach the young people how to use this
technology. It gives us big power. We want to overcome the violence through a
non violent way and for this non violent way it is very important to use the new
technologies.
What do
you think will result from the elections this year. Are you hopeful or are you
skeptical?
Ashin
Sopaka: I was
asked the same question the day before yesterday. I said, I don’t call this an
election. I call it a football game with only one team playing. According to
the new law there are many restrictions. Party members must not be in jail,
they must not have been in prison, they must not be facing a trial and so on.
Many restrictions plus, if a party wishes to register they must accept the 2008
constitution, which is not a democratically constitution, written by the
representatives of the people. So if a party registers for the election they
automatically give their acceptance to this constitution. In this constitution
is for example written that it is at any time possible for the military to
clench power. We don’t want any more military government in Burma. The military
has been in power for too long, since 1962, for more than 40 years now. It is a
very difficult situation now for the parties. If they register, they have to
accept this constitution, if they do not register they have to face even more
repression than until now. So very difficult. We wish to see both, the
government and the opposition groups talk together, find a solution and play in
the election as two teams together. Not only one team, that is a joke. That’s
how I see it, how I understand it.
How do you
think the general public, the overall people feels about the election. Do you
think they feel like, lets give it a chance, or do you think they feel also
that this is a one team play?
Ashin
Sopaka: Mostly the
people don’t believe in this election. They know why this election is
happening. It is happening because of the 2007 Saffron Revolution. They had to
set up a date, because otherwise the uprising would have continued. So they
declared that there would be an election. It is a part of the seven steps on
the “road map to democracy”. This road map started in 2003 because of the
Depayin massacre. On 30 May of 2003 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party members
were attacked. Between 70 and 100 people died. Because of the high
international pressure at that time the former prime minister announced these
seven steps and the international pressure stopped. This election is only the
fifth step, there will be two more. We don’t know when we will be finished, how
long it will take no body knows. There is no guaranty that they will hand over
power to the winning party. That’s why many people don’t trust this election.
The people believe we need to make the next protest. This is the way because we
can not relay on the international organizations such as UN or EU. The EU
countries have commonly criticized the regime and did sanctions but
individually countries like France and Germany are silently still working
together with the regime. Even some British companies are still working
silently together with the regime. Mostly, the governments around the world are
concentrating on business, not justice. So if we compare justice and business
on a scale, the business side will be more powerful. The business side is very
high on the scale, justice is very low and week. I think somehow they can help
like “closely monitoring” but if we really want change we have to do it by our
self. We have to tell the people and have to prepare systematically the next
steps.
What role
do you want the UN to play?
Ashin
Sopaka: I would
like the UN to say “stop killing in Burma!”. I wish that the UN would practice
democracy, because they don’t practice democracy now. They always talk about
democracy but in the Security Counsel there are five countries. And two
countries like Russia and China are one group. The other three counties UK, US
and France are one group. These two groups can not come together. In their
hands is the veto power. So if fourteen counties say yes, one of these five
counties can because of this veto power say no and decide the question. The one
can control the outcome. In this case the veto power is a kind of dictator
ship. It doesn’t work. It is the reason why they can not stop the violence
around the world. If they believe in democracy they need to practice democracy.
It is very difficult because
China and Russia are closely working with the Burmese regime. The Burmese
regime can always be sure that China and Russia will veto every decision, what
ever may be discussed at the table of the Security Counsel concerning Burma. In
this situation it is very difficult to expect something from the Security
Counsel, the highest power of the UN. So the question is, do they wish to
practice democracy or not? That’s why I say don’t relay on UN, they will never
do anything. They themselves are fighting. Better have no expectations. So I
have two answers to this question: start practicing democracy and stop the
violence in Burma.
And we don’t need so many
statements from the UN. So many long statements without actions. They spend a
lot of money for envoys going to Burma but there is no action.
