Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1988, a day of numerological auspiciousness. Entire neighbourhoods of Yangon were taken
over by demonstrators, which now included people from all realms of Burmese society in-
cludingdoctors,monks,lawyers,armyveteransandgovernmentworkers,causingpoliceand
army to retreat in the face of the sheer scale of the protests.
On August 26, Aung San's daughter,
Aung San Suu Kyi
, made her first public speech,
addressing half a million people at the Shwedagon Pagoda, urging the people and army to
work together peacefully and becoming, almost overnight, the defining symbol of the na-
tion's struggle for democracy in Myanmar. Events seemed to be moving definitively in the
protesters' favour. Dr Maung Maung, a legal scholar and the only non-military member of
the junta's political mouthpiece, the BSPP, was appointed as head of government, offering
the promise of imminent elections.
Then, on September 18, 1988, the military suddenly and decisively struck back, imposing
martiallawandbreakingupprotestswithnewandunprecedentedbrutalityinthenameofthe
newlyestablished
StateLawandOrderRestorationCouncil(SLORC)
.Themilitaryonce
again assumed total control of the country, under the leadership of Ne Win protégé
General
SawMaung
.Troopsroamedthroughcitiesnationwide,shootingrandomlyatprotesters:over
1500 were murdered in the first week of SLORC rule alone. Aung San Suu Kyi appealed for
international help, but within a few days the protests had been effectively crushed. As many
astenthousandBurmesearethoughttohavediedintheuprising,withmanymoremissingor
fled. The prospect of a democratic Myanmar - which had seemed so tantalizingly close for
one heady month in August - was now as far away as ever.
