2/25/2021
- I skipped out on the Indonesian Consolate demonstration yesterday. Thank goodness there’s no more Suharto running Indonesia, and recognizing the worldwide outcry against sucking up to the regime, Indonesia has now backed down. They are a growing regional player in SE Asia. It’s in the US interest to have a democratic country there gaining influence as a check against a heavy handed (with stuffed pockets) China. But Indonesia’s proposal was laughable. Basically: “What if we just say yes to the Coup but insist that if they -don’t- keep to this new election schedule, we’ll be really mad.” This infuriated the Civil Disobedience Movement. But there is a place for some good cop bad cop. Many billions of dollars in assets are frozen now and even the World Bank has cut them off.
- Saw lovely pics of a multidenominational anti-coup vigil out of Mon State/Tenasserim Division with monks, imams, priests etc. The part I struggle with is that when forced to pay bribes, look at their country in shambles, weather power outages etc. they hate but put up with the regime without truly understanding the brutality deployed by the tatmadaw in the ethnic regions, which far exceeds even what the current coup regime has been doing in the big cities so far. So while hitting the streets and asking the world why it doesn’t do anything about human rights, as soon as this dies down they want to go about their lives or in the case of the monks their buddhist practices and teachings.
- Thinking about a future more compassionate governing body and more power-checking constitution by which repatriation of the Rohingya is possible. But right now, I understand the Rohingya in the refugee zones are terrified that the government of Bangladesh will recognize the coup government and try to get rid of their refugee problem by sending them back to face the regime’s attack dogs.
- Speaking of which, that idea of the regime releasing criminals and ordering them to loot and pillage seemed a little crazy at first. But it was learned by residents who organized against them, detained and interviewed them. The CDM believe the thugs are being told, wirelessly, what to do and who to target:
- On FB, security camera video here of men, women and children fleeing from a bunch of these thugs, one of whom is seen brazenly wielding the pick about 30 seconds in.
- The state controlled TV stations are broadcasting endless drivel about the heroic efforts of the military and police who are protecting the public interest and keeping the country from falling apart. I’m hearing this from everyone - they are afraid this messaging is also being taken up in the outside world (I don’t know of anyone, but I do stumble across FB feeds of pro-military Burmese which are awash in propaganda). They’re definitely not reporting on the anti-coup factions within, like this one (if you see hands raised flat with no bent finger, resembling a seig heil, those are pro-regime “demonstrations”):
