Debating the New "Martyrs' Day"
We received the following essay submission, in which the writer relays his conversation about the recent surrenders with a military-aligned Buddhist monk.
I had an interesting discussion with one of my Sayadaws today. He is close to one of the monks who is closest with Min Aung Hlaing. I would consider him as moderately pro-junta and I always find it insightful to hear his perspective on the situation.
First, he asked me how I was feeling and how was life for me in Myanmar nowadays. That usually means he wants to discuss politics! Then he asked me how I felt since January 5th, calling it "our Martyrs' day.” I wasn't sure what he meant and replied that I was aware of the Independence Day on January 4th, but not of any special celebration on the 5th.
He then told me that this is how they now call the surrender of the six generals on the January 5th!
He added, barely being able to hide his deeply rooted Bamar racism, “Can you imagine, six generals, commanders of the Burmese army, considered as the highest ranked officers in our army, commanding more than 6000 soldiers each, surrendering to a bunch of Chinese savages living in the jungle. What a shame! What a DISGRACE! What a humiliation.” He repeated several times his belief that this was the first time it happened in the Myanmar history.
I agreed with him and said that, “Yes, this has not happened in modern Myanmar history.” He corrected me and said, “No, it was the first time since the Bagan Era that such a disgrace befell to Myanmar!” He could not contain his anger against Min Aung Hlaing and claimed that from now on, nobody will ever respect him again, and that he hasn't got the support from anyone anymore, that finally people understood who he really was and how useless that army was. I pointed out that the vast majority of people had already realized that a long time ago and that they didn't need that January 5th surrender to start realizing how hopeless this army was. He said, “You know, some people who were supporting the army had certain views and perspectives and their opponents did have different views, and the matter is not to discuss who was right or wrong [I had to contain myself at this point as you can imagine!], but now, this is completely different, disgrace has fallen on us, and who knows if we can ever recover from this fall from grace!”
He then mentioned last week's incident with Pauk Sayadaw, not referring to him as a Mabatha monk, but somehow depicting him as a monk who was until now a proud admirer of the noble armed forces of Myanmar, and who naturally and rightfully expressed his strong dismay and consternation at the current state of the Tatmadaw.
I guess the difference is that the six generals weren't defectors and didn't switch sides, they just surrendered by raising the white flag, without ever engaging in battle. This seemed to deeply bother the Sayadaw. “It's really a question of dishonor and disgrace which irreparably tarnishes the ‘purity’ of the armed forces,” he said. This adds to the racial aspect of the humiliation inflicted by "jungle Chinese" to these Bamar generals.
That's when I pointed out that it was already impure and rotten from the beginning, given their history of slaughtering their own people in the most brutal and violent ways, instead of protecting their nation against the attacks of other nations as should be the role of an army. His reply was that this was a matter of opinion and perspectives, and that people from opposite sides viewed this differently.
I didn't want to pursue along those lines because I could feel that no well-crafted enough argument or well-chosen piece of evidence would change his mind. However I happily entered that door he had opened widely on the current hopelessness and uselessness of the army, even though our motivations to do so were opposite!