Two eyewitnesses to the massacre that occurred at Depayin in northern Burma on May 30 gave sworn testimony on Friday to Senator Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. Neither the military junta in Rangoon nor the administration of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra were particularly happy. They will probably be even more unhappy when these two eyewitnesses start to speak out in Europe and the United States.
It's strange and more than a little disconcerting that in a country that purports to be a functioning democracy substantial official pressure was directed at the eyewitnesses and at the chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs to silence the witnesses. Fortunately, their testimony is now available on the public record.
Khin Zaw, one of the eyewitnesses, gives us this account of the massacre in which at least 70 people were killed by thugs hired by the military dictatorship:
``... Then the people with weapons jumped down from the trucks and started attacking the villagers, who were welcoming Daw [Aung San] Suu [Kyi]... I think these Buddhist monks were fake monks.... We saw them taking out red cloths and wrapping them around their arms down to the elbow level. Accordingly, it was clear that they had planned in advance for the attack. I think wrapping the red cloth around the arm was an arrangement to prevent mistaken attack and to make them distinct from the monks who had accompanied us.
``While the commotion was thus taking place, the thugs who had hidden in the bushes in advance came to join forces with those who had come in trucks. They were also armed with iron bars, pointed iron rods, bamboo sticks and wooden bats. They numbered about 3,000... It was a time when everyone had to run for his life.
``At first, I did think about helping our leaders and our NLD members. On second thoughts, I realised that I would surely die before I got to my leaders... because I had first to pass through the killing ground. It was frightening even to imagine.
``Before my own eyes, people were being beaten savagely. I was hearing the wounded, dying victims moaning and wailing in pain, shrieking in agony, and crying out for help. At that time, as the attackers from the Dyna trucks were shouting unspeakable abuses it was just like hell boiling over. I saw with my own eyes the attackers striking down the victims with all their force and stabbing with pointed iron rods. Truly, it was a murderous attack. The beating was done until the victims died.''
The second eyewitness, Wunna Maung, was close to Mrs Suu Kyi's car during the attack:
``When the glass was broken, they jabbed into the car with the rods they were carrying... Daw Suu escaped beating because she did not get out of the car. If she did, the attackers would have beaten her to death, because the attackers were totally drunk. They did not look like they were drunk on liquor but they looked as if they were high on drugs...''
While the rest of the world has condemned the attack and the continuing detention of Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi in the strongest possible terms, Asean, and Thailand in particular, has essentially acquiesced to the military dictatorship in Rangoon.
This is not good for Thailand or the Burmese. One day, sooner rather than later, Burma will be free and today's Burmese freedom fighters will look around to see who their true friends have been. Thailand will not be found to be one of them and may suffer accordingly.