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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 30, No. 11. 1967.

Asian student groups clash

Asian student groups clash

ASPB

Rangoon: "If you cannot accept our policy, go back to Red China" shouted thousands of Burmese students gathered in front of a Chinese school here to protest the wearing of Mao badges by students of Chinese origin (there are about one million Chinese in Burma; total Burmese population: 25 million).

This simple peaceful demon-stration on the morning of June 26 soon spread to other cities and culminated in the wrecking of windows, burning of cars and the death of scores of Chinese. Burmese and Indians Radio Peking gave a figure of 50: New China News Agency pruned it to 18) including an employee of the Chinese Embassy.

The trouble started from the small village of Myitkyina in Northern Burma, about 50 kilometers from the border with China. There the Chinese started distributing badges bearing the head of Mao Tsetung to students and young people.

The "movement" soon travelled south and finally erupted in Rangoon, where the Chinese diplomats were noticed distributing these badges and Chinese students started flashing them. Burmese students reacted very strongly to this exhibition of "extra territorial loyality" on the part of the Chinese students and soon the Government banned the use of all badges—including Mao's —in the schools and colleges.

Some Chinese students be-longing to two schools in Rangoon organised a sit-in as early as June 22 to protest the Government order and went to the extent of assaulting two press photographers who were taking pictures of the demonstration. The Government closed both the schools indefinitely fearing further trouble.

The Chinese students re-fused to accept the Government order, continued to wear the Maobadges and waved the little red book of Mao's thoughts at the protesting Burmese students. In fact the Chinese students told their teachers on June 24 that there would be "trouble" if they were not permitted to wear the badges.

What infuriated the Burmese students most was the defiance of the national flag by the Chinese who, according to Rangoon's Guardian, "urinated and trampled on it."

They are reported to have smashed the portraits of Burma's revered national leader, the late Aung San and Head of State. General Ne Win.

The Chinese students are also reported to have raped and killed two Burmese women teachers, locked up their head-masters and continued to distribute Mao badges under the supervision of Chinese diplomats and a reporter of New China News Agency.

The angry Burmese students retaliated by creating havoc in the city's Chinatown: in all 100 persons got injured; around 40-50 were killed; 50 cais and 1.000 houses and shops were reduced to ashes; a Chinese embassy employee was stabbed to death and the windows and doors of Chinese schools were smashed.

The riots which continued for three days in Rangoon (June 26-28) also spread to other major towns like Mandalay, Magwe, Moulmein, Pyinmana. Bassein, Yenangyaung and Taunggyi.

In Mandalay a big procession of undergrads hit the streets shouting "Down with Maoism."

Alarmed over the deteriorating situation, the Burmese Head of State General Ne Win imposed a one month ban on demonstrations, arrested 112 students, used tear gas shells to disperse the crowd, closed all colleges and schools and interned indisciplined Chinese students. Rangoon was also clamped down under curfew and later martial law was proclaimed.

One peculiar feature of the three-day riot in Rangoon was that in spite of heavy damage to Chinese property and personnel, there was no looting or stealing. Even gold and cash, found in considerable quanti-ties in Chinese establishments, was thrown into bonfires without any second thoughts. A good deal of expensive textiles, cement etc were found burnt.

Chinese Government quickly lodged a "most urgent and strong" protest and accused the Burmese Government, particularly General Ne Win. of "instigating and engineering" the anti-Chinese riots. Peking also demanded "immediate compliance of five demands" including release of interned Chinese students.

Radio Peking went one step further and threatened avenge by "Chinese nationals armed (With the thought of Mao Tsetung."

Burma's Mirror politely replied that "Burma's 25 million people were only armed with love and sincerity."

While these protests were being traded between the two Governments. Peking's Red Guards beseiged the Burmese Embassy in the Chinese capital and blared anti-Burmese slogans. It was the 9th foreign mission in recent months to be attacked by Red Guards, the others being: USSR, Yugoslavia, France. Indonesia. Britain, Mongolia, Bulgaria and India.

China also recalled its ambassador and Burma became the third nonaligned country in Asia to have only Charge de Affiairs relations with China, the other two being India and Indonesia.

The Government, which had interned 530 Chinese students at a special camp, offered to send them home with their parents, but, they refused to go and demanded interviews with Chinese diplomats. The student leaders locked all the students in the camp and asked their parents to go home, They assaulted two mothers, who come to fetch their sons.

Burma's outlawed pro-Peking faction (White Flags) of the Communist Party echoed Peking's line and asked people "to overthrow General Ne Win's Government" which was "fawning on American imperialists, consorting with Soviet revisionists and join-ing hands with Chiang Kai-Shek."

Malaysia's leading daily newspaper The Straits Times summed up the situation aptly. In its editorial entitled "Burma's Turn," it asked "What went wrong" and the gave a five word reply—"the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution."