19th Anniversary of March 13, 1988

March 13, 1988. Rangoon Institute of Technology(RIT), Insein, Rangoon, Burma.

Scores of RIT students were in confrontation with Burmese Riot Police. The mass unrest was triggered by the release of Zaw Zaw (a) Nyi Nyi Lwin, reportedly to be a son of Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) Ward’s People Council. He was allegedly involved in hitting the RIT students at Sandar Win Teashop on March 12, 1988 together with his friends.

There were 300 or 400 students at that time against two platoons of Riot Police. No one at that time knew this day would bring the very first casualty of thousands killed throughout the turbulent year of 1988. On this day the struggle against 26 year rule of BSPP was started.

Picture:Demonstration in front of Rangoon General Hospital, 1988.

In a Riot Report Commission report released on May 1988, the RIT incident was mentioned as below.

Some of the personnel who were responsible for maintaining order and security and some members of the squad were hit by stones and got hurt and they began to use water hoses from fire engines to break up the crowd. About 15 minutes later the fire engines ran out of water.

The students got more rowdy with more throwing of stones. The Rangoon Division People's Police Force Commander ordered the platoon commander of the riot squad to use tear-gas to break up the crowd and if the crowd did not break up and members of the squad were in danger of being harmed, six of the twelve members who were armed with Remington twelve-bore shot-guns were to open fire at a level close to the ground.

The riot squad entered the campus of the Rangoon Institute of Technology and broke up the crowd using 14 tear-gas bombs six of which were fired by guns and eight of which were thrown by hand as well as opening fire with six Remington shot-guns each using only one shot. Five students got wounded and one of them, Maung Phone Maw, died.

According to the testimonies of the Police Surgeon and other doctors, as well as the Ballistic Expert of the Criminal Investigation Department (Insein), the lead shots extracted from the wounds of the students were found to be those which came from shot-guns.

So, student Maung Phone Maw of the RIT succumbed to the wounds caused by shots from amonst six shot-guns numbered 755856, 756438, 755554, 753695, 753170 and 753816 used by members of the riot squad. Besides Maung Phone Maw, RIT student Maung Soe Naing also succumbed to the bullet wounds on 5-4-88 while undergoing medical treatment at the Rangoon General Hospital.

If (if) the report is to be believed (which I never do), the sequence should go like this.

1. Use tear-gas to break up the crowd and if the crowd did not break up and members of the squad were in danger of being harmed,
2. Six of the twelve members who were armed with Remington twelve-bore shot-guns were to open fire at a level close to the ground.

However, if you read carefully, you can see the sequence went

1. Broke up the crowd using 14 tear-gas bombs
2. Opened fire with six Remington shot-guns each using only one shot.

There was no sign of waiting to see IF the crowd broke up after firing tear-gas. And there was no sign of firing guns level close to the ground.

More students were arrested on the following days. According to the report, a total of 625 RIT students were arrested on 15, 16, and 17 March. 484 students were released on 16 April and on 1 May but 141 remained under custody.

It is now 19 years after that incident. But we remember them and we give our respect to them.

For Ko Phone Maw, for Ko Soe Naing and thousands who lost their lives, we vow to continue the struggle in anyway we can until our last breath.