PEACE  ELUDES  U  THANT 

(U Thant of Burma was United Nation’s Secretary General during 1964 to 1974)

 True Story written by former leader of Student Movements in Burma, Henry Soe Win

U Thant gave ten year of his life working for peace and goodwill among men, but he himself become the subject of a bloodbath that sent shock waves across the Burmese capital of Rangoon.

What made this sad irony of history even sadder was that the famous mediator could barely utter a word as his body lay inert and helpless while blood flowed freely and violence raged unchecked around him----in his own motherland to which he had finally returned to rest in peace.

U THANT had served as Burma’s representative in the United Nations for three years before being unanimously elected to the post of the world’ highest body. This calm, serene-looking statesman, the first Asian to be entrusted with “ the most impossible job in the world ”, as his predecessor Trygvie Lie puts it, had dedicated hid life to ward off the scourge of war and hunger and to promote peace and goodwill among mankind.

For his dedication, he had won accolades from fellow Asians and Westerners alike. Upon his death on November 25, 1974 at the age of 65, a Thai Foreign Ministry Spokesman had said : “ Thailand is very proud of U THANT for his contribution to world peace. The Thai Government recognises and praises his dedication……” President Gerald Ford of U.S.A. had called him : “ Above all……, man of peace ”.

Unprecedented honours were bestowed upon U THANT when he become the first person to lie in state at the UN Headquarters, his body being on view for 24 hours. The UN flag was flown at half-mast and an emergency meeting was postponed for 24 hours in honour of U THANT.

The Burmese people were extremely proud of U THANT and when his remains were flown in from New York on December 1, 1974, a huge throng packed Rangoon’s Mingaladon Airport to receive the casket. There were U THANT’relatives, foreign diplomats, students, monks, and laymen. However, the people who were most conspicuous by their absence were the high-ranking members of the regime which rules U THANT’s motherland.

Murmurs of indignation and shock rippled through the crowd over the apparent discourtesy. There were soon to find further evidence that the regime does not intend to give more than a perfunctory treatment to the remains of this illustrious son of Burma, and that the much-expected state funeral would never materialise.

In stark contrast to the unprecedented honours received at the UN.U THANT’s body lay under a hastily built pavilion in the middle of a dust-blown, sun-scorched suburban field which was formerly the Rangoon Turf Club. It is know called the  Kyaikkasan Grounds and is used as an assembly site for government-engineered rallies.

With a “ guard of honour ”, consisting of a handful of callous Red Cross youths, U THANT’s remains had lain for four days at the kyaikkasan Grounds during which rime thousands of people, including diplomats, had flocked to this distant field to pay their respects. December 5^th, was marked for U THANT’s funeral and internment at the Kyandaw cemetery, about four miles to the west.

By that day, students form Rangoon’s colleges, universities and institutes had formed funeral committees and approached bus associations for hire of buses to accompany the funeral cortege. They were, however, courteously informed by the bus operators that the regime had expressly forbidden them to hire any buses in connection with U THANT’s funeral.

Undeterred by this, the students then decided to rally at the Rangoon Arts & Science University ( RASU ) for a long trek to the Kyaikkasan Grounds. Students form various colleges, institutes and universities poured into the RASU campus amidst cheers and there were fresh bursts of cheers and elation when the Rangoon Institute of Technology students appeared on the scene with a few old Dodge Jeeps and loudspeakers.

This gathering has another significance for the students. It was the first time that the students had assembled in thousands since the Ne Win regime dynamited the Students’ Union building on the campus on July 7, 1962, killing scores of students who were to the building. Many more were mowed down by machine guns when the march towards the Ktaikkassan Grounds. Through the loudspeakers, the students announced to the huge crowd of people who lined the route : “ Dear respected elders, we , the students, are on our way to pay our tribute and accompany our beloved U THANT’ the Architect of Peace, on his last journey.”

The sympathetic crowd cheered the students and many were busy providing refreshments to the marching students.

Shortly past noon on December 5^th, the students arrived at the Kyaikkasan Grounds and stood at attention on the dusty ground in the sweltering heat. The student representatives from each institution of learning, laid their wreaths and paid their respects to U THANT’s remains. The students then stood  at attention while Buddhist monks began chanting prayers and performing other funeral rites.

The burning heat and the dust-swept shelter-less atmosphere had, however, served only to intensify the gnawing dissatisfaction  and resentment against the shabby and perfunctory treatment meted out to U THANT’s remains by the “regime”. “ Why, why, they thought, “ could the authorities not accord U THANT’s state funeral? ” Whispered consultation were taking place among the students leaders and the public sensed there was tension in the air.

The staid and mournful atmosphere suddenly shattered when the students shouted: “A mausoleum for the Father of Peace, that’s our goal.” The students had decided to take matters into their own hands to give their beloved U THANT a funeral befitting a world’s statesman and an illustrious son of Burma.

Using the loudspeakers, mounted on the Dodge Jeep, as their command post, the students requested everyone to leave the pavilion. The students then streamed into the pavilion and took their position around the casket. Through the loudspeaker, they announced to the public that they were going to take U THANT’s casket to the Rangoon Arta & Science University campus and built a “peace” mausoleum for U THANT.

In order to request permission from U THANT’s relatives, his  elder brother U KHANT was invited to confer with the students’ representatives. U KHANT, however, cautioned the students against taking any rash action and urged the students not to antagonize against the Government. Meanwhile there were clamours from the students and the public to escort the body to the University. U THANT’s casket then passed from shoulder to shoulder and lain atop the roof of a Toyota pick-up truck draped with wreaths. The procession led by students and Buddhist monks then wound its way to the University grounds.

U THANT’s casket was taken to the Convocation Hall of the university and placed on a dais where monks chanted prayers and students kept a vigil over the remains. The sprawling campus was filled with sea of humanity as people from all over the city came to pay their respects to U THANT. Outside the Convocation Hall, the students took turn atop a bonnet of a car to deliver “Hyde-park style” speeches against the regime.

“They call it democracy, but what they are actually doing benefits only a single party”. “On behalf of the people who are now facing hunger and privations, we, the students, would like to ask the Government : Please care to look down from your heights. Do not ignore the people’s suffering and waste your time in buying cars and building bungalows for yourselves.”

A young college girl ended her speech with these words : “ I am deeply moved and overwhelmed by this opportunity to exercise the democratic freedom of speech. Should I be imprisoned for opening my heart to the injustices perpetrated by the regime, then so be it . I would then take consolation in the fact that I shall at least be assured of regular meals in the future.”

The huge crowd gave repeated and thunderous ovations as speaker after speaker stepped onto the makeshift podium, announced their names and the institutes of learning they belong to, and proceeded to roundly denounce the Government. The people had finally found a voice which echoed their feelings they had never dared to express. They listened with awe and fear to the winds to speak on behalf  of the down-trodden a and pathetic masses who had for thirteen long years suffered unwonted hardships, privations and oppression at the hands of a tyrannical regime. Old wounds, which had never healed during these miserable years, opened anew and held profusely as workers and people from all walks of life joined the students to express their sufferings.

Meanwhile, the students had formed an “ ad hoc ” funeral committee and announced to the public that they had sent a letter to the Government demanding a state funeral for U THANT  and that if no reply was received by 4 p.m., the students, with the help of the people, would make their own funeral arrangements and build a “ peace ” mausoleum for U THANT. The speakers then resumed their “ Hyde-Park ” style speeches keeping one eye on the clock. This was on December 6, one day after U THANT’s  remains were brought to the University.

When the deadline approached and the students found that the Government had turned a deaf ear to their demands, the students become more determined to go ahead with their plans.

Suddenly, the university campus bustled with a hive of activity. While speeches continued inside the Convocation Hall where U THANT’s body lay in state, scores of students were clearing the site of the dynamited old Students’ Union building where the mausoleum was to be built. Rangoon Institute of Technology students went to work drawing designs for the mausoleum and donations were being solicited from willing donors who, in many cases, took off their necklaces, rings, bangles and other valuable personal taken from the university library extension site, were being passed from hand to hand to the mausoleum site.

The extent of public sympathy was most touchingly demonstrated when and old lady, her face wrinkled with age and her body frail and bent, nevertheless insisted that she be allowed to carry a brick to the site as a token of merit. Public support did not end there either. Thousands of food parcels were donated by all and sundry, even from those who could hardly afford two square meals a day for themselves. There was one food parcel which contained all that the poor donor could afford : a bundle of cooked rice and a single banana. The students were deeply moved, but, nevertheless, ate the meal heartily.

At the  mausoleum site, bleary-eyed architectural and engineering students worked day night to keep construction work rolling. At the Convocation Hall, a student suicide squad with red headbands kept vigil. There were also combined teams of students and people vigilantes at all strategic places across the campus. A few government spies were detected and were bashed up by the students.

In the meantime, more food parcels came pouring in to provide nourishment for the weary and exhausted students. Some of the parcels bore leaflets stating: “Young brothers, we believe and appreciate that what you are doing is just and right. Do keep up the good work right to the end.” In the satellite city of Okkalapa, about 6 miles from downtown, the people put a police station, which had been repeatedly harassing a citizen committee collecting food parcels from sympathetic residents from the area, on the torch.  

Henry Soe Win

(To be continued next week)