The Missing Monks

The military junta that rules Burma says that it has released all but less than 100 people of those detained in the bloody crackdown on dissent in September. They say that 3,000 have been released. The regime will not say how many Buddhist monks they detained. There is something odd. Because the monasteries are pretty much empty all over Burma. Some monks have gone into hiding, some have fled the country, some are staying back in their native villages. There is no way to get an accurate count of how many are hiding - or how many are dead or in custody. The monks are simply gone.

The junta has not disclosed how many monks were put behind bars since the upheaval of Sept. 26-27. In its last tally, on Nov. 6, the regime said nearly 3,000 people had been released, leaving 91 still in custody. But diplomats and dissidents say the figures are a fraction of reality and an unknown number of monks have been detained since then.

The picture that emerges, after scores of interviews with monks, abbots and other people in Myanmar, is that monasteries around the country have been depleted — particularly in the biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay, where protests were staged.

Many monks have slipped over borders or are hiding in their hometowns and villages. To avoid being caught in a nighttime raid on their monasteries, some stay with friends, despite Buddhist rules that forbid a monk and a lay person to sleep under the same roof.

In this devoutly Buddhist country, every male citizen has to be a monk for at least a short time.

But many parents are keeping their children out of the monasteries for their safety, several abbots said in interviews.

The junta has lifted a nighttime curfew, restored Internet access and ended a ban on assembly. But monks remain targets. The junta said recently it was still pursuing four monks who led rallies.

One of them, U Kovida, spoke to The Associated Press from the Thai border, asking that his location be kept secret for fear Thai authorities would send him back.

"At the moment you will hardly find a monk in Yangon. Monks are running away from danger. They are being arrested and sent to labor camps, tortured and killed," said U Kovida, 24.

The junta has not commented on allegations of abuse.

Kovida is officially accused of having hidden 48 blocks of TNT in his monastery before moving them elsewhere. He was hunted for three weeks by authorities and arrived at the border Oct. 18. He says the allegations are false.

"Whenever they want to arrest a leading monk, they have to make up some story because they know people have such great respect for monks and Buddhism," he said.

It would more than a little out of character for a Buddhist monk to be stockpiling explosives. So the question then becomes: where are all those missing monks? How many have been detained, sent to labor camps or worse? And why is the United Nations doing nothing? If they are the wonderful organization that western backers praise so much, why are they only praising potatoes instead of raising questions about the monks? The United States has used what little leverage they have against the regime in Burma by imposing unilateral sanctions. It isn't even close to enough.