US embassy cable - 04RANGOON365

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000365 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, MOPS, BM, Human Rights, Ethnics 
SUBJECT: CAMPUS COMMOTION: RANGOON AND MYITKYINA STUDENT 
PROTESTS 
 
 
Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) Summary: According to Embassy sources, recent 
student-led protests over administrative issues at two 
university campuses, one located in a Rangoon suburb and the 
other in Kachin State in northern Burma, resulted in military 
intervention to restore "order."  These reports indicate the 
regime remains determined to prohibit even minor dissent on 
the country's few remaining campuses.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) In mid-March, several hundred students at a government 
computer science institute in Hlawgar, located some 20 miles 
north of central Rangoon, reportedly boycotted classes to 
protest against a lecturer in a dispute involving attendance 
issues.  As a result, school authorities identified 175 
students (about 75 percent of the student body) as ineligible 
to sit for final exams for failure to attend regular classes. 
 The ruling led to a spontaneous demonstration and the 
institute's rector appealed to Rangoon's Military Commander, 
who dispatched troops o/a March 16 to take control of the 
campus. 
 
3. (C) In a separate incident, o/a March 11 several hundred 
students at Myitkyina University in Kachin State reportedly 
massed at a downtown police station to protest the arrest of 
two fellow students who had refused demands from a police 
officer for bribe money.  Military units intervened to assist 
police in quelling the protest and arrested as many as ten 
students.  Sources claim that the university has remained 
closed since March 11.  Although international media sources 
have reported the events in Myitkyina and claims that 
soldiers fired warning shots, Embassy officers who visited 
the city on March 17 reported no unusual activity or evidence 
of lingering tensions. 
 
4. (C) Comment:  The SPDC closed most urban campuses in the 
early 1990s as a result of 1988 student political 
demonstrations.  The few "satellite" and "distance learning" 
campuses that have reopened in recent years are located in 
remote, rural locations as a means to discourage student 
activism.  These recent, seemingly minor, student actions 
appear to be innocuous administrative protests.  However, 
reports of military intervention indicate the depth of regime 
paranoia regarding campuses as potential hotbeds of political 
activism.  End comment. 
Martinez