5th Article Protests in Burma

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7019359.stm

This article is on the protests that are going on in Burma. I have read up on BBC that these protests have been the result of the Burmese government deciding to increase the prices in fuel. The Prices of both petrol and diesel have doubled and the prices for compressed gas has risen fivefold. The hikes hit Burma's people hard, forcing up the price of public transport and triggering a knock-on effect for staples such as rice and cooking oil.

The monks started participating in large numbers after troops used force to break up a peaceful rally in the central town of Pakokku on 5 September. At least three monks were hurt. The next day, monks in Pakokku briefly took government officials hostage. They had given the government until 17 September to apologise, but the government did not apologise. When the deadline expired, the monks began protesting in even greater numbers and also withdrew their religious services to the government. There have been protests every day since the deadline, both in Rangoon and elsewhere, and they are getting bigger by the day. Tens of thousands of these monks are now involved. More and more Buddhist monks have been joining the marches. The participation of the monks is significant because there are hundreds of thousands of them and they are highly revered. The clergies, a historically prominent figure in Burma have remained silent so far, giving the signal that they are condoning such protests.
For some of the monks, yes. But for others, it has become more than just about the apology.
A group called the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks has emerged to co-ordinate the protests, and on 21 September it issued a statement describing the military government as "the enemy of the people". They pledged to continue their protests until they had "wiped the military dictatorship from the land of Burma", and they have called on people across Burma to join them. One rally marched past the house of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, clearly linking the monks' movement with a desire for a change of government.

My personal view is that these protests are very significant and maybe be “world changing” . I feel that the government had made a very bad choice by spiking up the prices to such an extreme in such a short period of time. The military also did not exercise enough care, injuring three monks. They also made another mistake by not apologising to the monks in Pakokku. They did not have the foresight that not apologizing to these monks would spark protests and alliance to overthrow the military dictatorship of the country. I feel that the officials who had made the decision to not apologise to the monks should not be blamed as they did not expect things to be blown up to such a scale. Hopefully the protests do not cause any problems to countries in the immediate area. Even the credit cards of these officials have been suspended. Hopefully all will be well soon and the country can recover from this ordeal without much difficulty, but right now, all we can do is to wait for the country to live through this turmoil.