Myanmar Spring Chronicle – November 01 Scenes
MoeMaKa, November 02 2022
Looking back ABSDF at its 34th anniversary
November 1 marked the 34th anniversary of the establishment of ABSDF, which was named the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front. 34 years ago in 1988, even though Dr. Maung Maung took over as president from the previous military coup led by General Ne Win, it was not convenient to move forward and so the military seized power again, led by General Saw Maung. It has to be said that it is another strategy to deal harshly with opposition students and politicians.
After such a coup and the hope for setting up democratic government was no longer be able to realize, the students left for the ethnic armed areas in the borders, aiming to attack the General Saw Maung’s Junta, which had taken over power from Masala (Burma Socialist Programme Party – BSPP). November 1st of that year is the historic day when the ABSDF was formed at the Thai-Myanmar border.
At that time, students went to the KNU-controlled area on the Thai border and the KIA-controlled area in Kachin State, and some fled from the Indian border to the Indian side. The largest number arrived in the KNU-controlled areas of Karen State, Mon State and Tanintharyi Division, and when the ABSDF was formed, Karen State became the main base region.
In the detailed histories of the ABSDF, the history of how they were formed, how they armed themselves, and how they fought, will be written in detail. According to rough figures, the number of people, mostly youths, who fled the border areas to fight by armed means was more than 15,000. It must be said that not all 15,000 students but only a few thousand participated in the formation of the ABSDF, as some of them returned to the country during the months of trying to find a solution to the difficulties of getting weapons, funds and being able to move independently as a student army.
ABSDF members took some time to understand the history, position and political objectives of the ethnic armed groups that control the territory, to get recognition and to work together with them. For the first time, political activists and student leaders from the mainland, who only understood the political position and problems of the Myanmar people, who have controlled the central power, in other words, the power controlling the mainland, for centuries, were able to understand the feelings and views from the perspective of ethnic groups. After the emergence of the ABSDF, they joined the ethnic armed groups and attacked the junta troops in armed battles. In battles like the Manerplaw battle, where the junta attacked to seize the camp, the student forces fought together with KNU. The ABSDF was not in a position to establish its own separate control area and attacked in cooperation with ethnic armed groups in ethnically armed areas. Now that ABSDF is in its 34th year, there are definitely histories to be recorded and historical lessons to be learned by reviewing the past. It is time to analyze what lessons the generally named PDF armed forces that emerge after 2021 can learn from the ABSDF that emerged in late 1988 and what the different conditions will be.
In the history of Myanmar, many armed forces have emerged and are still emerging. The emergence of new armed forces is not a desirable situation. However, there are questions about what caused this situation, what should be removed to end the armed conflicts, where is the political platform to solve it, and so on. The emergence of the armed forces may be due to the fact that the remnants of the feudal era of warlordism still dominate Myanmar politics, where one can rule the land and be respected and valued only when armed. Or, in Myanmar politics, the idea of solving problems with weapons dominates the ruler. And it is to think that those who fight with weapons, after fighting, become a kind of initiative that only focuses on weapons. Even decades after the Second World War and many decades of struggle for independence have passed, it is difficult to conclude whether it is because of history or the people involved in history that Myanmar is the only country left that is still mired in armed conflicts in Southeast Asia.