"We Need More Rambo"

by Than Htike Oo
Thursday, 14 February 2008 00:00

Chiang Mai- Anti-government slogans of 'We need more Rambo' and 'Free Burma' were recently found in and near the tourist town of Nyaung Oo, according to local residents.

'Down with the military junta', 'Don't cheat people's vote', 'We need more Rambo' and 'Free Burma' were written with a yellow spray gun in English and Burmese along the highway a half mile from Nyaung Oo Township in eastern Burma.

"The slogans were written in the middle of the road. The English words were in square script and the Burmese words were in a circular shape, written on the road diagonally. The words are as big as a round bamboo tray [three feet in diameter]", a local resident said.

The slogans were believed to be written on the night of February 10th and the local police erased them the next day at about 9 a.m.

"The police erased them with petrol as soon as they knew about it. They used sand to erase the words and are investigating who did it. They have also deployed security forces at busy junctions. The security forces consist of three men in each team from the police force and fire brigade", he added.

In Hollywood's "Rambo 4 ", released in January, Rambo comes to the rescue of Christian missionaries kidnapped by a battalion of Burmese soldiers.

The military government announced on February 9th that a referendum will be held in May this year and a new election is to be held in 2010.

Anti-government slogans also appeared sporadically elsewhere in Burma. In Myitkyina, Kachin State, an underground organization calling itself the All Kachin Students' Union distributed pamphlets containing the slogans: 'Resolve the political crisis through tripartite dialogue', 'Totally reject undemocratic drafting process of State Constitution' and 'Release all political prisoners unconditionally'.

Similarly anti-government pamphlets containing the slogan 'Protect Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for the country' were found on the Taunkup-Kyaukphyu highway in Rakhine State in western Burma on the 19th of January.