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It was not
immediately clear why a slide show about the crackdown did not
take place before the film as planned.
Myanmar
nationals in Singapore have held other events to protest against
the crackdown, including a rare outdoor demonstration last
November.
Protests are unusual in Singapore, which has
tight restrictions on public assembly.
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Myanmar
nationals remember demo victims with 'Rambo' screening
AFP
04
Feb
08
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvThjk4rEi393J7E0S7w0XQvwcaQ
Hundreds
of Myanmar residents in Singapore gathered Sunday for a unique
tribute to victims of last September's crackdown in their
homeland - a screening of the new "Rambo" movie.
In
the fourth film of the series, ageing Vietnam war veteran John
Rambo takes on the Myanmar military as he and a group of
mercenaries try to rescue Christian missionary-aid workers
captured by the army.
The film, which portrays Myanmar's
military as sadistic and depraved, is set against a backdrop of
persecution of the country's ethnic Karen people.
The
filmgoers, who included Buddhist monks wearing saffron robes,
watched largely in silence, except for some sympathetic groans
when the army brutalised people.
But the nearly full house
erupted in loud cheers and applauded at the film's climax, when
Rambo arrived to save the missionaries and slaughter the troops
who had earlier abused people.
"Just like Rambo is in
the movie, Burma is waiting for a hero or someone to lead the
revolution," said engineer Maung Zaw, one of the Myanmar
nationals who attended.
A special ticket booth was set up
and all 600 tickets were sold, said Aung Sayar Pyi, of the
Overseas Burmese Patriots group which organised the event.
"I'm
happy to see the event as a success. We managed to sell out the
entire cinema," he said.
Several dozen among the
crowd wore T-shirts in red, the colour favoured by activists
expressing their opposition to the regime.
"We are
one," the front of the shirts read, while the back said, "We
pursue peace, justice and democracy for Burma," the
country's former name which is still favoured by activists and
the US government.
Organisers said they received
permission from Singapore's media watchdog to hold a special
programme before the film started. The crowd stood and loudly
sang their national anthem which was played over the theatre's
speakers. They also heard a speech, given in Burmese, by one of
the organisers.
It was not immediately clear why a slide
show about the crackdown did not take place before the film as
planned.
The demonstrations in Myanmar led by Buddhist
monks became the biggest threat to the ruling junta in nearly two
decades. The crackdown against them sparked worldwide
outrage.
New York-based Human Rights Watch, in its annual
report released Thursday, placed the death toll at about 100, far
higher than the 15 dead reported by the junta.
Several
hundred people are still believed to be jailed over the protests,
in addition to the 1,100 political prisoners already locked away
in Myanmar, the report said.
Myanmar nationals in
Singapore have held other events to protest against the
crackdown, including a rare outdoor demonstration last
November.
Protests are unusual in Singapore, which has
tight restrictions on public assembly.
An estimated 30,000
Myanmar nationals live in Singapore, many of them drawn by jobs
as labourers that pay far above what they could earn in their
poverty-stricken homeland.
"We want to bring more
attention to support affairs in Myanmar, and show what kind of
thuggery that goes on there," Aung Sayar Pyi said ahead of
the event.
"The movie will show the unity of the
Burmese people," a university student who wanted to be
identified only as Leon, 20, said as he waited for the film.
Amy
Phaw, a Myanmar national working in Singapore, said she
volunteered to help at the event "to create awareness"
of the situation in her homeland.
Rape, forced labour,
summary executions and land grabs remain widespread in ethnic
minority regions of Myanmar were rebel armies have fought the
junta for decades in one of the world's longest-running civil
wars, Human Rights Watch said.
The "Rambo" movie
was shot in the area of Chiang Mai, Thailand, not far from the
Myanmar border.
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