Sept 26 was a sad day for the people of Burma - a day of national tragedy and mourning. It was the day when the army opened fire on unarmed civilian protestors and Buddhist monks. Soldiers and police fired tear gas, clubbed protesters and arrested hundreds of monks in an attempt to quash the uprising. A number of deaths were reported, but the actual figure is still unknown.

The ruling military junta did not hesitate to use force even against unarmed, peace-loving Buddhist monks. They were kicked and beaten as soldiers rounded them up and shoved them onto trucks. Doors of their monasteries were broken; things were ransacked and taken away. We understand that thousands of them have been taken away, their fate is still unclear. There are now reports indicating that they could have been tortured and even killed.

Buddhist monks are greatly revered for their exceptionally humble, harmless and peaceful way of life. If the military rulers can act so ruthlessly against such defenseless spiritually inclined monks, it is frightening to imagine what more they are capable of doing to others less spiritual.

The cowardly and brutal acts of the ruling military junta should be condemned by the whole international community. Definitely these acts of aggression against unarmed civilians and peaceful monks are inhumane and treacherous to the human race. On the other hand, the actions of the brave people of Burma need to be praised and supported by all.

The protests may have been brutal and horrifying but in this whole incident, two important lessons came out of it for us.

Firstly, it was the bravery of the people of Burma especially the Buddhist monks. They have shown that they can rise up against all odds to fight against oppression and injustice of fellow men. They were willing to give up the peace and tranquility of their monasteries and risk their lives to confront the mighty junta in defending the rights of fellow citizens.

Secondly, the mutual love between the people and the monks was exceptionally captivating. It was touching to see the people forming a human shield around the monks who led the procession. The people were willing to give their lives to defend their monks.

We witnessed a heart-touching situation of two groups of people each willing to even sacrifice their lives for the other. These actions of the brave monks and people of Burma, puts us to shame when we compare our own inter-racial relationship in Malaysia, where each community is willing to defend the rights of just their own. We are least interested when fellow citizens of other communities run into problems.

It is regrettable that voices of condemnation are not freely forthcoming from Asean countries. Here we have genuine oppression, persecution and murder of innocent fellow humans beings, why are we remaining idle? Why aren't we exercising our moral obligation as good neighbours? Why do we need the West to lead, which often they do for their own political and economic gains?

As neighbours, Asean must lead the world in condemning these atrocities in Burma. We have a moral obligation to stop the atrocities against defenseless people in whatever way we can. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi rightly condemned the actions of the ruling military regime in Burma but it would take much more than mere condemnation to restrain them.

Malaysia, together with other members of Asean and the United Nations must urgently convey an emergency meeting to seek ways to restrain the brutal regime from perpetrating further assault on unarmed civilians and monks. They must keep mounting the pressure on the Burma government to secure the of release Nobel Peace laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and return the nation to democratic rule.