Exiles request educational aid

Overseas Chinese in Myanmar yesterday requested teaching materials and teachers for Chinese schools in the north of the country. They said a Chinese curriculum taught by anti-communist Chinese lacks resources due to oppression from the Myanmar government, which has a pro-Beijing stance.

Most overseas Chinese families in the region are children of KMT soldiers who fought against communist troops during China's civil war. They fled to the north of Burma, now known as Myanmar, after the KMT was defeated and retreated to Taiwan. The KMT regime then demanded these troops remain in Myanmar for further military action across the border in China at an appropriate time.

Other Chinese families arrived as refugees after ecaping communist persecution. Because of this historical background, Chinese in Myanmar refuse to support Beijing.

Myanmar's government has been shunned by the international community and relies heavily on China for support, including military supplies, said Tsuen Shi-ta (寸時達), headmaster of the Confucius School in Mandalay.

Because the government of the Buddhist country officially bans Chinese schools, overseas Chinese have to disguise their schools as religious institutions.

"We tell the authorities that we are teaching the reading of sutras in Chinese," said Yang Chi-fang (楊啟芳), chairman of the Confucius High School in Myitkyina.

Many Chinese schools in Myanmar are called Confucius Schools as the government considers Confucius to be related to Chinese religions.

Chinese students can only attend these schools outside of their regular school hours. Some do so, arriving at calss at 6am.

The current government, which has placed Nobel Peace Prize-winner and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under virtual house arrest is weary to allow Chinese education, said Yang.

"We still have to risk being arrested when operating Chinese schools," said Yang, who has been jailed several times on such charges.

According to Yang, there are about 188 Chinese schools, some operating secretly, in northern Myanmar. These schools have 1,950 teachers for 72,000 students, but the number of teachers is dropping fast.

"The old perish before the young ones, who lack education, can take over the task," he said.

The schools also lack Chinese books.

Myanmar, with its pro-Beijing stance, bans the importation of Chinese books from Taiwan. "If you get caught at customs with such books, you will become a political prisoner," Yang said.

Chao Li-ping (趙麗屏), president of the Myanmar Overseas Chinese Alumni Association said they have a strategy to deal with the ban, but was unwilling to elaborate for fear that the Myanmar government would learn of their methods.

"Students have to learn from teachers' notes on the blackboard," said Chen Pi-chieh (陳碧潔) from the Myanmar Overseas Chinese Student Association.

China has proposed providing the Chinese in Myanmar with textbooks and teachers, but has attached a condition. The prerequisite is that they must acknowledge Beijing as the legitimate ruler of both sides of the Taiwan Strait. "So we refused them," Yang said.

Yang said the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (僑委會) has donated only a couple of outdated textbooks to a few Chinese schools in Myanmar.

The commission also does not pay the cost of shipping these books to Myanmar and therefore, those schools that cannot afford the charges and so cannot benefit from the donations. Now, however, some associations are raising funds to cover shipping fees to send books donated by Taiwanese to Myanmar.