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On 12th August at 12:00pm, a memorial was held to mark the anniversary of the August 13th Rice Crisis, and the death of the Arakanese Historian- U Oo Thar Htwan, at the Arakan Human Rights and Development Organisation (AHRDO) in Mae Sot, Thai-Burma border.
AHRDO invited Arakan Migrant Workers from various factories in Mae Sot, and led that Memorial Day.
A spokesperson from AHRDO explained, ‘On August 13th 1967, local Arakanese people demonstrated against the government who had restricted the distribution of rice which they had bought from local farmers, and were going to export rather than supply to local people. This caused deadly suffering and starvation. Instead of negotiating with local people, the government oppressed them by using guns to shoot and kill over two hundred people. There was even reports of some people were buried alive.’
On a separate matter, the memorial also marked the death of U Oo Thar Htwan, an Arakanese historian, who was captured by government forces and later died in prison on August 14th 1990, due to the physical torture he endured.
Over fifty participants were present at the Memorial ceremony, and it was successfully finished at 4:00 pm.
