As Myanmar's opposition movement turned away from peaceful protests and began to employ more violent measures against the junta, there were echoes of the period after the 1988 uprising, when dissidents debated the best strategy to adopt against the new military regime. Arguments were heard for and against the use of terrorist tactics, as opposed to a rural-based guerrilla campaign. In the event, both strategies were adopted. Similar discussions took place in 2021, with the same result.

In early 1989, I was passing through Bangkok when a friend from a Western embassy invited me to what she called “a secret meeting”. She knew that I was a Myanmar watcher, but what interested her most was the fact that, in an earlier incarnation, I had published a couple of books on terrorism and urban guerrilla warfare. The meeting was with a senior member of the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF).

The ABSDF was founded in November 1988, after the Burmese armed forces (or Tatmadaw) crushed a nationwide pro-democracy uprising, killing over 3,000 people and driving many more across the Thai and Indian borders. Others fled north to remote areas near China. A few joined existing ethnic armed groups (EAG), but about 1,000 others created their own force, soon dubbed the “Student Army” by the news media.

The group was given some arms and rudimentary training by Kachin and Karen EAGs, which had been fighting the Tatmadaw for decades. However, the ABSDF were not trusted by their hosts, who feared infiltration by government agents. Also, most recruits were city dwellers who found it hard to adapt to the harsh life of a rural guerrilla. Many suffered from disease and malnutrition. Some died. The ABSDF was also riven by internal disputes, one of which resulted in the execution of 15 of its own members.