Transcript of WMNF Community radio broadcast 12/20/96

Announcer: Good afternoon, welcome to Radioactivity, I'm Robert Lorei. This

afternoon we'll meet four people who's lives have been affected by the

ongoing Chinese occupation of two neighboring countries, Inner Mongolia and

Tibet. Our guests are in town for this Sunday's protest at the Splendid

China theme park in Kissimmee. The theme park is operated by the Chinese

government as a tourist attraction, but a real purpose according to our

guests, is to rewrite history and hide China's occupation of the two

countries. First we'll look at Mongolia, people from Mongolia have only one

name, and our guests joining us in this first segment are two engineers who

left their native country, Erdunbat and Oyunbilig of the Southern Mongolia

Freedom Federation. Welcome to WMNF good to have you here. The two of you

are opposed to Splendid China and I wonder if you could tell us what is

your objection to Splendid China?

My name is Oyunbilig, I'm from Southern Mongolia we know that in the

Splendid China theme park they have an exhibition about the Mausoleum of

Genghis Khan and they also have a Mongolian grasslands exhibit and we think

these exhibitions do not belong to China or Chinese history or Chinese

culture, these are totally Mongolian.

Announcer: So Genghis Khan was Mongolian and the grasslands that are

depicted there are not actually Chinese but Mongolian.

Oyunbilig: Yes, Genghis Khan was not a Chinese emperor.

Announcer: And why do you think the Chinese government which operates

Splendid China, why are they depicting Genghis Khan and the grasslands as

part of China?

Oyunbilig: I think they try to tell the American people that this belongs

to China, and this is misleading the American people.

Announcer: When did China first invade or take over Mongolia?

Oyunbilig: The Chinese communists took over Inner Mongolia in 1947.

Announcer: They took over Inner Mongolia, did they take over all of

Mongolia or just Inner Mongolia?

Oyunbilig: Just Inner Mongolia or Southern Mongolia

Announcer: Is the rest of Mongolia independent of China?

Oyunbilig: Yes, Mongolia the former republic of Mongolia is an independent

country.

Announcer: Has the United Nations taken a stand on Chinese occupation of

Inner Mongolia?

Oyunbilig: Unfortunately the voice of the Inner Mongolian people is still

very vague.

Announcer: Tell me about your lives in occupied Inner Mongolia. I'm

wondering what was it like to grow up under Chinese occupation?

Erdunbat: My name is Erdunbat I grew up in Bai Nor banner and in the year

1949 the population in Southern Mongolia was just about 800,000 mostly

Mongolians and now the population is over 20 million total including the

Chinese but there are only 2 million Mongolians in Inner Mongolia. So the

Mongolians have become a minority people in our own mother land. So many

Chinese immigrate into Inner Mongolia so the Mongolian people have lost

their grasslands. Because the Inner Mongolian people lose their grasslands,

they cannot live. Mongolians have no rights to develop their traditional

culture and no right to express their ideas about Mongolia. If you say

something, they kill you at the beginning The Chinese always say like this

and do like this, in 1981 there were big student demonstration activities

in Hohhot city, two leaders, Huchundus and Wangmenglai, they organized all

the students and held the demonstration activities about the Chinese

government oppression of the Mongolian people so after that both of these

two leaders were arrested and members of other student organizations were

also arrested by the Chinese government after they were released a couple

of years ago, but then they were all arrested again and put in jail.

Announcer: When you say that the Chinese government doesn't allow the

Mongolian people to exercise their culture, I'm wondering, what is being

specifically repressed. Is your religion being repressed?

Oyunbilig: Yes, not only the religious, but the old and traditional

customs, manners, yeah, everything.

Announcer: Give us some examples, I mean um are we talking about the

division between Chinese religion and Mongolian religion? Which religion...

Oyunbilig: The Mongolian people believe the Buddhism the same as the Tibetans do

Announcer: And the Chinese?

Oyunbilig: The Chinese I think are buddhist but are not the same section.

Announcer: OK its a different brand of Buddhism. Do the Chinese also uh,

this will show my ignorance, do the chinese also practice Confucianism is

that a part of the conflict ?

Oyunbilig: You know, the Chinese even repress their own people's religion

they don't allow them to believe religion freely

Announcer: Give me another example

Erdunbat: For example, during the Cultural Revolution so many Mongolian

temples were broken all destroyed everywhere. The temples were broken and

many Lamas were killed and we lost everything except for a few shrines left

in individuals houses. And people practiced religious beliefs in their

houses.

Announcer: So folks aren't allowed to practice religion in a traditional

monastery but if they want to practice religion they have to go to the

house of the monk, is that...

Oyunbilig: Yeah, but they ruined all the temples during the cultural

revolution and they arrested many monks.

Announcer: I got you

Oyunbilig: And another example is the Genghis Khan ceremony

Announcer: What's that?

Oyunbilig? The Mongols have been holding the Genghis Khan ceremony in a

traditional way almost 700 years. When the Chinese communists took over

Inner Mongolia they didn't allow Mongols to hold the ceremony again. If any

people dare to hold the ceremony, like openly, then they will be put in

jail.

Announcer: Well as a result of this political oppression, have many

Mongolians been killed by the Chinese?

Erdunbat: Yes, during the Cultural Revolution over 500,000 Mongolian people

were accused of being members of the Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary

Party, As a matter of fact, this party was established in 1925 in Jiang Jia

Ko city and two years later this party didn't exist. After 40 years later

they claimed they found so many Mongolians, over 500,000 Inner Mongolian

people who they accused of belonging to this defunct Inner Mongolian

Peoples Revolutionary Party. And 250,000 Southern Mongolians were killed

for this, in ways different from other killings, they were killed one by

one by torture, by beating to death.

I give you an example in the cultural area, Inner Mongolia is controlled by

the Chinese government for 50 years and during that time not one dictionary

English to Mongolian or Mongolian to English was allowed to be produced,

they didn't allow the Mongolian people to learn English, and now the world

can't hear our voice as a result. If you say one thing against the Chinese

government they will kill you or put you in prison.

Announcer: They didn't allow English to Mongolian dictionaries?

Erdunbat: They didn't allow the Mongolian people to study English

Announcer: Why would that be?

Erdunbat: They controlled Inner Mongolia absolutely so it became a colony

in politics, economics, and culturally. They force the Mongolian people to

study Chinese from third grade you must study Chinese and not English or

French or Japanese, no.

Announcer: So it was a way for them to isolate people.

Erdunbat: Yes, isolate Mongolia from the world, so the world just listens

to the Chinese and what they say.

Oyunbilig: The Inner Mongolian situation is, the difference between the

Inner Mongolian situation and the Tibetan situation is we don't have like a

leader like the Dalai Lama and overseas there are not many Inner

Mongolians. The Chinese government controls the Mongol people who live

outside Inner Mongolia that's why our struggle is very weak.

Announcer: Well thank you very much for coming down and telling you

stories, it's good to meet you thanks for coming down.

Oyunbilig: Thanks

Erdunbat: Thanks

Announcer: Oyunbilig and Erdunbat are two activists seeking freedom for

Inner Mongolia, after more than fourty years of occupation. You can reach

the Southern Mongolia Freedom Federation by calling (609) 897-0988 I'm Rob

Lorei, and you listening to radioactivity right here on WMNF in Tampa 88.5

FM. Next we'll hear more about the Chinese occupation of Tibet, with

Lobsang Tsering and Kunchok Tsering who are now students at Florida

International University. Thanks for coming in.