Weeks of demonstrations by Buddhist monks in Myanmar are calling into question conventional wisdom that the country's military rulers are free to ignore popular dissent.

Myanmar, formerly called Burma, has been under military rule for more than four decades now. Its repressive, uniformed bosses changed the country's name, changed the name of its capital from Rangoon to Yangon, then moved the capital into the interior to a new town, Naypyidaw.

Through a combination of heavy-handed misrule and corruption they have reduced its economic circumstances to a place now among the poorest countries in the region -- in fact, the world -- and have caused Myanmar to miss out almost entirely on the impressive growth of the Asian tigers. One-third of its children are gauged to be malnourished.

Myanmar's military leaders have shown themselves to be almost entirely impervious to outside influences, including from the leaders of other Asian countries, with whom they are members of regional organizations such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The United States has, in effect, no meaningful dialogue with Myanmar's leaders, choosing, for the most part, to criticize its regime from arm's length.

Outside observers have wondered at the relative passivity of the Myanmar population of 47 million in the face of the government's callous approach to their well-being. The generals have gotten away with keeping the country's one well-known opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of 1990 elections and the Nobel Peace Prize, under house arrest for years.

Now, something may be happening. The country is predominantly Buddhist. Many young men do a stint as a Buddhist monk, the same as young Americans used to do national service. Inspired by a quick government move in mid-August to raise the price of fuel, hundreds of Buddhist monks took to the streets in Yangon, Mandalay and other cities to demonstrate against the price increase, and more generally, against military rule. The security forces' response was to beat some of them and arrest a hundred or so. This prompted more indignation on the part of the monks and has begun to draw the general population into the affair.

No one knows how far it can go. The government might succeed in putting an end to the disorder by restoring lower gas prices. On the other hand, people who remember the role of Buddhist monks in opposing the government supported by the United States in South Vietnam are aware of just how potent a force Buddhist monks can be in pushing political change.

What is interesting is that they have stirred and are taking public action. The Myanmar generals are vulnerable because of their lack of representativeness and ineptitude. They will ignore at their peril the monks' public support.