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MYANMAR

The lady with the lamp

The euphoria of Suu Kyi's release and the fanfare on the streets of Rangoon need to be over soon, to work for a tangible progress towards democracy, writes Ekram Kabir
The euphoria of Suu Kyi's release and the fanfare on the streets of Rangoon need to be over soon, to work for a tangible progress towards democracy, writes Ekram Kabir
AFTER Nelson Mendela, the most prominent prodemocracy political prisoner of the present time is probably the Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She has just been freed by the country's military government on Monday last.
This certainly is a welcome news for democracypromoters around the world. And freeing Suu Kyi, Myanmar's ruling generals have taken an important step to bring the country out of an impending international isolation.
However, house arrest is not new to Suu Kyi, and it is not the first time that she has been freed. On August 24, 2000, she was going to meet her supporters. The police stopped her and her group on the way at the outskirts of Rangoon. They had to spend nights in the car, locked in a tense standoff with government officials. And she was forcefully taken back to Rangoon and was detained again. Also In 1998, Suu Kyi spent 13 days in her car after being prevented from leaving Rangoon.
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To her supporters Suu Kyi is known as "The Lady". As a symbol of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of oppression, Aung San Suu Kyi has come to be regarded in Burma and around the world as the 'Mandela' of Southeast Asia.
Now, the question may rise as to what has she done to become a symbol of democracy in her country? First thing that comes to mind that she is the daughter of the assassinated Burmese nationalist leader, General Aung San. General San's resistance to British colonial rule culminated in Burma's independence in 1948 and her relationship to him gives her a unique position in Burmese society as the daughter of a national hero.
After receiving her initial education in Burma and India, Suu Kyi travelled to the UK where she studied at Oxford University. It was there that she met and married her husband, Michael Aris, an Oxford University academic. At the time Dr Aris knew his wife's destiny might ultimately lie with her returning to Burma. "Before we were married I promised my wife that I would never stand between her and her country," he was quoted to have said. But it was not until 1988 however that Suu Kyi first came to prominence in Burma when she returned to the
country leaving her husband and their two sons in Britain.
She quickly became the leader of a burgeoning prodemocracy movement following the brutal repression of a pro-democratic uprising. It was a mission she labelled "Burma's second struggle for independence".
The movement quickly grew into a political party that went on to win an overwhelming 82 per cent of the vote in national elections in 1990 - despite the fact that by that time she had already been under house arrest for more than a year. The military regime, however, refused to relinquish power and stepped up repression of her party.
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There are more reasons why Suu Kyi proved such a leader. It is believed that she has been inspired by the non-violent campaigns of the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, and India's Mahatma Gandhi, organised rallies after her return to Burma, and travelled the country, calling for peaceful democratic reforms and free elections.
Her tireless campaign for change through dialogue and negotiation received popular support. Her tolerance,
patience and confidence have contrasted sharply with the tactics of generals who hold power. ****
Now that she has been set free, what difference will she make in her struggle for democracy in Myanmar? How far will she succeed to change the state of the affairs?
Suu Kyi has not disclosed her plans or strategy for future negotiations with the government. But her supporters on the streets have big expectations of what she can achieve. Even the markets reacted strongly. Within 24 hours of her release, the local currency, the Kyat rallied under the expectation that Suu Kyi's freedom will also free up investment and bring more money to the country.
But the pro-democracy activists in Myanmar will have to remember that little has changed since 1990 when the NLD convincingly won the elections. Over the past decade, the military has carefully built a state within a state. Even the schools and colleges are run by the military for their own children. The families of the military have exclusive access to the best medical care. The soldiers and their dependents have become an exclusive group within Myanmar. It is also believed that the
Burmese military leaders have developed a siege mentality. They don't trust any civilians - even those in government - and believes only soldiers can run the country.
The military has been running the country keeping Indonesia as a model. For example, the Indonesian constitution gave them a permanent political role. They have slowly built its own civilian structures throughout the country. It has a compliant grassroots organisation, the United Solidarity Development Association, which it claims has 11 million members. These work closely with the military throughout the country. But the men in uniforms run the country.
Therefore, the road to democracy in Myanmar would be a long and ardous task for anybody.
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The struggle to restore democracy has a long history. It started in 1962, when the military seized power. The long spell of military rule under General Ne Win and the ridiculous slogan of "Burmese Way to Socialism" led to nationalisation of virtually everything, so that a coterie could reap the benefits. As a result, one of the richest countries in South East Asia was ruined economically and politically. Still worse, Myanmar today has become the world's largest producer of heroin. General Ne Win's regime collapsed under the weight of popular discontent in 1988, only to be replaced by an ostensibly liberal regime: under the new dispensation, the military, under General Ne Win, effectively controlled the administration from behind the-scenes. Students, workers and the Buddhist clergy, who demonstrated against the government, were calmed down.
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The euphoria of Suu Kyi's release and the fanfare on the streets of Rangoon need to be over soon, to work for a tangible progress towards democracy. In the past, she was freed from her house arrest and again taken back as a prisoner quite a number of times. And this time, if the government doesn't repeat the same, the Lady, whom the people of Myanmar beleive to take them towards democracy, does have a long way. Suu Kyi sholders a mammoth task to reap through an authoritarian mindset that the military has created over the years.
Ekram Kabir is a Senior Newsroom Editor in Ekushey Television Limited.