Can Aung San Suu Kyi Usher Democracy in Myanmar?
By Syed Muazzem Ali
San Diego , CA
The 65-year old Myanmar leader is small in physical stature but she is big in her determination, devotion and dedication. For the last two decades she has been the living embodiment of her country’s long quest for democracy. The iron lady, who was under detention for 15 of the last 21 years, has defied her country’s authoritarian military regime with quiet demeanor and grace.
During this long period of confinement, the Nobel Laureate could not see her husband Michael Aris one last time before his death, or meet their youngest son Kim Aris as they were not granted visas by the regime. Yet, she remained firm in her resolve to fight for human rights, freedom and democracy for her people.
After her release nearly a fortnight ago, Suu Kyi was given rousing receptions for days by her friends and supporters but she did not get carried away. Her pronouncements so far have been cautious, circumspect and correct. Last week she unveiled her vision for her homeland. Instead of moving directly on a collision course with the Generals, she has indicated her desire to wage a “non-violent, peaceful revolution” in her country. She would like to involve the military regime to bring about democratic reforms and would like to achieve “significant change rather than dramatic change” as “drama is not always for the best.” She, however, hastened to add that she means revolution, not slow “incremental evolution.”
The Burmese leader, who is also the daughter of the country’s founding father General Aung San, has not yet called for removal of Western sanctions, and she doubts whether the removal could nudge the junta towards economic and political reforms. Nevertheless, she is now more acutely conscious about the limitations of the Western powers to bring in democratic reforms in her country through sanction and isolation of the regime. She, however, wants release of all political prisoners and “a change for the better from the point of view of human rights and democratic institutions.” She also indicates that she prefers more permanent “value change” than the temporary “ regime change.”
She knows that the current Western sanctions against Myanmar did not work as China, India and other ASEAN members have continued to expand trade and economic cooperation with the regime. So she may no longer be opposed to the resumption of the western countries’ dialogue with the ruling military regime but she would like them to monitor the human rights situation before the resumption. Obama should welcome this change as it fits well with his policy of dialogue instead of continuing the futile policy of sanction.
Thus the ground realities have made Suu Kyi change the tactics, though her goal remains the same. The fact that she has decided to go for a non-violent change clearly signals that she recognizes the fact that the military is still in full control of the country, and hence she had much rather campaign to win the hearts and minds of soldiers, and junior and mid-level officers who are the backbone of any military regime.
That is the reason she is asking her people to “change” their attitude and does not want to exclude any group from the democratic reform process. She cautioned her supporters, “It’s not enough to know what you want, but also to know how to achieve it with integrity” and urged them to make their voices heard as “nothing can be accomplished without people’s participation”.
The release of Suu Kyi is surely a welcome development in the country’s march towards democracy and the fact that she has adopted a pragmatic course of action augurs well for the country. All eyes are now set on the military regime to see how it responds to this changed situation. They are surely aware that the “ general election” which they conducted last month to bring their favored party to power, and without the participation of Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy (NLD), has not received any legitimacy in the region or beyond. It may be recalled that the NLD had won a landslide victory in the last elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take over by the regime. But many analysts believe the junta has released her at this time to divert international criticism from this sham elections and that they would arrest her again if she threatens their rule. So the road ahead is challenging.
Nevertheless Suu Kyi still remains the symbol of her people’s aspirations and the country’s face to the outside world. She has involved the regime in the democratic reform process and it remains to be seen whether the latter also involves her and her party in their effort to hand over power to a civilian government.
(Syed Muazzem Ali is a former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh)
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