Here in Burma, we now see most hope after "The Lady" won the election 1. April. Finally, she got a seat in our National Assembly. Therefore, we believe that the door is glowing for a new spring.
(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Mon Mon Myat is a journalist in Rangoon, Burma. She has written this text for New Age readers.
Every Friday, some of the world's leading freedom of expression advocates write exclusively for the weekly magazine Ny Tid. Our Without Borders columnists:Parvin Ardalan (Iran) Irshad Manji(Canada), Nawal El-Saadawi(Egypt)Elena Milashina(Russia),Tiam Irani (Iran)Martha Roque (Cuba), Ethel Irene Kabwato (Zimbabwe) Tsering Woeser (Tibet) Malahat Nasibova (Azerbaijan) and Nyein San (Burma).
Rangoon, Burma. Whether it was a sincere reform wish or a cunning plan to avoid the sanctions that were behind is still uncertain. Equally, elections were held in Burma the 1. April, under the eyes of the international community.
Democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi and her opposition party won by almost 98 percent in 44 constituencies. This represents less than ten per cent of the total number of seats in parliament.
Within a week of the election, during a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the member states asked the Western countries to quell the sanctions against Burma. In response to the Burmese government's reform initiative, the United States has also eased some of its sanctions, and US investment in Burma is now possible.
Some political observers, however, cite the government's move, which may be reminiscent of a similar situation: When the opposition party NLD (National League for Democracy) won a bailout during the election in 1990, the authorities chose not to recognize the result.
Compared to the election in 1990, this year's election is a small achievement. Nevertheless, Suu believes it is positive that the people have been included in the political process. Since she got less than ten percent of her representatives into parliament, she was asked by a journalist whether she would now be sitting in "parliamentary custody," instead of house arrest as before.
To this, Suu replied: "I'm not afraid of that. I've been in house arrest for so long that it wouldn't do me any harm. "
The political spirit is awakened
While Suu was imprisoned, both the United States and the international community tried different ways to resolve the situation in Burma. They eventually had to admit that "neither with isolation nor dedication have we succeeded in improving conditions".
However, the reforms have accelerated following last year's political dialogue between Suu Kyi and Burma's President Thein Sein. When Suu Kyi's NLD party decided to take part in the election, the party immediately began organizing political campaigns across the country.
After two months, she had managed to awaken the political spirit in the country. She won big – not just politically, but in the hearts of the people. The president and the speaker of parliament, the country's two most powerful men, have understood this. Despite protests from more conservative rulers, they have realized the value of reform.
The result has been a combination of political dialogue and sanctions, which have been an effective tactic. Suu Kyi now seems to be in a position where she enforces the West's sanctions and decides whether to uphold them. The sanctions will be lifted step by step, in line with the government's fulfillment of its promises of reform.
President Thein Sein was not long ago interviewed by the American newspaper Washington Post. he promised that Burma was moving towards democracy. He urged the US authorities to remove the sanctions, saying, "If you want us to achieve democracy in the country, you must help us get rid of the economic sanctions."
He further claimed that the sanctions did not matter to the government, but created poverty in the population – according to him, it is twenty years of sanctions that are to blame for 26 percent of the population living below the poverty line and over three million people are emigrant workers.
Dialogue as a solution
These allegations are contested by Ko Ko Gyi, a member of the student rebel group "8888". He believes the sanctions are not a challenge to Burma's population, which has lived with the ruling party's strict policy for 26 years.
"It is not the sanctions of the EU that have made us have the world's most expensive cars and SIM cards. If the main problem had been solved, the rest would come by itself, ”he says.
Burma's president has tried to come to terms with the main problem by engaging in dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi's party. The first step on the road was to include the party in the election. Suu Kyi described this step as a "basic step on the road" towards the election in 2015, but they have not yet come to the end. Many steps still remain, including amendments to 2008's constitution, which Sun Kyi said were unfair.
For the next three years, political dialogue and sanctions policy must be exercised in interaction between the democracy movement and the international community. This is how we hope to build trust between the authorities and the opposition. Thus, the country can develop a democracy that includes everyone, so that if not too far into the future we can see a beautiful spring in Burma. ■
Translated from English by Kristian Krohg-Sørensen
(This is an excerpt from Ny Tid's weekly magazine 13.04.2012. Read the whole thing by buying Ny Tid in newspaper retailers all over the country, or by subscribing to Ny Tid -click here. Subscribers receive previous editions free of charge as PDF.)
