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The
second part series on the role of the military and civil society in
Burma
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THE
DIVERSE MINDSETS OF BURMESE POLITICAL CULTURES
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(By
Banya Hongsar, Canberra, Australia)
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Can
only the Burman (SPDC or Tadmadaw) maintain the Union of Burma and keep
the nation strong in the future? However, the SPDC has controlled
power for over fifteen years, with little military might and political
treaties by its opponents. The SPDC knows that the NLD cannot defeat
them unless Daw Suu leads the campaign, and the ethnic armed groups have
very limited resources to launch a military strike against Rangoon to
defeat them. After over sixteen armed groups reached cease-fire
agreement with the SPDC, the SPDC mastered its political campaign to be
accepted in ASEAN and won a place within the grouping. The SPDC’s
military men persuaded UN and EU mission representatives that the
country is in the process of turning over a new leaf. The interest
of Burma / Myanmar is to keep the "Union" strong and unified
among all nationalities or “races”. But the international community
is ill informed about the real situation in Burma, as there is no unity
within the country. The SPDC played "a kiss with no love" hard
to get tricky game to the UN missions and won.
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A
clash of dogmatic ideologies, the lack of a political will, no vision in
the making, and self-serving political individuals who are entirely
motivated by power are at the root of all the problems in the country.
All there energy is spent on maintaining their status in the game, with
the SPDC holding onto its rigid policy in playing an active role in
power politics and the NLD holding steadfast to its mandate on the
popular 1990 election results. The UNLD+UNA remain glued to its
policy of self-determination and federalist political agenda. The
exile and border based political and armed organizations waste a lot of
their time clinging to its political goal in toppling the SPDC and
military rule in the country. However, no political mindset has been
installed that encompasses everyone’s motivations about community life
and no massive campaign has taken place to achieve a consensus and reach
for a common goal for the people. As a consequence, people suffer, with
no end in site of poverty, displacement, ongoing conflict, lack of
economic freedom and the lack of health and education programs for the
community. People are not informed at all or are part of any decision
making that goes on when foreign aid comes in, as none have been invited
to give their opinions on the local, national and State’s political
affairs, whether it be on AIDS, housing, education, etc.
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A
new mindset and simple politics:
Like
it or not, a new political mindset on Burma is not a democracy cited
from the pages of a US or western journal. A single, but diverse
mindset is needed, voiced by the local people, community leaders, men
and women in the country, who are informed about and involved in the
decision making process must be part of democracy building in the
country, civilians ought to rule other civilians, not the military.
Military men ought to live in military camp and be trained to protest
the people, such as external threats and be prepared to come to the
rescue of the country during natural disasters, for example when mass
flooding wipes out tracts of villages. The police force must be
motivated to maintain the rule of law for the good of the people and the
administrative body ought to serve the needs of the public on education,
health, employment and economic development.
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Unless
all Burmese people have access to adequate schools, clinics, hospitals,
shopping centers, the Internet, recreational sporting halls and other
community institutions such as libraries, transportation and housing,
water supply and electricity, none of the political ideology is best
served by the community. A new mindset ought to begin individually
and collectively, the SPDC, the NLD and NDF+NCUB, led by ethnic leaders,
ought to bring a new vision of hope to the local communities that
promote economic and resource management, infrastructure and forest
community development projects and bring to the book all injustices
committed by Burma's soldiers, and insurgent groups and Tadmadaw
members.
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Community
leaders must make it their top priority to move the reform agenda
forward, bring together the SPDC, NLD and NCUB leaders to begin a
dialogue on the political future of the country. Of course, the role of
civil society groups and the rights of all people must be protected by a
new Constitution. A big, top-heavy government is an ineffective
government while a small government is much better at nation building
being informed by the grass roots. Unless the role of non-military men
and women, students, businessmen, religious leaders and local traders
take center stage in nation building, our country will be weak and
development will be hindered. No military led government,
dominated by one party has ever achieved prosperity and lacks the
national capacity to maintain good governance. For example, North Korea,
Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao and Indonesia are all poor countries and people
continue to live under a “climate of fear” for many years. A
functional change is not in the interest of Burmese politics but an
institutional change would be in the national interest of Burmese
politics.
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U
Aung Zaw, Editor of the Irrawaddy Magazine, declared at the Burma Debate
in 2000, “I think that the democracy movement needs to be more
critical. We need more critical thinkers, more open minded Burmese who
want to promote democracy in Burma.” His message remains on
paper while many activists continue to stick to their narrow political
mindsets.
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Starting
from Scratch?
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To
introduce a new political mindset in the community, public and private
education, health system, financial and economic management, public
administration and all forms of public services should be placed into
the hands of local civilians. Politicians and army-affiliated
personnel should be willing to work with the people or step aside and
find alternative employment for a living. A framework of democracy and
federalism is required to promote community living and an independent
media is a crucial tool to support this cause. There are hundreds and
thousands of books and journals on Burma written in English while there
are only a few books available in local languages for local people to
learn, teach, and study to bring about change in their country. In
brief, Burma failed to maintain its first parliamentary democracy in
1950-60s; again it failed to achieve the “Burmese Way to
socialism" in the 1970-1980s. During a clash of ideologies among
Burman's political elites, communism also collapsed in the country
despite it gaining some support by local people. A new form of
democratization is required in a broader sense that encompasses human
rights and the right for self-determination for all non-Burman and
Burman nationalities. We must ask ourselves, “Why is the military so
resistant to learning to change?” The military men, politicians and
community leaders (from all sides) need to rethink what kind of nation
do they want to bring to Burma in the 21st century and
beyond, we must all start again.
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Hundreds
of thousands of armed resistances forces, political activists, human
right’s workers, journalists, and workers from all walks of life have
to be prepared to work together for a new campaign in the country.
A campaign to achieve a "just Burma" which meets our national
interests on peace, equality, and tolerance in all political circles. No
military man should be allowed to rule the nation forever and the people
in the House of Assembly or Parliament should not tolerate a political
elite bent on power. The Burman is best served for the Burman
community, while the Karen, Karenni, Mon, Shan, Arakan, Chin, Kachin and
other ethnic peoples are best served by their own people, but the
country as a whole should have a vision for the inclusion of all ethnic
people.
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No
peace without equality, no harmony without tolerance, no unity without
respect and no democracy without freedom of expression. The SPDC, the
NLD and other politicians and leaders of all organizations have to heal
all their wounds of the past and retreat from the disease of ideology
and rein in their egos in clinging to power by way of the divide and
rule policy. The SPDC and its friend the military stand guard in almost
every street corner which creates fear that suppresses public
confidence. Leaders of all parties (army leaders and political leaders
alike) ought to lift up the spirits of their fellow citizens to take a
more active role in local, national, and regional affairs in working
together in creating a new policy, agenda, and framework that will work
for their people. If leaders don’t listen to their followers or if the
government does not care about the people’s opinion, then society will
die and our future will be sorrowful.
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From
the table to the grass-root community activities
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Over
the last fifteen years, hundreds of seminars, conferences, training, and
workshops have been conducted on Burma both in Thailand and overseas.
Burmese experts, observers, policy makers, and NGOs workers, have
learned how complex Burmese politics and its cultures are, that it
involves several different histories and psychological aspects of
Burmese history which never had considered the rights of people for over
a thousand years. Hundreds of demonstrations took place in Bangkok and
in exile communities around the world, "Free Burma" campaigns
in the US and Europe has been actively and successfully working for
change. Rangoon based foreign diplomats predict for better or worse
scenario between SPDC-NLD relations. Meanwhile, students, Buddhist
monks, and other religious leaders were suppressed in the political
movement in the country. Corrupt and inept officials involved in trade
both in the rural areas and along the border have flourished in public
administration that have put children and women and all people at risk;
everyone fears for their lives, women and young girls are being killed
and raped, atrocities denied by the Senior General Than Shwe and his
government soldiers.
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Burma,
in the next ten years remains unchanged unless a new political mindset
emerges in community life. The military has proven to be
unchangeable; the nation needs a flexible political framework as a tool
to serve the community and all facets of the community and all ethnic
groups. The role of local councils, the power status of the State
Government, a new legislation for Provisional governments, and a
framework for a genuine Union or "Federal Union" are all
necessary elements to bring change and justice. Politicians, military
men and local community leaders ought to see the bigger picture in
national and international affairs. A growing population, a declining
national GDP (Gross Domestic Products), along with more and more people
living in poverty, and transnational crime in the region has emerged in
recent years. We need the people to work together to strengthen the
Burmese political and social environments to meet these challenges. The
Burmese people have to ask each other, “Do we want to live together
peacefully or do we want to kill each other,” before they go to bed at night.
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Citizens
of Burma (all nationalities) have to be active participants in political
life and leaders of all parties must encourage the local people to
develop their skills in politics. An open society and a tolerant
within the community are required to install democracy, it is foolhardy
and disastrous for our country to think that a single political party
leader or army commander can ever hope to achieve unity and feed over
fifty million people in today’s global society.
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End
of Part Two
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