By: Feraya

Feraya — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:04:33 +0000

Raluca, I find your article very inspiring and your views very wise. Thank you for sharing with us how it was like in Romania especially during the transition period.
Your friend,
Feraya

By: Tettoe Aung

Tettoe Aung — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:15:12 +0000

We have a saying in Burmese, “lan-phya bazin-nar kyee-gan chee-par” meaning that a crow will shit in his pants when he sees the dragon fly on the tip of the spear. The so-called experts may exaggerate a bit when they speculate that without the military there’ll be chaos, anarchy and so on. The fact is, without the armed ethnic groups there won’t be any need for the military to take the dominant role. Did any one ever asked why is the need for the ethnic groups to take up arms?
Transition from tyranny to a democratic system will always be difficult but not impossible. It may not be perfect but South Africa has managed to transform from apartheid system to a democratic system without bloodshed. Like South Africa we too have a Nobel Laureate and a sensible leader. The most important thing is to promote change for the better the leader must have ‘cetana’ or good intention. With Daw Suu we have proven record of her self-sacrifice. Can any other leader match hers? I don’t think so!
We have to be worried if and when transfer of power happened when her party won the elections in 1990. Then there are many of those who jumped on to NLD bandwagon. Now the NLD also have passed the test of time. Only the true blue, hard core members are left and the party (fortunately) by now has rid of ‘opportunists’.
Politics in Burma have always been of two kinds. One, those who do politics for the betterment of others and two, those who openly and unashamedly said that they are doing politics for the love of the country. The most significant example I can give is of Ali Than Shwe and his 400,000 thieves. For them, U Ne Win’s coup of 1962 (even before that, the caretaker government in 1958) was ‘open sesame’ for them.
We don’t have to jump into the fire to know it’s burning; seeing the smoke should be enough whether we should go near or not. Let’s say, bring it on! We may not have that much experience with democratic ideals but we, as Burmese people, are not that dumb not to know what is fair or not. Democracy is not that alien to us and most of the Burmese are smart enough to know with what they have been through.
How can anybody say that lacking in experience will become a factor where transition from tyranny to democracy could be disruptive or even dangerous? How about those kids, lets say for argument sake, who are not even 20 years old – who taught them to defy against the military dictatorship? They must be merely babies when the people protested against the regime, risking their lives.
With Burmese affairs, anyone who’s been to the country (maybe even on transit) or who can speak a few words of Burmese can promote themselves as ‘experts’. I’ve met quite a few but I haven’t find that may who can really read into the psyche of the Burmese – that include ‘bee-lat-pyan Burmese’.

Comments on: Democracy, Anarchy and Transition

By: Feraya

By: Tettoe Aung