BY  H.E. BOGUSLAW MARCIN MAJEWSKI

Poland’s Ambassador to Singapore

Poland’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mr Lech Walesa, is known for many things. Among them, his pointed comments on political reality. In the early 1990s, he was asked to describe the task Poland faced in transforming its economy after decades of communist rule.

“Well,” he said, “the communists were masters of destruction. They had no problem in turning the fish pond into a fish soup – easy. What we now face is turning the fish soup back into a pond.”

Eighteen years later, when the world reflects that at “history’s end” democracy has no rival, quite a few “fish soups” remain. Myanmar(Burma) is one of them.

As people ponder how to reconcile the notion of the human rights institution, incorporated in the Asean Charter, with what the Myanmar(Burma) junta is doing to its people, we can draw some lessons from history. In particular, the history of Poland in the late 1980s.

In 1985, the junta in Poland, backed by Soviet military might, was slowly feeling the impact of economic pressure from the West. That year, it lifted what was left of the martial law introduced five years earlier to crush the Solidarity movement.

The government spokesman at that time coined an infamous phrase, which was a response to foreign journalists asking about the effectiveness of Western sanctions. “Sanctions! What sanctions? The government will always be able to feed itself….”

In the mid-80s, leaders of the democratic opposition were in hiding or spending time shuttling between jail and home arrest. And yet, by 1989, the oppressed and oppressors could be found seated at a round table as partners discussing the fate of Poland – and effectively, as history has shown, the fate of the Soviet system.

If it was possible then, in such dire circumstances, would it be possible today in countries such as Myanmar(Burma)? Yes, but three key elements need to be in place.

First, civil society. The Polish freedom movement had unwavering moral support from the Catholic Church. Churches had become the institutional bearers of historical consciousness, filling the void created by the communist-controlled schools and media.

Second, information. Polish language broadcasts from Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America were lifelines to the outside world. The more the junta tried to jam the broadcasts, the more people would put up sophisticated antennae. Recording of news was shared.

The important factor was that these programmes were not produced by foreigners, but by Poles themselves – clandestinely – inside Poland or by emigres abroad, based on reports smuggled out from behind the iron curtain.

Third, direct international support. When martial law was introduced in Poland, the word coined by Poles - Solidarity – had global resonance. So Poles came to know there were people “out there” who supported them. No less important was the pressure applied by Washington on Moscow.

These three elements, combined with targeted international sanctions – aimed at the junta and not society at large – can also make a difference in resolving the Myanmar(Burma) quagmire.

Earlier this year, the world witnessed the Myanmar(Burmese) people’s consciousness taking to the streets. Buddhist monks, who incorporate the very soul of the people of Myanmar(Burma), have openly spoken. That voice will not go away or be jammed. It will continue to resonate among the people who have not witness the “miracle of solidarity”. This is where civil society takes its permanent roots.

What Myanmar(Burma) needs today is what Poland utilised in 1989: A simple piece of furniture – a round table – where all agreed to sit down and discuss a commonsense approach to the future. It may not be easy – it will certainly encompass a historical compromise – but obviously there is no alternative.

Mr Tony Blair, speaking recently in Singapore, said the decades-long and bloody conflict in Northern Ireland was resolved because suddenly everybody realised that keeping their positions had become completely irrelevant, if not outright foolish.

Let us hope, for the sake of the people in Myanmar(Burma), that this simple conclusion has a universal dimension.

From The Straits Times Singapore, Review : Friday November 30, 2007