A Down Under Strategy for Peaceful Change in Burma

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_ By Fiona Thompson and Burma Patriots

Citizens of Burma have endured untold hardship, fear and persecution from the brutal military regime for too long. Diverse approaches – diplomacy, incentives, dialogue, sanctions, embargoes, sporadic armed resistance, peaceful demonstrations, etc. - to solve this crisis have not worked and appear unlikely will ever achieve an outcome acceptable to its citizens. Nevertheless these approaches should still continue, preferably cooperatively.

Short of dismantling the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and its evil system and restoring the Tamadaw (Military) to its former status, there is no other viable solution. This must be done. But How?

First let us be clear what the SPDC is and is not. The SPDC is not a government as the prime responsibility of a government is to defend and protect its citizens. It is, instead, a group of military generals whose main obsession is to operate an international business to increase their personal wealth, and they have been doing this very successfully – to the envy of many of its neighbouring countries. The SPDC is a business entity – Burmese Generals Inc. The chairman of the board is Than Shwe and members of the SPDC are its board of directors and principal share holders. They rise to these positions with the common purpose of satisfying insatiable greed and maintaining power without compromise – a legacy of Ne Win. Like all commercial entities its principal objective is to maximise its share holdings and its profit. In the case of Burma, this can only be sustained if a ruthless chairman emerges. More so today as the country is blessed with an abundance of natural resources and it is geopolitically situated in a very strategic location in Asia and there is no shortage of other commercial entities and nations which are eager to do business with Burmese Generals Inc. A benevolent chairman, if one did emerge, will not last, as none of the selfish principal share holders is prepared to share the wealth with others. Hence this evil system is self-perpetuating. It must be dismantled. Otherwise Burma’s citizens will be doomed forever.

The ruling elite are military men who control the armed forces and by overt and covert means, every aspect of civil society. The military has long forgotten its roots – that it was formed from patriotic citizens by General Aung San (the father of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi) to defend and protect the country, not to satisfy the greed of Burmese Generals Inc. Prior to March 1962, military rank and file proudly stood on parade grounds every day at dawn and religiously recited the four pledges. This must be resurrected.

Than Shwe is convinced that he is a descendant of Burmese royalty but ironically his wife Kyaing Kyaing calls the shots – in appointing the board of directors and other key positions of power and commercial interests. It is well-known that they use astrology, numerology and superstition to maintain and prolong their status even to the extent that permission when granted to officials, ministers and their wives to meet with them, is in royal fashion where visitors kowtow before them with heads bowed and eye contact avoided. Members of the Tamadaw must realise that their loyalty has not been to their perceived supremo Than Shwe but to his wife Kyaing Kyaing, a non-Tamadaw woman, merely by default and deceit. The Tamadaw does not need to obey nor take their orders. Its loyalty should only be to its founder General Aung San and those who abide by his edict. This is the people’s Tamadaw which can claim more of a mandate to govern the country and defend and protect its citizens.

Never in the history of humankind has evil ever overcome good. The SPDC and its system are evil. Than Shwe and his loyal supporters who purport to be Buddhists know they have again strayed from the first of the five precepts – “I will refrain from taking life”. In last September’s crisis it was not only the citizens but also the revered Buddhist monks who were slaughtered under their direct orders. Members of the junta know where their bad karma will lead them to in this life and the next and the next. Than Shwe has still got a chance to rectify this as long as he is alive and sane. A genuine “Sorry” can unite a country in solidarity and forgiveness, as Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, recently did.

Than Shwe maintains that what is happening in Burma is a domestic and internal matter and the international community should not interfere. Burmese and all our ethnic nationalities globally should accept this as there is no viable UN or other solution to the problem and we ex-pats must take the initiative and solve our own problem in our own way.

The aura which Than Shwe – trained in psychological warfare – held forcefully through superstition is rapidly fading. Burmese people in Burma and overseas can ‘take a stand’ and destroy his aura and authority. Indeed the pen is mightier than the sword. Here is the strategy for the first step of peaceful change.

We urge all of you to write the names of Kyaing and Than Shwe inside all your footwear. Even better, attach their images (especially his bulldog-like image wearing his self-awarded medals). Wear this footwear with two dedications: _

1. that we will tread on Than Shwe and Kyaing Kyaing with each step we take in our daily activities
2. that citizens may live in Burma without fear and persecution and being downtrodden by the junta

We do not fear thanat (guns). We will retaliate peacefully with hpanat (footwear).
“Down with the junta ; Under our feet”

The junta will realise this global psychological effect will place them ‘under our feet’ continuously every second, every hour, every day of their lives. With their authority challenged in this Burmese way, they will be forced to reconsider their evil plans. It may even force them to the negotiating table, or to make meaningful concessions. Than Shwe’s days are numbered and his successor must take heed of our global action. Internal disobedience will result. Their seven step roadmap and their sham constitution will stall. We can abolish the SPDC and its evil system forever.

The junta can ignore this at its peril. Footwear diplomacy (The Shoe Question) in 1919 eventually led Burma towards independence from Britain in 1948. We now have to rid Burma of its own tyranny. Collectively in a Burmese way we shall successfully take a stand.

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