Time for Decisive Action

Thursday, August 20, 2009
IRRAWADDY MAGAZINE (online edition)

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is guilty and her sentence is three years hard labor. That was the judgment handed down by a court in the compound of the notorious Insein Prison on August 11th, 2009.   As a result, the military regime in Burma may believe that it has fulfilled its aim of excluding her and the pro-democracy forces from the country’s political process.

There should be no doubt that Snr-Gen Than Shwe and the junta have no intention of reconciling with either Suu Kyi or any of the pro-democracy movement and ethnic forces for the interest of the various peoples or the nation.

They have made that blatantly clear time and time again, and now, this latest verdict is a loud resounding “No!” to domestic and international calls for reconciliation and an inclusive political process.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), the leadership of the pro-democracy movement, has decided to appeal the court decision. While exposing the absence of an independent judiciary and the rule of law is crucial to understanding the current state of Burma, is it really possible for a legal case to reform the judiciary system?

When the charges are trumped up, when the verdict is ridiculous and the when the sentence is politically manipulated, is it remotely possible for an appeal to successfully secure the release of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate?

Than Shwe has already given us his answer when he intervened to put his stamp of recognition of the courts’ verdict and colluded with the court to sentence her to 18 months house arrest. However, he did not use his omnipresent power to intervene for her release.

His intervention can only be interpreted as a sign that the regime refuses to reconcile with Suu Kyi or to move toward national reconciliation and democratic transition.

It may be that the leadership of our movement has a strategic plan to bring about positive change through taking on the judiciary system and, indeed, in the face of such injustice, it is of course absolutely necessary to fight in the court.

The trial may also encourage international sympathy and support for the movement and contribute to raising public awareness, fueling discontent with the regime’s wily ways.

However, one can’t help but worry that the legal battle will divert the NLD’s direction away from mobilizing the public, which is surely the most critical challenge at this current juncture; critical because the response to the looming challenge will define the future of the country’s political process. This challenge is the 2010 election.

The forthcoming election­which will exclude all democrats from the nation’s political process­will soon be accomplished, just as the referendum was accomplished, unless pro-democracy groups can change Than Shwe and his military clique’s minds.

The election result will be just as rigged as the referendum’s­unless, of course, the pro-democracy groups can change the rules of game beforehand.

The election will activate the military constitution, but will otherwise go nowhere except to legalize military rule in Burma.

The NLD proposed to the regime through its ”Shwe-Gone-Taing Declaration” that it would consider participating in the election if certain conditions were met. Two vital conditions are the release of its leader, Daw Aung san Suu Kyi, and all other political prisoners, and the review and revision of the 2008 constitution. The NLD has indeed offered some middle ground to break t the country’s political deadlock.

Again, Than Shwe has said “No” by transferring Suu Kyi to Insein Prison and bringing yet more charges against her.

In my opinion, in the face of all these refusals, the leadership of the pro-democracy movement is left with no choice but to oppose the elections in 2010 and must state so urgently and without diversion.

This is the right moment for them to bring all political forces on board to boycott the elections.

Time is running out for the leadership of the pro-democracy movement. The place for today’s strategic battle is in the political arena, supported by the people. It is time for the leadership to take decisive action to prepare and mobilize for a mass boycott of the 2010 elections.

Aung Moe Zaw is chairman of the Democratic Party for a New Society, an opposition group based in exile.

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To: All political forces of Burma, both inside and in exile,

We pay due respect to all of those who sacrificed their lives and those who have committed to the movement for democracy for more than 20 years.

The movement for democracy since 1988 has yet to move on to the next step as we expected.  The ‘Shwe-Gone-Tine Declaration’ of leading party of the movement, namely the National League for Democracy (NLD) has constantly been bombarded with obstacles and has not materialized. The efforts made by the United Nations (UN) and international organizations to put pressure on the Burmese military government, calling itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), have been unproductive.  Under such circumstances domestically and internationally, it is possible that the SPDC government may go ahead with the plan of holding the “2010 Elections” as it did unilaterally with the 2008 Referendum.

As history taught us, the people of Burma toppled the one-party dictatorial rule and its 1974 Constitution by means of mass struggle, the 1988 mass movement for democracy.  Likewise, the SPDC military government and 2008 Constitution must be overthrown by a nation-wide mass movement as there is no alternative.

The modern history of Burma and the world history taught us that only the people’s movements can change society into the next stage of historical process.  As the party’s motto of ‘People are Our Adherence’, we must stand with the people and mobilize them for the people struggle against the Burmese military regime. The strength of mass power will bring the end to military dictatorial system.

The party’s Extraordinary Meeting of Central Committee which was held from 20 to 24 July 2009 decided on the following two guiding programmes for the party’s immediate workplan:
1.                   To mobilize all the people of Burma for the emergence of a nation-wide mass movement against the military dictatorial system; and
2.                  To prepare for various forms of campaigns against 2008 Constitution.

For this task, the first ground will be “2010 Elections”.  The preparation for mass boycott against 2010 Elections must be carried out.  There is not much time for this so it must be done with vitality, a common voice and coordinated planning.

The “2010 Elections” is very much different from the 1990 election.  The 1990 Elections was held as the direct result of the ‘1988 mass moverment for democracy’ that overthrew the one-party rule and its 1974 constitution. The 1990 election was held without any constraint imposed by undemocratic constitution like that of the “2008 Constitution”.  The pro-democracy forces at that time decided to take part in the 1990 elections under the tactical move of supporting the NLD against the National Unity Party – NUP (formerly, Burmese Socialist Programme Party – BSPP) in order to gain the legitimate support of the people for the movement for democracy.  At the 1990 elections, the NLD won a landslide victory.  However, the ruling military regime failed to honour the election result, convene parliament and hand over power to the people’s representatives, because the result of the election was not what they wanted.  Besides, the regime has constantly attempted by many different means to crack down the NLD and its leadership in order to weaken the movement for democracy.

Today, faced with another election, the “2010 Elections”, the tactical choice of participation in the elections as in 1990, is not feasible. There is no alternative but to boycot the “2010 Elections”.  In the context of Burma’s political development, the pro-election argument of “something is better than nothing” and its protagonists must be strongly opposed.

In fact, the 2010 Elections will be held under the 2008 Constitution which the SPDC military government unilaterally and undemocratically adopted.   This election is being held with the purpose of the regime to hang a veil of legitimacy over their illegitimate rule for more than 20 years and endure its military dictatorial rule.

It is thus essential to overthrow the “2008 Constitution” and prepare to boycott the coming “2010 Elections”.  In doing so, as stated above, the one voice among all political forces inside and in exile being heard is imperative.

In order to follow up this very important task, the party strongly urges all politcal forces inside and in exile to begin immediately with preparation for various forms of campaigns against “2008 Constitution” and “2010 Elections”.

Central Leading Committee
Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS)

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