Sunday Times 2
Lights are out in the Land of the Pagodas
Demonstrators march with signs during a protest against the military coup and to demand for the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Yangon, Myanmar, February 12, 2021. REUTERS
Since February 1, the entire world has been shedding tears for Aung Suu Ky.
The ‘International Community’ shed copious tears for her, though they had been demanding that she be stripped of her Nobel Peace Prize for refusing to condemn her own government of which she was the second highest ranking member — State Counsellor — for the massacre of Rohingya Muslims by the Myanmar army.
The rest of the world – Non-Aligned, Neutral Non-Aligned, tilted Non-Aligned and Non-Aligned of various assortments — have been crying out aloud but not being able to do anything positive — as has been the long tradition of the Non-Aligned when those of the Third World go under military jackboots.
Suu Kyi, the 75-year-old frail woman who had swept the polls each time free and fair elections were held — three general elections — the last being in November 2020 — is now under house arrest with other political leaders while tens of thousands of Burmese have taken to the streets braving water cannon, rubber bullets and even live ammunition of the military junta demanding the withdrawal of the military junta and the restoration of the elected government of the NLD (National League for Democracy) led by Suu Kyi.
Myanmar’s half century old dictatorship is homegrown. U Nu, its first prime minister handing over power to his Chief of Staff Gen. Ne Win in 1958, temporarily, because of secessionist moves by the minorities that destabilised the country. Gen. Ne Win did bring about political stability, elections were held and U Nu was re-elected as prime minister. But two years later, the ‘General’ staged a coup dcétat, arrested U Nu, declared a one party secular state under the ‘Burmese way to socialist ideology’ to be run by the ‘Union of Revolutionary Council of Military Officers’. Ne Win’s dictatorship lasted from 1962 to 1988 when he was overthrown by another military coup. Military juntas continued and the last succeeding one, on February 1, declared that last November election won by Suu Kyi as being fraudulent and put her and other party leaders under house arrest.
Those Western liberal critics of Suu Kyi for non-condemnation of the Rohingya massacre by the Burmese army should consider the conditioning of Burmese society by Ne Win’s military junta and those juntas that followed. Firstly, all Muslims of the armed forces were expelled as were all Muslims on government employment. Those who did not integrate with the majority forfeiting observance of Islamic laws faced great difficulties. The acts of some Muslims elsewhere such as the Taliban blasting Bamiyan Buddha statues were used as a pretext for violence against Muslims in Myanmar by mobs. Accusations of ‘terrorism’ were made against Muslim organisations such as the All Burma Muslim Union.
Christians too were not exempted. Conversion to Christianity was stopped, restrictions placed on evangelists from America after 1965. In 1966, all foreign missionaries were expelled by the Burmese government.
Rohingyas not lily white
The history of the Rohingya is not all that lily white as a community in an interracial society. According to Tizwan Zeb — Research Fellow of the South Asia Study Group (SASG) of the University of Sydney, Buddhist-Rohingya clashes go back to Doh Bama (We Burma Nationalist Movement)of the 1930s. During the Japanese occupation of Burma (1942-45), the Rohingya sided with the British to the ire of the Buddhists. The Rohingya opposed the independence movement that resulted in a wave of violence and instead of integrating with the state they rebelled against the newly independent government and started a secessionist movement that lasted almost 17 years (1948-65) This movement aimed at creating an independent state that would join the then state of East Pakistan.
The recent wave of violence against the Rohingya Muslims began in 2012 with the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman Ma Thida Hiwe, allegedly by a Rohingya. It sparked off the wave of violence that spread beyond the Rakhine state to Central and North Myanmar. A number of Rohingya militant groups emerged among them – for instance, the Arakam Salvation Army (ARSA) – which carried out attacks on the security forces.
A senior Buddhist monk of the Maoeyeni Mandalay monastery became a key figure behind a movement to boycott Muslim businesses, revived the collective memory of Buddhists that the Rohingya never integrated into the Burmese state and society and were conspiring to make Myanmar into an Islamic country through their high birth rate.
The power of the narrative made Suu Kyi stand firmly on the side of the Buddhist majority, states the researcher from the Sydney University.
A significant factor not brought out in the above analysis is that though Suu Kyi was the second ranking member in the constitution drawn up by the military junta, she stood on very shaky ground while attempting to foster democratic freedoms for all people of Myanmar. Any attempt to oppose a strong nationalist movement sweeping across the country would have been like performing political hara-kiri. The military junta could have pulled the carpet under her feet as they did on February 1 for reasons still not spelled out.
The Rohingya massacre by the armed forces called for severe condemnation but that would have swept away all the tremendous sacrifices made by Suu Kyi — building her party, NLD, to a formidable political force, isolation from her family — even not being able to be with her husband dying of cancer — and 11 years of house arrest and her long struggle for democratic rights of the Burmese people. Sri Lankans need not be told of what the consequences would have been had President J. R. Jayewardene been critical of leaders of mobs and blamed some of those in lower ranks of the armed forces during the dark days of July 1983.
Suu Kyi received tremendous support of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and many notable Western leaders during her long period of incarceration. There was even a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly condemning the human rights situation in Myanmar and calling for Suu Kyi’s release with 85 states voting for the resolution, 25 against and 46 abstentions. But will the current coup, its military junta and Suu Kyi’s party the NLD be viewed in the same light after the disappointment of the West with Suu Kyi’s role in not keeping to their expectations in safeguarding the rights of a minority?
Strong statements condemning the coup and incarceration of the elected leader and her key officials have been made by UN Secretary General Antonio Gueterez, US President Joe Biden, British PM Boris Johnson and the EU. On Thursday, Joe Biden announced that the US would impose sanctions on those involved in the coup and called upon the release of democratic political leaders and activists. But will the sanctions be crippling enough?
Will they apply to countries that have dealings with the Myanmar junta as those imposed by President Donald Trump on Iran?
China appears to be the key factor in the fallout of international reactions on Myanmar. Already China has vetoed a move to have the Myanmar junta condemned in the Security Council. China has been assisting the Myanmar military junta before and during the hybrid government of Suu Kyi and the junta. China has been the second biggest investor in Myanmar after investments commenced following the formation of the hybrid government. The biggest investor is said to be Singapore — most being American and Western investments — coming via the City State.
China’s interest in Myanmar is obvious considering that it lies under the soft underbelly of the Chinese dragon. Strategically, the Burma Road runs through Myanmar from China to the Bay of Bengal.
Western powers targeting sanctions against China, the Second biggest economic power, is unthinkable in the current geopolitical context.
What does all this mean to those under the jackboot of Burma’s military men and SuuKyi? Hard sanctions by the West on the junta would result in driving the junta into the hands of Beijing. If No hard Western sanctions are imposed, the military junta will be sitting pretty and the country receiving economic assistance while those committed to democracy will remain behind bars.
Meanwhile, where are the Non Aligned nations? And where are the Sinhala Buddhists of Lanka? Are they with the military junta?
The Burmese people are on the streets in all cities and villages demanding their fundamental rights. The Burmese Sangha are still in their temples and not come out. Burma’s saffron power has rattled previous juntas and were put down with utmost severity. But can they make a difference now?
The prospects for democracy are dim in the land of the glittering pagodas.