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NEWS - Indonesian Lesson May Be Har
Indonesian Lesson May Be Hard for Myanmar's Generals
AP
10-JUN-98
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) On the other side of Southeast
Asia from Indonesia, the downfall of President Suharto sent
a message to another military regime, one that considered
his rule a model of how to be authoritarian yet retain
international acceptance.
Since 1962, generals have ruled Myanmar, also known as
Burma, with few concessions to democracy activists such as
Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace laureate. The
massacre of anti-government protesters a decade ago made
Myanmar a pariah state.
For the past eight years, the generals have been looking for
a new constitutional formula that would cloak their
rule with enough democratic trappings to gain
international legitimacy.
Indonesia was their model. In the political system erected by
Suharto, a former general, the military's involvement in
politics and defense was constitutionally enshrined with the
concept of "dwifungsi" or dual role. It provided governance
that seemed eternally stable.
The Myanmar junta has sought to formalize and legitimize a
similar system since the 1990 election victory of Suu Kyi's
party. The victory should have enabled her National League
for Democracy to take control of Parliament, but
the military refused to recognize the result.
Suharto's system allowed Indonesia's military to keep power
away from any organized opposition. By providing rapid
economic growth that, until recently, allowed reasonable
prosperity for most Indonesians, Suharto also was able to
mute criticism of the military's role in political affairs.
Suu Kyi, however, walked out of a 1995 convention aimed at
producing an Indonesian-style constitution in Myanmar,
deeming the process a sham. The country has been
politically deadlocked since.
Now, the appeal of the Indonesian model may be less.
Certainly, the economic development and political stability
Myanmar's rulers so admired has been diminished by
Indonesia's financial collapse and the anarchic final days
under Suharto's leadership.
These days, there is a new Indonesian model in the making,
one ordinary Myanmar citizens will only have heard about on
foreign radio: Student-led protesters brought down Asia's
longest-serving ruler and how the military appears to be
supporting democratic changes.
But Myanmar is highly unlikely to follow the same path.
Universities closed since 1996 protests likely will
stay that way for some time.
The military has no desire to see Myanmar's students,
historically at the forefront of the country's democracy
movements, become as politically active as their Indonesian
counterparts.
Student unrest coupled with economic problems sparked a
nationwide democracy uprising in 1988. The military
responded by gunning down more than 3,000 unarmed
protesters. The response to 1996 protests was less violent,
but dozens of students received long prison terms.
In what may be a sign of nervousness, high school teachers
have been warned to look out for subversives, meaning Suu
Kyi supporters.
Myanmar's generals hoped that gaining membership in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations last year would
bolster their legitimacy and result in new investment that
would alleviate economic hardship. The 1997 Asian financial
crisis dried up investments.
Suharto's family, coincidentally, had extensive holdings in
Myanmar. His government, pilloried for its human-rights
abuses, shielded Myanmar within ASEAN from mild
reproaches by more democratic members. Indonesia's new
government, keen to prove its reformist credentials, may be
less accommodating.
How the new leadership in Jakarta handles the post-Suharto
era could impact thinking in the Myanmar capital of Yangon
depending on whether Indonesia's leaders seek retribution
or let bygones be bygones.
An approach that favors reconciliation could become a new
Indonesian model, easing anxieties among Myanmar's
generals that life could go on if they, too, one day
cede some of their power.
EDITOR'S NOTE Don Pathan has covered Southeast Asian
affairs for The Associated Press since 1994.