NEWS - Indonesian Lesson May Be Har

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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.