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Political Situation of Myanmar
- Subject: Political Situation of Myanmar
- From: MYANPERSP@xxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 03:58:00
Subject: Political Situation of Myanmar and Its Role in the Region
(Part I )
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Political Situation of Myanmar and Its Role in the Region (Part I )
Contents
1. Geographical Location
2. People And Religion
3. Pre-Independence Days
4. Insurgency After Post-Independence Days
5. Narcotic Drug Problem
6. War Against Narcotic Drugs.
7. Accusing Myanmar Of Not Being Serious In The Fight Against Narcotic Drugs
8. Myanmar's Foreign Policy
9. Myanmar's Strict Neutrality
10. Development During The Period The Military Government Assumed State
Responsibility
11. Practising Universal Rules In The Protection Of National Security And
Interest
12. Drafting Of A New Constitution
13. Human Rights Issue And Democracy
14. Basic Universal Human Rights In Myanmar
15. Myanmar The Weak Link In The Regional China Containment Policy
16. A Setback For The Region To Become An Economic Power
17. Myanmar In Evolution
18. Why The Change From SLORC To SPDC
1. Geographical Location
Myanmar is located in the South East Asia region bordering the People's
Republic of China on the North and North East, Laos on the East, Thailand on
the South East, Bangladesh on the West and India on the North West. It is also
strategically located between South Asia and South East Asia with the People's
Republic of China on her North and North East. More interestingly she is
sandwiched between the two most populous nations in the World-- China and
India. She also has as a neighbour Bangladesh which is 5 times smaller in
size and 3 times larger in population and on top of it, Bangladesh is not
blessed with abundant natural resources as Myanmar and unfortunately
encounters many of the natural disasters in the region every year.
2. People And Religion
Myanmar comprises eight major national ethnic races with some 135 ethnic
minorities. The major national races are Kachin, Kayin, Kayah, Chin, Mon,
Bamar, Rakhine and Shan. The Bamar are the largest national race constituting
70% of the whole population. In the religious sector 80% of the population
practises the Buddhist faith while Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and
Animism are
also practised.
3. Pre-Independence Days
At the very outset of regaining her independence, Myanmar was misled into
differences in attitudes and outlooks paving the way for insurrection by the
divide-and-rule policy by which the British Colonialist has successfully
implemented in Myanmar for over 100 years and a variety of conflicting
thoughts and ideas had caused to disintegrate the unity and solidarity of the
nation just prior to independence. Myanmar's national hero General Aung San
and his ministers were assassinated in July 1947 through the complicity of the
colonialist government. It was the most damaging act in the history of
Myanmar. It left the country almost leaderless after regaining her
independence from Britain in January 1948. The British also forcefully
introduced the production of opium in the northern Myanmar states in 19th
Century with a purpose of increasing the opium trade with China. Myanmar
inherited these problems which remained an entrenched and a current issue.
4. Insurgency After Post-Independence Days
After regaining independence from Britain in 1948 a civilian government
(Parliamentary Democracy Government) ruled the country. Because of internal
party conflicts and clashes with the then 2 other opposition parties the
government in power gave priority to its party affairs only and means and ways
to get re-elected in the coming election. It neglected the requirements and
needs of the ethnic races while going to extremes, to cite one example,
proclaimed Buddhism a State Religion in Myanmar. Myanmar has 80% of her
population practising Buddhist faith by which the then prime minister was
canvassing for his party votes in the coming election. Unfortunately, his
move created rebellion among the ethnic races professing other religious
faiths and automatically led to armed insurrection in the country. Although,
it was clear from the very beginning that the then government was wrong in
their steps in the first place the military had no voice nor choice but to
follow orders in fighting against all the insurgent groups the government
had created for lasting 45 years.
5. Narcotic Drug Problem
During the peak of its insurgency in 1949, over 75% of the entire country was
in the hands of various armed insurgent groups. Half of Mandalay and the
outskirts of Yangon were also under the control of the insurgents
and Myanmar was at that time mockingly nicknamed the Rangoon
Government by the Western World refusing to sell the government badly
needed arms and ammunition to repel the insurgent groups. The
Myanmar Armed Forces together with the people of the country fought
and pushed back the armed groups and eventually gained the
upperhand. Unfortunately, during this time in 1950 an outside intrusion
started to take place in the North East and Eastern borders of
Myanmar. The Kuomintang (KMT) troops which were being forced out of
Southern Yunnan Province of China by the People's Liberation Army of
P.R.C. took refuge and established base camps on Myanmar territory.
These activities were encouraged, supported and financed by a western
power with the aim of blocking further communist expansion in Asia.
After the Second World War, the C.I.A. not only encouraged the
production of opium in this region to help finance it, and its KMT
allies' activities but also to finance considerable arms supplies to
the KMT and the various ethnic groups in Myanmar. During this
period two US ambassadors to Myanmar, William J. Sebald and David
Mc Key resigned in protest because they were not kept informed of
their government's activities in this drug producing area. There is
no doubt that these activities sowed the seeds of the current drug
production problems in the North and the North-Eastern Myanmar. The
KMT although officially were flown out of Myanmar under the U.N.
supervision in the early 60' s, still remnants of the 2 divisions
of KMT were still active on Myanmar's North East and Eastern borders
until the time of the drug warlord Khun Sa's surrender about 2
years ago in 1996. It is also interesting to know that the KMT
encouraged not only growing of opium in the golden triangle area as
well as on the Myanmar-Yunnan border but were responsible for the
refining of opium into heroin and creating heroin markets in the
region.
6. War Against Narcotic Drugs
Myanmar has since 1974 co-operated with the U.S. Government in the
anti-narcotic operations being highly commended for her efforts by that
Government. The U.S. Government has assisted Myanmar with $ 68
million for the period of 14 years starting from 1974 to 1988
mainly in training Myanmar officials and for the spare parts and
equipment used in the drug eradication operations. During this period
Myanmar suffered 92 law enforcement officials killed in action while
512 were seriously wounded. A pilot and an aircraft were lost during
the aerial spraying operation. It has also been learnt from the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Agency that Myanmar's efforts managed to stop $19
billion worth of heroin from reaching the streets of the Western
countries, mainly the United States. Although the U.S. cut off its
assistance since 1988, Myanmar has without any substantial outside
assistance managed from 1988 up to this day in preventing $ 45
billion worth of heroin from reaching the U.S. streets. At the same
time Myanmar law enforcement officials managed to break the notorious
drug army of Khun Sa in the Golden Triangle area and had him
surrender unconditionally. Myanmar suffered 766 law enforcement
officials killed in action while 2300 were seriously wounded and a lot
of materials were sacrificed as well. In this fight against narcotic
drugs the U.S. and the Western World not only refused to recognize
and encourge Myanmar's efforts but they were also putting obstacles
in her fight against narcotic armies by imposing an arms embargo. The
drug armies were given the privilege of using sophisticated weapons to
fight against the government troops being inflicted heavy casualities
while the government troops were using weapons of inferior quality.
In other words the U.S. and its western allies were not only
refusing to assist Myanmar in her fight against drugs but also
making her physically incapable and impossible to do so by their
imposition of an arms embargo on Myanmar.
7. Accusing Myanmar Of Not Being Serious In The Fight Against
Narcotic Drugs
In spite of all the natural obstacles and man-made difficulties
imposed by the western nations, Myanmar managed single-handedly to break
the army of the drug warlord Khun Sa with her own limited
resources. It was achieved by sacrificing a lot of blood, sweat and
tears on the part of her Myanmar Defence Forces and her Myanmar law
enforcement officials and was tremendously commended by the rest of
the world for her success and efforts. Even after Myanmar's success
in bringing Khun Sa into unconditional surrender resulting in
disbanding Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army and having Khun Sa himself under
the government's custody or supervision, the Western World especially
the U.S. and U.K. have continued in accusing Myanmar of not being
serious in the fight against narcotic drugs and for not extraditing
Khun Sa to the United States and also for not prosecuting Khun Sa
and other ethnic leaders. It is quite interesting to compare the
methods implemented by U.S. and Myanmar on handling such issues. The
U.S. prosecuted Noriega and Escobal as a great public relation
showcase for the American Government. But the essence is to raise a
query whether " Did it stop or reduce the flow of drugs coming to
the U.S. from those countries?" The answer is, of course, no. The
method Myanmar utilized against Khun Sa was, after his unconditional
surrender, to disband his army and then to have Khun Sa and his
top aides under government control and supervision. His troops were
sent back to their respective villages to live and work there as
normal citizens while the leaders were also given financial and
other necessary assistance to start a new life doing legitimate
businesses. The leaders may have their assets abroad but since no
country has come up with such kind of information Myanmar Government
has no choice but to take the responsibility of providing them with a
new and legitimate life-style so that they can be absorbed into the
mainstream. So far this method has proven to be realistic in
solving the problem although it may not be a P.R. good move.
Moreover, according to our on-ground calculations we have noticed a
significant decline in the production of opium although the western
nations have reported things differently.
However, Myanmar sincerely wishes for the countries that are seriously
affected and inflicted by this narcotic drug-menace not only to stop
fingerpointing and scapegoating others but also to seriously find more
realistic and practical methods to tackle this problem. Pressuring others
to accept and carry out methods which have undeniably failed in the past will
definitely not help in our fight against narcotic drugs. Constantly putting
the blame solely on a small developing nation already victimized by the past
colonial and superpower overwhelming actions will also bear no fruit in
fighting against the menace of narcotic drugs. On top of it, in Myanmar's case
the U.S. Government's unreasonable refusal to recognize the anti-narcotic
activities and efforts of the drug-producing countries and at the same time
not doing and also caring enough to stop or at least curb the consumer or
demand-side are also excruciatingly unrealistic and foolhardy.
8. Myanmar's Foreign Policy
Since Myanmar regained her independence from the British in 1948 she
chose to pursue an active and independent foreign policy from the
very beginning. She left the British Commonwealth and adopted a
neutral and later a non-aligned policy throughout the Cold War
period.
In pursuance of such a policy there are some pluses she has been
accorded mainly enabling her to stay out of the regional conflicts.
The minuses are that she has neither developed capitalist nor
communist alliances.
When Myanmar became a socialist country after the end of its
parliamentary era the Western World regarded her as a pro-communist
state while the Socialist World upheld her as a sort of a namesake
socialist country.
During this period Myanmar has more or less stayed away from the
regional and international crisis with doors partly closed eventually
leading her to self-imposed seclusion in pursuit of her own ideals.
9. Myanmar's Strict Neutrality
Since her regaining independence Myanmar has proven to countries near
and far that she is everybody's friend but nobody's ally. Myanmar
which is one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) left the organization in 1979 considering that the movement
strayed from its original course. She later rejoined the movement in
1992 realizing that the stance of the organization was in
accordance with her objectives of strict neutrality and non-alignment.
The strict neutrality which she has displayed in the region during the
difficult times has been appreciated and she has now gained trust
and confidence in the neighbourhood as well as in the region. In
spite of the end of the Cold War, Myanmar is still faithfully
pursuing her policy of being everyone's friend but still no one's
ally. Unfortunately, her natural and inborn policy has not been
accepted today on account of the imposition of the will of a
solitary existence of a super power. Today's concept virtually imposed
on Myanmar is either she has to become an ally or an opponent.
10. Development During The Period The Military Government Assumed State
Responsibilities
Today after the Military Government ( state law & Order Restoration
Council - SLORC) has assumed the state responsibilities in September
1988 the Government has managed to bring 17.5 of the 18 armed
insurgent groups into the legal fold and also has achieved success
in bringing the drug warlord Khun Sa to surrender unconditionally.
This is an astounding major achievement for Myanmar since it is the
first time in her modern history she has managed to establish
national unity, peace and stability.
Even though Myanmar is very rich in natural resources, due to the
lack of peace and stability compared to other ASEAN countries,
Myanmar has lagged behind in development. During the crisis in 1988
over 65% of the industry in Yangon (Capital City) was destroyed and
looted while 118 policemen were injured, 35 policemen killed and
15 police stations were overrun by the unruly mob. Simultaneously, 52
innocent civilians were tried by kangaroo courts and beheaded by the unruly
mob while an infantry platoon guarding a ministry building was also overrun by
the unruly mob. On top of it, the weapons, ammunition and explosives
from the police stations and the infantry platoon were taken away
by the disorderly mob while the insurgents also managed to bring
explosives and weapons into the cities as well. In the meantime
anarchism was rampant in the country. the Burmese Communist
insurgents were attacking the Government troops in the North East and
Eastern borders while the Kayin insurgents the South Eastern borders.
During this chaotic period the Armed Forces of Myanmar had no choice but to
use whatever means available in restoring Law and Order in the nation while
repelling the attacking insurgent groups. In fact, the Armed Forces of
Myanmar managed to save the country from disintegrating and from becoming
a war zone. But unfortunately the international media and the western world
portrayed a different picture of the Myanmar Armed Forces depiciting it as a
ruthless trigger- happy bunch of thugs shooting and killing civilians and
repressing democratic activities. Their so-called heroes of democracy were
at that time not only helpless but they stayed away from the path and scene
of rampage.
The military government, the then State Law and Order Restoration Council
after assuming the state responsibilities discarded the One-Party Socialist
System and the Socialist Economy to pursue a Multi-Party Democratic System
with a Market-Oriented Economy. In the transition period Market-Oriented
Economy was introduced and implemented in the economic sector while on the
political sector priority was given to an emergence of a new Constitution
which will be compatible with the Multi-Party democratic system and which will
also ensure peace and stability among the national races in the country. With
this in mind the 1990 election was held with the sole objective of electing
the representatives to draft a new constitution. Unfortunately, after the
election the party winning the majority of the seats, instead of meeting its
obligations changed her tune and demanded for the immediate transfer of power.
Logically, the country at that time had no constitution in place thereby the
military as a transitional and a caretaker government ran the country by
imposing a martial law. But for a political party to run the country imposing
a martial law would not only be inappropriate and even the very basic
questions posed by people from all walks of life went unanswered. These were;
(a) How would the National League for Democracy (NLD) party form a government?
(b) For how many years will the NLD run the country as a government in the
interim period? These are very simple basic questions which the NLD never had
any preparedness for an answer but still went on demanding for handing over of
state power overnight. Myanmar at that time had most of the armed groups
which have now returned to the legal fold were active as insurgent groups and
the situation was very fluid and tense.
11. Practising Universal Rules In The Protection Of National Security And
Interest
More specifically and importantly what most people do not realize is that in
many instances Ms. Suu Kyi is erroneously being referred as an elected person
or in some instances as an elected president. Ms. Suu Kyi never stood for the
election because she was not eligible to contest for a seat in the country's
elections. It was not this present military government or the previous
socialist government that refused Ms. Suu Kyi the right to stand for elections
but ironically it was her own father, Myanmar national hero General Aung San,
who wrote into the original constitution, subsequently promulgated in 1948, a
clause which defines that "any person who is under any acknowledgement of
allegiance or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or citizen is
entitled to the rights and privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign
power." Thus she is not entitled the eligibility to contest for a seat in
the country's elections. Ms. Suu Kyi resided abroad for twenty - eight years
and married an Englishman (Giving her the rights to U.K. citizenship) and has
2 children both holding British citizenships. This present military government
has as all the previous successive Myanmar Governments to continue in
honouring this clause and the present national convention has also committed
itself to continue in honouring the said clause. This type of constitutional
condition is implemented by many governments including those of developed
nations. It is quite understandable that the Governments do not wish to have
someone in office who could be unduly influenced by any other nation or power.
As a preventive measure certain rules and regulations to serve as a mechanism
in protecting the national security as well as the national interest of
respective countries are universally practised.
Again, in a similar scenario the NLD party is constantly and erroneously
referred to as an opposition party. In fact, the Government of Myanmar does
not regard the NLD or any other 9 legally existing political parties as
opposition parties since the Government regards itself not as a political
party but as a transitional government (A