BURMA
THAUNG HTUN
The Burmese people have had to maintain a sense of optimism after 46 years of military dictatorship. But, as the first anniversary of the Saffron Revolution approaches and in the midst of yet another visit by the United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Rangoon, optimism is waning. The international community has expressed its commitment to promoting democracy in Burma, as this latest visit by Mr Gambari underlines. However, commitment in its expression is easily undermined by its failure in practice.
For instance, strong words in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Nargis in May against the inhuman intransigence of the military leaders, has not yet ensured that aid is getting to the most needy Burmese.
Millions of aid dollars have been creamed off and pocketed and still aid workers are blocked from gaining full access to many of those hardest hit in the Irrawaddy delta.
This inaction is the more disappointing when placed next to the non-movement from global bodies like the United Nations on the ridiculous referendum held in May. The vote, held in areas still recovering from Nargis and carried out amidst widespread vilification and oppression, resulted in a constitution which seeks to guarantee the rule of the junta and confirms the iron rule of the military as a legally validated political culture.
Yet, still the UN has issued no statements or commentary, let alone a heated condemnation and censure motion as might be expected.
Finally, some international actors have extended tacit support for the ''full'' election to be held in 2010, as the military's own self-created roadmap decrees. That this election is expected to take place in the current climate of intimidation and fear, as well as against a backdrop of a patently undemocratic and frankly absurd constitution, appears not to have motivated enough international actors to move to quash the process and to replace it with an internationally sanctioned and supported free and fair election.
This somewhat squeamish approach leads to a process which is actually aiding the consolidation of military rule, rather than seeking an all-inclusive democratic process. The ruling SPDC has proven that it is no longer relevant as a responsible national body, and holds the mandate of its governmental legitimacy, won by the direst acts of terrorism, in a tense grip of state violence on a massive scale.
Yet, it basks in the warmth of validity based on its position and power, as defined by realpolitik international agendas.
Meantime, Burma's democracy movement is being forced into a corner. Groups such as ours, which represents the Members of Parliament elected in the last full and free election, in 1990, cannot hope to operate in such circumstances. If democracy is a flower, then it would appear it is expected to grow in soil so poor that nothing of the kind has ever grown there before.
It is clear that a number of major points need to be addressed prior to any election in Burma.
First, an ongoing dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, the outright winners of the 1990 election, must be opened and maintained.
This is difficult, if not impossible to achieve, without her release from house detention. This leads to the second condition: the release of all political prisoners.
Third, there needs to be a convention established to construct a democratic election process. This must involve all relevant parties, such as the NLD, ethnic groups and the military.
Among the agenda items for this convention would be the building of an interim constitution and the construction of a national unity government to oversee the pre-election period.
Fourth, Burma needs an economic development forum to raise issues of poverty and to seek measures for alleviating it.
Finally, a regular channel of open communication must be opened between such bodies as the UN and appropriate actors inside Burma, to ensure that access to dialogue is never used as a weapon again. A permanent presence in Rangoon, say of a UN mediation centre, would aid this process.
It is imperative that Mr Gambari pushes for these goals as his efforts to return democracy to Burma will falter should they be ignored.
A year since the birth of the Saffron Revolution, the UN and other international interlocutors have a long way to go.
For Burmese, the distance seems ever longer. So far, the only conclusion is that the international community has failed Burma. As time goes on, failure becomes an option that is no longer tenable. The people of Burma deserve better. The world must do better.
Thaung Htun is Representative for UN Affairs of the Burma UN Service Office, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, Burma's government-in-exile.
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