A CALL FOR CHANGE

In 1988 the people of Burma took to the streets in mass pro-democracy demonstrations that called for an end to one-party rule. Students were in the forefront, and were joined by all walks of society marching under banners of associations of monks, writers and artists, doctors and nurses, lawyers, teachers, housewives, civil servants and even sections of the police and armed forces. Many demonstrators carried portraits of Burma’s national hero, General Aung San (1915-47), leader of Burma’s independence movement and founder of the Burma Army. Former army commanders Aung Gyi and Tin Oo and veteran politician U Nu addressed the crowds.

A NEW VOICE

Inspiration came, above all, from a new voice, that of General Aung San’s daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, who soon became the focus of aspirations for change. On August 24, Aung San Suu Kyi made a brief first public speech in front of the Rangoon General Hospital, saying:

"What I want to see is the peaceful transition to
a political system which is in accordance with
the will of the majority. And to do this I want the
people of Burma to be disciplined, united and to
use the most peaceful means possible. I think
that in every country we must hold on to the
principles of right, justice and unity."

Two days later, at a huge public rally at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, Aung San Suu Kyi captured the hearts of her audience when she declared:

"I could not, as my father’s daughter, remain
indifferent to all that was going on. This
national crisis could, in fact, be called the
second struggle for independence."

HOPE DENIED

Although the SLORC allowed multiparty general elections on May 27 1990, it then failed to honor the landslide victory won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, and has remained in power. Indeed of the 485 elected members of parliament, over eighty have been arrested, others dismissed or forced to resign, and twenty driven into exile. The SLORC (renamed State Peace and Development Council in November 1997) continues to rule by military dictat, while orchestrating a constitution designed to perpetuate military dominance. Although ceasefires have been negotiated with armed insurgent ethnic groups, these are fragile and there has been little progress towards a genuine multiparty democratic system. The economic mismanagement and abuse of power - criticized and lampooned in the pro-democracy publications of 1988 - has continued. Burma’s socio-economic malaise has greatly increased under the rule of the SLORC/SPDC, as has international condemnation of the regime’s human rights’ violations. For daring to express their yearning for democracy and their criticisms of the one-party state, many of the voices of 88 have suffered arrest, imprisonment and death. The grievances and desire for political change that drove so many of Burma’s citizens to protest in 1988 are as valid today as then and remain unresolved.

THE WAY FORWARD - DEADLOCK
OR DIALOGUE?

The need for reconciliation and peaceful change
in Burma has never been greater. In Aung San Suu
Kyi’s words:

"The dream of a society ruled by kindness,
reason and justice is a dream as old as civilized
man. Does it have to be an impossible dream?"

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

At the height of the demonstrations in late
August and early September over a hundred new
newspapers, journals and pamphlets appeared,
some professionally printed, others handwritten and mimeographed or photocopied. They chronicled the nationwide strikes, rallies and meetings and published interviews, debates, poems and cartoons and pictures of the demonstrations, hunger strikes and leading personalities. Even government- controlled national papers began to carry reports and pictures of events as they unfolded. With the relaxation of press restrictions, public discussion and comment on the state of the country became possible for the first time in years. The concepts of democracy, human rights and freedom of expression were eagerly debated by Burma’s citizens, undeceived by years of stilted state propaganda and outraged by the violence used against unarmed demonstrators.

MILITARY CLAMPDOWN

This brief period of press freedom came to an abrupt end when, on September 18 1988, the military State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) took over. In the crackdown that followed, possession of these pro-democracy publications became dangerous as the armed forces and military intelligence pursued all those who had participated in the demonstrations, arresting student leaders and activists and those associated with the publications. The SLORC launched a new propaganda offensive extolling the Tatmadaw’s "noble desire", blaming communists and "treasonous minions within Myanmar and traitorous cohorts abroad" for fomenting unrest, and exhorting:

"Oppose those who disturb peace and
tranquillity. Crush those who mar the rule of law!"

Over 3,000 civilians were killed in the suppression of the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations - some estimates put the number much higher still. More than 10,000 students and activists fled to Burma’s borders where some joined armed opposition forces, while approximately half a million ethnic minority villagers escaping military operations, forced labor demands and persecution have sought precarious refuge in neighboring Thailand, Bangladesh, India and China.

BURMA’S YOUTH

In the 1920s and 30s Burmese students played a vital part in the nationalist movement to gain independence from British rule. Aung San, Nu and other student union strike leaders of the 1930s went on to shape the postwar destiny of the nation. It is a bitter irony that it was not in the colonial period but only under Burmese military rule that thousands of students have suffered death, incarceration and exile, and been deprived of educational opportunities. In the decade since SLORC/SPDC took control, the universities have been shut for all but a couple of years and the high schools for all but five years. The regime’s fear of unrest and its intolerance of criticism has denied a generation of young Burmese its right to education. Student leaders of 1988 remain in jail and others continue to be arrested: one, Aung Tun, who had compiled a history of the student movement, was sentenced in 1998 to seventeen years’ imprisonment.