Democracy in Myanmar: The new normal

The opportunity to visit the latest emerging democracy in ASEAN and learn about its human rights policy was just too good to pass up. After almost 50 years under a military dictatorship, Burma has opened up to its people and the world, sporting a brand new name — Myanmar — and a shiny new image.

Over a decade ago, I applied for a visa to Burma and was flatly denied. As a journalist I was qualified for automatic denial. Last week, I entered the country as a human rights activist — which would have been worse than a journalist in the bad old days —without even having to get a visa.

There is much to be optimistic about in Myanmar. But the jury is still out on whether or not the reforms are genuine and sustainable.  After all, no one expects the generals who ruled the country with an iron hand for 50 years to just give up their power.

One indication of this is that the Myanmar government has refused to recognize the Rohingya Muslim population in Rakhine state as its citizens, leaving them unprotected from violent attacks by the Buddhist community. Another is the fact that, popular as she is, Aung Sang Suu Kyi is barred from running for the presidency by the Myanmar Constitution which stipulates that no one with ties to a foreign state may become head of state. Her two sons are British citizens.

Still, there is truth to the celebratory statement of Ambassador Kaw Tint Shwe, a retired diplomat who is Myanmar’s representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), that “In Myanmar, everything is possible.”

In the past three years, Myanmar has seen rapid democratization. After five decades of being the bad boy of Southeast Asia, the government began to open up to democratic practices and processes in 2011. This was after the junta called for elections that installed a civilian president — okay, a retired military man who is actually doing very well — in 2010, and then dissolved itself. And the reforms towards liberal democracy began.

Some 200 political prisoners were freed, the most prominent of them Aung Sang Suu Kyi, who had been under house arrest for a total of 15 out of the 21 years prior to her release. New labor laws were passed allowing the formation of unions and the right to strike, press censorship was relaxed, and a human rights commission was set up by presidential decree.
The world has taken notice. The international sanctions have been lifted. Investors have come in. There is today a modest building boom in Yangon. Tourists are pouring into the country. Heads of state have come to visit. And international NGOs are falling all over each other putting their money into development programs and projects.

It was inspiring to hear members of the Press Council and the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission talk about the emerging regime of human rights and press freedom, two essential elements of democracy that the people of Myanmar have long been denied. Bills drafted by the human rights commission and the Press Council establishing a permanent, independent human rights commission and freedom of the press are expected to be passed into law by Parliament in the coming months.

No one seems to be missing the rule of the generals. The new normal in Myanmar is democracy, with Aung Sang Suu Kyi as an elected member of Parliament, and, if she can get the constitution amended to allow a citizen with foreign ties to be head of state, she could be president in 2015.

Still, it is difficult for this cynical outside observer to believe that the Junta would quietly, willingly slip into oblivion. Which makes me wonder how far the generals would allow the democratization to flourish before they tighten up again. 

I wish Myanmar well. I pray that the reforms they are pursuing are sustainable and irrevocable, that the military dictatorship is forever a thing of the past. Myanmar democracy is a work in progress that must be supported. Its good and gentle people deserve the best that peace, freedom and democracy can provide.