One year on, Myanmar marks
time By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK- Myanmar's Prime Minister Khin Nyunt may
find it difficult to tout his achievements this week
after United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan threw
his weight behind the legitimacy of Myanmar's opposition
party, effectively depriving Khin Nyunt of the ability
to claim political progress as he marks his first
anniversary in office on Wednesday.
Annan's
statement last Tuesday goes to the heart of what
Myanmar's military government has been avoiding - to
permit the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) and its leader Aung Saan Suu Kyi, who currently is
under house arrest, from participating in the political
reform process in the country previously known as Burma.
Moreover, the UN secretary general's reference
to the lack of credibility faced by the National
Convention, a forum convened by the ruling military
junta to draft a new constitution for the country, was
an added blow to attempts made by Khin Nyunt to convince
the international community that Yangon is serious about
democratic reform.
"Unless and until the views
of the National League for Democracy and other political
parties are sought and considered, the National
Convention and the road map process will be incomplete,
lacking in credibility, and therefore, unable to get the
full support of the international community," Annan
declared in his statement.
Shortly after being
appointed prime minister on August 25, 2003, General
Khin Nyunt revealed plans for a seven-step road map
toward democratic reform in Myanmar. The reconvening of
the National Convention, which was first initiated in
1993 but adjourned in 1996 when the NLD walked out under
protest, was described as the preliminary step of this
exercise.
But some pro-democracy activists in
Myanmar say the UN chief's unequivocal position will
expose the role Khin Nyunt has been asked to play over
the past year by the junta, led by the all powerful
General Than Shwe.
"He is only a puppet trying
to play a role for the ruling generals," Zin Linn of the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
(NCGUB), the democratically elected government in exile,
said in an interview. None of the plans Khin Nyunt has
unveiled have come into existence, because the military
rulers are only giving him lip service, Linn revealed.
"Their agenda is different: to hold on to power."
According to Soe Aung, external affairs director
of the Network for Democracy and Development, a group of
exiles agitating for political reform, "Khin Nyunt does
not have the power to take political reform forward
through the National Convention." Khin Nyunt's
appointment last year was to "reduce the pressure the
military regime was coming under by trying to appease
the international community with an offer for political
change," Aung added.
In fact, some Myanmar
watchers have portrayed Khin Nyunt as the moderate force
within the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),
as the government in Myanmar is officially known. But
his military record, including his position as head of
military intelligence in one of Southeast Asia's most
oppressive states, has exposed him as being very much a
figure of the ruling dictatorship.
Khin Nyunt
was appointed in the wake of global outrage following an
attack on Suu Kyi and her party members on May 30, 2003.
Known as the "Depayin massacre", in which more than 70
people were killed and close to 100 went missing, the
attack was the work of thugs linked to the junta.
Human-rights groups viewed that attack as
further proof that the junta was not interested in
political reform, given the four decades the military
has been in power since staging a coup in 1962.
The junta lent credence to that position by
refusing to release Suu Kyi and thus denying her party's
involvement in the National Convention, which began for
the second time in May under conditions that denied
participants the right to debate and disagree with the
constitution drafted by the military.
After
nearly two months of closed-door discussions, however,
the constitutional convention adjourned on July 9
because, according to the junta, the current monsoon
rains had created a problem and the convention's
delegates had to return to their respective political
bases to consult with their leadership. Political
insiders, who say this is evidence that the convention
has already run into a crisis, dismiss the official view
of the suspension.
The problems don't stop there
either. According to a Myanmar pro-democracy activist,
"A difference has emerged between the SPDC and ethnic
groups at the convention over decentralization of
power." The 13 ethnic groups at the convention have
drafted a proposal suggesting that each of their regions
elect their own regional governments headed by a prime
minister and that they have control over their area's
finances, the activist added. "They also want to draft
their own state constitution, which will protect the use
of their own language in their state besides using
Burmese and English," he revealed.
Myanmar's 49
million people reflect the country's ethnic diversity,
which includes Burmans - the largest group - and seven
others ethnic tribes - the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni,
Mon, Rakhine and Shan - all with sizeable numbers.
Equality among ethnic groups was a feature
recognized in the 1947 Panglong Accord, the document
that defined Burma's independence. But Burman-dominated
military regimes have failed to uphold the accord in
practice, resulting in decades-long armed conflicts
between Yangon and ethnic rebels.
The junta's
reluctance to let go of its iron grip will make it
increasingly difficult for Khin Nyunt to claim that
there have been political improvements since his
appointment, says Linn, of the NCGUB - Myanmar's
government-in-exile.
That has been made worse by
Yangon refusing entry to both Annan's special envoy for
political reform in Myanmar since the beginning of this
year and the UN human-rights envoy for Myanmar. Both are
bans that Annan wants to end. In addition to his
statements last week, he also called on Myanmar to
"allow the [UN] special envoy to return to Myanmar as
soon as possible to continue his facilitation efforts".
