Letter From Burma, No. 2

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Manichi Daily News
February 3, 1997

Letter from Burma
(No. 2)

By Aung San Suu Kyi
Regime denying right to celebrate independence

>From Independence to Union

Independence Day should be a time for celebrating the liberation of a nation
from bondage. To restrict the observance of such an occasion is a denial of
the basic concept that the independence of a nation should be linked to the
freedom of its people. It is the policy of the National League for Democracy
(NLD) that our offices throughout the country should commemorate
independence day in fitting manner. The authorities on the other hand,
seemed determined to prevent us from observing the occasion of our
independence. In many townships the local Law and Order Restoration Council
officially forbade the NLD from holding an Independence Day ceremony.
Perhaps it was because they thought that officialdom alone had the monopoly
on independence; perhaps they disapproved of the practice of political
parties demonstrating their commitment to freedom; or perhaps the very idea
of independence was repugnant to them. 

The road to my house had been blocked by the authorities since the beginning
of December and as Jan. 4, Independence Day, approached, it became a matter
of some speculation whether anybody would be let through to participate in
our commemoration ceremony. However, we went ahead with our plans to observe
that most important day in the political calendar of our country: In doing
so we would simply be carrying out our duty and if the authorities tried to
put obstacles in our way?well, that would be their business. It was fairly
obvious that they were not eager to allow us to observe the day of our
national freedom in too marked a manner, that they wanted to limit the scale
of our celebrations. We, on the other hand, believed in the right of our
people to express fully, at least once a year, their views of what
independence meant to them. 

Negotiations had to be conducted over the numbers who were to be let through
to my house for our Independence Day ceremony. A rather uncertain compromise
was reached and on Jan. 4, our guests found they had to wend their way
through serious ranks of barricades and security forces. Neither inanimate
nor animate barriers deterred our supporters but some guests, including
Asian diplomats, who arrived a little late were denied access to my house.
This was more of an exhibition of pettiness than of punctuality and sad
reflection of the small mindedness that has cast such a blight on our
country and detracted from the full flavor of independence. 

For our celebrations, we had a singing competition, which provided us with
an opportunity for an airing of songs, both old and new, intended to raise
courage and commitment to the cause of freedom in the hearts of listeners.
Next there was a performance by a dancer and four comedians in traditional
mode and we were all reminded of Daw Hnin Pa Pa, U Par Par Lay and U Lu Zaw,
who had entertained us so gallantly last year and who are all now prisoners
of conscience. There was lastly a one act play based on the peasant uprising
of 1930. There were striking similarities which the audience were quick to
seize upon with humorous appreciation. 

As soon as Independence Day had passed, it was time to look forward to Union
Day. Another circle of political events was here on us again. Fifty years
ago, a conference had been held at a small town in the Shan State, a
conference which had been crucial in deciding the shape of the future Union
of Burma. In the half century that has passed since then, the quest for a
nation that is indeed a true home for all our peoples has not yet ended. The
vision of a union based on mutual trust and goodwill has eluded successive
generations. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Panglong Agreement
[an accord between all nationalities in the former British colony of Burma
to form, with some stipulations, one Union of Burma, it is time to assess
how far we have come along the road to unity. In the opinion of 15 ethnic
nationality organizations which held a seminar at the beginning of the year,
we have not come very far. 

In the statement brought out by the seminar it is said that "since the time
of independence in 1948, successive regimes in power have violated the right
to 'equality of all citizens irrespective of race,' as provided for in the
Panglong Agreement. Armed subjugation by successive regimes, practicing
racial chauvinism, for the last 49 years, has been a disastrous experience
of suffering, unprecedented in history, for the ethnic nationalities. Brutal
suppression of the ethnic nationalities by armed might is still continuing." 

The behavior of those who impose their will over defenseless peoples has
done much to make the ethnic nationalities question whether they could ever
receive justice under a government dominated by the majority Burmese. A few
weeks ago, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) complained to
the chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) that one
of their members had been forced to resign from the party by an army
officer. The day after an altercation with a couple of soldiers, the party
member concerned and two others were taken away to a military camp without
any explanation. The next day they were subjected to a tirade by an officer:
Did they belong to the Burmese Communist Party? Did they belong to the All
Burma Students Democratic Front? Were they hardcore supporters of
insurgents? Did they know they could all be killed as there was no law in
the army? The member of the SNLD was further asked if he was one of those
clinging to the skirts of Aung San Suu Kyi, accused of beating a soldier and
of preaching politics for half an hour, and asked if he were trying to defy
the army. When he tried to explain what had happened, the officer threatened
to kill him and, after showing him a copy of the penal code, to charge him
under several sections of the law. When he replied that he had not committed
any crime and that he was an official delegate to the National Convention,
the officer retorted that the National Convention was quite meaningless,
full of prostitutes, drug abusers and drug runners. The hapless convention
delegate was beaten and, later that day, made to send off letters of
resignation to his party and to the National Convention in exchange for his
freedom. (This National Convention was begun in January 1993, ostensibly to
lay down the basic principles for a state constitution, and has been
dragging on ever since in between long recesses. Nobody quite knows what it
is really meant to achieve and when it will be concluded. The NLD was
expelled by the National Convention Convening Committee in November 1995.
"How fortunate that we are no longer part of it," was the comment of one NLD
member after he read the army officer's opinion of convention delegates.) 

The treatment meted out to that one member of the SNLD was not so much a
sign of racial discrimination as a reflection of the basic lack of justice
within the country. Such treatment, and worse, is daily fare for members and
supporters of the NLD: many of our organizers and elected members of
Parliament have been forced to resign through systematic persecution. The
realization that we are all suffering from the same lack of basic human
rights is a basis from which we could create bonds of friendship and
understanding that could lead to a true Union. Friendship between the
majority Burmese and the other ethnic nationalities is essential to the
welfare of our nation. Friendship and love cannot be left to chance. We have
to work to foster a state of understanding and sympathy especially when
there has been such a long history of suspicion and bitterness. 

The NLD holds that we all have a duty and a right to try to promote goodwill
between all the peoples of Burma. In December 1995, the NLD brought out a
statement on the occasion of the Karen New Year. It was a simple message
stating the need for sincerity, unity, equality, mutual respect and basic
human rights and emphasizing the importance of promoting the languages,
customs and traditions of the ethnic nationalities. We urged the Karen and
other ethnic peoples to join together to work for national reconciliation.
Such an innocuous message aimed at the solidarity of the Union, should not
have offended anybody who has an interest in promoting the national good.
However, the authorities reacted to it as though it was an incitement to
unrest. The joint secretary of the Myaungmya NLD was placed under arrest for
reading out the message at a Karen New Year gathering. Within six months he
was dead in Myaunmya jail, still awaiting sentencing. To penalize a man so
heavily for an act aimed at promoting national unity is the extreme of
viciousness and demonstrates an alarming lack of vision. 

This year the Karen New Year came a few~ days after Independence Day. We
brought out another New Year message and commemorated the occasion with
Karen colleagues by raising: the Karen flag in our garden. The flag consists
of horizontal red, white and blue bars and a red and blue rising sun at one
comer with a drum superimposed on it. The words of a Karen song: 

There's nothing quite so lovely as our flag. 
The white signifies purity
The red, boldness.
The blue is for loyalty,
And there are nine rays of sunlight
And a golden Karen drum. 

The drum is an important symbol for the Karen people. It is usually referred
to by the Burmese as a frog drum because it has small frogs on its face and
elephants lumbering down the flank. It is said that the frogs signify the
unity of purpose that will lead the Karen people to victory over even the
biggest enemy. Such drums are to be found in many parts of Southeast Asia.
The only ornament in the room where I receive guests is one of these drums,
dark with age, which has been in my home for many years. 

As the Karen New Year is traditionally held after the harvest, it is usual
to serve steamed glutinous rice on this occasion. In Burma there is a deep
purple, almost black, glutinous rice as well as the more common, white
variety. Large dishes of steaming black and white mounds of  rice sprinkled
with crushed sesame seeds, accompanied by cups of boiling green tea is a
fine display of hospitality very much in keeping with the spirit of rural
Burma. It evokes images of villages wrapped in early morning mist and
villagers wrapped in rough cotton blankets sitting down to their first meal
of the day as the sun appears hazily through jungle fronds. The simplicity
of our Karen New Year feast, shared with Karen --  and non-Karen colleagues
dressed in bright red, traditional tunics, was enormously satisfactory. 

During World War II, there were many bloody conflicts between the Burmese
and Karen communities of the Irrawaddy delta. The resolution of the conflict
brought together leaders of the Karen community with the leaders of the
Burmese independence movement. It could be said that this was the prelude to
the Union that was agreed upon at the Panglong Agreement and as soon as the
independence of Burma was declared in January 1948 Karens who did not
believe they would receive fair treatment under a Burmese government rose up
in rebellion. Thus the Karen insurgency movement constitutes the
longest-standing armed conflict within the country and much remains to be
done to establish the understanding and goodwill between the Burmese and the
Karens. 

Then there are the Chins and the Arakanese in the west, the Kachins in the
north, the Shans and the Karennis in the east, the Mons in the southeast and
the many other peoples who make up the rich diversity of our country. In
Panglong fifty years ago the first step taken towards turning this diversity
into strength. But not enough has been done to keep the spirit of Panglong
alive. Our ethnic nationalists still harbor a deep feeling of mistrust of
the majority Burmese, a mistrust natural to those who have not been accorded
justice and fair play. In trying to build up a strong union, our greatest
challenge will be to win the confidence of those who have only known
repression and discrimination. 

The road that some countries have to travel from statehood to nationhood is
a long and difficult one. All too often one recalls to mind the words "such
a long journey ahead -- not a question of imagination but of faith." To
travel a long rough road, with no companion other than faith is at times a
wearisome task. But for some of us it is an unavoidable trial, a trial of
strength and endurance. It was with bright hopes of a better, happier future
that the generation of those who came to maturity between the two world wars
trod the path to independence. It was the dream of our fathers that a free
nation should be a fit home for a free people. It is the tragedy of Burma
that independence has not meant the realization of the hopes and dreams of
those who lived and died for the ideal of freedom, that it has not resulted
in the true flowering of the spirit of Panglong. 

It is out of human suffering that new societies are built. The price of
justice and freedom have never been small, nothing of lasting value ever
came cheap. We must decide for ourselves whether we are prepared to pay the
price demanded of us. For some, the price may be too high, so high it seems
beyond the paying capacity of normal human beings. Yet there have been many
who have paid without stint or reservation for a strong, just, democratic
Union of Burma. On the 50th anniversary of Union Day, let us hope that we
may be able to do full honor to such noble generosity. 



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