By Tettoe Aung
When I was at school I learnt the proverb that, “A bird in hand is worth more than two in the bush.” These days, some people in our exile community are advocating that we should participate in the forthcoming 2010 elections. In a way they are neglecting the fact that we already have a bird in our hand but we are longing for those two we haven’t caught. They should get real!
The people have voted for a democratically elected government and the result of the 1990 elections is what we already won and what we already have. No one in the world can denied us of that legitimacy. As an Arab would say, “you got the watch, but we have time.” What the military regime in Burma promised us under their illegitimate constitution in the forthcoming 2010 elections has nothing for us at all. It will be just an everlasting life of suffering and injustices under the military dictatorship of another form.
In law they said, “Something that is not legitimate in the beginning can never be legitimate at any stage.” In spite of Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein’s promise that the UN Special Envoy Mr Ibrahim Gambari and UN staff will be allowed in as observers, if the track record of the military regime is our evidence, there is no guarantee that the outcome of the 2010 elections will be fair. As long as we hold on to our legitimate right, the military regime can have as many elections as they want but they can never have the legitimacy.
If the Constitutions that we have, one after we regained our independence in 1948 and the other one that was imposed onto us by U Ne Win and his Socialist Government in 1973, were both scrapped by the military regimes how can we be sure that this Constitution, that was neither drafted by those who won the 1990 elections nor was approved by a referendum free from duress, will not be abrogated again if the military did not get what they want?
Since independence, successive governments – both elected and the ones that took power by staging military coups, had promised the ethnic minorities that all will have a fair share of the nation’s wealth. They say, “Bama ta-kyat, Shan ta-kyat” but so far neither Bama nor Shan nor any other nationalities for that matter, if they are not in the military they get nothing. The military is the one who had it all. They may shed their uniforms and put on civilian clothes but only they and their cronies will be the ones who will benefit from this forthcoming election.
Some so-called experts on Burma affairs and so-called intellectuals may be advocating on participation in the elections What they are not telling the people is that there is no assurances, despite promises said to have been made now or promises that they have never honoured. The people in Burma should be wiser after what they have been through not just the one in 1990 but also in other occasions like those held in U Ne Win’s era. In a Burmese saying, “Once you have died you ought to know the price of timber” (ta-khar thei-bu pyin-pho nar-lei ya-myi) we should well aware of the tricks the military regime has up its sleeves.
One does not have to look further to find out whether military dominated parliament will be good for the country. If it was, Indonesia will be the first to continue governing with the system. They are the ones that introduced the system under the former military dictator Suharto, don’t they?
Some in the exile community are hoping that the 2010 elections could usher in some political changes. To use a somewhat derogatory metaphor for those who are not that responsive to subtle nuances (as our late Bogyoke Aung San used to say) ‘the bucket of shit is almost empty, but some still are not yet put off by the smell.’ No wonder they say, “If one has lost the sense of smell he or she could be made to eat excrement.” Is there any point in stopping swine from eating excrement, I guess not.
Remarks: Author is a former diplomat from BSPP period
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