Myanmar, Democratic Republic Becomes a Military Dictatorship

Myanmar, also known as Burma became an independent republic on January 4, 1948 with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister. Unlike many other former British colonies Burma did not join Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary union of 53 nations, most of whom are former British colonies. The Commonwealth of Nations is a group of cooperative nations striving for common goals including the promotion of democracy, human rights, good government, and the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, and world peace. They formed with a bicameral parliament and a Chamber of Nationalities primarily formed to give minorities within Burma some political power. U Thant, then Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1961 making him the first non-Westerner to head any international organization

General Ne Win brought democratic rule in Burma to an end when he successfully led a coup in 1962. He introduced the Burmese Way to Socialism, His ideals of

nationalization of industries, repression of minorities, a police state and on the more extreme side, severe isolationism, expulsion of foreigners, and the discouragement of tourism. He also encouraged a state sanctioned form of Buddhism to make the people more selfless. Critics of the state sanctioned religion believe it led to increased poverty and isolation for Burma while others say it brought about domestic stability and kept Burma from being as involved in the Cold War struggles that affected other Southeast Asian nations.

University students in Rangoon began what is known as the 888 protest (August 8, 1988) which were quickly joined by Burmese citizens including government workers, Buddhist monks, Armed Forces, customs officers, teachers and hospital staff. The peaceful demonstrations in Rangoon soon spread to other state capitals. Ne Win resigned as chairman of the ruling Burma Socialist Program Party at the height of the uprising. On September 18, 1988 the military led by General Saw Maung launched yet another coup and seized power making there first order of business to crush all pro-democracy protest. It is estimated that 3000 civilians including students and Buddhist monks lost their lives as the new Junta moved to put down the protest, an estimate that is denied by the military.

It is widely believed that although he officially resigned Ne Win played a role in orchestrating the coup and continued to have influence over the resulting Junta known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council, a name later changed to the State Peace and Development Council. In 1998 Ne Win began to lose his influence on the Junta, in September 2002 his son -in-law, Aye Zaw Win, and his three grandsons were found guilty of treason for allegedly planning to overthrow the SPDC., all four were sentenced to death and Ne Win and his daughter, Sandar Win were placed under house arrest.

Burma is still controlled by the Junta's State Peace and Development Council headed by Senior General Than Shwe. He replaced Saw Maung who unexpectedly resigned on April 23, 1992 for reasons of health. It initially appeared that he would be more liberal than his predecessor. as He relaxed restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi (a pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma and by democratic elections of 1990 is the official Prime Minister resulting in her being place under house arrest by the Junta) and also relaxed some state control over the economy, he oversaw a large crackdown on corruption and vocally supported Burma's participation in the Association of South East Asian Nations. However, according to many human rights groups, human rights are all but non existent in Burma. Reported violations include forced labor, no freedom of speech or political freedom, state-sanctioned torture and rape, kidnapping of children into the military with an estimated 70,000 child soldiers, and widespread child labor. Most recently we have witnessed the atrocities committed against the pro-democracy demonstrators.

I believe it is clear that without U.N. intervention and international support the people of Burma will continue to suffer as they have since 1962. The popular opinion in Burma is that the U.N. will achieve little if anything. Will the U.N. take action or will the people continue to suffer?