New blood continues struggle
In sentencing Myanmar’s iconic democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to prison, the country’s generals have effectively exiled her from electoral politics. But that doesn’t mean the nation is back to square one in its stop-start efforts to move towards democracy.
A younger generation that came of age as the military began loosening its grip on politics and the economy and has tasted some freedoms is well positioned to carry on the struggle.
A de facto coup on February 1 pushed Suu Kyi’s elected government from power, throwing the country into turmoil. But erasing the gains of a decade of opening up has proved more difficult.
People took to the streets en masse almost immediately, and have continued sporadic protests since. As a military crackdown on the demonstrations grew increasingly violent, protesters moved to arm themselves.
Within days, a mix of old and new guard, including elected lawmakers who were prevented from taking their seats by the takeover, announced a shadow administration that declared itself the nation’s only legitimate government. It was very consciously assembled to be a diverse group, including representatives of ethnic minorities and one openly gay member, unusual in socially conservative Myanmar.
It, not Suu Kyi, who was arrested in the takeover, has been at the forefront of the opposition – and has garnered significant support among the general population.
While no foreign government has recognised the so-called National Unity Government, it has accomplished a kind of standoff at the United Nations, which delayed action on a request by Myanmar’s military government for its representative to take its seat. The country’s current delegate has declared his allegiance to the unity government.
The pro-democracy movement now faces the challenges of continuing to resist military rule, keeping up international pressure for restoring an elected, civilian government, and consolidating support from ethnic groups that have long fought the central government.
Unlike their elders, younger people in Myanmar, especially those in the cities, have spent most of their lives without having to worry about being imprisoned for speaking their minds.
They have had access to mobile phones and Facebook, and grew up believing that the country was moving toward greater, not less democracy. They also seem more willing to reach out to Myanmar’s ethnic minorities.
Suu Kyi’s own reputation abroad was deeply marred by her seemingly condoning or even defending abuses committed by the military against Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority while her government was in power. Troops killed Rohingya civilians, torched houses and raped women.
The unity government has also been criticised for seeming to neglect the long-oppressed Rohingya, and it remains to be seen how its uneasy alliance with ethnic groups will play out.
An icon of resistance during her 15 years under house arrest, Suu Kyi agreed to work alongside the generals after she was freed. It was a gamble that left Myanmar’s fledgling democracy in limbo, with the military keeping control of key ministries and reserving a large share of seats in parliament.
The military would keep trying to ‘‘terrorise the public into obedience’’, said Christina Fink, a professor of international affairs at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
‘‘They have done so successfully in the past, but this time the opposition is more widespread and takes many different forms, so it has been much harder for the regime to achieve its goal.’’