MoeMaKa June 20 2022
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar politics
Today is the 77th birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. After 1989, she had been living under house arrest and sometimes outside intermittently, so it is not strange for her to spend her birthday under house arrest.
Between the period of being under house arrest before Martyr’s day on 19 July 1989 and after the election in 2010, she had experienced house arrest and release alternately and faced trial in court one time.
During these periods, there were activities of praying for her freedom at Shwe Dagon pagoda every Tuesday led by party activist Naw Ohn Hla. It could be considered that she (Naw Own Hla) used that movement to organize Myanmar people to restart pro-democracy activity and also for free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi movement. Naw Oh Hla’s attention could be regarded as not only her personal worship to Daw Suu but also for Democratic struggle in the whole.
This is because Naw Own Hla had already been expelled by the NLD party when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was released. She was arrested and sentenced during the last decade for acting and speaking out boldly from her point of view when she disagreed politically with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Here, among the anti-dictatorship movements from 1990-2010, the liberation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was always in the top demand by the people and international community. Most people believed as if the liberation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was linked to resolving Myanmar’s democracy issue. During these periods, the slogan “Suu-Release-Meet” was used every time when politics was discussed.
The military dictators may have assumed if Daw Aung Suu Kyi was arrested, the pro-democracy movement could be slowed down. But politics can’t be assumed as simple as that in practice. Although it is true that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a trusted political leader and can inspire many people, historical events have proved that winning the fight for democracy cannot be considered a success once she is released.
After her release on 2010 November 14, she walked on a path to elections and national reconciliation. And her decision to run for candidate in the 2012 by-elections was made after discussion between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and then-President Thein Sein who was leading USDP, the ruling party of the time with the blessing of military junta. As a result, more than 40 NLD representatives had elected and entered parliament and she went on to run for the next general election to form civilian government led by herself.
After winning a landslide victory in the 2015 election, Daw Aung Suu Kyi took over the government as the first NLD member as leading member the power. Myanmar people and the international community assumed that Myanmar was on the path to democracy.
However, after a five-year term in office, the military decided in 2020 that they would not let the NLD government run for another five years, so they perpetrated an illegal coup under the pretext of so-called “voter lists fraud”.
After the 2021 February military coup which caused path to Myanmar pro-democracy to fall apart to zero-setting, most of the party leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi were detained and Myanmar has led to the brink of civil war and a year later, it was totally plunged into civil war.
Currently, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is facing more than a dozen cases filed by the military council and she has been sentenced for decades by the junta-controlled court.
In Myanmar politics, the year 2021 has become the year of the return of the Myanmar’s armed revolution. It has become a period comparable to the periods of armed revolutions by the Communist Party after Independence in 1948, and U Nu’s Pyay Chit Party uprising around 1970.
No one can say for sure what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s view is on this armed revolution. When she met with her lawyers in court, she didn’t express neither agreement nor disagreement over what is happening in Myanmar, rather she generally gave the message of having unity and helping each other. She didn’t express the message about what to do, what should be and which roadmap she agrees with or not over armed attack, killing, explosions and loss of lives that are currently happening in the country.
Rather than Myanmar politics being at the crossroads, it actually entered the path of armed revolution to force the military to surrender completely or the demolition of the military by the alliance of NUG and some Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs).
In Myanmar politics which has already passed many crossroads, I am thinking on her birthday that as for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who has the most influence than the other political leaders, it is now the time for her to express her agreement or disagreement to continue this road.