POISONOUS POLITICAL THINKING (WEEKEND SPECIAL)

Poisonous political thinking
Zaw Naing Wynn, 26 August 2009
Canberra, Australia
There have been noises and voices coming out from both inside and outside Burma, which seem
to be soothing the military elite – their sham 2008 constitution and the planned 2010 election. It
is crystal clear that those noises and voices are coming from U Chit Hlaing, U Chan Aye (writer
known as Maung Sue Sann) and Manutha Kyaw Win – all three from inside and exiled so-called
NCGUB1 Dr Sein Win and Dr Thaun Htun.
Their idiotic political thinking stems from their so-called national reconciliation approach by
recognising the 2008 constitution (drawn by the military elite is better than nothing) and by
participating in the 2010 election.
According to them, there are a variety of dangers for the National League for Democracy (NLD)
and other political forces for not taking part in the 2010 election. These misguided thinking may
be attractive to naive persons, but if thought carefully it seems they are leading to and paving the
way for the military elite’s forever lasting rule in Burma.
The 2008 constitution was not drafted by the people or their elected representatives, but by the
military elite to prolong their rule. If the 2010 election held and accepted, the Parliament will be
dominated by the military elite in military reform, so it would be far from a meaningful
democracy. As in the autocratic nations like China, North Korea, Cuba and Viet Nam, the
military with uniform will dominate the politics in Burma.
If politics were defined as doing what is only possible, then the revolts and people uprising would
not have happened and will not in the future. The reason Burma gained full independence from
the colonial slavery was due to the refusal of the then diarchy and governor council
administrations.
The so-called politicians who define politics as doing what is only possible are, themselves,
international dole bludgers. They are exploiting the international system and the funding for the
democracy cause and would do anything to join the bandwagon of appeasing the military elite.
Real politicians must be in touch with and trust the people and bravely work for them.
Their shifting stands now seem to be paving the way for the 2010 election, which will only
legitimise the military rule. Their acts are politically meaningless, especially in times of the
political oppression by the military elite of freedom and political movement and organisation and
when hundreds of political prisoners are being held.
Like the old saying ‘you can not teach the old dogs to learn’, they are not able to learn lessons
from history. Burmese way to socialism failed and was overthrown by the people. There are no
such things like ‘(Burmese military’s way to) disciplined democracy.
1 The so-called NCGUB stands for National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.
It is not the NCGUB but Burmese military who is learning international lessons. The regime has
learnt how Russia conduct elections – imposing hyper-technical laws and restrictions, making it
very impossible for the oppositions to break and by allowing only disgraced candidates to run for
elections for the sake of competitions.
The regime also learnt that there is no universally and broadly accepted definition of democracy
akin to the international human rights law. So by holding elections, to them Burma will become
a democratic country.
We do not have to look far. The full title of North Korea is ‘Democratic Republic of Korea. We
should not be surprised, if the regime adopts similar title ‘Democratic, Republic and Union of
Myanmar’.
So, it is evident that the regime is not only buying nuclear technologies but also political
strategies from both Russia and North Korea. There are many more autocratic regimes around
the world, the military regime can learn from. No doubt, they have also learnt from autocrats like
Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan,
Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and Mwai Kibaki of Kenya.
The extents of how much they have learnt from those autocrats and regimes remain to be seen
during and after the 2010 election.
For many Burmese, excluding the NCGUB, the efforts of liberation from the military dictatorship
can not be imported from outside, but will be coordinated by the people and the political force
from inside.
The brutal arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, bludgeoning of cease fire groups, prohibiting of
people’s freedom of movements and speech are crystal clear oppression by the military elite.
Given these conditions, NCGUB and its cronies including U Sein Win are proposing the above
plans of national reconciliation approach. It is a just desperate attempt and an ineffective
medicine (as in Burmese saying), full of appeasement and corrupted and ill conceived plans.
They are desperate more than ever because their time as international dole bludgers2 is coming to
an end – thanks to the Global Financial Crisis and also their fear of becoming extinct after the
planned 2010 election (if ever held). More evidently, their road (of the pretentious democracy
struggle for Burma) has hit the biggest and hardest brick wall. That explains why they are so
desperate. But it will become just like the campfire on ice and will only lead to their gradual
demise (there no needs for 2010 election for that).
2 The term “dole bludger” in Australia generally refers to those who exploit the system of unemployment benefits by
avoiding looking for jobs and thereby receiving and living on unemployment benefits by deception.
Using the above analogy, by the term “International dole bludger”, I refer to those so-called democracy activists
including the NCGUB and its cronies who are receiving and living on funding from international donors of all kinds
and thereby making a living in the name of democracy struggle.