Every trick in the book
Benedict Rogers
Next month, the people of Burma will vote in a referendum on a new
constitution - the first opportunity to go to the polls since Aung San
Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy overwhelmingly won
elections 18 years ago. But in 1990 Burma 's military regime was
shocked that despite all its efforts to undermine the opposition and
intimidate the voters, it still lost the election. This time, the junta
is determined to get its way - and is using every trick in the book and
more.
A more blatant sham is hard to imagine. When the regime rejected the
UN's request for international monitors during the referendum, it
abandoned any iota of credibility. What kind of referendum is it where
those who campaign against the process can be jailed for at least three
years?
Millions of Burmese are disfranchised. Buddhist monks and nuns, who
number 500,000, are denied the vote - a price for their courageous
demonstrations last September which were brutally crushed. Religious
leaders from other faiths are also excluded. More than 500,000
internally-displaced people on the run in the jungles of eastern Burma
, as well as the 700,000 Muslim Rohingyas, treated as non-citizens and
therefore stateless, are banned from participating. Millions living in
conflict zones in the ethnic states, as well as refugees who have fled
to neighbouring countries and exiles further afield, will also be
excluded.
The junta's game-plan is clearly to rubber-stamp its new
constitution which, in turn, will enshrine military rule. The
constitution drafting process completely excluded Aung San Suu Kyi, the
NLD and major representatives of the ethnic groups. Most of the members
of parliament elected in 1990 are in prison or exile, and Suu Kyi is in
her 12th year of house arrest. The National Convention, which drafted
the guidelines for the constitution, involved no debate among the
handpicked delegates, and none of the proposals made by the few ethnic
representatives who did participate were adopted. Law 5/96 imposed
prison terms of up to 20 years for discussing the constitution process.
The end product is a constitution which offers no improvement in
human rights and democracy - and simply enshrines military rule. The
commander-in-chief of the army will appoint 25% of the national
legislators. He will also appoint the defence minister, who will report
to him.
The army chief can seize power at any point if he happens to believe
that national security is threatened. There will be no independent
judiciary, and the constitution cannot be amended for 10 years.
Political prisoners will be barred from contesting elections, and the
president must be a person with military experience who has not married
a foreigner. Suu Kyi, therefore, is by definition ruled out.
The junta hopes this charade will lull the international community
into a false sense that it is reforming, and so pressure for change
will ease. The international community, including Burma 's neighbours,
must not fall for this. If the regime continues to ignore calls from
the UN for dialogue with the democracy movement, tough action should
follow. The UN secretary-general himself should take charge of Burma
policy. Burma 's best friends - China , India , Russia , Thailand and
Singapore - should end their policies of appeasement.
A universal arms embargo should be imposed. And the UN security
council should refer the generals to the International Court for
investigation into crimes against humanity. This is a regime guilty of
every possible human rights violation, including a campaign of ethnic
cleansing involving the widespread, systematic use of rape as a weapon
of war, forced labour, the use of human minesweepers and the
destruction of more than 3,200 villages in eastern Burma since 1996.
More than 70,000 children have been taken off the streets and forced to
join the Burma Army - the highest proportion of child soldiers in the
world. More than 1,800 political prisoners are in jail, subjected to
horrific torture. It is time to bring this catalogue of horrors -
under-reported and overlooked for too long - to an end.
reprinted from Guardian: Comment is Free
13 April 2008
