Challenges Ahead for Aung San and Democracy in Burma
By Eric Borgman
14 January 2011
Can Aung San Suu Kyi view the Dalai Lama and Tibet as a Prototype?
As far as pro-democracy dissidents go, Aung San Suu Kyi is not alone in her fight against authoritarian regimes. It can perhaps be instructive to compare her plight to others that faced similar situations and also received international support and media coverage. Suu Kyi is a proponent of a Buddhist philosophy of nonviolence, similar to that of exiled Tibet leader, the Dalai Lama.
Besides their philosophies of nonviolence, both Asian leaders have a number of other things in common. Both the Dalai Lama and Suu Kyi are Nobel Peace Prize laureates, both were denied their legitimate positions of political leadership in their respective countries, both received the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, and finally both leaders are viewed as sources of political instability and threats to governments that came to power through force. There are number of differences between the two great leaders as well but perhaps the most important to note is Suu Kyi’s choice to remain imprisoned in Burma whereas the Dalai Lama left Tibet to lead a government-in-exile.
The two leaders are well aware of the other’s struggle, and the Dalai Lama in particular has been quoted as commenting on Suu Kyi and the struggle for democracy in Burma. In a Dalai Lama interview with the BBC on November 29 2010 about Suu Kyi’s release, the Dalai Lama said, "I welcome the release of fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and extend my appreciation to the military regime in Myanmar. I extend my full support and solidarity to the movement for democracy in Burma and take this opportunity to appeal to freedom-loving people all over the world to support such non-violent movements."1 After applauding Suu Kyi’s release the Dalai Lama said Burma’s rulers must not go further. Over the last several years the Dalai Lama has also asked Burma’s military junta to release Suu Kyi, to no avail.
The Dalai Lama Chose Escape: Aung San Suu Kyi Chose Imprisonment
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet and headed to India with 80,000 Tibetans after a failed 1959 uprising that was brutally crushed by Chinese Communist forces. This begs the difficult question of which tactic is better for a pro-democracy movement up against an authoritarian government? There is no correct answer to this question, but the situation in both Burma and Tibet were, and still are, very different.
Whereas Burma’s democratically elected government was overthrown by a military coup, Tibet was essentially invaded and occupied by a foreign power. Because of this the Dalai Lama is seen not only as a pro-democracy leader but also as the protector of a Tibetan culture under threat by the Sinicization of the Tibetan Plateau.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet because it was not unlikely that China would have killed him if he remained. In exile he has become a highly respected world leader and a symbol of freedom, much the same as Suu Kyi. Unlike Suu Kyi though, the Dalai Lama was able to address the UN assembly and travel around the world meeting with world leaders in efforts to raise support for his cause. Suu Kyi chose to stay in Burma as a political martyr and although it’s possible the government could have had her killed, she faced imprisonment. By remaining in Burma, however, Suu Kyi was unable to directly use her leadership skills to raise support for her cause abroad.
Yet even with the freedom of movement afforded to the Dalai Lama, has much change been accomplished? Unfortunately for the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama being a beacon of freedom and widely admired throughout the world has not helped their plight in any significant way. Sporadic dialogue with the Chinese government over the years has amounted to very little and the Tibetans are no closer to the autonomy sought by the Dalai Lama, nevertheless an independent country, today than they were 50 years ago. Perhaps one lesson Suu Kyi could learn from the Dalai Lama was that fleeing into exile has not done much to help the people still living in Tibet. Another unfortunate similarity is that Burma seems to be no closer to democracy today than it was 20 years ago despite Suu Kyi remaining in Burma.
China and Burma: Treatment of Dissidents and International Media Attention
Although Suu Kyi’s situation in Burma differs somewhat from that of the Dalai Lama’s and Tibet, China’s government treats dissidents much in the same way as Burma’s military rulers. This year’s Nobel Peace prize was awarded to a Chinese dissident, Lui Xiaobo, who has been in a Chinese prison since 2008 after calling for democratic reforms in China. The Chinese government has imprisoned many other pro-democracy reform advocates and tolerates little political dissent within the country.
Compared with Burma, however, China faces much less international pressure due to its economic prominence. In many ways the Dalai Lama and Suu Kyi have the same enemy in a Chinese government that has been a consistent supporter of the regime in Burma for many years. One reason China supports Burma’s government is because it sees these parallels and does not want foreign countries using human rights as an excuse to interfere in its domestic affairs as it sees Western countries interfering in Burma’s domestic affairs. The international community’s response to China’s human rights record could be viewed as the opposite of its reaction to Burma’s in many ways, regarding attempts to halt such practices. Whereas the international community has attempted to punish Burma through sanctions and by ostracizing it internationally, China has been encouraged to open up and engage with the world and has faced little consequences to its abysmal human rights record. Although China has enacted many economic reforms because of its openness to globalization, there has been very little improvement with regards to human rights and political reform as was initially hoped.
Recently the Dalai Lama has been criticized by a younger generation of Tibetan activists who claim that nonviolence has failed and that now it is time to take a tougher, perhaps more violent, line against China. A philosophy of non-violence is widely admired in the world and so it should be. However, when up against regimes such as China and Burma, which have a track record of imprisoning and at times killing peaceful protestors, they often fail to accomplish their objectives. This could be another lesson for Suu Kyi with regards to the Dalai Lama. It is possible that Suu Kyi might face a challenge to her leadership by those in her group that have seen very little progress and believe it is now time to pressure the government by using stronger force that could include violence.
Challenges Ahead for Aung San
Now freed, Aung San Suu Kyi faces a number of difficult challenges in post-election Burma. The first challenge Suu Kyi faces is uniting pro-democracy forces in Burma. The regime told the National League for Democracy (NLD), for which Aung San served as General Secretary, that if it expelled Suu Kyi from the party and accepted an annulment of their 1990 victory it could participate in the elections. In effect Suu Kyi decided to disband the party and not participate in an election that was clearly not going to be free and fair. The NLD fractured over Suu Kyi’s decision. A breakaway group called the National Democratic Force (NDF) decided it would participate in the elections along with many other opposition groups representing some of the many ethnic minorities living in Burma. Although the military’s political party captured 80% of the vote in obvious vote-rigging, NDF now has 16 out of 163 seats in the new parliament. The NDF claimed it was better to participate in an imperfect system then to be left isolated on the outside. This split caused a deep rift within in the opposition at a time when it needs to consolidate its power to contend with the regime. There is a good case to be made for each tactic but the split has certainly weakened pro-democracy forces in Burma and opened Suu Kyi up to criticism.
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1.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11808922
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