Democratic reforms in Burma, the Southeast Asian country which for decades has been in the grasp of one of the world’s most brutal military dictatorships, continue to take the world by surprise.
Even moreso that these historic changes have been initiated by one of its longest-serving officials – once General, now President Thein Sein.
General Tan Shwei took over as leader of the military junta in 1988. In 2011, he ceded power to the non-military government which was formed by former high-ranking servants of the regime, and which continues to wield its iron first over the Burmese people.
The world’s media are now reporting that Burma’s opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has become an iconic figure in Burma’s war for democracy and freedom, will participate in parliamentary elections due to take place on 1 April 2012.
A politician and head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), and under house arrest for 14 years out of the last 22, she will stand as a parliamentary candidate for the Kawhmu region, a poor area which is in the part of the country worst affected by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
Another historic event took place in Burma on 13th January – 651 political prisoners were released. Those freed include dissidents, political opposition figures, journalists, Buddhist monks, and students and other citizens who took part in the 1988 and 2007 uprisings.
“Seventeen of our correspondents have been freed. They had been sentenced to between three and 55 years in prison,” said Kin Maung Vin from the Norway based radio station ‘Democratic Voice of Burma’
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 | Aung San Suu Kyi registers as a parlimentary candidate in the Burmese elections; Mizzima - the Burma information site based in India |
(DVB).
The changes in the Burmese political landscape, says Kin Maung Vin, were made possible by the efforts of many people including those within the military junta who have come to understand the need for reform.
Thein Sein, a close ally of General Tan Shwei, announced a new non-military government for Burma in February 2011, a political succession which could arguably be described as the Burmese equivalent of Khrushchev’s replacement of Stalin in Soviet times.
Pressure from the West, the work of opposition leaders, the steadfastness and faith in democracy shown by Aung San Suu Kyi, the professionalism of the independent media, which continued to expose the brutality of the military leadership – all these have contributed to securing a democratic future for Burma, says Kin Maung Vin.
But the changes witnessed today could not have happened had not the governing regime itself realized the need for reform and without the conscious efforts of the country’s new President Thein Sein, DVB’s director believes.
Burma, once the richest country in Southeast Asia, with its plentiful mineral resources and industrious population, became one of the poorest nations in the region during the years of military dictatorship.
“We are behind in every sphere – we have lost out in education, medicine, politics and economics,” says Kin Maung Vin. “The President clearly understands this and today he has proved that his promised changes were not mere rhetoric.”
Do the events in Burma show that a dictatorship can reform from within, if one of its chief representatives resolves to relax the iron grip of the authorities? Kin Maung Vin pauses before answering this question, but responds that this is partly true for Burma.
For him, his ican has always been the strong and slight Aung San Suu Kyi, hidden away under house arrest. Kin Maung Vin believes that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy Aung San Suu Kyi is the natural leader for Burma.
No world leader has visited Burma without meeting her. In December, she met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Foreign Ministers of Britain and France.
The authority of the leader of Burma’s democratic movements has been so great that it has influenced not only western political leaders but also the Burmese dictators themselves.
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