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Analyzing from its problematic history, geography, social and
economic factors, Burma is not an easy territory for anyone
aspiring to become its national leader. Politically, it has more
than its share of (almost never-ending) military dictatorships that
pale the ugly records of other despots of our time by any
indicator. The Junta has used most of the brutal and horrendous
methods that were invented by beastly human perverts to prolong its
bloody grip of power. The faces of the rulers have changed, but the
institution that rules has not changed.
Long gone are the inalienable rights granted under the Charters
of the UN Declaration of Human Rights! With Draconian measures
implemented one after another inside Burma, the country has become
the worst place on earth to live outside war-ravaged countries of
Iraq and Afghanistan (and the Occupied Palestine). Taking
blood-soaked pages from history, the usurpers have utilized the
divide-and-rule policy to fragment the already-fragmented society
of nations and ethnicities - rewarding one for its cooperation and
punishing the other for its non-compliance – perceived or
real. The temptation is often high to bemuse oneself as belonging
to the majority - with very little to lose.
After all, the ruling regime is drawn from the majority Burman
race. With the loss of the oppressed minority there has to be some
gain for the privileged majority! And some human vultures and
hyenas from the national/religious majority have taken that cue to
benefit from the suffering of people of the minority races,
ethnicities and faiths. Similarly, some opportunists and bounty
hunters have emerged from the communities that are minority in the
national picture but majority in the regional area. They play the
same tune as the SPDC plays -- behaving like Quisling and Mir Jafar
of olden times, and Chalaby of our time. Naturally, if you are part
of an ethnic and religious minority like the Rohingya community of
the Arakan state of Burma, you automatically settle for the worst
kind of human rights abuses.
Given the reality of the troubling situation inside Burma, the
role of true leadership become so crucial! Who can unite rival
factions, tribes and nations, fractious communities and yet take
them to a higher glory that is win-win for all? It is an
almost-impossible task requiring vision and well chalked out plan,
epitomizing sincerity of propose and action, which is motivating
and fulfilling. Very few have succeeded in this epoch-making trial
of genuine leadership.
Is Daw Suu Kyi that person for Burma? No one can deny the fact
that she is best recognized - both inside and outside Burma - to
provide that glue-some attraction. She has essentially become the
face of Burma in its struggle for freedom, democracy and human
rights. No one comes even remotely close to her in that role of
leadership. She is uncontested. In Suu Kyi, the majority sees her
as one of their own, who understands them and can talk face to face
in the same language. They see her as the daughter of their
venerated leader.
How about the minority? It is in Daw Suu Kyi that the minority
communities like the Rohingya, Karen and Shan look for leadership,
as do many other communities that form today's Burma. They aspire
for democracy, freedom and human rights - something that has been
snatched away from them by the military regimes that have ruled
Burma for most of its post-colonial period. She is their answer to
decades of deprivation, dispossession and dehumanization. She is
their hope for return from exile -- from the bushes, jungles and
refugee camps -- to ancestral homes. It is around her that they
dream of reconstructing torched homes and uniting with family
members. She is their leader, comrade, and sister. She is also a
fellow-traveler tasting pain and suffering in the long march to
freedom, democracy and human rights. She is their last chance to
redress their old grievances and elevate their status from
statelessness to statehood, denial to acceptance, non-entity to
entity, and become effective citizens in a federal system that
respects and protects their unique place in history, culture and
religion. There is none that they can look for providing that
unifying leadership.
What undeniably is the strength of the movement for freedom,
democracy and human rights, unfortunately, is also its greatest
weakness. It is Daw Suu Kyi. This fact is known to the regime and
all those who have studied history vis-à-vis the unique role
of leadership. The Burmese democratic movement has no one to
replace Daw Suu Kyi. There is no Boumedienne, no Mbeki, and no
Nehru for Burma who can effectively lead the movement if Daw Suu
Kyi is no more.
That is why many of the measures taken by the SPDC regime are
nothing more than foot-dragging tactics to buy time, hoping that
with the death of Daw Suu Kyi the dissident movement will cease to
exist or lose its legitimacy as the unifying force. The measures
that they tout are hypocritical and part of a long term strategy to
solidify their grip over power. If they were sincere to make a
positive change, knowing how well Daw Suu Kyi is respected by all
dissidents, they would not have ignored or neglected her. They
would have consulted her on the so-called roadmap for democracy in
Myanmar.
The SPDC's tactics to ignore Daw Suu Kyi on its proposed
roadmap shows their naked hypocrisy or insincerity. This so-called
blue-print for democracy will not have any better luck than dozens
of other efforts that were tried out before that did not have
people's support. The sooner the SPDC planners understand the
importance of Daw Suu Kyi in restoration of democracy, human rights
and freedom, the better. Without her consent, there is no buy-in
from the various communities that make up today's Burma, and not
even from the majority Burman community.
The greatest flaw with the SPDC leadership is in its
miscalculation about the very state that they have ruled for years.
They forget that Burma is an artificial state of diverse peoples
that cannot be kept united by brute forces alone. It needs a
unifying figure that fosters mutual trust and unity, and
strengthens the whole. Nobel Peace prize winner Suu Kyi is that
figure. With her, there is a united Burma. And without her, only
disunity and break-up! In her, the regime has the last chance to
unite various communities under one federal system.
Will this realization sink in with the SPDC regime? I doubt
it.
When hypocrisy and brute force become the guiding principles,
their practitioners try to hoodwink all hallucinating that everyone
else is fooled and their means are justifiable. In these, they fool
none but themselves and dig their own graves of ignominy!
By Dr. Habib Siddiqui
Source:
Asian Tribune
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