Think Freely, Speak Freely.: Myanmar (Burma) is making a soft landing

~ Democratization in process under the military government~

After the independence of Myanmar from the Britain in 1948, the civilian government under the military control by Ne Win, which would give citizens and the country itself about hard time about for 50 years later on, came into existence. Myanmar controlled by Ne Win seemed to be so far away from democracy at that time. Not only citizens there but people all over the world would never imagine the existence of democracy in Myanmar.[1][2]

However as the military government system was controlling the country, objections toward its system increasingly arouse from other countries including U.S.[3] It also deteriorated relationships with foreign countries, which worsen economy as well. While neighbor countries spreading stable relationships with other countries and were growing economically.

As the growth was taking place in countries around Myanmar, the citizens’ desire for democracy got increased. This will enable the following that the government realized that the military system would never work on modernizing Myanmar if they continued the same system and it also acknowledged the necessity of new movements in government itself. It is the movement that is the way to democratize the country slowly as remaining military system in it. The relation between government and citizens became well-balanced, which can be thought to create relatively the stable condition in Myanmar today. Saying it more simply, the existence of military has made today’s Myanmar under stable condition. The condition of today’s Myanmar is being democratized with military government which is controlling citizens moderately.[4]

That kind of dramatic process has started since Thein Sein, a Burmese politician and former military figure who has been President of Myanmar, became a prime minister of Myanmar in 2007. Leading with the new system of governing by him, a national referendum also became be in adaption and further democratization was getting in process. In 2010 The Burmese military authorities finally released the pre-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who had been in house arrest for anti-military activities .Moreover Thein Sein has been a prime minister of Myanmar since March 2011 and NLD led by Su Kyi was reregistered as one of political parties.[5] Through seeing those changes briefly, democratization in Myanmar seems to be in process gradually with its military government. It is not progressing sharply and rapidly but it is surely and moderately making steady process. How process for democratization in the country is being made looks exactly like how a plane is trying to make a soft landing on ground. Slowly but steadily.

What if people in Myanmar should defeat military government? A condition would become serious unlike the stable one in the current Myanmar. Here is a typical bad example. It is Tunisian revolution, a democratic movement against government taken place in Tunisia from 2010 to 2011. Movements against government were spread to a whole country and they contributed to the end of 23 years in dictator power. Such demonstrations opposing governments would not stop and which were expanded to the other nations including Libya and Egypt in the Arab nations. Dissatisfaction towards dictatorship was into explosion, which led to the situation no one could control a country at all. Revolutions can sound to be success since there is no government which annoys citizens. Citizens must have felt that they finally could gain freedom being away from governments. However was it really great to them overall? There is no one who controls, or rather saying organizes a country and citizens fall apart with their own desires. Therefore a condition would be deteriorated worse than before. Economy is also stagnant because of it. Under such conditions, there should be no way to make progress towards democracy.[6][7][8][9]

Myanmar didn’t follow such path but chose its own path as remaining military power in the government. What’s more, it has being trying to make great process in making the country democracy not in a brutal or rash but a sober way by using military power. The new act in military government itself can be said to contribute deeply to the steady democratic process. It tells us that initiating a reformation with brutal and bloody fights is not always a helpful way to solve a problem. Now look at Myanmar. People there definitely didn’t initiate a dramatic reformation at all. Nevertheless they are keeping up the present government in order to change a country gently. It represents a new way of reforming.