[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Myanmar Bluffs Democracy (News and



Subject: Myanmar Bluffs Democracy (News and Views for ESL students)  from Mainichi Weekly

--=====================_836450615==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


--=====================_836450615==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Mainichi Weekly 
June 29, 1996

World Focus

MYANMAR BLUFFS DEMOCRACY

Finally the military rulers of Myanmar have put their cards on the
table.  Despite years of vague talk of democracy, it is now clear that
the junta never had any plans to democratize the nation.  Like many
gamblers, the junta hopped to bluff until all the other players gave
in, leaving their chips on the table.

And Myanmar's military was doing quite well bluffing their way
into the pockets of foreign corporations and governments.  Last
summer, the military released Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of
Myanmar's pro - democracy party after six years of house arrest.  In
a magnanimous gesture, Suu Kyi said she would work with the
ruling junta to promote democratic change.  Her cautious
cooperation with the military was good enough for the rest of the
world, and the betting began.

Suu Kyi, however, remained circumspect.  She knew that only time
would test the junta's true motives.  Last month, Suu Kyi called the
junta's bluff.  She announced that her party, the National League
for Democracy, would hold a meeting to mark the sixth anniversary
of the 1990 elections in which the NLD party took 80 percent of the
vote.  At that time, the military annulled the election results.

A week before the meeting the junta lost its cool, dropped its bluff,
and arrested more than 250 members of the NLD.  By early June,
more than 100 had been released, but many others were still being
held.  To his credit, Japan's Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro
quickly called for the immediate release of the NLD prisoners and
warned Myanmar's military rulers not to obstruct democratic
reforms.  Other nations and corporations voiced concern, then
sheepishly watched and waited, no longer expecting the military to
democratize peacefully.

Suu Kyi, calm and smiling as always, seems relieved that the bluff
is over.  Now she and her people can get on with their dangerous
but inevitable march towards democracy.  This time, however,
foreign governments and corporations should bet on the people, and
keep their chips away from the junta.

By Stephen Hesse
--=====================_836450615==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


--=====================_836450615==_--