Today is the 17th anniversary of 8.8.88 nationwide general
strike in Burma. On this day in 1988, the entire people
of Burma took to the streets and demonstrated their desire
for democratic reforms and multi-party system. But the then
one-party BSPP (Burma Socialist Programme Party) authorities
did not pay heed to the people’s demand and tried
to further stay in power. At last they gave green signal
to their henchmen in Burmese army to stage a military coup
as the people were persistently pressurizing them to resign.
Although the people of Burma could topple
the BSPP government by mass uprising, the military eventually
crushed the pro-democratic movement mowing down the students
and people on the streets. In 1990, the ruling generals
held the parliamentary election but they did not honour
the result ignoring the people’s mandate for an end
to military rule. They did not hand over the power to Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi-led NLD (National League for Democracy)
that won landslide victory in the election breaking their
promise to go back to the barracks.
Instead of relinquishing power, the military
rulers tried to cling on to power permanently dissolving
some popular political parties and arresting the prominent
leaders of the people. At present, many opposition leaders
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are being detained and some
elected MPs and a lot of political leaders including the
minority ones are being put behind bar.
On the other hand, they are shouting the
slogans of non-disintegration of the union and non-disintegration
of the national solidarity but practically they are treating
the minorities discriminately. Moreover, the military continues
to commit the extra-judicial killings, rapes, inhuman torture,
ethnics cleansing, forced labour and forced relocation in
minority areas.
Although the SPDC (State Peace and Development
Council) authorities declared their inability to take the
chairmanship of the ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian
Nations) in 2006 in the group’s meeting recently held
in Laos giving the reason that they needed to concentrate
on democratic reforms in the country, so far they did not
even show a hint in this regard.
If the military junta sincerely wants to
make national reconciliation and democratic reforms, then
they must at first free all the detained and jailed political
leaders. Without the involvement or participation of Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD leaders and the genuine minority
representatives in any dialogues or any democratic process,
it is totally impossible to achieve the aims of the people
and also to fulfill the desire of them.
In conclusion, we would like to urge the
ruling SPDC generals to implement the following for the
people who are languishing in the most wretched condition
and extreme poverty.
- To immediately free all the political prisoners and detainees
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
- To start tripartite talks for national reconciliation
- To recognize the 1990 election result and hand over power
to NLD that won overwhelming victory to be able to really
make democratic reforms and to establish the genuine federal
union
- All the parties including ALD (Arakan League for Democracy)
must be officially allowed to carry out their party tasks
freely
