A Fight for Dignity

Aung Zaw
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
January 30, 2008

I recently met a group of influential monks from Burma. I immediately asked them about the monk-led uprising in September.

One respected monk said the demonstrations were not entirely about the hike in fuel prices or the economic hardships.

It was also not only about the fight for the democracy. There was one underlying cause that pushed the people to take to the streets, he said.

“It was the fight for dignity. People want to restore the dignity we have lost,” he said.

Under the military regime, the country is demoralized and lacks respect in the eyes of the international community, he said.

The monk continued, “I don’t think our problem is about the economy and poverty alone. I think many people in Burma have lost their dignity and self-respect. Burma is becoming a morally bankrupt society. It is a very dangerous trend.”

I could not agree more. Burma could have been one of Asia’s economic tigers in the 1950s and 1960s, but its leaders didn’t take advantage of the opportunities.

After regaining independence under the late Prime Minister U Nu, the country lost its way. U Nu lacked a clear vision and was a weak leader.

Then strongman Gen Ne Win, a member of the Thirty Comrades who were trained by the Japanese, entered the political scene. Compared to U Nu, Ne Win was an outgoing and charismatic leader, but he had no interest in seeing Burma prosper and become a part of the global community. With the support of the army, he quelled the rebels and insurgents in the mountains. But then, he put Burma under lock and key. It was a nation cut off from the rest of the world.

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s elder statesman, met with Ne Win several times and encouraged Ne Win and his cabinet members to open up the country and develop tourism. Ne Win was not interested.

And then events began to take control. Ne Win once told journalists that ruling the country was like catching hold of a tiger’s tail. There was nothing he could do but hang on to it.
Under Ne Win, Burma became a failed state.

Lee continued to engage other military leaders, who were protégés of Ne Win.

After the Western economic sanctions and visa bans imposed by the United States and the European Union, Singapore has remained a destination for Burmese generals and their family members. But I wonder what do the generals learn from the city-state?

Lee continued to urge the leaders to open up the country. Among them, he said, he was impressed by Gen Khin Nyunt, the former intelligence chief.

“He's the most intelligent of the lot,” Lee once said of Khin Nyunt, who was purged in October 2004 and is now under house arrest serving a 44-year suspended prison sentence.

Previously, Singapore invested millions of dollars into Burma’s tourism industry, but the hotels and resorts never really prospered and tourism has floundered.

Recently, Lee changed his tune about the generals, speaking out more honestly. After the crackdown in September, he said, “These are rather dumb generals when it comes to the economy.”

“How can they so mismanage the economy and reach this stage when the country has so many natural resources?”

That question is constantly asked by Burmese at home and abroad.

At a recent dinner hosted by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, Lee said the Burmese generals are "people with very fixated minds—quite convinced that they will have the natural resources to weather any sanctions."

On the regime’s decision to build a new capital in Pyinmana, Lee said, "I mean, [building a] new capital from ground zero? I ask myself, what rational government would do this?"

Lee predicted, “We will see how it is, but whatever it is, I do not believe that they can survive indefinitely.”

Many Burmese now living and working in Singapore got the message, but not Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his junta.

The Burmese community in Singapore may not like Singapore’s draconian laws and authoritarian government, but they admire the Lion City’s economic success.

It is quite common to hear Burmese say that Singapore is not a democracy, but they would like Burmese leaders to develop an open market economic policy like Singapore.

If Burma could achieve economic success like its neighbors Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, the generals might not need to lock up Aung San Suu Kyi and dissident leaders anymore. But Than Shwe is no Lee Kuan Yew.

Than Shwe, officially at age 75, has no interest in seeing Burma become an economic tiger. It is too late for him to change his direction. He too has caught hold of a tiger’s tail and will hang on to it to the end.

Than Shwe doesn’t trust the Burmese people, and he cares nothing about their dignity.