Burma at a crossroads - Aung San Suu Kyi Freed

Burma in 2011 is one of the most troubled, most divided countries in the world. It has a history of almost permanent war for many centuries, interspersed with brief periods of calm and peace. The various tribes of the Mon, the Karen, the Kachins, the Shan, the Chin, the Tibeto-Burman, Thai and Malay people have always fought among each other. The Buddhists and Hindus and Karen have fought over land, leadership, power, resources and religion. It has been “owned” twice by the British, and has been under military Junta rule since about the middle of the last century. And then there is Aung San Suu Kyi, the woman who inherited her father’s role as spiritual leader of Burma after he was shot when she was aged 2 years old - and she headed up a political party that won a landslide victory, but was brutally repressed and thrown into prison, and has been incarcerated several times by the military Junta. The Party she formed is officially no more, the supporters fragmented and scattered. Political opposition in Burma is outlawed. And Burma is bought and paid for (bankrolled) by six of the richest countries in the world. And there’s more than a slight chance that you live in one of them...

Burma is a failed state. Democracy has never worked here. And no one knows how to fix the many wrongs that have dogged this delicate and endangered country for so long. Its political hero is also Burma’s spiritual hero, yet she had to languish in prison or under house arrest for so many years. All for what she believes in politically.

On Saturday 13th November 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from her long incarceration, and she faces an unknown future. Her Political party now officially dissolved, as it refused to take part in the recent fraudulent Junta elections. 2011 sees Burma trying hard to reinvent it's poor international image.

The Military Junta, also known as the SLORC rule with an iron fist. The country lurches from one problem to another like a drunken boxer. It has been officially isolated by the rest of its neighbours in Asia, and by the West, and has few friends now in the world. However, behind the veil of official diplomacy, some countries quietly trade in its resources below international “radar” of many media outlets, making the trade go unreported. And the elections that just happened in November 2010 were a forgone conclusion. No one can expect a military Junta to play by the democratic rules.

Although a bit dated now, the Hollywood stars came out and bravely did their duty to call for the release of the Freedom Fighter Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma is not in the democracy business. Burma is not interested in being friends with anyone or being a good neighbour. It shares its fortunes (or lack thereof) with North Korea, the recently unfortunate Haiti and Zimbabwe, and some other states that are politically isolated, and “blanked out” by the international community. But as long as Burma doesn’t make international waves like some pseudo-terrorist countries, the rest of the world perhaps tolerates this strange behaviour. Burma has many resources that are constantly poached by rich businesses linked to western Governments that do trade with its rulers and are able to buy most goods there at knock down prices. There is growing concern that part of what makes this failed State what it is - is secret deals being done increasingly by western powers behind closed doors, beyond public view. There is more than a smell of hypocrisy in this broke-down country. And human life fetches a low price here too.

The reasons behind its failures are many. There are too many tribes and groups with ambitions for power and control and they are easily divided against one another. Most of these groups are poor and needy, and so can be bought off easily and are corruptible. Then there are Burma’s many neighbours with which it has been at war for many years. Thailand. India and China have also many commonalities with its development and conquest. India and Burma were both once part of the British Empire, before both gaining independence. But while India slowly flourished and grew, Burma stagnated. China’s economy began to grow separately also and its population grew. China has only ever seen growth in its modern life and has never been owned or colonised. China is one of the richest countries in the world today.Burma trails behind even some very poor countries.

So why are the Burmese so futile at forming a proper society, and why do their efforts always come to nothing? And where does its hero, a woman imprisoned in her own house, and a Nobel Peace Prize Winner to boot – fit into the country’s future? As a country divided - Burma has failed many tests of Social democracy. It has too many weak people at the bottom strata of society who have been mistreated and brutalised and oppressed. Burmese resistance had its chance in the first half of the 20^th century, and only did so much. Political infighting delayed and complicated progress. Real progress never transpired in Burma. It seems that vested interests from outside have succeeded in keeping the country under-developed, and its dictators conspired conveniently with foreign powers and trading companies.

The country has many religions but few true believers. Only Aung San Suu Kyi seems to have hopes for the future of her country, a once proud Asian Nation that succumbed to war and in-fighting and lost its way. Burma didn’t follow the path it was meant to follow. Burma is less of a country, and seems more now like a hapless scrap yard of military rulers who sell off what resources there are for short term financial gain, and modest returns. You would be lucky to find a Starbucks cafe or internet cafe there. Burma has amongst the lowest take-up and ownership of mobile phones of any country in Asia. CARS and TVs are an incredible luxury there. Its living standards are on par with troubled Haiti. (Although Haiti is coming to grips with the effects of a huge natural disaster that destroyed it's economy.) Burma's Junta have no plans for the future; they simply live from day to day, curiously, like the would-be-leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader who never was. Burma is a ship lost at sea due to being disconnected from it's moral compass for navigation, with no sails and no wind to take it anywhere. A country that could be so many things and yet, it’s a political embarrassment to its rulers. Burma could almost be a joke, were it not for its tragic history.

Why did the Burmese never end up like The Philippine People after Marcos was overthrown? The Philippine people chose a path to democracy and peace, and although it has been slow, it is becoming more democratic. It may have several mountains to climb still, but its economy will develop slowly and its people will eventually prosper, unlike Burma. The Philippines is on the list of the world’s next ten most promising economies. Burma is not on any lists worth mentioning, it's languishing on a list of failed states.

The Burmese learned that most other countries are not interested in helping it and could not be trusted. Aung San, the former revolutionary leader was part of a group who secretly enlisted the Japanese to help rid it of its then British rulers, later had to enlist the help of the British to rid it of its Japanese rescuers. It seems the price that some countries were asking for in return for help was just too much.

It’s similar to the indifference the world showed to Tibet when it was swallowed up by China. The common people were outraged and protested and made vocal and verbal complaints, and the West protested - then did nothing. Actions never matched words or rhetoric. It seems that Asia has a history that consists of most of the World’s developed countries trying to greedily exploit Asia for whatever they could get. Some countries fell victim to that western influence and other influences and suffered, while others recovered and continued onwards. South Korea and The Philippines are 2 of Asia’s most successful examples of poor countries that overcame terrible odds and became successful, as did Singapore, India and Malaysia. These three countries were all former British colonies. Indonesia is another country that has made progress.

What about art and culture, books and music – how did they contribute to this disjointed country? Do they offer any help or clues in understanding how Burma fell apart? It turns out there are some great writers and books and art from Burma.There is beauty and craft, and yes - gifted artists and intellectuals to be found here. There are even award –winning authors. But since the Junta took over the country, these things seemed to vanish and disappear as though they had never existed. The military rulers ban any kind of social statement or comment that is not flattering and complimentary of the rulers. So Burma’s history is being written by people outside of it. It no longer truly speaks for itself as it really ought to. The government media is tightly controlled and the “message” is carefully scripted. Burmese are amongst the most censored and controlled people in the world. Even when natural disasters struck in the past recent years, aid was treated with disdain, deep suspicion and mistrust, and some western help was actually turned down. And so many Burmese people suffered and died.

In truth, Burma has little to say. Like a private closed conclave, its people are, democracy-wise, prisoners - gagged and bound; it is silent and people are punished if they question that terrible authority, or punished for any kind of opposition. In other countries throughout 20^th century history, other nations’ people would have decided they would rather drown in blood than live in shit, but not the Burmese. The cupboard is bare, and the goods are well and truly pillaged. Warmth, Peace and Love are a John Lennon-esque pipedream here in this cold failed Asian state.

Free speech is rare and only uttered by the brave or the foolish. This is what defines a failed State. It is the enormous scope and scale of its nothingness, the pathetic story of a once almost courageous nation’s humiliation by a band of thieves who raided its bank of human morality. A country that came into the world but was somehow not wanted or helped in a truly meaningful way, only wanted in such a way that it could be exploited and so left to fend for itself in a haphazard way.

Burma is a shocking modern story of an orphan state, weighed down by political neglect, misery and futility. It proves also the futility of so-called symbolic international outrage against the many crimes caused there. Burma exists alone, a solitary failed nation. No integrity. No future. And with no apparent “soul” left to speak of. Except for the one person who can stop the insanity, but she is powerless and pitied, and she is thin, aging in her 60's, and under-weight. Burma is a result of what “happens” when someone in the world decides to stop caring. Leaving only one woman - up until recently locked up in her own house under armed guard who - though now free - willingly suffers for her beliefs to add the postscript to this sad story:

In the Quiet Land, no one can tell
if there's someone who's listening
for secrets they can sell.
The informers are paid in the blood of the land
and no one dares speak what the tyrants won't stand.

In the quiet land of Burma,
no one laughs and no one thinks out loud.
In the quiet land of Burma,
you can hear it in the silence of the crowd

In the Quiet Land, no one can say
when the soldiers are coming
to carry them away.
The Chinese want a road; the French want the oil;
the Thais take the timber; and SLORC takes the spoils...

In the Quiet Land....
In the Quiet Land, no one can hear
what is silenced by murder
and covered up with fear.
But, despite what is forced, freedom's a sound
that liars can't fake and no shouting can drown.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

(Poetry by Aung San Suu Kyi. Hub / article with exception of poetry copyright 2010 Cheeky Girl)