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Lessons Learned and Forgotten

By Yeni

July 20, 2007—This week, Burma commemorated two important events: the opening of the National Convention’s final session and the 60th anniversary of Martyr’s Day, when independence hero Gen Aung San and eight others were gunned down in Rangoon. The two events might be said to symbolize the country’s past and future.

Delegates of the National Convention are meeting to finalize the guidelines by which Burma will adopt a new constitution, thus completing—after more than a decade—the first of seven steps along a questionable and much maligned “road map to democracy.”

The second step will happen only, the junta says, “after the successful holding of the National Convention and the step-by-step implementation of the process necessary for the emergence of a genuine and disciplined democratic system.”

In other words, the junta has its own definition of democracy, and the promised reforms will occur only at a time and in a manner of its choosing. Put simply, it is promising a democracy not backed by the will of the people but by the might of the military.

Burma’s honored martyrs, commemorated this week throughout the country, stand as a reminder of what might have been under their leadership, and what might still be if the example they set was given proper consideration.

Aung San, the founder of the Burma Army, never pitted the strength of the military against his people. In his role as a political leader, he shed his uniform in an act that was both practical and symbolic. He believed in honest leadership secured through the power of the ballot box.

With a firm conviction that an independent government must represent the interests of all its citizens, Aung San succeeded in brokering an agreement with the country’s ethnic minorities for a unified Burma.

In April 1947, Aung San and his fellow heroes won an overwhelming victory in the constituent assembly elections, which ultimately lead to independence for Burma.

Three months later, they paid for their accomplishments with their lives, becoming the martyrs honored each year on July 19.

The standards of leadership and ethical conduct set by Gen Aung San and his fellow martyrs should serve as an example to Burma’s current military rulers.

A legitimate leader must be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom and security of his people. Instead, the current junta will suffer any hardship and commit any injustice to keep the people under their heels.


 
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