Burma’s Trust Deficit
covering burma and southeast asia
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Opinion
EDITORIAL

Burma’s Trust Deficit


By THE IRRAWADDY Monday, February 13, 2012


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There are few national anniversaries in Burma more significant than the one it commemorated on Sunday. It was on this day 65 years ago that Burmese independence leader Aung San and his Shan, Chin and Kachin counterparts signed the Panglong Agreement, which served as the basis for the creation of a federal Union of Burma.

But Union Day is not just one of Burma's most important occasions—it is also one of its most bizarre.
After all, a military coup that ended parliamentary rule just 15 years later also effectively nullified this historic agreement. Fifty years after taking power, the military continues to impose its own narrow notions of “unity” on the country's many ethnic minorities.

However, the fact that Burma still marks Union Day on Feb. 12 is some cause for hope. It shows that Aung San’s vision of a federal union, which he did not live to see, remains the most viable alternative for a country that desperately needs to heal its internal divisions. Half a century of unity at gunpoint, which has left the country weak and vulnerable to exploitation by its far more powerful neighbors, has only served to underline the need to return to sounder principles.

Amid all the talk of “reforms” since last year, countless voices have chimed in about what Burma really needs in order to move forward. Generally, the West has called for free and fair elections and an end to ethnic conflict, while the rest of Asia has stressed the need for economic development through foreign investment.

While these are indeed essential to creating a peaceful and prosperous country, they will have little positive impact if one other key ingredient is missing: trust.

Trust will be the single most important factor in determining whether Burma is ready, at long last, to realize its true potential as a nation. Without it, even the progress that we have seen since last year would have been unthinkable. If opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi hadn't decided that she could trust President Thein Sein, Burma would still be stuck in the stalemate of the past two decades.

But Burma still suffers from an enormous trust deficit. Beginning with its negation of the Panglong Agreement, and culminating with its refusal to recognize the results of Burma's 1990 elections, the military has a long record of broken promises. Just last week, it resumed attacks on Shan rebels two months after reaching a ceasefire deal, indicating that it still sees little need to honor agreements.

On the political front, things are, at least so far, somewhat better. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) has been able to prepare for upcoming by-elections without facing the sort of harassment it has had to deal with in the past. Moreover, a visiting UN envoy has said that Burma might allow election monitors to observe the polls—a sign that at least some in power recognize the need to win the trust of others, rather than simply demanding it.

While many still feel that the government is merely taking a calculated risk in allowing the NLD to make a comeback, in the expectation that this will lead to a lifting of sanctions, it would be making a serious mistake if it believed that this alone will be enough to save Burma's economy. Although potential investors are now lining up for a chance to see what the country has on offer, few will stick around when they realize that it lacks any meaningful system of legal protections, as British risk assessment research company Maplecroft highlighted last week.

While Suu Kyi has often correctly stated that Burma needs to restore rule of law if it wants to develop as a nation, she has also noted that this is more than a matter of introducing new laws. Even the most enlightened laws have little value if no one has any confidence that they will be properly enforced and fairly applied.

If Burma's rulers truly want to end the country's disastrous isolation, they will have to begin by proving  that they can be taken at their word. This will mean going beyond the current charm offensive and taking measures to rein in elements of the military that still regard themselves as laws unto themselves.  

It will also require an acknowledgment of how far the country has strayed from its founding principles,  and a firm commitment to keeping promises made to its ethnic peoples. Without this, Burma will be hard-pressed to emerge from the past half-century of unmitigated misery.

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Sai Suriya Wrote:
16/02/2012
If Burma is 100% people like crazy distorted patriot, we will remain separated and never will unite as one country. Unity is a not a value based on one colour. Genuine unity should be based on accepting differences without any prejudice and imposing value to one another.Keep on dreaming Patriot while the world is changing beyond your imagination.

last refuge of scoundrels Wrote:
15/02/2012
Good ol' MP, up to his usual nonsense.

In case you haven't noticed, the brilliant idea of imposing a unitary state on Burma's ethnic peoples has been an absolute disaster. If you actually read the editorial, you'll probably find that's what it says.

I quote: "Half a century of unity at gunpoint . . . has left the country weak and vulnerable to exploitation by its far more powerful neighbors."

In other words, the military, which is infected with the same mind virus as yourself, reduced the country to its present state.

And what's your "alternative" to federalism? Bring back the imaginary king to re-establish a monarchy that nobody wants?

Crawl back into your hole, troll.

Free Man Wrote:
15/02/2012
If Burma is replete with people like Myanmar Patriots, we will not be reluctant to continue our just struggle for another 63 years.

On the other hand, if the people of Burma are for a genuine, democratic, federal union, we are more than prepared to help build one where every ethnic groups, including Burman/Bumrese/Myanmar, can enjoy freedom, equality, justice and self-determination.

Compatriot-PKH Wrote:
14/02/2012
I agree with -timothy-.ASSK is the image of our beloved Bogyoke. She is our hope, the shining light of Myanmar's future. We have forgiven the mistakes of her political-novice life,because we believed in her patriotism, courage, honesty and integrity.

Chin Compatriot-PKH

BaGyi Wrote:
14/02/2012
Because of a people like Myanmar Patriots, the advance Myanmar civilization was degraded down to a shameful semi human status, the most corrupt and the poorest Nation, a country built on the army law the rulers of voodoo worshipers with their pocket brutal army. Without respects and without the solution to equal rights of the different races in Burma, the future is still in the dark.

Myanmar Patriots Wrote:
14/02/2012
We love our Bogyoke Aung San. But he was duped. Stuff the federal union! It is a contradiction. It is the poisoned chalice that our people are forced to drink out of.
No! the term 'union' is utter rubbish. You got to be so ignorant of history to believe in it. Don't ever forget 'Bamar asa Tagaungga.@ what game is Thein Sein playing? Much as we revered our Bogyoke Aung San we must point out he was duped by evil Attlee.
forget Panglong. It was the very time bomb that got Burma into such a mess.

KML Wrote:
14/02/2012
I strongly agree that “an acknowledgment of how far the country has strayed from its founding principles” is very crucial to bring the country forward along with other competing priorities such as reform in the area of economy, education, health and social welfare. This is not only important for U Thein Sein, but also equally important for DAASK.

While all are preoccupied with “democracy”, no solid acknowledgment heard from any quarter about the existence of discriminatory 1982 Citizenship law, which is Ne Win’s lunatic piece of art, not less than deionization and printing Kyat 15, 35, 45, & 90 notes in the middle of 1980s.

timothy Wrote:
14/02/2012
In 1947, all the ethnic leaders signed the Federal agreement only because they trust the honesty and integrity of Mr Aung San. The history repeats itself.Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the only one the people and military can trust. The ethnic leaders will sign the agreement again when they see Daw Aung Sann Suu Kyi`s integrity and honesty.

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