No Formal Political Role for Influential Dissidents

Leaders of 88 Generation Students group, who were recently freed from prison in a major government amnesty, opened their first office in a two-storey building in a secluded area of South Okkalappa Township in Rangoon on Sunday.

The influential dissident group—so called because of its prominent role in the popular uprising of 1988—are currently campaigning for transparency in various aspects of Burmese society.

“Our future plans will be all about peace-building and building a transparent society. By transparency, we mean exposing public grievances and advocating the fundamental rights of the public,” explained student leader Min Ko Naing at their first press conference in the new office.

He appealed to the media to actively cover court proceedings to uncover any arbitrary legal judgments.

Many wonder if the middle-aged student leaders, such as Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, will keep on playing the informal activist role they did in the past, or instead join the mainstream process by setting up a political party.

Immediately after their release from prison in January, the group decided not to participate in the parliamentary by-elections scheduled for April 1. This reportedly put opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ill at ease as she decided to play a formal political role by standing for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the ballot.

Some of the student leaders said that they will take part in a mix of political and social work. However, in a separate interview with The Irrawaddy, Ko Ko Gyi made clear that he was prepared to go beyond the old ad hoc anti-government activism and establish a formal political organization in the very near future.

“We will set up an organization that will make it possible for us to have an active and strong political role. We will announce the details once that happens,” he said.

The student leaders are generally sanguine about current reforms and praised President Thein Sein for stressing the importance of an all inclusive political process for the country’s transition to democracy during his speech on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of taking power.

The Burmese authorities have so far allowed the group to have an official office for their activities and so demonstrated an increased degree of tolerance on the part of the nominally democratic government. But many opposition groups remain skeptical of the formal political process dominated both in the Parliament and government by ex-military officials like Thein Sein.

For now, it appears unlikely that there will be another round of confrontation similar to 2007 when the 88 Generation Students took to the streets in protest against a sudden hike in fuel prices.

“We can guarantee that our gatherings will not pose any sort of threat to the current situation,” said Min Ko Naing.

He and his political colleagues recently toured different parts of the country including camps sheltering war refugees who fled the ongoing violence between the armed ethnic Kachin minority and government troops in northern Burma. And the 88 Generation Sudents will make a similar trip to towns in central Burma on Monday evening.

Such tours have raised questions if they have begun to operate as a rival political force to the NLD party of Suu Kyi. The student leaders have said they have no intention of doing so, but that their activities outside the formal parliamentary framework are as legitimate as representation within Parliament.