A Day to Remember

The 1990 election—will my vote ever mean anything?

My entire family woke up early that day. Our neighbors were already leaving their homes. Some eagerly shouted at us not to be late. My 63-year-old grandmother and my mother joined them and I rushed to follow. It was election day—May 27, 1990—the first time in 30 years the Burmese people had been called on to go to the polls.

On the way to the polling station, campaigners in traditional robes were still canvassing votes. Most wore the traditional hat that had become the election symbol of the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Vehicles bearing the scarlet emblem of the NLD drove by, packed with party supporters.

“Help me vote for the party of Bogyoke’s daughter,” pleaded an elderly woman who had been carried on a crude stretcher to the polling booth. She was too feeble to fill out her ballot paper and place it in the ballot box. For her, Bogyoke (General) referred to Aung San, the father of Suu Kyi.

I had just turned 18 like many of my friends. We thought ourselves very lucky to be voting in such an historic election, one which we were confident would lead our country towards democracy.

Around 20 million people, about half Burma’s population, were eligible to vote that day. My family and I joined the more than 15 million throughout the country who turned out to exercise that long-withheld right.

NLD member campaigning

The first result came in from Seikkan Township constituency in Rangoon. NLD candidate San San won the seat and later reminisced: “I was hoisted up, put on a roof and threw flowers to the crowd.”

As the returns that followed over the next few days indicated an overwhelming NLD victory, San San was asked by a foreign reporter whether she thought the regime would now relinquish power. She dismissed the question as nonsense in view of the huge support for the party.

The final returns gave the NLD more than 80 percent of the vote, and a total of 392 of the 485 seats contested in the 492-member assembly. The military regime-backed National Unity Party (NUP), formerly the Burma Socialist Programme Party led by late dictator Ne Win, captured just 10 seats.

But it was a hollow victory. And how sadly misplaced was San San’s confidence. Far from taking up the representation of her constituency, San San was arrested twice because of her political activities and sentenced to two prison terms, one of six years and the other an inconceivable 25 years.