A Day to Remember

Only the elected members of parliament would be entrusted with the task of drawing up a new constitution.

Late Junta Leader Snr-Gen Saw Maung registering to vote

Jail cells instead of parliamentary seats awaited many of the winning candidates, however. A ruthless purge of the opposition occurred in the six months following the election, and responsible citizens like San San were sentenced to totally unjust and unrealistic prison terms. NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi was harassed and sentenced to successive terms of house arrest. She’s still in detention today.

There were persistent and credible reports of torture, violent deaths and appalling prison conditions. Three elected NLD members—Tin Maung Win, Hla Than and Saw Win—died behind bars. Fifteen are still in jail, all of them over 60 and probably destined to end their days there.

In the first 15 years following the election, 40 of those elected fled the country to avoid political persecution. Eighty four have died over the years.

The NLD made one attempt to formalize its election victory at a two-day congress in Rangoon’s Gandhi Hall two months after the poll. Nearly all the elected NLD parliamentarians attended—it was the last time the party made such a united public appearance.

For its part, the regime allowed three years to pass before making a move. In 1993 it called a National Convention, attended by 702 delegates. Only 147 of them were elected parliamentarians or representatives of political parties. The rest were hand-picked by the junta.

Two years later, NLD representatives walked out, complaining the NC was undemocratic. One year after that, the NC was adjourned and resumed only in 2004. Khin Nyunt, then prime minister, said the resumption was a first step in a seven-stage “road map” to democracy. The NLD and the main ethnic Shan Nationalities League for Democracy decided not to attend, however, calling it a “sham.”

Last month, the NC adjourned yet again, with no indication of when it will resume, let alone when it will end.

About 10,000 of us assembled anxiously outside the Gandhi Hall when the NLD congress convened in July, 1990. There was applause when the decision was announced to give the junta until September 30 to convene parliament. For many, however, the applause was half-hearted: they felt the NLD delegates had missed a golden opportunity.

Suu Kyi trailed by soldiers in Irrawaddy Division

“That was a great opportunity,” said a former NLD youth leader, who worked with Suu Kyi and Kyi Maung in the build up to the 1990 election. “If the congress had formed a government, the people, as well as the international community, would have recognized it immediately. Instead, the party concluded the congress just by shouting slogans.”

NLD leader Suu Kyi made stabs at getting the regime to recognize the results of the 1990 election, but she was blocked at every turn.

On the 13th anniversary of the election she declared: “The NLD must stand up firmly to achieve the result of the elections of 1990.