ARTICLES IN ENGLISH - บทความคัดสรร ภาษาอังกฤษ
WELCOME DEMOCRACY!
Excerpts from "Burma's Constitution" By Dr. Maung Maung
The parallel statement in the interim constitution of 1943 that "All powers of government and all authority, legislative, executive and judicial, are derived from the people" would seem an even stronger affirmation of faith in democracy. Democracy has become a magic word in Burma. Everywhere students, monks, the intelligential and the illiterate have taken up the cause. It has not been the case previously. After independence in 1948, the end of the old colonial order ushered in the grim side of independence:-one party rule, civil wars and economies ravaged by waste, corruption and incompetence. Professionals, civil servants, students and ordinary man in the street have increasingly pressed for economic and political reform. Opponents are looked upon as enemies, not political rivals. Democracy is a continual process. We are in the learning stage of democracy. When you have lived through 45 years of Marxist-Leninist dictatorship, it takes time to adjust. People must be free to complain, to criticize and to run for office. Political prisons must be empty and newspapers must be lively. We would like to see our country safely and permanently into the fold of democracy, stability and market based prosperity. This is no longer a socialist age, so we do not need the apparatus of central state socialism. Unfortunately inside the military there are certain ambitious groups who think they can take over power whenever there are political controversies. In Burma, bribery and corruption has been our legacy for the past 45 years. We must replace the military's lawlessness with more efficient and disciplined army. On 31st October 1958, General Ne Win, in his first address to the chamber of deputies as Prime Minister, pledged absolute loyalty to the 1947 constitution and democracy. Moreover, one cause of the economic crisis following the 1962 coup by army officers has been Rangoon's policy of unpopular nationalization of banks, shops and private schools. The 1988 coup is famous for its bloody suppression of the countrywide democracy movement, its brutal internment of political prisoners, the middle class and the intelligential. Burma needs economic liberalization more than it needs foreign aid. On the one hand, only democratization can provide the basis for humane, modern political life. Virtually every state and division is dissatisfied with its piece of the economic pie. As long as the economy was growing, the system remained intact. But now the economy is in decline. Economic reform and the emergence of market mechanisms may yet help stimulate the economic and political integration of the various part of the country. By deporting the whole peoples and destroying their cultures, the junta greatly damaged the ethnic and cultural diversity that has always been part of Burma's strength. The state tried to replace ethnic and cultural differences with a deadening homogeneity. The very name of the country, Union of Burma, carries no hint of ethnic or cultural and geographic reality. Only democratization and decentralization will give assurances to the population that their cultures will be respected and preserved. More than lives are being destroyed, the very social fabric of the countryside has fallen victim to a brutal regime that is obsessed with power at the expense of its own peoples' lives. An end to the misery requires that the people be assisted in their Endeavour to rebuild the social and economic structures that will allow our citizens to raise their standard of living and to have a profound international standing.
We stand for the type of measure to prevent the misuse of power which is built into the constitution of the United States where there are strong checks and balances. There are enough people in the Shan States who irrespective of race are committed to making sure that this potential can be reached by an accord, which can work. Dictatorship, autocratic rule and single party and politicised armies may be things of the past. If leaders do not awaken to this fact, the area could be very turbulent for a long time to come.
A Shan Nationalist
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