Myanmar poll offers us food for thought

Myanmar poll offers us food for thought

Like many of us, I followed the Myanmar elections on Sunday with enthusiasm.

It was good to see Myanmar's people turning out in full force to exercise their citizens' rights to bring change to their country and make their choice of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who led her National League for Democracy Party to a landslide victory.

The high voter turnout of some 80% made this political process even more meaningful.

In showing their support for the Lady, Myanmar's voters effectively shrugged off concerns by analysts and observers that the democratic figurehead is just a novice at government and may face problems running the country. Not to mention her doubtful "above the president" status due to the controversial Myanmar charter.

In fact, this is not the first time the Lady has led her party to a major victory.

In 1990, the NLD won over 80% of parliamentary seats in 1990, even though the Lady and her top deputy were under house arrest. In a shock decision, the Myanmar junta refused to seat the winning lawmakers, citing the lame excuse that a constitution had to be implemented first, and it took nearly two decades to complete that task.

After boycotting the 2010 election, the NLD took part in politics two years later when the election law was eased, with the Lady being freed from house arrest. She entered the 2012 polls, and eventually became a member of parliament. Most NLD candidates won the seats.

Setting aside the joy and celebrations in the latest political triumph, it should be kept in mind that the historic poll is just the first step toward democracy for Myanmar. The Lady and her NLD Party have to cope with expectations and political anxiety, in particular when the time to form the cabinet comes and when they start to lead the country.

Like me, many Thais are looking at this stage of political development in our neighbouring country with particular interest. For me, there is something to be learned from our immediate neighbour.

In fact, Thai and Myanmar politics share some features. To start with, we are both familiar with military rule -- only that the Myanmar army stayed in power longer, almost five decades, without challenge. We have both had experience fighting for democracy.

Thais used to take pride in our progressive democracy. We had two successful uprisings in our political history. The Oct 14, 1973 students uprising which chased away the Thanom-Prapas-Narong group, and the 1992 popular movement that drove out the Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon regime.

After a decade of thriving democracy, it was colour-coded politics, aggravated by unscrupulous politicians, that unfortunately opened the door to the Thai military -- twice in one decade.

When compared to the regime set up by his predecessor, Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin in the 2006 coup, the Prayut Chan-o-cha regime, according to some public polls, enjoys solid popularity. Yet, this has something to do with Gen Prayut's character, rather than the regime itself. It's undeniable that many Thais still like strong, decisive leaders. It's unfortunate that many of his decisions deal a heavy blow to the poor.

Another important factor that may have helped sustain the regime's legitimacy so far is that many people are willing to trade off freedom for peace and order -- as long as the stay is temporary. This group of people have the hope that the regime will lay the groundwork for national reform and reconciliation and subsequently leave politics for good, as promised.

But no matter how the regime tries to convince us of its merits, a system that lacks a mechanism of checks and balances is a flaw in itself.

The emerging irregularities, like the Rajabhakti scandal, will simply erode public trust in the regime.

More importantly, after more than a year in power, we are still not near either reform or reconciliation. But I believe if the military ended its control today, we would go back to that same old scenario -- daily street protests by those on the opposite sides of the political spectrum.

Gen Prayut seems to realise this, or he would not have made his "shut down the country" speech. Though he subsequently apologised and said he did not mean it, I believe otherwise.

But he cannot stay on much longer. The prime minister must do everything to ensure that the groundwork for real reform and reconciliation is laid down, while sticking to the roadmap.

As he appreciates Myanmar voters' enthusiasm, he must embrace their message to those at the helm -- no more military rule.


Ploenpote Atthakor is Deputy Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post.

Ploenpote Atthakor

Former editorial page Editor

Ploenpote Atthakor is former editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.

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