24-30 September: President Thein Sein’s UN Speech Disguises the Truth Behind Burma’s Reforms

October 1, 2012

As President Thein Sein was busy at the UN General Assembly describing “the amazing changes” in Burma as “irreversible,” the Burma Army offensive in Kachin State continues unabated, hundreds of political prisoners remain incarcerated and peaceful protesters are detained and summoned to court. The reality of the changes in Burma is that they are merely tentative and minimal; substantive change is yet to occur.

This reality is perhaps most keenly felt in Kachin State where more and more people are fleeing their homes as clashes continue. President Thein Sein addressed the Kachin issue by stating that the government’s Peace Negotiation Team and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) are “working to further strengthen the confidence building measures.” Yet what confidence measures are these? Human rights violations are ongoing while more and more troops are being sent to the frontlines. The government is also blocking humanitarian aid. These are not confidence building measures. It is of no surprise that members of the Kachin community in the US staged protests at President Thein Sein’s visit and wrote an open letter to Thein Sein urging him to “stop the harassment, interrogation, and detention of innocent Kachin civilians by the local authorities.”

Thein Sein, however, would rather blame the KIA, telling a local journal that the problem is that while the he has ordered the Burma Army to stop fighting, the KIA hasn’t done the same and so conflict is unavoidable. This is in direct contrast to the realities on the ground, where the Burma Army’s troop reinforcements and advances on KIA positions have increased in the last few months.

While President Thein Sein talked of progress, he could do well to listen to Min Ko Naing, leader of the 88 Generation Students group, who has visited Kachin State numerous times the last few months: “the government should listen to the people of Kachin in order to have successful peace.”

Other activists in Rangoon staged protests calling for peace yet it has emerged that such peaceful demonstrations are still not permitted in Burma as 15 of the organizers have been charged for protesting without permission. This sharply contradicts the “new political culture of patience and dialogue” existing in Burma that Thein Sein proclaimed to the UN General Assembly.

In his speech, Thein Sein spoke of the “significant political developments” such as the “amnesties” for prisoners. Thein Sein uses the term amnesty yet these releases are not in fact amnesties, as they are released under a presidential order, along with criminals, and their convictions are not cleared. Thein Sein and his government still do not recognize those released as political prisoners.

While some political prisoners have been released, there still remain at least 311 in prison. In the past the Burma government has released some political prisoners to coincide with major international publicity opportunities and this was no exception. According to Bo Kyi, Joint Secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma, “political prisoners are bargaining chips for Thein Sein’s policies,” demonstrating that the Burma government is using human life for political gain.

This year has actually seen an increase in the number of detentions of political activists despite Thein Sein’s claims that there has been an “increased participation of the people in the political process.” Over 200 people have been arrested for politically motivated reasons since the start of 2012 without formal charges.

President Thein Sein spoke of the “abolition of censorship of the media – the fourth estate” thus referring to the change in the law in which journals are no longer required to send articles to the Press Registrations and Scrutiny Division (PRSD) before publication. What is not as widely reported, however, is that censorship does still exist in a post-publication check. Meanwhile the Ministry of Mining is suing the editor-in-chief of The Voice Weekly for defamation after his journal reported on corruption within the ministry. Also, repressive laws such as the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act and the 2004 Electronics Transaction Act that have been repeatedly used to jail journalists and activists are still in place. All of these developments have had the effect of self-censorship among local media.

A pressing issue for the international community has been the communal violence in Arakan State and President Thein Sein did address this in his speech, talking of the establishment of the “national level independent investigation committee” in which “is made up of representatives from all strata of the society, including the widely respected personalities from the Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Hindu faiths.” What Thein Sein did not mention is that there are no Rohingya on this committee yet there are members who have made controversial and discriminatory remarks about the Rohingya communities in Arakan State.

President Thein Sein’s speech was riddled with inaccuracies and misleading information yet the international community is keen to reward his government. Legislation was rushed through allowing international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, to provide financial assistance and loans, while Secretary of State Clinton announced that the US will lift its import ban. This has been strongly criticized as being excessive and premature. Aung Din of US Campaign for Burma states that “these changes are not secure and irreversible yet, and it is the major reason for the argument made by key stakeholders of Burma, ethnic nationalities, civil society organizations and democracy activists who all request the United States to maintain the remaining sanctions. However, their voices are simply ignored.”

President Thein Sein may be convincing the international community that everything is rosy in Burma but for the people on the ground they know this to be false. Those present at the UN General Assembly must listen to these grassroots voices if they do not want to be fooled by a government that is still manipulative and oppressive.