The Military Regime Lives on in the New Parliaments

On 31 January 2011, Burma’s parliament began its inaugural session, allegedly ending decades of military dictatorship. However, as the first week has shown, the military regime is still alive and well in the new Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) controlled government. This parliament is not a step in a slow transition to democracy. It is simply a new phase of the same old military rule […]

Activists in Japan Protest Against the New Parliament

In the lead up to the convening of the new parliament in Burma, the Network for Democracy in Burma organized a series of protests calling on the Japanese government not to recognize the parliament that was elected through the regime’s undemocratic elections in November 2010 […]

Challenging Burma’s Military Deception in Geneva and Naypyidaw

Burma’s military regime continues to falsify and deny facts and attempt to fool the world with their distorted reality. Four days ago at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, Switzerland, nations challenged the SPDC delegation’s fictitious presentation and expressed disdain at Burma’s “alarming” human rights record. Now, with today’s opening of the first session of the parliament, Burma’s supporters must continue to challenge the regime’s false assertions about the current situation in Burma and confront the military with the hard truth: Burma’s citizens continue to suffer under repressive military rule, with poverty, human rights abuses, and ethnic oppression a daily reality for millions. The regime’s elections and new parliament do not mark progress or a credible transition to democracy […]

ASEAN Ignoring the Facts in Call to End Sanctions

On 16 January, ASEAN foreign ministers at a summit in Lombok, Indonesia, endorsed a reversal of Western sanctions against Burma’s military regime. This disappointing move demonstrates ASEAN’s continued failure to take a strong leadership role in promoting democracy and good governance, and advancing human rights in the region.

ASEAN foreign ministers claimed the November 2010 elections and release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest were “sure signs that the country is heading toward a more democratic system” […]

Fraudulent Elections Undermine Citizen’s Electoral Rights

“There was intimidation and forced voting. People in the villages also said they were given presents and money. The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) told voters to vote for them at the polling station. The uneducated people were convinced by the USDP. We also realized that the USDP had many advance votes. The USDP conducted a census of elderly people and counted them all as advance votes. I do not think significant changes will occur after the election. This is just to change the name [of the government].”

– A voter from Irrawaddy Division

Burma’s elections took place in a highly undemocratic and repressive environment governed by a countrywide entrenched climate of fear. This environment, coupled with a lack of voter secrecy, ensured that the regime and its allied parties were able to easily carry out electoral fraud on a widespread and systematic basis. Through the manipulation of advance votes, tampering of voter lists, vote buying, and illegal campaigning, the USDP was able to comfortably secure an overwhelming victory, despite the complete lack of genuine public support.

SPDC Continues Authoritarian Rule with Military Draft Law as Citizens Push for Genuine Democracy

Although Burma’s new parliament is set to hold its first session on 31 January 2011, the current military regime continues to control the country with no intention of loosening its grip on power. The revelation that the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) enacted an unpublicized military draft law days before parliamentary elections provides further evidence of the generals’ aims: to perpetuate military rule and to deny the people of Burma their basic rights and freedoms. With the military unwilling to make any positive changes for the country, democracy and ethnic organizations continue to take the cause into their own hands, developing the foundation for democracy and national reconciliation despite the risk of a military crackdown.

Welcoming 2011 with New Hope and Opportunities

At the dawn of 2011, Burma Partnership would like to wish you all a happy new year, reflect on the past year and move into the future with the conviction that strengthened collaboration can bring genuine change in Burma.

At the close of 2010, the SPDC held fraudulent and undemocratic elections, which have only served to perpetuate military rule and entrench ethnic inequality. Burma will soon see a military dominated parliament filled primarily with old, familiar faces. The junta-allied Union State and Development Party (USDP) achieved a fraudulent electoral “victory” claiming to have won 77% of the electoral seats; together with the 25% of parliamentary seats reserved for military appointees, the election results ensure that pro-democracy or ethnic voices will be silenced as the same old regime continues under a new name […]

Looking back, looking forwards

By Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

The beginning of the year is a time for renewal, reinvigoration, resolutions and remembrance of things past.

I look back on 2010 and find that parts of the year were so little memorable as to have disappeared wholly into the lost wastes of time. How did I spend the first day of 2010? I cannot remember.

I can say, however, that it could not have been comfortable. Renovations to my house had been started in December 2009 and stopped a few weeks later by order of the municipal authorities.

While my lawyers worked to get the order reversed, I spent several months living in the midst of cardboard boxes, thick woven blankets wrapped around unidentifiable objects, assorted suitcases and leaning towers of books.

Looking up from my bed, which was wedged between a high bookshelf, odd tables and a number of lumpy bundles, I had a good view of a peeling chunk of ceiling that afforded me many moments of contemplation on the nature of decrepitude and decay […]

Elections Marred By Regime’s Campaign Restrictions, Harassment and Lack of Voter Education

“In my region, many people were not interested in the elections, and didn’t know anything about the elections. There was no electoral education and people who knew about elections were afraid of getting into trouble. I don’t think the elections will bring any betterment to people. I see the elections are designed for the military regime.”

– A voter in Sagaing Division

During the elections, the regime took extensive measures to limit election participation at all levels; from restricting political party participation to blocking free flow of information on the elections, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) ensured that they would be able to dominate and control the process from beginning to end. Ethnic parties and ethnic voters were particularly marginalized and suppressed as the Election Commission rejected leading ethnic parties and candidates, security forces hassled ethnic parties, and ethnic voters received little to no electoral education. By limiting such participation, the regime effectively stifled opposition from political parties and the electorate on the day of the polls.[…]

Repression Continues While Observers Naïvely Seek to “Wait and See”

More than six weeks following the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)’s elections to install a superficially civilian government dominated by the military and its allies, the reality on the ground in Burma has not changed for the better. The military regime continues to wage war against armed ethnic groups, the media, and the democratic forces working for progress. This repressive environment will undoubtedly remain in place as the same regime pursues identical oppressive policies from expensive new parliament buildings. Critics of the elections are asked again and again to “wait and see” before condemning the new parliament, but it begs the question: are the “pragmatic” supporters of the elections simply naïve? […]