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 […]

Letter from Burma: Keepers of Conscience

Is the story of Pinocchio still popular with children? It is when such questions arise in my mind that I am made acutely aware of the peculiar gaps in my contact with the outside world. Had I been in constant touch with my grandchildren or even with other people’s grandchildren over the years, I would have known the answers. Fortunately a few days after Pinocchio had floated into my head, I had a meeting with the children of the United States Embassy staff in Rangoon […]

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Delivers Speech at World Economic Forum

On Thursday, 28 January 2011, Aung San Suu Kyi delivered a special message to political and business leaders attending the Annual Meeting in Davos. “We need investments in technology and infrastructure,” she pleaded, as Burma strives for national reconciliation, political stability and economic growth.

Watch the video here.

Foreign Secretary: Dismissal of National League for Democracy appeal in Burma “deeply disappointing”

The Burmese Supreme Court today dismissed an appeal by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, against its dissolution in May 2010 under draconian election laws. Reacting to the decision, the Foreign Secretary said: “This is deeply disappointing, if not unexpected, news. Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy […]

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.

10-16 January: 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 […]

Suu Kyi sees ASEAN role in restoring democracy — Loren

Aung San Suu Kyi believes that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) would play a vital role in restoring democratic institutions in her country, according to Sen. Loren Legarda. After a meeting with the pro-democracy icon in Yangon, Myanmar, Legarda called on the Philippine government to continue playing an active role in moving for the restoration of democratic institutions in the country still ruled by a military junta […]

National Youth Network – Statement 1/2011

Youths, from civil society organizations, political parties, ethnic youths, worker youths, farmer youths have all decided to form a nationwide network, having met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on the 28th December 2010 . And thus, National Youth Network, which represents all youths in Myanmar, was formed in accordance with the Leadership and guide line of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi […]

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 […]