New Delhi - Come May 10, Burma, under military rule for over four decades will see democracy in practice for a day. The Junta in early April fixed the date for approving its draft constitution, which took over 14 tenuous years to draft. The current batch of military clique, for the first time in its history of nearly two decades in power, announced that it will hold a referendum in May and general elections in 2010 that will pave the way for a democratic civilian rule.
However, the junta's planned referendum has invited much criticism by pro-democracy activists including Burma's detained Noble Peace Prize Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy and western countries including the US and EU, saying that the process is not 'free and fair'.
In fact, reports on the ground reveal that the junta's referendum process is one-sided and far from being free and fair. Though the junta on April 9, made the draft constitution public by selling copies for 1000 Kyat in bookstalls, there has been restrictions on public debates.
The junta has issued laws against people criticizing and campaigning against the referendum process in particular and it's proclaimed 'roadmap to democracy' plan in general.
Sources in rural areas, including northern and eastern Shan states said, that the junta has been conducting 'mock elections' where authorities including local village chiefs and members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) have been teaching illiterate and uneducated villagers how to cast votes in support of the constitution.
While in several other places, the junta officials are giving out loans to people through its puppet organizations USDA and Swan Arrshin, in a view that people will be obliged to cast a "Yes" vote on the constitution.
But, though the junta is resorting to unfair means of campaigning, its instructions to ballot station officials on conducting the actual poll seems to be pretty much fair. The instruction circulated among ballot station officials, a copy of which Mizzima obtained, strictly orders the officials to be just and fair on the day of polling.
An official in Burma's second largest city of Mandalay said, "I don't think there could be any kind of cheating on the polling day. Because the instructions say in detail all the functions of the officials."
The official, who has been appointed as a secretary in one of the many ballot stations in Mandalay said, "My instruction is to sit in the station and keep a record of the voters. And also see that the counting is done in front of at least 10 voters."
If the actual polling is to be conducted fairly, how then do the generals plan to win supporting votes for its draft constitution?
Despite the opposition's claim that the junta might use various means including cheating during voting, and resort to coercive means to achieve its desired result, the junta has begun its campaign that it is ready to conduct the actual polling free from al unscrupulous means.
The official in Mandalay, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, said, "I think many people just like me do not know anything about the constitution and would give 'yes' votes."
"I would personally vote 'Yes' not because I like the government, but I am serving them. So, I don't think I want to vote 'No'," the official added.
The official is one among the nearly 1.5 million government servants serving the country under the present military dictators.
A police officer in Rangoon said, "I would vote 'Yes' because personally I have no choice." He added that, "I have no choice but to support it because I am a government servant."
The officer said, he has not read the draft constitution, though he has received a copy of the constitution, and "I am not interested to know, because I don't think there would be any difference by my knowing in detail."
Meanwhile, an observer in Mandalay said there seems to be a sense of excitement among the people over the ensuing referendum. While it is unclear whether the excitement would turn into a 'No' or 'Yes' vote in the actual polling, he added that people seem to be eager to cast their votes for the first time in many years.
"But the sad thing is that of the many I have spoken to, they do not seem to understand what the draft constitution is all about," the observer, who is politically aware, told Mizzima.
"Currently, we can see that the junta is making all out efforts to give a leg up to the water festival, so as to divert the attention from all other campaigns against the referendum and the response of the people seems to be going well too," he added.
In a random survey conducted by Mizzima over a cross section of people in Rangoon and Mandalay, out of 20 respondents more than half of the people said they have not decided what they would vote.
Six out of 10 people interviewed in Rangoon said, they have not decided, and two said they will vote in favor of the constitution but only one said he will cast a 'No' vote in the referendum.
In Mandalay, seven out of ten interviewees said they have not decided on the voting , while three others said they will definitely cast a 'No' vote.
But 11 out of the 20 interviewees both in Rangoon and Mandalay said they have not read the constitution and are not interested in knowing it either.
This random survey is preliminary and is a part of a larger opinion survey conducted across Burma. As per the preliminary findings, most ordinary people in urban areas of Burma not only lack information on the constitution but also do not have any interest.
But what is certain is that the junta has embedded a strong sense of loyalty in most of its civil servants and members of its civil organizations, which has an estimate member of 25 million, by blurring the prospects of genuine changes.
The official in Mandalay said, "I don't think there could be any other form of change that could exclude this present government."
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