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Burma's referendum: a done deal that may yet unravel - Page 2 |
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by Larry Jagan
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Friday, 02 May 2008 18:11 |
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Page 2 of 3
In fact Burma's military ruler Than Shwe also rebuffed the Thai government's offer to assist in running the referendum, an offer made during the Thai Prime Minister's recent visit to the Burmese capital, according to Thai diplomatic sources.
The junta knows that many people are inclined in fact to use the ballot as a referendum on the military government, and are unlikely to support the new constitution. To help control the vote, or more particularly, the result, the regime is going to make the announcement of the results in the capital Naypyitaw, and not at each polling station or even provincial level as happened in the 1990 election, which the pro-democracy parties – National league for Democracy and Shan Nationalities League for Democracy – overwhelmingly won.
"This is very different from the 1990 elections, when the election results were made public at each local polling station," remarked Zin Linn, a former political prisoner and now spokesman for the Burmese government in exile. "It means they will be able to manipulate the results to their own ends."
But the whole referendum process is flawed. An extremely undemocratic referendum cannot be a step towards multi-party democracy. "It is like the Thai military seizing power in a coup – as it did in September 2006 – to preserve democracy," a Burmese academic in Rangoon told Mizzima on condition of anonymity.
The government is allowing no public debate during this referendum campaign – only arguments for the constitution are permitted to be heard. The local media have been forbidden from reporting the 'no' campaign. The new constitution cannot be criticised, and anyone who does is liable to be sentenced to more than ten years jail. Those who recommend a 'no' vote have been beaten up and more than a hundred young members of Aung San Suu Kyi's party have now been arrested for wearing T-shirts that say "Vote No" or handing out leaflets urging electors to vote 'no'.
Undeterred, the NLD is continuing its campaign of opposition to the constitution. "For the people who have the right to vote, we would like to encourage again all voters to go to the polling booths and make an 'x' ('No') mark without fear," the NLD urged voters in a statement released to the press last week. But they conceded the whole process is a sham.
"An intimidating atmosphere for the people is created by physically assaulting some of the members of (the) NLD," its statement said.
"A referendum without some basic freedoms – of assembly, political parties and free speech – is a farce. What the Myanmar government calls a process of democratization is in fact a process of consolidation of an authoritarian regime," Professor Pinheiro told Mizzima.
The new constitution took the army more than fourteen years to daft. The actual constitution was only revealed to the public a few weeks ago. It is on sale at a 1,000 kyat a copy – the equivalent of a dollar in a country where more than 8 out of ten families live on less than $2 a day. But even then it is almost impossible to find copies, according to western diplomats who have been scouring Rangoon for them.
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