(Mizzima) – Out of touch with reality, Burma’s elites habitually underestimate the people’s power. Their view from above is limited by a lack of wisdom and real knowledge. What a pity! For, without the people’s help they are heading straight toward another disaster.
Out of sheer arrogance they tend to dismiss the people’s power. False beliefs that only they hold are inflating their egos. They continue to believe that everyone will inevitably follow if ordered. It is even worse when they promote themselves overseas as Burmese intellectuals and democrats, parroting democracy phrases right out of the textbooks.
The habit of treating people in Burma as ignorant folks who urgently need to learn about democracy must end. More importantly, one should not delude oneself that the people in Burma are living in fear. Who are those that fear? Though elites continue to foam at their mouths about the Internet and globalization, they are still quite unaware of the true impact of technological innovation inside Burma.
Many Burmese youth can now skillfully use the Internet, while many young people in Burma hold advanced degrees in computer science. With the help of the Internet young people in Burma are educating themselves in a wide variety of subjects. Today’s youth are no longer ignorant. They can tell when they are being deceived or lied to. They are able to spot opportunists and corruption. The age of the citizen journalist has arrived and news circulates more freely than before.
Hundreds of thousands of people continually surf the web. Al-Jazeera and countless websites and blogs have replaced the age of the New York Times. The Internet supplies news from everywhere, allowing users to pick their own source. Inevitably, the Internet is giving rise to an age of empowered people in Burma.
Without fully understanding the past, some assume that leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt were makers of history. And by pointing to figures such as Thakin Phoe Hla Gyi, General Aung San and Saya San, they often conclude that people will follow if they are led.
While it was believed that Thakin Phoe Hla Gyi masterminded the labor strikes of oil fields against British oil interests, it was in fact Thakin Phoe Hla Gyi who was born of the movement. Likewise, Aung San did not give birth to the Dobama Association, rather the 1936 student strike led to the formation of the Dobama Association. Clearly, Aung San did not produce the student movement but was a product of it.
Moreover, the man who coined the term ‘Thakin’ after forming the Dobama Association was an influential writer named Ba Thaung. Nevertheless, though Thakin Ba Thaung was an extraordinary writer of his time, he did not create history or was even able to shape the Dobama Association to his liking. The answer to whether outstanding leaders create history or history produces these leaders can be found in the stories of Thakin Phoe Hla Gyi, Aung San, Thakin Ba Thaung and others. It is still a wonder why some cosmopolitan elites are not able to grasp this fact.
A thoughtful observation will find it natural and less mystifying that people make history and that history creates heroes. Interestingly, even though they often do not join the fight for freedom in Burma, urban elites tend to remain at the upper echelon of society regardless of age or era. The distance between the upper class and ordinary people in Burma is as far apart as the North and South Poles. The elites persist in disdaining common people and poking fun at the idea that it is the ordinary people who make history.
Ultimately, in the age of the Internet, globalization and citizen journalism, isn’t the claim that “heroes are the makers of history” rather amusing?
Translated from Burmese by May Ng
