Myanmar

E

2

The Ne Win Regime

During the 1960s and 1970s, Ne Win attempted to build an effective totalitarian government, establish legitimacy with the Burmese people, and maintain autonomy on the world scene. His Revolutionary Council abolished opposition political parties and independent newspapers, ordered the slaughter of protesting students, and drew up a “Burmese way to socialism” involving wholesale nationalization. Ensuing economic chaos forced some rethinking in the early 1970s. A new constitution was promulgated in 1974, transferring power by referendum and single-party election from the military Revolutionary Council to a People’s Assembly, commanded by Ne Win and other former military leaders. The country’s name was also changed to the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. Student strikes still erupted at intervals, as when U Thant, a political figure of the constitutional democracy period and UN Secretary-General, died and was returned to Burma for burial in 1974.

Ethnic insurrections, which broke out in the Kachin and Shan states after the army coup, continued to deny major areas to government control, including Burma’s part of the Golden Triangle (a major supplier of the world opium market); the Karen insurrection became closely associated with the black market trade on the Thai border. The Burma Communist Party insurrection retained official support from China. At one stage, U Nu escaped to Thailand and attempted to rally an overthrow of Ne Win’s government. In 1980, however, he was permitted to return to Burma as a private citizen. In 1981 Ne Win relinquished the presidency to San Yu, a retired general, but he continued as Chairman of the ruling Burma Socialist Programme Party.

Burma had some success in the post-World War II period through its ability to keep free of major international political involvements, such as the Vietnam War. While maintaining relations with the People’s Republic of China, the government also stressed Burma’s autonomy, reducing its dependence on foreign aid and even delaying membership in the Asian Development Bank. U Nu was active in the movement to make the non-aligned nations a factor in Cold War diplomacy. Burma broke with this group in 1979 in protest at its pro-Soviet tilt; it was readmitted in August 1992.

E

3

Rebellion and Military Coup

Anti-government riots in March and June 1988, triggered by a surprise currency devaluation that wiped out the value of most people’s savings, led Ne Win to resign as party Chairman in July, ushering in a period of political instability. The head of the riot police temporarily took over government, leading to unrest which left thousands dead across the country. A civilian coalition with military ties then took power, trying to mediate between the military and the growing opposition movement led by U Aung San’s daughter, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and other military and civilian figures. In September General Saw Maung, Chief of Staff under Ne Win, emerged from a bloody power struggle to head a military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which remained ultimately answerable to Ne Win. His coup was staged partly to close growing splits within the military hierarchy; and is estimated by official foreign sources to have cost more than 1,000 lives. In June 1989 the country’s name was officially changed to the Union of Myanmar, and the name of the capital from Rangoon to Yangon. When legislative elections in May 1990 resulted in an overwhelming victory for the opposition National League for Democracy, the SLORC refused to allow the People’s Assembly to convene; some opposition leaders fled to the Thai border and set up an alternative government at the headquarters of the Karen insurrection.

In October 1991 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was held incommunicado under house arrest from July 1989. The ailing Saw Maung was replaced as head of the SLORC by General Than Shwe in April 1992. In January 1993, with the aim of securing a permanent role in government for the military, the SLORC convened a constitutional convention to rewrite the 1974 constitution. The convention was dominated by SLORC supporters, but also included some opposition members; it had still not completed its deliberations by August 1996.

The SLORC also began to court foreign investment, seeking a remedy to the country’s economic crises. By 1994 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was engaged in unofficial discussions with the SLORC, but refused to accept the offer of deportation. In February 1995 the final stronghold of the Karen insurrection fell to SLORC forces.

E

4

Continuing Repression

In July Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was unexpectedly released from detention; she responded by proposing rapprochement with the SLORC and the army authorities. However, in May 1996 the SLORC arrested numerous activists in Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). Daw Aung San Suu Kyi called for the international community to isolate the military regime. However, Myanmar was allowed to join the Regional Forum meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations in July 1996. Harassment of opposition activists continued throughout 1996.

In February and March 1997 the army destroyed the headquarters of Karen rebels who had long been fighting the government along the Thai border. In April the United States agreed new sanctions against Myanmar over human rights abuses. In July 1997 ASEAN admitted Myanmar as a full member, despite protests from the EU and other bodies. Saw Maung, former leader of the SLORC, died the same month, but his successors continued his policies of repression, imprisoning more democracy activists in August. However, the opposition NLD was allowed to hold a congress at Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house in September, for the first time since 1995. In November the SLORC dissolved itself, giving way to the SPDC, but this change was more a realignment of internal cliques and an opportunity to induct a new generation of military officers than a substantial restructuring of government.

In July and August 1998 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi attempted to drive to meet NLD members outside Rangoon, resulting in widely publicized standoffs before the military authorities forcibly returned her to her home. Universities were reopened in August 1998 for the first time since 1996; student demonstrations followed in September. In March 1999, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's husband Michael Aris, terminally ill with cancer, was refused a visa to enter Myanmar to visit her; she refused to leave the country after his death to attend his funeral, for fear of being denied permission to return.

Tensions continued between the pro-democracy league and the military authorities throughout 2000. In August Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was stopped by police in the Rangoon suburb of Dala as she and party colleagues attempted to travel to the countryside to undertake political organization work. A nine-day standoff between the opposition leader and Myanmar's military regime ensued, after which police forced Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to return to the capital. Following this incident, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under virtual house arrest.

An advance in relations was announced in January 2001, when it was revealed that talks had been held between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the military. The talks, which began in October 2000, represented the first dialogue between the two sides since 1994 and were hailed by diplomats from the European Union as the most significant development in Myanmar internal politics in a decade. During the course of 2001 a number of NLD prisoners were released before, finally, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was released in May 2002. The former military dictator Ne Win, who was in power from the late 1950s and oversaw the country’s disastrous economic decline, died in December.

Just 12 months later Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest once more. In August 2003, Khin Nyunt was appointed prime minister. He announced that there would be a conference to discuss proposals for a new constitution; it began in May 2004. Five months later Khin Nyunt was replaced as prime minister by Soe Win, a high-ranking military official, amid fears from international observers that the appointment of such a hardliner would lead to the abandonment of the talks and the continued imprisonment under house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The talks, adjourned in July 2004, were resumed in February 2005.

Myanmar was one of the countries affected by the devastating Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004. The third largest earthquake in recorded history generated a massive tsunami, which caused widespread devastation when it hit land. The number of victims in Myanmar was given at fewer than 100 by the government, but international observers put the figure for loss of life much higher. The coastal areas of the Irradwaddy Delta region were believed to be worst hit. In April 2005 the government announced its decision to relocate the national capital to the central city of Naypyidaw, around 320 km (200 mi) north of Rangoon. The government ministries and administrative bodies were transferred from Rangoon to the purpose-built compound in early November 2005. The supposed reason for the move was to provide better security for government ministries.

The government cracked down violently on a series of marches and demonstrations protesting about the doubling of fuel prices in August 2007, with many marchers imprisoned or tortured. The campaign was picked up in September in a series of daily protest marches led by Buddhist monks against poverty and repression in the country. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was seen in public for the first time in four years, when she appeared outside her home in Rangoon to show her support for the monks. Defying orders to clear the streets, many thousands of monks were rounded up, dozens were killed, and it is estimated that more than 10,000 were detained. Prime minister Soe Win died in October and was replaced by Thein Sein.