Observing the improbable change in Burma

Philippine media gave the visit of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to Rangoon coverage. But so much more has been left out of the dramatic changes taking place in Burma, the improbable and startling shift in the outlook and orientation of the country’s leadership.

With quiet initiatives in 2011, the process seems to have taken hold. A lively political campaign has drawn people to the streets and public squares as spontaneous crowds following Opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. High profile visits from international luminaries have opened up venues and opportunities for further engagement. Reports describe the national mood as a break from the long standing malaise of repression, lifting the once dull and dour social landscape with the visible and audible hope in the future.

Perhaps jaded by their own experience of regime change and frustrated with the unfulfilled promise of democratic recovery, Filipinos are not so quick to stir to the excitement of the pictures and headlines highlighting this story in other Southeast Asian newspapers. No less than the nation’s Nobel Peace Laureate has led her party, the National League for Democracy, in the campaign for seats in Parliament. Her zeal and energy on the stomping trail quiets the doubts about the substance of change and the sincerity of Burma President Thein Sein’s pledge to democratize, starting with elections in April. Surely, someone like her would not be so blind to false leads.

The campaign is not the only sign of a new Burma emerging. The release of scores of political prisoners which began in 2011, the hosting of delegations and visits from states and international organizations all signal a well thought out strategy to take the country out of the dark period of its history and a genuine readiness of the government to take steps on a different path.

I had a chance to listen to a believer in this change who had gone home from exile to visit and whose decision it is to return and take part in the making of Burma’s new future. The workshop seminar on media ownership organized by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) in early February was capped with a forum featuring Soe Myint, Burmese editor of the New Delhi-based Mizzima, a multimedia news service about Burma from sources in and out of the country.

Twenty three years ago, Soe Myint, was a student activist engaged in the 1988 uprising to demand the restoration of democracy from military takeover. In 1990, he and another Burmese activist hi-jacked a Thai International Airways passenger plane flying from Bangkok to Rangoon. Threatening the pilots and crew with a fake bomb, they forced the plane to change route and land in Indian capital of Calcutta. According to a report by Richard Ehrlich, the airline did not file charges. Nor did any of the passengers. They were acquitted by an Indian court in 2003. Gaining support from international groups and from some political leaders in Indian’s parliament, he founded Mizzima in August 1998 and has lived and worked in New Delhi since.

Clearly exhilarated, Soe Myint was fighting off fatigue and an imminent cold when he spent almost two hours recounting the highlights of his return visit to his homeland. It all started sometime last year when received an invitation from government so he could discuss ideas about a roadmap for establishing a free press.

Why this change? Why now?

He said that sanctions were being felt at all levels. It would be difficult to ignore the growing despair among the young people who could no longer think of their future getting better, who were giving up hope in their country. Everyone, including the leaders, recognized that there would be no real development, the kind that would benefit the people, without political change.

He described the changing lifestyle, the gathering in the streets, the willingness to talk, young people openly hopeful, their faces bright with a sense of opportunity, their opportunity.

I was a rebel when I left, he recalled. I returned welcomed by officials.  More important ordinary people knew about the work of the exile press and were thanking him for Mizzima. His mother who had suffered ostracism since his flight expressed her surprise that now he was respected and she felt she could be proud.

The changes now taking place may be part of a long standing national plan, a series of steps to be taken toward democratization. A generous measure of realism girds his infectious optimism. There is a line drawn somewhere about how far this change will go, but right not that line is not defined. He admits: This process may go slow. It may go fast. It can be stalled. But it will not be very difficult to stop.

Obviously the elections in April should be closely scrutinized. The process will gain greater clarity after that. This change will involve forces in and out of Burma: the people and their willingness to engage at various levels, the governments of countries already invested in Burma and those eyeing the abundant natural resources of the land as a base for trade and business, among others. Burma’s assets in natural resources will surely play into the progressive dynamic. Even at this early stage, development projects have been evaluated for their potential to destroy communities and the threat of environmental problems. Burma’s assets in natural resources will surely play into the progressive dynamic.

Other issues must be considered in projecting how easily democratization can take root.  How the military will take to new roles, how willingly will those who benefitted from the old regime give up their prestige and privilege?

For now, Soe Myint is prepared to return and be part of this change. He has now received offers from those who want Mizzima to be published in Burma. He feels that there may be a good market for Mizzima as a weekly journal for news and an English magazine with focus on business and politics.  But he is ready to work as well on other issues, including the process of crafting a media Law and the promotion of media literacy. Radio remains an important medium and there is a lot of work to transform this into a tool for change.

The fever of his enthusiasm is catching. One cannot help observe the wisdom of the willingness to take things slow, the potential of a gradual and slow ferment, indeed the many lessons to learned from the experience of other countries.

It is difficult not to be envious.  What things would we do differently if we found ourselves similarly at some beginning, that historic moment afforded for reflection and review. As Filipinos commemorated the 26^th anniversary of the People Power uprising to end a dictatorship, and 10 years after showing the door to a corrupt president, we need to avoid the temptation for cynicism in our own struggle and our options for change. Nor should we be seduced to indifference and noninvolvement.

It may be instructive to watch how Burma navigates the terrain, sorting out their options and claiming for themselves their promised destiny. If only to be touched once again with what we imagined when we were in a similar moment of history.