THE landslide victory of Myanmar’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) in Parliamentary Election on Sunday led by democracy leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is not only going to restore democracy in the country after 25 years of military rule, it is seen here as a big inspiration to people in many other countries of the region fighting for restoration of democracy in their land. We congratulate Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Myanmar for their victory after long struggle and suffering from untold torture, repression and bloodshed. Suu Kyi herself lived in house arrest in most of the time following 1990 election when the NLD had also won landslide victory but the junta refused to accept the results.
What is a difference this time is that the military leaders and the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is the political front of the military have already made clear that they would respect the election results. Myanmar President Thein Sein has congratulated Aung San Suu Kyi for the opposition’s victory thus assuring the people of his country and outside world that the military is ready to allow the country’s transition to democratic rule.
We believe that his public statement will remove many fears and suspicions about the fate of the opposition’s victory. But one can’t also rule out many risks and room for misgivings as the new government is set to be formed at least after five months from now and this is enough time when many things may go wrong.
Although the 25 percent reserve seat to military in Parliament may not be a problem now, the constitutional limitations for Suu Kyi to become president, her ambition to control the presidency and army’s control over appointments to several key cabinet posts may be enough to overshadow a smooth transition. We hope the new Myanmar leadership will take cautious steps to give democracy a fair chance to work.
The military ruled Myanmar from 1962 and USDP in recent years ruled the country giving priority to development over democracy. But neither they could give the country solidarity nor development when many ethnic minorities broke out in rebellions and pro-democracy movement suffered the worst. President Thein Sein then made the far-reaching move in 2011 towards political reforms. But his exclusion of the Rohingya Muslims from citizenship and their right to vote left this election tainted with gross injustice.
Myanmar as our close neighbour is holding the key to developing the connectivity towards the East. But suspicion and misgivings have so far made meaningful cooperation impossible. We believe that any democratic government in Myanmar will give Bangladesh the opportunity to develop official and people to people relation to work together to achieve faster growth in this region.
The world, knows very little about her policy options. The semi-military government deserves full credit for allowing free and fair election. President Thein Sein has promised peaceful transfer of power. Now, Suu Kyi has to show her political deftness in offering the people democratic good governance and justice. Her honesty and commitment to democracy give us hope that she will succeed where the military junta has failed i.e. to work with the people for the good of the people.
