BURMA DIGEST

BURMA DIGEST

08.10.2006

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Same Old Story

_ by Ko Ko Thett

In the aftermath of spy chief General Khin Nyunt’s fall from grace in late 2004, there was a surge of optimism in the air. Khin Nyunt’s much-feared Military Intelligence was dismantled. Generalissimo Than Shwe did a thorough purge of Khin Nyunt’s associates and affiliates from the military as if he were trying to indicate that the age of Big Brother was over.

The optimism was heightened when the junta announced that they were releasing nearly 4,000 prisoners detained during Khin Nyunt’s era. The legendary student leader Min Ko Naing, who had been imprisoned since 1989, was released in November 2004. In the following months, the released student leader and his colleagues were seen active at social and political occasions. The group came to be known as ‘88 generation students,’ named after the 1988 nationwide uprising they had led as student leaders.

With opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi kept in incommunicado and with her party National League for Democracy repressed to the verge of incapacity, the voice of the 88 generation students, frequently heard on opposition media, proved to be much-needed dissent inside Burma.

Their voice has constantly questioned and undermined the legitimacy of the military regime. Their voice has also awed and inspired the depoliticized youth of Burma.

The toleration of their dissent by the military led some observers to conclude that post-Khin Nyunt era has been more liberal. Others explain that the junta does not deem 88 generation students a political force to reckon with.

Both these assumptions were proven wrong last Saturday. Min Ko Naing was arrested again. Most of his colleagues were also incarcerated in the following days. This recent development further diminished the hope for the democratization of Burma under the military dictatorship.

The re-arrest of 1988 student leaders indicates that the military has not loosened up its iron-fist rule in the twenty-first century. It also shows that the fearless 88 generation student leaders are a political force to reckon with, even though they do not form an opposition political party.

Above all, it shows that the junta is determined to realize a transition that will ensure its interest and that it will not hesitate to remove anyone who is standing in the way of its ‘roadmap to democracy.’

(Please sign the petition “We Want our Student Leaders Released Immediately”)

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