Ground Report

 

 

European Union’s top aid official has completed his visit to Myanmar and was allowed to meet the peace icon Aung San Suu Kyi. The official stated that the Myanmar authorities encouraged more humanitarian access to more areas of Myanmar. This was stated by the Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva in Brussels. European Union donated more than 22 million Euros this year for humanitarian aid to Burma and also to refugees in Thailand.

 

 

This is really a good change from the Burmese government. Earlier, the Burmese government controlled by the military junta jailed Suu Kyi for many years. Recently it conducted elections and installed a puppet civil government in Yangon. After this, Suu Kyi herself was released from prison and allowed to freely move anywhere in Burma. She even met the President Thein Sein. The State-run television reported that both parties set aside their differences and discussed common interests and areas of potential cooperation for the benefit of the country and the people. Suu Kyi stated that she was happy and satisfied about the meeting. A day after this meeting, Suu Kyi was allowed to travel to Naypitaw, the new capital in the middle of the jungle, to attend a government sponsored workshop on economic development. There, she mingled freely with Ministers and other ruling party leaders.

 

 

There is a change visible on both sides. Suu Kyi, because of her age (she is 66) and also because of her spending two decades of her life in prison, has become tired. Age and time mellow feelings and emotions. She has become more matured now. She has realised that she could achieve nothing by opposing the military junta and the government. Now she wants to spend time for her family and friends. She does not want to land in prison again and spend years in isolation. So she is opting for reconciliation.

 

 

The military junta, on the other hand, thinks that by giving Suu Kyi a little bit of liberty outside the domain of politics, the stigma around it in the international community could be removed and more aid will be forthcoming. More aid means more cash and more cash means more bank balance for the military leaders. Thus the military wants to make money through Suu Kyi. As long as Suu Kyi does not talk about politics, it is prepared to give her freedom.

 

 

Members of the Myanmar’s army-dominated Parliament have called for a sweeping jail amnesty scheme through which about 2000 prisoners of conscience could be released. These 2000 members belong to Suu Kyi’s NLD party (National League for Democracy). The old era of military regime seems to have ended and the new era of civilian rule, with all its imperfections, has begun. But we should not forget the fact that this civilian government is not actually a civilian government, but a government imposed by the military junta. In fact the ‘civilian’ government contains only retired military officers.

 

 

Suu Kyi will roam about in Burma with freedom. She can spend time with her family and people. But if she again begins to talk politics or make inflammatory speech, the military junta will put her behind bars. This is the stark reality in Burma.