Teaching Conflict Resolution to Dictators

Teaching Conflict Resolution to Dictators.

Recently, I was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and attending the annual conference of the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). I had a great opportunity to meet with over one hundred American student representatives from over sixty universities and colleges. The USAS leadership invited the Free Burma Coalition to their conference to explain the situation in Burma. On behalf of the FBC, I joined the conference, made a presentation on the current political situation in Burma, and clearly told the American students how we want them to help us. This is a part of the duties of the FBC as well as myself. We are here to expose to the world about the suffering of the people of Burma under the most brutal military regime. We are here to urge the international community to apply pressure against the Burmese military regime to stop human rights abuses against its own people. That’s why we are here in the U.S.

Burma has been under the military dictatorship for more than 40 years since 1962. And Burma is under the current military regime for more than 14 years since 1988. Once, one of the richest countries in Asia and its 52 million people are suffering poverty, unfairness, rapes, tortures, imprisonment, forced labor, child labor, forced relocation, and all kinds of human rights abuses by the military.

14 years ago, we have initiated the nationwide mass uprising in Burma demanding democracy and human rights. Millions of people participated in peaceful demonstrations across the country. But our non-violent movement was ended in bloody massacres. The military killed thousands of innocent people on the streets. Country’s 38 prisons were filled with the people who were arrested by the military intelligence during the brutal crackdown. Thousands of people fled to the border areas and became refugees in neighboring countries. On September 18, 1988, the current military regime was created as the “ State Law and Order Restoration Council” to replace the dying dictatorship.

Two years later, the military held the multi-party general election on May 27, 1990 under the martial law. They believed that their political party “ National Unity Party”, which was formed by former military commanders, will surely win in the elections, while they were detaining democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other prominent leaders of the democratic movement. To their surprise, the National League for Democracy, which was formed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi before she was arrested, won landslide victory with 82% of the parliamentary seats. The military quickly refused to honor the election results and arrested elected Members of Parliament and put them behind bars. People’s expectation to enjoy democracy and human rights under the elected government was destroyed again. But people never give up. The struggle continues. There is a conflict in Burma between the military and unarmed people, between the human rights abusers and the abused, between the oppressors and the oppressed. People want democracy, human rights and human dignity.

Since the people of Burma are using non-violent means to settle this conflict, the military is using violent methods to settle the conflict in their own way. The conflict resolution theory of the military regime is very simple but dangerous and costing the many innocent lives, destroying and eliminating the opponents by using their army, the military intelligence mechanism and prisons combined with unfair laws and orders. As long as we are adopting different methods of conflict resolution, we won’t be able to solve the conflict. The most important thing is that we, both sides need to accept the same conflict resolution theory to solve the problems. The very most important thing is that the military needs to accept the non-violent conflict resolution theory as we do.

When will the military accept the non-violence resolution to settle the conflict and to restore the national reconciliation? Who will urge them to settle the conflict peacefully? What kind of situation will force them to agree with the people of Burma in democracy, human rights and human dignity? I think the answers to these questions lie on the people around the world who would like to see the people of Burma free from all sufferings.

The international community has a right to reject the Burmese military regime as a legal government. They should have endorsed the legitimacy of the National League for Democracy, which has the mandate of the people to govern the country legally. They should have urged the military regime to settle the conflict non-violently. They should have applied the political and economic pressure against the military regime to come over to the dialogue table to negotiate with the opposition for the sake of the people and country. They should have cut the earning of the regime, which is helping the expansion of their military forces. They should have let the regime understand that there is no place for the dictators and dictatorships in the world.

Generally, it will be difficult to get the strong support from the people of the world for the people from the other side of the world. But, the world has changed dramatically. The Internet technology created the world as a global village. We, the Free Burma Coalition, which was formed by the Burmese students in exile and American students in 1995, take an advantage of the Internet technology to promote the awareness of human rights abuses in Burma. We are able to reach to the every part of the world using the Internet technology. We are able explain our struggle to the concerned citizens around the world and get their strong and consistent support. With the support of the grass root people, human rights activists and students, we are able to urge the international governments and the United Nations to apply the political and economic pressure against the Burmese military regime to push for the peaceful solution and national reconciliation.

We need to educate the Burmese military regime to accept the non-violent theories and methods in conflict resolution and its management for lasting peace and endured national reconciliation. That’s what we are doing now.

Aung Din
August 22, 2002.