Revolution for Reconciliation?

Dear Friends -

After the sensationalized demands of 'wiping out the military system
of governance' and declaring the military to be Public Enemy Number
one, it is heartening to hear the modified - and hopefully realizable
goals of an official apology for the initial mistreatment of the
Buddhist Order or Sangha, political dialogue (between the generals and
the NLD), release of political prisoners, economic reforms and
national reconciliation.

By all indications neither the generals nor the protesters want or are
playing a Zero-sum game, which would be tragic.  8888 uprisings didn't
usher in a new era of openness, democratization and prosperity.  It
succeeded in helping push for the collapse of the top leadership and
the one-party system.  But it failed to rock the foundation of a
militarized state and bureaucracy.

Even if the tipping point came and the regime's leadership collapses
the State in Burma, which at this point in history is coterminous with
Bureaucracy and Military, is likely to remain firmly in place.
Whatever the explanation there simply isn't an alternative structure
to shoulder the responsibility of running a country.

An ideal scenario is the monks' protests continue on peacefully for
the next several days - perhaps maximum one week.  The protestors
stick with manageable and still worthy demands of an apology, dialogue
and inclusive political process, economic reforms and national
reconciliation.  The generals show broad-mindedness, patience, genuine
patriotism and respectful treatment of monks and civilian leaders - by
giving an official apology and start a dialogue process immediately
and signal desire for working together with civilian politicians to
de-escalate the conflict in a way that is honorable to all parties
concerned.

The  three most important developments are:  1) the generals' refusal
to use violence to quell the demonstrations so far; 2) the protestors'
careful avoidance of challenging the generals personally or
institutionally; and 3). the generals' decision to permit the monks to
have the brief encounter with Daw Aung SAn Suu Kyi.

I am attaching a picture of Daw Suu standing outside her gate, behind
the protection of the riot police, and in the presence of what
appeared to be cheering monks.

This is not the time for all of us who want change in our country to
allow ourselves to be carried away by the excitement of the moment -
but rather to avoid another tragedy on the scale of 8888.

The last thing the Western powers and outsiders - exiles or otherwise
- should think of doing is to encourage Zero-sum thinking and
behaviour and to give false hopes that the West is on their side, and
will come to their rescue.   Washington did that with the Hungarians
in 1956 and more recently with the Kurds under Saddam Hussein.

One thing is sure - the strength of the sentiment and moral support -
if unseen - amongst the public for monks' daring actions indicates
that the Myanma/Burmese society has been re-politicized. Nothing short
of a genuinely inclusive political process is going to resolve our
country's long-standing political problems.  Rebuilding an economy
that has been ailing - aside from sales of natural resources - has to
be one of the top two policy policies.  It's not just the junta that
is responsible for the failings of the economy - although the lion
share has to be placed on the junta's shoulders - but the opposition
with its insistence on prolonged and detrimental sanctions and
political isolation and media campaigns must bear responsibility for
making bad things worse.

This is the time for reconciliation, cooler heads, dialogue and
working together amongst all Burmese, soldiers and civilians.

Every crisis is paradoxically an opportunity.  We the Burmese (of all
ethnic stripes) should strive to turn crisis into an opportunity for
cooperation, reconciliation and forgiveness.

Best,

Zarni
Free Burma Coalition
+44 79 63 66 84 61