In February, Amnesty International launched a comprehensive report on the repression of ethnic minorities in Burma.

As an account of systematic human rights violations over many years, it makes bleak reading, but it also stands as a record of the breadth of political resistance countrywide.

Researchers discovered an enduring optimism at the grassroots level and an active and powerful community of civilian activists struggling against the military leadership.

With the first elections in more than 20 years planned for this year, the Burmese Government has shown new resolve in repressing political dissent in all of the country’s seven ethnic minority states and among its ethnic minority peoples, with widespread arbitrary arrests, detention and torture.

Amnesty International is concerned that as the election draws closer the repression of political opposition will escalate.

Monks stand up

Ethnic minorities in Burma

  • The Burma government recognises 135 ethnic groups, though its definition of ethnic groups is difficult to understand.
  • Ethnic minorities make up approximately 30 per cent of the country's 56 million people
  • According to the Irrawaddy magazine, of the 16 newly-formed parties that have applied for registration at this years election, seven are ethnic minority-based parties

One of the most spontaneous expressions of activism by ethnic minorities was the monks’ ‘saffron revolution’ in 2007.

The revolution (which takes its name from the shade of the robes worn by Burma’s revered monks) evolved amid increasing economic hardship and frustration with the government’s continued political repression. It was supported by monks and lay people, and significantly, started in an ethnic minority state but spread to other areas of the country.

In the first major demonstration by monks anywhere in Burma since 1990, 300 Rakhine monks took to the streets of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, on 28 August 2007. Their action proved the catalyst for thousands of people. Momentum grew over the next month, culminating in a violent crackdown by the military in late September and October.

Activists and ordinary citizens inspired by the monks joined their peaceful resistance and also were brutally penalised. In Kyauktaw township, for example, two people were arrested for giving water to protesting monks.

Fresh repression

In early 2009, the government announced it had drafted a constitution and would hold a national referendum on the document. To stifle opposition, a new law prohibiting "lecturing, distributing papers, using posters or disturbing voting in any other manner ... at a public or private place to destroy the referendum" was introduced.

Almost immediately political opponents and activists began campaigning against the constitution, urging people to either vote "No" in the referendum or boycott it, citing the government’s violent repression during the saffron revolution.

Government reaction

"Both the police and the Union Solidarity Development Association beat protesters, while the fire brigade washed away the blood. I saw many people injured, but managed to get away without harm."

Former monk Thu Mana describes to Amnesty International what happened when a group met to protest their detention.

The Government reaction to opposition to the constitution was swift and harsh.

A young Karenni woman, from Loikaw, told Amnesty International how she and four of her friends in the Kayan New Generation Youth (KNGY) group were arrested for their peaceful anti-referendum activism on 10 May. They were interrogated for 15 days; she was eventually released but her three companions, aged 24 and 25, were jailed for more than 35 years.

Today there are at least 2,100 political prisoners in Burma. Even if they were to be released, Burma’s new election laws bar them from contesting the election or even casting a vote.

Public support

It is difficult to gauge the level of public support for the poll, predicted to take place in October.

In the two decades since the last, futile, elections were held, Burma’s ethnic minorities have endured persecution, repression and imprisonment solely on the basis of their peaceful political activity, ethnicity and religion.

And despite the government’s repeated claims since 2004 that it was embarking on a ‘road map to democracy’ and promising more inclusive political participation, there is nothing to suggest that this year’s polls will be anywhere near as free or inclusive as the elections in 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy

"Most of the existing parties have not registered because they cannot accept the 2008 Constitution. The election will go ahead, I’m sure, but I don’t think it will be free, fair and inclusive."

Aye Thar Aung, the secretary of the Arakan League for Democracy, talking to the Irrawaddy magazine.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) came to prominence in Burma in 1988 in response to the massacre of at least 3,000 peaceful protestors. Two years later in May 1990, the party’s charismatic young leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to victory in the People’s Assembly elections, capturing more than 60 per cent of the vote.

The authorities responded by ignoring the results and arresting scores of opposition leaders and parliamentarians, including Aung San Suu Kyi, who has remained in detention for more than 15 of the last 21 years.

While the military government sees this year’s polls as an opportunity to strengthen its claim to legitimacy and finally strike the NLD’s 1990 victory from the ledger, without the inclusion of Aung San Suu Kyi and the scores of other opposition leaders who remain in prison, it is difficult to see how the government can achieve this affirmation.

In late March, the NLD’s leadership announced it would boycott the elections, and that they will continue their non-violent resistance from the sidelines. A number of existing parties, some of which are aligned with the NLD, have also chosen not to register.

Katie Hamann is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to the Human Rights Defender.

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