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Myanmar’s Silent Revolution
Real estate news By Sonu Trivedi
Tuesday 16 October 2007
The Burmese social and political structure, based on paternalistic authority, is inconsistent with democracy’s reliance on equality of opportunity, freedom of speech and assembly, and representative institutions. With its emphasis on hierarchy and status, the Burmese political culture is not conducive to democracy. For almost all of its history, Burma has been ruled by autocratic monarchs and military leaders. Burma’s only experience with democracy was a short period under the 1947 Constitution after independence when U Nu supported representative institutions, free elections and civil liberties. The ineffectiveness of U Nu’s rule was used as a rationalisation for the government takeover by the military in both 1958 and 1962. Since that time, democratic institutions and behaviour, said to be “foreign to the traditions” of the Burmese and a rejected legacy of the Western imperialism, have been suppressed.
The authoritarian nature of the traditional Burmese state was based on highly personalised concepts of power and central authority. These stem back to the system of semi-divine rule which has sustained it. Although the colonial period effectively destroyed this monarchical tradition in Myanmar, the centralising processes of the late Burman monarchy were carried on under the British (1826-1948). This was evident in the imposition of modern system of communication, law and order and rational government.
In this context, the imposition of an authoritarian regime by a military elite dominated by one man, General Ne Win, exemplifies a rule pattern not unlike those of the the monarchical days. Perhaps Ne Win is not entirely to be blamed for the military coup nor the resultant political system. In fact the military coup may be conceived of as the culmination of a political process. The government was entirely dominated by the political cliques and their power-mad leaders engaged mostly in factional fights and it was tempting for a well-organised institution such as the military to intervene and impose its authoritarian rule.
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