An Open Letter to Myanmar’s Leaders

Senior General (rtd.) Than Shwe
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
President Thein Sein
Commander-in-Chief SG Min Aung Hlaing

7 December 2015

Mingalaba (Greetings!)

As a Burmese I am heartened to hear the news of the four leaders working diligently to end half a century of authoritarian rule and usher in a democratic transition.

Both the public at home and the international media can be heard applauding your admirable efforts to prevent what could have been the latest in Burma’s bloody political tradition of the changing of the guard, whereby the usurper ‘ate’ the sitting one’s ‘head’ – as we say in Burmese. Like many Burmese I very much welcome the prospect of the Old Guard transferring power to the National League for Democracy (NLD) which unmistakably enjoys a broad mandate from the national electorate.

It is against this auspicious backdrop that I call to your attention the two major issues that concern our nation of multi-ethnic and multi-faith communities; first, the long-running civil war against non-Bamar or Myanmar peoples, and second, the slow genocide of the Rohingya.

This is in accord with the right of a citizen to express his or her concern and in keeping with our Burmese customs of speaking out on matters that warrant public discussion, however unpopular or unpalatable the subject may be.

First, my brief background.

In the last 27 years, I had supported, alternately, both the democratic opposition led by the NLD and the ruling State Peace and Development Council. I was very actively involved in making the NLD’s call for western sanctions and consumer boycott of Myanmar’s military government and all its western business associates and partners until 2004. When I was able to snap out of my initial naivety about the ‘pro-democracy’ policies and the motives of Western governments I broke ranks with the NLD-led opposition and openly advocated for the reconciliation and good-faith cooperation with the authoritarian rulers. I did so while having anticipated fully the extremely negative repercussions emanating out of my criticism of the sanctions orthodoxy – which I myself supported – held rigidly by the NLD and its supporters, both at home and worldwide. (Courtesy of Transcend Media Service)