Resurgence of Buddhist extremism in Myanmar worrying: Activist

EMN DIMAPUR, October 29 “The rise of ‘ethno-Buddhist nationalism’ is highly worrying in Myanmar. The country is losing its way. To Buddhist extremists, Sri Lanka seems to be the model to follow”, says Dr. Khin Zaw Win, Director, Tampadipa Institute and former political prisoner. He said this while taking part in a discussion on “Electionsin Myanmar and Future Directions” organized by the Institute of Social Sciences,Burma Centre Delhi and Heinrich Boll Foundation, in Delhi on October 28. He further said that Myanmar today is witnessing the rise of “many nationalisms but no nation yet.” While Parliament is today more democratic, other institutions including the judiciary are very weak. However, he expressed his happiness about the democratic process in Myanmar not being a state-led process. It is the civil society which has been at the forefront and the media and political parties have lent their hand. Speaking on this occasion, U Ko Ni, eminent lawyer and NLD member expressed the view that while he expects the forthcoming general elections to be “free but not fair.” How can elections be fair when the army has reserved 25 per cent of seats for itself? He expressed strong reservations about the government-appointed Union Election Council holding fair elections. Besides,the existing election laws too don’t inspiremuch confidence. U Ko Ni further said that if the NLD wins, it will have to contemplate changing the constitution since it will be nearly impossible to amend the present one. Addressing the seminar Rajiv Bhatia, former ambassador to Myanmar, referred to several achievements in Myanmar since the reforms were initiated by president Thein Sein, such as the decline of general fear, rise of freedom, emergence of a robust parliament, pro-active political parties, release of political prisoners and cease-fire agreements. However he also pointed out the manyproblems on road to democracy. Besides the Rohingya issue, there is fear of religious extremism.Will reform be accelerated or will it slow down. Who becomes the next president is equally very important. Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Editor of The Hindu, gave a flavor of the campaign and highlighted the visible change in the country. These included economic change, opening of the telecom sectorand convertibility of foreign currency. She further added that the acceptance of international presence and a one month long visa for journalists are major milestones. Ms Haidar felt many of these reforms will be hard to roll back. Welcoming the participants, Ash Narain Roy, Director of ISS, said that a variety of possible electoral outcomes will have different potential implications for Myanmar and its neighbours. But as he said, beyond the party battles also lie deeper concerns surrounding the elections including the disenfranchisement of sections of people. Professor G V C Naidu and Shankari Sundaraman from JNU, Dr Namrata Goswami from Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, Prof Baladas Ghoshal from Society for Indian Ocean Studies and Sanjay Pulipaka from ICRIER also addressed the seminar.