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Can we elect the ex-military men to rule us again?

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By: Min Ko Mon, Moulmein Cit, Mon State : Burma is to hold a new election yet again in 2010. This election is about the military’s po power to rule Burma under the 2008 constitution. The new constitution was approved without public debate or consent in 2008. Can we elect the ex-military back into power to rule us again in the 21st century?

The 17 individuals appointed as members of the Electoral Commission has no true authority to impose regulations on the upcoming election’s process, but instead they will have to obey any orders from the Senior General Than Shwe. Our national democratic leader, Daw Suu kyi is barred from voting, contesting laws, or running for office. Her party must expel her if the party wishes to run in this election. This is an assault on the principles of democracy. The world leaders condemned these strict rules, and the laws that ban former political prisoners from running in the upcoming election.

We have been waiting for change and dialogue between the Burmese military leaders, the leaders from the National League for Democracy, and ethnic minority leaders’ representatives to achieve political settlement for over twenty years. We have been assaulted once again by these election laws, and worse is to come. Our young people and students have been calling for a peaceful transition to democracy, and urged the cessation of civil wars for over two decades. We support a federal system, not the unitary system of modern Burma. We are against separation, but instead we support a federal union with equal representation and power for all states and ethnicities.

This election is the worse model of democracy in Southeast Asia. One man, Senior General Than Shwe, and his military men, preside above Burma’s laws and its constitution. They, the military men, control 25% of Burma’s parliamentary seats and control all government departments and ministries, powers affirmed by the new 2008 constitution. The new constitution and the 2010 electoral laws ignore the fundamental rights of citizens regarding civil and political rights. We will be campaigning for a new boycott to the election. We cannot allow military men to run the country with guns, unless they change the electoral laws and allow all former and present political leaders from all ethnicities, to form lawful parties that are safeguarded under the new constitution.

Burma is not solely by one ethnicity. It is a multi-ethnic nation. The ethnic Burman majority cannot oppress the minorities in the 21st century, under the principles of human rights and democracy. We, the members of Burma’s ethnic minorities, are not fighting for lands and the boundaries alone, but we are also fighting for the survival of our languages, cultures and identities. We respect the rights of others, while we uphold our own rights to live and rule our own people under the union of Burma. We do not advocate war, but peace. We will compromise for equality, but are against inequality.

We value our land and our cultural heritage in Mon State. We coexist with other ethnicities, even Chinese and Indian minorities, in Mon State as part of our traditional culture. Our culture accepts human beings as common creatures, who should live equally as partners.

We ask the world’s leaders to treat our domestic affairs as global affairs. We cannot vote for the ex-military men, who will oppress us, and rule us with guns for another century.

We will support and vote for the best candidate to be Burma’s leader, such as Daw Suu Syi or other leaders, who will represent us and protect us from the military rulers’ oppression. Such candidates are our true leaders, and they deserve to be the heads of the Burmese nation or individual states. It is our mentality that we are against this unlawful election and the voting booths. We will be working with other local, national and international groups to enact change in Burma.

Indeed, we have no guns, but we have commitment and unity. We have the desire to change our nation. The ex-military men and the nationalist Burmese elites can shoot us; they cannot destroy our spirit.

We will win if we are united, and we will fail if we are not. This is our message to all supporters for democracy: no pain, no gain.

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