Burma’s protracted problems are not totally due the fight for democratization. They are also due in part to constitutional crisis, because the recent 2008 Constitution sparked conflicts between Burma’s central government – currently the SPDC, and perhaps after the upcoming elections, the USDP – and the country’s ethnic oppositions groups, as well as conflicts between the military government and pro-democracy opposition groups.
Let us look back at all Burma’s constitutions: the first, which was drawn in 1947, a pre-independence constitution; a second in 1974, a socialist regime constitution; and finally a third in 2008 by the SPDC, as a way legalize the Burmese Army’s position in power. The track of political development in Burma runs backwards. 1948 Constitution guaranteed the federalism demanded by the frontier ethnic minority groups with full fundamental democratic freedoms. The advent military rule in 1962, and the 1974 Socialist Constitution totally denied Burmese citizens fundamental freedoms practiced between 1948 and 1961.
From 1961 to 1974, Burma was under the military rule of General Ne Win and Burmese army commanders; this group enjoyed political power for over a decade, and then legalized their political power by drawing up a ‘Socialist Constitution’ in 1974. Similarly, they called a sham ‘Peoples Referendum’, and the constitution was supposedly approved by 99% of people in Burma. Then, they founded the Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), which ruled with this constitution until the 1988 pro-democracy uprising.
The Burmese Army seized the political power under another name in 1988, and ruled the country without any constitution from 1988 until 2008. In 2008, the Burmese Army drew another constitution, and approved the constitution by another referendum. They will legalize themselves in the upcoming 2010 elections.
Both democratic opposition groups and ethnic nationalities have rejected this latest constitution, because it cannot solve Burma’s prolonged political problems. At any rate, the SPDC’s regime will hold elections in 2010, and is moving forward towards maintaining power after the elections, amid international pressure to release political prisoners, and make changes in the constitution.
There will be another crisis after the upcoming elections because of the 2008 Constitution. This constitution pressured some ethnic armed opposition groups into laying down their arms and transforming themselves into militia forces or Border Guard Forces. Some political parties who ran in the 1990 elections are barred from participating this year by electoral laws. After the elections, the pro-democracy and ethnic armed resistance groups will persist in struggling with the Burmese government, because so far, this latest constitution has not solved Burma’s problems.
