Burma- No amount of repression can drive them away

An astonishing election result in November gave cause for hope in a country which had seemed hopeless for so long. Our East Asia Team Leader, Benedict Rogers, explains what we can expect now for Burma’s future.

For anyone who has worked on Burma for any length of time, Aung San Suu Kyi’s overwhelming election victory is a cause for hope and celebration. A quarter of a century after winning a mandate in Burma’s last freely contested elections, her party – the National League for Democracy (NLD) – has shown that no amount of repression could drive it away. The military-backed government, and the current President, former general Thein Sein, appear to have heard the voice of the people, finally, and have pledged to honour the result. It would be very easy, on the surface, to think that our work in Burma was done and that all is well.

The reality is, however, that the military remain extremely powerful, and that the new government will have many serious obstacles to overcome.

Burma still faces rising religious intolerance, and while an NLD government will try to promote religious freedom, it will not be a simple task. “Hatred is not going to be removed easily,” Aung San Suu Kyi recently told the BBC.

A controversial package of laws, including restrictions on religious conversion and inter-faith marriage, was driven through parliament earlier this year. The NLD opposed them at the time, but the question now is how high a priority it will be for the new government to amend or repeal them.

Until the elections, Aung San Suu Kyi stayed relatively silent on these issues, conscious of the need to avoid angering Buddhists whose votes she needed. Yet in her first BBC interview just days after the election, she spoke out, saying that people in Burma “do not want to live on a diet of hate and fear”, that those preaching hatred would be prosecuted, and that an NLD government would protect the rights of all people.

While the election results give cause for hope, after 25 years of struggle, no one should conclude that our work is done or our prayers are no longer needed. Burma will continue to face serious human rights challenges, and will need the support of organisations like CSW – through our advocacy, and, crucially, through the faithful prayers of our supporters – for some time to come.

Yet we live and work in the knowledge that we serve a God of miracles. Thank you so much for your support. Please keep praying!