College Public Policy

Posted by Yaron Schwartz on 20 June 2012

I was fortunate yesterday to hear from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the Burmese opposition, Chairman of the National League for Democracy and Nobel peace prize winner. Daw Suu Kyi spoke about “The Rule of Law” at the London School of Economics, along with a number of academics and Burmese activists. It was with great admiration and respect that I listened to Daw Suu Kyi’s speech, a sentiment shared by the audience who gave her multiple standing ovations.

I was impressed by Daw Suu Kyi’s focus on reconciliation and long term nation building in Burma. She argued forcefully that establishing rule of law is necessary for Burma to become a civilian democracy because rule of law is an essential component of a country’s ability to implement transitional justice, human rights protection and constitutional reform.

This long term perspective has led Daw Suu Kyi to adopt an optimistic understanding of Burma’s political situation. She believes that cooperation with the ruling military regime is possible and is hopeful about the prospects of political reform in her country.  The other panellists agreed with this sentiment as they discussed various aspects of Burma’s future, ranging from refugees to ethnic conflict.

The most interesting aspect of the event was Daw Suu Kyi’s response to a question from a Burmese student in which she articulated her long term vision for civilian democracy in Burma. The student challenged Daw Suu Kyi on why she has not condemned the Burmese military’s human rights violations of a specific ethnic group to which he is affiliated.  Passionately responding to this question, she first condemned all violence by the Burmese military and claimed that independent investigators needed to conduct additional monitoring of this situation before an assessment about this specific case could be made. More importantly, she ended her response by arguing that resolving conflicts in Burma should not be about condemnation, but rather should be about finding the root of the tension and figuring out how to work with all parties involved to resolve the complex situation.

Post-apartheid South Africa was cited as model for Burma by a number of the other panellists. With this reconciliatory approach to Burma’s political future, Daw Suu Kyi is positioning herself as the next Nelson Mandela. Daw Suu Kyi, like Mandela, serves as a leader who has galvanized both domestic and international groups to support a peaceful transition to democracy in a difficult environment. Hopefully Daw Suu Kyi will be able to overcome the many significant challenges to Burma’s democratic development, much of which was not discussed yesterday, to accomplish her long term vision for Burma’s future.

Daw Suu Kyi’s lecture at the LSE is available here: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/publicLecturesAndEvents/player.aspx?id=1516

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