With the opening of the Dutch branch of The Best Friend
organization, the Netherlands takes its first steps toward creating awareness
of the Burmese struggle for democracy.
The
Netherlands is poised to play a new role in the ‘Saffron Revolution’ in Burma,
following the launch of the
Dutch
branch of The Best Friend, an international organization founded by Burmese
political exiles and devoted to spreading democracy in the South Asian country
officially known by the ruling military junta as Myanmar.
“We will
support the peaceful struggle of the Burmese monks and Burmese people in any
way we can,” insists Elke Kuijper, an Amnesty International staff member in
Amsterdam whose ambitions as the Dutch liaison for The Best Friend are
undeterred by her organization’s shoestring budget. “Right now we are still
establishing our exact goals and projects.”
In
September, that meant bringing to Amsterdam one of the leading figures of
Burma’s political opposition, a Buddhist monk who founded The Best Friend ten
years ago. The goal was to build the schools and libraries that could help
bring democracy to a country ruled since 1962 by a string of corrupt and brutal
generals.
“We are
not seeking power,” Ashin Kovida told an audience that gathered in Amsterdam’s
De Balie to learn more about the Burmese situation. “We seek peace and freedom
for our people.” Kovida, who fled his homeland in 2006 after his activities
attracted the attention of the government, emphasized in an interview that there
is much that Dutch people can do for Burma, where corruption, censorship, human
rights
abuses,
child labor, forced labor, sex slavery, and ethnic cleansing all on the rise.
“I don’t
want Burma to be isolationist,” says Kovida. “Tourists can open the eyes of the
Burmese people, and the Burmese people can open the eyes of tourists.” And as
the country struggles to find peace, its thousands of saffron-robed monks will
surely take a leading role.
A tiny
minority in a country of 56 million, they nonetheless wield considerable
political power. The monks are planning a mass protest in October if the
government fails to take public responsibility for the events of a government
crackdown in September 2007, in which demonstrations against an increase in fuel
prices
caused by
an end of state subsidies grew to include broader grievances against the
government and were brutally repressed.
Officials
claimed that 13 protesters died in that incident, but independent sources
estimated that hundreds were killed and as many as 6,000 were arrested, many of
whom were never seen again.
The
situation in Burma has deteriorated so markedly since then that in August
alone, more than 30,000 Burmese crossed the border into China, according to the
U.S. Campaign for Burma. They joined the more than 180,000 Burmese worldwide
who consider themselves political refugees, according to the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees.
The monks’
threat to stop accepting alms – a form of strike or boycott that would be
equivalent to a Buddhist excommunication of the ruling generals – would be a
major blow to the legitimacy of the junta, according to Kovida. “Traditionally
the kings were recognized by the monks, and if the monks turn over their bowls
the junta won’t feel recognized by the people.” The government has promised
that such a protest would be met by “severe action.”
Accompanying
such internal pressures on the regime should be increased international trade
repercussions, Kovida suggests. Several major international conglomerates,
including Texaco and American Tobacco, have pulled out of Burma, a development
that Kovida applauds. The United States and the European Community, with the
strong backing of the Netherlands, have imposed sanctions. India and China,
however, determined to maintain links with a country rich in resources like
gas, timber, and precious stones have yet to do so. “Sanctions are necessary, but
sanctions alone cannot achieve democracy in Burma,” says Kovida, who supports
the increased involvement of the United Nations, even if that means military
intervention.
But such a
step is unlikely, given that the UN Security Council has recently been unable
to achieve the consensus required to issue a statement urging the junta to take
steps toward democracy: “They call it the United Nations, but I call it the
Divided Nations,” says Kovida, who no longer counts on the organization to
convince the generals to step aside. Elections scheduled for 2010 would almost
certainly provide an opportunity for Burma’s dozens of squabbling ethnic groups
to rally around the National League for Democracy, which is led by Aung San Suu
Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been under house arrest for most of the
last two decades, and who saw her sentence extended after she received an
uninvited and unexpected American visitor in May. “At the moment, she is the
only one who can organize all of the ethnic groups,” Kovida insists. “They all
trust her, which is why the junta keeps her under house arrest.”
Elke
Kuijper, the Dutch organizer of The Best Friend, takes the long view. “In the
best-best-case scenario, in which Burma would transition into a democracy with
free elections, a lot will need to be done in the country for many years to
come.”
Coverage
By Jonathan Gill
Originally
published in the Holland Times
