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| Janna Imel |
By Janna Imel, Class of 2014
On February 14, 2013, I attended Priscilla Clapp's lecture on Burma. This lecture was particularly interesting to me since, as a McConnell Scholar, I met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi last fall. Clapp discussed the history of Burma, as well as her predictions for the future of Burma. She labeled Burma as the “gateway between South and East Asia.” It is a place of many different cultures and languages, boasting 135 different ethnicities.
Burma was a British colony for almost one hundred years and finally gained independence at the end of WWII. The country began with a Democratic Parliament government from 1948 to 1962. Around 1964, the head of the army staged a coup and overtook the government. At this point, the entire economy was nationalized and Indian and Chinese merchants were dispelled from Burma.
Clapp spoke of the 1988 rebellion and public protest. As a result of this, multiparty elections were promised to happen in the near future. To the surprise of everyone, the elections actually happened in 1990. The elections produced an overwhelming support for the NLD, but the military refused to seat the new Parliament.
Fast forwarding to 2010, Clapp spoke about how “people weren’t prepared that a real transition was on the way.” Elections had not been fair in the past, so no one expected a democratic government to result. The new president outlined radical political and economic reform that would include more civil and political freedoms. Since this reform had not been accomplished within the past fifty years, no one believed the President would follow through. Surprisingly, two months following the President’s promise, the President gathered civilian advisors and started to work on the reforms. The reform process has gone much faster than was expected.
Even though Burma is undergoing reform, Clapp made it clear that this is not a stable situation. She said the economy is still corrupt, the country is full of corrupt ex-military, and the vast majority of citizens live in poverty with about 18 families controlling all of the wealth. Yet, we must acknowledge the great progress Burma is making. Clapp spoke of how astounding the new political freedoms are in Burma. At the start of her time there, she remembered people being sent to jail for just mentioning Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She spoke of how people were not allowed to have conversations with foreigners without obtaining permission first. In today’s time, this is not the case. Citizens have more political freedom, tourism is booming, and we are starting to see more civil freedoms. With the new elections approaching in 2015 and the NLD being allowed in the election process, it will be interesting to see what happens next.
Janna Imel, from Greenup County, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. She is studying psychology and political science.