DAVID ADAMS reports…
Ongoing human rights violations against religious and ethnic minorities and the disenfranchisement of a significant proportion of the population remain key issues ahead of the first openly contested democratic elections in 25 years in Myanmar this Sunday, according to human rights groups.
In a statement released this week, UK-based religious freedom advocacy Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) described the election process in the country – also known as Burma – as “inherently flawed” thanks to constitutional clauses which bar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency, guarantee the military a quarter of all parliamentary seats and give the military control over the appointment of ministers of some key departments such as home affairs and border affairs.
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TIME FOR CHANGE?: Central Yangon, the capital of Myanmar (Burma). PICTURE: Jason /Sky89 at en.wikipedia |
Other concerns surround the fact that an estimated one-fifth of the population – including the Rohingya Muslim people and displaced people in ethnic areas – have been deliberately disenfranchised while most Muslim candidates have been disqualified.
Ms Suu Kyi told reporters this week in the capital of Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) that she would run a multi-party government of “national reconciliation” should her party, the National League for Democracy, win the election. Given she cannot be president as a result of constitutional bars, Ms Suu Kyi said that should the NLD form a government, “I will be above the president. It’s a very simple message.”
Meanwhile, a petition calling for a “free and fair” election in Myanmar has attracted signatories from prominent political figures around the world including Jose Ramos-Horta, former President of Timor-Leste, Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway and John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons in the UK.
Thousands of observers – both local and international – were monitoring the elections.
Andy Dipper, CSW’s chief operating officer, said Sunday’s election represented a “truly historic opportunity for the people of Burma” but added that it was an “inherently flawed process in a flawed constitutional framework”.
“The international community must not overlook the continuing and very serious human rights violations in Burma, including allegations made recently by legal experts of possible genocide against the Rohingyas,” he said.
“These violations should be investigated by a United Nations inquiry and the truth established, so that whoever forms the next government of Burma can then work with the international community to address these concerns.”
Earlier this week, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, criticised the mix of “religion and politics” being seen in Myanmar in recent months which has linked Buddhism with nationalism.
“The attitude that Myanmar must have one race and one religion, such as Bamar and Buddhist, is not acceptable,” he told UCAnews.
He said it was time for change in Myanmar.
“It’s time to let a new system run the country, so I vehemently urge people to embrace the opportunity to vote for worthy candidates as a sacred duty,” he said. “It’s time to end old attitudes, old elites, and the old system that had existed for five decades.”
Meanwhile, CSW this week outlined ongoing concerns over religious freedom in Myanmar in a submission to the UN this week, alleging the state had played an active role in advancing religious discrimination and stating its “grave” concerns over the use of existing laws to prosecute people for insulting religion.
It has called for the Government of Myanmar to remove all legal and bureaucratic restrictions affecting religious freedom be removed, that an invitation be issued to the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief to visit the country and that all those imprisoned for “insulting” Buddhism be released.
