India must aid Burma march to democracy

Burma’s iconic democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and until two years back the world’s most famous political prisoner, wins hearts wherever she goes.

She did that in New Delhi as well this week when she delivered the oration for the award for international understanding instituted in the name of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, which was conferred on her in 1992 when she was under house arrest, and had not been able to receive in person.
In impromptu remarks at the end of her lecture on Nehru’s birth anniversary on Wednesday, Ms Suu Kyi showed her hurt when she said India had withdrawn itself from the struggle against military rule in her country that she led with indomitable courage. In a subsequent observation she noted that were Mahatma Gandhi alive today, he would have been vocal about his opposition to Burma’s military dictatorship. Looked at in absolute terms, the Burmese leader is, of course, absolutely right.
India faced a great moral dilemma in the 1990s when it changed its policy and proceeded to engage the generals in power in Rangoon even as the West imposed comprehensive sanctions against the junta. We may only hope that in time to come, especially when Ms Suu Kyi comes to hold the reins of government after a truly free election places her party in power, Burma’s democracy star will come to appreciate New Delhi’s concerns. We may also hope the Burmese people recognise that India conferred its most famous international award on Ms Suu Kyi even as it engaged the generals in order that Burma under military rule does not entirely go under the Chinese sphere of influence.
With Ms Suu Kyi’s release from 15 years of detention in 2010, the severity of military rule has been relaxed. The democracy leader herself thought the time ripe enough to contest a parliamentary byelection last year and duly engage the military rulers, rather than stick to the course of confrontation. But the structure of the Burmese state remains unchanged, and it is still far from being a democracy. That transition is still to be completed.
Ms Suu Kyi’s political engagement with President Thein Sein has a positive quality about it. This was noted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his meeting with her on Wednesday. But the Burmese people and neighbours like India must be on guard against any reversal. Recognising that Ms Suu Kyi had begun to engage the Burmese government, India has extended a $500 million credit line to Naypyidaw (the new Burmese capital). We hope this, and the loosening of Western sanctions, will aid the process of Burma’s advance towards full democracy in the not too distant future.