Break Up Burma? – Executive Summary

By Roland Watson / Dictator Watch | January 9, 2018

The premise of the article is as follows: The people of Burma have suffered terribly under fifty-five years of military dictatorship, but there has always been hope that this might change, that the generals could be removed and with a peaceful, federal democracy established in their place. However, the genocide of the Rohingya, together with the regime’s cultivation of the conditions by which it was perpetrated, has so changed the national environment that not only is federal democracy now a fantasy, it is legitimate to ask if the country should even survive.

Burma is a failed state. Other than the short period from 1947 to 1962, it has always been ruled by foreign conquerors. These extend from the historical Burman empires, which invaded the ethnic nationality homelands and also Thailand, to the British, and then to the modern Burman dictators. If a nation implies not only a suitable territory, but also the self-identification, and consent free of coercion, of the territory’s residents, then Burma is no such thing.

The current “democracy” is false, as the regime maintains absolute power; there is no rule of law; and there is no letup in the savage repression of the public.

The military rulers are all Burmans. Their behavior is driven by a racist pathology whereby they deem their group to be superior and all the others to be subordinate and inferior. This is manifested in the disproportionate targeting of their abuse, which has frequently risen to the level of both genocidal intent and commission, on Burma’s other ethnic nationalities.

The country’s supposed savior, Aung San Suu Kyi, also a Burman, now wholeheartedly supports the dictatorship’s reign of terror against the ethnic groups. She not only covers-up its crimes, for the Rohingya she contributed materially to the creation of the genocidal intent. Regarding her Burma Army friends, she is akin to the monkeys who see, hear and speak no evil.

She is further head of the “nationwide peace process,” although this is fraudulent as its only goal is to get the ethnic groups to surrender.

While the leaders of a couple of the ethnic armies have succumbed to personal temptation and joined her charade, most have deferred and a significant grouping, the Northern Alliance Burma, and which includes the strongest forces, has demanded a completely different approach. Enraged by this, the Burma Army has attacked the NAB and the Civil War is now escalating.

Also for Suu Kyi, she is a lame duck – an elderly lame duck. Not only does she have no real power (other than her voice, which she refuses to use), she will soon exit the political scene. The dictatorship has launched a major campaign of hate against the Rohingya and the other ethnic nationalities, to reinforce its long-standing propaganda that it is the national savior. The regime is positioning for the 2020 election, and it will likely claim many more seats if not a majority. The NLD in turn could easily fade away, along with Suu Kyi, since she has blocked the development of a new generation of strong, young leaders.

Finally, the international community has just stood on the sidelines and watched. Its inaction constitutes complicity in the dictatorship’s ongoing six decades of crimes against humanity, and apparently in exchange only for financial opportunities to exploit. To call it a complete sell-out, of the supposed humanitarian principles of the international order, is an understatement.

In summary, all the rulers of Burma, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are Burman ultranationalists. They are exactly in the Nazi mold. They despise all the other ethnic groups and are dedicated to eliminating their identities, exploiting both them and their homelands, and even exterminating them when it serves their purposes. There is no prospect at all that this will change. The international community in turn has refused to take a stand. If anything, it has openly joined the Burman conspiracy.

The Rohingya genocide is a wake-up call to all the ethnic nationalities. After them, they will come for you. (They already have.) What choice do you have? Stay and submit, or fight and make your own way? One promises eternal subjugation, but the other the long-held dream of peace and freedom.

This isn’t unprecedented. It occurred with Yugoslavia, and Sudan, and is currently in the early stages with Catalan and its overlord Spain, and with the Kurds and Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran (all of which control parts of Greater Kurdistan). The general process is for the ethnic resistance leaders to survey their peoples to get their permission and support, followed by a declaration of independence.

Min Aung Hlaing’s greatest fear is ethnic nationality secession. It is time to make his nightmare come true!

This is your land. You can drive the dictators out. If the different ethnic groups work side-by-side, it will be far easier than you imagine. The Burma Army is not invincible. It has no real public support, terrible morale, and has relied on press-ganged child soldiers. The BA soldiers do not have a “cause.” They are just following orders. While they may have more weapons, you have the motivation and the on-the-ground advantage. Isn’t it time, finally, to do what it takes to be free?