On 4 January 2010, the Burma military junta announced that the general elections will be held this year and, on 6 January, it specified the date of election would be 10 October. Junta claimed the coming election as part of the “transition to civilian rule process” and “roadmap to democracy”. Burma's military leader, Than Shwe, has urged people to “make a correct choice" in the coming election. Without spelling out the meaning, many Burmese would interpret his comments as an implicit warning.

The coming election will be the first one since 1990 election, in which the National League of Democracy had a landslide victory but were immediately subjected to vigorous suppression from the military government, such as detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and several other oppositions, and were never allowed to take the power.

Opposition groups refused to recognize the coming election unless their requests are fulfilled. Requests include engagement of the junta in dialogue with all stakeholders, a comprehensive review of the Constitution 2008 and release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

Due to defects of the current constitution, it is believed that, in the coming election, a substantial number of seats in Parliament would be reserved for the military and individuals being loyal to the junta. According to a local source, many incumbent ministers planned to resign from their post and announce their candidacy around April, giving themselves the necessary six months to prepare for election campaign. It is also expected that a few pro-junta political parties would be formed to compete for the election. Obviously, the junta has begun its election-jockeying to ensure their power in the government. The democratic election is merely a tactic to garner international approval.

American diplomats have emphasized that Washington’s wide array of political and economic sanctions would not be relaxed until progress was made on human rights, referring to the rules and conducts of the coming elections.

A number of neighbouring countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have said that they would closely watch the election to gauge the country’s progress on human rights.

Aung San Suu Kyi who has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years and remains under house arrest in Yangon (Rangoon). Last August, she was sentenced for further detention by 18 months, allegedly for violating detention rules because of an American, who swam across a lake and stayed in her residence. An appeal hearing was conducted at Myanmar's Supreme Court on 18 January 2010, but a ruling might be a week away. She was barred from attending the hearing. Her lawyer has argued that the law she was charged under was no longer applicable because it was part of the 1974 Constitution, which have been reformed in 2008. If the Supreme Court upholds the decision, Aung will be unable to participate in coming elections.

To join the collective efforts to urge for release of political prisoners and a democratic government in Burma, ACPP issued SUA070928(3) and UA080807(5) in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Sources:
BBC News, the New York Times, Asashi Shimbun, Burma Partnership, United Press International, Aljazeera.net

The recent action of the United States (US) showed her change in diplomatic approach with Burma (Myanmar). On 4 November 2009, Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, had a private meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, preceding the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Singapore, in which US President, Barack Obama, met 10 leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including General Than Shwe, the head of the military regime.

Regarding the new policy of US, “direct engagement” was highlighted with aims of “strong support for human rights, the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners and the promotion of democratic reform.” However, critics said that the US administration has nevertheless set improvement of human rights condition in the country as a condition for an end to sanctions against the Asian country. It is also worth noting that the statement released in the APEC meeting expected US engagement policy “would contribute to broad political and economic reforms,” and the 2010 elections “must be conducted in a free, fair, inclusive and transparent manner in order to be credible to the international community.” However it did not mention the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Within the country, some change of attitude of the opposition party towards the regime was noted in Aung San Suu Kyi’s letter to the State Peace and Development Council, dated 11 November. The letter stated that Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to cooperate with Burma’s ruling junta in discussions on how to end the economic sanctions applied against the country by the US, the European Union and other countries.

The strive of civil society for a genuine election continues as the Shwegondaing Declaration, in which the National League of Democracy (NLD) states the condition of election, won support from around 400 participants of the International Symposium on Burma in Tokyo, in the end of November. Some of the supporters re-iterated that the international community, including Japan, should give a clear message to the Burmese regime that they would not recognize the result of the 2010 election if the junta fails to respond to the demand of the NLD. On the other hand, Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Japan campus, stated that, if Aung San Suu Kyi is to play a role in lifting sanctions, the junta would have to create conditions that would enable her to do so, which means restoring her political rights, allowing free and fair elections and respecting the outcome, even if military proxies do not prevail.

Democracy will never come about without persistent struggle. To join the concerted effort with the international community, ACPP issued UA080807(5) and SUA070928(3) in 2007 and 2008 respectively, to call for release of all the political prisoners in Burma.

Sources:
AsiaNews, Burma Partnership, the Irrawaddy, Reuters

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPP), 127 political dissidents were among the 7,114 prisoners announced to be released on 18 September. Earlier in the month, Burmese prison authorities have declared that 250 political prisoners would be released.

While AAPP welcomed the release of prisoners, it still falls far short of international demands: some of the political prisoners who had been released had nearly finished their prison terms, for example. Thus, AAPP will continue their call for the immediate release of more than 2,000 political prisoners. They also reminded that key opposition leaders, like Aung San Suu Kyi, Min Ko Naing and ethnic Shan leader Khun Htun remain in detention, and pressure on dissidents is on going.

Critics of the Burmese military regime claimed that the recent mass release of prisoners was merely an attempt to deflect international criticism and ease international pressure: earlier this year in February, an amnesty was announced after the United Nations Human Rights Rapporteur, Tomas Quintana, left Burma following an official visit, while the recent announcement in September came three days before the departure of Burmese Prime Minister, General Than Shwe, to New York to attend the UN General Assembly. Moreover, New York-based Human Rights Watch has urged the release of Burmese political prisoners on 16 September, accusing the regime of doubling the number of political prisoners since September 2007.

It should be noted that the release of prisoners in September, or in February 2009, does not reflect the progress towards democracy. Out of thousands of prisoners released, only a handful was political prisoners. In 2007, only 20 political prisoners were released out of 8,585; in 2008, nine out of 9,002; and in February 2009, there were 31 out of 6,293. The most prominent of them, Aung San Suu Kyi, was sentenced to 18 months house arrest in August 2009, apparently to prevent her involvement in the next election in 2010.

ACPP issued UA080807(5) in August 2008 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 8888 Uprising in Burma, together with concerned groups all over the world. Among the demands of the UA was to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

Sources:
Irrawaddy, Burma Partnership

On 8 August 2008, 48 youth marched to commemorate 20^th anniversary of 8888 Uprising in Taunggok Township of Arakan State.  Protesters were arrested but released on the following day, except 5 of them whowere sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment on 15 August.  Nyi Pu, chairman of Arakan State National League for Democracy and Dr. Tin Min Htut, Member of Parliament from the Panthanaw constituency in Irrawaddy Division, were arrested by police at their homes in Rangoon on 12 August.  It is suspected that the authorities believed they maneuvered the youth protest against the regime on 8 August.

According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), 39 activists were arrested in August 2008, with 21 of them being imprisoned..

To stand with courageous people in Burma to demand for democracy, Hotline Asia issued UA080807(5) in August 2008.

Sources:
Mizzima News
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
Burma Digest