Change is brewing in Burma, but road is long

Many Burmese are hopeful that Aung San Suu Kyi's victory will lead to change.

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

The projected parliamentary victory for pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is a potent symbol for hope and change in Burma, but the result will not change the balance of power in a government that is still heavily controlled by retired generals.

Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) says many of its party members also won seats in the country's parliament, marking a new era for the Burmese government as it seeks legitimacy - and with that, perhaps a lifting of Western sanctions.

The victory caps a remarkable transformation for the 66-year-old, who has spent most of the past 22 years locked up by the generals who have ruled the country for decades.

More than 6 million people were eligible to vote, and many thousands of Burmese took to the streets to express their excitement as the results came in.

But the country faces a long road ahead, with the military still controlling more than 80 per cent of the seats in parliament.

Ms Suu Kyi's and her colleagues will hold 5 to 6 per cent of the seats, while 25 per cent are already reserved for serving military soldiers.

In addition to that, the pro-military party - the Union Solidarity Development Party - has the majority of the remainder of the seats.

Burden of responsibility

Burma Campaign UK director Mark Farmaner, who advocates for human rights and democracy in Burma, says Ms Suu Kyi will enter a parliament that already constitutionally lacks any real power.

He says she will be feeling a burden of responsibility because of the hope the people hold that their lives will now change.

"People have got enormous expectations that once she is in parliament, she will be able to take steps to transform the country," he told Radio National's Breakfast program.

But he says it is going to be quite a challenge.

"Above the parliament is a president who is not accountable to parliament. Above him is a military council - the National Defence and Security Council - and above them is the military, which is constitutionally not accountable to the government or to the parliament," he said.

"There's a huge challenge ahead here."

Even the icon herself has said that on a democratic scale of zero to 10, Burma is only moving towards one.

Facing the heat

Some fear her victory may even help legitimise a parliament that is not democratically elected, and a constitutional process that lacks accountability.

"It's a fear that some people in Burma have, that it will give credibility to this parliament," Mr Farmaner said.

Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr is among those who have described the elections as a big step forward, and says Australia is ready to "peel back sanctions if the process is genuine".

Mr Farmaner says the international community is tired about arguing over Burmese sanctions for so long, and many businesses are now lobbying for sanctions to be lifted.

Hundreds of political prisoners remain in Burmese jails, and Mr Farmaner says human rights abuses in the country have actually increased in the past year.

He says if Australia, the European Union and others move too fast, the incentive for change will be gone.

"The by-elections taking place are proof that sanctions are working, this is not a military government that woke up one morning and suddenly decided that they wanted to be democratic," he said.

"They're under economic and political pressure, and they want that pressure off."

But after a 20-year stalemate under house arrest, Mr Farmaner says Burma's parliament is at the very least a platform that Ms Suu Kyi can use to push for greater change.

And with general elections due in 2015, the situation looks unlikely to turn around until the military gets on board.

courtesy of 774 ABC Melbourne