Protests in Myanmar against power outages test the patience of government and activists

By Associated Press, Published: May 26  

BANGKOK — Protests in Myanmar over persistent power shortages have provided a test of how the country’s elected but military-backed government will respond to rising expectations sparked by the past year’s democratic reforms.

Small demonstrations over the last week in Myanmar’s two largest cities and several towns could be seen as an indicator of the new openness under President Thein Sein, who has overseen the country’s emergence from decades of authoritarian rule and diplomatic isolation.

From another point of view, the peaceful protests — which have been limited to a few hundred people — serve as a reminder of the early stages of past unrest. Previous uprisings have started as small affairs sparked by complaints over the economy and then snowballed into large-scale challenges to authority.

In 2007, the former military regime used force to put down the so-called Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks. That rebellion began as small, localized protests over fuel price hikes.

“Protests like this in Myanmar always have the potential to escalate and lead to political unrest,” said Trevor Wilson, a former Australian envoy to Myanmar who now teaches at Australian National University. “It is hard to predict how these protests might develop.”

Thein Sein was prime minister of the previous repressive military government but shed his formal links with the army to run with its proxy political party in a 2010 general election. Those polls were boycotted by the party of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest at the time.

Last year, Thein Sein embarked on a reform program whose main objective was to win the easing of economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union. That goal has already been largely accomplished.

Also as a result of the reforms, the government won the cooperation of Suu Kyi, the once-implacable foe of army rule and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was freed after the 2010 elections. Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party even agreed to run for parliament in last month’s by-elections, snaring 43 seats to play a small but historically significant legislative role.

Along with the revival of parliamentary politics there has been a new assertiveness in civil society, especially in lobbying on environmental issues. One campaign, opposing the Chinese-funded Myitsone hydropower dam on the Irrawaddy River, won an astonishing victory when the government announced the cancellation of the project.

Still, the potential for conflict in Myanmar — also known as Burma — lies in the space between the political reforms achieved so far and the shortfall in other fundamental changes, particularly in the economy.
Suu Kyi has endorsed the protests, which have seen demonstrators holding candlelight vigils and marching in public streets.

Speaking Tuesday at the opening of a branch office for her party, Suu Kyi said “the country suffers from power shortages because of mismanagement. I believe that the system has to be changed to get electricity or to get water or to get jobs.”

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