The Tribune

With political confrontation and accompanying violence happening around the world all the time, much of it goes unreported in the international media as other news competes for attention. But events in one place in particular - the Asian nation of Myanmar - are often covered, largely because of its famous politician, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Now, this former British colony - which was known as Burma when it played such an important role in the struggle against the Japanese during the Second World War - is top of the international news agenda. This is because of an army coup there at the beginning of this month against a popularly elected government, followed by the summary and unlawful imprisonment of politicians and civil society leaders.

Among those detained is Aung San Suu Kyi who, as State Counsellor, is the hugely popular de facto leader of the country. She is under house arrest on trumped up charges of illegally importing walkie-talkies. This eerily mirrors her confinement to her house for some 15 years over a 21-year period when, in the late 1980s and beyond, an upsurge of democratic fervour propelled her into the domestic and international limelight. In the latest situation, there are fears her new detention could lead to a jail sentence or worse in order to remove her from the scene.

The armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, have declared a State of Emergency for one year. They claim last November’s election, which the opposition National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi won by a landslide, was fraudulent. Such a claim has been dismissed by UN election observers, but the military junta has declared its intention to replace it by holding a new election at the end of the emergency.

The international community has already reacted forcefully to these events. While stating that it considers the election results credibly reflected the will of the people, Britain has condemned the coup and the unlawful detention of democratically elected politicians, and it has expressed ‘revulsion and sadness’ that the people of Myanmar have been robbed of their inherent democratic rights. The US has threatened to intensify existing sanctions and the UN has expressed deep concern about arbitrary detentions. There is also wide public disapproval of the coup in Myanmar itself - and, despite the army’s reputation for brutal suppression of dissent and its shutting down of the internet to impede communication, mass public demonstrations and anti-coup rallies have been taking place that could lead to a civil disobedience campaign.

While this crisis unfolds, it is interesting to look briefly at the background. With a population of some 54 million, Myanmar’s history has been described as violent and tragically repetitive. The country has been ruled by an oppressive military junta since 1962 and it has long been considered a pariah state. A degree of gradual liberalisation leading to elections began in about 2015, after which Aung San Suu Kyi held various government posts, including Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016. But the Generals running the country have been accused of gross human rights abuses including the killing of their own people as well as atrocities against minorities like the Muslim Rohingya.

The UK takes the view that the November elections, though by no means perfect, were a step in the right direction on Myanmar’s path to democracy. But the transition has remained troubled - with the systematic atrocities and brutality and discrimination against minorities, a constitution rigged in favour of the military and a faltering peace process.

Arguably, its action against the Rohingya has constituted the worst of the junta’s crimes. In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague conducted a hearing into what the UN had labelled a textbook case of ethnic cleansing that amounted to genocide, resulting in refugees in the hundreds of thousands being forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh and in the deaths of thousands more. In response, despite the clear evidence, Myanmar denied violating their human rights and maintained that military operations against them were justified because of attacks on security posts by Rohingya insurgents.

It was her attendance at this hearing that turned Aung San Suu Kyi from international peace icon of democracy - who became an almost saintly figure revered and adored in the West - into an outcast. She fell from grace as her international halo slipped when, as the representative of Myanmar at the ICJ hearing, she denied its armed forces were guilty of persecuting the Rohingya or that they had raped and killed civilians or torched houses in 2017.

To many, it was not only ironical but almost inexplicable that Aung San Suu Kyi tried to defend the indefensible when, for so many years, she was a figure who stood for democracy and human rights in opposition to the military junta - and, in 1991, she had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent struggle which was seen as one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades.

Given the latest developments, however, I imagine commentators will now reassess their view of what many regarded as her cowardly volte face as well as their condemnation of her as just another self-serving politician more interested in her own survival than in defending democracy. Perhaps it is too early to judge while this sorry saga is still unfolding, but some are now saying that Aung San Suu Kyi was placed in an impossible position when she testified before the ICJ. She had been forced to take her stance in order to stay in government while working from within to bring about true democracy.

Now, she has been betrayed by the military for whom she provided cover at the ICJ. Her situation looks to be distressingly bleak.

March in, march out and move on

The inspirational centenarian Captain Sir Thomas Moore - the retired British Army officer and bemedalled veteran of the Second World War whose epic walk earned him a place in history and who died last week - left instructions for his funeral: ‘march in, march out and move on’.

He had recently been diagnosed with pneumonia and later contracted COVID-19 - and to many, those instructions summed up the no-nonsense person he was who endeared himself to so many and became a symbol of hope in the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

At the time, I recorded in this column his amazing achievement in raising the equivalent of about $45m for the National Health Service by walking 100 laps of his large garden to mark his then impending 100th birthday.

By completing what was a gruelling task for someone of his advanced age, his life changed dramatically as his efforts caught the imagination of the British public. He was knighted by The Queen, the Army made him an Honorary Colonel and he recorded a No 1 single duet, with well-known British singer Michael Ball, of the Liverpool football team’s anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” - and this made him the oldest person ever to top the charts.

Apparently, at Christmas he received literally thousands of cards; and, finally, in January he made a trip to Barbados, courtesy of British Airways, which he said had been on his “bucket list” for years.

Capt Sir Tom’s year of fundraising was nothing short of remarkable. He created affection and respect in others and touched the hearts of the nation. His passing induced a collective sense of loss of an inimitable old soldier who, with his indomitable spirit, came to signify all that is worthy in a person. After his passing was announced, people came out in droves nationwide to applaud him publicly in groups and there is now talk of erecting a statue in his memory.

In more reflective mode, all this encourages one to ponder a bit more on the qualities of such a man. It is evident that he was a quiet and unassuming person who lived without fuss or drama - and that during the course of his long life he was motivated, tough, resourceful, resilient, generous, selfless and patriotic as well as being witty and decent in his dealings with others.

Some say these are old-fashioned but admirable characteristics, attributes and virtues that all too often are missing in today’s “easy come, easy go” environment. In the modern world, some seem to lack a moral compass in the “me, me” culture that attaches greater importance to the rights of individuals than to their responsibilities and obligations in society and their accountability for personal behaviour. I wonder whether it was because people recognised some of these fine qualities in Tom Moore that so many instinctively found him to be the inspirational figure he became - as well as, of course, his completion of those 100 laps of his garden.

Working better, together

Always on the lookout for information about the UK’s involvement in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean region, I have found it interesting to read recent reports about last month’s virtual conference of Caribbean Directors of Public Prosecutions. Eighteen countries were represented, and this included our own DPP. The conference was organised by the British High Commission in Barbados and was jointly funded by the UK and US governments.

The DPPs came together to discuss some of the current difficulties and challenges their countries collectively face as organised-crime groups seek to exploit certain structural vulnerabilities arising from the COVID-19 crisis; and the conference provided a forum to agree action on serious crime and on criminal justice reform. The delegates heard from regional and international experts on a range of issues - including ‘judge-alone’ trials in light of the ban on jury trials during the pandemic and the vulnerabilities of witnesses in serious crime and sexual exploitation cases.

What struck me as significant in the opening remarks of the Charge d’Affaires at the British High Commission was his emphasis on identifying regional best practice in the fight against organised crime and the need to explore the potential for a collaborative approach in policy-making.

All will surely welcome this - apart, of course, from those engaged in criminality; and it made me think of the priority given to regional co-operation by our Chief Justice, Sir Brian Moree, when he invited his counterparts from several different Caribbean countries to participate, virtually, in the Opening of the Legal Year ceremony in January.

This conference of DPPs from around the Caribbean seems to me a good example of the collaboration, coordination and team work that is so clearly needed to combat crime and deliver justice across a number of small island states in the region. It is heartening to learn of Britain’s role in organising and partly funding it, and I hope this can be reasonably interpreted as a sign of increasing long-term UK involvement in the Caribbean as - post-Brexit - it looks to strengthen once more its traditional ties with Commonwealth countries.