Newswise — Ngun Cung "Andrew" Lian keeps a small diary in which he recorded his role in the 8/8/88 uprising, the mass protests in Burma that marked the beginning of a nationwide movement in favor of democracy and in opposition to the military regime that has ruled Burma since 1962.
Lian, now a research associate with the Center for Constitutional Democracy in Plural Societies (CCDPS) at the Indiana University School of Law--Bloomington, says the movement has grown in maturity and understanding since 1988.
"When we were so brave and shouting for democracy, actually we didn't know anything about democracy," he said. "Our distaste for the regime was so bitter that it made us very brave."
Friday marks the 20th anniversary of the 8/8/88 protests. Students in Burma had been protesting in response to one-party military rule and deteriorating economic conditions. After a student was killed, hundreds of thousands took to the streets on Aug. 8, 1988. In the weeks that followed, thousands of protesters were killed and hundreds were arrested, according to human-rights groups.
CCDPS faculty members and research associates have advised Burmese pro-democracy forces for the past seven years, and they say that the 8/8/88 anniversary comes at a time of improved prospects for democratic change in Burma (which the military regime renamed Myanmar). David C. Williams, the founder and director of the CCDPS and the John S. Hastings Professor of Law at IU, pointed to several factors that bode well for democracy:
-- China, which wants stability in the region, may waver in its support for the increasingly unpopular Burmese regime. -- The regime may find it difficult to control a population angered not only by ongoing repression but by the leaders' bungling of aid efforts following Cyclone Nargis this summer. -- Opposition groups, including ethnic pro-democracy organizations that effectively control parts of Burma, have improved their coordination. -- A new constitution put forward by the regime at least theoretically opens the door to the creation of political parties and elections.
Williams said the constitution is deeply flawed; and the referendum in which it was approved was clearly bogus. Nevertheless, he said, a document that appears to allow political activity and elections could unleash forces that the regime can't control no matter how it tries.
Lian said pro-democracy activists now have a strong base of international supporters, including tens of thousands of Burmese exiles, and there are communication tools with the Internet and email that weren't available in 1988. When Burmese monks led the "Saffron Revolution" last fall, he pointed out, the protests and the regime's subsequent crackdown made news around the world. So did the regime's refusal of cyclone relief aid.
For Lian, this year also marks 20 years that he has spent as a refugee. In 1988, he was a leader of student protests in his home town of Matupi in Burma's Chin State. Tipped off that he was about to be arrested, he walked for seven days through the jungle to escape to India. He continued to fight for democracy as a member of the Chin National Front and other organizations.
Lian moved to the United States in 1996, when he received a Burmese Refugee Scholarship from the U.S. Information Agency. He earned a bachelor's degree from Valparaiso University and L.L.M. and S.J.D. degrees from the Indiana University School of Law--Bloomington.
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