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A sad ceremony marks a great victory
Irrawaddy - May 27, 2010
Kyaw Thein Kha – Twenty years to the day since Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in Burma's last general election, a small group of party members and friends gathered at veteran NLD leader Tin Oo's house to commemorate the democratic victory.
The NLD has held an event at the party's Rangoon headquarters for the past 19 years, but was unable to do so this year because the office has been closed since the NLD was officially dissolved on May 6.
The opposition party, strongly influenced by detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, decided not to register for this year's election, calling the military junta's election laws "unfair and unjust."
Many of Thursday's group were youths, and they listened to speeches by NLD Chairman and former political prisoner Tin Oo, and other party leaders, including Win Tin and May Win Myint, who was elected in the 1990 election.
"The day of our victory in the election represents a victory for the people," said Yarzar, a member of the NLD youth league who joined the ceremony at Tin Oo's house. "However, today is still a day of sadness." Thursdays' gathering contrasted starkly with last year's party when thousands of members, elected representatives and students attended, and the party's headquarters was alive with songs of victory and defiance.
"At last year's ceremony, our leaders read announcements and issued party statements," said Yarzar. "However, this year we could not even mention the word 'politics' during the ceremony."
Despite the NLD's victory in 1990, the military regime refused to transfer power to the opposition party. Instead, the authorities arrested and detained NLD members and many were sentenced to prisons in remote parts of the country. As of May 11, there were 428 NLD members detained in Burmese prisons, according to Thailand-based human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
"Today, we handed out 5,000 kyat (US $5) to each of 36 detained members," said May Win Myint, the leader of the women's committee within the party. "We will also visit some of their family's homes."
NLD leaders have said that, despite its dissolution, the NLD will retain its role as a social organization, working for the welfare of the public.
Aung Kyaw Nyunt, an elected representative who attended the 20th anniversary ceremony, said, "Whether the NLD exists as a political party or not is only according to the regime's rules. Our legitimacy as a party will not be hidden by history."
He said that the social activities of the NLD will lead to achieving the political objectives of the party.
"At today's meeting, we talked about how we'll work on our awareness rather than displaying feelings of happiness or sadness," he added.
About 150 participants, including university students, attended the ceremony, while another group of about 30 people stood outside and made recordings and took photographs of those entering and existing the house. However, they did not disrupt the ceremony.
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