Page 375 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

History CONTEXTS 373
Then, at the height of the crisis, Ne Win unexpectedly announced his retirement,
promising a multi-party democracy in the near future but also stating, ominously, that
“If the army shoots, it has no tradition of shooting into the air. It shoots straight to kill.”
Further protests ensued, including a huge nationwide demonstration and general strike
starting on August 8, 1988, a day of numerological auspiciousness. Entire neighbourhoods
of Yangon were taken over by demonstrators, which now included people from all realms
of Burmese society including doctors, monks, lawyers, army veterans and government
workers, causing police and army to retreat in the face of the sheer scale of the protests.
On August 26, Aung San’s daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, made her first public speech,
addressing half a million people at the Shwedagon Pagoda, urging the people and army
to work together peacefully and becoming, almost overnight, the defining symbol of
the nation’s struggle for democracy in Myanmar. Events seemed to be moving
definitively in the protesters’ favour. Dr Maung Maung, a legal scholar and the only
non-military member of the junta’s political mouthpiece, the BSPP, was appointed as
head of government, offering the promise of imminent elections.
Then, on September 18, 1988, the military suddenly and decisively struck back,
imposing martial law and breaking up protests with new and unprecedented brutality
in the name of the newly established State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
The military once again assumed total control of the country, under the leadership of
Ne Win protégé General Saw Maung. Troops roamed through cities nationwide,
shooting randomly at protesters: over 1500 were murdered in the first week of SLORC
rule alone. Aung San Suu Kyi appealed for international help, but within a few days
the protests had been effectively crushed. As many as ten thousand Burmese are
thought to have died in the uprising, with many more missing or fled. The prospect of
a democratic Myanmar – which had seemed so tantalizingly close for one heady month
in August – was now as far away as ever.

The rule of SLORC
The new SLORC leadership was widely condemned by international leaders for its role
in crushing the demonstrations – the military responded by more than doubling the size
of the army (from 180,000 to 400,000). Aung San Suu Kyi, meanwhile, responded to
the failure of the uprising by founding the National League for Democracy (NLD), which
would thenceforth serve as the principal vehicle for all anti-government protests. Offers
by SLORC to hold elections were rejected by Aung San Suu Kyi on the grounds that
they could not be held freely and fairly so long as the generals remained in power.
One of SLORC’s first major acts after crushing the 8888 Uprising was to officially
change the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar (see box, p.380). It also,
surprisingly, announced the first elections in the country since 1960, designed to elect
a quasi-parliamentary body that would draft a new constitution and provide a
semblance of democracy. The generals, having indulged in widespread electoral
manipulation and media control and placed all major opposition leaders (including
Aung San Suu Kyi) under arrest, were thus horribly surprised when the elections of
May 1990 provided a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD, winning 392 of
the 492 seats available and trouncing the SLORC-sponsored National Unity Party
(the successor to the BSPP). The SLORC refused to recognize the election result.

1948 1958 1960
Myanmar gains independence; Faced with growing disorder, U Nu “invites” U Nu wins the general
U Nu becomes the country’s military leader Ne Win to take charge of the election, but is unable to
first post-colonial leader country pending fresh elections bring stability to country

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