Burmese migrants: March for Democracy
Sep 28th, 2007 by Tian
Burmese migrants in Malaysia held a massive gathering this morning. I was late for the big show as I had to be at Istana Negara to submit memorandum to the King.
I joined the huge crowd as thousands of red-shirt Burmese marching from the Embassy of Burma towards the Embassy of People’s Republic of China. The turn-out was impressive, there must be at least 3 thousands people marching, mostly Burmese — it was probably the largest mobilization for Burmese in Malaysia.
From Istana, two carload of us: Chan brothers, Razak, Ginie and our Suara Keadilan journalists rushed over to join the solidarity action.
As soon as we arrived, we found ourselves standing in the midst of a red sea. Wave after wave, the red tides flooded the streets of Kuala Lumpur. Walking in the crowd with thousands of Burmese, I felt that excitement in Yangoon. Kuala Lumpur has been permuted with the spirit of pro-democracy struggle in Burma.
The crowd marched along Jalan Ampang and gathered at opposite side of Chinese Embassy’s front entrance. A few of the Burmese organizers who had worked with LRC spotted me. I was asked to gave a short speech. I obliged, but the loudhailer was so small that I doubt the majority of protesters heard anything.
From PRC Embassy, we marched to the Russian Embassy at the other end of Jalan Ampang. There we had another short speech and submitted a protest note.
The march, besides expressing condemnation of violent crackdown, also aimed at reminding China and Russia that the Burmese people firmly reject the SPDC junta. The two superpowers should join effort with the international community to support democracy in Burma.
The crowd later dispersed from the Russian Embassy at about 12 noon.
is there ever a need for bloodshed .. or is there a need for innocent lives to be brutally murdered/killed including foreign journalist who are only carrying out their work. is there any need for monks to be killed. is there any need to protest knowing very well perhaps the end result may mean unnecessary killings and sorrows inflicted on those family members who has to bury the young innocent lives lost. these are questions which needs to be answered by all who are inclined towards organizing protest in the future when the government is a military government. are there no other means of toppling down a military junta or this is part and parcel of fighting for democratic freedom and for rights. what right .. are we seeking if it means killings of innocent lives .. what democracy are we fighting for if it means someone will be loosing a brother, a child, a husband, a wife .. is it worthwhile, will it be a better place because in most situation even after a dictatoryship or military regime has been topple, things will even get worse before it gets any better .. as can be seen in so many other incidents around the world because usually people will not be able to actually comprehend or control their emotions and actions when freedom is achieved. there will be some chaos before it settles down and that is IF it settles down.
at times, i question what kind of democracy are we talking about or searching for or are we mis-using the word or does not really comprehend the real meaning and practice of democracy and rights. my years of studying political science had served me well but when i see what is happening in Myanmar/Burma or even here in Malaysia itself i think there is a wrong perception of democracy painted by the government and i may even say so of the Opposition party.
we should undertake a soul searching exercise first and find out what are we actually fighting for and whether is the alternative going to be better or the same. will a new government be able to implement what they had promised or are they unable to do so as they too want to have a grip on power for eternity once they obtained it as humans are power crazy and are extremely emotional. once we have bitten the forbidden fruit we crave for more as it satisfies not only our needs but more than that our wants which is extremely dangerous and we will want more and more .. that before we realised it .. we have assume the role of the previous government and turning into a tyrant or even worse.
perhaps people are now disillusion .. in the sense opting to .. the saying-’better the devil you know that the devil you dont’, thus the difficulty for any Opposition party to obtain strong support and forming a new government. my humble opinion is that we have to first seek what we hope to change and learn as to what we want first and to learn as to what demoracy means, what freedom entails and what is the meaning of human rights as it seems we maybe fighting for a cause which we dont even understand in the first place and loosing innocent lives which could very well be contributing in improving the world and our respective nations in a different way. we need to look inward before we could look outward and decide where and how we should go from there. never just simply accept what is being offered in other Western democracy and implanting it here in our respective nation just because it looks and sounds nice as it may only be a perception. added to that perhaps our people are not ready to accept such a change or able to handle the changes which will occur. it is best for gradual or incremental changes .. slowly but surely but that requires even harder work and international co-operation as in the case of Myanmar.