Many Myanmar residents yesterday greeted a decision by the party of Aung San Suu Kyi to boycott elections with rousing approval while others called it a blunder leaving voters with little option in the military-organized balloting.
In a bold gamble, the National League for Democracy (NLD) decided Monday to opt out of the country’s first election in two decades, following the lead of the detained Nobel Prize laureate who had denounced the election laws as undemocratic.
The decision, approved by a unanimous vote of the 113 executive members, brings to question the polls’ credibility.
“It is devastating the NLD has chosen to boycott the election. Who should I vote for when the election comes?” said 46-year-old university teacher, Myint Myint Thein.
Some others have echoed such an opinion.
“The NLD will now disappear from history and the [ruling military] will proceed as intended,” Robert Taylor, an author and Myanmar academic, said.
However, others approved of the decision.
“[Aung San Suu Kyi] is our icon and leader and she is the only person who can reflect the feelings of the public. We are with her and support her decision,” Khin Zaw, a 55-year-old nurse, said.
The NLD earlier denounced the election laws, noting their provisions would bar its leader from participating, or even being a member of the party she helped found 22 years ago in the wake of a failed popular uprising against military rule.
“We will continue to pursue, through peaceful means, democracy and human rights with support, understanding and assistance from the people, ethnic nationalities and democratic forces,” party vice chairman Tin Oo said.
Although the boycott will probably mean the end of the NLD since parties who fail to register for the election are to be dissolved, the boycott could also undermine the junta’s claims that the election represents a step forward in its “roadmap for democracy.”
“The majority of the people will follow the decision because of their deep respect for [Aung San Suu Kyi] and the legitimacy and credibility of the elections will be thoroughly undermined,” said Thakin Chan Tun, a retired ambassador and veteran politician.
The election date has yet to be announced, and the lineup of the contesting parties is still unclear, but it appears the military will field a party.
“I think the NLD has made a major blunder by not contesting in the election. We were all set to vote for NLD candidates and now we are without any choice,” Mie Mie, a jewelry shop owner, said.
Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, general-secretary of the recently formed Democratic Party, said the best way to serve the people and country was to get as many opposition seats as possible in the new parliament.
Earlier, Win Tin, a veteran party member, described Monday’s decision as a “life-or-death issue.” While arguing that if the party did not register it would be “without legs and limbs,” he said that NLD members would maintain their democratic ideals and thus carry the movement forward.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS