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Democratization and

Good Governance

Myo Thein10th December 2012

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Democratization &

Good Governance • Democratization: to make countries or organizations use democratic ways of

making decisions.• Good Governance: There is no single and exhaustive definition of “good

governance,” nor is there a delimitation of its scope, that commands universal acceptance. Good governance has been said at various times to encompass: full respect of human rights, the rule of law, effective participation, multi-actor partnerships, political pluralism, transparent and accountable processes and institutions, an efficient and effective public sector, legitimacy, access to knowledge, information and education, political empowerment of people, equity, sustainability, and attitudes and values that foster responsibility, solidarity and tolerance. The key attributes of good governance: transparency, responsibility, accountability, participation and responsiveness (to the needs of the people).

• We are going to study BURMA as a case study the effects of Democratization, Bad Governance, Dictatorship, Democratization and Indicators of Good Governance.

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Bad Governance • The people of Burma had suffered under one of the world's most brutal and repressive

regime. • The military regime uses murder, torture, political imprisonment and forced labour as

practices for ruling the citizens of Burma. • Freedom of expression and freedom of association are non-existent and Burmese citizens are

denied any state in the shaping of their future. • Burma's economic crisis continues to deepen under military rule. • People earn on a wage of around $1 a day. • Unemployment is rising dramatically every month while prices of consumer goods are

escalating out of control. • And the value of the local kyat on the informal market continues to stumble. • Living standards of many Burmese are declining rapidly. • One child in three under the age of five is already suffering from malnutrition, less than 50

per cent of children will complete five years of education according to UN reports. • In Burma, people face complete lack of access to basic social services such as health services,

and water sanitation. • Under the military generals, poverty has soared and corruption is growing. • Burma spends less than $3 per person per year on health and education – well below the

World Health Organization recommended level of $40 per person. • Burma is in the midst of a health and educational crisis. • This is the lives under the bad governance how people of Burma are suffering.

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Dictatorship• Children under the age of 18 are about 40% of Burma population. The military junta does not

consider children’s development and welfare as a priority and used almost half of the state budget is spent to the arm, leaving very little for the vital education and health care systems. Decades of military mismanagement of the economy has resulted in an appalling economic situation and is forcing the vast majority of parents to rely on the contribution of their children working in order to feed their families.

• The worst forms of child labour can be seen in Burma –in the army, the construction industry, domestic work, and the mines or in different places. Children are by no means exempt from the forced labour imposed on hundreds of thousands of the Burmese population by military. Moreover, the military continues to forcibly recruit children into the army, some as young as eleven years old.

• The Burmese government spends seven times less on education than on the armed forces. Since 1990, government expenditure on civilian education has dropped by 70 percent, and the statistics indicated that spending on education was equivalent to less than 1% of the GDP. According to World Bank figures, Burma’s military government spends only $0.28 per year for every child in a public school.

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Democratization• Burma gained independence from the Britain on 4th January 1948. The military has

dominated government since 1962 until 1988 when students led uprising toppled them. The new generation of military leaders came to power and held the election in 1990. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led party, National League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide victory but junta refused to hand over power and instead put her under house arrest. The military maintains an extensive network of intelligence, criminalized democratic activities and control over the legal system. Following a sharp increase of fuel prices on 15th August 2007, Buddhist monks began leading peaceful marches together with public but the regime violently crackdown by shooting, beating and arresting thousands of monks, prodemocracy activists, onlookers and killing dozens.

• During the last two years and especially since April 2012, a lot has changed in Burma. Elections under the new constitution were held in 2010. The USDP, the military-backed party, won the elections, in which the NLD did not even participate. Instead, and even more remarkably, it is the military-backed USDP that embarked several reforms since 2010. New labour standards have been established as well as a Human Rights Commission. Also, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest.

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Challenges • The changes in Burma are visible. The most important part seems to be the intention of the

government to open the economy. Although elections have been held, there is still no proper rule of law established. The military still has a great influence not only in politics but also on the economy. Valuing the changes is, however, necessary to free Burma from its isolation.

• Difficulties certainly abound. Trying to work simultaneously through two interrelated processes of the distribution of power—democratization at the core of the political system and greater regional autonomy in sizeable parts of the country—will be extremely difficult.

• It is the fact that it will take time to reform and decentralise government mechanisms which would increase responsibility, accountability and transparency. This should be simultaneous and gradual evolutionary process and, from time to time, should re-evaluate reform process so as to achieve the best possible outcomes and, most importantly, people must have the right to voice their concerns on every aspect of democratisation process.

• But it’s not impossible. A wide range of important international actors, including the United States, Europe, and various Asian democracies, are ready to help democratization of Burma.

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Good Governance• Respecting democracy, human rights and rule of law.• Imprisoning no political prisoners and amending laws which legitimize arbitrary arrests. • Establishing the independent judiciary system to put a full stop on corruption and abuse of power.• Flourishing Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs).• Flourishing Student Unions, Labour Unions and Peasant Unions .• Flourishing freedom of assembly, association and expression. • Flourishing freedom of media, social media, internet and information technology. • Educating citizens of their rights, responsibilities, knowledge, technology and employable skills . • Educating armed forces with values of professionalism and humanity. • Promoting religious freedom to build the society of tolerance.• Promoting minority rights, peace, unity in harmony and equality in diversity. .• Improving health and social care systems which are accessible and affordable. • Ensuring the fiscal stability, feasible tax, banking and monetary policy. • Alleviating unemployment, poverty and inflation. • Ending the economics monopoly and cronyism. • Improving agriculture sectors .• Building industrialised economy that can generate nation’s revenues.• Providing sufficient electricity and gas for all the citizens. • Expanding urban infrastructure and improving bus and transportation services.• Protecting environment, biodiversity, forests and natural resources.

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May you be

Happy, Healthy and Wealthy!

Thank you very much.

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Lady & Gentlemen

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Burma & Uncle Sam

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World Leaders

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President Barack Obama greeting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

at her residence in Burma 2012

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