MANILA, Philippines: Democracy is still possible in Myanmar but only if moderates take control of the military and work with the opposition and cooperate with the international community, a political exile said here Friday.
But Win Min, a lecturer at Thailand’s Chang Mai University and a foreign affairs specialist, said he sees no political change in his homeland as long as junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe remains in power.
MANILA, Philippines: Democracy is still possible in Myanmar but only if moderates take control of the military and work with the opposition and cooperate with the international community, a political exile said here Friday.
But Win Min, a lecturer at Thailand’s Chang Mai University and a foreign affairs specialist, said he sees no political change in his homeland as long as junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe remains in power.
He was speaking ahead of demonstrations planned in Manila to mark the 20th anniversary of a failed student-led uprising in Myanmar, also known as Burma, which led to his exile.
“The military alone will not make a change,” said Win Min. “The mass movement alone will not make a change. International pressure will not make a change. We need all three coming together,” he told journalists in Manila where he was invited by the Center for International Studies at the University of the Philippines to speak on the situation in Myanmar.
Win Min was a medical student who took part in the student movement in Myanmar until the 1988 uprising that was brutally suppressed by the military government.
He said some of his close friends were killed and he was forced to flee into exile in Thailand where he continued working for the pro-democracy movement.
His visit to Manila comes one week before a series of protests planned by the Free Burma Coalition, a Philippine activist group seeking democracy for Myanmar and the release from house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi.
The group’s activities will culminate on Aug. 8, the 20th anniversary of the 1988 uprising.
Win Min said hopes for change in Myanmar’s military leadership may lie with 75-year-old Than Shwe’s waning health
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