2021 Address to the students of the University of Adelaide concerning the promotion of Democracy in Myanmar

Thank you all for coming to this meeting today. I speak to you as an Australian citizen and one who is a great supporter of liberal democracy principles. As such I have become actively involved in efforts to return Myanmar to its rightfully elected democratic government as a coordinator of the Australia Myanmar Institute for Democracy, Human Rights and Peace

Joseph has explained the situation in Myanmar so I will not cover that topic again, but rather will talk about the history and politics of the situation in Myanmar and finish with a plea for your support.

In 2016 I travelled to Myanmar on an organised tour that travelled along the Irrawaddy River between Mandalay in the north and Yangon in the south. I found the people I met very pleasant and was somewhat shocked by the level of poverty outside the main cities. I saw that the country was progressing economically and politically after years of oppression under a junta. The transition to Democracy was somewhat of a miracle for the people of Myanmar providing hope for the future and a chance for the country to be respected on the international stage and make life better in one of the poorest nations of Asia.

I visited a school, as I was a teacher and university lecturer at that time being keen to see how the education system worked in Myanmar. This was another shock for me as there were few desks, and basically no teaching support materials. The children I met were delightful.

Looking at the historical context of what is happening in Myanmar is to look at how liberal Democracies around the world are under attack from internal and external forces which aim to see nations dominated by authoritarian regimes. We saw this situation starting 100 years ago when the same trends occurred with the rise of Hitler, Mussolini, Franc and Stalin.  This situation that led to a world war has come back to bite us along with the COVID-19 Pandemic. It seems history does repeat itself, but have we learnt anything from the past. That is the question!

One thing I do know is that the situation in Myanmar is in crisis as the Military and Police are killing peaceful protesters. These are mostly young people like yourselves who are just asking for democracy to return and the parliamentary leaders to be reinstated in their offices. The images I have been sent by friends in Myanmar of the military’s brutality are becoming so bad that I cannot post them on our facebook page!

As one of my friends who is a Myanmar national has communicated with me just yesterday and I quote:

Burma has been turned into a slaughter ground (not a war zone or battle ground) as BBC stated today as The deadliest day of protest. Military and police slaughtered the civilians, and arrested the peaceful protesters brutally and mercilessly. The world needs to stop watching as Myanmar needs immediate help!!!! May the people of Myanmar free from this dictatorship ASAP!!! end of quote.

We note that the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, the United Nations, and several international communities have imposed sanctions against the Myanmar military government. Our local organisations do so we are seeking the support of the SRC of the University of Adelaide and the general student and academic population in condemning the military coup in Myanmar. At this stage you may be shocked to hear that the address on Myanmar that Joseph prepared to give to the SRC of the University of Adelaide was blocked by its president on the grounds that it is irrelevant to what the SRC does! This is at odds with the huge support from student groups around the world and in any case one starts to wonder what is relevant to the SRC! How can this terrible situation in Myanmar not be important enough to publish details in On Dit the SRC publication? Why would it be blocked?

As the students and academics of the University of Adelaide you have a special opportunity to promote democracy and human rights by endorsing and hopefully promoting our democratic cause. We also ask you to take any appropriate action to condemn the military coup in Myanmar. The Myanmar community in Australia has done its best to further the cause through demonstrations in major capital cities and by corresponding with national and international organisation to attempt to remove the Military Junta and restore democracy to Myanmar.

Please endorse the cause as put forward by the Australia Myanmar Institute for Democracy, Human Rights and Peace.