Burmese stay away from vote

By RAMESH RAMACHANDRAN

New Delhi, April 28: Only a handful of Burmese nationals living in India voted in a referendum on a new Constitution, fearing repercussions for rejecting it. Mostly Burmese diplomats and their families cast their votes here from April 25 to 27, the Burmese embassy in New Delhi told this newspaper.

"Only a few Burmese embassy staff and students voted," an embassy source said. "About 60 to 70 people, including the staff," the source replied when asked to put a number on the turnout. The source would not venture to recall the number of eligible Burmese voters, except saying the number would be less than 100.

According to a Burmese pro-democracy activist, the voter turnout would have been particularly dismal because some of the eligible voters chose to stay away. "One of the students received an invitation from the embassy to vote but he did not vote fearing repercussion if he voted ‘No’," the activist said, insisting that his identity and that of the student remained anonymous.

"There are only so many Burmese nationals in Delhi and people who vote ‘No’ could easily be identified," the activist explained.

The Burmese government has stipulated only citizens with legitimate government documents like passport and valid visa can vote overseas. That inevitably meant a large number of Burmese refugees living in India, like Dr Tint Swe from the National League for Democracy, were excluded from voting. Dr Swe, who lives in exile here, told this newspaper the draft Constitution and the Referendum Law and Rules are neither free nor fair. "The draft Constitution was made public only one month ago so that the people have less time to study it. Only Burmese version of the draft was published whereas most of the ethnic people do not read or speak Burmese," he said, adding that a Constitution drafted "unilaterally" by the military junta is "unacceptable".

"[India has] failed to recognise the sentiment of the people of Burma," Dr Swe said.

The United States has dismissed the referendum as an attempt by the Burmese military to retain power. The London-based rights group Amnesty International, in turn, has said the referendum is the "government’s effort to legitimise military rule" in Burma. New Delhi has chosen to remain silent.

A former Indian diplomat said New Delhi is closely working with Singapore on Burma and their cooperation stemmed from a shared belief that Burma would disintegrate without the Army. India agreed with Singaporean senior minister Goh Chok Tong that Army must be part of solution, the diplomat said, adding that Burma is most likely to follow either Indonesian or Thai models of transition.

The referendum in Burma will be held on May 10. It will be the first time Burmese citizens would vote since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory that was never recognised by the junta. Junta has said the vote will pave the way for democratic elections in 2010 but a leaked copy of the document showed Ms Suu Kyi is barred from holding office on the grounds she was married to a foreigner.

The draft constitution guarantees 25 per cent of parliamentary seats to the military and allows the president to hand over all power to the military in a state of emergency. Polling has been held in the Burmese embassies in Singapore (April 25 to 29) and Indonesia (April 27) and Canada (April 25 and 26). In Singapore, about 500 Burmese nationals wore shirts displaying the word "No" as they waited to vote in the referendum. Singapore is home to an estimated 30,000 Burmese nationals.

Burma, which has a population of 47 million, has been under military rule since 1962.