What really happened in 1990?

The following is the recollections of Khin Maung Swe who read the Gandhi Hall Declaration. 

Khin Maung Swe, 67, is the leader of the National Democratic Force in Burma – a political party formed by former members of the NLD. 

“A plan was already in place to hold the meeting. But on July 27, the SLORC deterred us from going ahead with it. On July 26, the SLORC held its emergency meeting, but we heard that disagreements arose at the meeting and that there were heated arguments. That’s why Declaration 1/90 came out on July 27.

“When we entered the Gandhi Hall meeting, we had to use the path designed by the soldiers. The soldiers were deployed around Gandhi Hall. We could see soldiers on the roof of the building.

“All the elected representatives were brave in the face of arrest. The elected representatives of those days had political courage. They were greater than the candidates of 2015. They became the candidates representing their respective fields. They were involved in the course of political change. They were not afraid of being arrested. The weak point was the problem of leadership. At that time, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had not appeared yet. There was no decisive leadership. They could not figure out power sharing and role sharing. Aung Shwe said they were not leaders.

“On the day, Peter Lin Pin and Kyel Kyel came to Gandhi Hall and demanded to discuss the formation of a parallel government in Mandalay. The military intelligence arrested Thar Hsaing. I was also arrested at the same place.

“The SLORC broke its promise. The military coup ruined Myanmar’s prestige and political reputation in the international arena. It was an improper act. 

“If the military-backed National Unity Party had won the elections, power would have been transferred to it. As far as I knew, the NUP planned to hold a dinner party with celebrity Mont Mont Myint Aung at the house of Maj-Gen Kyaw Htin. But the dinner party was cancelled because the NUP lost the elections. 

“The SLORC hated Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo. Tin Oo was a traitor. Aung San Suu Kyi could not be controlled. She was a danger for them. If they transferred power to the NLD, their profits and interests would be lost. That was their first priority. The country’s economy was the second. So the SLORC seized the power. There was nothing we could do. We had only the results of the elections. The SLORC controlled weapons, executive power, territory and international relations. Therefore, it was not easy to compete with the SLORC. 

“I was imprisoned for 16 and half years. The SLORC wanted complete power. We wanted to use pressure and compromise. But they saw an exit strategy after drafting the 2008 constitution. Kyi Maung and Aung Shwe were told to share power. They thought the SLORC would transfer power to the elected representatives, but it was in vain. At that time, we were from the central executive committee, and they were from military field. They thought power would be transferred to them since they were former high-ranking military officials. 

“The SLORC did not trust Aung San Suu Kyi, and it did not want to transfer power to the civilian government. They had already decided to hold the power. After 1988 uprising, the military junta dared not transfer power, as the political attitudes of the students were still strong and tense. They dared not transfer power to the civilian government. This insulted the people. Insulting the people is the highest crime in the political field.”