Still Room for Students' Voices of Dissent Under NLD?

Headlines from 2014, when Suu Kyi toured Chin State as a candidate.

On Facebook, a video clip of a four-year-old speech by Suu Kyi is going viral, drawing a stark contrast between the words of the then-candidate Suu Kyi and a recently published directive from the Ministry of Education.

The grainy footage shows the NLD leader draped in an ethnic-style shawl, responding to an audience member during one of the stops along her campaign tour through the Chin State.

"Students shouldn't be involved in politics? These are the words uttered by those who don't want to see our country become a democratic country. If the students don't get involved in politics, if the youth don't get involved, our democracy cannot flourish," she said.

The clip reemerges recently on Pyi Myanmar Media Facebook page and also on YouTube. So far, the Pyi Myanmar post has been reshared 3,300 times, with its view count tallying up to 49,000. One of the sardonic comments reads, "That was before she became State Counselor. Try protesting now. You'll be sent to prison straight away."

Sadly, this is not too much of an exaggeration. On May 31, Radio Free Asia reported, "Police in Myanmar’s Bago region ... arrested eight students calling for the release of protesters detained earlier this month while urging an end to fighting in Kachin state ... Two of those arrested, Yan Paing Htet and Sit Myat Min, have now been charged under Myanmar’s controversial Article 19 for protesting without permission from authorities ..."

Earlier, in January, 14 students from Mandalay's Yadanabon University were expelled for participating in a protest demanding a bigger education budget, according to Myanmar Times.

Get permit before you hold a talk

The online resurgence of Suu Kyi's 2014 speech in the Chin State began right around the time the Ministry of Education issued a new directive banning students from holding political talks.

Dated May 21, the order indicated that "paper readings, talks, and discussions related to politics should not be permitted." It further demands that, in order to hold talks and discussions, students must first seek permission by submitting speaker names and biography, concept notes, list of invitees, and time and place of the event, among others. It was signed by Dr. Thein Win, Director General of the Department of Higher Education, Myanmar.

Representative Committee of University Teacher Association swiftly issued a statement denouncing the directive. "In the past, under authoritarian rule, students were told not to get involved in politics. Now, under a democratic government, if students are again told not to get involved in politics, with even more limitations, we worry whether it's a return to authoritarian rule," observed Ko Hein Khant of the Yangon University of Economics, according to RFA.

Ko Ye Paing, a student from Dagon University, was quoted in an Irrawaddy article: "Preventing students from political activities means he doesn't want the country to become a democratic country. To be frank with my criticism of Dr. Myo Thein, the man shows such a lack reasoning."

Relenting to pressure

In the following weeks, as outcry among students and activists grew, the Ministry of Education issued two new announcements, annulling the May 21 direction in part. On June 2, the Ministry announced it, in fact, "encourages paper readings, talks, seminars, and discussions related to the subject matters in universities and colleges." The new statement, signed by the same Dr. Thein Win, reassures that it supersedes the previous directive.

Another earlier statement from the Ministry, dated May 30, instructs organizers not to "discuss topics unrelated to the subject matter of the talk."

The new statements, however, fail to clarify what punitive or disciplinary measures the Ministry and the authorities plan to take against speakers and students who veer off the approved topics of discussion, or venture too close to sensitive political topics.

Room for dissent

NLD's origin and the country's long struggle against authoritarian rule is inseparably linked to student protests -- particularly the 1988 uprising, where many students and dissidents lost their lives. Next to Suu Kyi, former student leader Min Ko Naing may be the best known Burmese activist to the international community.

Due to the Army's influential role in politics, civilian-led NLD's hands may be tied in ending the civil war, addressing the Rohingya crisis, bringing justice to the assassinated constitutional lawyer U Ko Ni, and freeing the reporters and a whistle blower who exposed the Army's misdeeds.

But the Ministry of Education is firmly under the party's control, and its policy reflects the party's stance. The ambiguous directives from the Ministry make one wonder whether the party still welcomes the students' voices of dissent, as candidate Suu Kyi herself once said four years ago somewhere on the Chin hills.
 
Sources and references
Youtube video of Suu Kyi's 2014 speech on students and politics, by Time Ayeyar
Facebook video of Suu Kyi's 2014 speech on students and politics, by Pyi Myanmar
BBC Burmese report, "A clampdown on politics-related paper readings at universities," May 31, 2018
Myanmar Times, "Students protest political talks ban," May 31, 2018
RFA, "Eight students arrested in Myanmar for unauthorized protest," May 31, 2018
Irrawaddy, "Teachers and students denounce ban on political talk," June 1, 2018
RFA, "Ban on political talks in universities voided," June 2, 2018
Ministry of Education, statement dated May 21, 2018
Ministry of Education, statement dated May 30, 2018
Ministry of Education, statement dated June 2, 2018  
DVB Debate, Should students be involved in politics or not? Part A, June 10, 2018
DVB Debate, Should students be involved in politics or not? Part B, June 10, 2018
DVB Debate, Should students be involved in politics or not? Part C, June 10, 2018