Myo Min explores how the political role of students’ unions has shifted since Aung San Suu Kyi entered politics in 1988.
Student activism played a leading role from the Burmese independence movement in the colonial period through the democratic movements in 1988, yet today its role has diminished. Past student leaders were hugely influential in mobilizing the public in any political movement, with some of them remaining household names today, such as U Nu (Premier U Nu), Aung San (General Aung San), Salai Tin Maung Oo, Min Ko Naing and others.
But today, students’ leadership has declined, and they are no longer influential on the public. This trend has become perceptible in the ongoing resistance movement which began in early 2021 to oppose the Burma Tatmadaw seizing power. This article describes the marginalization of students’ unions, which have historically been a pivotal force in Burma’s struggle for democracy, particularly in light of Aung San Suu Kyi’s emergence as a democratic icon. Furthermore, it explores how the National League for Democracy (NLD) administration under Aung San Suu Kyi stifled political activism among students, thereby further diminishing their role in the ongoing resistance against the junta following the coup in 2021.
Students’ Activism in the Past
Student unions have been at the front of resistance against injustices since the period of colonial resistance, the struggle for national independence and against numerous governments in charge of Burma for more than 70 years, except the Spring Revolution. Their unique position to easily mobilize and willingness to sacrifice for the rights of the people make them able to be at the front of the resistance movements.
Aung Myaing San, member of Democratic Party for New Society and Central Working Committee (CWM) of All Burma Federation of Student Unions, interviewed by author.
Burmese university students have been at the heart of political movements since colonialism. There is a popular saying among Burmese students that “as long as there are students, there will be a students’ union.” The student unions’ members interviewed by the author univocally defined student unions as unions that primarily work for students’ rights, but that will be at the front of resistance when there is any injustice directed towards general public and when there is any political mismanagement.
Since 1920, students have played a role in all major political events whether that was against the colonial rulers or against an oppressive military regime. They entered politics in the struggle for independence as a part of the nationalist movement against British colonization during the first half of the twentieth century and continue to be active as one of the main social groups fighting for social and political change through the unprecedented repression and the increased restrictions under the oppressive military regime which has been rooted for more than sixty years.
In 1923, the very first organized student union in Burma, Rangoon University Student’s Union (RUSU), was formed as a student welfare organization for the students at Rangoon University College. Within a decade, it became a major arm of the national liberation movement. After Burma gained independence in 1948, the student movement shifted its focus to campus and education-related issues, as the nationalist movement from the anti-colonial struggle was replaced by a parliamentary political system. Many former student activists went on to become politicians and civil servants in the nation.
However, Burma underwent serious changes in politics when General Ne Win staged a coup to establish the long-term basis of authoritarian rule in 1962. In response, the students’ unions assumed the role of the leading political opposition in the struggle against authoritarianism. But the security forces ruthlessly and quickly crushed the students’ protests, reportedly killing more than one hundred students and dynamiting the historic Rangoon University Students’ Union Building, the birthplace of Burma’s independence and student activist movement.
On the event of 7th July, Rangoon University Students’ Union building was dynamited and more than hundreds were killed by the junta but the fighting spirit of the students’ unions failed to be shaken off. In fact, the fighting spirit was rekindled on the side of the people against dictatorship.
Zeus (pseudonym), former secretary of Yadanabon University Students’ Union, interviewed by author.
While the army succeeded in suppressing the student movements, their recourse to such extreme measures provoked bitterness against the regime. The spirit of students to fight against the dictatorship is best described by the final statement of executed student leader, Salai Tin Maung Oo. In 1976, the 25-year-old Chin student leader was arrested for leading an underground movement during both the U Thant funeral crisis and commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Thakin Kodaw Hmaing, a prominent figure of nationalism during the anti-colonial struggle. Three months after his arrest, the junta executed him inside the prison walls without any trial or defense. His last words on the gallows were: “You can kill my body, but you can never kill my beliefs and what I stood for. I shall never kneel under your military boots.”
More than a decade after Salai Tin Maung Oo’s execution, All Burma Federation of Student Union (ABFSU) led the country’s largest political movement in 1988, forcing general Ne Win to apologize for his mismanagement of the country’s economy and resign after 26 years in power. In his nationally-televised resignation speech on July 23, 1988, Ne Win warned that the army would “shoot straight to hit” if people demonstrated again. Yet, students continued to protest his successor and to form an independent interim government. A subsequent military coup brought a new regime to power that crushed the demonstrations and killed thousands. Instead of deterring the movement, the brutal treatment and arbitrary shooting of student protesters rather fostered a strong student political identity and radicalized many more moderate students. “Our heads are bloodied but unbowed,” has been the student’s slogan throughout the struggle.
When the ABFSU chose to form an alliance with Aung San Suu Kyi in 1988, the students gained a nationally-known ally to strengthen their cause. However, eventually Suu Kyi and her party, National League for Democracy (NLD), took the vanguard role in place of the students, leaving the center of the country with no significant political opposition other than her party. 1988 was also the last uprising to give rise to some of the country’s best-known student political activists such as Min Ko Naing. Since then, Burma’s politics have been dominated by a struggle between Aung San Suu Kyi/NLD on one side and the military on the other.
The Diminishing Role of Students’ Unions
After the coup in 1988, the students divided themselves into two groups: a group of the students to stay inside Burma and continue the struggle against the military regime in nonviolent ways as NLD youth wing, and another group to leave the country and join with other revolutionary groups in the jungles in their armed struggle against the military regime. Meanwhile, the military effectively minimized the possibility for students to organize anti-government activities through exerting very strong control over the educational system, weakening a vital political output structure that had earlier allowed student movements to develop.
Initially, Aung San Suu Kyi praised the students directly in her historic speech to the mass rally at the Shwedagon Pagoda in 1988, recognizing students for the sacrifice made by those who died in protests and holding a minute of silence in their honor. But she didn’t agree with the students’ radical or revolutionary approach. Later, she distanced herself from the students’ radical political activity when thousands and thousands of students and youth left for the jungles in the border areas of the country.
Although students’ unions remained one of the opposition forces for the junta to reckon with, for the people, the heart of the opposition force is occupied by the Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma’s independence hero, General Aung San. She quickly become the irreplaceable, iconic figure who garnered immense support and adoration from millions of Burmese. On the other hand, students’ activism started to lose its grip of a strong fighting force against the junta for the people. The public perception of the students changed. Before Aung San Suu Kyi and her party NLD, students were the only legitimate opposition, but they were replaced by the Lady and her party. As a result, student activism declined precipitously and only Aung San Suu Kyi could draw large crowds into the streets.
By 2012, the ABFSU was re-established, and student organizations could collectively act, but the influence of student groups weakened because student groups divided between focusing on independent political activity and supporting political groups such as the NLD. As Aung Phone Maw, member of the Central Executive Committee of the University of Yangon Students’ Union, stated in an interview with the author:
Some student unions were in confrontations with the NLD, and others had a good relationship. Among the student unions, ABFSU’s (Ba Ka Tha) approach is more of confrontation for broader political change and was continuously in disputes with the NLD for its prioritized reconciliation with the military generals under the 2008 Constitution. However, Confederation of University Students’ Unions (also known by its acronym of CUSU or Ta Ka Tha) shared warm relations with Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD government.
Aung Phone Maw, member of the Central Executive Committee of the University of Yangon Students’ Union
To further fracture student unions, the NLD government tried to forsake the ABSFU and the neutral unions while simultaneously sponsoring new groups of students’ unions. As Phone Htet Naung, a member of the University of Yangon Students’ Union, explained in an interview with the author, “NLD lawmakers Phyo Min Thein and Daw Nilar Thein would come into the university and intervene in student organizations and political activities. They sponsored new student unions that would only collaborate with the NLD government.” The NLD met only once with selective unions that accommodate them, such as CUSU, during their entire five-year term.
As Aung (pseudonym), former president of the Yangon University of Economics Students’ Union, stated in an interview with the author:
The influence of students’ unions has significantly decreased in the last 5 years [of] Aung San Suu Kyi’s government due to the lack of effective strategy and mutual problems. The unions were no longer under a single roof. The unions were disfigured when any activities were mobilized against the government. The government’s supporters questioned whether such unions were still necessary. When she met with students, Aung San Suu Kyi also asked them not to do political activities and encouraged them to study.
Aung (pseudonym), former president of the Yangon University of Economics Students’ Union
As a result, students were left deeply fractured and significantly weakened during the 5 years term of NLD government.
Students as Supporting Players
The students’ union has been a potential unit of the Spring Revolution. In the immediate aftermath of the coup, their efforts made possible to rock the streets in central Yangon together with factory workers from Hlaingthaya township on Feb. 6. The pivotal role of the students’ union in the spring revolution cannot be dismissed. But they are no longer the political vanguard of the country.
Moe Nya (pseudonym), former Secretary-General of the Yangon Institute of Economics Students’ Union, interviewed by author
After Burma’s military seized power to overthrow the democratically-elected NLD government in the first week of February 2021, student unions have been at the forefront in organizing protests and other actions in Yangon in collaboration with labor organizations. Student organizations returned to the vanguard roles, but they didn’t receive the same recognition from the public as previous movements. When there was uncertainty among the people on how to react to the political crisis caused by the coup, students stepped in to organize a large number of garment workers to come out on the streets. Thereafter, several groups of protesters appeared, ranging from student unions to labor unions, civil society organizations, organizations drawn on ethnic lines, and political parties.
Student leaders still actively hold strikes on the ground against the junta, reminding the people that the fascist military and the 2008 Constitution, which is the backbone of the fascist army, must be removed if they want real freedom. But they are not able to directly influence the general public for any policy changes. They have to push through the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), formed by most of the elected lawmakers from NLD who were prevented from taking their seats by the Feb 1 Coup. As Min Thwe Thit, former spokesperson and member of Central Working Committee (CWM) of All Burma Federation of Student Unions, explained in an interview with the author, “student unions are excluded from political leadership roles though they are capable of [those roles], and they have to play as supporting actors along the road paved by the NUG.” So, their ranks shifted from leading roles to supporting reform and constructing a new, socially-equitable federal democratic country.
Student unions now take a wide range of supporting roles from Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) to armed struggle. The coup has profoundly affected Burma’s university students, many of whom take part in CDM by boycotting the education system under the military regime when the military council reopened university campuses. Student unions contributed as a part of broader CDM support teams as public educators and on online educational programs. They were also compelled to join armed struggle as a last recourse. Students who have taken up arms against the military have joined ethnic armed organizations, People’s Defense Force’s (PDF) – which are under the command of the Ministry of Defense of the NUG – and Local Defense Forces (LDFs) established within various regions across the country.
Conclusion
Burmese students have consistently fought for freedom whenever opportunities have presented themselves. They assumed a leading role during the independence struggle and the uprising in 1988 and continue to be one of the major forces for political, economic, and social transformation within the nation. The current generation of students again proves that they will always emerge to challenge injustices in Burma until genuine democratic reforms are instituted. They are a major social group that never shows a great sense of alienation or lack of understanding of their societies. But the historic role of the students as the political vanguard of the country has faded away. Student participation in politics is continually undermined by those in power, including Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD). Student activism will persist in opposing oppression and injustice as long as the spirit of the student union remains strong. Nevertheless, the country is unlikely to witness any significant uprising led by students in the near future.
Myo Min is a research assistant at Yangon School of Political Science. He is interested to identify and respond where he has been contributing to research projects on political participation in Myanmar.
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