why was the democracy not successful in Myanmar after independence
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Answer:
Myanmar has come a long way since its days as a closed authoritarian state, led by a military junta which characterized most of its history.
One could argue the beginning of the end of the junta started 30 years ago this month when over two million people rose up against the regime in pro-democracy street protests. The response by the military junta in 1988 was brutal. Some 3,000 to 10,000 dead, many more tens of thousands injured, imprisoned, or run out of the country altogether.
Among the imprisoned was Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of one of the country’s post-independence founders, and a newly emerged pro-democracy icon. Over the next 21 years, she would spend 15 in prison for her advocacy of democracy and human rights in Myanmar -- work for which she also received international recognition and a Nobel Peace Prize.
Yet, today, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi is the de facto leader of the country, holding the position of first state counsellor and a number of ministerial portfolios, following a general election in 2015 which swept her pro-democracy movement, the National League for Democracy, to a dominant majority in the country’s parliament (after gaining around 60% of the vote for both houses).
But scratch beneath the surface and it quickly becomes evident that the promises of democracy have been, and continue to be, betrayed -- and by Ms Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy as much as by anyone else.
The most obvious sign that something is very wrong in Myanmar is the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya minority in the north-west of the country.