Hillary Clinton '69 meets with human rights activist Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

On Wednesday Nov. 30, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton '69 began her three-day tour of the Southeast Asian country Myanmar (also known as Burma), which has been under military rule since 1962. Clinton is the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit Myanmar in over fifty years. During her stay, she has met seperately with Burmese President Thein Sein, senior government officials, opposition leaders (including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi) and representatives of various ethnic minority groups. Her visit is seen as a significant shift in U.S. policy by the Obama administration in response to the changes made by the country's newly elected president. While the visit is, in many ways, a reward for Sein's slow movement away from repressive military rule, it is also a chance for Clinton to stress the need for more significant improvements.

In her meetings with government officials, Secretary Clinton has offered small incentives for democratization in Myanmar, including relaxed restrictions on international aid and resources for development programs. For instance, Congress will no longer veto assessment programs carried out by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and will support further United Nations grants for healthcare and microfinance projects in Myanmar. Secretary Clinton and President Sein also discussed the possibility of exchanging ambassadors, a monumental step in U.S.-Burmese relations.

Paul K. MacDonald, assistant professor of political science at Wellesley College, stated, "The steps Secretary Clinton announced are modest, amounting to a little over $1 million in humanitarian assistance, but they signal America's willingness to back further democratization in Myanmar. The United States is not the decisive actor in Myanmar―the pace and scale of reforms will be largely driven by actors inside Myanmar―but it can encourage positive steps around the margins."

Diplomacy between the United States and Myanmar has been particularly sour in the past, mainly as a result of Myanmar's track record of human rights violations under its previous military regime. These violations include the detainment of approximately 2,000 political prisoners and the violent repression and displacement of ethnic minorities. In response to these reports, the United States along with other European countries placed economic sanctions on the Burmese government to pressure the country to release its political prisoners and open up a dialogue with opposition leaders and representatives of ethnic minorities.

On Nov. 7, 2010, Myanmar held its first presidential elections in 20 years. The previous elections, held in 1990, resulted in a landslide victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD), the main opposition party in Myanmar. However, these results were ignored by the military junta, and the NLD was never allowed to take power. Their leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was subsequently placed under house arrest, where she remained for much of the next 20 years. Finally in 2010, the military junta agreed to hold another round of general elections. However, the NLD was barred from participating in the elections, and Suu Kyi remained under house arrest until the elections ended.

"People were pessimistic about [the elections]," said Poe Oo '15, a Wellesley student from Myanmar. "They thought, ‘We just have to say yes and pick their party or else we might lose our right to trade, our right to produce this, or our right to continue our business. They were scared of the government going after them if they didn't vote for them. Many people didn't see it as a way to democracy. They saw it as a way for the military to hold onto their power."

Myanmar's new president, Thein Sein, of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, has slowly been working toward a more democratic Myanmar. He recently signed a law allowing peaceful protests for the first time in the history of the country. After the 2010 elections, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest on Nov. 13, 2010. Following her release, several other political prisoners were set free. Suu Kyi now plans to run in the upcoming Parliamentary elections.

Ji Hyang Padma '91, Buddhist advisor at Wellesley College, stated, "Like everyone else, I was really excited when Suu Kyi was freed. And like everyone else, I wonder whether this is just going to be a token or whether this is signifying some deeper change... They said ‘We're releasing political prisoners.' [But] they released three out of over two thousand. That is not highly impressive."

The Obama administration, along with Suu Kyi and much of the international community, is currently calling for the unconditional release of all of Myanmar's political prisoners. The United States is also refusing to ease up on the economic sanctions placed on the Burmese government.