I would like to begin my remarks by thanking our gracious host, Mr president Juan Guaidó. I would like to express my respect and admiration for my co-panellists for the outstanding work that they are doing to advance their own nations and serve their people. I also would like to extend my gratitude to Alianza de la Democracia for hosting this important discussion. Like all of my esteemed co-panellists, my country Myanmar is ravaged by the military authoritarianism. While our languages and cultures are different, we may find many similarities between our histories, and our national struggles for the freedom of our people from dictators and authoritarianism. In the 19th and 20th centuries we all suffered colonialism of one form or another. And though we were able to free ourselves from colonialism, we have been dragged back time and again to brutal authoritarians by self-serving dictators. The authoritarians and their cronies live lavish and luxurious lives by oppressing and enslaving their own people. The only thing they care about is violently silencing any who dare question their right to rule.

Our dictators do not speak English or Spanish or even Burmese. They speak only the language of authoritarianism: violence, atrocities, brutality, cruelty, barbarity, and inhumanity. I know this all too well. In my own country, Myanmar, my people face these very indignities every single day. Every day of the last eight months they have endured life under the genocidal military’s reign of terror.

We need to save this world from the hands of authoritarians who have been trying to normalize their acts of terrorism and their crimes against humanity not only at home, but to the whole world. This world exists for the benefit of all and thus it falls to us to make this world better place for everyone. We must all do everything we can to liberate this world from the scourge of despots and dictators who want to destroy and subjugate for only their own benefit. We must never again allow the authoritarians to rise to power on the back of bold rhetoric and blatant lies. They claim to act in the best interest of the people, but it is the people themselves who understand and know their needs better than any government. They know what they want, and they need the freedom to choose the leaders they believe will serve their interests honestly, diligently, and faithfully. Real power comes from the people, and is wielded by the people for the people. Democracy is about the people; improving their lives and prospects. Democracy is also about freedom. The freedom to choose, the freedom to live without fear, the freedom to pursue happiness and fulfillment. But democracy and freedom wither and starve in the shadow of hegemony and autocracy. When the people are stripped of their power, there can be no hope, no freedom, no safety, no future. True power belongs to the people and when they take it back, dictatorship can never again take root in the world. We all owe it to our people, and to people everywhere in the world to fight for our democracy wherever it is threatened. Democracy will always support the people, as they support democracy.

Allow me now to turn to the situation in Myanmar. The military dictators and their cronies lost the 2020 Myanmar general elections and the people of Myanmar won a landslide victory. This election was truly free, fair, democratic and universally accepted. But military generals with despotic ambitions decided to wrest power from the people once again and imprisoned, tortured or killed those who stood against them. 

Early on the morning of the 1st of February, the military detained the elected president U Win Myint, and replaced him with the military-backed vice-president U Myint Swe whose first and last act as president was to turn power over to the military dictatorship. Since that day our people have protested and demanded their democratically elected leaders be liberated and returned power to the people of Myanmar. For their impertinence, the military have responded with bullets, bombs and heavy battlefield weapons. Every month the military’s depravity deepens. As of now, over one thousand civilians have been murdered, many of them children. Over ten thousand arrest warrants have been illegally issued, of which 8,000 have resulted in detentions, for “crimes” no more severe than criticising the military on social media. The military have seized schools and hospitals. They raid civilian villages, burning them down, and arbitrarily executing anyone they suspect of counter-military activities, or just anyone unlucky enough to be in their way. Journalists and protest leaders are particularly vulnerable. The military have weaponised CoVid-19,

fanning the flames of the pandemic in hopes of killing off the people until they can no longer fight. They have weaponised food and shelter, driving millions into homelessness and starvation. The full list of their crimes is too long and too shameful to read here today, but God willing, it will be read in the halls of the International Criminal Court and criminal courts around Myanmar and the world. We will do anything and everything to deliver justice for all the victims of the military’s barbarity. The sooner these perpetrators stand trial, the better the world will be for all mankind.

To defend themselves against the unrelenting savagery of the military, our courageous people have banded together, forming self-defense groups, and training themselves to push back the military’s war machine that has been deployed to villages, towns, and cities across the nation, to wipe the people out. Our people have achieved far more than even they could have expected, and the number of defecting soldiers increases day by day as the ranks of the people’s self-defense forces grow. I am proud to say that thanks to the indomitable will and resolve of the Myanmar people, democracy is no longer a question of if, it is a question of when. But it is also a question of how many lives will be lost, how much damage will be done, how long will it take for the nation to recover from this atrocity. Victory is inevitable, but in the interest of minimizing suffering and death of innocent civilians, we must win as soon as possible. Every day we delay could add weeks or months to our recovery, and scores to the death toll. And that is why we must turn to our most powerful weapon – international cooperation, coordinated and targeted international actions against the military dictatorship in Myanmar.

All of us gathered here today know the horrors of dictatorship. Whether the military, fascist, or any other kind, dictatorships have one thing in common: their complete disregard for their nation and people. They are more destructive than any war, plague, economic crisis, or natural disaster. But dictatorships need the good will and ignorance of the international community to stay alive. They need foreign markets to which they can sell the produce they ripped from the people, foreign banks where they can launder their stolen money, foreign militaries to supply them with arms and training, and foreign properties to hide in when the people rise up. If the international community banded together, they could put a strangle hold on the very notion of dictatorship. It is this goal which we must strive for. Authoritarianism and oppression cannot be defeated in one country only to migrate to another. We  must do everything in our power to free this world from the shadow of dictatorship once and for all. 

If our fights are to succeed, the people of the world must know about them and about the suffering our peoples endure. It is the people of the world who will put pressure on the democratic governments of the world to stop enabling dictatorships. To spread freedom and democracy at all costs. Governments, militaries, banks, corporations, all turn a blind eye to atrocities in the interest of business and protecting the status quo. Too many are afraid that taking a stand would cost them profits or political capital. But a free democratic prosperous country is always a better business partner, a better ally, a better regional power, and a better global citizen than a dictatorship can ever be. The more democracy spreads, the more all people of all countries stand to gain. We must work around the clock to tell not only our own stories to the world, but all the stories of all the oppressed peoples. We must keep up the pressure, and keep the suffering of the oppressed in the minds of the free peoples of the world because it is they who will bring the governments and institutions of the world to take up this most important fight. With international cooperation, the war will end within weeks, not years, and thousands of lives will be saved. If we work together to spread the message to every corner of the globe, we can convince those who love freedom to take up the fight for those who dream of freedom. And if that day comes, the enemies of freedom will have nowhere to hide, and no-one to call. This is the day we are fighting for – when no man is oppressed by another. Thank you for your attention. May you all be richly blessed with the strength to continue your fight – our fight – humanity’s fight – for freedom.

Sincerely,

H.E. Dr. Sasa
Union Minister of Ministry of International Cooperation
Spoke Person of Nation Unity Government
Former Special Envoy to United Nations