Burmese comedian activist Zarganar Wants Sanctions to End, Won’t Run for Parliament

Zarganar Wants Sanctions to End, Won’t Run for Parliament
BA KAUNG , Irrawaddy, December 20, 2011

BANGKOK—Burmese comedian activist Zarganar called for the lifting of Western economic sanctions against Burma, but balked at formally joining the political arena and running for the military-dominated Parliament.

The lifting of sanctions would bring much-needed aid to the country’s impoverished people, particularly the garment factory workers, said Zarganar in a press briefing on Monday night at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Bangkok, Thailand (FCCT).

“I discussed this with nearly 16 ambassadors and also with the World Bank officials here in Bangkok,” said Zarganar, a former political prisoner making his first trip outside Burma after being released from prison in October as part of a government amnesty.

Zarganar is on a trip to Thailand and Cambodia to study filmmaking in preparation for his role in organizing the “The Art of Freedom Film Festival” in Rangoon next month.

The very fact that the authorities issued a passport and allowed him to visit foreign countries attests to the start of change under Burma’s new quasi-civilian government, which is led by former army generals who are making tentative political and economic reforms, said Zarganar.

However, the 50-year old entertainer dissident said that he wished to help his country progress by working outside the formal political process.

“I don’t wish to go to Naypyidaw. I don’t wish to go to the Parliament. I don’t wish to become an MP. I wish to work for my country’s youth, many of whom still don’t understand about democracy and human rights,” he said. “We must focus on the majority of our poor people, 70 percent of whom are peasants. Not on the rich people.”

When asked by The Irrawaddy if his comment showed a disagreement with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has decided to compete for a parliamentary seat in the coming by-elections, Zarganar said, “Aunty is Aunty, Zarganar is Zarganar. I stood firmly by my principles under the BSPP [the ruling party under former dictator Gen Ne Win in the 1980s]. Now I am doing the same…But the disagreement is everywhere.”

Regarding his foreign country travel experience after years of incarceration, he said he was shocked to see many young people in Bangkok who, in contrast to the youth in Burma, seemed to have no sense of insecurity.

“In our country, our young people lost their freedom and their self-confidence. Their faces are full of anxiety. There was quite a difference from what I saw in Bangkok and what I saw in Rangoon, although we are neighboring countries. So we have to change our attitudes and promote our young people.”

Dressed in a traditional Burmese sarong, Zarganar also did not fail to perform his role of political satirist to a crowd of nearly 100 people at the FCCT. The audience broke into loud laughter when he recounted the following tale: “King Kong was chasing a passenger plane, sending all of the passengers crying for help. The Prime Minister of China warned him to stop or face his army, but King Kong didn’t listen. Vladimir Putin of Russia made the same warning, but to no avail. Then US President Barack Obama threatened him with his Seventh Fleet, but King Kong just laughed and didn’t care. But when the Burmese leader warned that he would be sent to the USDP [Burma’s military-backed ruling party] if he kept following the plane, King Kong fled the scene.”