Issues and Opposition: In 2014, Myanmar was going through a transition from oppressive military rule to a quasi-civilian elected government. Although the election in 2010 ushered in a new era as the military regime ended, in reality, many of the positions in the government were filled by erstwhile members of the junta. The new government did introduce certain changes but these had little or no positive impact. For example, the National Education Law of 2014 instead of reforming continues the military era oppressions. Many students opposed the law because the government did not discuss the intended reforms with student bodies and because the law prevented institutions of higher education from teaching ethnic minority languages. The student unions demanded that the law should be modified before passing the government passes it. The protesters wanted 25 changes in the document but the government was ready to alter only 19 of these. One important demand of the student unions was to hold the implementation of the National Education Law until 2027 and use this time to adequately review the provisions therein. However, the government of President Thein Sein rejected this. Additionally, the student unions found the provisions preventing the formation of student or teacher unions under the law problematic and an effort by the government to suppress voices of dissent. Finally, students were concerned that the Ministry of Education will centrally control all universities in Myanmar reducing their institutional autonomy.
Dilemma Action: During President Obama’s town hall meeting with the Burmese military government, protesting students held up placards saying “Reform is Fake” and “Illusion”. Students also gave President Obama an open letter describing their fears and concerns. The protesters shared the same letter with the media in a Press Conference held after the town hall. On the day of the town hall, Obama was scheduled to meet 400 students from Yangon University of Myanmar on November 14, 2014. This was Obama’s second official visit to Myanmar and was considered a highly important event for Myanmar’s government. The protesters were students and could easily get into the meeting with other Yangin University students. This dilemma action was part of a larger campaign against the 2014 elected government.
Outcome: This action was indeed a daring act by the young protesters that attracted international media attention because of Obama’s presence at the town hall meeting that day. The protesters were seeking the attention of the international media and Obama because the placards had messages in English. The Myanmar government was taken by surprise because Thien Sien, his ministers, and government officials present in the town hall had not anticipated that the protesters would utilize the gathering in President Obama’s presence to express their dissent. Unfortunately, beyond these, the dilemma action achieved almost nothing. Beautiful Trouble enlisted a few of the things that went wrong in the protest that day. Many presents in the audience could not readily understand if the protesters were protesting against the national government or the U.S. President. The town hall was streaming live to cover Obama’s speech but because the protesters were far away from the cameras and the media persons, their placards were not covered in the streaming. As expected, the protesters were quickly whisked out of the town hall. There were many placards with an assortment of hashtags and demands making the purpose of the protest obtuse to the media. So, while the meeting was briefly interrupted, no other effective outcome resulted from this action.