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26/9/97: AP NEWS/SLORC AND DIALOGUE
/* Written 26 Sep 6:00am 1997 by drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
/* ------------------" SLORC and dialogue "--------------------- */
GENERAL KHIN NYUNT AND DIALOGUE
-------------------------------
Recent effort by General Khin Nyunt to invite only U Aung Shwe, but not Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo or U Kyi Maung (according to following AP report)
to the meeting show that it is not a genuine attempt to break the dead-lock.
This appears to be the SLORC's attempt to placate international community
and ASEAN's demands about the political dialogue in Burma. SLORC's motive
may be to mitigate the international community's concerns on this issue at
the U.N. General Assembly, for which SLORC decided to make a token gesture
of initiating a dialogue.
In terms of political power, General Khin Nyunt does not have considerable
clout within SLORC and the military. The only reason General Khin Nyunt
being able to stay in this top position is that he appears to be a close
aide to, and has a perceived support of, General Ne Win. Obviously, General
Khin Nyunt is not in a secured position within the SLORC. Once Gen Ne Win
died, General Khin Nyunt's position within army will be put onto test by
other generals. The dialogue with opposition NLD, nomatter how Gen. Khin
Nyunt disliked, is the only way forward to maintain current status for him.
Sure, Gen. Khin Nyunt seem to be the most intelligent person among
SLORC members. It only remain to be seen whether he has enough intelligence
to seize the opportunity.
In my view, Burma's fundamental political disputes, i.e. between ethnic
minorities and majority Burman; the pro-democracy groups and military, have
been resolved, at least at the policy level. Such policy is quite agreeable
to all reasonable political actors concerned. To implement such policy of
peace and reconciliation, massive diplomatic and political support are
needed. Recent actions from ASEAN countries seems to be a good start. We,
however, will not be complacent by these developments: much more pressure
need to be put on SLORC until a dialogue is achieved. -- Regards, U Ne Oo.
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ASIA: RECLUSIVE RETIRED BURMESE DICTATOR ARRIVES IN JAKARTA
INDON NEWIN (CARRIED EARLIER)
JAKARTA, Sept 23 AP - Making his first public appearance in
eight years, Burma's former military dictator Ne Win shook hands
and hugged Indonesia's President Suharto when the two old friends
met for dinner tonight.
Ne Win ruled Burma with an iron hand for 26 years after
overthrowing a democratically elected government in 1962.
Many Burmese believe Ne Win still exercises control over the
present military government, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, which succeeded him in September 1988, gunning down more
than 3,000 pro-democracy protesters in the process.
Ne Win flew in from Rangoon on an Indonesian executive jet this
afternoon for a brief private visit.
"Thank God for your arrival. I appreciate your coming and
accepting my invitation to visit Indonesia," Suharto said through a
translator at Jakarta's presidential palace.
"We Indonesians are highly appreciative of your dedication and
services in bringing understanding to our two nations and people."
Suharto, a former army general who came to power after he
crushed an abortive communist coup in 1965, has known Ne Win for
about three decades.
The two last saw each other in Rangoon in February.
Ne Win looked frail and pale as he walked beside the Indonesian
leader, who is 10 years younger.
Suharto praised his guest for helping Burma to join the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year -- a move opposed
by Western countries critical of Burma's poor human rights record.
Ne Win made no comment before reporters and photographers were
ordered to leave a palace reception room.
Indonesian officials said Ne Win is to visit the grave of
Suharto's wife Tien in the city of Solo tomorrow.
He will fly on to Singapore for a routine medical checkup after
meeting Suharto on Thursday morning, diplomatic sources said.
Critics say that during his years in power, Ne Win drove
resource-rich Burma into poverty with an isolationist policy he
called "the Burmese Way to Socialism."
On July 23, 1988, he stepped down in the midst of a nationwide
democracy uprising that saw the emergence of Nobel Peace Prize
winner Aung San Suu Kyi as its leader.
In his final public speech, he warned the demonstrators that
"when the army shoots, it shoots to hit".
Chroniclers of the uprising have written that Suu Kyi was placed
under six years of house arrest after she publicly criticised Ne
Win by name.
Foreign diplomats say Burma's military leaders brief him at
least twice a month and have great respect for him.
Some analysts have written that there is little hope of breaking
the political stalemate between the military and the democracy
movement until Ne Win dies.
His last public appearance was on Armed Forces Day in March
1989.
This is his second trip out of Burma since retirement. He made a
private visit to Singapore in 1994 for eye and dental treatment.
AP gm/
[Record #1204]
ASIA: MILITARY REGIME SCORES POINT BY SUU KYI'S SILENCE
BURMA SUU KYI (FEATURE: with PICTURE)
By Robert Horn (with pic TOK102; eds, not date in copy)
BANGKOK, AP _ By spurning an olive branch from one of Burma's
top generals, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her democratic
party have found themselves in the unusual position of appearing to
be the bad guys in Burma's ongoing political drama.
Last week, General Khin Nyunt, one of the four most powerful
generals in the military government, offered to meet with Aung
Shwe, the chairman of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, and
two executive committee members to discuss their differences.
But Khin Nyunt still refused to meet with Suu Kyi, the party's
general-secretary, or vice-chairmen Tin Oo and Kyi Maung, the party
leaders who enjoy the most public support.
Suu Kyi believed that by courting Aung Shwe, Khin Nyunt was
trying to engineer a split in the party, known as the NLD, and
ultimately weaken the democratic movement.
So the party turned the general down.
Did Suu Kyi and the democrats miss a chance to begin resolving
Burma's political stalemate? With an NLD congress to begin on
Saturday (27/9), could Aung Shwe have convinced Khin Nyunt not to
launch the mass arrests that always accompany such events?
Or did the NLD simply sidestep a clever ploy by the regime to
sow divisions in their party?
Either way, for the first time since seizing power in 1988, the
regime -- the State Law and Order Restoration Council, or SLORC --
succeeded in appearing reasonable and open to compromise, while Suu
Kyi came off as stubborn and selfish.
That was no small accomplishment considering the regime's
usually poor press and its pariah status in the international
community.
Even some NLD members were troubled by the rejection.
"Let the meeting happen," said one NLD member in Rangoon who
spoke only on condition of anonymity. "Make friends first, make
demands later. If they don't relent on meeting (Suu Kyi), then
don't meet again."
While most Western diplomats publicly supported Suu Kyi's stand,
privately some expressed disappointment.
"The SLORC really looks good because they made an offer and the
NLD rejected it," said Aung Zaw, an exiled Burmese journalist
living in Thailand who covers political developments in his former
country. "I'm sure the NLD has made a mistake."
Suu Kyi rose to prominence during the pro-democracy uprising
that was crushed in 1988. Her party won a landslide victory in May
1990 elections, capturing 396 of 485 parliamentary seats, but the
military kept the results from being honored.
Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize-winner, has been calling for
a dialogue with the military government ever since she was released
from six years of house arrest in 1995.
Had the Khin Nyunt-Aung Shwe meeting taken place, it would have
been only the second face-to-face encounter between a key member of
the regime and an NLD leader after more than two years of
increasing repression and arrests of party members.
Still, many NLD members, and other opponents of the regime,
agree with Suu Kyi's belief that Khin Nyunt is trying to split the
party.
"This clearly shows they are testing the unity of the NLD," said
San San, a party organizer in Rangoon.
"Talking with Aung Shwe but not Suu Kyi is typical of the
SLORC's divide and conquer strategy," said Ner Dah, a spokesman for
the ethnic insurgent Karen National Union.
The SLORC weakened the Karen resistance, which has been fighting
for autonomy since 1949, by encouraging Buddhists to break away
from the group's Christian leadership. Similar tactics coaxed other
ethnic insurgents into cease-fires.
Khin Nyunt may also have other motives behind his overture. With
the Burmese economy deteriorating because of currency problems and
rising inflation, talks might provide some optimism to the Burmese
public, and to foreign businessmen, some of whom are souring on the
SLORC's intransigence.
Talks might also relieve pressure from the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, which admitted Burma as a member in July
over objections from Western countries but has urged the SLORC to
open a dialogue with Suu Kyi.
Several Asian diplomats said the NLD should have been willing to
meet with Khin Nyunt at least a couple more times and try to work
out some problems before drawing a line in the sand.
Despite the SLORC's history of divide-and-rule tactics, there is
no way to know with certainty what Khin Nyunt's intentions are.
Although his rhetoric is hard-line, he is regarded as the most
intelligent member of the ruling junta. He is constrained, however,
by even more hard-line generals who would like to reduce his power.
If the talks with Aung Shwe had gone well, could Khin Nyunt have
persuaded the other generals to accept meetings that included Suu
Kyi? Would Khin Nyunt even consider such a possibility?
As long as the democrats and the general aren't talking, there
will be few answers to the continuing puzzle of Burmese politics.
AP js
ASIA: MORE THAN 100 TO ATTEND SUU KYI PARTY MEETING
BURMA SUU KYI PARTY (FEATURE)
RANGOON, AP - Despite fears of a possible government crackdown,
more than 100 members of Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi's political party have reached Rangoon for a meeting scheduled
for the weekend.
Dozens of members of the National League for Democracy, some
wearing their trademark peach-coloured Burmese jackets and black
and green sarongs, milled about in tea shops near the party's
headquarters on Shwegondaing Road in Rangoon yesterday (24/9).
Many, however, eschewed the party uniform so as not to attract
too much attention from the authorities. There were no signs of
tension between the party members and local police.
Previous attempts by Suu Kyi to hold NLD congresses have been
met by mass arrests of party members by the military government.
Party officials said more than 800 were detained at this same
time last year, and 262 were arrested in May 1996.
The government said it stopped the meetings because Suu Kyi and
her party intended to set up a parallel government.
The NLD won 82 per cent of the seats in parliament in a 1990
election the military refused to honour.
An aide to Suu Kyi said party members had come from as far away
as Mandalay Division and Shan State in northern Burma and the
Tenasserim Division at the country's southern tip.
"This looks like a positive trend," said the aide, who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
He said, however, that local officials had forced some party
members in Irrawaddy and Pegu Divisions in central Burma to sign
papers promising not to go to Rangoon, and these members had stayed
home.
The government, meanwhile, has been seeking a public relations
advantage from NLD officials' refusal to let the party's chairman,
Aung Shwe, meet with a top general, Khin Nyunt, last week.
The NLD objected because Khin Nyunt refused to include Suu Kyi
in the meeting. The party said the general was trying to split its
leadership.
The regime has sent press releases to the United Nations and
news agencies playing up its attempt at dialogue with the NLD.
The government "was baffled by the intransigence of an
individual (Suu Kyi) who placed her interest above that of her
party," the statement to the United Nations said.
The congress, scheduled for September 27-28, is to mark the
ninth anniversary of the party's founding in 1988.
It plans to assess the work of the party during the nine years,
and discuss ways to implement its policies.
It remains to be seen whether the government will allow the
meeting Saturday, or move to block any venue where it could take
place.
Suu Kyi's home is already blockaded by police.
The military might choose to let the meeting proceed, hoping NLD
members unhappy about the failed talks could split the party.
Although the regime has showed little concern for international
opinion in the past, it also might not want to draw the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations into a confrontation with Western
countries over mass arrests.
Although ASEAN has defended Burma, which it admitted as a member
in July, it also has urged the generals to open a dialogue with Suu
Kyi.
Western countries have told ASEAN leaders that because they have
accepted Burma into the group, they now are expected to use their
influence to moderate the regime's repressive policies and actions.
AP js