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Goal of junta still an illusion
Thursday September 18 1997
South China Morning Post
Burma
Goal of junta still an illusion
ANALYSIS WILLIAM BARNES
Nine years after the formation of a military junta designed to lift a
once-prosperous country out of poverty and isolation, Burma remains poorly
equipped to face a future with few friends.
A senior diplomat in Rangoon has a quick explanation: "Real freedom is
anathema to people used to barking out orders."
But when the State Law and Order Restoration Council was born in the wake of
the anti-democracy crackdown on September 18, 1988, that left thousands of
protesters dead, it was certainly not part of the plan that Burma should
remain poor and lonely.
Months before, dictator General Ne Win had stunned the nation by stepping down
after admitting that a quarter-century of his quasi-socialist rule had brought
the country to its knees.
But the optimism caused by the ageing strongman's calls for free markets and a
multi-party Government was quickly tempered as the unbending nature of his
chosen "transitional" vehicle the SLORC, to use its ugly acronym, became
clear.
"It was always inherent contradiction to expect military figures brought up in
the tradition of a very self-reliant ultra-nationalist like Ne Win to relax
their control and allow the markets to work their magic," the diplomat said.
The generals expected that if they could lift Burma on to the Asia high-growth
bandwagon, greater wealth would reduce the clamour for political freedom.
But the SLORC's closed military minds were shocked when their political puppet
party was blown out of the water in 1990 elections.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won by a
landslide - even though its leaders had been locked up by the frustrated
junta.
The generals have ruled with an iron fist ever since.
Brief construction booms in Rangoon and Mandalay have been unable to disguise
the wretched state of the rest of the economy where "a lot of absurdities
still need to be shaken out", another envoy said.
Foreign economists suspect that only by feeding off drug money can Burma
continue with many of its prestige building projects.