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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.