MYANMAR NEEDS FIRM DEMOCRACY

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MYANMAR NEEDS FIRM DEMOCRACY
The Hindu (20 December 1998) http://www.the-hindu.com
By P. S. Suryanarayana

Hanoi, Dec. 19: The agenda of military regime opponents in Myanmar is not
good for the security of either India or China and the region, according to
the Myanmarese Foreign Minister, Mr Win Aung.

In an exclusive interview to The Hindu here, he did not explicitly identity
Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar democracy leader, as villain while outlining
this proposition. However, he denounced her "confrontationist style."
Answering a question on Ms Suu Kyi's ongoing campaign, Mr Win Aung said,
Myanmar would "need to have a firm Constitution and firm democracy" instead
of its military "having to stage a coup again and again" in the event of
endemic instability that might be caused by demonstration at this stage.

Shortly before he left Hanoi after attending the latest summit of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Myanmar Foreign
Minister said, "Back in 1988, we suffered a lot in lawlessness and anarchic
situation (a reference to an uprising against the military government) we
are now trying to preserve whatever stability we have got, whatever peace
we have now achieved, so that we could move forward" towards "our aim" of
"multi-party democratic system."


Maintaining that the ruling State Peace and Development Council could only
move "step by step" towards that goal because it "did not have experience"
in that exercise, he said. "We are not deliberately prolonging our
process... we are not rushing, of course." Drawing the analogy of "walking
across a minefield" and blaming Ms Suu Kyi's quest for "power, power in her
hand," the Myanmar leader said. "If the people are so poor as now, how can
they enjoy democracy? All the same, "there is a process going on arising
out of the results of the 1990 elections" which Ms Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy had won only to remain in political wilderness.

"Let us first finish making our Constitution," Mr Win Aung said, outlining
a thesis as follows- "we inherited a lot problems (at independence) Not
like India. Maybe, some parts of India have problems. But we inherited lot
(of problems) from our, say in Indian words, British Raj. We inherited our
problem of disunity. Right now, we are 135 national races living together
in the union.... We can not afford to disintegrate.... We are living
between two most populous nations - India and China. How can we afford to
have small pieces? It will not do good for the security of both (these)
countries, our region will not have stability."

Asked about the latest informal move by some officials of the UN and the
World Bank to open up the Bamboo Curtain of Myanmar's politics, Mr Win Aung
said the so-called plan of "dollars for democracy" was "very much an
insult" to the Yangon regime. Asserting that Myanmar would solve its
problems "internally," he argued that if Yangon were to "dance when given
something" its status would then be "very, very low" indeed. Nonetheless,
he said, there had so far been no concrete offer from either the World Bank
or the UN about their willingness to give Yangon a sum of at least $ 1
billion, perhaps even $ 2 billions, so as to induce the regime to open a
dialogue with Ms Suu Kyi.

About the present Yangon regime's sunshine foreign policy of engagement
with the outside world, especially its neighborhood, the foreign minister
said, "India and Myanmar and also China are the original founders of the
five principles of peaceful coexistence." Asked whether in his opinion,
India's present diplomatic engagement with Myanmar was aimed at
counterbalancing China's strategic links with Yangon, he said: "We don't
regard India is coming to woo us or like that.(Also) we don't regard India
as a threat or a potential enemy... India is a place  where our kind of
Buddhism was born. India is a great civilization ... A lot (have) we gain
from India... in this modern time, we can cooperate... We think that India
also regards us as a friend... We will never be a threat to the security of
India."

On Myanmar's present equation with the ASEAN club, he said Yangon would
play the role of "a responsible member" instead of being a passive
participant in the association's activities. An ASEAN meeting on combating
transnational crimes such as drug trafficking and the like would be hosted
by Myanmar next year. "We are also a crime-fighting Government. We work
closely with other countries in sharing our information in the fight
against narcotics drugs for instance," he said.
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