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Are the Burmese Generals Civilized?
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Are the Burmese Generals Civilized?
By Kanbawza Win
This is the question the International Community has been
asking for nearly half a century. The civilized world has been watching
helplessly as U Ne Win and his generals have dragged one of the most
prosperous nations of Southeast Asia down to the Least Developed Country
status at the United Nations. The Burmese army?s brand of Burmese Way to
Socialism, which they followed from 1962 to 1988, was an utter failure,
so much so that the people rose en masse on the 8th day of the 8th month
of the 88th year. The army had the gall to shoot indiscriminately into
the crowds killing some 10,000 to 20,000 people throughout the whole
country, a fact which they have never dared to admit. Realizing some of
their mistakes, they brought in the Burmese Army Way to Capitalism with
a promise to hand over power. But when they discovered that their party
had been soundly beaten by the pro-democracy groups led by the Nobel
Peace Laureate, they refused to honour their own election result. The
true color of these power maniacs was shown when they hang on to power
for a dozen years with disastrous consequences.
Now the inevitable has arrived, there is no choice but to negotiate
with the pro democracy movement. What comes through clearly is the
extent of the generational split in the Burmese army itself. This also
explains why the pro-democracy movement will eventually get the country
back on its feet. It was always clear who decided to open fire on the
peaceful demonstrators. General Ne Win together with the 7th July Sein
Lwin (the person who fired on the students on 7th July 1962), who are
now in their dotage and officially retired were the old revolutionary
guards who had spent their lives ordering the deaths of any one who
opposed them.
In the 1962 massacre and the blowing up of the Rangoon University
Students? Union Building, General Ne Win revealed his true policy by
saying that ?he will face sword with sword and spear with spear,? even
though not a single student had even a pin as a weapon to fight against
him. But the magnitude of the massacre in 1988, and the genocide that
followed compelled them to retreat into cowardice. It was evident that
the old guards, the octogenarians who had been wading through blood
since their teens, were willing to order the killing of the unarmed
peaceful demonstrators. Most of the younger generals would not have done
so. Now this old generation is gone and very soon the people will be
giving the final rites to U Ne Win who will be 91 this May 24th.
The Generals have witnessed history unfolding in front of their eyes
and have seen the writing on the wall, that they will go down in history
as the darkest period of modern Burma. In their endeavour to block
political change and erase history they have tried to destroy the house
of Aung San (recruiting Aung San Oo is one of their tactics) and ordered
the name of Aung San to be removed from all places. They named U Ne
Win?s wife, Daw Ni Ni Myint, as head of the Historical Commission to
rewrite modern history and obliterate the records of massacres and
wrongdoings and to find justifications for their actions. Maybe these
all they can do now.
Even though the thaw between the two opposing forces has generally been
welcomed with cautious optimism, the world has not forgotten the long
record of the Burmese army betrayal, especially with the ethnic forces.
International pressure, coupled with the possibility of being kicked out
of the UN itself after being thrown out of the ILO with even the
champions of Constructive Engagement Policy of Southeast Asian nations
have been forced to negotiate.
Just as with the Arabs and Israelis, the bitter antagonist has been
forced by the international community to sit at the table. The usual
slang attacks as ?traitorous?, ?axe handle,? etc are now being replaced
with more respectable words in the Burmese media, even though the
outsider could see that the Burmese army has been a traitor, using their
rationale as been followers of General Ne Win, who was married to a
foreigner an Italian citizen by the name of June Rose Balmy who is
lovingly called in Burmese as Yadana Nat Mai. Coming to ?axe handles?
they themselves are the ones being manipulated by a foreign power
especially the China who now are endeavouring to dominate the whole of
Asia by placing the naval bases on their Burmese side of the Andaman
Sea.
Most experts and analysts are wary of the Burmese Generals as they sense
the real intention of the Junta is simply to persuade the international
community to ease their pressure allowing the Generals to revert to
their bad old ways. Ample proofs exists in their not releasing Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi and the NLD leaders from custody, not to mention the tens of
thousand of political prisoners. Expanding the military colleges so
their graduates can replace the bureaucrats in order to run the country
perpetually, increasing the narcotic trades, reinforcing ?The Divide and
Rule Policy" towards the ethnic forces, and their silently implementing
an ethnic and religious cleansing policy are just some examples. This
does not take into account of the mistrust the people have towards the
Burmese army. Any excuse can be given to derail the process of the
rapprochement.
To be candid this is not the first time the Generals have met with Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi. She had met them twice in 1994 during her long stretch
of house arrest. Their pictures flashing on the local media and should
have been labeled as ?The Beauty and the Beasts.? They will hold a
couple of talks and then letting it to a break down and blaming it all
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the pro democracy forces is their usual
tactics. Likewise in 1960s they hold talks with U Nu, the ethnic groups
and finished off. Their usual plan is to use these meetings as
justification and this time they plan to pass a new constitution,
reasoning that they would be legitimized in the eyes of the
international community. They will reason that they had done everything
possible to cooperate with the opposition.
But this time the Generals are not only feeling the pinch of
international pressure led by the UN itself but also the deep divide
between the hawks and the dove inside the army. The economic conditions
are also such that it seems they are sitting on volcanoes which have
already blown out some of their ashes as the case of General Zaw Tun.
(Note: Brig-Gen Zaw Tun, Deputy Minister of National Planning and
Economic Development was dismissed last year for his frank assessment of
the regime's economic performance.)
The epidemic of Na Wa Ta disease, known to the international community
as AIDS, especially among the soldiers is hurting them. The Junta knows
that they cannot count too much of the loyalty of their own soldiers as
there may be several Ohn Kyaw Myints (the young captain who plotted to
assassinate Ne Win but was caught) among them. This is the real driving
force that compels them to talk to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Their oversea allies especially the ASEAN led by Malaysia?s Dr Mahathir
whose name in Burmese interpreted it as Ma Har Da Yar because he act
very rashly with his opponents seems to have hit the right chord when he
yelled at the Junta. The Burmese Generals now prove to their people and
world that they are the genuine lackey of a foreign country by meekly
obeying to Ma Har Da Yar?s command, if it is according to their logic.
Eventually we are not completely pessimistic as this could lead to a
fruitful conclusion if the Generals really proves to be rational and
civilized.
______________________________________________________________
>From the New Era Journal No 93 Feb. 2001
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<center><font face="Arial Black"><font color="#3333FF"><font size=+2>Are
the Burmese Generals Civilized?</font></font></font></center>
<p><font face="Arial Black"><font size=+1>By Kanbawza Win</font></font>
<p> <font color="#CC0000">This
is the question the International Community has been asking for nearly
half a century. The civilized world has been watching helplessly as U Ne
Win and his generals have dragged one of the most prosperous nations of
Southeast Asia down to the Least Developed Country status at the United
Nations. The Burmese army?s brand of <b><i>Burmese Way to Socialism</i></b>,
which they followed from 1962 to 1988, was an utter failure, so much so
that the people rose en masse on the 8th day of the 8th month of the 88th
year. The army had the gall to shoot indiscriminately into the crowds killing
some 10,000 to 20,000 people throughout the whole country, a fact which
they have never dared to admit. Realizing some of their mistakes, they
brought in the <b><i>Burmese Army Way to Capitalism</i></b> with a promise
to hand over power. But when they discovered that their party had been
soundly beaten by the pro-democracy groups led by the Nobel Peace Laureate,
they refused to honour their own election result. The true color of these
power maniacs was shown when they hang on to power for a dozen years with
disastrous consequences.</font>
<br><font color="#CC0000"> Now the inevitable has arrived, there is
no choice but to negotiate with the pro democracy movement. What comes
through clearly is the extent of the generational split in the Burmese
army itself. This also explains why the pro-democracy movement will eventually
get the country back on its feet. It was always clear who decided to open
fire on the peaceful demonstrators. General Ne Win together with the 7th
July Sein Lwin (the person who fired on the students on 7th July 1962),
who are now in their dotage and officially retired were the old revolutionary
guards who had spent their lives ordering the deaths of any one who opposed
them.</font>
<br><font color="#CC0000"> In the 1962 massacre and the blowing up
of the Rangoon University Students? Union Building, General Ne Win revealed
his true policy by saying that <b><i>?he will face sword with sword and
spear with spear,?</i></b> even though not a single student had even a
pin as a weapon to fight against him. But the magnitude of the massacre
in 1988, and the genocide that followed compelled them to retreat into
cowardice. It was evident that the old guards, the octogenarians who had
been wading through blood since their teens, were willing to order the
killing of the unarmed peaceful demonstrators. Most of the younger generals
would not have done so. Now this old generation is gone and very soon the
people will be giving the final rites to U Ne Win who will be 91 this May
24th.</font>
<p><font color="#CC0000"> The Generals have witnessed history unfolding
in front of their eyes and have seen the writing on the wall, that they
will go down in history as the darkest period of modern Burma. In their
endeavour to block political change and erase history they have tried to
destroy the house of Aung San (recruiting Aung San Oo is one of their tactics)
and ordered the name of Aung San to be removed from all places. They named
U Ne Win?s wife, Daw Ni Ni Myint, as head of the Historical Commission
to rewrite modern history and obliterate the records of massacres and wrongdoings
and to find justifications for their actions. Maybe these all they can
do now.</font>
<p><font color="#CC0000">Even though the thaw between the two opposing
forces has generally been welcomed with cautious optimism, the world has
not forgotten the long record of the Burmese army betrayal, especially
with the ethnic forces. International pressure, coupled with the possibility
of being kicked out of the UN itself after being thrown out of the ILO
with even the champions of <b><i>Constructive Engagement Policy</i></b>
of Southeast Asian nations have been forced to negotiate.</font>
<p><font color="#CC0000">Just as with the <b><i>Arabs and Israelis</i></b>,
the bitter antagonist has been forced by the international community to
sit at the table. The usual slang attacks as ?traitorous?, ?axe handle,?
etc are now being replaced with more respectable words in the Burmese media,
even though the outsider could see that the Burmese army has been a traitor,
using their rationale as been followers of General Ne Win, who was married
to a foreigner an Italian citizen by the name of June Rose Balmy who is
lovingly called in Burmese as <b><i>Yadana Nat Mai</i></b>. Coming
to ?axe handles? they themselves are the ones being manipulated by a foreign
power especially the China who now are endeavouring to dominate the whole
of Asia by placing the naval bases on their Burmese side of the Andaman
Sea.</font>
<p><font color="#CC0000">Most experts and analysts are wary of the Burmese
Generals as they sense the real intention of the Junta is simply to persuade
the international community to ease their pressure allowing the Generals
to revert to their bad old ways. Ample proofs exists in their not releasing
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD leaders from custody, not to mention the
tens of thousand of political prisoners. Expanding the military colleges
so their graduates can replace the bureaucrats in order to run the country
perpetually, increasing the narcotic trades, reinforcing <b><i>?The Divide
and Rule Policy"</i></b> towards the ethnic forces, and their silently
implementing an ethnic and religious cleansing policy are just some examples.
This does not take into account of the mistrust the people have towards
the Burmese army. Any excuse can be given to derail the process of the
rapprochement.</font>
<p><font color="#CC0000">To be candid this is not the first time the Generals
have met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She had met them twice in 1994 during
her long stretch of house arrest. Their pictures flashing on the local
media and should have been labeled as <b><i>?The Beauty and the Beasts.?</i></b>
They will hold a couple of talks and then letting it to a break down and
blaming it all Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the pro democracy forces is their
usual tactics. Likewise in 1960s they hold talks with U Nu, the ethnic
groups and finished off. Their usual plan is to use these meetings
as justification and this time they plan to pass a new constitution, reasoning
that they would be legitimized in the eyes of the international community.
They will reason that they had done everything possible to cooperate with
the opposition.</font>
<p><font color="#CC0000">But this time the Generals are not only feeling
the pinch of international pressure led by the UN itself but also the deep
divide between the hawks and the dove inside the army. The economic conditions
are also such that it seems they are sitting on volcanoes which have already
blown out some of their ashes as the case of General Zaw Tun. (Note: Brig-Gen
Zaw Tun, Deputy Minister of National Planning and Economic Development
was dismissed last year for his frank assessment of the regime's economic
performance.)</font>
<p><font color="#CC0000">The epidemic of <b><i>Na Wa Ta disease</i></b>,
known to the international community as AIDS, especially among the soldiers
is hurting them. The Junta knows that they cannot count too much of the
loyalty of their own soldiers as there may be several Ohn Kyaw Myints (the
young captain who plotted to assassinate Ne Win but was caught) among them.
This is the real driving force that compels them to talk to Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi.</font>
<p><font color="#CC0000">Their oversea allies especially the ASEAN led
by Malaysia?s Dr Mahathir whose name in Burmese interpreted it as <b><i>Ma
Har Da Yar </i></b>because he act very rashly with his opponents seems
to have hit the right chord when he yelled at the Junta. The Burmese Generals
now prove to their people and world that they are the genuine lackey of
a foreign country by meekly obeying to <b><i>Ma Har Da Yar?s </i></b>command,
if it is according to their logic. Eventually we are not completely pessimistic
as this could lead to a fruitful conclusion if the Generals really proves
to be rational and civilized.</font>
<br><font color="#CC0000">______________________________________________________________</font>
<br><b><font color="#CC0000">From the New Era Journal No 93 Feb.
2001</font></b>
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