India to keep silent on 2010 election, opposition says

Thursday, 22 July 2010 12:43 Khai Suu

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Indian government will be tight lipped regarding the upcoming 2010 Burmese general election, possibly preferring to focus on their own economic interests, according to pro-democracy activists in New Delhi.

The assessment comes as a senior Burmese delegation is preparing to visit India.

During his scheduled visit to India from the 25th to 29th of this month, Burmese Head-of-State Senior General Than Shwe will meet with Indian Presdient Pratibha Patel, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other cabinet ministers. He will also visit Hydrabad, capital city of Andhra Pradesh and a major car production center for India’s biggest industrial house, TATA.

“After Senior General Than Shwe’s visit, TATA will enter the Burmese market. This visit might pave the way for it. India will get its economic interests and the Senior General will be satisfied with India’s silence on its upcoming general election. So this visit will satisfy both India and the Senior General,” National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) Minister Dr. Tint Swe told Mizzima.

“After adopting their engagement policy with Burma, India will never partake in any activities which will irritate the Burmese military clique. Though they know the Burmese election will not be free and fair, India will not see it as negative. So they will not say anything on the election which will provide a nuisance for the Senior General,” voiced All Burma Student League (ABSL) Chairman Kyaw Than.

“The Sino-Burma relation is not as good as before. It has become cold. Instead of a return visit to China [in the wake of a recent Chinese delegation to Burma], Than Shwe will make his next visit to India, which suggests a warmer and closer relation with India than with China,” he further speculated.

Lobbying for Indian support for the Burmese general election is one of the major purposes of this visit, but at the same time a major focus might also be economic issues, Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) Joint General Secretary Dr. Zaw Win Aung said.

“They possibly come here to win support by India on their election, but focusing on economic issues is more likely. TATA is eager to make a huge investment in Burma, so I think it might be the major talking point during this visit,” he said.

TATA wants to sell its Nano car in bulk quantity in Burma at the price of 100,000 rupees, or 3 million kyats, with a final price tag of 4 million kyats following taxes. However, the junta reportedly wants to reap more profit by charging more taxes and other costs, which would effectively raise the final price tag to some 15 million kyats.

Some Burmese observers suspect the visit could further be viewed as an opportunity to solve obstacles in fixing the price on the model.

“TATA wants mass production at a cheap price. They have been negotiating with the Burmese junta on this issue for a long time. After this visit, the Senior General will win the support of the world’s largest democracy on his upcoming general election and TATA will get all its problems resolved,” expanded Kim from the Burma Centre Delhi (BCD).

He regards TATA as exploiting this visit by extending support toward its own interests while the international community is focused on putting pressure on the Burmese junta and their planned election.

TATA is the fourth biggest truck manufacturing company in the world and second largest in passenger bus manufacturing. It is implementing its low priced People’s Car program under the slogan of ‘A car for each family in India’. India is said to have a population of 1.2 billion.

Following the launch of the Nano in India in 2009, the model has drawn international attention – beyond its cheap price tag – when two vehicles caught fire seemingly of their own accord in 2010, while there have also been three reported cases of the steering wheel spewing black smoke. TATA contends it is working to prevent any such further mishaps.

The Burmese junta is currently earning hundreds of millions of dollars annually from French oil giant TOTAL, and how much profit they can earn from an investment made by TATA must be watched, the Burmese opposition in New Delhi argues.

“India can do many things to facilitate the restoration of democracy in Burma. They should play the role model in this regard too. And also India can provide much technical assistance to Burma to make the upcoming election free and fair. But I don’t think India will do this work. As a good neighbor and good friend, India should give good advice to Burma,” Dr. Tint Swe said.

“India should point out the unjust and unfair matters in this election. The India Election Commission once provided logistical support and technical assistance to Bhutan in its first ever multi-party general election. Similarly they extended their support and encouragement to Nepal and Sri Lanka too. Only in the case of Burma do they keep silent and keep tight lipped. A country like India, which is very proud of being the largest democracy in the world, is much obliged to speak on these issues,” Kyaw Than furthered.

Burma’s political opposition in New Delhi is planning large-scale protests to coincide with Than Shwe’s visit.