Dialogue: Far and Away

Thursday, 22 October 2009 11:33

To

Mr. Barack Obama

The President of the United States

Mr. Gordon Brown

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Mr. Nicolas Sa rkozy

The President of France

Mr. Paro ASO

The Prime Minister of Japan

Date: September 9, 2009


Dear Sirs,

We would like to present the view of Burmese soldiers on behalf of officers and other ranks from within the Burmese military. The West tends to view all Burmese soldiers as ruthless tyrants on par with the military dictators. In our opinion, dialogue between the regime and the opposition seems the only viable option for the West, because the world regards all soldiers as anti-democratic and group them with their superiors.

However, in reality, many soldiers favor democracy. The proof is in the 1990 election, in which the opposition NLD convincingly won electoral seats in Mingladon and Dagon Townships, where a majority of those voting were soldiers.

The people of Burma have fulfilled their role well enough for more than twenty years and are now exhausted and tired amidst all sorts of misery. Therefore they understand that only when the military sides with them will they achieve democracy. Or in other words, democratic trailblazers need to arise from within the Army. As we have heard that the United States has passed a policy of engagement on Burma, we would like to introduce some facts about Burma's historical traditions, the nature of the Burmese Army and the characteristics of dictatorial rule in Burma.

Summarizing Burma's political history, good leaders have always adopted political strategies based on the military. General Aung San, who accepted the strategy of winning independence through armed struggle, evaded arrest and cooperated with the Japanese in order to establish an Army to rebel against the British.

When the British re-conquered the country, Aung San mobilized decommissioned reserve forces and pressured the British Government to grant Burma its just independence. Most of post-independence Burma's history is tainted with military-politics. Therefore, democratization in Burma cannot be brought about via Gandhi's non-violent tactics. This fact is evident from the many futile years of Gandhian struggle in Burma.

The nature of the Burma Army includes red-tape control and repressions. Human rights inside the Army are not respected. Meanwhile, ordinary people as well as neighboring Army units cannot learn about the oppression and maltreatment among the troops.

Burma Army's radio communications system stipulates that officers are only to go on air on specified channels. Only under instruction according to regulations set by the Directorate of Signals can they get on a common channel. This means military units cannot easily learn about happenings among themselves.

During the reign of Ne Win, his Personal Assistant (PA), Captain Kyaw Swa Myint, fled to the US. Additionally, Captain Ohn Kyaw Myint, PA to the Chief-of-Staff, disliking the military dictatorship, attempted to organize a pro-democracy mutiny. He was able to win over some senior officers but was eventually betrayed. He sought asylum at the US embassy in Rangoon but was turned down, eventually being found out by authorities and executed. If only the US has stood firmly by him, Burma may have started down the road toward democracy.

When General Than Shwe became the supreme dictator, Captain Win Bo conveyed a letter to him from a revered Buddhist figure. The letter urged the "initiation of dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and General Than Shwe for the benefit of country." Captain Win Bo was persecuted for this act, being tortured in Moulmein jail, where he was eventually beaten died. This shows that calls for dialogue were unproductive even during the time of the opposition's golden days.

General Than Shwe’s character is secretive, shrewd, inconsistent and hard to predict. As soon as he got the top job in 1992, he ordered two projects. One was a rocketry systems and the other is a nuclear weapons project. The rocketry systems project involves long-range and medium-range surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles and air-to-air missiles.

Objectives of the missile system include the capacity to threaten US bases in Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines with nuclear-tipped missiles. With the help of Russian technicians, the junta has already built air defense bases in mountains within the Coastal Region Command area close to US bases in Thailand.

North Korean technicians were stationed secretly at two detached dwellings owned by the Housing Department in Thaketa Township’s Aye Nanda Housing Estate. Due to the previous embargo, arms deals with North Korea were cleared using Soe Min Htike Co. and a barter system. The rocketry project is centered at Defense Industry 10 in Magwe Division’s Upper Minhla Township’s Kongyee village.

South Korean Daewoo Corporation’s acquirement of important natural gas exploration and prospecting rights is also part of the junta's wider scheme, in planning to use it for the transport of arms and military equipment camouflaged as gas production equipment.

We will report later on the second phase of General Than Shwe's plan to expand Burma's military might –possession of nuclear weapons. We will tell your Excellencies why he wants to acquire these and also about a question to which there is as of yet no answer for Burma’s soldiers.


Respectfully,

Pro-democracy officers and other ranks

Burmese Military

Email: demosternelson@aol.com