BurmaNet News, September 20, 2006

[Editor]

September 20, 2006 Issue # 3049


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Mixed reaction to Thai coup in Burma
DVB: Recycled lies of Myanmar: No political prisoner says junta

ON THE BORDER
AFP: Thai coup leaders seal northern border

REGIONAL
International Herald Tribune: Leader of coup in Thailand sets timetable

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Laura Bush uses U.N. visit to pressure Myanmar
Mercury News: Burma's hopes burn brightly amid squalor
Mizzima: Political stability needed first to reduce poverty: UN

OPINION / OTHER
Nation: Onus now on coup leaders to restore trust of the people

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 20, The Irrawaddy
Mixed reaction to Thai coup in Burma

News of Thailand’s military coup has drawn the attention of neighboring
Burma—especially dissidents and businessmen—sources in Rangoon said.

A week after Thailand’s army chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin visited Burma,
his troops staged a coup overthrowing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
while he was in New York at the UN General Assembly.

While people in Rangoon follow recent developments on international news
channels such as CNN and BBC, Thais must rely on local—in some cases,
military-controlled television stations. Some international news channels
have reportedly been blocked in Thailand.

Some Burmese dissidents did not welcome military rule—however briefly—in
neighboring Thailand. “Political problems should only be solved with
political means,” Min Ko Naing, a prominent former student leader, told
The Irrawaddy by telephone on Wednesday.

Others were more supportive of the coup, arguing that Thailand’s
Thaksin-led government had been very close to Burma’s military leaders.

Thailand is Burma’s third most important investment and trade partner,
with an annual US $1.26 billion in Thai exports to Burma. In 2003, Shin
Corp, the telecoms company until recently owned by Thaksin’s family,
signed a deal with Bagan Cybertech, the internet service provider run by
the son of the junta’s sacked prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt.

One activist who requested anonymity said that Thaksin has consistently
defended Burma’s military leaders whenever they were attacked by the
international community and should be considered an “undemocratic” leader.

Tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets of Bangkok in early
2006 to demand that Thaksin resign because of allegations of corruption,
abuse of power, and his mishandling of the southern Muslim insurgency.

Thai Army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who led Tuesday night’s coup, said
in a televised address on Wednesday that the move was necessary to solve
an ongoing conflict and bring the country back to normalcy. He added: “We
would like to reaffirm that we don't have any intention to rule the
country and will return power to the Thai people as soon as possible.”

Sonthi told diplomats in a press conference this afternoon that his group,
called the Democratic Reform Council, will look for a new civilian prime
minister within two weeks. Earlier, the group declared martial law in
Thailand, dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution. Sonthi said
the new cabinet and parliament will draft a new constitution within one
year.

All official access points between the Thai-Burmese border were closed on
Wednesday morning, leading some traders in border towns such as Mae Sot
and Mae Sai to suggest that recent events could have a heavy impact on
people in Burma, many of whom rely on the steady influx of Thai
commodities into Burma.

____________________________________

September 19, Democratic Voice of Burma
Recycled lies of Myanmar: No political prisoner says junta

The newspapers of Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) recently claimed that there are no political prisoners in
the country.

”The USA and allies falsely accused that over 1,000 political prisoners
were detained in Myanmar (Burma). In fact, no one is detained for
political reasons in Myanmar,” said a statement published in the junta’s
mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar Tuesday. “Those who violated the
existing laws, criminals and felons and terrorists are detained in
accordance with the laws concerned”

The paper also claimed that “restrictions are placed upon Daw (Aung San)
Suu Kyi as she has constantly been demanding for confrontation, defiance
of all orders, utter devastation, resorting to four kinds of sanctions and
reliance on external elements all of which will lead to harming the
national unity, national stability and national development as well as
hindering democratization process. Thus, she was restricted at home under
section 10 (B) of the Law Safe-guarding the State from the Danger of
Destructive Elements.”

But Ko Ko Gyi, one of the 88 Generation Students and a former political
prisoner himself, told DVB the lack of the rule of law in Burma would not
be able to promote democracy.

“What I mean is, the military government itself has officially confirmed
and said that there are people detained in connection with politics in
this country. In the statement issued at this time, it is said that there
is no political prisoner. I am very surprised to see the people who are in
charge of the country violating their own laws thus.”

“When you want to solve and approach a problem, in stead of pointing
finger at the outside world and say because of this and that person, it is
best to find the root answer to the problem domestically and concentrate
on it,” added Ko Ko Gyi.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 20, Agence France Presse
Thai coup leaders seal northern border

Bangkok: Coup leaders in Thailand have sealed the country's northern
border with Laos and Myanmar, a senior army officer said Wednesday
following an overnight military power grab in Bangkok.

"The checkpoints between Thailand and Myanmar have been closed,"
Lieutenant Colonel Surin Saengkum, a senior border official in northern
Thailand, told AFP.

Immigration officials confirmed that the border with Laos was also sealed.

"We don't want anyone to take advantage of the situation and slip into
Thailand," Surin said.

Hours after ousting Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless coup,
military commanders tightened their grip over the country, imposing media
restrictions and other bans in what they said was a bid to prevent unrest.

Thailand's southern border with Malaysia remained open, according to
officials, while airports continued to operate normally.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 20, International Herald Tribune
Leader of coup in Thailand sets timetable - Thomas Fuller

Bangkok: Thailand will probably not restore democracy for at least a year,
Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, the commander who seized power in a bloodless
coup, announced today.

Speaking to reporters for the first time since tanks and troops under his
command took to the streets of the capital late Tuesday night, General
Sondhi offered a political timetable for the country’s democratic
rehabilitation. An interim government would be chosen within two weeks, he
said, and the process of writing a new constitution would follow.

“Drafting a new constitution should not take more than one year,” General
Sondhi said; new elections could be then expected sometime around October
2007.

As Thais awoke this morning to news of the coup, General Sondhi’s junta
sought to consolidate its control, banning public gatherings, threatening
to shut down or block telecommunications and urging “farmers and laborers”
— many of whom are strong supporters of the ousted government — to stay
out of politics.

“What needed to be done had to be done, before it got out of control,” the
general told reporters.

The developments Tuesday and today were a stunning reversal from just a
week ago, when General Sondhi denied rumours that a coup was imminent and
said “the military will remain patient.”

On the relatively quiet streets of Bangkok today, Thais exhibited both
their customary nonchalance and a certain amount of levity about the coup.
But many expressed concerns that the country’s economy could be hurt.

Critics of the ousted Thai leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was in New York
when the coup began, said they were happy to see him go. Supporters of the
prime minister had a more muted reaction, following the admonishments of
the junta to avoid disunity.

Mr. Thaksin canceled his planned speech to the United Nations General
Assembly and flew to London overnight. In conversations with reporters on
his plane and afterward, he expressed resignation over his ouster.

“I didn’t expect this incident would happen,” Mr. Thaksin told the Thai
news agency in London. “I was prime minister when I came, and I was
jobless on the way back.”

“I volunteer to work for the country,” he said. “If they don’t want me to
do that, I won’t.”

At his afternoon news conference in Bangkok, General Sondhi said he had
“no trouble” with Mr. Thaksin coming back to Thailand, but also warned
that the former prime minister could face legal action.

The coup thrust Thailand, a country that is host to more than 11 million
tourists a year and has an open, thriving economy, into further
uncertainty. For seven tumultuous months before the coup, a political
battle raged between supporters and detractors of Mr. Thaksin, a
billionaire telecommunications tycoon-turned-politician whose policies
divided the nation.

Three international automakers with major plants here — Toyota, Nissan and
Honda — all shut down production today, a blow, though perhaps only
temporary, to a country that in recent years has become one of the world’s
top 10 car exporters. The Thai currency, the baht, also dipped against the
dollar.

Banks, government offices, the stock market, schools and some businesses
were closed today after the coup leaders declared a national holiday.
Traffic was relatively light in Bangkok and soldiers were stationed at
some intersections. Tanks, which moved to positions outside the prime
minister’s office Tuesday night, were still stationed there this morning.

General Sondhi’s first address to the country came this morning during a
short, nationally televised address.

“The Administrative Reform Council, which has his Majesty the King as its
leader, seized administrative power from the caretaker government by
ordering the dissolution of the House of Representatives, the Senate, the
government and the Constitutional Court,” General Sondhi said.

The general vowed that military rule would be temporary. The military, he
said, “insists that it has no intention to become the country’s
ruler.”General Sondhi sought to show a degree of continuity on certain
matters with the previous government. He said the junta supported the
candidacy of Surakiart Sathirathai, a former Thai deputy prime minister,
for United Nations secretary general, as the Thaksin government did. And
Bangkok’s new airport, Suvarnabhumi, is still scheduled to open Sept. 28,
the date set by the Thaksin government.

As he read his statement on television, General Sondhi was flanked by the
country’s top military commanders: Marshall Chalit Pookpasuk, the head of
the air force; Adm. Sathiraphan Keyanand, the head of the marines and
navy; Gen. Kowit Wattana, the national chief of police; and Gen. Ruangroj
Mahasaranond, the supreme military commander.

In his address, which lasted no more than two minutes, General Sondhi said
the reason for seizing power was the “government’s misconduct, which has
caused conflicts and broken the unity of the people in the country in a
way that has never happened before in the history of Thailand.”

Mr. Thaksin’s main deputy, Chidchai Vanasatidya, was reported to be in the
custody of the army.

Tuesday’s coup appeared to have the blessing of Thailand’s highly revered
king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has been on the throne 60 years. But General
Sondhi insisted that he acted alone.

“There was no support. It was our own decision,” he said.

Yet early today, Thai television showed what an announcer described as
General Sondhi’s motorcade driving into the grounds of the royal palace
for a meeting with the king.

Soldiers in the streets of Bangkok Tuesday and Wednesday tied yellow
ribbons to their uniforms and weapons, the color symbolizing support for
the king.

The king rarely speaks directly to the public, but political analysts
believe the king has been worried that Mr. Thaksin’s administration had
accumulated too much power.

Mr. Thaksin’s critics also accused him of using his position to expand and
ultimately cash in on his business empire, of eroding the independence of
key institutions and of muzzling the press.

Siriporn Boontham, 55, a restaurant owner in Lopburi, two hours north of
Bangkok, said she was relieved that Mr. Thaksin had been removed from
office.

“I’m glad all the chaos is going to end,” she said. “Maybe this was the
only way to end all the political conflict.”

But Mr. Thaksin’s supporters were indignant and surprised that the coup
leaders had described the former prime minister as someone who divided the
nation.

“Thaksin is a good guy — he doesn’t deserve this,” said Thanakij
Thamkornburi, a 48-year-old taxi driver in Bangkok. He added: “I would say
that is destroying the country’s harmony, too.”

The military issued a string of decrees this morning following General
Sondhi’s television appearance, including the ban on public gatherings.

“In order to avoid problems, the Administrative Reform Council prohibits
political gatherings of more than 5 people,” said Thavinand Krongkrang, a
news anchorwoman on Channel 5, a station owned by the military. Violators
would be jailed 6 months or fined.

Another announcement called on the media “to cover news truthfully and
constructively in order to promote unity in the country.”

The military also ordered the ministry of telecommunications “to control,
stop or block the distribution of information through all media channels
that might affect the council’s work,” meaning the activities of the
junta. .

The coup leaders singled out several groups in Thai society — laborers,
farmers and students — and conveyed messages to them, urging laborers and
farmers “to remain peaceful, because any gathering or movement right now
might facilitate the work of people with bad intentions to cause
disturbance.”

As for students, the junta encouraged them to participate in the process
of rebuilding Thai democracy. “Any of you who has an idea or any opinion,
please send your ideas or suggestions to the army,” a spokesperson said in
one of the televised statements.

Recent Thai history is littered with coups, countercoups and attempted
coups, but the incident on Tuesday was the first military military
takeover since 1991, when Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon toppled a civilian
government in a bloodless coup. His government was unpopular, and he was
ousted in 1992 following street demonstrations.

John O’Neil contributed reporting from New York.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 19, Reuters
Laura Bush uses U.N. visit to pressure Myanmar - Irwin Arieff

United Nations: Activists and experts on military-ruled Myanmar urged U.S.
first lady Laura Bush on Tuesday to recommend her husband keep up the
pressure for human rights in the reclusive Southeast Asian nation.

Bush held a meeting on Myanmar in a sealed-off room in the U.N. basement
minutes after listening to President George W. Bush deliver his annual
address to the U.N. General Assembly.

"Now that Burma is on the agenda, what are the ways we can bring pressure
on the generals?" she asked the group of six activists and experts,
referring to Myanmar by its former name, as do all U.S. officials.

"I can tell you that the United States will work very hard with the other
members of the Security Council to get a good resolution about Burma. The
sooner, the better it would be," she said.

At the request of the United States, a divided U.N. Security Council last
week voted to add Myanmar to its formal agenda, a move that classifies its
junta government a threat to international peace and security.

China, Russia, Qatar and the Democratic Republic of Congo voted against
adding Myanmar to the council's agenda while Tanzania abstained.

Zaid Ibrahim of Malaysia, who heads the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations' Inter-Parliamentary Burma Caucus, told Mrs. Bush he thought
Myanmar would change only "when this regime cracks."

"Sustained pressure at all levels, coordinated pressure, will work," he said.

"Pressure works," agreed Hseng Noung, a founder of the Shan Women Action
Network which campaigns against sexual abuse of the country's ethnic
minorities by the Myanmar military.

Washington has promised to ask the 15-nation Security Council to adopt a
resolution expressing concerns about Myanmar's human rights situation
including the long-time detention of democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military, which has controlled Myanmar since 1962, ignored a 1990
landslide election victory by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
party. Suu Kyi, a 60-year-old Nobel laureate, has been in prison or under
house arrest since May 2003.

____________________________________

September 20, Mercury News
Burma's hopes burn brightly amid squalor - L.A. Chung

There was something about the girl, Gregg Butensky told me.

There was something so bright, so positive, so full of potential amid the
stunning poverty that engulfs Burma, that a chance meeting in 2003 turned
into a commitment to her.

``She comes right up to you and wants to practice the little English she
had, invite you in her `house' for tea,'' recalled Butensky, a Web
designer who was trying to explain to me why a 44-year-old American cared
about Burma and why he cared about its citizens being able to reach
anything they seek on the Internet, without the worry of government
spying.

He is trying to explain how a 17-year-old girl living with her mom in an
open lean-to on a muddy river bank showed him she could still dream of
learning about computers. And he wants to know why Sunnyvale-based
Fortinet is helping to keep this girl and thousands like her in the
digital dark.

Burma, of course, is not called Burma anymore. It is called Myanmar by the
military junta that has ruled it for nearly two decades. On the scale of
repression and poverty, Burma is right up there with North Korea. Right up
there with China in erecting firewalls to prevent free access to the Web,
and in trying to monitor what people see and say there.

Outside our consciousness

But we don't hear much about it, since its government killed an estimated
3,000 student demonstrators in a Tiananmen Square-like massacre in 1988.
Since it put the charismatic, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu
Kyi under house arrest for leading a democratic movement.

We don't hear much from that part of the shuttered world. But Butensky,
who has one of those dream careers that gives him the freedom to travel
for months at a time, followed Burma's fortunes after an unforgettable
trip there in 1987.

In October, the Open Net Initiative, a collaboration between the
University of Toronto, Harvard University and Cambridge University,
reported that 84 percent of sites containing Burmese political content was
blocked, as well as free e-mail sites such as Hotmail and Yahoo. It was
accomplished using a Fortinet product, despite formal U.S. sanctions
against companies doing business with Burma. Sites like the Irrawaddy, a
news magazine started by Burmese expatriates, is one of the sites blocked.

Victor Win, president of the Burmese American Democratic Alliance, wrote a
letter to Fortinet in August asking for a meeting to talk about Fortinet's
technology in places like Burma. He asked whether the company had violated
U.S. sanctions. The response didn't answer their questions -- so this
week, I asked.

Knowing your customers

Fortinet representative Michelle Spolver said the company had reviewed its
practices and is confident of its compliance, but doesn't know how its
product ended up in Burma. So they made some changes. ``We've gone a step
beyond this thing to look really, really hard at our practices,'' she
said. Since customers need continuous updates through Fortinet's
subscription services to keep the filtering current, Fortinet has blocked
those updates to Burma. Without updates, Fortinet contends the filtering
becomes ineffective.

It's not convincing to Butensky, but he can only hope for equally
sophisticated advances on the part of those who want to bypass filters
like the ones from Fortinet and others.

Butensky's foster daughter, whom he has helped with school tuition, a
bicycle to get there, and housing, is improving to the point that she
might get a good job soon.

It's an uncommon, but not unheard of, brand of philanthropy you see among
travelers wearing their conscience on their sleeves.

There's just something about Burma. And a child wanting to learn. Both
worth caring about.

____________________________________

September 20, Mizzima News
Political stability needed first to reduce poverty: UN - Christopher Shier

The United Nations on Monday said political stability is needed first to
help the growing economies of the World's Least Developed Countries,
including Burma, to reduce poverty.

Deputy Secretary-General Malloch Brown stated that progress towards
poverty reduction can only be made by "further securing development on the
stable bedrock of democracy, human rights and good governance."

However, LDC delegates to the UNGA disagree on the point and argued that
political stability is followed by economic development.

Beni Yayi, President of Benin and Chairman of the Group of Least Developed
Countries, echoing the sentiments of many LDC representatives, said that
no substantive change in democratic reforms can come about in LDC
countries without sustained economic development to first reduce poverty
numbers.

Burma, with a per capita gross domestic product of $1,700 in 2004, is
recognized as a LDC.

Highlighting the political dimension to the inclusion of Burma as a LDC,
by the end of fiscal 2004 only $ 2.5 million in total committed while
Cambodia received half of the committed $24 million amount. Cambodia has
roughly $35 million approved in LDC assistance.

Economist Dr. Khin Maung Kyi living in Singapore adamantly believes that
the LDC label and qualification is irrelevant to the government and their
personal well-being. "The regime is living apart from the people and all
other Western influences, and therefore do not care." he told Mizzima.

Given the lack of transparency inside the country, estimates vary widely
as to the economic growth of the country, with the government quoting a
12.2 percent growth rate for 2005 compared to the United States' Central
Intelligence Agency estimate of 2.9 percent. Yet, most sources concur that
the overall poverty rate of the country continues to hover around 2.5
percent.

Dr. Sean Turnell of Burma Economic Watch, while largely in agreement with
Dr. Khin Maung Kyi, notes that whatever minimal effect LDC status holds is
likely to be detrimental in that it relinquishes the country in questions
from certain basic responsibilities.

Moreover, Dr. Tunell states, " It also sends a most unfortunate signal to
likely investors- that a country is not much of a market, and as a
production base is likely a venue for future social strife and the like."

Somewhat surprisingly, Burma ranked 129 out of 177 on the United Nations
2005 Human Development Index, which measures poverty, literacy, life
expectancy, education and other factors. This ranking places Burma near
the top of LDCs.

The inclusion of Burma on the United Nations LDC list is of significance
for the government as it lends itself to potential favourable economic
treatment with regard to debt relief and market access.

Historically, and due to its inclusion on the LDC list, Japan has offered
relief and cancellation of debt accrued as a result of Official
Development Assistance.

However, in 2003, Canada announced that Burma was excluded from Canada's
Least Developed Country Market Access initiative, which eliminates most
duties and quotas on imports from other LDC members.

While opinions on the implementation of aid and assistance to LDCs varied
widely on whether focus should be given to the political or economic
sphere to spur poverty reduction, an activist close to Mizzima said he
does not see these two avenues as being necessarily exclusive of each
other.

"Why not do both at the same time with benchmarks for poverty reduction
and benchmarks for good governance. Surely the Burmese people deserve full
bellies, productive future possibilities, and an escape from grinding
poverty. But they also deserve the chance to say what they like and chose
by whom they want to be represented,"

No statement was authored by Burmese officials with respect to the
meetings procedures and the implementation of assistance to LDCs.

While economic growth in LDC is estimated to have increased by six to
seven percent over the past fiscal year, income poverty in those same
countries is believed to have worsened in 34 of them and remained
marginally unaffected in the others.

Despite gains in sectors such as infant mortality and universal primary
education, in conjunction with a 25 percent increase in monetary
assistance over the past five years, Malloch Brown regretted the lack of a
" minimum impact where it is most needed: in the fight against extreme
poverty."

The United Nations General Assembly Meeting on the Least Developed
Countries, in New
York, is part of the midterm review of the Programme of Action for Least
Developed
Countries (2001 – 2010). The United Nations recognizes 50 countries on the
LDC list.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 20, The Nation
Onus now on coup leaders to restore trust of the people

They proclaimed to be doing it in the name of democracy, to wipe out
rampant corruption and to rehabilitate a badly divided nation. Now the
coup makers have to prove their intent. And unlike those before them, the
Thai armed forces leaders who seem to have overthrown caretaker Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless coup, have very little time to
do so.

The world is watching and scrutinising. To many democracy lovers,
Thaksin's downfall, engineered by top military officers, led by Army
Commander-in-Chief Sonthi Boonyaratklin, turned back the clock on
Thailand's political development.

The use of military force, instead of a free and fair election, to change
government can hardly be condoned in a democratic society like ours, let
alone the fact that the coup took place just months before the country was
due to hold a general election.

The coup makers are luckier than those before them in that much of society
now believes they have done the wrong thing for the right reason. But the
perception that this is something done in good faith will be extremely
fragile. Public trust in power in the hands of men with guns can last as
long as the smoke that follows when a shot is fired.

The slower the coup makers are in the pledged transfer of power back to
the people, the more Thaksin will look like a "pretext" and not the
"reason" for the power seizure. Today, he is seen as a seriously flawed
political leader, who had tried to propagate and perpetuate a culture of
corruption and deceit that threatened to undermine democracy as we knew
it. Throughout his five and a half years in power, he was exposed as a
greedy politician who had pursued self-interest at the expense of public
good. Even called a tyrannical leader by some, he was accused of rolling
back civil liberties, suppressing dissenting voices, not to mention his
flagrant violation of human rights as part of a sinister design to
dominate and then monopolise political power so as to indulge in corrupt
practices unimpeded.

Ideally, the likes of Thaksin should be rejected at the ballot box or
through public pressure in the form of peaceful protests. The problem is
most people did not believe both options available to them would succeed
in removing him from power. To many people the military coup against
Thaksin may be a necessary evil.

But make no mistake, the seizure of power, albeit one that was achieved
without the loss of lives, is nonetheless a form of political violence
that is incompatible with the democratic aspirations of the Thai people.
Democratic aspirations will live on even as the Constitution has already
been abrogated by the coup leaders.

The spirit of democracy that undermined Thaksin's apparent omnipresence
will now shift its watchful eyes to the coup leaders.

The Administrative Reform Council has pledged allegiance to democracy
under the constitutional monarchy and cited Thaksin's corruption prone
leadership and his disrespect for the monarchy as justification for the
coup. But it cannot be emphasised enough that the coup party has now also
concentrated all power of government in its own hand unrestrained by
public accountability or system of checks and balances.

The coup group wanted the public to take them at their own word that they
would do their best to implement needed reform and rid politics of
corruption for now. They will be expected to promise to return sovereign
power to the people, organise a free and fair election and then ensure a
smooth transfer of power to the next democratically elected civilian
government.

We expect the coup group to make clear how exactly it will implement its
plans to restore democracy in this country, complete with definite
timeframes.

A transitional government headed by a respected and politically neutral
civilian leader with unblemished personal integrity must be installed and
a provisional parliament must be set up to draft a new constitution within
specific timeframes leading up to a fresh general election and a return to
democracy.

Once a transitional government is installed, all coup leaders must submit
to the authority of the new civilian leader and bring back their troops to
the barracks.

They must also prove beyond any reasonable doubt that they do not seek
personal gains from the absolute power they now hold or intend to retain
indirect control of the provisional government for ulterior motives.

It must be stressed that the first task of the coup group is to restore
the confidence of both democracy loving Thais as well as the international
community and foreign investors that democracy will be restored and this
time democratic development will be sustainable and democracy will come
equipped with inbuilt self-correcting mechanisms so that military coups
will be put to rest for good.