BurmaNet News, April 9, 2010

[Editor]

April 9, 2010, Issue #3937


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Burma ‘will remain rich, poor and controversial’
SHAN: Wa wait in suspense for junta response
Irrawaddy: NLD takes Than Shwe lawsuit to Chief Justice

ON THE BORDER
Kachin News Group: Kachin leaders to speak out about failed negotiations
to form the BGF

ASEAN
AFP: ASEAN tells Myanmar to make polls fair, inclusive

REGIONAL
DPA: Vietnam: Myanmar elections should include "all parties"

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: US will continue Burma engagement policy
Mizzima News: EU urged to join calls for UN probe
Seattle Times (US): Saffron revolutionary

OPINION / OTHER
DVB: Will ASEAN eventually deliver? – Roshan Jason
Irrawaddy: Can the NLD be reincarnated? – Kyaw Zwa Moe





____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma ‘will remain rich, poor and controversial’ – Francis Wade

The Norwegian state secretary currently in Burma for high-level talks has
said that the country remains “one of the world’s most controversial
in
the eyes of the international community”.

Gry Larsen, who backs international engagement with the ruling junta, said
in an article on 6 April prior to arriving in Burma that the international
community should also “examine carefully” whether current policy to Burma
“has in fact promoted greater openness and economic and democratic
development”.

The Norwegian government has been an open supporter, both financially and
vocally, of Burma’s pro-democracy movement, and is one of the leading
funders for exiled media and rights groups.

It was also one of the first country’s to open its borders to Burmese
asylum seekers who fled the country following the infamous 1988 uprising.

Larsen’s trip is a rare one for a representative of a country that openly
supports Burmese opposition groups – the majority of foreign dignitaries
that visit Burma are from the handful of countries still allied with the
ruling regime.

Observers have said however that the apparent relaxing of restrictions on
visits by overseas envoys, notably the two senior-level US delegations
that visited Burma last year, could be an show of legitimacy by the junta
in the run-up to elections this year.

During Larsen’s meetings with government officials and pro-democracy
representatives, Larsen said that she “will focus on the opportunities for
addressing poverty and increasing wealth”. However she echoed condemnation
by world leaders of the elections this year but added that Burma would be
embraced by the international community if the junta moves “in the right
direction”.

“The Burmese authorities are at a crossroads. If they choose the way to
democracy and growth, the international community will strengthen its
political and economic cooperation with the country,” she said.

“Burma will in all likelihood continue to be rich, poor and controversial.
But it is within the country that its future will be decided. And the
international community cannot refrain from engaging directly with those
who are in the driving seat.”

The US has recently expressed its anguish at the lack of progress made by
the junta since Washington in September last year ditched its long-running
isolation of Burma in favour of engagement.

Since September, the junta has locked up a US citizen on spurious charges,
rejected several legal appeals to release Aung San Suu Kyi, and announced
highly controversial election laws.

But it has said that it will continue dialogue with the ruling generals
following two decades of disengagement that reaped few rewards.

____________________________________

April 9, Shan Herald Agency for News
Wa wait in suspense for junta response – Hseng Khio Fah

Many officers in the United Wa State Army (UWSA) are in a state of
suspense over how the Burma Army may decide on its new 8 point
counterproposal submitted to Naypyitaw on 3 April, according to sources
from the Sino-Burma border.

Some top officials are said to be worried the junta may accept it. “It is
the biggest gamble that the group has ever played with the junta,” said a
source from Panghsang. “If the Burma Army accepts their proposal, they
must really abide by what they have written.”

According to further details received by SHAN, there have been some
changes in the new one compared to their November counterproposal, though
two main points remain the same:

•    Mongpawk and Mongphen, considered part of Mongyang township by the
regime, should continue to be placed under Wa administration as Mongpawk
township

•    Commanders of both northern and southern military sectors must be Wa
and the deputy commanders junta officers

On the other hand, there are notable concessions:

•    Mongyawn and Hwe Aw areas on the Thai-Burma border are no longer
demanded to be kept under Wa administration. Instead, the UWSA strongly
requests that the 80,000 Wa people relocated from the Sino-Burma border a
decade earlier be allowed to reside legally in the said areas

•    Chiefs of staff for both military sectors will be Burma Army officers
and deputy chiefs of staff UWSA

•    Previously, the Wa said there should be no junta officers at the
battalion level (the Burma Army says there must be 30 of its officers in
each 326-strong battalion). But this time, they are allowing 6 of them to
be in there, one as a deputy battalion commander and the rest for health,
logistics and communications

However, it is hard to guess how the Burma Army may respond because its
demand to the ceasefire groups has uniformly been “take all or take
nothing ‘of its Border Guard Force program, a border analyst said.

The future of the group and other ceasefire groups appears to be dependent
on the decisions of the Burma Army by 28 April. According to the military
junta announcement, all ceasefire groups would be declared as illegal
organizations if they fail to agree with the border guard force program by
the deadline.

The latest report, yet to be confirmed, says Naypyitaw has turned down the
Wa’s latest proposal.

____________________________________

April 9, Irrawaddy
NLD takes Than Shwe lawsuit to Chief Justice – Ko Htwe

Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD),
wrote on Thursday to the chief justice in Naypyidaw, Burma's capital, with
a request that its lawsuit against military junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe
is dealt with through the correct legal channels.

On March 23, three NLD leaders––Nyan Win, Tin Oo and Aung Shwe––filed a
lawsuit with the Supreme Court in an attempt to sue the chairman of the
State Peace and Development Council, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, for issuing
"unjust and unfair" election laws.

According to the NLD, an official at the Supreme Court handed the
documents back to the complainants, responding that the court does not
have the power to handle the case.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, NLD spokesman Nyan Win said,
“According to the high court manual, they cannot refuse a lawsuit like
that. It is unlawful. If they refuse, they must give cause. That is why we
sent a letter to the chief justice.”

The NLD pointed to an election law that prohibits its leader, Aung San Suu
Kyi, from participating in the general election because she is currently
under house arrest.

One of the five election-related laws released on March 8 prohibits anyone
convicted of a crime or serving a sentence from being a member of a
political party, and instructs parties to expel convicted members or face
de-registration.

The party said it is calling for a review and amendment of the laws.

According to her lawyers, Suu Kyi said that forcing any political
prisoners from their parties and banning them from voting is a double
punishment. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi has been in detention for
14 of the past 20 years.

Meanwhile, according to state-run newspapers in Burma, three new political
parties—Union Democracy Party, Shan Nationals Democratic Party and Taaung
(Palaung) National Party Union—as well as a previously existing party, the
Union Kayin League, submitted applications on Thursday to the Union
Election Commission to register for the general election.

To date, 16 parties have applied to contest the election, which is
expected to be held sometime this fall.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 9, Kachin News Group
Kachin leaders to speak out about failed negotiations to form the BGF

Burma’s ethnic Kachin leaders will speak publically in northern Kachin
State about failed negotiations with the Burmese junta regarding formation
of the new Border Guard Force, next Friday, April 16th, local sources
said.

The Kachin Independence Organization, the last remaining Kachin armed
group, will conduct a public meeting which is to be held in the group’s
headquarters, in Laiza, in east of Kachin State, near  the China border,
said  KIO officials.

The meeting has to be held after the junta’s April 28 deadline, which is
the second time it demanded the KIO respond with a clear answer on wether
it will accept the formation of the proposed BGF.

The first deadline, February 28, expired without a clear decision from the
KIO.

The Kachin public, as well as social and religious leaders and regional
representatives from Kachin State and Northeast Shan State, are invited to
the meeting by the KIO. It will be the 3rd public meeting called by the
group concerning the transformation of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA),
the armed-wing of KIO, into to the junta-proposed BGF since April, last
year, according to KIO officials in Laiza.

In the meeting, KIO leaders will officially reveal their reasons the
dialogue between the KIO and the Burmese junta about forming the BGF
failed, even though delegates from both sides met at least 13 times in the
Kachin capital of Myitkyina.

Burmese military leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, wants the KIO to respond with
“acceptance or rejection” of the proposed BGF. However, the KIO has
avoided a clear answer and proposed to Snr-Gen Than Shwe that it would
like to discuss the armed-wing issue after the political problems between
the two sides are resolved.

In fact, the KIO itself has a plan for transforming the KIA in principle,
immediately after Kachins have their political rights restored in the
Kachin land and all the political problems are resolved between the KIO
and the majority Burman-led government, according to KIO leaders.

On the issue of transforming the KIA to the junta-proposed BGF, the KIO
called the first public meeting in Laiza in May 12 and 13, last year and
the second public meeting in Laiza on September 5 in the same year.

In the two meetings, Kachin people rejected the idea of a new civil war
between the Burmese junta and the KIO. But, they disagreed with the
junta’s plan to disarm the KIO to form the new BGF before the root
political problems between them are resolved, according to the meeting’s
statements.

Currently, the KIO is increasingly under pressure to accept the Burmese
junta’s proposal regarding the BGF, which was also suggested in a letter
from leaders of other Kachin armed groups--- New Democratic Army-Kachin
(NDA-K) and Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group which were disarmed by the junta
late last year and Dr. Tu Ja, former Vice-president No. 2 of KIO while
transforming to the BGF.

____________________________________
ASEAN

April 9, Agence France Presse
ASEAN tells Myanmar to make polls fair, inclusive – Claire Truscott

Hanoi – Southeast Asian leaders on Friday urged Myanmar's ruling junta to
ensure that this year's elections, which have been boycotted by the
opposition, are fair and include all parties.

The polls in military-ruled Myanmar, expected to be held by early
November, have been widely criticised as lacking credibility because of
laws that effectively bar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking
part.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said at an Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit that he had delivered the region's
message directly to Myanmar's generals during a visit last week.

"We hope to see Myanmar implementing effectively the roadmap for peace...
and that the elections should be fair, democratic, with the participation
of all parties," said Dung, the current ASEAN chair.

"This will help... stabilise the country and focus resources on
development," he told a press conference, in comments that were unusually
candid for a bloc that avoids commenting on members' affairs.

Myanmar's elections will be the first in the military-run state for two
decades, but Suu Kyi's political party has called a boycott over rules
that would have forced it to expel its leader if it wanted to participate.

The United States has led international condemnation of the new laws,
saying they make a "mockery" of Myanmar's claims to be shifting towards
democracy after nearly half a century of military rule.

David Mathieson from Human Rights Watch welcomed the comments from
Myanmar's neighbours but said it would amount to no more than "toothless
posturing" because the regime had no intention of acting on the advice.

"In some ways I'm glad they are actually being stronger and saying things
like this but I'm just not confident it will transfer into the real
pressure they have to put on the regime," he said.

ASEAN members are divided on how to handle Myanmar, which has always
escaped formal censure from the 10-nation group as it adheres to a
principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

But as Myanmar's poor record -- including allegations of massive human
rights abuses as well as a failure to embrace reforms -- again threatens
to discredit the region, its neighbours have reminded it of its
obligations.

"I think they realise that the whole world is watching them," Malaysian
Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday.

"But for them to decide to take the path or the roadmap towards democracy
is a gargantuan step, and we're glad that they've taken that, so we must
encourage them along the way."

Indonesia has mooted the idea of foreigners observing Myanmar's polls --
the first since 1990 when Suu Kyi's party won by a landslide but was not
allowed to take power.

ASEAN wants to "ensure that the elections become part of the solution, an
important footstep towards democratisation, but not a new source of
problems in the future," said Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

April 9, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Vietnam: Myanmar elections should include "all parties"

Hanoi - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called Friday on Myanmar
to ensure all parties can take part in its upcoming elections.

Dung was speaking as chair of the summit of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), scheduled to close Friday in Hanoi.

The Myanmar elections 'should be fair and democratic, with the
participation of all parties,' Dung said in response to a reporter's
query.

The most controversial question at the summit was how to address member
state Myanmar's poor human rights record and its manipulation of its
elections process.

Myanmar's ruling military junta has promised to hold general elections
this year, but laws introduced in March have effectively barred opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running.

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has boycotted the
elections in response.

Dung's statement appeared to criticize these developments, though he did
not specify whether 'all parties' included Suu Kyi or the NLD.

The statement was striking coming from the head of a single-party
Communist state that had earlier said Myanmar's elections would not be on
the agenda at the summit.

Vietnam has cultivated close relations with Myanmar in recent months, and
Dung paid an official visit to the country in early April.

The governments of Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, however, have
raised the issue of Myanmar elections at the summit.

On Wednesday, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Myanmar's
restrictive election laws 'may lead to problems among ASEAN leaders and
the international community.'

Dung's statement that the elections should include all parties seemed to
reflect the consensus among ASEAN leaders rather than Vietnamese views.

He also said that during his visit to Myanmar he had 'forwarded to the
government and people of Myanmar ASEAN's message that we hope to see
Myanmar effectively implement (its) road map for democracy, peace and
national concord.'

ASEAN membership consists of Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia,
the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 9, Irrawaddy
US will continue Burma engagement policy – Lalit K Jha

Washington, D.C. —The Obama administration said on Friday it will continue
its new policy of engaging the Burmese leadership despite the fact that
the military junta has ignored, and often directly contradicted, the
advice of the international community.

“We are engaging Burma,” said P J Crowley, the US assistant secretary of
state for public affairs. “Other countries in the region are engaging
Burma, obviously, in a variety of contexts, including through Asean
[Association of Southeast Asian Nations].”

Crowley said the Obama administration has been talking with India and
China regarding Burma, but did not provide details.

“I think everybody has an interest in stability in the region, seeing
Burma emerge from its isolation. But clearly, there are steps that Burma
has to take, and we will continue our regional dialogue and encourage
everyone to provide Burma the same message,” Crowley said in response to a
question.

The new US policy with respect to Burma, unveiled last year by US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, includes engagement as well as
sanctions.

The United States has had two rounds of talks with the Burmese military
junta since the new policy was announced.

During that period, the Burmese government has continued to thumb its nose
at the international community with respect to the release of political
prisoners, freedom and fairness in the upcoming election, and human
rights.

According to Crowley, no date has been set for the next round of talks.

Members of Asean are scheduled to discuss issues surrounding Burma at
their 16th annual summit that opened on Thursday in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Even though the specter of a sham Burmese election without the
participation of the main opposition party and its leader, Aung San Suu
Kyi, threatens to discredit the regional bloc and once again open Asean to
criticism as a toothless organization, Asean is not expected to exert much
pressure on the Burmese junta.

Singapore foreign minister George Yeo, speaking in Hanoi, seemed to sum up
the fence-sitting stance of many Asean members.

"It's disappointing that, because of the way the election laws have been
crafted, it's not possible for the NLD [National League for Democracy] to
participate in the elections," Yeo said. But then he added: "We are not in
a position to punish Myanmar [Burma]. If China and India remain engaged
with Myanmar, then we have to."

____________________________________

April 9, Mizzima News
EU urged to join calls for UN probe

New Delhi – The European Union should follow the lead of its members
United Kingdom and Czech Republic in calling for a United Nations
commission of inquiry into serious crimes committed by the Burmese junta,
campaigners have said.

Burma Campaign UK, based in London, on Thursday applauded the Czech
Republic’s stance on its support for the establishment of commission of
inquiry to probe possible crimes against humanity committed by the Burmese
rulers. Similar commissions have been set up to examine events in the
Darfur region of Sudan and Lebanon.

Prague, in response to a reporter’s questions, said: “The Czech Republic
remains concerned at continuous grave human rights violations in
Burma/Myanmar. Despite the government’s ‘Roadmap to Democracy’ and before
the expected this year’s elections, political repression, and military
attacks against civilians of ethnic nationalities continue in scale and
gravity that may entail international crimes under the terms of the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court.”

Mizzima contacted Czech Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman
Filip Kanda, who confirmed the government’s stance.

The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the International Criminal
Court (ICC) after a UN General Assembly in 1998 convened a diplomatic
conference in Rome. It came into effect in 2002. As of last October, 110
states are party to the statute and 38 states have signed but not ratified
the treaty. It defines the functions, jurisdiction and structure of the
permanent tribunal to punish individuals who commit genocide and other
serious international crimes.

“We believe that the possibility of establishing a commission of inquiry
should be seriously examined,” the original reply said, as quoted on the
Burma Campaign UK  website.

The Czech Republic is the third country to call for the UN to establish a
commission of inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in the
military-ruled Southeast Asian nation, after Australia and the United
Kingdom last month expressed backing for such a move.

In response to that stance, Burma Campaign director Mark Farmaner on
Thursday said:  “It is time that the EU discussed officially adopting
support for a UN inquiry, and should include this in the draft United
Nations General Assembly resolution on Burma later this year.”

He said, as with the Czech Republic, it is time other EU countries also
began to take the initiative and support the call for the establishing a
commission of inquiry, he said. “We want other European countries to come
aboard and we hope the European Union will officially support as they
support the global arms embargo,” Mr Farmaner told Mizzima.

The calls for such an inquiry on Burma and to bring the ruling generals to
the ICC have long been raised by campaigners. But UN Special Rapporteur on
the situation of human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, last month
brought fresh momentum with his recommendation for such an investigation.
Mr Quintana, who has made three visits to the country in the almost two
years since taking the UN post, said the continuing rights violations
needed to be investigated because of the “pattern of gross and systematic
violations of human rights”.

____________________________________

April 9, Seattle Times (US)
Saffron revolutionary - Eric Scigliano

AT THE TEACUP on Queen Anne, the Venerable U Pyinya Zawta and his local
Burmese hosts marveled at two things: all the teas lining one wall (“We
only have one kind in Burma,” one host chimed, “strong!”) and the embossed
Burmese tableaux on another. One doesn’t see many traces of the monk’s
homeland—currently a hermit military dictatorship—in Seattle. Certainly
not emissaries wearing the distinctive brick-colored robes of a Burmese
monk.

Pyinya Zawta is out to change that, and to end five decades of worsening
oppression and misrule in a land once celebrated as a tropic Shangri La.
He had just spoken at a Seattle University screening of the
Oscar-nominated documentary Burma VJ (about the uprising he led in 2007).

In a quiet, commanding voice, he recounted the torments he endured in the
notorious Insein and Thayawaddy prisons, where he spent nearly 10 years
for advocating democracy.

“They shackle us with iron bars and chains. They cover my head when they
beat me, so I can’t tell who is punching. They smash my”—his translator
struggled for the word: “His testicles. His balls.” Worst of all, the
soldiers “tried to dishonor our religion, to get us to break our oaths as
monks. Took away our robes, tried make us kill flies. They fed us only a
little food before noon”—the only time monks may eat—“and tried to make us
eat in the afternoon, threatened to rape us if we didn’t.”

Pyinya Zawta was only two in 1962, when the military seized power. But he
read about democracy and nonviolent action in surreptitiously translated
foreign texts and shared that knowledge as a teacher. He started an HIV
clinic, confronting a rampant epidemic the regime denied existed. And
finally, three years ago, he coordinated the “Saffron Revolution,” in
which once-quiescent monks spearheaded a people-power uprising and then
suffered a Tiananmen-style crackdown.

Even Gandhi admitted nonviolence couldn’t stop Hitler. Can it overthrow
Burma’s junta? Yes, Pyinya Zawta said smiling, and it will—when the
soldiers, who are just as much the regime’s victims, join the students and
monks in resisting it. But for now he had another priority. It was almost
noon, and he still hadn’t eaten.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
Will ASEAN eventually deliver? – Roshan Jason

One must be wondering if the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) is nearing the end of its tether with its perpetually troublesome
member, Burma, or has the bloc so convincingly led the world to believe
that it cares enough when it appears, in actual deed, that it does not?

Recent reactions and statements from some member states about Burma’s
newly announced election laws indicate that certain countries in the
regional grouping may be growing more willing to openly question Burma’s
regime and venture into uncharted territory when it comes to dealing with
the unruly country.

It remains to be seen however, if this concern can and will be translated
into solid action. The way in which ASEAN decides and acts on regional
issues – complete consensus – proves to be a major stumbling block, but
there must be a way to circumvent it. Given its somewhat flexible working
mechanisms, ASEAN leaders also have the luxury to create ways to compel
the regime to heed its ‘advice’.

The 16th ASEAN Summit currently taking place in Vietnam might just be the
bloc’s very last opportunity to address this particular problem and for a
revolutionary approach to be taken, before the regime entrenches its power
via the skewed 2010 elections.

ASEAN, also influenced by a number other factors such as a desire to
‘protect’ the group against external imperialism and growing economic
ties, has doggedly pursued its ‘constructive engagement’ with Burma, even
in the face of rapidly deteriorating conditions in the country.

Its argument has been that engagement facilitates continued dialogue and
allows ASEAN to exert its influence over the increasingly petulant
behaviour of Burma’s military regime and that this engagement is
preferable to the isolation of Western-style economic sanctions.

Perhaps it would be preferable, if it had actually succeeded in doing
anything more than allowing the military generals in Naypyidaw to ride
roughshod over the people of Burma while filling their own pockets with
generous profits from the exploitation of the country’s vast natural
resources.

Can ASEAN members then turn its occasional admonition of Burma into actual
meaningful action such as membership suspension?

With the announcement of the election laws governing the upcoming general
election in Burma, the military regime showed clearly that despite its
claims to the contrary, it has no intention of holding an election that is
free, fair and inclusive of opposition parties.

The party registration law, which prohibits the nation’s political
prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, from joining parties and contesting
seats in the assemblies, left no choice to her party, the National League
for Democracy, but to refuse to register as a contesting political party
and therefore be disbanded. Without the participation of the largest
opposition party, the generals’ election will not have even a modicum of
legitimacy.

With this flagrant disregard by the generals of a basic element of
electoral fairness, it appears that some ASEAN leaders are finally
recognizing the military regime’s true nature.

Political leaders, including foreign ministers from Thailand, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore, have all voiced their concern,
disappointment and disapproval of the election laws. They have urged the
military regime to revise the laws and initiate a dialogue with the
opposition to ensure that the elections are inclusive and not just an
elaborate scheme designed to guarantee the military’s hold on power
indefinitely.

What this publicly expressed concern translates into – especially during
an appropriate forum as the ASEAN Summit – remains to be seen. However,
based on previous discussions on Burma at ASEAN meetings, mere ‘advice’
will be given and ‘hope’ will be placed in the generals to heed the
urgings of the bloc.

Pressure from ASEAN members, some of whom also happen to be among Burma’s
top trading partners, could be instrumental in opening up a space for
dialogue and reconciliation, but achieving this shift will necessitate
departing from the long-revered ideal of regional consensus and rather
pursuing actions, including passing resolutions, that may not be popular
with all members of the regional bloc.

Members who appreciate democratic governance and the protection of human
rights as enshrined in the ASEAN Charter must now take the lead. They must
be willing to stand up for their values and not allow themselves to be led
by the murderous rogues in their midst. They must forego consensus to
facilitate genuine reform in Burma and end the military’s 40-year reign of
terror.

Roshan Jason is executive director of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary
Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC)
____________________________________

April 9, Irrawaddy
Can the NLD be reincarnated? – Kyaw Zwa Moe

Once upon a time, in the back seat of an old Pajero, Aung San Suu Kyi was
trying to keep herself from bouncing against the roof of the car by
holding on grimly to the front seat headrests. Her heart, however, was
lifted when she saw the signboards of her party, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), “gallantly displayed in front of extremely modest little
offices.”

The year was 1995, just after Burma's pro-democracy icon was freed from
her house arrest.
Kyaw Zwa Moe is managing editor of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be
reached at kyawzwa at irrawaddy.org.

“These signboards, brilliantly red and white, are a symbol of the courage
of people who have remained dedicated to their beliefs in the face of
severe repression, whose commitment to democracy has not been shaken by
the adversities they have experienced,” Suu Kyi wrote, describing her
first pilgrimage trip to Thamanya Hill, Karen State, in her book “Letters
from Burma.”

“The thought that such people are to be found all over Burma lifted my
heart,” she wrote.

That memory will probably become a “once upon a time” story.

Once free, it's unlikely that the 64-year-old opposition leader will ever
again see such a display of signboards for her party, which will be
dissolved  after May 7, the deadline the ruling junta set for all
political parties to register to contest the elections to be held this
year.

On March 29, the NLD unanimously decided not to register, a decision
critized by numerous foreign observers and internationally well-known
magazines. However, the majority of Burmese inside and outside the country
believed it was the right decision.

For the NLD, both choices—to take part in the junta's rigged election or
to self-terminate the party—were unacceptable. The former would have given
legitimacy to the election, and the latter would erase its existence as a
party.

In the past, the NLD was widely criticized for practicing a survival
strategy—in other words, not to be disbanded by the junta—and for not
taking creative and politically brave stands against the regime.

The leadership used to respond that it wanted to hand over a “living”
party to Suu Kyi when she was released and they saw themselves as
guardians or caretakers, a view that met with criticism even within the
party.

There were disagreements or gaps between the leadership and various
factions of active members, some of whom, including the now imprisoned Naw
Ohn Hla, who were suspended or expelled temporarily by the leadership for
their individual intiatives such as marching and praying for the release
of Suu Kyi at Shwedagon Pagoda or distributing political leaflets in
public.

In the past, critics saw the NLD at best a symbol of the democracy
movement, but essentially a dead party. The Rangoon headquareters was even
called “an old folks home,” because most leaders were at least
octogenarians, and its efforts were passive or inactive.

The NLD has chosen to terminate itself, but its demise may be a creative
opportunity for a new breed of NLD members to inact new initiatives and
tactics to keep the pro-democrracy movement alive.

This week, the NLD apologized to the public for its “unsuccessful struggle
for democracy.” It was the first time the NLD admitted that it had failed
at its mission, but to be honest, almost all pro-democracy groups
struggling under totalitarian dictators fail in their mission. It's only
when a mass wave of citizens speak out that regime change occurs.

In its statement, the NLD said it will continue to stand alongside the
public and use non-violent strategies under the leadership of Suu Kyi.

Perhaps a new breed of NLD activists can reincarnate the party using new
creative strategies to directly engage a whole new range of issues that
address the same goals of democracy set out in the birth of the NLD in
1988.

The Burmese people would like to see the NLD rise like a Phoenix from its
ashes.