Dialogue first, if not, we support

[nin@xxxxxx]

Reply-To: Khin Ni Ni Thein <nin@xxxxxx>
Subject: Dialogue first, if not, we support sanction!

The Progressive Interview:  March 1997
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by Leslie Kean and Dennis Bernstein
Excerpt only.

Question:  :Does your support for sanctions impede your chances that
           the Slorc will enter into dialogue with the NLD?

DASSK:     :The government has hinted at this possibility. However, we
cannot accept this explanation for the lack of dialogue, because they did
not do anything toward entering into dialogue even in the days when we
were very careful not to call for sanctions. And we were very restrained
for a long time, because we wanted to keep the door open. So I think that
for the authorities to say now that calling for sanctions will prevent
dialogue is a ploy to stop us from supporting sanctions. It has to be the
other way around: DIALOGUE FIRST, then we stop our call for sanctions,
because sanctions make people understand that you cannot exercise
repression and at the same time expect international support.

	We have been making constant efforts, all the time, to start a
dialogue with the Slorc, but you know it takes two. We don't want a
MONOLOGUE. We would like a substantive political dialogue among the Slorc,
political leaders including myself, and leaders of ethnic groups_exactly
as stipulated in the UN General Assembly resolution on Burma.

QUESTION:  :How would sanctions impact the people of Burma?

DASSK:     :I can say with absolute confidence that the general public of
Burma would be very little affected, if at all, by sanctions. So far, the
kind of investments that have come in have benefited the public very
little indeed. If you have been in Burma long enough, you will be aware of
the fact that a small elite has developed that is extremely wealthy.
Perhaps they would be affected, but my concern is not with them but with
the general public. Because of rampant inflation, living standards have
been dropping for the great majority of the population. The people are
poorer because standards of health and education have fallen. And
conditions in the rural areas are worse off than they have ever been. So,
you cannot equate the so-called open-market economy adopted by the Slorc
with any real development that benefits people.

	Of course, there is a trickle-down effect but the trickle is a
very, very small trickle. And its dissipated very easily.

	It is essential to institute a legal framework that would ensure
justice and improve the quality of life in Burma immediately, because the
greatest suffering among the people at the moment is caused by lack of
justice and lack of rule of law.

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