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an open letter II



Reply-To: MYINT SHWE <yu148683@xxxxxxxx>

On 11 Jul 1997 yu148683@xxxxxxxx wrote:

> From: MYINT SHWE <yu148683@xxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: an open letter to nyeinchan and shwe
> 
> 		  REVOLUTION IN THE REVOLUTION
> 
> Dear Ko Nyein Chan and Ko Shwe,
> 
> Criticism is important. Self criticism is far more important since most
> people are afraid of doing this. So, first of all I would like to thank
> both of you for your courage of doing this before it is too late though it
> is late however.
> 
> " The only way to guage the level of maturity of a revolutionary party
> is to check its attitude toward its own mistakes." said V.I Lenin. Please
> let me quote him since his word is quite relevent here. Since 1988
> whenever something has happened to SLORC, it accuses that it is the result
> a terrorist conspiracy from our side. Likewise, we accuse it is SLORC's
> conspiracy if there is something gone wrong on our side. What is the
> difference of code of conduct between SLORC and us. We all know that
> this is one of the reasons why we are still nowhere near the victory.
> Still few of us have moral courage to make self criticisms. You are the
> ones first who break the ground. 
> 
> I lived in Manerplaw in 1991 and in BKK, including my stay with NCG  at
> Soi Muabaam Preecha, up to 1994 and have witnessed a lot of, both personal
> and policy, weaknesses and shortcommings in all of our groups including
> NCGUB. I worked for NCGUB for a time and have made many presuasive and
> friendly comments to almost all of NCGUB guys in every possible
> circumstances. Because I have voted Dr. Hlaing Ni, the NLD candidate for
> Thaketa constituency II in the 1990 election. So NCGUB is my government.
> This is the leadership I, alongwith other 40 million Burmese people in
> 1990, have chosen in rejection to SLORC's illegitimate, self imposed
> political leadership. If this new leadership is incompetant for the job,
> it is us, the voters, who are first to blame. We have believed that they
> also will learn in the process of the struggele and make huge progress for
> it as well for them selves. With that in mind we fled Rangoon and came
> directly to them in late 1990. One NCGUB Minister is my close activist
> worked together in Rangoon though I did not come particularly to him.     
> 
> I am quite sure that I am (not ) the " only one" in the hundreds of
  NCGUB
> supporters and wellwishers who worked for them and at the same time tried
> to comment them " secretly " to have them changed for the better. in fact
> it is us not SLORC know a lot more than SLORC how bad are situatns on our
> side. but we refraimed from openly blaming them on two grounds;
> 
> 1. SLORC will take advantage of our criticism posing it as splits on our
>    camp.       
> 2. As a matter of fact these people,i.e, NCGUB, are "openly" committed to
> this long struggle and they will overcome their shortcommings in the long
> run. This, at least apparently, is the spearhead on our side. For the
> forming of the national opposition side as a whole itself takes pains and
> above all, time. Besides these two political reasons there is another personal reason which
> I mentioned above. Many well wishing critics, especially when they are
>   
   ( Please be in the firm belief that you are starting a very small
>   beginning of a great thing that will be a factor deciding the fate of
>   our revolution. )
> 
  to be continued....

>   
 continued from yesaterday,
 

 Dear Ko Nyein chan and Ko Shwe,

 Please accept my apology for my careless typing mistakes in my
 previous part of the letter to you. This, however, is not an excuse to
 hide my imperfection in English language which all of us care no more
 than a medium of communication to be used in the international aspect of
 our struggle. 
> 
 I should start my letter where I stopped yesterday. In my yesterday
 letter to you I mentioned my support to your effort to correct some
 errors on our side. My support to your point is made, as you know,
 on the ground nothing personel against the NCGUB but on my sincere
 willingness to correct errors on our part in time and start a new
 tradition, a democratic traditon, in the spirit of freedom of expression
 for all. To me, freedom of expression is absolute. Without it nothing
 improved. I definitely do not like personal accusations rather than
 proper arguments in response to positive comments and criticisms.
 Personal accusation is a sign of weakness on the part of the accuser,
 whoever he may be, SLORC or NCGUB.  
 
 Secondly, I would like to discuss about the point of washing a dirty
 linen (not laundry, by the way ) in the public " argument posted
 by someone in reply to all via the net. Usually I do not respond to
 letters by people who, for some reasons,dare not to use his own name, I
 means a name given by his Mom, in any argument of public interest.
 However the point this person has raised here is a point that probably that 
 might be able to confuse some people on our side. To me, washing a dirty
 linen is means two things.. First we do have dirty linens among us which 
 eventually has to be washed away if we do not want these rags abondoned.
 
 One of the reasons why our revolution has been so slow in advancing is
 that it has to carry extra weights of impurities, parasites and
 professionals who make livings on sweats,bloods, and tears of the people.
 My second point,i.e, by wasing in the public, despite the fact that our
 enemy might take advantages of this practice which he actually benefits
 however, is that by doing that we can show our sincereity and earnestness
 to the rest of the world that we are diffrent from SLORC and we are truly
 democratic, I would say.  We know that it is far worse that our mistakes
 and shortcomings are not sincerely purged by ourselves but exposed 
 by the enemy to the public and discredit us.

 To me, sincereity is the most important thing in any public cause.
 It greatly induces the third parites who heitherto are standing by the 
 side which can show. Remember that in 1947, Bo Gyoke Aung San was able to
 conjure up the whole country under his spell, by his sincereity and
 selflessness, not much by his masterfuleness in politics. Thesedays,
 SLORC has gained some achievenments in changing the country but the
 people remained much skeptical to it and refuse to coorporate to its
 plans. Because it lacks, first of all, sincereity as shown by the 1990
 election, in addition to its brutality and selfishness. We must be
 different from SLORC in this if we really want to beat SLORC. Please
 forbare me for my tutorous talks. To me a revolution is not a two sided
 matter (the enemy and us, openly committed revolutionaries ). It is a
 three dimensioned thing. It has the third party called the people plus 
 the rest of the world.  This third party is the decisive factor. To win
 this third party, the decisive factor, to our side we must be able to
 prove our sincereity and competency to the task we are assigned to it, by
 ourselves or by mandate. In this light, we must wash our dirty linen
 which is too dirty in the course of past seven years that is becoming a
 rag, in order to convince the comrades, potential comrades and onlookers 
 who might turn themselves into supporters to our cause in the long run.  
 
 In the case of NCG, despite the fact that since from the begining it is
 neither National, nor Coalition, nor a Government, we looked up at
 them in great expectations in Rangoon in late 1990.
  
 I mentioned yesterday that I have voted for NLD and was thus somehow
 obliged to continue to support as much as possible in its effort to bring
 democracy into Burmese society. Well before their arrest after the
 Gandhi Hall Conference, my close associates who became NLDMPs
 after the 1990 election, Mya Win ( Ingapu I), Hla Tun ( kyee myindaing
 township, RGN Div.), Ko Hla Than ( Ko Ko Gyun township who lately died in
 prison) and Daw San San ( Seikkan Township/Port area ) hinted that they
 were compelled by circumstances to proclaim a gov.in Mandalay and people
 were needed to work for the new regime. These people were, according to
 SLORC, real hard liners and the current NCGUB  guys were simply back
 benchers in the NLD. Ko Ye Tun Than, NLD Secretary ( Kyee Myin Daing
 Township/ still in prison since 1991. ) an advocate  and my Insein
 fellow inmate told me that, if I were to flee for my own activism, they
 need able people for new gov. on the Thai border. It was by the end of
 1990.

 My first disappointment with NCG incompetence was during my first week of
 arrival in Manerplaw. Then, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was
 assinated by a suicide bomers in Tamil Nadu Province in Southern India.
 I strongly urged NCG ministers to show up their face in condolence in
 Indian embassy in BKK, sign in the book of condolence and then in India
 where most of the world leaders will attend the funeral ceremony. I
 explained them to act like a government in foreign relations, squarely
 facing SLORC ministers in the international forum as early as 1990.
 India by then was Burma only neighbor whose government openly supported
 the 8888 and even supplied finance to NCGUB by then.
 
 Dr. San Aung, minister for education and health, has replied me that he
 has told Prime minister Dr. Sein Win that and the PM's reply was that he
 will send a fax message to New Delhi!
 
 My point was that nobody will drive away the Burmese MP who has won a
 very impressive election victory who, in the final analysis, was
 attending a funeral ceremony in condolence of their slaimed leaders. The
 U.S Vice President Dan Quayle would be there to attend the ceremony and
 if a NCG MP/minister has a two minutes chance to  talk with any world
 class leader, that is more than enough for publicity at that time. ( You
 can compare their reluctance with SLORC's eagerness to participate as
 much as possible in the international affairs that thay think will
 benefit them. A SLORC General even has attended the International Women
 Conference held in Beijing !) Officially, NCG is up to now, shunned by
 most world heads of states, even by minister of governments, except for
 Norway, whose governments have embassies in Rangoon.

 By the end of 1990, neither SLORC nor NCG could totally control the
 country. SLORC has the army and NLD has the mandate. The rest of the
 world was in the " wait and see" mood. Even soldiers have voted for 
 NLD and it can be said the bureaucracy, government servants, was very
 likely to stage a civil disobdience strike if they could see a relaible
 force from whom they have voted for. Though in underground, ABSFU, the
 student unions and monks were still active somehow because of the
 election victory. 



to be continued.....


Yours sincerely,


Myint Shwe