[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
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