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INFORMATION SHEET NO.A -0274(L)



                       INFORMATION SHEET
               NO.A -0274(L)	 6th January 1998
 
A response by Moe Kyaw Thu against the articles which appeared in 
December 28 Bangkok Post.
		An article written by Moe Kyaw Thu which is posted in the INTERNET is
reprinted in this Information Sheet for your reading pleasure.
 
***************
 
 
A Prelude to the two Articles Miswritten by Moe Thee ZUN In the "Bangkok Post"
 
	While l was on a flight to Tokyo from Ba.ngkok I happened to pick up a Thai
Newspaper the "Bangkok Post" and had the chance to go through the various news
items with much interest. There were many interesting information but the two
articles which captivated my attention most were the articles miswritten by
Moe Thee Zun (former chairman of AIl Burma Students'' Democratic Front) and
Myint Thein ( Senior Adviser to the Burmese Resistance ). 
	I have been residing and working in Japan since the early '80's but beginning
from 1991, I have been coming back regularly to Myanmar visiting my relatives
and attending to business interests in Yangon, Mandalay and Taunggyi. When I
was abroad I have been asked by my Japanese business associates and other
foreign business partner on similar points raised by both Moe Thee Zun and
Myint Thein. Fortunately whenever I happened to come across such points of
view I had the opportunity to sieve and digest a clarification and
confirmation from various quarters in Myanmar and also the chance to look into
these affairs personally. To cite one instance' in Myint Thein's New Year's
Message from Burma Resistance he stated the fact that the Kyandaw Cemetery was
bulldozed by SLORC for property development by ASEAN investors with
questionable "Asean values". This single accusation alone serves as an
indicator which highlights Myint Thein's lack of knowledge of what is really
going on in Myanmar or maybe he has made up his mind to intentionally write
fabrications and slanders to serve his own or someone else's purpose.
 
	Meanwhile everybody in Yangon and the ASEAN communities are well aware that
Kyandaw Cemetery has been transformed into a Multi-Religious Square where the
four major religions of the world could establish their respective monuments
of faith to symbolize harmony, unity and peace among the four prominent and
different faiths practised in .Myanmar. In fact, T have visited the former
cemetery a couple of times since the rumour mill started to churn out the same
statement Myint Thein has been giving out which I believe must have started
about four or five months ago and if I recall it correctly, it also resurfaced
again just before Myanmar became a .full-fledged ASEAN member. Of course, the
obvious intention was to create misunderstanding and mistrust between the
SLORC and the Islamic faiths of the ASEAN at that time.
 
	Well, my New Year's advice to Myint Thein is none other than to create or
find a somewhat realistic fabrication in given out statements in order to
slander the Myanmar Government as a professional necessity for his profession
of illusioning the Myanmar's image and identity.
 
	Now to analyse Moe Thee Zun's article "Drastic changes needed or no peace in
Burma" has been miswritten in such a way which may confuse any reader who is
not familiar with the authentic and fundamental developments and
transformation taking place in Myanmar. In his article he stated the fact that
there are four major problems confronting the Military regime in Burma --1)
The National. Convention, 2) The 1990 Election, 3) The Unconditional Surrender
of Armed Ethnic Groups and
4) Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and tlle Karen National Uniol1.
 
	(l) Well, Moe Thee Zun being a former student chairman cannot be blamed for
looking at things the way most of the youth tend to do so on account of the
limited exposure to knowledge and experience they have poorly been tainted 1
do hope that by means of the onrush of time and further experience he will
come to realize one day that to coordinate and hold the national convention
based on the system of reaching a consensus is a Herculean task especially in
Myanmar where the country embraces a variety of different ethnic races. But
hopefully one day he may come to appreciate the fact that trying to reach a
consensus in a country where the major race constitutes 70 % of the population
of the country is truly democratic rather than one .major race dominates the
national convention. Probably Moe Thee Zun is too young to remember or maybe
was not born yet at the time when Myanmar was in the doldrums in the
Parliamentary Democracy Era. National Unity, Peace and Stability were words
alien to Myanmar at that time and a short study into that era and the problems
being resulted from the inherent weakness of the then 1947 constitution will
enrich Moe Thee Zun with a vast amount of authenticity - knowledge. I do hope
that Moe Tllee Zun will realize that the present national convention is being
held to draft a new, strong and ever lasting constitution on a foundation of
consensus-conscience which will keep Myanmar unite peaceful and stable
forever. It is, of course, a difficult task by itself and thanks to the effort
of a major political party in trying to sabotage the National Convention,
unnecessary delays and setbacks have come up in the implementation and
development process.
 
	(2) The 1990 election is a very interesting episode and has been repeatedly
asked by many quarters on this issue. There are many versions and explanations
in the interpretations of this issue but the most reasonable and veritable
version accepted by the independent observers within and without the country
is that a nation can only hold elections to form a government if a
constitution is in existence and in the case of England where a constitution
does not exist but the Magna Carter serves as something constitutional . In
this regard the NLD should have raised the question of whether the winning
party or parties should be elected to form a government though there exists no
constitution yet in the country or whether the country should continue to be
administered by the Martial Law by the winning party as the SLORC has been
indispensably :Forced to undertake since 1988. The question then arises how
would the party or parties having won the election form a government and run
the country without a constitution Looking back into those fundamental issues
it can be convincingly understood why the party that won the majority of the
votes did not become the government. But the priority has been given to the
drafting of the new constitution with. Nl D having the highest number of seats
as a political party in the new national convention. In the drafting of e new
constitution. To be realistic, how can one play ally kind of games if there
exists no rules and regulations?
 
	(3) Regarding the unconditional surrender of the 14 armed ethnic groups Moe
Thee Zun stated the fact that, "These groups were told first to lay down their
arms before political issues could be worked out. This has not happened to
this day." It is surprising to notice how ill -informed he is. The armed
ethnic groups did not surrender unconditionally. They just gave up their armed
struggle to work together with the government in the nation-building task
while simultaneously participating in the drafting of the new national
constitution. The ethnic groups have agreed to ~ay down their arms after the
emergence of a new constitution. Only the Mong Tai Army (M.T.A.) of Khun Sa
surrendered unconditionally and the breakaway factions of the Kayin National
Union ( K.N.U.) traded their arms for peace. It is hard to believe that Moe
Thee Zun has not been aware of this undeniable fact or maybe he is
intentionally sending out false information to those who are not aware of or
familiar with the Myanmar situation.
 
	(4) Now comes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the K.N.U. issue. Moe Thee Zun, I
believe, happens to be correct this time in bringing up and forward Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi and K.N. U. together. Actually, both Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the
K.N.U. are of similar foreground and background where their status has largely
been blown out of proportion outside the country One is trying to harm the
country militarily while the other to disembowel the sovereignty of the nation
by economic and political sabotage . Internally, the K.N.U. is a has-been and
just a terrorist organization being outlawed by all successive Myanmar
Governments since her time of independence in 1948. If this harassment group
was an organization fighting for democracy as being depicted in the western
world, why was it outlawed by the Parliamentary Democracy Government in the
late '40's. Are blowing up public buildings, railroad, trains, burning
villages, ambushing civilian convoys (including convoys of pilgrims) and the
worst of all kidnapping female students and trading then for weapons across
the border in the late '50's, the acts of terroism? 
again, internally Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's status is the general secretary of
the N.L.D. but externally she has been referred to as the leader of the N.L.D.
In that case the N.L.D. seems to have two leaders in their party. Why is it
that the official chairman of the N.L.D. is not referred to as the leader of
the party by the West? Is it because both the K.N. U. and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
are being created by the British and blessed and supported by the U.S.
Whatever they both are or as being flocked together as the same feather, are
they to be regarded as freedom fighters?
 
	Moe Thee Zun also stated the fact that there is also the question of foreign
investment and how to overcome trade sanctions imposed by the United States".
He also mentioned that, " The regime is also :finding it difficult to acquire
loans from institutions such as the I.M.F, World Bank and A.D.B." Is Moe Thee
Zun really so ignorant or just trying to fool his ignorance is a question to
be asked? If the U.S. is imposing trade sanctions on Myanmar being the fact
that these moneylending institution also will automatically refuse as their
sheep-dog's whims and fancies to assist Myanmar under various excuses and
totality-foolhardiness is nothing surprising.
 
	Anyhow, he really did put in much effort to discredit and slander the Myanmar
Government by exaggerations and fabrications. I do hope that his efforts are
going to be recognized by his mentors and his survival-allowance will not be
slashed in this coming new year for his unproductive performance.
 
l
Moe Kyaw Thu
Osaka, Japan