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In response to "The Burmese Fairy T



For those of you, who are interested in emailing letters-to-the-editor at
Far East Economic Review, here is the info:

letters@xxxxxxxx
Fax: 011-(852) 2503-1530 
By Mail: Review, GPO Box 160, Hong Kong
Include your name, address, and phone number.


Dear Fellow Free Burma Supporters and Organizers:

We have included a piece supposedly written by Ma Thanegi.  Without
editorializing too much, some background information may be of help here, as
the piece puts the blame squarely on pro-sanctions activists in general and
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in particular for the economic plight of the Burmese
peoples.  Also included is a piece from The Nation (Thailand's English
paper) where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi spells out clearly the NLD's position on
political dialogue.

It is hardly surprising that Ma Thanegi's piece appears at a time when the
SPADCO in Rangoon is spending hundreds of thousands of US dollars trying to
re-build its PR image internationally.  It's also reminiscient of the
practices the old Burma Socialist Program Party(BSPP)  regime (General Ne
Win's dictatorship in socalist garb) aimed at coopting the cooptable from
within its opposition. Many student activists, former Polit Bureau members,
old politicians, university academics, and writers and journalists entered
symbiotic relationship with General Ne Win's Revolutionary Council
government (later renamed BSPP).

The writer, Ma Thanegi, worked for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi before the former
was put under house arrest on July 20, 1989 and spent 3 years in jail.  She
is widely believed to be compromised, politically, after her release from
imprisonment, and  Daw Aung San Suu Kyi hand-picked other trustworthy
individuals as her aides.  Most of whom have been serving long-term
imprisonment (from 10-20 years with hard labor).  Among Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi's aides who are in jail are Dr. Ma Thida, who is also a well-known
writer, U Aye Win, U Cho Aung Than, Daw Nge Ma Ma Than, and U Win Htein.
Unlike Ma Theingi, these former aides, who are rather committed in their
opposition to the junta, are  still kept in capitivity despite their
reportedly poor health conditions. 

Ma Thanegi's close friend (and conceivably a collaborator in writing this
piece), Stephen Brookes, is Rangoon-based correspondent for Asia Times,
highly pro-business paper, and, naturally, has written numerous
anti-sanctions, pro-SLORC/SPADCO pieces.

Ma Thanegi is not the first one--nor will she be the last--to blame the
victims.  For those of us who have been involved in Burma's pro-democracy
movement since 1988, we have witnessed many former pro-democracy activists
who have made about face and acted as spokespersons for the SLORC/SPADCO.
Several names come to mind:  Dr. Win Naing, a former leading pro-democracy
activist  in Japan, who now promotes trade and invesment in Burma among
Japanese businesses, U Peter Tun Aung, another former pro-democracy activist
who helped broker the sale of Burmese embassy in Tokyo between the SLORC and
Japanese buyer, U Aung San Oo, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's older brother, who,
after having made unsuccesful attempts to lead Burmese expatriates in
various parts of the world for pro-democracy activities  immediately after
the massacres in Burma in 1988, has become being publicly very critical of
the pro-democracy efforts by his own sister and hence now enjoys red- carpet
treatments by SPADCO/SL!
!
ORC each time he returns to Burma in order to attend the Martyr's Day
Commenmoration every year.  Who knows what their ulterior motives might be
or under what pressures they take these rather pathetic stance against
pro-democracy movement, still disguising themselves as "PRO_DEMOCRACY and
PRO-PEOPLE"?

To the best of our knowledge, no single pro-democracy activist who lives
(with the exception of a few top NLD leaders) in Burma can possibly publish
anything either domestically or internationally, without being dragged into
jail, unless their writings serve the SPADCO's interests. 

For those of you, who are interested in emailing letters-to-the-editor at
Far East Economic Review, here is the info:

letters@xxxxxxxx
Fax: 011-(852) 2503-1530 
By Mail: Review, GPO Box 160, Hong Kong
Include your name, address, and phone number.


peace, love, and hope,
zarni
http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm