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This office is presenting the Editorial entitled "Reflections at New Year 1999 " of the Myanmar News Letter Vol.1 No.1, February 1999 of Myanmar Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, for your reading pleasure. 

For the past 51 years, the fourth day after New Year on the Julian Calendar, permanently marked the Anniversary of the Independence of the Union of Myanmar. Amidst all the celebration and festivities it has also been time to pause and ponder on how far we have travelled in our Journey together as a Union between the larger state of Bamar (from which the term Burma was derived) with its administrative divisions and the non-Burmese states. 

The Union that was formed again on February 12, 1947 at Panglong in the Shan State, in fact, was allowed by the British Colonial Government with theprovision that the states belonging to the nationalities may, after a period of ten years, re-asses their desires whether to remain in the Union or secede as independent states thereafter. General Aung San and other war time leaders including those from the states seemed to have successfully convinced the nationalities of Myanmar at Panglong how the national races under the traditional name of this kingdom survived for more than a millenium despite the onslaught of the huge foreign armies before the nation fell piece by piece in the 19th century to the British Colonial power over a period of sixty years. It was recalled that the country was even made a province of India and then separated from the historically unnatural union in 1936 when a referendum on the question overwhelmingly favoured separation. 

But the Colonial power saw to it that the separation went beyond the question posed by the referendum and the nation was further divided into divisions of Barmar (or "Burma- pronounced Bermer") and the Frontier Areas collectively named for the states of the national races of Shan, Mon, Kachin, etc. When the colonial government's pretext to delay independence for the frontier area was that they required "further development", Gen. Aung San was then reported to have angrily retorted"if you (the colonial power) did not develop these states in a century of your rule, how long are you going to take to develop them in the future?". 

To cut the long story short, Aung San accepted the colonial name of Burma together with the provisional clause in order to get the Independence as priority before reviving the ancient nation as "Myanmar" which has already been subjected for a century to the "divide and rule" strategy of most colonial powers of the day. Despite the brutal assassination of Aung San and his cabinet, that probably made the reunification process more tenacious, the visionaries of the post-war British labour government such as Clement Atlee, Arthur Bottomley, Lord Mountbatten and Hubert Rance (the last governor of "Burma") decided to keep their pledge of independence for the country as a Union. In appreciation for their roles, on Lord Mountbatten was bestowed the nations' highest independence decoration and Mr. Bottomley was later awarded the distinguished Aung San Tagun title. 

Few people knew until recently, mainly because much of the truth over a period of 50 years was officially classified by the British as top secret, that a group in Britain called "Friends of the Hill peoples of Burma" with affiliation to some elements of the war-time conservative government not only stage-managed the assassination of Aung San and his colleagues but also for the Karen National Union to rise-up in arms immediately after independence for the creation of "Karenistan" as conceived by these so-called friends with ambitions to retain their hold on the resource-rich areas of the country. However elements of luck, patriotism and organizational capabilities of the war-time leaders of the Burma Independence Army were not to be taken lightly. They, including Karen patriots, first overcame the mercenaries by arresting such British military luminaries as Campbell, Tulloch, Bingley, Vivian and convicting them in open trials and later extraditing them to Britain. Then, with great difficulties and sacrifices they gradually restored the elected "Rangoon government" to once again become "government of the Union". 

This insurrection spreading all over the union in different forms, under different ideologies and with different foreign patronages ravaged the nation for nearly fifty years, which extracted a price of immeasurable proportions in terms of lives, disabilities and most of all socio-economic development of the country. Now that peace has finally returned after half a century, a great progress in the country's infrastructure rebuilding is visible to anybody willing to keep his eyes on such endeavours. 

This has caused some well-meaning officials in the international financial institutions to take a serious look at the Union of Myanmar where even without financial assistance from them, such projects to benefit people at the grass roots have been successfully implemented. Even more important to realise is how empty and callous are arguments from politicians, within and without, that such aid would not reach the people. Such contentions most of the time can be seen to emanate from the few remaining insurgents and their supporters who are themselves yearning for power by any means. Within the Union, their above ground allies certainly risk the wrath of the people suffering from the negative effects of their political manoeuvres, especially their calling for cessation of development aid, trade sanctions and bans on tourism. 

It is now a simple question of whether these financial institutions will continue to stay with or break out of the political pressure to display their truly noble intentions and show the world that they exist simply to help the people especially when the commitment of a government to developing the country is glaringly clear. The world now is in dire need of visionaries who will view the human needs and development on a long term basis and it is fervently hoped that the International Financial Institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF will prove that they are not short of such precious human resources. Their image will then attain lofty heights in the eyes of all human beings who inhabit the developing countries and who make up over three-fourths of the population of this planet. This should in turn contribute towards further stabilisation of the global political situation. Progress in the Union of Myanmar made for its people in material terms are measurable. 

In the last 5 years many new bridges can be seen spanning over large rivers, scores of large dams are irrigating millions of acres of rice fields in the dry season, 95 new hospitals opened in the past ten years, 72 hospitals upgraded, 56 rural health care centres, 20 regional health centres and 76 clinics opened, and over a thousand new schools are serving the people throughout the country. As of January 5th, all medical universities and institutes have resumed the undergraduate classes (all post-graduate courses had never been suspended) and others are expected to follow suit in the very near future. 

Although it is something that can be measured only in abstract terms but far more precious than any material gain is the very survival of the Union despite the onslaught of many ideological, military, economic and political adversaries over half a century. Since its inception at Panglong, much consolidation has taken place already since the return of 17 former armed insurgent leaders and their armies with only a few militarily insignificant groups remaining along the Thai-Myanmar border. However, the latter's access to the foreign media in Thailand and beyond have enabled them to make "mountains out of mole hills" in western countries where their " friends" who created their cause are still struggling to keep them alive. They do not seem to realise how much the present day problems are caused by these ill-designed manipulations of the past. For these reasons it is so important for Myanmar people within the Union to realise that while material assistance can hasten our economic development, it must come in such a way that the hard-earned unity of the national races must never again be compromised and the survival of the "Union" never ever threatened. ================================================================================================== Response published in the e-mail Lists of the Free Burma Coalition 

Sir, 

I have read your Information Sheet A-0801(I) covering 51 years of Myanmar's existence as an independent nation, and find no reference either to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, or to the 1990 General Election, accepted by nations around the world as being both free and fair, in which the National League for Democracy, gained an overwhelming mandate from the Burmese people which the governing military junta, SPADCO, has refused to honour. Could you please explain this glaring error of omission?

In most democratic countries General Elections are a major event, the results of which often lead to changes of Government. Are you so ashamed that the people of Myanmar voted as they did that you cannot even bear to mention it? Is that why you are forcing members of the NLD elected by the people to resign from the party and persuading voters to cancel the votes they cast for that party 9 years ago - in effect to "unvote"?

Are you so afraid of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi that you stop her moving freely about her own country? 

And are you even more afraid to deport her forcibly from the land where she was born, whose passport is the only one she carries despite all SPADCO allegations to the contrary. because your army may defect in vast numbers and your people rise in violent revolt if you do?

I have read elsewhere that SPADCO have been attempting to write a new Constitution for over 6 years. It has still not been published. In a statement during a BBC interview at the ASEAN summit in Hanoi this month, General Abel stated that your country's long-awaited draft Constitution was near completion. He did not give any specific time-frame but did state that there would be nationwide elections once the new Constitution was in place. Can you tell me why it has taken so long?

How much longer must the people of Myanmar wait for another opportunity to choose their Government in a free and fair election? 

When SLORC changed its name to SPADCO, they were reported saying that they believed in "disciplined democracy". Can you explain to me what that means? 

I am sorry to bother you with so many questions but most thinking people outside Myanmar find it difficult to understand how SPADCO can claim the support of the people they govern, while giving them no opportunity to express that support in a nationwide secret ballot, and denying the only effective democratic Opposition Leader, recognised by the rest of the world as devoted to peace, the right to travel around freely in her own country. 

I hope you will find the time to respond to my letter with answers to my questions. 

Wishing all the people in Myanmar a happy new year,

I am, yours sincerely, 

Stanley Barden