The national reconciliation process in Myanmar

Contemporary Southeast Asia

Volumn 24, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 371-384

  Myoe, Maung Aung ^a  

^a NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY   (Singapore)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84937380386     PISSN: 0129797X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1355/CS24-2H     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Myanmar Information Committee, Information Sheet No. C-2200 (I/L) – 6 May 2002.
2. CNN News, 6 May 2002 (11:00 GMT).
3. BBC News, 6 May 2002 (06:44 GMT).
4. Asiaweek, 8 January 1999.
5. Roger Mitton, “Sending Out Feelers”, Asiaweek, 13 January 2000, p. 30.
6. A total of 258 prisoners were released by the end of April 2002.
7. Myanmar Times (Myanmar version) 2, no. 24 (31 August–6 September 2001): 1.
8. “Myanmar’s Advance?” Editorial, Straits Times (Singapore), 22 November 2001, p. 20.
9. Star (Malaysia), 29 November 2001.
10. Asiaweek, 16 November 2001, p. 11.
11. Thet Khaing, “Success ‘Imminent in Talks’”, Myanmar Times 6, no. 103 (18–24 February 2002): 1.
12. Wassana Nanuam, “Junta Working Hard Toward Reconciliation”, Bangkok Post, 6 September 2001, p. 3.
13. CNN News, 31 January 2002.
14. Edward Tang, “Arrests Show Myanmar Fed Up With Abuse by Ne Win Family”, Straits Times (Singapore), 13 March 2002, p. A5.
15. Mark Baker, “Burma Inches Towards Democracy as Suu Kyi and Military Haggle”, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 March 2001, p. 10.
16. Document dated 17 July and 27 July 2001.
17. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia), 22 April 2002.
18. United Nations, 16 April 2002, on-line edition.
19. Straits Times (Singapore), 29 April 2002, p. A6.
20. See Andrew Marshall, Time for Myanmar’s General to Bite the Bullet, ABC News.com, 20 April 2002.
21. Straits Times (Singapore), 30 April 2002, p. 12.
22. Thiri, “The NLD that Deviates from the Course of National Politics”, New Light of Myanmar, 27 July 1999, p. 5.
23. The military will have a quarter of all seats reserved for it in both houses of the Union Parliament. The president must be experienced in political, military, administrative and economic affairs. The control of three security portfolios within the executive branch (defence, internal affairs, and border areas) are to be given to the military or persons designated by the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Armed Forces. The military will enjoy complete autonomy, with its C-in-C designated as the supreme commander (including police and reserve forces.) The C-in-C will determine and assign military officers to “leading bodies” of self-administered areas. There will be a constitutional provision for the supreme commander to assume state power in case of an emergency which causes disintegration of the union and national solidarity as well as the loss of national sovereignty.
24. The four political objectives are: stability of the state, community peace and tranquility, prevalence of law and order; national reconsolidation; emergence of a new enduring state constitution; and building of a new, modern developed nation in accord with the new state constitution. The four economic objectives are: development of agriculture as the base, and all round development of other sectors of the economy as well; proper evolution of the market-oriented economic system; development of the economy by inviting participation in terms of technical know-how and investments from sources inside the country and abroad; and the initiative to shape the national economy must be kept in the hands of the state and the people. The four social objectives are: to uplift the morale and morality of the entire nation; to uplift the national prestige and integrity, and the preservation and safeguarding of the cultural heritage and national character; to uplift the dynamism of a patriotic spirit; and to uplift the health, fitness, and education standards of the entire nation.
25. From time to time, Myanmar media refers to Mrs. Albright as “Mein-ma-gyan-gyi” (battle-axe).
26. AFP News, 27 January 2001.
27. BBC News, 10 January 2001.
28. Star Online (Malaysia), 7 May 2002.
29. Star Online (Malaysia), 7 May 2002.
30. New Light of Myanmar, 20 February 2002, Supplement.
31. It is interesting to note that in October 1958, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar armed forces) declared “The National Ideology and Our Pledge”, which was heavily influenced by socialist ideology. Perhaps what is more interesting is that Senior General Than Shwe was a junior officer at the Army’s Education and Psychological Warfare Department, which was responsible for drafting the declaration.
32. Myanmar’s Advance? Editorial, Straits Times (Singapore), 22 November 2001, p. 20.
33. In the 1970s, there was a position known as Executive Officer (XO) in the Light Infantry Division (LID). The Myanmar term for the LID’s XO was Tatma Nhyinaing Kutkaeyehmu. The position was later renamed as General Staff Officer – Grade I.
34. For example, in early February 2002, soon after he came back from a tour in Sagaing Division, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt donated a computer set to the primary school in Major General Thura Shwe Man’s native village (Myawaddy Television). Moreover, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt reportedly told senior civil servants to look into and fulfill the needs of Major General Thura Shwe Man’s native village.
35. Star Online (Malaysia), 7 May 2002.
36. In major cities, there are long queues for state-subsidized cooking oil and other essential products, such as soap bars.
37. Senior General Than Shwe’s address at the USDA Special Meeting on 19 February 2002.
38. What I mean is that pressure is already present and instead of saying “if you don’t do this we will punish you”, it should be “if you do this, we will reward you”.