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Don't try to 'control' new government, regime tells opposition
Irrawaddy - December 25, 2010
Ba Kaung – Burma's democratic opposition should stop calling for national reconciliation and instead ally itself with the country's newly elected government to achieve "national reconsolidation," according to a commentary published in the state-run New Light of Myanmar on Saturday.
In the Burmese regime's first apparent response to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's repeated calls for dialogue with the country's ruling generals, the commentary urged opposition groups to regard the junta-backed government that will be formed sometime early next year as a "democracy ally."
The commentary referred specifically to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party and ethnic groups which boycotted last month's election. The junta's proxy party claimed a landslide victory in the polls, which were widely dismissed as a sham by international observers.
It also warned the NLD, which has tried in the past to pressure the regime to hold talks with the opposition, not to use similar tactics in the future.
"Any ways to achieve national reconsolidation through non-violent, violent, indirect and direct approaches designed to control the ruling government will never come to fruition," it said.
Notably absent from the commentary was the phrase "national reconciliation," which is the stated aim of the NLD and and its ethnic allies. Instead, it refers to "national reconsolidation" – a term more in line with the regime's goal of strengthening central control over the country's many minority groups.
"How can we reconsolidate before we can reconcile with each other?" said Chin Sian Than, a Chin ethnic leader who boycotted last month's election.
"This commentary indicates yet again that the regime will press ahead with its own plans," he said.
The front page of the New Light of Myanmar also highlighted the theme of national reconsolidation, in a speech given to the graduating class of a military medical academy in the capital Naypyidaw on Friday by junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
"I would like to urge you to build on the national reconsolidation that has been achieved and avoid all thoughts and notions that might lead to the disintegration of the Union," he was quoted as saying.
In the speech, Than Shwe also also claimed that Burma's ethnic minorities are now enjoying the fruit of development projects his regime has undertaken since it came into power in 1988. He added that coming governments would continue their efforts for the country based on these foundations.
In January, Burma is expected to hold its first parliament in more than two decades.
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