The junta and opposition must compr

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Subject: The junta and opposition must compromise to save the nation

MYANMAR'S CHANCE : The junta and opposition must compromise to save the nation

IT IS TIME TO bring Myanmar in from the cold. Though the obstacles are
enormous, this rich country-gone-wrong was once the hope of Asia. As a
National Geographic article put it in 1939: "So many round-the-world
aviators and air-minded travelers come this way that it has been predicted
that Rangoon will become to the air lanes what Singapore is to sea lanes --
a 'crossroads of the East.'" Instead, Myanmar is on the road to nowhere:
impoverished, stuck in political limbo and reviled in the West. The
country's sole saving grace is that its ruling junta acknowledges the need
for change. That is why a recent plan put forward by the United Nations,
World Bank and international diplomats should be encouraged. Proposing to
reward political progress with up to $1 billion in financial and
humanitarian aid, it is the best hope for Myanmar. 

The country's deadlock stems from a refusal by the junta to honor the
results of the 1990 election, decisively won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD). The generals do not even consider Suu Kyi, who
has spent much of her life abroad and is married to a British academic, to
be a Myanmar citizen. They will not allow the Nobel laureate a position in
any government, and they will not talk with the NLD if she participates in
the discussions. But the party insists that Suu Kyi must take part. Neither
side will back down -- and the people of Myanmar continue to suffer from
the intransigence. If Yassir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin could sign a peace
agreement in West Asia, if Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk could come to
terms in South Africa, then the NLD and the junta ought to be capable of
compromise too. 

The aid-diplomacy proposed by Asian and European officials could provide
the way out for Myanmar's recalcitrant government and opposition. To obtain
some of the money dangled before them, the generals would first need to
grant the NLD -- and other parties -- significant political freedom. This
would include releasing NLD members who are still being detained and
allowing Suu Kyi to move about the country. The party would need -- at
least in the short term -- to recognize the legitimacy of the military
regime. It would also have to rescind its calls to convene Parliament
(based on the 1990 election results). 

The initiative has a chance. When U.N. special envoy Alvaro de Soto
presented the plan to Yangon in October, at least no one rejected it. The
NLD and the government offered predictably cautious comments, and onlookers
made the usual pessimistic predictions. But the junta has also appointed a
new, more sophisticated foreign minister, Win Aung. He is capable of
leading talks with someone from the NLD more flexible than Suu Kyi.
Ideally, an observer from a nation with an even-handed approach to Myanmar,
such as Australia or Japan, should mediate. And the junta should allow one
of the more cogent and educated exiles, like Bangkok-based student leader
Aung Naing Oo, to attend negotiations. 

There is no reason to suppose that top junta strategist Gen. Khin Nyunt and
Suu Kyi do not possess the kind of courage and concern for their people as
did the peacemakers in West Asia and South Africa. The pair can help put
Yangon back at the crossroads of Asia. Now is their chance. 

(Source: Asiaweek)