Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Mon, 11 Jan 1993 12:36:10 PST
From:         Coban Tun <tun@QUARK.SFSU.EDU>
Subject:      BURMA GENERALS STAGE CONVENTION TO ENSHRINE ROLE

RTw  01/09 0544  BURMA GENERALS STAGE CONVENTION TO ENSHRINE ROLE

(Eds: Adds quotes, details, analysis; changes dateline)
    RANGOON, Jan 9, Reuter - Burma's ruling generals on Saturday opened a
national convention billed as a step towards democracy, but said the meeting
must ensure the armed forces' continued right to a leading role in politics.
    Maintaining stability in Burma without a political role for the army would
be "extremely risky and dangerous," convention chairman Major-General Myo
Nyunt told the 700 delegates.
    Opponents of the Rangoon junta have already denounced the convention as a
farce being held solely to consolidate the hold on power the military has
maintained for more than 30 years.
    All European Community diplomats boycotted the opening session on the
grounds that the meeting would not be democratic, said one diplomat contacted
in the Burmese capital by telephone from Bangkok.
    The junta, officially called the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC), says the convention must lay down the principles for a new constitution
to replace the one it abolished when it seized power in 1988 by brutally
crushing a nationwide movement for democracy.
    It made a new constitution its condition for transferring power to an
elected government after ignoring the result of a May 1990 general election
when the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD),
won by a landslide.
    Major General Myo Nyunt spent most of his opening speech justifying the
armed forces' right to participate in politics.
    He stressed that delegates must "consider in all seriousness the matter of
the Tatmadaw (armed forces) being able to participate in the national
political leadership role in the future state."
    "... To put it frankly, the maintenance of national stability, peace and
tranquillity without the participation of the Tatmadaw is extremely risky and
dangerous," he said.
    He said democracy should be practised "in a way that suits our (Burmese)
society. The most fundamental requirement in making use of democratic rights
is the maintenance and observance of the law."
    Multiparty parliamentary democracy had been unable to solve Burma's
problems since it became independent, he said.
    Diplomats say the junta appears to have no intention of ever handing power
to the NLD and say the process of approving the constitution and forming a new
government could still take several years and require fresh elections.
    Since the 1990 election, the junta has arrested or forced into exile the
NLD's main leaders. Among those detained and barred from attending the
convention is NLD leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi,
held under house arrest in Rangoon since July 1989.
    Rangoon-based diplomats describe the convention as a public relations
exercise designed to convince the world the generals are serious about
democratisation. But they expect little or no debate outside strict guidelines
set by the junta.
    Senior junta members have warned of attempts to disrupt the meeting and
said such efforts would be dealt with severely. Security has been significantly
tightened in the capital.
    Convention delegates are being housed under close security at the
Kyaikkasan Grounds, a former racetrack in northeast Rangoon, officially to
help them "make the convention a total success."
    Diplomats believe the real reason is the junta's desire to to exert tight
control over the proceedings, expected to last at least a month, and over news
that emerges.
    Seven parties, including the NLD, are participating, as well as groups
representing the military and other sectors.
    The NLD has 93 delegates, but diplomats say its current leadership is
obliged to accede to the junta's demands.
    In Manerplaw, a guerrilla base on the Thai border, representatives of the
opposition and rebel groups ended a three-day rival convention on Friday. They
denounced the Rangoon convention as a sham and called on the United Nations to
intervene in their battle against military rule.
 REUTER HK DB JMM
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