Keep that in mind next time you read some overly optimistic prediction of an early political settlement with Burma's most famous lady, Aung San Suu Kyi. In November 1996, Kyaw Ba launched a massive charm offensive on all fronts. Visit Burma Year was slated to attract 500,000 foreign tourists, never mind the problems of accommodation and airline capacity. Hard to say. That's a bit of a non-starter, boycott or not.
Perception is everything.
The generals can't understand this sort of argument because for them uniforms, gongs and guns are the stuff of normal life, just like ordering people around. The bizarre highlight of the Visit Burma Year opening ceremony was a vast parade, mostly of young women dressed in ethnic costumes. They looked superb, but the effect was totally ruined by a senior army officer standing ramrod straight out front barking instructions at them over the PA system. To Kyaw Ba and the other generals beaming from the grandstand, this was just a march past in fancy dress with everybody following orders. Of course, in most other places army officers marching ethnic maidens around stadiums would be considered distinctly abnormal.