Dear Dr. Gambari:While you are at Myanmar in the capacity of a UN Special Envoy, please allow me, through the News From Bangladesh, to break a taboo, on which I have been sitting silent due to many concerns. I make myself bold to tell now with the hope that it might help resolve political stalemate in Myanmar and allow her people march towards a Myanmar People's Republic, owned by the people and run by the people.

I am a biological scientist and the author of Burma Nationalism and Ideology, Dhaka, 1989 and The Price of Silence, USA, 2005 and many other articles on Myanmar (www.shwelumaung.org). I am also a former guerrilla and a 1962 generation opposing the military politics since the 2nd March 1962, the day General Ne Win seized power.

1. Yettaw-Suu Kyi episode is a very simple one. It could have been solved easily with an apology by the Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accompanied by a senior US Diplomat. However, the West's ignorance of Myanmar culture has led to unnecessary tension, escalating the East-West Confrontation, even involving Russia and China. This disproportionate blow-out is a bad case of Western diplomacy.

Please trust me; it is not still too late to settle the issue with a sincere apology for the eccentric act of a US Mormon. Myanmar Buddhist culture will try to understand that Suu Kyi tried to save his neck by keeping silent. Nothing more, nothing less. (By the way, at my home in the United States I truly faced firm at the Mormons and others who came to convert my children. I asked them to go and read the Holy Koran!).

2. It is in the best interest of democracy and poverty-stricken voice-less citizens that we must accept Myanmar Constitution 2008 and make 2010 election a success. It is a question of the military withdrawal from politics rather than a power transfer from a soldier to a civilian. Please ask the Bangladeshi politicians and citizens who know very well that there must be basic changes in political and social fabrics to facilitate the military withdrawal from the politics. In spite of its imperfection, Myanmar Constitution 2008 allows provisions to make the basic democratic changes politically and socially in Myanmar, eventually making the military's presence in politics redundant.

3. Myanmar Constitution 2008, e.g. Chapter III, 59(f) and Chapter IV, 121 (e) & (f), bans persons like Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi Aris from politics on the ground of his or her marriage to a foreign person. Although it may sound cynical I would say the Nobel Peace Laureate must accept this constitutional requirement for the greater interest of Myanmar. It is more of a matter of honor and prestige for Myanmar rather than political. Read this, please. In 1990, Senior General Saw Maung was ready to handover power to the election winner NLD, as per his pre-election promise. But, then, he suddenly changed his mind and offered the NLD a constituent assembly in which the military representatives would also seat to draft a constitution.

From the days of Emperor Anawrahta (r.1044-1077 C.E.) it is an established Myanmar cultural law that a king or a ruler must keep his promise whereas a subject or citizen must maintain his allegiance. I have given a concise account of this Myanmar culture in my book The Price of Silence, page 198. General Ne Win was famous for his promise-keeping with the cost of his downfall. Then, why did Senior General Saw Maung changed his mind? It is this simple curiosity of my cultural instinct that I enquired and learned this. A close friend, an academician very close to the Generals and a pal of General Khin Nyunt, told me that in that critical time the representatives of the commanders from four elite Military Divisions, representing 40,000 fighting men, approached Senior General Saw Maung and told him point-blank that they would mutiny if power were unconditionally transferred to NLD and Daw Suu. Those were the commanders who manned the streets of Yangon and other cities during the days of 1988 sad events. Their reasons were: (1) Daw Suu, being the daughter of General Aung San, was unpatriotic to marry a British person, whose ancestors colonized Myanmar and that Myanmar Army was born out of a revolution against the British Colonialism.

It would be a shame for the Myanmar Armed Forces to have a Commander-in-Chief who is a spouse of former colonialist. (2) The NLD is made up of General Ne Win’s colonels such as Aung Shwe, Kyi Mung, Maung Lwin, and Tin U who must also be held responsible for the fall of Myanmar and 1988 sad event. Especially, they were bitter with General Tin U on account of Captain Ohn Kyaw Myint. General Tin U turned him down when Capt. Myint in 1976 offered him to become the Chief after a putsch ousting General Ne Win. Captain Myint was arrested and executed. These young Turks argued that they had to painfully go through the 1988 for the mistakes of Ne Win and his colonels, and as such would not tolerate their comeback to power. Under such grave situation that Senior General Saw Maung modified his promise and retired from the service in 1992.

Please note that it is the 1988 generation of the military commanders who are running the country now. I find that their reasoning is logical. We must accept it and Daw Suu must also understand it. She is not an ordinary person. Being a noble birth as the daughter of General Aung San, her marriage to a former colonial British person is not only in conflict with the national interest but also a matter of prestige concern for the Myanmar Armed Forces. With her status, she does not have to be a politician, prime minister or president; she can still do a great deal to promote and advance democracy in Myanmar and beyond. I urge Daw Suu to see in this light.

The military rule in Myanmar is a result of Myanmar feudal and colonial fabrics that flow into present day politics and culture. As per Myanmar Constitution 2008 the Myanmar Military has withdrawn 75%, so to speak statistically, from the politics. It also gives a venue to eradicate feudalism and colonialism from Myanmar culture and politics, making the military redundant in politics. Our task now is to train and help the emergence of Myanmar politicians and statesmen in their endeavor for the advancement of democracy.

Through you Sir, Dr. Gambari, I would also like to remind the West that Western Colonialism is also to be blamed for the ills of Myanmar. As such the West should not make the things worse with actions that can be construed as hegemonism or neocolonialism. Thank you.

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Shwe Lu Maung, Ph.D.
USA, kaukpandaung@yahoo.com, www.shwelumaung.org