Last night……

Burma’s junta chief Senior General Than Shwe, dressed in his smartest ‘Tatmadaw’ uniform, adorning full set of honourable service stripes, ribbons, stars, medals and highly decorated paratrooper wings on his chest, appeared on the MRTV(Myanma TV) said:

“Ladies and Gentlemen(never addressed in this manner before), as the years go by, there seems to be no solution to the imbroglio in our country. In 1962, our military, led by General Ne Win, seized power of the country from the elected democratic government in the name of “Union Integrity”. General Ne Win wanted to bring the country’s economic policy under its pervasive control, at which, today’s rampant corruption has been rooted, and led to the path of current economic chaos. He replaced the country’s prestigious economic policy which was underpinned by the intellectual property rights, with his shammed ‘Burmese way to socialism’. It was a mockery and a total failure. Being inherited from General Ne Win, I myself have also been misled and could hardly do only worse. So worse that I felt myself immersed in the swamp, with no way out, and no one in sight to give me a helping hand because of my past appalling crimes and administrative social evils.  Now, tonight, I’m addressing this message to the Nation and the People, before I do more lasting damages to the country. It is better late than never”.

“There are times when I really get tired and wanted to throw in the towel. But never did I give up. Now, that I’ve killed the revered monks and spilled Buddha’s Blood, it is getting too much for me to bear as I lack my wit and grit day by day as I become older and older. It is very simple to imagine what might happen to the country if ‘conundrums like now at the present’ under my rule were to exist for another, say two years. Our military, we, are strong. But I feel there will be one point where we can’t stay strong. And, that is when, we and the country will fall into pieces and get into real trouble. So, before that happens, I now sincerely wish to hand over the power back to the people. I hereby concede that ‘God was undeservedly kind to us “generals” for 45+2 years besides our atrocities and failed responsibilities.  Because of this reason, before I step down from Tatmadaw and politics,  and retire into monkhood for the rest of my life, I wish to ensure and witness that the ‘mentally and physically’ strong new democratic government has been formed.”

“Given the track record of myself and Tatmadaw, people would certainly be wondering whether my speech now is too good to be true. I can guarantee you 100%, and let me say: “please be in peace of mind, and trust me.”

“It will be very hard for me to part with my Tatmadaw uniforms. They will be great reminders of days gone by. I’ll always remember how their textures and ‘power’ used to make me feel, and the kind of person, whether in ‘good or bad ways’ I used to be at the time I wore them. Nevertheless, from next day, they will be exhibited in the ‘National Museum’ for the young generations to ’see’ me as a ‘Tatmadaw General who killed the monks and finally became a monk himself in the end”.

“As for my suggestion, for the leader of the new democratic government, the most pertinent person would be ‘Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’(Daw Suu). I’ve no doubt at all for her strong mentality, determination, persistence, patriotism and the love and care to the people of Burma. Above all, I believe, she has the inherited ability to keep the Union united together. She has the support from all ethnic nationalities and all democratic forces, who will work together with her to build a new prosperous democratic Burma. At this point, I would sincerely suggest that ‘there must be a Tatmadaw’ role as well, in the new government. Tatmadaw role is to provide the ‘Physical Strength’ to the new government. Without doubt, at this period of power transistion, there always will be someone who is out to take advantage and capitalize on every mistake you make, every weakness you show, and waiting a time to give you in trouble. Once a friend in the past could become a foe. And, once a supporting neighbour could become the nearest enemy”.

“So, we must search for the *Officers and Gentlemen* of Tatmadaw to take a role in the new government led by Daw Suu. They, democratic forces, ethnic nationalities and tatmadaw should form as a team, who would fight to the last man without giving up an inch of the motherland against any kind of enemy. At the same time, they all together resolve the following 25 urgent predicaments of the country. I apologise to the country for leaving behind this “25 urgent problems” that myself and General Ne Win had created, and left behind for the new government of Daw Suu and the Officers and Gentlemen to take responsibility and clear up”.

25 URGENT PREDICAMENTS OF THE COUNTRY  TO BE  RESOLVED :-

1.   Monetary system, Monetary crises, Monetary expansion(simply printing money) and The Face value of Kyat denominations, shall be taken care of.

2.   Foreign currency and its mind-boggling exchange rate. There must be only one official exchange rate, and possession of foreign currency must made legal, but internal transactions  should be made by Kyat.

3.   Lower down the rising consumer price inflation.

4.   Must stop nepotism. Must not violate people’s right to do business. Must not let yourself or your son or daughter or friend or relative confiscate someone else business when a profitable data has emerged.

5.   Must wipe out rampant corruption. To achieve this, the whole new government must be clean and transparent from no.1 down to the bottom.

6.   Decentralized, denationalized all government businesses, corporations, etc.

7.   Have a “Plan” and a “Credible Economic Programme” for the World Bank to approve monetary aid and lending.

8.   Build, provide adequate economic infrastructure(power supply, road-sea,air,land, fresh and industrial water, communication systems, buildings, banks, monetary control system, etc.)

9.   Adopt dependable and stable export/import policies. Abolish existing policy.

10. Adopt intellectual property rights according to the law.

11. Create jobs for the people by having large employment economy enterprises and corporations. Do not just rely on pockets of growth in easy selling extractive industries, such as oil, gas, timber, gems trade, which are of low employment nature.

12. There must be only one formal trade. Smuggling or blackmarket must be annihilated. Government declared trade figures must be reliable.

13. Make plans to build new oil refineries to handle high sulphur content locally produced crude, to reduce expensive imported oil.

14. Take effective measures against illegal drug abuse, prostitution, and spreading of HIV and other diseases.

15. The new government must not be deceptive.

16. Draw a new constitution, adopt it in a referendum, and most important of all is avoid keep changing the constitution and regulations, as the previous junta did.

17. Revamp all public services sectors, taking special care not to let the staff started to corrupt as in the old ways.

18. Provide basic needs of the people. Prices of items, such as rice, oil, salt, vegetable, etc must be lowered and affordable.

19. Up grade the living standards of low income civilians and Tatmadaw other ranks, and look after their welfare.

20. Establish fair, transparent and efficient law system.

21. Provide continuous power supply. There must be no electricity blackouts, no power shortages.

22. Unite the ‘Union’ and stop the world’s longest civil war of Burma.

23. Do not let the government’s coffers drain a lot to maintain the army.

24. Gross Domestic Product(GDP) should be consistent with the official data.

25. Increase rice production. Not sugar cane for export diversification.

Senior General Than Shwe read out the above 25 urgent predicaments to be responsible and clear up by the new government of Daw Suu and the “Officers and Gentlemen”, saying : many more mess are still remaining to clear up.

Just then, I heard my mother’s startling voice : “TatmadawThar1, wake up! It’s almost 8am. Bo Bo’s on the line.”

Alas. My God! I was dreaming.

In fact, we don’t have time for dreaming. We must act. We must be moving on. Everyone must give everything to try to be there. Towards our goal. We really want to see this “National Reconciliation” in a very, very, positive way. We can’t stop the clock, and nobody wants to go violent. It is now a matter of “when”, not “if”, for the *Officers and Gentlemen* of our Tatmadaw to join hands together, sooner, rather than later.

NB. Many thanks to “Yebaw Day”, “David Law”, “Feraya”, “Eng W. Moy”, “Tet Toe Aung”, and all, for their valuable comments.