980212BKK POST: BURMA: JUNTA AIMS T

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BURMA
JUNTA AIMS TO CREATE A NEW MIDDLE CLASS
 Exiled government says SPDC must go

Rangoon, Agencies

Burma's ruling military junta aims to create a new middle class in the country which is vital for economic revival and for democracy to flourish in coming years, a government spokesman said yesterday.

The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) believes a middle class is necessary before people could engage in a multi-party democratic system that was envisaged for Burma in the future, spokesman Colonel Hla Min said.

"We believe that in the coming phase, our new constitution will be drafted and we will concentrate on our economy.  We hope we may be able to create a strong middle class, and in order to do that, we have to have a stable and strong economy," he said.

The spokesman would not set a time-frame for achieving the objective, but said: "I stress that a strong middle class is very important.  Without a strong middle class, democracy will not function."

Most of Burma's 43 million people live in poverty, and there is a big social gap between them and the relatively small ruling and business elite. In Bangkok, Burma's government in exile yesterday called for political dialogue and lamented the lack of basic human rights on the eve of the country's 51st anniversary of national union.

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) said in a statement that an end to military rule in Burma was necessary for unity between the,country's varied ethnic groups.

"[For] the restoration of unity of all nationalities, it is necessary to terminate the military dictatorship," it said.

"Therefore it is necessary to hold politically genuine ... dialogue to solve the two fundamental political issues ... the ethnic question, and the question of democratic rights for all the people."

The NCGUB is made up mostly of MPs who won 1990 elections in Burma in a landslide under the umbrella:!:of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), but fled when the military refused to recognise the results.

The SPDC is locked in a stand-off"-, with the NLD, with the iunta block-:, ing its political activities, curbingt Mrs Suu Kyi's movements ands temporarily detaining hundreds of
political activists.

The irnilitary came to power in a bloody coup in September 1988, when it violently suppressed pro-democracy protests, killing and detaining many protesters.

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SUU KYI CALLED A THREAT TO ASIAN PEACE

Rangoon -. Burma opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi would pose a threat to Asian peace and security if she came to power, a junta official said.

The democracy figurehead would spark instability and tension by antagonising neighbouring China, he said.

But opposition fi&res loyal to their chief dismissed the claim as "scare-mongering" and said a peaceful government would not threaten its neighbours.

Her embracing of "Western-style" democratic ideals, alleged backing of her by Western powers and her criticism of China's 1989 bloody flananmen Square crackdown would force

Beijing to defend itself by creating a buffer zone of insurgencies between it and Burma, the government official said.

"If the West managed to put her ladyship into power in Burma, China would create a buffer because 'nere,, her backyard would no longer be secure," the official said.

He said Burma was in a strategies position between Southeast and South Asia, sandwiched between two rival giants, India and China.

"During the cold war, China supported insurgency groups on our borders to make sure it was buffered against India and could do so again it feels in any way threatened.

- AFP