FORMER ACTIVIST SAYS MYANMAR MUST M

[OKKAR66127@xxxxxxx]

The Nikkei Weekly (30th March 1998)
Page No. 28

FORMER ACTIVIST SAYS MYANMAR MUST MAKE ECONOMY TOP PRIORITY

BY SATOSHI ISAKA

Special to The Nikkei Weekly

Win Naing, 38 was once a leading pro-democracy activist in Japan.  He
worked closely with Aung San Sun Kyi, leader of the National League
for Democracy (NLD).  Along with a group of other activists, he
attended the 1992 ceremony in Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on
behalf of Sun Kyi, who was under house arrest at the time.  In 1992,
Win Naing became the first Myanmar granted refugee status by the
Japanese - a government that rarely   grants refugee   to
non-diplomats. But Win  Naing is different now.  He  is calling on the
NLD to ease what he sees as their hard-line insistence on democracy
and cooperate with the government to achieve a higher level of
economic development.

Q:	Why did you lead anti-government activities in Japan?

A:	I came to Japan in 1980 and worked for four years at a Fuji
Photo Film Co. affiliate in Gifu Prefecture.  I then studied image
science at Chiba University. The  longer I stayed in Japan, the more
patriotic I became and the stronger my desire became to help my
country develop like Japan.  The 1988 military coup infuriated me, so
I created the Burmese Association in Japan with my aunt, who had been
running a hotel on the Izu Peninsula, to organize pro-democracy
movements. At that time, I was offered a teaching post at a U.S.
university, but I gave up my career as engineer to concentrate on
anti-government activities.

Q: What kind of activities were you involved in?

Apart from organizing demonstration  in front of  Myanmar Embassy, I
tried to put maximum pressure on the government by using Japan's
political influence on Myanmar. I met regularly with Japanese
politicians and succeeded in having nearly 110 of them from the
Association of Members of the Diet Who Support Myanmar's
Democratization. I also collected signatures from more than half of
all diet members 	appealing to the Myanmar government to comply
with results of the 1990 elections and release Suu Kyi.
	

Q: In the last few years you've shifted your stance from confrontation
to dialouge with the government. Why?

A: As I learned more about modern histories of developed countries
such as Japan, the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea, a realized a
democracy can be stable only after certain economic and social
conditions are met. I realized Suu Kyi is wrong in her priorities. Of
course I view human right are being important, but if we look at the
current stage of Myanmar's development, human rights can not be the
top priority. As a Myanmar saying goes, "An empty sack cannot stand
upright." And as the Japanese put it, "People learn decency after
having enough food and clothing."People first need jobs to put food on
the table.

Democracy works only where people are properly educated.  If the
majority of voters are uneducated, the result is an ochlocracy, not
democracy, So the theory of giving priority to rights over the economy
may be right for an already affluent society, but not yet for Myanmar.

Q: What are you focusing on now?

A:	I left the Burmese Association in Japan in 1996.  Now I try to
help the NLD and the Myanmar government break the impasse and engage
in a constructive dialouge. I'm urging the NLD to think practically
and stop its single-minded insistence that the government transfer
power. I work hard to make them realize this is an unrealistic goal,
and that the overriding priority is the economy.  My former colleagues
accuse me of being a traitor, but I wish they would wake up.

Suu Kyi has sought to put pressure on the government by urging foreign
governments to isolate Myanmar and asking foreign investors to stay
away. I wish she could realize this is counterproductive, hunting
ordinary citizens by eliminating jobs that would otherwise be created.

------------------------------------------------
Profile

Name:			Win Naing
Nationality:		Myanmar
Place of Birth:		Yangon
Current Position:		Running hotel, "Burma, with his aunt; 
			business consultant for helping Japanese 
			companies investment in Myanmar.
Language:		Burmese, English, Japanese
Family:			Single
Highlights:		Studied at Chiba University and obtained Ph.D.

			in Information Science; co-founded the Burmese

			Association in Japan; led 
			anti-Myanmar-Government activities in Japan; 
			shifted stance and urges pro-democracy groups 
			to have dialouge with the government.

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