GEN. BOMYA'S OPEN LETTER TO SENIOR (r)

[Zingmoe@xxxxxxx]

   As a citizen of Burma, I have to express my grave concern over the mounting
political tensions inside Burma. I firmly believe that millions of our people
will share these pains and worries, while groping around in the darkness of
despair. Even If NLD and SPDC, with their "go-ahead policies" and "ready to
cross the line" tactics, can count on their internal and external resources,
there will be no winner.

   The country is on the verge of abyss.  Since the colonial period, our
nation has never been in peace and progress.  There are uncountable factors
behind the tragedy of our nation.  Finding faults will look like the "Arabian
Nights' Entertainments".  Facing the realities is simply working together.
NLD and SPDC have to do it willy-nilly.  All parties concerned will have to
thresh out the problems of the country.  For SPDC, avoiding its ignominious
retreat is keeping tenacious
grip on the power. Head-on collision will not benefit anybody.  The price is
too high.  Unilateral convention of the Parliament without internal and
external military back-up will be calamitous. I do believe in "people power,
but I do not think Burma can easily follow South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia
in the wake of "Asian Currencies Domino Theory".

   Foreign intervention in the country is not a long-term and far-sighted
solution to our problems. There was an interesting article in the Washington
Post, dated June
14, 1998 in the Outlook session. The article is about U.S. foreign policy
concerning involving in the trouble spots all over the world.  Let me quote:
"the common wisdom, enunciated most frequently by Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright, holds that inadequate or dilatory U.S. intervention has been
responsible for many of the decade's worst humanitarian
offenses"....."Americans have an inherent tendency to cheer for the little guy
who yearns for freedom, while criticizing and threatening the bully".( Alan J.
Kuperman's "False Hope Abroad")