SPECIAL - NATIONS IN CRISIS

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NATIONS IN CRISIS
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By Julien Moe
15th September 1999

What went wrong in Burma was Ne Win's abuse of power and what he has
driven
into the heads of the new generation in the Burmese army. Ne Win's abuse
of
power and state funds has kept the state poorer and put  the Burmese
people
in the poor living standard. Today Burma is one of the poorest nations
in
the world. The World Bank has been unable to help Burma lest the aid
should
benefit only the military dictators. Ne Win could have saved his own
face
and that of the army to have instructed the army to honour the 1990
elections results.

What went wrong in Indonesia was Suharto's abuse of power and state
funds
too. Scholars of Indonesia believe that Suharto had the opportunity to
implement political reforms in the early 1980s . However, instead of
strengthening key political institutions (such as the legal system) and
opening up the political process, the Suharto regime procrastinated and
kept
the status quo  and his downfall was predetermined by the economic
crisis.
The East Timorese crisis kept on and Kofi Ananm General Secretary of the
United Nations threatened B.J.Habiebie, the Indonesian President with
prosecutions of the International Criminal Court if  Indonesia refused
to
accept th UN peacekeeping forces  to restore peace on East Timor. The
American troops and the Australian troops are now on East Timor.