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Re-send (with signatory) Burma and



International Herald Tribune
November 30, 1999

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR; 

Burma and the World Bank 


Regarding ''It's Right to Tell the Burma Regime What It's Doing Wrong'' 
(Opinion, Nov. 15) by David Steinberg: 

Mr. Steinberg asserts that Burma's National League for Democracy was 
opposed to the World Bank conducting an objective study of Burma's 
economy and faults Burma's democratically elected leaders
for being critical of the report when they ''should have applauded 
(its) sound recommendations.'' 

The NLD has not issued any comment on the report. Indeed, as the 
International Herald Tribune reported on Nov. 13, ''The 109-page report 
was secretly distributed in draft version last month to top
generals and the opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.'' 

The confidential report will not be published until February 2000 and 
its content would still be confidential if the International Herald Tribune 
had not obtained a copy. 

It is difficult to comprehend why Mr. Steinberg should take umbrage 
that the NLD has not yet commented on a draft report that has not 
been published. 

The democratic movement has always emphasized that Burma's economic 
crisis has its roots in the political situation and has called for a national 
dialogue to advance political and economic reforms. Therefore, the World 
Bank's conclusion that the military leadership ''must carry out major
political and
human reforms before the country can achieve prosperity'' does not surprise
us. 
As a member of the NLD, I can confirm that the democratic movement appreciates 
when anyone conducts objective analyses of what went wrong in Burma. 

BO HLA-TINT. Washington. The writer is a member of Parliament for the 
National League for Democracy. 
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