Statement Regarding National Eng

“Statement Regarding National Reconciliation (2009)” 1. The alliance of seven groups led by NCGUB and NCUB held a press conference at the UN building under the name of Burmese Democratic forces on August 7th 2009. At the conference they declared themselves as the leading democratic group and presented the vision of the National Reconciliation process. We have no connection with those groups and we will not accept them as leading organizations. 2. The opening statement of this proposal says it is “a good time” for a National Reconciliation process but we see it as a bad time to ask for National Reconciliation. The below facts strongly prove that our vision is correct. (A) Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ethnic national leaders, student leaders, young monk leaders, and many committed democratic activists are still in prison despite the call for their release by the United Nations and foreign governments. (B) Ethnic resistance groups are now facing offensive attacks and those who reach peace agreements are now under extreme pressure to lay down their arms and change from soldiers into border guards. (C) The regime did not draw an acceptable constitution for all parties concerned and forcefully adopted their own 2008 constitution which favors the dominating military rule in Burma and rejects ethnic rights and democratic principles. The regime is now moving forward to the 2010 election without hesitation. (D) The regime’s ignoring of the repeated calls from the NLD party for meaningful dialogue for 19 years proves that the NR proposal has no positive outcome.

3. The words “National Reconciliation” is a favorite slogan and sounds nice within diplomatic circles but it has no practical meaning in terms of dealing with Burma’s unethical regime. This approach is not practical in nature and is far away from today’s reality and will never be successful. NLD’s Shwegonedine declaration has a meaningful diplomatic approach for creating a democratic foundation under tight scrutiny and pressure by the regime. 4. The proposal which The Seven Alliance Group will submit to the Jakarta convention does not have any participation or support from the National League for Democracy, ethnic nationalities parties, student groups and many other groups inside Burma and also abroad. The different strategies and ideas have created more and more confusion among the democratic forces and ethnic nationality resistance forces. 5. There is no open and frank discussion among democratic forces, intellectuals, new generations, monks and ethnic forces from inside and outside the country from so-called leading groups. We warn those who continue to arrogantly hand-pick groups and claim themselves as an umbrella organization without respecting others will be rejected. We will not accept anything approaching an unreasonable political strategy. Standing together with a clear conscience for the people of Burma by promoting a mass movement together with those citizens prepared to fight against the military dictatorship is the only way to topple it. 6. We will not compromise the common work and political strategy that we believe in as a way to curry favor from

any country. We believe that the main task for the forces abroad is to help strengthen the political forces inside Burma and to invest in the people’s movement. We will not accept any bargaining work which will not benefit all ethnic nationalities and people. 7. We believe that full participation from ethnic resistance groups, political forces, elected representatives from 1990 elections, student groups, new generation forces, intellectuals and professionals will lead to a powerful force for toppling the regime and our uniting for a better life in our beloved country. “Burmese Democratic Forces to Abolish Military Dictatorship Conference.”

(August 11, 2009)