Dressed supporters of the National League for Democracy hold portraits of their detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi to welcome visitors to the party's ceremony marking the 63rd Burma's Union Day at the party's headquarters in Rangoon on Feb. 12. (Photo: AP) In separate commemorations of Burma's Union Day on Friday, junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe offered assurances that the upcoming election would be free and fair, while the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) called for national reconciliation through dialogue.
In a Union Day message published by the state-run The New Light of Myanmar, Than Shwe said: “According to the State's seven-step Road Map, a free and fair election will take place soon.”
He also assured the Burmese people that they had the right not only to vote but also to “stand for election.”
Than Shwe claimed that Burma's nationalities had shown massive support for the new constitution, which he said would build a new nation. People were working together with true patriotism to shape the union of Burma into a peaceful, modern and developed nation, he said.
Than Shwe made no mention in his speech of when an electoral law or a date for the election could be expected.
About 1,500 people attended Union Day celebrations at NLD headquarters in Rangoon, where appeals were made for national reconciliation, the release of the party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all detained political activists including jailed ethnic leaders and monks, said Win Tin, a leading NLD member.
Among those who attended were members of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP), veteran politicians, ethnic representatives and diplomats.
Plain clothes security guards were stationed outside the NLD headquarters but there were no incidents, Win Tin said.
The NLD also called for the reopening of its branch offices, free political campaigning and the unhindered registration of ethnic political parties.
“It is certainly time we need to establish a democratic nation,” said Win Tin. “For that, we need to rebuild national reconciliation and ethnic unity.
“A negotiation involving all stakeholders is especially needed for a political solution.”
The spirit of the 1947 Panglong Agreement was also mentioned during the ceremony. The agreement was signed by Burmese independence hero Gen Aung San and leaders of the Chin, Kachin and Shan ethnic groups with the aim of establishing a union of Burma.
The agreement essentially guaranteed government support for the ethnic minorities' self-determination and offered a large degree of autonomy, including independent legislative, judiciary and administrative authorities.
Failing to implement the Panglong agreement has increased mistrust and misunderstanding between the majority Burman-led central government and other ethnic nationalities.
“We believe ethnic groups. They are not separatists,” said Win Tin.
Distrust grew between the central government and ethnic groups because of the lack of autonomy promised to ethnic groups by the central government in the Panglong Agreement, he said.
Asked whether the NLD would participate in the upcoming election, Win Tin said it wasn't yet time for the party to decide because no electoral law had yet been announced.
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