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Uncertain Future for NLD in Wakef Election Decision

members shout slogans at the party's headquarters in Rangoon, where the party decided on Monday against registering 's planned election. (Photo: Reuters)

ior leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma's main opposition party, will meet nextnday for their first meeting since deciding earlier this week not to register for this year's planned electionve that could spell the end for the party that has led the country's democracy movement for the past 22 ye

ce the decision was reached at a meeting of party delegates from around the country on Monday, Burmeseign observers alike have been wondering how the NLD plans to proceed. So far, however, it has given nocation of what its next move might be.

e can't say exactly what we will do next, but there are many different ideas. It's something we will have toide, said Han Thar Myint, a member of the NLD's Central Executive Committee, speaking toThe IrrawaThursday.

ed about the possibility of a crackdown on the NLD now that its legal status is in question under new lawuire parties to register for the election or face dissolution, Han Thar Myint said that even if the party islished, its members should not be subject to arrest.

also dismissed suggestions that the NLD had deliberately raised the stakes by refusing to register the par

election on the grounds that it would require it to expel members, including its leader, Aung San Suu Kyiserving sentences for criminal convictions.

is has nothing to do with the Naung-Yo tactic, he said, referring to a famous battle in which the 16th ceneral and future king Bayintnaung burned his troops' rafts to let them know there was no turning back, form to fight to the death.

said the NLD leaders decided not to register because they had been left with no other choice.

practical terms, and as a matter of principle, there was nothing else we could do, he said.

ce the meeting on March 29, several Western diplomats have visited the NLD's Rangoon headquarters tor support and to sound out the party's leaders on their future plans, while many ordinary Burmese have

en a strong interest in the decision, which has so far gone unmentioned in the state-run media.ople are really paying attention to this, said a source in Rangoon, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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mpletely changed the mood on the street. Everyone wants to know what the NLD will do now.

added that many people sympathetic to the NLD's decision to effectively boycott the election are now plapply for party membership to show their support.

wever, not everyone is happy about the decision.

idn't like the decision, but I am loyal to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, said Khin Maung Swe, an NLD executivviously advocated registering. He said that he and others who shared his views did not speak out against ision at the meeting, but privately he expressed the opinion that it was suicide for the party.

ilar views were also expressed in the international media.

boycott was the only option if the party was to remain true to its democratic ideals. But it was, probably, atake, The Economistwrote in an editorial on March 31, framing the party's choice as being between po

cide and a crippled half-life as a legal party.

The New Yorker, George Packer wrote: [T]he regime is still doing best: by its own brutal rigidity, forcingosition into a rigid and, perhaps, a self-defeating response.

me Burmese political observers also said that the NLD show have taken a more strategic approach.

ey could have bought time until the deadline and applied for registration without expelling Suu Kyi, saidmese exile. Then the regime would have been forced to reject the party under its own laws.

at would have exposed the oppression of regime and given international players time to intervene. And ite changed the headlines from 'NLD rejects the election' to 'NLD rejected by regime.'

rce :http://irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=18191

Chairman of Burmas ElectionCommission on EU blacklist

day, 02 April 2010 14:20 Mizzima News

ang Mai (Mizzima) Deputy Supreme Court Judge Thein Soe, the newly appointed Chairman of Burma'ction Commission is on the EUs blacklist of sanctions. The list, which targets key members of Burmas mme also includes Dr. Tin Aung Aye, a fellow Supreme Court Judge, and also a member of the EC.

ges Thein Soe, Dr. Tin Aung Aye and other members on the blacklist including notorious junta crony Taybanned from traveling to the European Union. They are also subject to a freeze on any financial assets th

y have in Europe. As such they cannot undertake financial transactions with European based financialitutions.

two judges and other senior members of the Burmese regimes judiciary were added to the EU's sanctio

owing the outcome of Aung San Suu Kyi's August 2009 trial in which she was convicted of flouting the tehouse arrest after an uninvited American man swam to her home.

ording to the EU Council, members of the Burmese judiciary were targeted because of the gravity of theation of the fundamental rights of Aung San Suu Kyi. The Council considers it appropriate to include the

mbers of the judiciary responsible for the verdict in the list of persons and entities subject to a travel ban asset freeze".

ore becoming a judge Thein Soe was in Burma's armed forces as a Major General and was a military Judgvocate General. In 2003 he was appointed to Burma's National Convention led by former Prime Ministerunt. In October 2007 Dr. Tin Aung Aye was appointed to the commission for drafting the State Constitut

ording to the regimes state constitution committee announcement, Dr. Tin Aung Aye received both hissters and doctorate of law in Germany.

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rce :http://mizzima.com/news/world/3780-chairman-of-burmas-ec-on-eu-blacklist.html

LD to plunge itself headlong into social workday, 02 April 2010 21:43 Myint Maung

w Delhi (Mizzima) On the heels of its decision not to register with the Election Commission (EC) the Nague for Democracy (NLD) is exploring ways to increase interaction with people and plunge itself headlon

re and more social work as part of the partys future activities.

e will continue with our international relations and at the same time work for the people. We will work fofare of the people and serve them, NLD Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Win Tin told Mizz

instance, NLD will work for HIV/AIDS patients and provide assistance to political prisoners, he said.

Committee for Representing Peoples Parliament (CRPP) held its meeting today at the NLD partydquarters in Shwegondaing, Rangoon and discussed doing social work in cooperation with NLD, ethnictical parties and other allies.

testing the juntas harsh and vindictive electoral laws, NLD decided not to register with the EC. After thedline on registration, in the electoral laws, the party will cease to be a legal party raising questions about he Burmese political mosaic.

e discussed the NLDs political stand and how to cooperate with ethnic political parties in future, CRPPretary Aye Thar Aung said.

CRPP meeting was attended by NLD Chairman Aung Shwe, Vice-Chairman Tin Oo, CEC members, ethnders Aye Thar Aung, Pu Cing Tsian Thang, Thaug Ko Thang among other CRPP members.

of us respect the NLDs political stand. We are proud of the party. We discussed cooperation between N

PP, Aye Thar Aung said.

delegates who attended todays meeting discussed and exchanged views on the partys stand of continuirate as a political party even though the junta seeks to abolish it.

rce :http://mizzima.com/news/election-2010/3783-nld-to-plunge-itself-headlong-into-social-work.htm

lections may hinder aid to BurmaFRANCIS WADE

ished: 2 April 2010

ncerns have arisen over the possibility that overseas aid flows into Burmay be increasingly restricted this year as the junta looks to limit the numberoreigners in the country in the run-up to elections.

hough much of the international community has quietly voiced a desire torease aid to Burma, currently one of the lowest recipients of aid intheast Asia as a result of sanctions, this may not be altogether welcomed byjunta.

e know that visas in the past couple of months have been difficult to obtainaid workers and we expect more of this in the next couple of months,

jamin Zawacki, Burma researcher at Amnesty International, toldDVB.added that it may not be a sinister politicisation of aid by the junta but rather an unwillingness to hav

Aid was initally blocked afte

cyclone Nargis in 2008 (Reut

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igners in the country at the time of the elections.

he fears become reality, it would mirror the aftermath of cyclone Nargis in May 2008 when the governmeaid of the scale of the disaster reaching an international audience, initially barred the majority of journaliworkers from entering the stricken Irrawaddy delta, likely contributing to the eventual 140,000 death to

d despite the country still reeling from its worst natural disaster in recorded history, the government in thks following Nargis rushed through a constitutional referendum which set the ball rolling for the electionr.

at was a very stark example of what the government is capable of in terms of prioritising its own interestinterests of the people, said Zawacki.

, according to James East, regional communications advisor at World Vision aid group, which has some f working inside Burma, the elections could in fact open the countrys humanitarian corridor.

hink the international community is seeking for ways to engage, and yes there may be issues along the wasense from the diplomatic community is that the electoral process may lead to an opportunity for increaagement, he said.

alysts have said that, despite the results of the elections likely being a foregone conclusion, they should ben acknowledgement by government that it needs a semblance of legitimacy on the international stage,

mething it has previously disregarded.

reover, the junta has already made tentative steps towards opening up to the international community, w

ely cosmetic or not, with several high-profile visits by US politicians in the past six months., according to East, there is an issue among Western governments of balancing the desire to get aid into tntry and maintaining tight sanctions on the military rulers.

e sanctions movement has been very strong, and governments are worried about upsetting the pro-sanctup, he said, adding however that there has been an opinion shift regarding sanctions, largely due to a neerstanding of the realities in Asia where public confrontation is not as effective as relationship building

wacki said however that Burmas political crisis should have no bearing on the amount of aid given to thentry.

ese two issues should not be mixed; they have been mixed by the [Burmese] government itself but thats e that the international community should respond to in a tit-for-tat way.

added that there is no justification for holding the majority of the population hostage to political conceren humanitarian imperatives dictate that aid must get through.

rce :http://www.dvb.no/elections/elections-%E2%80%98may-hinder%E2%80%99-aid-to-burma/8482

hais to press Burma on discriminatory pollsJOSEPH ALLCHINished: 2 April 2010

ilands foreign minister Kasit Piromya has said that the Thai delegation togional summit of leaders in Hanoi next week will press the Burmese juntahe issue of the elections, expressing their desire for an inclusive poll.

m concerned about the national reconciliation and the inclusiveness of theole new political process [in Burma], Piromya told AP, offering awarning of his likely stance at the Association of Southeast Asian NationsEAN) summit. Burmas prime minister Thein Sein is also due to attend the

mmit, while the Thai delegation will be led by prime minister Abhisitajjiva.

omya will also host regional foreign ministers at a Greater Mekongregion meeting in Thailand, scheduled to start on Sunday, where his

mese counterpart, Nyan Win, is also due.

Piromya meets Burma FM N

Win (Reuters)

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Thai foreign minister spoke in unison with other world leaders when he expressed sympathy with the Buosition National League for Democracy (NLD) partys decision on Mondayto not contest the upcoming png AP that I honour and I respect that decision.

NLD has decided to boycott the elections, citing unjust laws that bar party leader Aung San Suu Kyi frning and require her expulsion if the party is to participate.

pite the fact that Burmas controversial elections will feature highly at the Hanoi summit next week, theEAN bloc is expected to stick to its non-interference policy that has frustrated democracy activists.

han Jason, executive director of the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) lobby groupier told DVBthat: I think [ASEAN] will just advise the government instead of taking more drastic actio

h as removing the country from the regional bloc.iland for its part has remained a vocal yet inactive neighbour when it comes to democracy in Burma, witanding bilateral trade showing no signs of abating.

omya had in Februaryoffered Thai supportto the election process, proposing monitors to travel to the coto train election officials. Needless to say the generals have rejected all foreign advances of election help

h Piromya and his Thai government colleague, Kraisak Choonhavan, also of the AIPMC, had stated that ation was in the interests of neighbouring Thailand, with fears that continued political turmoil in Burma w

d to greater numbers of refugees fleeing into Thailand.

omya further said that the election laws look discriminatoryYou are providing amnesty only to the mili

dership and not to the rest of the political opposition side of it, according to AP.rce :http://www.dvb.no/elections/thailand-to-press-burma-on-discriminatory-polls/8466

We Believe We Will Win This Election'e National Unity Party (NUP) has applied to the Election Commission for registration as a politicty. The Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP)which was established by late dictator Ne W2 and controlled the country under one-party for 26 yearschanged its name to the NUP in 1988owing a nationwide uprising led by students. The NUP won 19 constituencies in the 1990 generalction. The Irrawaddy correspondent Saw Yan Naing interviewed Han Shwe, central executive me

he NUP, on the current political situation.

estion:When did your party register with the Election Commission?

swer: We sent in our application on March 29th. According to the existing laws, when the Election Commissionparty to stand as political party, we will be recognized as a legal political party. That is second step. We have showe are willing to work as political party within the given time period of 60 days [in which to register].

How many constituencies will your party contest?There are three different ways of contesting. In the Lower House, there are 330 seats and 168 seats in the Upper

his Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010 photo provided by the UN Information Center, UN envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana, third right, posenior leaders of the National Unity Party for photos in Rangoon. (Photo: AP)

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division and state levels, there are two constituencies per township. In Burma, we have more than 300 townshipe will be more than 600 seats at the division and state level. Totally, more than 1,000 representatives will be ele

would like to contest in all constituencies, but we may not be able to contest for all seats. We will contest in thosnships where the situation is favorable to us. I can tell that we will be able to contest in many townships. At thement, we are collecting data on various townships. I reckon that we will be able to contest in more than 200stituencies. For each of the assemblies, we will contest in half of the constituencies.

How will you campaign in these constituencies?

We have finalized our partys manifesto. For election campaign activities, we will officially release our plan whene comes.

Do you have sufficient funds for your party? How do you seek funding?According to the law, every candidate has to deposit 500,000 kyat (US $500). Its a lot of money. We want clean our partys funds. So we are legally seeking funds as much as possible. Our party members pay membership feesnth. We are also publishing some printed material for fund raising. Financially, we are likely to rely on those funrces. By using a combination of donations from concerned persons and the partys current existing funds, we hoare able to tackle those financial matters.

What do you mean concerned persons? Are they party members? Or business people?

Any person who trusts our party can donate money for our funds. It depends largely on our members. Many busiple are our party members too. For the time being, we havent announced which are our constituencies. We havet for legal instruction and the rules and regulations. After that I can tell more precisely.

Have you written your party platform yet?We have had our own party platform since 1988. It is still valid.

What's the partys political platform?

We are decedents of the Burma Socialist Program Party. In 1988, when we formed the NUP, we had to change outical platform according to the multi-party democratic system. In those old days, we had only a one-party systemerally, our political platform is structured for the benefit of the majority of the population. Our practical approa

ed on a middle way.

992-1993, we published and distributed books which reflected our political platform both in Burmese anlish.

What does the party flag look like?

The color of the flag is red with three white stars resting on the left-top corner.

Who are the leaders of your party, and how many members do you have?

Our party leader is U Htun Yee. The general-secretary is U Than Tin. The joint general-secretary is U Khiung Gyi. We have 23 central executive members. During the time of the BSPP, we had 3 million membersntrywide. In the 1990 election, we had about 500,000 members.

Do you have confidence that you will do well in this election?

Yes, we believe we will win in this election. Thats why we registered.

rce :http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18186

Myanmar launches online banking servicesNGON, Apr 02, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The state-owned Myanmar Economic Bank (MEB) startednching a quick-cash online banking services Friday to facilitate customers in exchanging cash with the usart card, sources with the bank said.

rking with the state-run Myanma Posts and Telecommunications, branches of the MEB in Yangon andndalay will provide full time service using ADSL, IPStar systems and fiber optics cables to go online, the sd.

B said it has experienced online banking system since May 2007 in collecting insurance premium from th

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ving for foreign countries at Internal Revenue Department in Yangon and in collecting deposit for submitsport at Passport Office in Yangon, and in providing one stop service at one of the Yangon branch.

t-run of such online banking services has proved workable with smart card, the sources added.

anwhile, Myanmar has also introduced a banking network system in some six banks in the country to intee and private banks to facilitate traders for banking transactions, according to the Bankers Association.

system, being practiced with Yoma bank, Myanmar Citizens Bank, Tun Foundation Bank, Myanmar Forde Bank, Myawaddy Bank and Myanmar Industrial Development Bank, is carried out by local informatio

hnology companies of MIT and Global Net.

re are four state banks and 15 private banks in Myanmar all governed by the government's Central Bank.

rce :http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2010/04/02/4707220.htm

olice detain 30 illegal immigrants0/04/02

A MUSANG: Kelantan police detained 30 illegal immigrants who were hiding in a secondary jungleetable farm in Lojing, during Operasi Rantau, here today.

a Musang district Police Chief Supt Saiful Bahri Abdullah said the 30 illegal immigrants, comprising Neanmar, Bangladeshi, Indonesian and Indians were arrested after failing to produce valid travel docum

said the operation, which involved 60 police personnel of various ranks and 105 Rela members, was carrrack down suspects linked to the murder of a 33-year-old, Myanmar national, at a vegetable farm in Lojday.

e raided a kongsi house where the suspects lived, but since it was empty we had to check a bushy area found them hiding there.

of this evening, the main suspect is believed to be hiding in the vegetable farm area," he told reporteay.

t Sunday, Orang Asli residents who were fixing water pipes, found the body of a vegetable farm weved to have been murdered and his body dumped in the bushes of a vegetable farm. -- BERNAMA

rce :http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20100402210817/Article/index_html

U.S. official: Engagement of Burmese juntaailing to bring results

State Department has been relatively quiet in public about Cambodia's decision last December to send 2hur asylum seekers back to China to face who-knows-what, but behind the scenes, senior State Departme

ders are taking the issue very seriously.

tate Department official tells The Cable that just before the Cambodian government sent the ethnic Uighuk to China, where they face imprisonment or worse, there were a flurry of diplomatic efforts to try to convCambodians to hold off. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even phoned Cambodian Foreign MinisterH

mhong to urge him to rethink the decision, the official said, but to no avail.

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ott Marciel, the deputy assistant secretary of state and ambassador for the Association of Southeast Asiaions (ASEAN) spoke about the seriousness of Cambodia's deportation of the Uighurs at a conference Thuon by the East-West Center.

e Cambodian government's decision to deport them before they had been evaluated was very troubling,"d, confirming that U.S. officials "weighed in very heavily at very senior levels."

failure of the Cambodians to even try to evaluate the refugee status of the Uighurs sets a dangerous precd Marciel, who added that U.S. efforts to work with Cambodia on a host of other issues continue.

e Department spokesman P.J. Crowleyannounced Thursday that the United States did suspend the same 200 trucks and trailers to Cambodia as a protest against the move, but that's about all the punishment

. plans to dole out.lf of the people are mad that you did too much and half are mad that you didn't do enough," said Marcie

mes with the territory."

mbodia has shrugged offthat punishment. Maybe it wasn't as important to them as the $1.2 billion in aidnese official delivered to Phnom Phenonly days after the deportation.

uters reported that the Uighurs were smuggled into Cambodia sometime in weeks prior to their deportatilied for asylum at the United Nations refugee agency office in Phnom Penh. The Cambodian governmentorted them for breaking immigration laws.

U.N. Refugee Agency immediatelycondemned the decision, saying that "The forced return of asylum-se

hout a full examination of their asylum claims is a serious breach of international refugee law."rciel also acknowledged that the State Department'snew policy on mixing pressure with engagement in Byet to show concrete results in persuading the brutal Burmese junta to govern more responsibly.

rma's new election laws are a step backwards," he said. "They are effectively preventing the main oppositty from participating. This is the opposite of the path towards national reconciliation."

arding the new U.S. engagement of the junta, he said, "We predicted it would be a long and difficult procunfortunately we were right."

rall, ASEAN has seen a flurry of U.S. attention since President Obama took office, reversing a pattern froh administration years in which the countries there viewed U.S. interest in Southeast Asia as focused onorism, terrorism, and terrorism.

nton has traveled to the region three times; President Obama met with all 10 ASEAN heads of state in Sinthe first time ever; and he will travel to Indonesia, hopefully in June.

09 was a banner year for U.S. relations with Southeast Asia and ASEAN," Marciel said. "The fact is we han engaged in this region for a very long time."

rcep://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/04/02/us_engagement_of_burmese_junta_failing_to_bring

S must reach more of the population in Myanmar: Studb posted at: 4/3/2010 1:12:13rce ::: AFPshington: The United States should broaden engagement with Myanmar to reach more of the populationng a long-term view despite growing concern over upcoming elections, a study has said.

New York-based Asia Society set up a task force with leading figures of both major US parties to chart a ward after President Barack Obamas administration last year launched a dialogue with the military regim

study broadly endorsed Obamas approach but had no illusions about the difficulties ahead, warning thata may try to use talks with the United States to confer legitimacy on elections it is holding later this year

task force said the United States could tighten or remove sanctions on the regime based on progress butuld ramp up assistance to ordinary people including non-governmental organisations, farmers and small

inesses.

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is is what we can do we can work with the population, retired general Wesley Clark, a former Democrsidential candidate and co-chair of the task force, told a news conference introducing the report.

hat we wanted to do was lay out a positive direction where the leadership in Burma could take a step forwsee the benefits that could occur if they would do that, Clark said, using Myanmars former name.

other co-chair was Henrietta Fore, who was director of foreign aid under Republican president George Wh. Task force members included billionaire philanthropist George Soros and Nobel Prize-winning economartya Sen.

upcoming elections will be the first in Myanmar since 1990. That vote was swept by the National Leaguemocracy (NLD) but it was never allowed to take power and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent most o

e since under house arrest. The NLD on Monday decided to boycott this years election after the junta ims, criticised around the world, that would have forced the party to oust Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi as it

der.

rce :http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippin6+South+Asia&month=April2010&file=World_News2010040311213.xml

My father's Burmese newspaper, th

Rangoon Nationfather was a pioneering editor in Burma, but it wasn't until Wendy Law-Yone discovered his life's work descript north London building that she truly understood his legacy

Wendy Law-Yone The Guardian, Saturday 3 April 2010 Article history

m left to right: Wendys mother, Eleanor, her sister, Marjolaine, her dad carrying Wendy, and her brotheon, Alban and Hubert, in 1952.

he countless special places I've said goodbye to over the years places scattered across half the globe tt speaks to me most powerfully of my past is a 1930s red-brick building in Colindale, north London. Theghbourhood is without charm, the building without distinction and the address, in truth, was never really130 Colindale Avenue is home to a particular relic, an important piece of myfamilyhistory that I had tholost for all time.

he late 1990s, when I first discovered its existence, I made numerous trips to London, flying into Heathr

m Washington, where I was living at the time. Tingling with anticipation but overcome by jetlag, I would kself from nodding off on the long tube ride by studying the ads and underground poems until everything

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippines+&+South+Asia&month=April2010&file=World_News2010040311213.xmlhttp://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippines+&+South+Asia&month=April2010&file=World_News2010040311213.xmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/03/wendy-law-yone-burma-rangoon-nation#history-link-boxhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/familyhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/familyhttp://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippines+&+South+Asia&month=April2010&file=World_News2010040311213.xmlhttp://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Philippines+&+South+Asia&month=April2010&file=World_News2010040311213.xmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/03/wendy-law-yone-burma-rangoon-nation#history-link-boxhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/family

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umed a runic significance.

en at last I stepped out of Colindale station into the damp, dusky air of industrial London, I had only to tht and cross the street and there it was, my favourite newspaper repository in the world, the archives ofish Library.

mewhere in that trove of 300 years' worth ofnewspapers, magazines, comics and other periodicals; somewhe miles of microfilm containing a portion of the 56,000 separate print titles originating in Britain and itmer colonies, there were 33 reels on which were preserved just about every single issue of my father's longunct newspaper, the Rangoon Nation.

father, EM Law-Yone, founded the Nation in 1948, the year ofBurma's independence after more than a c

ritish rule. The second world war, in which Ed (as my father was known to his friends) had fought, had lch of the capital city in ruins. The new Union ofBurma was in the throes of violent political and ethnic strchaotic period of nation-building, Ed decided to create his own Nation.

first edition was produced by the light of a hurricane lamp, on a portable typewriter with a missing "e". cheap because the office building was still strewn with rubble from allied bombings. My mother's jewellentire life's savings were sold (not pawned) to a Ceylonese pawnbroker, to finance in part an essential

meograph machine.

Nation's maiden print run on a borrowed press was 2,000, of which 20 copies were sold. Even at itsen it was Burma's leading English language daily, the Nation's circulation never exceeded 16,000. But theer's influence and reputation throughout the region were disproportionate to its size.

ause I was born just a year ahead of its launch, I never knew a time when there wasn't a Nation. And perhause I grew up taking Dad's paper for granted as a birthright almost I seldom bothered, even as a yoult, to read it regularly or carefully.

us it was with a strange combination of discovery and chagrin that I would sit in one of the library's microding rooms for days on end, staring at a square of illuminated glass, behind which passed issue after issueion. The images took me back to a lost world: the world of my childhood in a Burma that had long since ce. It was all there in the blocks of old hot-lead type projected askew, in the 28-point headlines of the da

surgents mine rail track, pilot train plunges into stream"; "Burma has only 20 dentists but every tom dickry is pulling teeth, rotarian says"; "Petain's death denied the British budget: an analysis".

re were columns byChristmas Humphreys on Buddhism; by Bertrand Russell on Why Communism Will

JS Furnivall on whether Burma was "civilised".d all but forgotten those grainy ads for Wincarnis Tonic, Eno's Fruit Salts, World Famous Zam-Buk ("Foiguring skin & scalp diseases"), Santoids Worm Syrup ("Beware of Imitations"). And I must have seen thvies: The Flame and the Arrow, My Foolish Heart. Why couldn't I recall them now?

10 years old again, in my microfilm reverie, and we're turning down 40th Street. The car is inching pastvious pedestrians who take their sweet time to let us by, and finally we're in front of No 290, the three-stion building.

ep out of the car and the stench of sewers and rotting garbage hits me with a force that almost makes monce I cross the threshold of the front door, the smells that greet me are rich and reassuring: ink and lea

wsprint. Right away, someone a reporter or an editor takes me by the hand, for a tour of the building.

r always starts on the ground floor, in the printing room, and ends on the top storey, where the typesetteow the whole building by heart, but I also know that saying so would be disrespectful to my adult guide.

much goes on in the printing room during the day. The presses are not running and the room is so quieten one of a group of card players shouts out in excitement or frustration, the cry leaves an echo. But at ni

been here at night and seen what it's like: bells going off, huge cylinders rolling and churning, great traysttling back and forth, and white newsprint shooting out every which way. The floor vibrates, a steady shorses through my body, all the way from my feet to my finger tips, the machines chug like unstoppable trathe men are all speaking in sign language because no one can hear a word of what anyone else is saying.

tairs, in the compositors' room, it is never as noisy. Workers sit over their trays of type as if absorbed in ard game. But sometimes one of them, usually a woman, will walk by and hand me a souvenir: a block of l

h a W on it.special nights arbitrary, as so many of Dad's benedictions seem to be I am allowed to stay on at the o

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well past bedtime, till after he "puts the paper to bed" in that oddly tender phrase. My own bed for the nien leather couch across from Dad's desk. A tall bookcase is wedged in between one end of it and the wall.yclopedias and dictionaries big books with small letters and no pictures, books that hold no interest for

e up the top shelves. The bottom shelves are stuffed with magazines, pamphlets and newspapers in unreaign languages.

en I've had my fill of roaming through the building, floor by floor, I return to the cocoon of the green coupite his promise to my mother, Dad never insists on my going to bed early. In fact, he seems to forget I'm

hting sleep all the way, I resist lying down for fear of dropping off just when something exciting is about tpen. I know this feeling from the few times I've been allowed to attend apw, the raucous Burmese theat

es place in the open air, playing through the night and into the early hours of dawn.

e the plots in apw, much of what unfolds in Dad's office seems random and chaotic, full of event yet diffow, boring for long stretches, then suddenly, for no apparent reason, hectic. All the while the procession tors never stops: characters in bizarre costumes, from countries as alien to me as outer space, Buddhist mholic nuns and priests, an archbishop whose ring I dutifully kiss.

names of the dignitaries, revolutionaries and celebrities who come calling Somerset Maugham, Raul CThompson, Kingsley Martin, Ed Murrow I learn only later, much later. In fact, Dad's work involves su

less entertaining and socialising that it's a wonder he finds time to sleep, let alone write so many editoriaumns and feature articles himself or think up so many promotional ideas and schemes. The Nation sponay competitions, beauty competitions,trishawraces and all sorts of fundraising drives.

e day an infant with a rare disease, a "blue baby", is brought to Dad's office by his distraught grandparent

ion's campaign to send the "blue baby" for medical treatment accompanied by his grandparents to thyo Clinic in Rochester, New York, is so oversubscribed that the surplus generates another fund this one

w hospital for women on the outskirts of Rangoon.

paper is put to bed at about 3am. I am fast asleep by then, but sometimes I'm startled awake by what sofirecrackers going off, or a machine gun in a war movie. Then I realise it's only Dad hammering away on

ck typewriter with its frequent bell. My uncle, the Nation's accountant, has told me that Dad writes his ed0 minutes and it's always word perfect. No one touches the boss's copy, he says: it goes straight into pr

why shouldn't Dad be able to finish his editorials in 20 minutes, I think? After all, he is always practisinting, or thinking about writing, or actually writing with his finger scribbling on tabletops, on his lap, on

m or on my back when I sit on his lap. Still, there is something dangerous about the way he attacks the key

he typewriter. Interrupting him would be like coming between a lion and its kill.back to sleep. The next thing I know he's lifting me off the couch and carrying me downstairs, into the c

en I wake up in the morning I don't even remember the ride home, or being carried into the house and pu.

he end of each day in the library in Colindale, dizzy and queasy from eye-strain, I would slowly emerge frat seemed like a seance. For hours I had been conversing with my father hearing his voice, anyway: the

mbative, cocksure voice that lashed out or poked fun at corrupt politicians, inept bureaucrats, totalitarianmes, the lazy, the ignorant, or the merely annoying. It was a voice without any of the fear that paralyses mmese (if not half the world) the fear of embarrassment. No editor and publisher who put himself frequehe front page of his own newspaper could be seen as easily abashed ("Law-Yone talks on British parliam

d Peterites at festive reunion dinner. U Law-Yone appointed himself chairman and executive committeOld Peterites Association His resolution was passed unanimously and boisterously").

as all part of a style, a devil-may-care attitude reflected in the Nation's motto. On the masthead was a quaphrasing Mark Twain: "Let me make the newspapers of a nation, and I do not care who makes its laws."ntually my father did have to care, for the men who made its laws after 1962 were the same men who thrail and shut down the Nation for all time. The same men, in effect, who run the country today.

he'd had a good run, as good runs go in Burmese history in a brief golden age of press freedom andliferation, when around 70 newspapers were in circulation. And I think it's as safe to say now, as it was saTimes obituary in 1980, the year of his death: "He was the first independent newspaper editor of free, poma, and also, to date, the last."

h one career ended, Dad promptly embarked on another. Almost immediately upon his release from fiverison (two in solitary confinement) he set about trying to overthrow the military dictatorship that had

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risoned him, along with most of the country's intelligentsia. In early 1970, Dad found a pretext for leavinma with his family. There, together withU Nu, the last democratically elected head of state, he formed aernment-in-exile. Their timing could not have been worse. The Vietnam war had barely ended, and worldport for yet another Asian revolution was not forthcoming. Beset by a host of problems financial,anisational, logistical the government-in-exile fizzled out in less than two years, leaving my father pennugh not without resources.

America, where he spent the last eight years of his life, Dad lectured, taught college courses in history andtics, and went on writing articles, editorials, a history of the kings of Burma, a memoir. Never once didspeak mournfully of his many losses and setbacks. The past was a running joke that made him laugh ou

d never was he happier than when frying up the fish he caught in the lakes and streams of Maryland andginia, to force-feed anyone who happened by family, friends, neighbours, the mailman. I suppose one cthat he died a happy man, since it was after a long day of fishing in the country that he collapsed, at the aof a heart attack. Having once boasted that he was the only Burmese whom the British had taught to shoproperly, the irony would have amused him.

rs after my father's death, when I was going through the cardboard boxes containing a manuscript he'd ato edit, I came across something I hadn't noticed before, stuck on the back of a page. On a label he must

ked up from the dry-cleaners after they had resoled his shoes a thin cardboard label with a hole in the ca string through it he had typed, all in caps: WENDY, WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LOSE MANUSCR

D.

n't worry, Dad, I haven't. What's more, I've found something of yours in a building in north London, of

places.

Road to Wanting by Wendy Law-Yone is published by Chatto & Windus, 12.99. To order a copy for uding free UK mainland p&p, go toguardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 68467

rce :http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/03/wendy-law-yone-burma-rangoon-nation

urma urged to hold free electionsted Fri Apr 2, 2010 5:43pm AEDT

iland says it will press Burma's military leaders to open this year's election to all political opponents andnorities.

ma's main opposition party has already vowed to boycott the first vote in two decades because of unjusttoral laws.

country's military junta introduced laws which ban political prisoners, including the opposition leader ASuu Kyi from participating.

i Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya says free elections are important because they could promote nationalonciliation.

e new elections and so on must be inclusive, free and fair," he said.

the fact that are certain laws that look quite discriminatory, that might have created some difficulty for tonal reconciliation."

rce :http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/02/2863366.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Nuhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Nuhttp://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780701184087http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780701184087http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/03/wendy-law-yone-burma-rangoon-nationhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/02/2863366.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Nuhttp://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780701184087http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/03/wendy-law-yone-burma-rangoon-nationhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/02/2863366.htm