Comment I have left on Irrawaddy website, concerning NCGUB's Plan for Democracy and Development in Burma --

Dated August 7, 2009.

Washington DC.

With other scholars, I worked on this Plan from Dec 1,2008 to May 30, 2009, but later compilations and editing were done solely by NCGUB with its international consultants.

The title was also changed and political input added from exile groups.

But I was not officially given and have not read the finished report.

My impression is that the lowest common denominator approach will water down the initially very strong proposals from the member scholars.

And there is absolutely no guarantee that the junta will entertain any of these ideas, so Burma will slip even faster into the morass it is known for.

The Transition Plan itself may have been partially inspired by a joint economists' vision for Burma, published in 1998, but now in need of updating.

I was only a Peer Reviewer, and not a Contributor, to the 1998 Visions book.

Any questions concerning the Plan should be addressed directly to NCGUB.

Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)