Reality and Credibility Gap - the Burmese Democratic Exile Government's plan of 2009

http://www.ncgub.net/NCGUB/mediagallery/download85d1.pdf?mid=20091023154306771

In relation of course to the reality on the ground in Burma.

This "ideal state of affairs" or still picture was generated with the help of several well-regarded Burma experts (NOT the usual culprits - the regime apologists or sanctions critics).

As a contract worker, I helped pull this together, but was not shown the final result, after I "deposited" my final compilation as of mid-March 2009.

As a result and as pulled together by the NCGUB's current policy mavens and policy wonks, whomever they may be -

at least in the economics section, I found a confusion between "systemic" which is what I and the other economists meant and "systematic." They are not the same.

Besides that it should be "stabilization and structural change" not one as part of the other but 2 separate programs, one short term and immediate and one long term. In the final piece there is a confusion between the two.

Other than that, it was gratifying to find many of the Experts hard-earned truths (several are banned from Burma forever for seeing and writing about these truths, such as farmers' loss of land)still in the words they wrote initially in the finished manuscript/online publication.

However, ultimately the Exile Government or NCGUB "owns" this piece, as the commissioning agency, as Dr. Sein Win's signature testifies.

I think the liaison done on this was poor - many experts I suggested including many from the member agencies and two or 3 of high standing from Indiana University (one Dr C.K. Williams eventually testified before Congress) were rejected for no other reason than paranoia on the part of the liaison person in charge.

I still do not know if this document in its entirety has been read by Daw Suu and the NLD. Now that she is "free" it should be sent to her again, and she should be given the opportunity to surf the web like any other world citizen. It looks like during her 7 years of arrest, she mainly only could listen to Burmese language radio as broadcast from overseas. Most of that is fine, but she needs more.

From long experience I know that Burmese language radio stations overseas tend to focus on news items, not analysis and the education of most broadcasters leaves much to be desired, leading to many faux pas.

Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)
January 6th 2011.