The legitimacy of the new government that will emerge after the 2010 general elections will not be "bought by coercion, trickery or bribery", declares a statement of the border-based Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) following its three-day conference, 26 to 28 August.
"The will of the people must be the basis for deciding the legitimacy of the government," says the statement released this morning. "Unless and until the people of Burma can freely and fairly express their true will, there can be no legitimate government."
It instead urges the people "to organize themselves to be able to effectively express their true will in the 2010 elections."
It also exhorts armed ethnic organizations that have ceasefire agreements with the ruling military council to "try to express the true will of the people" "should (they) decide to form parties or support political parties to contest the elections."
As for the ENC, it simply "cannot endorse the SPDC's Road Map or the 2010 elections" citing the following unacceptable reasons:
* Exclusion of the 1990 winners
* Rejection of constitutional recommendations made by the ethnic nationalities
* Concentration of power in the hands of the president and the army chief in the military-drawn constitution
* Absence of independent judiciary
* The military remaining "above the law"
The conference demanded the ruling military council hold a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic nationalities, that the UN "make it possible for the people of Burma to express their true will without intimidation and fear," and that Burma's neighbours, under the UN auspices, have a multi-party talks on Burma.
The ENC, founded in 2001 as Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and Cooperation Committee (ENSCC), came into being as a result of the 1994 UN General Assembly resolution calling for a Tripartite Dialogue in Burma: The military, Aung San Suu Kyi led democratic forces and the non-Burman ethnic nationalities. It is led by the newly elected Hte Bu Hpe, Chairman, and Duwa Mahkaw Hkun Hsa, General Secretary.
