Several veteran politicians who played key roles in Burma’s struggle for independence 50 years ago made a surprise plea Sunday for former strongman Ne Win to help solve the nation’s problems.
“I would like to propose that if ex-president, retired Gen. Ne Win–who used to be able to do a lot in the past–will work, the entire country could become peaceful and pleasant,” 89-year-old Thakin Chit told a gathering of veteran politicians.
Thakin Chit is the only living signatory of a 1947 agreement between Britain and Burma that paved the way for independence for the Southeast Asian country on Jan. 4, 1948.
He made the comments to a group of about 120 veteran politicians, democracy activists, including Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and diplomats at a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.
Ne Win, like Thakin Chit and most of the other politicians at the ceremony, was one of the leading nationalists fighting for independence in the 1930s and 1940s.
The former strongman, who ruled Burma with an iron fist for more than a quarter of a century under his ill-fated 1962-1988 “Burmese Way to Socialism” doctrine, is rarely mentioned in public and has scarcely been seen since he relinquished power nearly 10 years ago.
A personal visit to Indonesia in September was the first time he had been in the public eye since he stepped down, although many analysts feel he has a plenty of power in the government.
