By THE IRRAWADDY
Aung Thein Lin, former Rangoon mayor and USDP official, center, hints that Suu Kyi's party is under foreign influence. (Photo: Irrawaddy)
An official from Burma's military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which dominates the country's national Parliament, implied that the Burmese opposition party led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is under the influence of foreign countries.
Burma is at risk of being influenced by external powers because of “a certain political party” that is operating under the influence of foreign nations, said Aung Thein Lin, who is the former mayor of Rangoon and a leading MP representing the USDP.
Although he did not mention either Suu Kyi or her National League for Democracy (NLD) by name, Aung Thein Lin’s remark was widely viewed as referring to the NLD because it was made at a meeting in Rangoon on Dec. 10 between USDP officials and representatives from a coalition of ten opposition parties that does not include the NLD.
Suu Kyi's party has maintained close connections with the US and other Western countries since it was founded more than 20 years ago, and Suu Kyi, an Oxford graduate, has consistently supported Western economic sanctions against the Burmese government.
Ironically, it is a widely shared view that the Burmese government, which is dominated by USDP members, has been subject to enormous influence from neighboring China over the past twenty years.
The USDP, led by former army generals including President Thein Sein, won a majority of the seats in last year's parliamentary elections, which the NLD boycotted and observers condemned as widely fraudulent.
However, the NLD recently declared its plans to contest coming by-elections and Suu Kyi has stated her desire to compete for a seat in the Parliament. After the NLD registered as a political party, the USDP began courting other smaller and underfunded opposition parties to form a counterweight to the NLD, according to a Rangoon politician who attended the Dec. 10 meeting.
The politician said that Aung Thein Lin noted at the meeting that since the USDP was formed by ex-army generals who don't read, lack political experience and only know how to take orders and instructions from their superiors, the party needs to cooperate with other political parties.
The opposition parties who attended the meeting included the National Democratic Force, a breakaway party from the NLD, and certain ethnic parties represented in Parliament.
Although the ten-party coalition was formed with the intention of countering the USDP in Parliament, its member parties do not enjoy a close relation with the NLD due to their differences regarding last year elections. In addition, unlike the NLD, the coalition parties frequently call for the lifting of Western sanctions on Burma.
In a press conference, the coalition roundly rejected accusations that their meeting with Aung Thein Lin meant that they had joined forces with the USDP. Its representatives said that the discussions were informal and the coalition has no intention of siding with the USDP.