THAKIN NU’S PLEA FOR BURMESE PEACE

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 February 1949, Page 5

THAKIN NU’S PLEA FOR BURMESE PEACE

(Recd. 10 a.m.) RANGOON, Feb. 27. The Prime Minister, Mr Thakin Nu, stated today thta 30,000 people had so far lost their lives as a result of the insurrection in Burma. He appealed to his Countrymen to abandon their “terrorist activities” and support the Government so that general elections could be held. Mr Thakin Nu added that the loss of revenue through the insurrection represented nearly £19,000,000. Mr -Thakin Nu was . addressing a mass rally of the anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League. Ten thousand people at trie meeting swore allegiance to the Government and pledged themselves to an all-out effort to restore law and order.

Reuter’s correspondent reports that Government troops have launched

heavy attacks on Karen and Communist rebels holding the Central Burma railway towns of Meiktila and Thazi. Conference On Burma The conference on the Burmese situation was arranged after the' British Government had consulted other Commonwealth Governments on the Burmese request to the British Government for money to finance the export of its rice crop and for other purposes, say The Times diplomatic correspondent. “The Burmese Government will not be represented; but the conference is being held with its consent,” he says. It is stated in London that the object of the conference is to find ways and means of assisting Burma to internal stability and encourage Burmese race exports. Rice is the basis of Burma’s economy. It is emphasised in London that there is no question of Britain trying to regain influence in Burma. Humanitarian Reasons

The British Government’s position it is stated, is that for humanitarian and other reasons settlement of the trouble between the Karens and the Burmese Government is urgent. There is no evidence that the Karens owe or wish to owe anything to the Communists; but a danger remains that continuance of chaos in Burma could have economic and political consequences prejudicial to the security of South-East Asia as a whole. The British Commissioner-General in South-east Asia (Mr Malcolm. Macdonald) will attend the conference. A foreign Ministry spokesman m Karachi reported that Pakistan will not send a delegate to the conference because The date coincides- with the introduction of the Dominion, budget. Socialism Shelved: Burmese Ministers Scared By BRYAN SAMAIN Associate Editor of Great Britain and the East News from Burma —-latest Far East trouble-spot to hit the world’s headlines—is becoming . more and more scanty; The general situation is very confused. , . , , Such reports as are reaching London, however, suggest. that the Burmese Government will have to yield (at least in part) to the demands of the Karens. The Karens, who number approximately 3,000,000 of the country’s 16,000,000 population, are the most energetic section in Burma today.. By tradition a warrior race, they were the backbone of the old Burma . Army. What Karens Demand

Brifely, the Karens demand:— . 1? Official recognition of a separate Karen State. 2 A general amnesty to-be granted the insurgents,- including-the Communist- rebels and the Karens themselves. 3. Incorporation Of the Karens’ “private army” into the new Burma Army.. 4. The petting up of a-coalition Government. . , , • ■.\ ' . 5.. The - appointment - of a supreme

commander for Union of Burma armed forces to command Karen elements and Burmese politically controlled police. /Nationalisation Talk

The disturbances during recent weeks have caused considerable consternation amongst the senior members of the Burmese Government. In Rangoon now, with Karen rebels fighting only- 70 miles away (at Bassein) Government leaders are beginning to back-pedal furiously in their Socialist programme . ‘Nationalisation measures which were to have been put- into effect have been temporarily shelved. Such anti-Com-munist-members of the .Government as there are realise that recent events in Asia (particularly-in China) will undoubtedly have grave repercussions upon'Burma. ■ . < / !, - ? -. . They are worried about the Soviet onslaught in -the Far East, and fear that Siam—their next-door neighbour —may eventually ;go -Communist. '. There-is no evidence'whatsoever to substantiate recent allegations that Britain has been behind the Karen revolt. In .London these allegations are officially-denied.