A group of eminent writers, journalists and politicians in Burma are calling for all political parties and groups inside and outside the country including the premier political party the National League for Democracy and the ruling military to try to solve Burma's problems through a national dialogue.
An eighty-eight year old Burma's prominent lady writer and journalist Ludu Daw Amar, journalist Ludu U Sein Win and writer and poet Dagon Taya endorsed a proposal advanced by journalist-cum-politician Nationalist Win Naing for a national united front to forge peace and national reconciliation in Burma.
"Historically speaking, we won the nation's independence under the leadership of General Aung San with unity and cooperation through the vehicle of a national league. The whole world knows that for the last 16 years our struggle to bring about democracy and human rights in Burma has failed because we could not build a strong and united democratic force. It's time we changed our strategy to make it happen", Nationalist U Win Naing told VOA.
Ludu U Sein Win also endorsed the idea. He said this national united front must truly be a national one. Every Burman and every ethnic national -- from groups above ground and underground -- and even members of the ruling military (SPDC) should participate in this movement. "It would be too much a task for the NLD alone and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi alone to achieve the goal of national solidarity", Ludu U Sein Win said.
Dagon Taya, a preeminent poet and writer, true to his peaceful nature, said that "politics is nothing but a process to turn your enemy to be your friend." He reiterated that only through the united effort of a national united front could this be brought about.
Burma's Lady of Letters Ludu Daw Amar told VOA her personal frustrations over what she called "the stagnant state of things in the country". She feared that the dire poverty the people are going through could explode into a social and political upheaval.
Nationalist Win Naing considers that the leading party in the nation -- the National League for Democracy -- has the legitimacy to initiate to rally the support of all political groups to build a national united front.
The Thai-based Democratic Party for a New Society and the All Burma Federation of Student Unions also released statements supporting the idea of a national united front to solve Burma's ills.