Irrawaddy: UN Security Council hails Burmese by-elections

[grantcart]

Source: Burma Net News

Washington D.C.—The United Nations Security Council has hailed April’s successful by-elections in Burma and praised the Burmese government and opposition for their commitment to moving the country forward.

Susan Rice, US ambassador to the world body, made the comments following a meeting of the 15-member council to discuss Burma. Rice has assumed the presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of April.

“Council members welcomed the successful by-election as a historic and critical step on the path to consolidating and strengthening Myanmar’s democratic reforms,” Rice told reporters after the Wednesday meeting.

“They praised the government and the opposition for their conduct of the by-election and for their commitment to moving the country forward,” she added. “Council members emphasized that Myanmar’s reforms were still fragile and nascent and in need of the international community’s support.”

This was the first meeting of the Security Council to discuss Burma since the April 1 by-elections which saw pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party win 43 out of 45 contested seats.


Read more: http://www.burmanet.org/news/2012/04/12/irrawaddy-un-security-council-hails-burmese-by-elections-lalit-k-jha/

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This shows what a great Secretary of State can do working quietly behind the scenes.

Burma was headed for civil war. SOS Clinton working with ASEAN and other international players was able to move Burma to a new stage in its history without conflict.

[David__77]

1. Why must the media continue using name "Burma" when not even the US government does?

The government authorities didn't change the Burmese/Myanmar language name of the country at all, only the way that it is transliterated into English. It seems almost immature to insist on only recognizing the name used by the government till the end of the 80s - it's hardly as if the old government was any better than the post-coup one.

Perhaps if the opposition is successfully integrated into the country's political life, "Myanmar" will be universally adopted; or, alternatively, the old, less accurate transliteration will be readopted.

[grantcart]

2. 1) They changed the official English name 2) It is not a transliteration of the word in the native

language but a corrupted form of it 3) The oppositiion doesn't accept it 4) The US government continues to use the word Burma as the name of the country.

Many news organizations and goverments continue to use 'Burma' as a means to show that they do not support the tyrannical military regime that made the change;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Burma

The United Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, endorsed the name change five days after its announcement.[8] However, governments of many English speaking countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada still refer to the country as "Burma".[9] The United States government attributes its choice to support for the party deemed to have won the 1990 election, but been denied power by the junta. That party opposes the new name.

. . .

It should be remembered that the regime did not change the official name of the country in Burmese, but merely changed the name of the country in English. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at first opposed the new name "Myanmar", pointing out the hypocritical justification of inclusiveness put forward by the regime. Opposition parties, although they oppose the English name "Myanmar", do not oppose the official Burmese name Myanma, and no opposition party is proposing to use the colloquial name Bama as the official name of the country.

When Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi requests that we change the name then I will change.

BTW the official English term for the people of Burma is still "Burmese".

[David__77]

3. "Myanmar" is more inclusive of all the nationalities.

"Burma" is more like "Persia," while "Myanmar" is more like "Iran," in the sense that it recognizes the multi-national composition of the respective country. I believe that for this reason, ultimately, the opposition forces will accept and approve the change. I do not think that using "Myanmar" means endorsing the ruling authorities. No more so than using Pinyin transliteration instead of Wades-Giles implies endorsement of Chinese authorities. We do not say "Peking" anymore.