US embassy cable - 02RANGOON1387

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NLD EXPANDS RESIDUAL PARLIAMENTARY BODY

Identifier: 02RANGOON1387
Wikileaks: View 02RANGOON1387 at Wikileaks.org
Origin: Embassy Rangoon
Created: 2002-10-29 08:24:00
Classification: CONFIDENTIAL
Tags: PGOV PHUM BM NLD
Redacted: This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001387 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
CINCPAC FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2012 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, BM, NLD 
SUBJECT: NLD EXPANDS RESIDUAL PARLIAMENTARY BODY 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Ron McMullen FOR REASON 1.5(D). 
 
1. (SBU)  On October 23 the Committee Representing the 
Peoples, Parliament (CRPP) announced that it was appointing 
four new ethnic members and inviting other political parties 
to join.  The CRPP was created by the NLD and ethnic parties 
in September 1998 to represent the Parliament that was 
elected in 1990 but never allowed to take power.  The parties 
represented by the CRPP won approximately ninety percent of 
the seats in the 1990 elections.  When the Committee was 
created in 1998 the regime responded harshly, arresting more 
than 200 activists and Members of Parliament-elect. 
 
2. (C)  Expanding the CRPP at this time is an important step 
in publicly consolidating ethnic support behind the NLD and 
improving communications and coordination between ethnic 
groups (which the junta attempts to keep isolated and 
factionalized).  It also creates a good mechanism for 
incorporating ethnic concerns into any NLD dialogue with the 
SPDC on national reconciliation, should that occur.  The big 
question is whether these actions by the CRPP will also serve 
to prod the SPDC toward a dialogue or just lead to another 
crackdown.  The ethnic political leaders tell us they believe 
this was "the right card to play" as MP-elects with a 
responsibility to show the people that they are concerned for 
their well-being.  SNLD Chairman Hkun Htoon Oo also said, 
however, that Military Intelligence had already contacted him 
warning that he and the other ethnic groups are being 
"confrontational" by officially joining the CRPP, which the 
military has always viewed as a slap at its rule. 
 
3.  (C)  The CRPP could figure in a future political 
transitional phase, but the potential clout of this largely 
moribund committee is difficult to judge. 
Martinez 

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