Burma's president calls for strong defence

AAP February 12, 2012, 5:58 pm                          

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Burma's president Thein Sein has urged unity in keeping national defence strong and warned of the "jungle law of the superpowers".
"The entire nation needs to join hands in building powerful, competent, patriotic modern armed forces," he said on the 65th anniversary of Union Day.

"If defence of the nation is weak, the nation will face the jungle law of superpowers," the former general warned on Sunday.
Thein Sein, who became president in March, has pushed through several political reforms such as cooperating with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and freeing an estimated 600 political prisoners.
On February 12, 1947, Suu Kyi's father Aung San met with leaders of ethnic minority groups in northern Burma to unify the nation as it headed toward independence from Britain, achieved a year later.
The resulting Panglong Agreement is still celebrated as Union Day, although it failed to end Burma's ethnic minority insurgencies that still pose an obstacle to peace and political stability.
Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy on Saturday began campaigning for 48 legislative seats in a by-election scheduled for April 1.
The Nobel peace laureate is expected to win a seat and become the opposition leader in parliament. There is even speculation that Thein Sein might give her a cabinet seat.
Western democracies are regarding the by-election as a crucial benchmark for the reform process. If free and fair, some sanctions against the country are expected to be lifted.
"The entire nation will be overjoyed to see a democratic contest in the elections and equal participation in state affairs," Thein Sein said. "It can be seen that the new government is showing respect to people's voices and fulfilling their aspirations."

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