U Thein Sein - President of Burma HARDtalk


U Thein Sein - President of Burma

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Three have come to New York City for an exclusive interview with the

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President of Burma, U Thein Sein, who has undergone a remarkable

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transformation. From former stalwart of a military junta into

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the reformist leader of a nation desperate to end its international

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isolation. Burma's authoritarian rulers used to vilify the western

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media, but now they are ready to talk. How far down the road to

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democracy are they prepared to travel?

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Welcome to HARDtalk. Let me begin by talking about what he said at

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the UN a few days ago. You said your country is making amazing

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changes. Irreversible steps towards democracy. And yet, for decades,

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year, a loyal member of a military dictatorship - what has made you

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Let me ask you about one particular citizen of your country - Aung San

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Suu Kyi. She spent almost two decades under house arrest,

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confined to her own house as a result of her political opposition

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to your military dictatorship. Are you prepared to say sorry to her

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and to the thousands of others who were imprisoned by your military

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But the point is, for people to believe your commitment to

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democracy is genuine, they also want to hear you say that you

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regret what happens in the past. You regret the repressive policies

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of the military government. Are you prepared to say that you now regret

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But what about regret? Do you have How would you describe the

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relationship with Aung San Suu Kyi now? You had met her three times.

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At least once in New York over the past few days. How would you

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describe the relationship with her Here is where she said in the US a

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few days ago: Yes, there has been changed in my country but not all

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of the changes necessary to make sure that we're going to be a

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genuinely democratic society. The question is, are you prepared to go

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all the way to create a truly Let's talk about a few of those

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things. Let's talk about the constitution. Right now, it would

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be impossible for Aung San Suu Kyi to become President of your country

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because there are clauses in the constitution that says no President

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could, for example, have a spouse or children who were nationals of a

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foreign country which of course she has. Are you prepared to change the

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constitution in order to allow her, if she is elected by the people, to

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I understand, Mr President, that you cannot change the constitution

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single-handed. Budgie has sent very important symbolic gestures already.

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He could send another one right now. Ie prepared to say that you

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personally believe it is time to change the constitution, not least

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to and now Aung San Suu Kyi the possibility of becoming President,

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if she is elected by the people in But you did choose to praise Aung

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San Suu Kyi at the United Nations and in other told she had given in

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America. He had praise her efforts for democracy, he congratulated her

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on the Nobel Peace Prize, D believe she would make it a good leader of

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your country? Are you prepared to imagine working with her if she

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So to be clear about it, if the people what her, and we has seen in

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recent by-elections and local elections in your country that the

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national need for democracy has swept the board, they have won a

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series of by-elections. If the people won her, you say then she

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As we have already discussed, you have made a remarkable

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transformation in your own life from senior general member of the

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military regime to now a President talking of reform. But some people

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in your country do wonder whether the military is prepared to give up

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so many of the powers it has enjoyed. For example, right now,

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the military still has 25% of the seats in the parliament reserved

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I understand what you're saying about the constitution. I am not

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just talking about the politics and the constitution. I am also

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thinking about the economy. To quote the most recent analysis of

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your country's economy, they say is: Wealth from the country's and

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poor natural resources is concentrated on the hands of an

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elite group of military leaders and their associates. Should that

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It is not true? How come when we look at who owns the mines, who

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profits from the timber industry, and from vast tracts of

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agricultural land, it is the When we look at the economy in your

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country, we have seen in the last 20 years or so, that the key

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strategic partner has been China. You have been talking to US

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officials. You have persuaded them to ease the embargo on imports

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coming from your country into the US. Is it your view that

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increasingly there is going to be a shift of this strategic

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relationship and that no country is increasingly looking to the West

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But from what you have heard in the US from US officials, D believed

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this is the beginning of a new era in relations between your country

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There are people in Beijing who are worried about the changes in your

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country, not least there were upset by one key decision you took when

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it decided to suspend your work on the dam. A key project worth

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billions of dollars which was going to give a lot of power to China.

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You stopped that project. Do you believe it is in your country's

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interest to have a different, maybe a less close relationship with

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We have talked a lot about political change and you say to me

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that you, personally, have changed because you recognise the will of

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the people. It seems to me that one of the desires of your people is to

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have an accounting. As sense of justice for past wrongs. We know

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that tens of thousands of people were imprisoned by the military

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government. Hundreds, probably thousands, of people were killed

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during violence perpetrated by in military government. I knew now

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prepared to investigate the past and deliver accountability and just

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But, Mr President, what about justice for things that were done

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Let me be clear about one thing. In the last few weeks, he announced

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another prisoner release. Hundreds of political prisoners have been

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released in the past year but human rights groups say there are still

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perhaps a couple of hundred political prisoners inside Ewood

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jails. I'd you prepared to tell me here and now that all political

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 41 seconds

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prisoners will be released and country. You say that the country

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has never really enjoyed complete security since independence. The

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truth is, it still doesn't today. If we look at the latest reports

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from some of the border areas of your country, for example captain,

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quoting a human rights report, the Burmese army is still committing

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unchecked abuses including rape, razing villages and torturing

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civilians. You have said here in the United States that you will

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bring piste your country. That means you have to tell the military

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to behave in a different way. -- I have to ask you about one other

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issue, which has caused deep concern at the United Nations and

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around the world. That is the fate of the Muslim population in your

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country. And this summer we saw terrible clashes, violence, which

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left more than 80 civilians dead, including women and children. And

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around the time of those clashes, you said this about that Muslim

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population. He said, "we can't accept them. They are not our

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 41 seconds

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ethnicity. Refugee camps or Mr President, you know that

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powerful figures at the UN and around the world have criticised

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you and your government for your policy towards them. It seems you

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are now going to be judged by a very high standard. You say that

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your country is on a path to genuine democracy and to real

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freedom for all its citizens. So you are going to be judged by a

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high standard. Do you believe that new, and more particularly the

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people in the military, that you have been so close to, can meet

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It strikes me there are perhaps some similarities between your

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position and that of Gorbachev, who led the transition in the Soviet

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Union. He was the architect of so much change. But when the change

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came, he got swept away. Q You think you might get swept away as

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your country becomes a democracy? - Hang on, last point. You say it is

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irreversible, this move to democracy. How long is it going to

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take for your country to become a full-fledged democracy and to

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Qatar... Catch up with the other nations of South East Asia, which

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