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Thailand needs to be realistic in cooperating with the Burmese military to reform Burma’s politics. In order to reform the politics, Thai businessmen and Prime Minister Thaksin have attempted to reform the Burmese economy first.

It seems that Thai people believe that if Burma becomes a wealthy country the country’s politics can be reformed. This is a communist idea.

China has opened free trade with many counties. It has the strongest economy in Asia. However, Chinese people are still oppressed by the Communist Party. There is no freedom of expression of the media in China. It is a centralised state without an opposition party. The gap between the poor and rich is growing.

In Burma people don’t want to live under the kind of conditions that exist China. Burmese people understand Mr Thaksin is trying to bring democracy to Burma. They are also aware that Mr Thaksin’s efforts could bring nothing to Burma.

Thailand wants to help Burma, as it showed by proposing the road map last year. The Kingdom wants to help Burma by having another meeting in Bangkok. None of these efforts have brought Burma anything. They have only made the junta appear to be a more legitimate government.

Prime Minister Thaksin may meet General Than Shwe soon, according news reports. During Thaksin’s trip to Rangoon, he will press Than Shwe to restart the Bangkok process. Burmese people don’t believe that Mr Than Shwe will accept Thaksin’s ideas. If the general accepted, the Bangkok process would not stop like it did before.

The general will say that Burma is independent, that it doesn’t want interference from other countries. Thaksin will not bring democracy to Burma through the market-place. The people of Burma don’t want to buy democracy on the market.

He needs to convince the people that without political reform, economic reform will not be successful. We should develop democracy to safeguard people’s rights. In order to do that, Thaksin should put pressure on the Burmese regime to step down from power. Without toppling the regime, democracy in Burma will not exist.

It seems like Thaksin is wasting time waiting for Burma to become a democracy, which has only allowed the generals to stay in power for such a long time. It is time for Thailand to put pressure on the generals to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

The ethnic groups, especially the groups that have agreed to a cease-fire with the junta, cannot tackle problems in Burma by themselves. With the opposition groups, the military regime and the ethnic groups will have to discuss the country’s problems all together, and only this will change the situation. The national convention they are having is not being carried out in the interest of drafting a new constitution. The regime is trying to grab power from these groups.