Madam, – We would like to respond to the balanced article by your correspondent, Manchán Magan (“Burma: to visit or not to visit?”, Go, September 4th). Any responsible would-be tourist might take note of some of the phrases used by Mr Magan: “temporary slave labour”, “wipe out those inciting unrest and violence”, “torture still practised here” and “even the most innocuous question to a local can lead to imprisonment for seven years if their answer is deemed hostile to the regime”. This is especially true at present, with an election promised for November 7th.
No electoral process can be democratic, fair or transparent when it takes place in the toxic atmosphere of the continuous fear that the generals’ methods described in the article engender. The elections are subject to the constitutional dicta that 25 per cent of seats are reserved for the military, that any new government needs 75 per cent to change the constitution and that many key opposition leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are disbarred from standing. – Yours, etc,