Word: ne
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...vain, previous Burmese governments have offered amnesties to the rebels. Ne Win went farther: he promised a safe-conduct to rebel leaders for discussions in Rangoon. Red Flag Leader Thakin Soe accepted. He was picked up by a river gunboat, taken to a government airfield and flown to Rangoon, where he promptly demanded 1) a nationwide ceasefire, 2) withdrawal of Burmese troops from vital Red Flag areas, and 3) a meeting of all political factions-legal and illegal-to form a new government. Taken aback by these demands, Ne Win denounced Thakin Soe as "insincere" and gave him seven days...
Opposition. Though Ne Win is conceded to be honest and hardworking, easygoing Burmese long for the good old good-for-nothing government of U Nu, whose photo is still hawked on the streets and outsells that of Ne Win by a wide margin. One opposition leader, U Ba Swe, called on Ne Win "to retreat from the brink of disaster for the sake of the nation," and the ex-Ambassador to the U.S., U Win, demanded a return to parliamentary democracy. Both were packed off to "protective custody," along with nine other dissenters from instant socialism...
...Nervous Ne Win frequently carries a pistol, and antiaircraft guns stand ready at Government House. Yet, even though opposition to his regime is massive throughout the country, he still has the bulk of the army with him. And, as is his habit when he encounters obstacles, Ne Win changed course slightly. He temporarily rescinded controls on rice to placate farmers, offered to build a new Student Union at the University of Rangoon (he had blown up the old one after a student riot in July 1962), and called a conference of his administrators to "improve and review" all measures enacted...
Presumably to show he is not a total tyrant, Ne Win released three former Cabinet ministers (but not ex-Premier U Nu) from house arrest. Unless the army stages a coup, Ne Win may muddle along indefinitely. "It's not the Burmese way to man the barricades," explained a Rangoon educator. "Given our plentiful food supplies and the passivity of the people, it's possible for someone to misrule Burma for perhaps a decade before incurring true wrath...
...high praise. He rose each day for an 8 a.m. breakfast, filled the mornings with rehearsals and conducting classes, the afternoons with conferences and more rehearsals, the evenings with performances. He played through a Mozart series, a Prokofiev cycle, and led his orchestra through a total of 32 works ne-W to Tanglewood, including the American premiere of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem...