A ray of hope dawned during the recent visit of Mr. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, the United Nations Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs, to Burma.
He was able to meet with Senior General Than Shwe, the leader of the military junta – Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council -- and also Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of democracy movement and the National League for Democracy.
In fact, during this mission, Under-Secretary-General Gambari -- who presented the situation of Burma based on the reports of the former Secretary General's Special Envoy Tan Seri Razali Ismail, in a closed door session at the United Nation Security Council last December -- physically witnessed the actual political situation of Burma.
And, from the outset, he did not go there merely to listen to the ruling generals' propaganda of a Seven-step Road Map and the self-proclaimed progressive movement towards democracy and then to brief that to the UN Secretary General on his return to New York.
The visit of a high level UN official to Burma happened after the ASEAN Special Envoy and Malaysian Foreign Minister reaffirmed to the UN and other regional counterparts that his mission to Burma had failed.
During his visit, the ASEAN envoy was unable to meet the opposition leaders and the junta chief Than Shwe.
Perhaps, the UN, therefore, cannot stand to see Burma secluded further from the international community and has decided to move in.
The UN Secretary General is actually concerned of the deteriorating political situation in Burma and hopes to find a viable solution to the problems peacefully.
On the other hand, all those with similar concerns also noted that pressuring the junta and dragging the political situation of Burma to the UN Security Council again would seclude the country further.
Hence, all supported for political dialogue as a way toward viable reconciliation.
For the UN official, meeting with the SPDC Chairman --a surprise permission -- came much later.
Upon arrival, Professor Gambari had to go through the usual mill of protocol matters and propaganda briefings by the Burmese Foreign Minister. These procedural antics are the remnants of the now-defunct Military Intelligence.
On his part, the UN high official did all that he needed to do as a good diplomat.
He met not only with the leaders of the National League for Democracy, but also those of the National Unity Party – the turncoat of the former Burma Socialist Program Party of the late U Ne Win.
He also heard what the government-sponsored NGOs such as the Union Solidarity and Development Association as well as the leaders of the National Convention Convening Commission had to say.
Undoubtedly, the government may have skipped the ethnic political parties from the itinerary for fear that the ethnics will raise their shocking grievances and on the other hand the prominent ethnic politician and leader of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy Hkun Htun Oo and other leading members of party are serving their century long sentences in the Burmese gulags in the remote areas.
Over a two-year period, a flurry of diplomatic visits by UN officials preceded Ibrahim Gambari.
First, it was Special Envoy Razali Ismail in March 2004. Then, during last year, James Morris, Chief of World Food Program, followed by Ali Alatas, former Indonesian foreign minister and UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for UN Reforms.
Alatas also accompanied the Indonesian President during the latter's working visit to Rangoon in March this year.
For the moment, Gambari's visit can be assessed a successful one. For the long term, it will help revitalize UN's old program of bringing about a political dialogue in Burma through an interlocutor.
It appears that the parties concerned have agreed on the selection of an interlocutor during Professor Gamabari's three-day visit.
The NLD has been consistently calling for a dialogue. The SPDC is also keen to stem moves by the west of bringing the Burma issue again to the UN Security Council. It is, therefore, highly plausible that both sides would agree to a UN-sponsored dialogue.
In a historical perspective, the interlocutor concept goes way back to 1999 when Alvaro de Soto, then Under-Secretary-General, successfully made possible the appointment of Malaysian diplomat Tan Razali Ismail as UN Special Envoy to Burma.
However, Razali's role in Burma generated a lot of criticisms for his controversial comments and unclear messages. He spoke about the actual situation only at the last minute just before he resigned early this year.
The ruling SPDC has never acknowledged Razali's role in the reconciliatory dialogue it claimed to have begun since 2000.
Soon after the attack on Daw Aung San Suun Kyi and her convoy near Depayin on May 30, 2003, the SPDC launched "picture diplomacy" to save its tarnished image.
The Burmese government sent its foreign ministers overseas with pictures of bilateral meetings between the NLD and itself including the dinner reception the SPDC leader hosted in honor of the opposition leaders. Breaching the mutual pledge, the junta released the illustrated news about the meeting publicly in the government-controlled media.
In an article, the government clearly stated " it is not because of Razali's mediation but because of good gesture the government accepted to hold dialogue with opposition party….. " The NLD later rejected those events as simply light moments the junta tried to appease the opposition for its benefit and that no formal political dialogue ever took place.
Since Gen. Khin Nyunt and his Military Intelligence corps were purged in October 2004, the military junta has ceased all contacts with former UN Special Envoys -- apparently disappointed that the envoys had interacted excessively with former MI Corps and articulated complex statements.
The junta chief, Senior-General Than Shwe, expressed that he wants the UN envoy to be an Asian who comes from a non-aligned country.
There are now three senior Asian UN diplomats who fit the bill.
The Burmese people assume that the UN is the only organization gifted with power to bring peace and they all have been invoking UN intervention for peaceful solution of deteriorating political situation in Burma.
To bring that about, all the domestic parties who are involved in the process must maintain allegiance to and work dedicatedly for the benefit and peace of the nation and the people.
The deliberations of the process including those of the UN -- the future umpire for the Burmese political problems -- need to be transparent.
So as not to be a mere "messenger," as in the past, UN interlocutor should also be given an overwhelming mandate, by the part of the interlocutor too, to be fair, free of bias and ethically fit to represent the world's premier peace organization to bring about peace, harmony and prosperity to Burma, the Nation that the Military Regime has been trying for eighteen years to transform into a new, modern and developed country but that remains a "good old country" till today.
Certainly, it would be a tall order for all those concerned. But, there must be a start and the starting should begin now.