Aung San Suu Kyi against opposition registering for Burma poll

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SILVERSTEIN: They should make their statement by rejecting participation that clearly outlaws them and gives them no role to play and certainly they will have no opportunity to achieve any kind of victory.

LAM: But the NLD risks being marginalised even further, is that a better option do you think?

SILVERSTEIN: I think it is, first of all it's a moral statement that they are making against a rigged election that will guarantee that the government will remain in the hands of the military for a long period of time to come. Aung San Suu Kyi has worked 24 hours a day for a decade, she is the lifeblood of the opposition. Having deprived her legally under their laws of participation, there is no one to speak as she would speak. The people are looking to her for clues as what to do, and I think the clue that she is sending is yes, you are free, I will not impede your freedom, however I don't see any purpose and I certainly do not intend to participate or try to. There is no fairness in the country and there's no fairness in the election laws, and so therefore if we participate we are doing the military's bidding in the way they want. They will not take part in this charade.

LAM: Ms Suu Kyi of course as you say is against registering, but she did make the point that it's up to the NLD, the National League for Democracy, to decide whether or not to take part. What's your reading of the mood within the NLD?

SILVERSTEIN: I think the NLD will stand with her. There will be a few people I'm sure, sections which will probably oppose, and if you read those rules and study them a bit you will see they are guaranteed to ensure that they do not have to put blockades at the entrance of the polls or take any kind of physical action against them because they are so written that it is impossible for the people, Aung San Suu Kyi and the other leaders to express themselves. And if that is the case, why the election except to just put another feather in the cap of the military who will say, ah we've held an election and we've won.

LAM: Some observers say the NLD is in disarray. Do you think the junta has managed to defeat the NLD or neutralise it through its ongoing incarceration of Ms Aung Suu Kyi?

SILVERSTEIN: Oh I think they have tried and what is marvelous is that given the kinds of restrictions that they have placed upon Suu Kyi and other actions, nevertheless Suu Kyi continues to stand by international standards of freedom of participation by the people in the election, and that without her, without the rules to allow her to be free along with her party members, this is a farce.

LAM: The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said that the new electoral laws in Burma do not make for an inclusive political process. And indeed a UN group, the so-called Friends of Burma, is meeting to consider the new laws. What can such UN groups do to encourage the junta to adopt a freer process, or is it pointless to even try?

SILVERSTEIN: At this stage I would say it is pointless because the military has devoted itself to setting every step along the way that they're now progressing to ensure that this time unlike 1990 they will not be fooled by the honesty of the people, and they have made sure that no one can be elected whom the military does not choose.