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Insurrection. While crippling the economy, Ne Win has been striving for a measure of national unity. His fairly competent army of 50,000 men controls the main cities and about 50% of the Texas-sized nation. About 35% of the area is no man's land, and the remaining 15% is divided among a variety of insurgents, ranging from tribal groups, such as the Shans, Karens and Kachins, to two major bands of Communist insurgents, 1) the Trotskyite Red Flag movement, and 2) the larger White Flag Communists, who are fragmented into Stalinist and Revisionist wings. Still another insurgent outfit is composed of several hundred Chinese Nationalist soldiers who fled their homeland years ago and have since operated as bandits.
In 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' immunity to get back to the safety of his jungle hideouts.
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 He temporarily rescinded controls on rice to placate farmers, offered to build a new Student Union at the University of Rangoon (he had blown up the old one after a student riot in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 by the government.
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."