"Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative views.
"Oppose those trying to jeopardise stability of the State and progress of the Nation.
"Oppose foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the State.
"Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy."
This example of state sloganising is not from Chairman Mao's Little Red Book, nor even from George Orwell's 1984. The exhortations, in white lettering against a red background, are the daily messages received by the people of Burma today.
Burma, officially now the Union of Myanmar, finds itself trapped in a bizarre time-warp woven by the military junta which has effectively been in power since the army coup under General Ne Win in 1962.
Forced labour
Democracy has been crushed. Forced labour gangs have been pressed into service. Protesters have been shot in the streets, torture has been widely used. But despite the dangers involved, 82 per cent of the country's voters supported the National League for Democracy led by the charismatic Aung San Suu Kyi in 1990.
The will of the people did not count for much. The generals reneged on their promise to restore democracy. And, in spite of recent indications of a possible change in attitude by the authorities, Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest at her home in University Avenue Road in Rangoon. She has been honoured with a Nobel peace prize and last year was made a Freeman of Dublin but despite Western pressure she remains under guard. The army has barricaded off streets leading to her residence and only those with special permits are allowed through.
There are other, earlier signs that Burma does not belong to the international community. One is immediately struck by the near-emptiness of the modern terminal buildings at Rangoon's international airport. The hustle and bustle of a Western airport serving a city of this size is missing.
I queued on arrival with my fellow passengers to change $200 to Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs) at the rate of one US dollar to one FEC. Visitors must buy at least 200 of these on arrival and when they get into Rangoon each FEC becomes worth 300 Kyats, against the 450 one can get on the streets for an actual dollar.
On the drive from the airport to the city I was immediately struck by the orderliness of the traffic and the cleanliness of the streets, compared with the filth and chaos of Calcutta, whence I had come. This was no surprise. The country's ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), was, after all, known previously as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
Unemployment
The greatest threat to the generals' rule is economic rather than military. Inflation is running at double digits and may be as high as 30 per cent, according to some sources. There is high unemployment and even those with work are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Teachers and civil servants earn less that $30 a month after a lifetime of service. Many families are homeless.
Foreign investment is needed urgently and this provides a dilemma for the regime. Attracting foreign investment and holding on to power may not be mutually compatible. The regime must be seen to take positive steps to restore human rights, release political prisoners and set the country on the road to democracy before external sanctions can be lifted.
Recently, when a three-member EU delegation went to Burma for talks with the SPDC and also with Aung San Suu Kyi, not a word of their deliberations was reported in the local media. Likewise, earlier visits by the UN Secretary General's special envoy, Mr Razali Izmail, were kept secret.
There are two daily newspapers, one in Burmese and the other, The New Light of Myanmar, in English. Both give over large slabs of space to turgid reports of the official duties carried out by the leading generals. Lt-Gen Khin Nuynt, "Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council" (the full title is always given in Burmese newspeak), gets more column inches than other important personages such as "Secretary-2", and so on down the line.
As in other repressive regimes, the newspapers carry large amounts of foreign news, most of it negative, in an attempt to show that in some places life is worse than at home.
The people of Burma are naturally friendly and gregarious. They like to drink tea with friends at the pavement tea-houses, but talk is guarded. Police spies and informers are everywhere.
Minority religions
Priests and pastors are careful not to step out of line in their Sunday sermons. Although there is officially no discrimination against minority religions, Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Rangoon have been compulsorily acquired by the authorities. Buddhism, with which the regime seeks to identify, is the religion of 90 per cent of the population.
There are many "restricted areas" closed to foreign visitors, particularly in the Shan State where the SSA (Shan State Army) holds sway, and in the regions inhabited by the Karen people and controlled by the separatist Karen National Army.
Despite all these restrictions, I was able to speak to a number of families with personal experience of state brutality and imprisonment. Their harrowing stories painted a picture of a regime determined to stamp out even the most moderate and democratic opposition. Such is their fear of the state apparatus that I had to promise not to report their stories in any form, even on the other side of the world.
In the royal capital of Mandalay, posters praised the Tatmadaw, as the army is known. "TATMADAW AND THE PEOPLE IN ETERNAL UNITY, ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO DIVIDE THEM IS OUR ENEMY", read one. Another proclaimed: "THE TATMADAW SHALL NEVER BETRAY THE NATIONAL CAUSE."
In the same city I saw young children, aged nine or ten, on their hands and knees cleaning a pathway with their bare hands. They were under uniformed supervision.
The road to democracy may yet prove long and arduous for the afflicted people of Burma.