Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein told the UN General Assembly on Monday that his government would take "systematic steps to hold free and fair elections" in 2010.

New electoral laws would be announced and a new election commission formed, Thein Sein said. However, his speech contained no reference to a possible release of political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, or to any chance of a meaningful political dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic minority leaders on reconciliation and reform.

If anything, Thein Sein confirmed how the hard-line military council would hold the one-sided election planned for 2010. "Democracy cannot be imposed from the outside and a system suitable for Myanmar [Burma] can only be born out of Myanmar [Burmese] society," he said.

Interestingly Thein Sein's speech came at the time when the US administration has announced it hopes to engage the Burmese military junta in a dialogue.

Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton briefed nations interested in Burma about the policy shift. She said Washington’s basic objectives had not changed but that the US administration was seeking engagement rather than confrontation.

On Monday, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Public Affairs Kurt Campbell also told reporters at the United Nations that the Obama administration—which has already reached out to arch US foes such as Iran and Cuba—wanted a "sustained process of interaction" with Burma, after only sporadic contacts in recent years.

The US would not immediately ease sanctions, however, and would press for the unconditional release of Suu Kyi, Campbell said. "We will tell the Burmese that we will discuss easing sanctions only if they take actions on our core concerns."

Meanwhile, Suu Kyi has sent a letter to junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe seeking permission to meet US, EU and Australian ambassadors to Burma to discuss a possible end to sanctions.

According to a copy of the letter obtained by The Irrawaddy on Monday, she offered to cooperate with the Burmese regime with the aim of lifting sanctions imposed on Burma.

Suu Kyi wrote that in order to "effectively work for lifting sanctions…I believe that we need to try at first to understand about all sanctions imposed on Burma; understand about the extent of losses due to sanctions imposed on Burma; and understand about the positions of governments which imposed sanctions on Burma."

Suu Kyi also asked for her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to be allowed to resume political activities unhindered. After winning Burma’s last general election, in 1990, by a convincing majority, the NLD has been subject to continual intimidation and harassment by the regime, which ignored the result of the poll.

So far, the conditions established for the 2010 election favor only the regime and pro-junta groups.

The regime shows no sign of releasing the tight control it exerts over the Burmese people, continuing to hold more than 2,000 political prisoners at various prisons around the country and reinforcing its troop strength in northeastern Burma to press, or even attack, ethnic ceasefire groups to follow its demand that they become a border guard force.

Thus, it becomes obvious that the sole aim of the election is to legitimize the military's grip on power and entrench its proxies in the new parliament. Still, Thein Sein's assurance of "systematic steps" can at least be taken at face value—which is more than can be said for his promise of “free and fair elections."