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THE NATION: Suu Kyi lashes out at
- Subject: THE NATION: Suu Kyi lashes out at
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 18:00:00
Politics
Suu Kyi lashes out at oil
company's investment in
Burma
LONDON -- Burma's pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi has strongly criticised
the Premier Oil investment in Burma,
saying its deal with the Burmese junta
''does a great disservice to the cause of
democracy'' and ''contributes to repression
in the country''.
She charged the British oil company with
being ''very selfish'' and of sending the
wrong signal to the Burmese regime, which
could then argue that ''however repressive
they may be, they still have the support of
big companies''.
''And if these [companies] are from
Western democracies, it's even more
serious, because it gives the military
regime a chance to say: 'Look: even
companies from Western democracies
support us, so what we are doing can't be
that wrong,' '' said Suu Kyi in a video
statement recently smuggled out of Burma.
Meanwhile a London-based Burma
human-rights group has launched a
campaign to push the British government to
impose unilateral financial sanctions on
Burma in order to prevent investments such
as Premier Oil's.
In press statements released ahead of the
second Asia-Europe Meeting, the Burma
Action Group said a new analysis by Essex
University concluded that ''it is legally
possible for a member state [of the
European Union] to impose a ban on
foreign investment in Burma''.
''Significantly, the financial sanctions can be
imposed for 'serious political reasons and
on grounds of urgency','' said the summary
of the legal analysis, done by Steve Peers,
director of the university's Centre for
European Commercial Law. It also said the
''criterion seems easy to meet in the case
of Burma''.
Financial sanctions can run the gamut from
very limited restrictions on direct investment
to a complete ban on new direct investment
with divestment orders and asset freezes, it
added.
In her message, Suu Kyi questioned the
British government's sincerity and
expressed doubt about why the British
government's tough stance against Burma
was not translated into firm action to curb
the economic activities of British
companies such as Premier Oil.
She charged the British company with
being ''very selfish'' and said the company's
project was not only supporting the
Burmese regime financially: ''It is also
giving it moral support, and it is doing a
great disservice to the cause of
democracy.'' The Burmese Nobel Prize
laureate added: ''It should be ashamed of
itself.''
In 1990, Premier Oil and its partners
Petronas of Malaysia, Nippon of Japan and
the Petroleum Authority of Thailand entered
into a US$700-million deal with Burma's
state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas
Enterprise for the development and sale of
gas in the Gulf of Martaban.
In an interview last week Yvette Mahon,
director of the Burma Action Group, said
her organisation was trying to push
individual members of the European Union
to impose unilateral sanctions on Burma as
earlier attempts for a collective EU
measure had been blocked by major
member countries, particularly France and
Germany.
BY YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK
The Nation