OPENING STATEMENTS OF ABSDF

[lurie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Date: May 26, 1998
Venue: Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT)
       Bangkok, Thailand


Opening Statement of ABSDF Foreign Affairs Secretary Aung Naing
Oo at the News Conference on the 8th Anniversary of the 1990
Election


Good Morning. Ladies and gentlemen, friends and members of the
media, tomorrow will be the 8th Anniversary of the May 27 1990
elections and we have organized this news conference to
commemorate the election win and to inform you of the latest
situation of the elected Members of Parliament and of events in
Burma. 

As you are all well aware, the SLORC/SPDC has continually refused
to honor the election result in which the National League for
Democracy (NLD) won more than 80% of the seats. The SLORC-backed
National Unity Party (NUP) won just 10 seats.

Following the election, the SLORC began a systematic campaign of
repression against Members of Parliament from the NLD and other
opposition parties. As part of this campaign the SLORC/SPDC has
banned political parties, forced MPs to resign from office,
dismissed MPs from parliament, forced them into exile and even
jailed and tortured them.

This systematic pattern of repression is a blatant attempt by the
military to invalidate the 1990 election result. In conjunction
with this, the SLORC/SPDC has sought to secure its own dominant
role in the political sphere through the drafting of a new
constitution at the National Convention, which is an
unrepresentative and illegitimate body.

For sometime now the ABSDF has been compiling information on the
situation of all the 485 MPs that were elected to office in 1990.
We are releasing these details today to mark the 8th anniversary
of the election and to remind the international community, and
particularly the ASEAN member states, of the need for continued
action against the military government. 

All this information, some of which you have been given today in
the information kits, is to be published in a new book by the
ABSDF entitled 'To Stand And Be Counted: The Suppression of
Burma's Members of Parliament'.

Over the past eight years the military regime has particularly
targeted NLD MPs. Since the 1990 election:

-the military junta has forced 112 MPs from office or used the
Election Commission to dismiss them. This represents more than a
quarter or 28 % of the 392 NLD Members of Parliament  that were
elected under the NLD banner. (46 forced to resign, 66 dismissed
- see table 1)

-the military has jailed 78 MPs - all from the NLD - two of whom
died in prison. There are currently 42 NLD MPs who remain under
detention in Burma for their political activities.

-as a result of threats and intimidation from the military junta
20 opposition MPs have been forced to flee to Thailand, India and
other countries, most of whom are from the NLD, many now work for
the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB).

-the military has banned 83 political parties leaving only 10
legal remaining parties in Burma today. Twenty of these banned
parties had won seats in the election and a total of 48
opposition MPs have been affected by the bans.

However, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg as facts
such as the repeated arrest of the same individual are obscured.
In addition, there are many NLD MPs who continue to be
intimidated and harassed on a daily basis by the military
authorities, but courageously refuse to end their political
activity or resign from the party.

The many ways in which the military regime has harassed and
intimidated NLD MPs and members into resigning are too numerous
to list here but the most common methods include: 
-banning the right to education , medical care and the right to
travel for them and for their families
-the blocking of promotions, sacking of NLD members and
cancelling of the licences of lawyers and doctors
-the arrest and charging of NLD members and MPs 
-the forcing of NLD members in government service and MPs to
repay government loans
-eviction and threats to confiscate houses and land

While in many of these cases the acts of harassment have been
carried out, usually the military regime has not had to go so
far, as repeated threats to do so have proven a very effective
tool of intimidation. 

In one example, the authorities pressureized an MP from Arakan
State, U Maung Kwin Aung, to resign from Parliament, when he
refused he and members of his family were arrested and charged
with criminal offences.

The SLORC has used a range of repressive and arbitrary laws to
gain convictions against NLD MPs and other pro-democracy
supporters. The 42 NLD MPs currently in prison were charged under
one or more of these laws all of which are in contravention of
accepted standards of international civil and political rights. 

One recent example is Rangoon MP Daw San San, who is currently
under detention and who had her sentence increased from six to 25
years. Although she was released after serving two years of her
20-year sentence during an amnesty after her first arrest in
1990, the military re-arrested her for alleged violation of her
parole. The CRIMES for which she was re-arrested for was for
having conducted an interview with the BBC, and refusing to end
her political activity.  For this she was charged under the
Official Secrets Act as she was critical of the regime in the
interview. 

Less than a year after the election, a number of NLD MPs had been
charged under Burma's 'high treason' law for participating in
meetings in Mandalay to form a provisional government. They were
given long prison sentences of between 10 and 25 years. Many of
these MPs remain in prison today. One of them, Dr. Zaw Myint
Maung from Mandalay, was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment and
in 1996 he was given an additional seven years jail for producing
a magazine in prison. He was also beaten and tortured by officers
from the Military Intelligence Service. 

Many similar examples can be cited and some are included in the
information provided. The Election Commission has dismissed from
Parliament all those MPs who have been charged with an offence,
and many are also banned from running in future elections. The
Commission has announced the dismissal from Parliament of 66 NLD
MPs, including U David Hla Myint who was imprisoned for flying
the NLD flag at the same height as the national flag. For this
offence the Election Commission dismissed him as an MP and also
banned him from running in elections for the next ten years.

Another example of the extra-ordinary lengths to which the
military regime has gone to get rid of MPs  that of elected NLD
MP from Pantanaw township, Dr. Tin Min Htut .
The military regime summoned officials from all departments of
the town and asked them if Dr. Tin Min Htut had violated any law.
When they could not find fault with him, the town police chief
ordered his men to find anything that could incriminate the NLD
MP. The police searched his house and found two Singaporean coins
in a small toy cup his son was playing with. Dr. Tin Min Htut was
then arrested for illegal possession of a foreign currency and
given a three-year sentence.

The junta has never declared the election results to be null and
void as this would clear encourage international criticism.
Instead they have used the methods I have just described of
setups, threats and intimidation, jail and torture, as these have
allowed them to quietly eliminate elected MPs from the political
sphere. Although we cannot claim to have a precise figure, the
information we have on the situation of MPs would indicate that
more than 50 % of NLD MPs have suffered some form of intimidation
at the hands of the military regime to prevent or discourage them
from taking an active role in politics.

In the light of all this, we the members of Burma's pro-democracy
movement once again call on the regime to respect the clear
wishes of the Burmese people, and strongly urge the military
leaders in Rangoon to enter dialogue with democratic opposition
and representatives of the ethnic nationalities.  We would also
like to remind the international community, particularly the
Asean member states, of the need for continued action against the
military regime in Burma in order to find a peaceful solution to
our problems through a genuine political dialogue. 

Thank you

Aung Naing OO
Member of CEC
Foreign Affair Department
ABSDF



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Media Release
22 May 1998

More than 40 NLD Members of Parliament Still Imprisoned

On the eve of the 8th anniversary of the 1990 multi-party
elections in Burma, the ruling military government continues to
imprison more than 40 Members of Parliament (MPs) from the
winning party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Forty-two NLD MPs remain under detention, many having been given
heavy sentences for trumped up charges and others imprisoned for
promoting democracy. Rangoon MP Daw San San recently had her
sentence increased from six to 25 years for doing an interview
with international media after she refused to end her political
activity.

Another MP, Dr. Zaw Myint Maung from Mandalay, was imprisoned in
1990 for attending meetings to form a provisional government and
was sentenced to 25 years. In 1996 while in prison, he was given
an additional seven years jail for producing a magazine and was
beaten and tortured by officers from the Military Intelligence
Service. Since the 1990 election two NLD MPs have died in prison
as a result of torture.

Details of what has happened to all the 485 candidates elected to
Parliament in 1990 are to be published in a new book by the All
Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) entitled 'To Stand And
Be Counted: The Suppression of Burma's Members of Parliament'.

Following the NLD's landslide win in the 1990 election in which
it gained more than 80 percent of the seats, the State Law and
Order Restoration Council (SLORC) began a systematic campaign of
repression against the elected representatives. Over the past
eight years the SLORC, now renamed the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), has intimidated and imprisoned MPs,
forced them into exile or to resign, dismissed MPs from
parliament and tortured and killed others.

Since the election on 27 May 1990, the SLORC/SPDC has either
forced to resign or, through its Election Commission, has
dismissed from Parliament some 99 NLD MPs. This represents a
quarter of all NLD MPs. 

A total of 30 MPS from the NLD and other opposition parties are
currently in exile, mainly in India and Thailand. Since the
election the SLORC/SPDC has also banned 20 opposition parties
which won seats in the election, thereby affecting 49 opposition
MPs. 


All Burma Students' Democratic Front

For further information call 01 654 4984.

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Media Release
Embargoed 11am, 26 May 1998

More Than a Quarter of all NLD Members of Parliament Forced from
Office

In the eight years since Burma's multi-party elections in May
1990, the ruling military government has forced from office well
over a quarter of all Members of Parliament (MPs) from the
winning party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and
jailed, tortured and exiled many others.

The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), now renamed
the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has also detained
78 NLD MPs over the last eight years, two of whom died in jail,
and 42 of those still remain in prison.

These figures and other details of what has happened to all the
485 candidates elected to Parliament in May 1990, are being
released today by the All Burma Students' Democratic Front
(ABSDF) to mark the 8th Anniversary of the election. The
information is also to be published in a new book by the ABSDF
entitled 'To Stand And Be Counted: The Suppression of Burma's
Members of Parliament'.
 
Since the 1990 election, the SLORC/SPDC has used threats and
intimidation to force 46 NLD MPs to resign from Parliament, while
the Election Commission has dismissed another 66 from office.
This represents some 28 percent of all NLD MPs.

Many of the 42 NLD MPs currently under detention have been given
heavy sentences for trumped up charges, while others have been
imprisoned for promoting democracy. Rangoon MP Daw San San
recently had her sentence increased from six to 25 years for
doing an interview with international media after she refused to
end her political activity.

Another MP, Dr. Zaw Myint Maung from Mandalay, was imprisoned in
1990 for attending meetings to form a provisional government and
was sentenced to 25 years. In 1996 while in prison, he was given
an additional seven years jail for producing a magazine and was
beaten and tortured by officers from the Military Intelligence
Service. 

Following the NLD's landslide win in the 1990 election in which
it gained more than 80 percent of the seats, the SLORC refused to
relinquish power and began a systematic campaign of repression
against the elected representatives. As part of this campaign the
SLORC also banned 20 opposition parties which won seats in the
election, affecting some 48 MPs. Twenty MPs from the NLD and from
other opposition parties are also currently in exile, many
working for the National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma (NCGUB).

All Burma Students' Democratic Front

For further information please call 01 654 4984.

*****************************************************************