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One woman's vigil lights Burmese ni



"One Woman's vigil lights Burmese night"
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Rangoon massacres among century's worst
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IT IS 10 YEARS NOW since Burma's ruling generals waged war on their own
people - murdering students and monks terrorizing all who dared oppose
them.

    Two years after, believing it safe, they held an election - and to
their shock, the 1990 vote saw more than eight in ten of their citizens
vote for democracy and progress. The election was ignored ; the
parliament was never allowed to convene.

    In that decade, the generals changed Burma's name to Myanmar,
Rangoon's to Yangon, and their regime's name - the State Law and Order
Restoration Council - to the Peace and Development Council.
    Yet if anything, their grip has TIGHTENED. Unlike some of their
dictatorial neighbours, where repression has been justified in the name
of progress-

    -even the few democrats in gleaming Singapore take pride in their
country's economic achievement - Burma's thugs have NO SUCH AMBITION.

Like a gathering of particularly dim feudal barons, they are content to
see their people IMPOVERISHED - ALL THE EASIER TO CONTROL, you see -
while the rulers and their partners enrich themselves selling teak and
gems, and skimming from the harvest of opium poppies that FUELS THE
WORLD'S HEROIN TRADE.

The regimes excesses are such that few will deal with them. In a world
where human rights violations are overlooked with soothing talk of
engagement being better than isolation, Burma's rulers have put
themselves beyond the pale.
The U.S. last year banned new investments ; Canada and others have
imposed sanctions. Apart from discreet backing from the Chinese, and the
quiet involvement of Burma's Thai neighbours in the fire-sale of Burmese
resources, the regime has precious few friends.

Burma was admitted as a member of ASEAN - mostly in an effort to engage
the regime and press it towards civility. But IT BLOTTED ITS BOOK EVEN
THEN, BY ROUNDING UP ENTIRE VILLAGES TO WORK AT GUNPOINT IN BUILDING
ROADS AND TOURIST HOTELS.

Yet despite the deplorable decade, the atrocious record of Burma's
rulers might have been forgotten, were it not for the singular figure of
AUNG SAN SUU KYI. Her fearless agitation for democracy - and her
legitimacy as leader of the victors denied the spoils of the 1990
elections - have prevented the regime from an entirely free hand.
Suu Kyi's defiance and perseverance through years of house arrest, has
been sustained by a fundamental commitment to non-violence and civil
disobedience.

Last week, as she prepared once again to wait in a vehicle until the
authorities would let her proceed to her destination, she drew the eyes
of the world to Burma's plight.
Yet she has been fighting for far too long. Sanctions and investment
restrictions were a good start.

CANADA and others need to do more - perhaps by using the opening ASEAN
provides - to press the Burmese regime towards change.

* The very fact that THEY DO NOT DARE MOVE MORE HARSHLY AGAINST SUU KYI
SHOWS THAT THEY ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE *
The diplomatic challenge now is to find ways to make that pressure more
effective.


Edited from " the Edmonton Journal "
Editorials
Monday, August 17, 1998


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