ALL /"Burma" and the junta......

[tzang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Once again, intellectual laziness or woolly thinking strikes again,..... 
as indicated by the heading of the news report : "Burma increases 
pressure on Aung San Suu Kyi" (Radio Australia 10/1/98). 
    This doesnt make much sense. Why is "Burma", whose people voted 
overwhelming for Aung San Suukyi in the 1990 elections, increasing 
pressure on her? Has she done something wrong against Burma or its people 
and their interest? 
    What is "Burma"? Is it the ruling junta? 
    Can a bunch of men in military uniform, who have been holding the 
whole country hostage at gun point be referred to as "Burma"?
    Why not say "The Military Junta increases pressure on Burma and Aung 
San Suukyi", instead of distorting a simple and plain fact?  
    The equating of an unlawful and twice rejected junta with Burma 
amounts to doing the people of Burma, who have suffered greviously from 
the cancer of military misrule since 1962, a great injustice. 
    I hope the shakers of the media world and opinion-makers everywhere 
will in future be careful not to resort to shorthand -- no matter how 
tempting or convenient -- when doing so violates both the truth of the 
matter and the people of Burma. 
---------------------------------------------Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe