Comments-Bkk Post-A gift for doing

[cabaret96@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: Comments-Bkk Post-A gift for doing the wrong thing


Comments

The outspoken editor of Bangkok Post has delivered a very strong message 
which has great impact and demonstrates so clearly the plight of the 
hapless nationals of Burma.

Much to my own dismay and many others, we  crave for and look forward to 
such scathing remarks and comments from others to ridicule our plight or 
rather the misgivings of the military regime in Burma. In many ways they 
serve as a salve for our sore and miserable hearts and minds and 
demonstrates how helpless we are. So, from time to time we join in the 
chorus and add our piece and even if this does not make a dent it should 
keep the flame of democracy alive, albeit flickering at the moment. 
Sad also , is the fact that we have to leave our country in order to be 
able to voice our thoughts and express our views as the lives of all 
Burmese nationals within the country is so regimented and many today do 
not even realise they have been subdued, having lived all their lives in 
submission. 

All Burmese citizens are proud to be nationals of the country, Burma but 
definitely abhor the military regime that has control of the country and 
will continue to look forward to calls from other countries in support 
of human rights and democracy in our beloved Burma.

S Cabaret
>From: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxx>
>To: burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx
>CC: "Daniel Beeton" <dpbeeton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, 
<burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Bkk Post-A gift for doing the wrong thing
>Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 23:19:23 +0900
>
>Bkk Post- March 22, 1999.
>Editorial
>
>A gift for doing the wrong thing
>
>Burma suddenly announced late last week it was reviewing its 
ill-considered
>and cruel ban on Michael Aris, the husband of Aung San Suu Kyi. Rangoon
>authorities have kept him out of Burma for more than three years. He
>recently applied again to the military junta for a visitor's visa. He 
is
>seriously ill with cancer.
>
>The refusal to lift Mr Aris's travel ban even on compassionate grounds
>before last week's firestorm of publicity was predictable. It is part 
of
>their psychological warfare against the immensely popular and elected
>political leader of Burma. The healthy Mrs Suu Kyi is free to leave 
Burma to
>visit the ailing Mr Aris, smirked a government statement. But of course 
Mrs
>Suu Kyi will not be allowed back into her own country if she leaves.
>

>There are two points. The first is the junta's cynical declaration that 
it
>will use any weapon-including a grieving, cancer-stricken man against 
his
>wife. The second is the chilling attitude that the government can, and
>should, control when and how a man and wife can meet.
>
>It is important to remember that the junta has denied a visa to the
>perfectly peaceful Mr Aris for three years. It is an extremely cynical
>political ploy aimed at forcing Mrs Suu Kyi to choose between family 
and
>nation. It is also a heartless dictator's action, designed to let 
citizens
>know that government has control even over such small items as when 
husbands
>and wives can meet.
>
>At the same time, it is poised-eager-to deny Mrs Suu Kyi permission to 
live
>in her own country. This is a violation of international law, to deny 
one's
>own citizens the right of abode. It is the sort of thing one expects 
from
>dictators. Previous Thai dictatorships, as recently as the Suchinda 
regime,
>refused to let citizens live in their own country. So in a way, it is
>exactly what one would expect from the junta.
>
>Also notable is the selection process of the Burmese regime. It 
strongly
>seeks to expel Aung San Suu Kyi, the most honoured living Burmese, and 
a
>citizen who-although imprisoned for years-never charged with a crime in
>Burma or anywhere else. On the other hand, the junta honours its two
>most-reviled citizens, drug lords Khun Sa and Lo Hsing-han. The regime
>refuses to expel them, although they face charges in foreign countries. 
It
>
>refuses to prosecute them at home, but provides top-quality housing, 
state
>protection and more.
>
>This sort of reverse thinking is a major reason that Burma has earned
>disrespect in much of the world. It is why the European nations will 
not
>deal with Asean on trade matters. It is why America would not attend 
last
>month's Interpol conference on heroin trafficking. It is why 
non-government
>organisations throughout Asean revile and demonise the Rangoon regime.
>
>It is all very well for Thailand and the other eight Asean partners to 
claim
>that Burma's cruel visa ploy is an internal affair of the country. This
>ostrich-like attitude, however unfairly, merely identifies our own and
>neighbouring countries with the sadism of the Aris visa affair.
>
>Our foreign ministry quickly denied reports it had asked Burma to grant 
a
>visa to Mr Aris. This is crucially correct diplomacy. It also is poor 
public
>relations, both with Thais and with foreigners. Better we should 
encourage
>Burma to do the right thing and bear criticism from Rangoon than side 
with
>the junta and take criticism from Thais and the world. Australia, the
>European Union and America at least are on the right side in urging 
Rangoon
>to grant Mr Aris a visa.
>
>We will see, probably this week, whether Burmese officials continue 
their
>arrogance or reconsider. In a compassionate case such as this, it is 
never
>too late for the military junta to make the correct decision. It is
>unfortunate Burma didn't issue Mr Aris a visa in the first place. 
Rangoon

>will not recover the further erosion of its image caused by this 
disastrous
>decision.
>
>

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com