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Window on Burma #22 - CRPP Anniver



Subject: Window on Burma  #22 - CRPP Anniversary

BINA  -- The Burma Independent News Agency  --  

Window on Burma  #22

(From Mojo #6, September 1999)

Secretary U Aye Tha Aung
comments on the First Anniversary 
of the Committee Representing People's Parliament

The Law guides people in the proper conduct for living.  The countries that practice the Rule of Law, and whose governments are based on legal principles, respect human rights and the rights of democracy.  The citizens of these countries engage freely in political affairs, economic activity, and social welfare, and thus these countries have become highly developed.

In other countries, leaders do not practice the Rule of Law, and so they misuse their power.  They sit on the Law, and do whatever they like.  In this way, the basic rights of democracy are lost.  There are no rights for the people, therefore no freedom, and thus no development.  These countries, which are ruled by dictatorships, go backwards, not forwards.

Since achieving its independence in 1947, Burma has spent more years under military dictatorship than under parliamentary government.  Democratic principles hold that the power of the state is vested in the people, who elect their representatives to the Parliament, and these representatives form a government. When we were under parliamentary government, we had the basic democratic rights of free speech, and freedom to organize economically or politically.

In 1962, the army seized control from the elected government, and instituted a single-party dictatorship.  Since that time, many human lives have been ruined, and Burma's politics, economics, and society have suffered severe damage and increasing problems.  Because of this disaster, there was a national uprising of the people in 1988.  

A direct result of the uprising was the national multi-party election held in 1990, under the auspices of the military rulers.  The NLD and some national parties won the overwhelming majority of votes and seats in Parliament, and the list of winners was posted and confirmed.  Other countries also recognized the fairness of this election.  But the military authorities did not.

The elected members of the NLD and other national parties met at Gandhi Hall and announced their claim to open the Parliament, and to take charge of the government.  They published their claims in the Gandhi Hall Statement, the supporting statement of General Aung Kyaw, and in the YMCA Statement.  But the military authorities, instead of acceding to these legal and proper claims, evicted the parties, arrested the elected members, and compelled them to resign their seats.

Finally, after waiting eight years for the military authorities to convene the Parliament, in 1998 the NLD demanded that the Parliament be called within 60 days.  The military authorities once again ignored the NLD request.  Then the NLD, along with other national parties and democratic groups, discussed what action was appropriate for the situation.  Considering carefully their duty to the people, as well as the fact that over 180 of the elected representatives and other political officers had already been arrested and jailed by the military authorities, they decided to establish the ten-member Committee Representing People's Parliament.

On 16 September 1998, the CRPP was legally established, under the authority of the NLD, the four national parties, and a majority (251 MPs) of the elected representatives.

The purpose of the CRPP is to cancel unnecessary laws, to amend any laws that are not beneficial to the welfare of the people, and to denounce any arbitrary or illegal actions by the military authorities.  By reading the CRPP statements, the people can come to understand the purpose of the CRPP, and come to know of the detrimental or illegal behavior of the SPDC.

(U Aye Tha Aung, Secretary of the CRPP, and Representative for Shan, Arakan, Mon, and Zomi National Political Parties)


DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL LEADERS PRESENT THEIR VIEWS 
On THE COMMITTEE REPRESENTING PEOPLE'S PARLIAMENT

On this First Anniversary of the founding of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (September 16, 1998), MoJo asked the leaders of six prominent political and national organizations for their personal comments on the value and effectiveness of the CRPP.  Their replies follow.


Chairman U Tin Aung
National League for Democracy  Liberated Area  (NLD-LA)

"To me, the CRPP is the most important organization in Burmese public life today.  This is because the great public uprising in 1988 led directly to the election of 1990, and the direct result of that election in 1990 is the emergence of the CRPP today.  Nobody can dispute these facts.  

"Today, we need the CRPP to insure democracy for the people, and national rights for the minorities.  The CRPP performs political, economic, and social duties in support of the people's basic rights.  They act as the representatives of the people.  They decry the laws that are against the public welfare.  They object to extralegal punishments and mistreatment of the people.  

"In 1990, the public gave a clear vote for democracy, because they wanted to remove the military dictatorship, and they wanted Burma to be a modern democratic state, with a strong democratic system.
Therefore, the CRPP must stand firmly for the people, until the People's Parliament is convened."



Prime Minister Dr. Sein Win
National Coalition Government Union of Burma (NCGUB)

"I am very pleased to acknowledge the first anniversary of the CRPP, which was formed to serve the legal needs of the Burmese people until the elected Parliament can be called.  The country's political parties and the peoples' elected representatives have performed a great service in constituting the CRPP, and they have made great sacrifices by doing so under the harassment of the SPDC.

"Typical of this harassment is the SPDC demand that the CRPP be dismissed before it will consider consultations on democracy.  In fact, the CRPP is not an obstacle to such discussions, rather it will bring added benefits.  Instead of making improbable obstacles to discussions, the SPDC should join Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD in free and open discussion, to find a way to fulfill the people's expressed desire for a democratic government.

"The past year has witnessed the growing support and recognition of the CRPP from many countries around the world.  It is encouraging to see the CRPP performing its duties firmly and correctly.  
On this important first anniversary, I pray that the CRPP's work will result in increased effectiveness and success in the future.  I also promise to support all the efforts of the CRPP until our final victory."



General Secretary U Tha No 
Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) 

"The people have given their trust to the CRPP, and the CRPP is now working loyally and truly for the people.  They are working methodically and fearlessly, in the manner that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has shown us, until we can establish the People's Parliament.  I believe that in this way we will achieve the People's Parliament."


Major General Shwe Hsaing 
Chairman of the National Democratic Front (NDF)

"In my view, the formation of the Committee Representing People's Parliament is an important step towards solving the problems created by the Military Dictatorship, SPDC.  These problems, such as human rights violations, can be solved by building a genuine democratic system, which will help and prosper the ethnic nationalities of Burma.

"The CRPP is a most suitable and correct institution, and it has my full approval.

"The statements of the Committee Representing People's Parliament, and the actions they recommend, are indeed the tasks which ought to done.  It is important that people all over Burma also should understand these tasks, and discuss them in detail.  Then they will be implemented.  In my view, I find no mistakes or weaknesses in the CRPP.  Only to go a head courageously and zealously with might and main.

"The struggle of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD is the struggle for both ethnic national rights and democracy.  This is the correct struggle.  Fighting for democracy only, without national freedom, is impossible, and likewise, fighting for national freedom only, without democracy, is also impossible."


General Saw Bo Mya
Chairman, National Council Union of Burma (NCUB)
Chairman, Karen National Union (KNU).

"The Committee Representing People's Parliament is a great achievement.  It is our very wish.  I think that it is proper for the Committee Representing People's Parliament to perform their duties forcefully and with unity.  

"Moreover, the NLD won a landslide election victory, and in reality the power which they ought to have obtained should be given to them.  Now why they didn't get?  It is not right for us to suffer like this.  We need to strive for victory.  It is necessary for us to completely support Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and all of the people, with a supreme effort, and not to be afraid.

"I appreciate what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is doing.  It is correct and just and systematic.  She doesn't wish to fight against the dictators through violence, but systematically, lawfully, and according to democratic principles.  Her sincere wish for the people to prosper is right, honest, and true."


General Secretary Benjamin Tu Rein 
Chin National Front (CNF)

"The National League of Democracy is the party that won the national election in the year 1990.  In spite of the SPDC's suppressing the NLD in so many devious ways, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was able to establish the Committee Representing People's Parliament.  

"We have seen the NLD attacked in all sides by the military dictatorship, so that it would collapse.  For example, we have seen the threatening and intimidating of party members, the arresting and jailing elected Members of Parliament, and various other malevolent actions.  Under such conditions, and according to what the situation required, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD party had to create the politically necessary and appropriate Committee Representing People's Parliament.  

"For these reasons, we fully accept the Committee Representing People's Parliament.  I would furthermore like to say, that we members of the democratic parties within Burma, together with the whole mass of the Burmese people, and the democratic parties abroad, and the national armed forces, all must support the CRPP."


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WHAT IS MOJO? 

MoJo ("Thunderbolt") is an independent newspaper from the Burmese community in Thailand.  Its primary content is social, political, and economic news from all over Burma, and its intended readers are the people inside Burma itself.  

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"Dialogue is inevitable.  We will not just sit and wait.  We will continue doing what has to be done."
NLD General Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi