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Reuters-Suu Kyi says Australia hamp (r)



Subject: Re: Reuters-Suu Kyi says Australia hampers Myanmar democracy

Get that! He said ``There has not been a lot of movement so we are
trying to explore,
> tentatively, some new avenues to see if it might improve the situation,''
> government parliamentarian Peter Nugent told reporters after the video
> presentation."

Only movement of more prisoners in the prisons, more military in the
field against the Karens and Shans and others. What the heck are they
trying to get away with anyway? Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was all the more
right to send the message; look how meek and defensive the response of
those caught for their cheap and offensive diplomatic ruse. 

The Australian Free Burma movement should be genuinely and vigilantly
outraged
at this humbling of the democratic movement!

ds


TIN KYI wrote:
> 
> Suu Kyi says Australia hampers Myanmar democracy
> 04:14 a.m. Sep 22, 1999 Eastern
> By Jane Nelson
> 
> CANBERRA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Myanmar democracy campaigner and Nobel Peace
> laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has criticised Australia, saying its policy
> towards her military-ruled homeland was hampering moves towards democracy.
> 
> In a 10-minute video address to the Australian parliament on Wednesday, Suu
> Kyi condemned Australian Human Rights Commissioner Chris Sidoti's visit last
> month to Myanmar, saying it could be seen as endorsing Myanmar's military
> rulers.
> 
> ``We think the timing of the visit was wrong and that it was ill-advised. At
> this time, when the military authorities are at their most oppressive, the
> message could be misconstrued,'' said Suu Kyi in the video smuggled out of
> Myanmar.
> 
> ``It could be seen as endorsement of their policies. It could, in fact, be
> seen as the tacit approval of what they are doing to the democratic forces
> in Burma (Myanmar),'' she said.
> 
> The Australian government defended its decision to send Sidoti to Myanmar,
> saying little had changed in the country for such a long period of time that
> new measures were needed.
> 
> ``There has not been a lot of movement so we are trying to explore,
> tentatively, some new avenues to see if it might improve the situation,''
> government parliamentarian Peter Nugent told reporters after the video
> presentation.
> 
> Nugent, who was representing Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, said
> Sidoti's visit opened the way for talks with the military regime, but
> stressed Australia would not act without proof of its commitment to
> improving the situation.
> 
> ``We're still looking to advance democracy and human rights in that country
> and if we think we can find some alternative ways of doing it, then we feel
> we have a responsibility to do that.''
> 
> International human rights groups have accused the Myanmar military
> government of widespread human rights abuses, including mass arrests and
> torture, against political opponents since seizing power in 1988 by crushing
> a pro-democracy uprising.
> 
> Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won 1990 elections by a
> landslide but the military has never recognised the result. Suu Kyi won the
> Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her work for democracy in Myanmar.
> 
> Sidoti went to Myanmar in August to explore the possibility of forming an
> independent human rights organisation there, an idea first proposed by
> Downer over a year ago.
> 
> Suu Kyi has previously condemned the scheme, saying it was unlikely to be
> independent and comparing it with ``putting the foxes in charge of the
> chickens.''
> 
> The video-taped message was the first time Suu Kyi, who was released from
> six years' house arrest in 1995, had addressed a national parliament, the
> Australia Burma Council told Reuters.
> 
> Australian Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton called for
> international pressure, such as economic sanctions, on the military regime
> as the only effective way of promoting democracy and human rights.
> 
> ``It might not work but we believe it has a better chance of working than
> embracing them in a dialogue and letting them use that dialogue for their
> own propaganda purposes,'' he told reporters.