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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: Election Anniversary Coverage
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
May 29, 2000
Issue # 1539
ELECTION ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
BurmaNet Editor's Note--This issue contains news articles, analyses
and op/eds related to the 10th Anniversary of the 1990 elections.
Articles not related to the anniversary are in issue the other issue
being distributed today, #1540.
NOTED IN PASSING:
"Ten years of dictatorship is too long."
Robin Cook, Britain's Foreign Secretary (See THE SCOTSMAN: TIME FOR
THE GENERALS TO END BURMA'S DECADE OF SUFFERING)
*Inside Burma
AFP: JUNTA BLOCKS NLD HEADQUARTERS ON 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF SUU KYI WIN
AP: DECADE AFTER HISTORIC ELECTION, NO DEMOCRACY IN MYANMAR
*International
THE SCOTSMAN: TIME FOR THE GENERALS TO END BURMA'S DECADE OF SUFFERING
AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: MESSAGE TO THE BURMESE
COMMUNITY MELBOURNE
EUROPEAN UNION: DECLARATION BY THE PRESIDENCY ON BEHALF OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION ON BURMA/MYANMAR
MIZZIMA: BURMESE PROTEST IN DELHI AGAINST JUNTA'S CONTINUED CONTROL
OF STATE POWER
*Economy/Business
THE STRAITS TIMES: BURMA NEEDS SURGERY, NOT COSMETIC CHANGES
*Opinion/Editorials
TAIPEI TIMES: TIME TO REALLY STAND UP
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: AFTER 10 YEARS, BURMESE STILL WAIT
COUNCIL OF ASIAN LIBERALS AND DEMOCRATS: RESOLUTION ON BURMA
NCGUB: MAY 27 MARKS VICTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES ADVOCATING
DEMOCRACY, RIGHTS FOR ALL
FTUB/CNYB/MNRC/ JOINT STATEMENT ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF 1990
GENERAL ELECTION OF BURMA
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: Rep. TOM LANTOS ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF BURMA'S
MILITARY COUP
ABSDF: STATEMENT ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1990 ELECTIONS
BSDO (CANADA): THE ELECTION 10TH ANNIVERSARY DEMONSTRATIONS IN CANADA
NCUB DECLARATION ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1990 ELECTIONS IN
BURMA
TORONTO BURMA ROUND TABLE : STATEMENT ON ELECTION ANNIVERSARY
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
AFP: JUNTA BLOCKS NLD HEADQUARTERS ON 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF SUU KYI WIN
YANGON, May 27 (AFP) - Yangon was quiet on Saturday on the 10th
anniversary of Aung San Suu Kyi's nullified election victory, as riot
police surrounded
her party headquarters barring non-members entry, witnesses said.
Witnesses reported the Yangon regime had erected barricades in front
of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
headquarters, where plans had been made to commemorate the 10th
anniversary of its election victory, overturned by the military.
Riot police were screening anyone approaching the barricades and
although diplomats and journalists were invited to the ceremonies,
police were only allowing NLD members into party headquarters, they
said. The streets of Yangon were quiet and the few people outside
were simply going about their normal business, witnesses said.
In the days leading up to the anniversary, the Yangon regime had
heightened its crackdown on dissent, warning the media and Buddhist
clergy not to mark the anniversary.
The junta also requested that the media not attend any NLD events
on May 27, government sources said. The regime also told the
country's Buddhist clergy to "protect against some monks" reportedly
planning a protest march against the junta from central Mandalay to
the capital.
Officials Saturday told AFP that about 100 protesting monks had
arrived individually in Yangon from Mandalay, but authorities were
aware of their presence.
The government claims there is no significant support for either
the NLD or the monks. "The world community is being deceived into
believing that a revolution is imminent in Myanmar and there is
still strong support for the NLD in the country," a government
spokesman had said.
Any demonstrations or NLD commemorations of the anniversary
are "just a pure political ploy designed merely to give a false
impression of the strength and support the NLD has from within the
country," he said. Ten years ago this week Myanmar voters
overwhelmingly rejected decades of isolationist military rule.
Stunned by the defeat of its front party, the military annulled the
NLD's election victory, claiming it had been rigged by foreigners
and communists. The military has been in control of Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma, in various guises since 1962. It has
branded Aung San Suu Kyi a traitor and an agent of foreign
countries, especially former colonial ruler Britain.
____________________________________________________
AP: DECADE AFTER HISTORIC ELECTION, NO DEMOCRACY IN MYANMAR
Thursday, May 25, 2000 By Grant Peck
YANGON, Myanmar
Old people here may someday tell their disbelieving grandchildren of
the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity they had May 27, 1990. That was
the day they voted.
Even now, barely 10 years past, it seems no more than myth. They
elected a new parliament, but the army never allowed it to convene.
Today, the same grim men in the same green uniforms rule the country
ù as they have since the army overthrew the last democratic
government in a 1962 coup.
"We had already enjoyed parliamentary democracy ... but the younger
generation doesn't know about the value of parliamentary democracy,"
laments Tin Oo, vice chairman of the National League for Democracy,
the opposition party. Myanmar, also called Burma, hasn't had a
freely elected government since the military coup, and no one is
promising one soon. But a decade ago, things looked different.
On election day 1990, more than 72 percent of the country's eligible
voters cast ballots.
Overwhelmingly, they voted for the NLD, born out of a pro-democracy
movement that had taken root two years earlier in weeks of street
protests the army crushed.
The election was a rare moment for Myanmar, a nation with a history
of troubled politics. The pattern had been set with the assassination
by political rivals of independence leader Gen. Aung San, just six
months before Burma won freedom from Britain in 1948.
Without Aung San's strong leadership, the fledgling democracy
foundered. Political schisms were exacerbated by ethnic separatist
movements that flared into full-blown border insurgencies.
Using the excuses of a deteriorating economy and a secession threat
by the Shan minority, army Gen. Ne Win led a coup March 2, 1962.
But his socialist military regime failed to reconcile with the
minorities and turned what had been one of the region's richest
countries ù with onshore oil deposits and rich rice-growing areas ù
into an economic backwater.
The bloody street unrest of 1988 shattered his government, but a new
generation of generals took its place. In an attempt to gain
international legitimacy, the junta held elections in 1990. The NLD
took 392 of the 485 parliamentary seats. The military-backed National
United Party took 10.
The NLD won even though its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi ù Aung San's
daughter ù was then under house arrest and her deputy, former army
brigadier Tin Oo, was in prison. At first, the generals seemed to
take their loss in stride. Kyaw Sann, a government spokesman, said
then: "Any government that is formed according to the constitution
will be strong and stable. It is totally up to the elected members.
They can move as quickly as they like and take power."
But two months later, when the NLD moved to form a government, the
military rulers decreed they would retain power under martial law,
which would continue until a strong constitution was in place.
Furthermore, they said, the newly elected representatives' sole duty
was to draft that constitution.
In January 1993, the military convened a National Convention to draw
up a new constitution ù and hand-picked 603 of the 702 convention
delegates. The NLD's 88 representatives withdrew three years later
after it was clear they were supposed to rubber-stamp the military's
edicts to prolong its power.
The National Convention has done little since its early sessions and
has no deadline to produce a constitution.
Soon after the military foiled the new parliament, it began arresting
and harassing NLD members, including the elected representatives.
Since then, it's been a political war of attrition. Just 169 of the
original 485 representatives remain valid members of the would-be
parliament, government spokesman Col. Than Tun said last week ù 110
from the NLD, 20 from other parties and 39 independents.
Thirty-four members died, 185 were disqualified and 97 "voluntarily
resigned from elected membership," the colonel said.
In October 1998, the NLD set up a 10-member surrogate parliament.
Infuriated, the military rounded up more than 850 party members; it
still holds 69 of the 110 valid NLD legislators at government "guest
houses," a lighter form of detention than prison.
More representatives have been arrested in recent weeks. The
government suggests the arrestees have links to banned ethnic
insurgents, but the NLD says this is just another heavy-handed effort
to disrupt its activities.
The government refuses to speak with Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991
Nobel Peace Prize, who was released from six years of house arrest in
1995 but remains under tight restriction. The generals consider her a
traitor for supporting international economic sanctions intended to
force democratic changes in Myanmar.
The sanctions, by the United States and the European Union, have done
little but increase the generals' stubbornness. Myanmar belongs to
the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an organization
more sympathetic to the military's nationalistic line, but even that
relationship has failed to ease the junta's sense of isolation and
its belief it is warding off U.S.-led neocolonialism disguised as
democracy.
Tin Oo told The Associated Press the NLD would try to celebrate
Saturday's election anniversary but expected the authorities to step
in. "Ten years is a very auspicious occasion," Tin Oo said.
__________________ INTERNATIONAL __________________
THE SCOTSMAN: TIME FOR THE GENERALS TO END BURMA'S DECADE OF SUFFERING
May 27, 2000
ROBIN COOK
Comment
SHORTLY before he died, the British husband of Burma's
democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, asked for our help.
Michael Aris knew he hadn't much time left. He had one last
wish --to be allowed into Burma to see his imprisoned wife for what
they knew would be the last time.
It was a very human request. It would have cost the Burmese
military junta nothing. We and Michael implored the regime to relent.
We enlisted the support of all those to whom they might listen,
including the United Nations secretary general.
Last March, Michael died having not seen his wife for more than
three years. The suffering of Michael and Aung San Suu Kyi, and
the inhumanity shown to them by the Burmese regime, is a microcosm of
the wider suffering of the Burmese people at the hands of that
regime.
Today marks a special anniversary, one which sets the Burmese
regime apart from many other repressive regimes around the world.
Today it is exactly ten years since the people of Burma voted
in elections. Those elections were won overwhelmingly by parties
supporting democratic change: principally Aung San Suu Kyi's party,
the National League for Democracy, but also a range of ethnic
minority parties, many its partners.
The NLD won with 60 per cent of the votes and four-fifths of
the seats in parliament. But that parliament has never been formed.
Burma's generals simply ignored this legitimate expression of the
popular will.
One decade later, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under constant
intimidation. Opposition activists are routinely arrested -- almost a
hundred in the last few weeks alone.
And the military regime remain unaccountable for the slaughter
of thousands of unarmed protesters when it seized power in September
1988.
During that decade, the regime's record of human rights abuses
have put it among the worst violators of such rights in the world
today. Their soldiers kill arbitrarily and rape at will. Basic
freedoms are denied. Forced labour is widespread. Hundreds of
thousands of people, including those from Burma's ethnic minorities,
have been forced into hiding or to seek sanctuary in neighbouring
countries.
Last month, I met some of those refugees when I visited a
refugee camp on the border between Thailand and Burma. I saw for
myself how its 7,000 inhabitants struggled to live normally and with
dignity. I heard moving accounts of what they had experienced before
fleeing. I will not forget those accounts or those people.
But sympathy is not enough. We need to do all we can to make
the regime change its ways.
The most powerful lever we have is concerted international
pressure. I believe that the international community must bring that
pressure to bear. That is why Britain has been leading efforts to
mobilise the international community in a wide range of international
bodies.
Last month, we secured stronger EU measures against the regime.
The EU now not only bans military exports and high-level bilateral
visits, but has also published a list of prominent regime members for
whom visas are banned, and has frozen their funds in the EU.
We have also supported action in the UN and at the UN Human
Rights Commission, and have encouraged the International Labour
Organisation to take exceptional action against Burma over forced
labour.
We have taken unilateral measures too. We have withdrawn all
government support for trade missions to Burma and actively
discourage British companies from doing business there. Two months
ago, my ministerial colleague at the Foreign Office, John Battle,
called in representatives of Premier Oil, the biggest British
investor in Burma, and told them that we wanted them to withdraw from
the country.
We will continue to bring all the pressure we can on the
Burmese regime, unilaterally and in concert with others. Our message
to the generals is as clear as it is simple. Stop the human rights
abuses. Return to democracy and the rule of law. Ten years of
dictatorship is a decade too long.
____________________________________________________
AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: MESSAGE TO THE BURMESE
COMMUNITY MELBOURNE
May 27th
[Abridged]
Australia's Policy Approach:
Let me break down Australia's policy approach to Burma into its main
elements- our broad approach, and the matter which you have been
probably reading about in the newspapers, and on the TV over the last
couple of weeks- the proposal to fund two human rights training
courses for civil servants in Rangoon...
We pursue our concerns energetically and consistently, in Rangoon,
through our Ambassador and our Embassy, regionally and
internationally. That said, like others in the international
community, we are painfully aware that the process of human rights
improvement and political reform in Burma will be slow and
incremental at best, and that the situation could easily
deteriorate...
We want to see a genuine dialogue on political reform between the
SPDC and to include the NLD and representatives of the ethnic
minorities. Of course, encouraging the SPDC to open a dialogue
necessarily involves achieving some level of engagement with them. We
have sought to open up a dialogue with the SPDC on specific issues,
with some degree of success.
This should not be perceived as a `soft approach'. We have not , and
do not, resile from criticising retrogressive steps taken by the
Burmese Government, or continuing to press home our concerns about
human rights issues. And the Burmese Government knows that. Australia
will continue to work with others in the international community to
promote reform in Burma, but it is not an easy task.
The reality is that no one country's policy approach towards Burma
has succeeded to date. On the one hand, ASEAN have had a policy of
constructive engagement, and it has not worked. At the other end of
the spectrum, the US have had a policy of isolating Burma and it
hasn't worked. Neither of them have succeeded. I am asking is there
anything else that we can do to persuade this regime towards
improvement in human rights. We are trying to find some creative ways
to take the issues forward. We will continue our efforts, both
bilaterally and through the international community, to progress
genuine reform in Burma.
...the Government's policies are designed to maximise Australia's
leverage so that our views will be heard and heeded.
National Human Rights Institution Initiative
I suggested the idea of an independent human rights institution,
along the lines of the body established in Indonesia during the
Suharto regime, to Burma's Foreign Minister at the 1998 ASEAN PMC
meeting in Manila. Since that time, we have been pursuing the idea
with the Burmese government in a low-key way. The notion of
encouraging the establishment of an independent national human rights
commission has been incorporated in numerous resolutions of the UN
Commission on Human Rights.
After the visit to Burma in August 1999 by Australia's Commissioner
for Human rights, Chris Sidoti, Canberra-based representatives
visited Burma in December 1999, to identify possible activities to
take forward the initiative. The Burmese side continued to be
constructive, and willing to take further this dialogue on human
rights.
In March this year I approved two initial training activities: both
to be conducted in Burma. In April a team visited Burma in April to
take forward Australia's proposal that Burma work towards
establishing an independent, National Human Rights Institution. This
team met officials from a number of key Ministries to discuss the
content of the workshops. Two workshops were designed, a four-day
Human Rights and Responsibilities Workshop (to be held twice), and a
nine day International Law Overview Workshop (to be held once). No
serving military personnel will be involved. Any further human rights
activities will be subject to the satisfactory progress in the
implementation of the first two modules, and to demonstrated evidence
of continuing constructive engagement by the Burmese.
We have kept the NLD informed about developments with the proposal,
and will continued to do so. But human rights are a matter of
international concern and as the protection of human rights is the
responsibility of national governments, that is the principal body
with which we need to deal in order to advance the proposal.
I have no illusions about the difficulties we face in seeking to
advance the proposal for an independent human rights commission in
Burma. What has been achieved to date is very much a small, first
step in what will be a slow and incremental process. But the
important message the Australian government wishes to convey today is
that we want to do what we can to bring about an improvement in human
rights in Burma...
We are well aware that the developments of a genuine independent
body, if indeed that is possible, would take considerable length of
time, but we want to do what we can to see an improvement in the
human rights situation in Burma.
I should note that our initiative is consistent with UN resolutions
on national human rights institutions and with the strong support of
the UN High commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, for
National Institutions as mechanisms for the promotion and protection
of human rights. We believe our initiatives compliments the UN's own
efforts to further engage Burma.
I am comfortable that we are doing something in our human rights
initiative that we honestly believe will help and will be a tiny
contribution to helping the lives of people in Burma. I believe we
owe it to the Burmese people to remain alive to creative ways to
encourage reform and reconciliation in Burma
____________________________________________________
EUROPEAN UNION: DECLARATION BY THE PRESIDENCY ON BEHALF OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION ON BURMA/MYANMAR
Brussels, 24 May 2000
Ten years after the 1990 legislative elections in Burma/Myanmar,
which the democratic party, the National League for Democracy (NLD),
won by such a convincing margin, the European Union deeply regrets
that the Burmese authorities still fail to respect the clear
democratic verdict of the people.
The European Union furthermore expresses its grave concern that the
period leading up to this anniversary has been marked by fresh
arrests of NLD activists.
It reiterates its call on the Burmese authorities to respect human
rights, restore democracy and engage in a dialogue with opposition
parties and ethnic minorities that could lead to lasting national
reconciliation in a united and democratic State.
The EU also recalls its willingness to send a further Troika mission
to Rangoon/Yangon to promote positively and constructively the aims
of the EU's policy towards Burma/Myanmar through the establishment of
a meaningful political dialogue.
The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the
European Union, the associated countries Cyprus, Malta and Turkey,
Iceland and Liechtenstein, countries members of the European Economic
Area, align themselves with this declaration.
____________________________________________________
MIZZIMA: BURMESE PROTEST IN DELHI AGAINST JUNTA'S CONTINUED CONTROL
OF STATE POWER
New Delhi, May 27, 2000
Mizzima News Group
About a hundred Burmese dissidents held a protest rally this morning
at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in celebrating the 10th anniversary
of National League for Democracy's election win in their homeland...
The demonstrators shouting anti-junta slogans and holding posters
marched towards the Indian Parliament around 10:30 a.m. but blocked
by over hundred Delhi police in front of Parliament Police Station a
few meters away from Parliament. They then held a sit-in-rally at the
same place for an hour before they dispersed finally.
Mr. Mya Win, a Member of Parliament who recently escaped from Burma
to India spoke to the fellow demonstrators his experiences in jail.
Mr. Win, who was imprisoned for nine years for allegedly
participating in forming an exiled government in 1990, was elected
with NLD ticket from Irrawaddy Division, the rice bowl of Burma.
In a statement today, the pro-democracy activists denounced the
ruling military junta for detaining Dr. U Saw Mra Aung, Chairman of
the Parliament and U Aye Thar Aung, the General Secretary of the
Committee for Representing People's Parliament (CRPP).
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
THE STRAITS TIMES: BURMA NEEDS SURGERY, NOT COSMETIC CHANGES
MAY 26, 2000
EYE ON THE WORLD
By LEE KIM CHEW
TOMORROW is the 10th anniversary of an election Myanmar's military
government would rather forget but cannot erase from the history
books.
On that day -- May 27, 1990 -- the Myanmar people voted
overwhelmingly for the National League for Democracy (NLD) but the
generals refused to honour its landslide victory and transfer power
over to the civilians. Ten years on, the impoverished country
remains trapped in a political gridlock that has all but paralysed
it.
The generals want to destroy the NLD, while its leader, Nobel Peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, opposes anything which bolsters their
rule, from Asean membership to foreign investments and tourism in
Myanmar. Politics has become a zero-sum game, with each side bent
on annihilating the other. What hope is there for Myanmar?
Professor Khin Maung Kyi and a group of Myanmar economists, who
conducted a study under the auspices of the National University of
Singapore, have sketched out their vision and strategy in a book --
Economic Development Of Burma -- to seek deliverance for their
country.
Theirs is a clinical assessment of what has gone wrong -- and a bold
prescription to revive the comatose economy.
They offer no magic formula. Rather, it is going back to the basics
to open up Myanmar and let market forces operate freely. That
simple? Yes, but it is easier said than done in Myanmar's case,
because such a move has profound ramifications. It is, in fact,
shifting Myanmar's backward economy into a new paradigm.
To start with, Myanmar lacks the institutional basis of a market
economy, which was destroyed by 26 years of misrule under the
previous socialist government. As the economists put it, "whatever
market flourishes in Burma these days exists more by default than by
design... "The laws enacted to restrict trade under the previous
regime are still operative. The authorities can exercise control at
their will...
"The civil service, once recognised as a stalwart of social change,
is in complete disarray...
"The legal system, including the laws, courts and judges needs to be
drastically revived and revamped... "With the proliferation of line
ministries each administering its own sector as a fiefdom without
much coordination among themselves, the highest state apparatus
resembles a collection of feudal warlords."
Although the military government talks about a new openness to market
forces, in reality, it retains a battery of controls over the
economy. "The alleged openness is highly selective and, in effect,
is only with enterprises in which the military regime participates
either directly or indirectly."
Myanmar needs desperately to make up for its lost generation, the
economists concur. It has to scrap the fictitious official exchange
rate, abolish state monopolies in rice and teak, modernise
agriculture, liberalise trade and promote investments.
"Burma, having been so long dominated by economic nationalism,
socialist ideology and the resultant isolation -- the switch to an
economic calculus will not be an easy change. We expect that
adjustments, compromises and new adaptions will have to be made."
There is no "quick fix", the study concludes. The political and
economic systems need major surgery, not cosmetic changes.
"Politically, there must be a genuine dialogue and eventual consensus
on the outline of a new constitutional framework that is not
dominated by the military and which respects the rights and concerns
of all the people, including all the ethnic minorities." A new
mindset is needed, but there are no reformers in the military
government.
The generals have already rejected a World Bank report which links
foreign aid with political reforms, even though they have neither the
means nor the expertise to overcome the country's problems.
Undaunted, the economists urge the junta and its pro-democracy
opponents to reconcile and make peace. "Are we going to let ourselves
sink into a deeper morass of poverty and inconsequence, just because
each side thinks that one is so right and the other so wrong?"
Well said. This, alas, is how things are in Myanmar's repressive and
unyielding political climate today.
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS________________
TAIPEI TIMES: TIME TO REALLY STAND UP
http://www.taipeitimes.com/news
May 27, 2000
Today is the 10th anniversary of the last general elections held in
Myanmar, which were won handily by the National League for Democracy
(NLD), with 82 percent of the vote. Sadly, the elected parliament has
never met, victim of a rapacious military junta which refused to
release its grip on the country.
The human rights record of the military regime is abysmal by any
standard. The contrast with the charismatic and peace-loving leader
of the NLD, Aung San Suu Kyi, could not be greater. For her
courageous struggle, Suu Kyi was honored with the 1992 Nobel Peace
Prize.
These facts alone should be sufficient for all Taiwanese who cherish
their own hard-won human rights and democracy to support the Burmese
people in their time of need. But in fact there are also hard-nosed
national security considerations that point in the same direction.
Myanmar under the generals is a client state -- some would say a
colony -- of China. As such, it provides Beijing with an important
lever to increase its influence over Southeast Asia. Collusion with
the junta allows China to apply direct pressure on Thailand across
that disturbed border. Now that it is a member of ASEAN, Myanmar acts
to block any anti-China consensus forming in that group, weakening,
for example, the ability of the Philippines and Vietnam to resist
Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. Currently, China is
constructing a port in Myanmar that will provide the PLA with naval
access to the Indian Ocean, flanking ASEAN and challenging Indian
influence there.
The emergence of a pro-Western and/or democratic government in Yangon
would be a major setback to China's strategy of regional hegemony and
a clear benefit for Taiwan. Therefore, national security
considerations should prompt Taiwan to consider a more pro-active
effort to support Burmese pro-democracy elements. Myanmar is in fact
a key fulcrum point, where a modest application of resources by
Taiwan could have a magnified return.
President Chen Shui-bian and the new government have repeatedly said
that they will emphasize democracy and human rights in their foreign
policy. Such a policy would not only set the government apart from
its predecessors, but would earn Taiwan increased respect and
understanding from all other democratic countries. As Chen proclaimed
in his inaugural address: "We firmly believe that in any time or any
corner of the world, the meaning and values of freedom, democracy and
human rights cannot be ignored or changed."
Myanmar, being perhaps the most egregious violator of these norms in
Asia, would seem an obvious place to make such a new effort, and
today's anniversary would be an auspicious day to begin. All it would
take to get started would be a simple statement, a telegram or a
letter, either from Chen or from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
expressing support for Suu Kyi and her cause. We could do worse than
to reiterate the recent statement by US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright: "We renew our commitment to Aung San Suu Kyi and the
National League of Democracy. As long as you struggle, we will do all
we can to assist. And we know that you will not stop struggling until
you prevail."
By making such a comment and by following it up consistently, Taiwan
can send a message to the world that it plans to live up the ideals
that Chen has set forth so clearly. At the same time, Taiwan can take
a step toward diminishing the overbearing shadow of Chinese
domination in Asia.
It is not every day that a country's ideals and its national security
interests perfectly overlap. Taiwan should not pass up this precious
opportunity.
____________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: AFTER 10 YEARS, BURMESE STILL WAIT
Paris, Friday, May 26, 2000
By John J. Brandon
WASHINGTON - Ten years ago Saturday, democrats won a landslide
election victory in Burma over the military government. Rather than
honor that victory by the National League for Democracy, the military
ignored the results and tightened its grip on power. Burma's
government, renamed the State Peace and Development Council in 1997,
justified the annulment by saying that it was the only institution
able to keep the country together, maintain order and promote
economic development.
Despite such claims, Burma's people have paid a heavy price.
Political, economic and social conditions have grown worse in the
past decade. The military has refused to engage in any serious
political reform, including establishing a dialogue with the National
League for Democracy and its leader, the Nobel laureate Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi. After spending six years under house arrest, Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi's movements remain strictly confined. Her party members have
been muted through intimidation, imprisonment and torture.
Inflation in Burma is high. The country imports more than it exports,
and the current account deficit is widening. In the past year,
foreign investment has plummeted because of Burma's political
uncertainty, inefficient economic policies, lack of transparency and
corruption. The generals appear to have neither the interest nor the
ability to deal with the country's economic difficulties.
Burma is beset by social ills. Around 40 percent of the national
budget is spent on the military - at the expense of social services,
particularly education and health. The United Nations Development
Program reports than only 25 percent of Burma's schoolchildren
complete basic education, while 30 percent of children never go to
school at all. Universities have been closed for most of the past
decade to preempt student protest. There is a backlog of around 1
million students waiting for universities to reopen.
The health care system has collapsed because of a serious shortage of
medical supplies and personnel. Burma spends only 0.2 percent of its
budget on its healthcare system - an average of 50 cents a person.
Child mortality, malnutrition and the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus
and other deadly diseases are increasing.
Yet the military finds itself more powerful now than it has ever been
because it dominates the country's politics and economy. Events
elsewhere give the junta little incentive to yield power to a
civilian government - the disintegration of Yugoslavia, South Korea's
prosecution of two former presidents for corruption and abuse of
power and now former President Suharto and his generals in Indonesia
being called to account for alleged corrupt practices and human
rights abuses.
The junta has all the power, but Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the
National League for Democracy have all the legitimacy. The only way a
democratic form of government can emerge without a popular revolt is
through compromise. The generals will have to allow it to happen.
Bringing this about will not be easy. Burma's military rulers have
many enemies because they have mistreated the people. The generals
fear retribution if they lose power. Shortly after the 1990
election, a former National League for Democracy leader said that no
revenge would be sought against the military for its harsh actions
against civilian demonstrators. If a meaningful political dialogue is
to develop, such assurances need to be repeated.
This will not be popular with some in Burma's democracy movement. But
without such compromise, the political deadlock will remain. The
writer, assistant director of the Asia Foundation in Washington,
contributed this personal comment to the International Herald
Tribune.
____________________________________________________
COUNCIL OF ASIAN LIBERALS AND DEMOCRATS: RESOLUTION ON BURMA
CALD Resolution No. 9, S. 2000
A RESOLUTION (AS A DECLARATION OF SUPPORT FOR AND SOLIDARITY WITH THE
ELECTED MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT OF BURMA) CALLING UPON THE MILITARY
GOVERNMENT OF BURMA TO IMMEDIATELY AND UNCONDITIONALLY RELEASE ALL
MPS-ELECT; TO RECOGNIZE THE RIGHT OF THE DULY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES
OF BURMA TO CONVENE PARLIAMENT AND TO CEASE ALL RESTRICTIONS AGAINST
THEM; AND TO AGREE TO JOIN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY AND THE
REPRESENTATIVES OF ETHNIC NATIONALITIES IN A DIALOGUE TO ACHIEVE A
PEACEFUL TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY.
Noting that the people of Burma elected their representatives in free
and fair elections on 27 May 1990;
Regretting that these democratically elected representatives were
denied their legitimate right to serve as members of parliament and
continue to be the only democratically elected parliamentarians in
the world who are barred from taking their oath of office;
Considering that the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD)
has been consistent in upholding the recognition of the
democratically elected leaders of Burma and in calling for the end of
all forms of abuse and violations of human rights;
Be it resolved that the Council of Asian Liberals & Democrats-as a
declaration of support for and solidarity with the elected Members of
Parliament of Burma-calls upon the military government of Burma for
the immediate and unconditional release of all MPs elect; for
recognition of the right of the duly elected representatives of Burma
to convene parliament and for cessation of all restrictions against
them; and for agreement to join the National League for democracy and
the representatives of the ethnic nationalities in a dialogue to
achieve a peaceful transition to democracy.
For the Council of Asian Liberals & Democrats:
[signed]
SAM RAINSY, MP
Chair
May 15, 2000
Jakarta, Indonesia
(* This resolution is not supported by the Parti Gerakan Rakyat
Malaysia)
____________________________________________________
NCGUB: MAY 27 MARKS VICTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES ADVOCATING
DEMOCRACY, RIGHTS FOR ALL
Office of the Prime Minister
May 27, 2000
May 27, 2000 marks the 10th anniversary of the election won by
political parties which are for democratic change, self-
determination, and ethnic rights. Even though conditions at election
time favored the military-supported National Unity Party, the
National League for Democracy (NLD) headed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
won 392 out of the 485 seats at stake. The military-backed party
captured 10 seats and the remaining seats went to ethnic
nationalities political parties and several independent candidates.
Despite the overwhelming support by the people who voted for change
and reforms toward democracy, social justice, self-determination, and
equal rights, the military authorities continue to refuse to honor
the election results until today. Claiming that they do not "consider
it prudent to leave the whole process of political transition in the
hands of the NLD," the generals have been doing everything possible
to destroy the NLD.
The generals should recognize the fact that the NLD represents the
hope and aspirations of the people. As long as they continue pursuing
their goal of eliminating the NLD, they will remain alienated from
the people.
The goal of the NLD and the other political parties has always been
to work for an orderly and peaceful transition in a systematic
matter, and within the framework of law. The choice that confronts
Burma's generals is to be part of that transition by moving away from
authoritarian rule towards governance that is democratic,
transparent, and respectful of the rights of the people, or to remain
intransigent, and thus contribute to the further decay of the country
they claim to serve.
The NCGUB therefore calls upon the Defense Services to work with,
instead of against, the people and their elected representatives.
____________________________________________________
FTUB/CNYB/MNRC/ JOINT STATEMENT ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF 1990
GENERAL ELECTION OF BURMA
[Excerpt]
May 27, 2000
...The economy is in a shambles. From being the regions' most
prosperous country,
Burma became a Least Developed Country under the management of the
successive
Military regimes. To cover up their mismanagement, as mentioned
above, the military junta is turning to drug money to prop themselves
up.
As students and workers we had taken to the streets. As people of
Burma we
had voted in an election set up by the military junta. We had chosen
our representatives...
We call upon:
- The international community to advocate all kinds of measures to
push the military regime into a tripartite dialogue with the
democratic forces and the ethnic national organizations.
- The Government of the United States and the respective local
governments of USA to scrutinize the flow of cargo from Burma to
identify the flow of heroin or heroin related traders of Burma in
order to re-enforce the indictments on the heroin barons of Burma.
____________________________________________________
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: Rep. TOM LANTOS ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF BURMA'S
MILITARY COUP
HON. TOM LANTOS
in the House of Representatives
TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2000
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, just a few days ago, here on Capitol Hill,
our outstanding Secretary of State, Madeleine K. Albright, and the
National Endowment for Democracy, joined by a number of Members of
Congress marked the 10th anniversary of the election victory of
Burma's National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi in free
Burmese elections in May 1990. Shortly after that democratic victory,
the Burmese military annulled the results of the election and seized
power in a military coup.
After the military crackdown against the victors of the democratic
election, supporters of the National League for Democracy were
arrested and many were forced to flee their homeland. Aung San Suu Kyi
was placed under house arrest, and has been harassed and intimidated
by the vicious and brutal military dictatorship. In appropriate
recognition of her peaceful struggle for democratic change in Burma,
Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. The
continued
military harassment of Ms. Suu Kyi was so intense and bitter that she
refused to leave Burma last year when she learned that her husband
was
dying of cancer in the United Kingdom. It was clear that the military
junta would not permit her to return to Burma if she had left.
Aung San Suu Kyi was able to speak to the gathering only via a
videotaped message, but she expressed thanks to the United States and
other countries for `supporting us in our endeavor to have the
results
of the 1990 elections recognized at this time, when the military
regime are trying hard to pretend that the results of the elections
are no longer valid.'
Mr. Speaker, in marking this important Burmese anniversary last week,
Secretary Albright delivered an impassioned message of support for
Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese patriots of the National League for
Democracy. Secretary Albright said: `We renew our commitment to Aung
San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. As long as you
struggle, we will do all we can to assist. And we know that you will
not stop struggling until you prevail.'
Mr. Speaker, that spirit truly pervades the position of the
Administration, the Congress, and the American people toward the
repressive regime in Burma and toward the heroine, Aung San Suu Kyi,
who has the courage and integrity to stand up against that vicious
anti-democratic military junta.
(end text)
____________________________________________________
ABSDF: STATEMENT ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1990 ELECTIONS
26 May 2000
[Excerpt]
.
.
Throughout the history of Burma, there had been many opportunities
for a democratic change to take place. However, it never came to pass
due to internal political problems. An election was held in 1960, but
the military seized power on March 2, 1962 with a coup, and the
military dictatorship took hold of the country and rooted a one party
system of Burmese socialist Program Party (BSPP) until 1988...
Genuine democracy, human rights and equality among ethnic
nationalities in Burma are the responsibility of elected
representatives as well as of the people. The All Burma Students'
Democratic Front (ABSDF) regards the May 1990 election as the victory
of the people and vows to achieve democracy and human rights, to
restore internal peace and to work towards a federal union of Burma
along with all the people who are struggling to restore democracy in
Burma.
____________________________________________________
BSDO (CANADA): THE ELECTION 10TH ANNIVERSARY DEMONSTRATIONS IN CANADA
May 27, 2000
[BDSO staged demonstrations in Vancouver Ottawa]
Burmese Students' Democratic Organization (Canada)
[Excerpt]
... we encourage the military to undertake a dialogue with CRPP in
order to accelerate the democratization in the country. And we also
demand a positive sign towards greater political development by
freeing all political prisoners, opening all universities and
colleges, and lifting all restricted law and order forbidding freedom
of expression, association and publication.
At the same time, we urge the Canadian government and international
community to put more effort to get through the political deadlock in
Burma and prevent from any further crackdown on peaceful democracy
movement in Burma.
____________________________________________________
NCUB DECLARATION ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1990 ELECTIONS IN
BURMA
[Excerpt]
May 27, 2000
... The regime proudly proclaims that they have made cease-fire
agreements with the ethnic nationalities and that they have
established peace in the country. These so-called agreements are
only a ruse, however, and the regime has failed to take a single step
to address the underlying political concerns of the ethnic
nationalities. Because these cease-fire agreements are merely window
dressing, Burma will continue to be subject to violence and
instability. At the same time, the junta has attempted to illegally
arrest the duly elected ethnic members of parliament and has banned
12 of the 17 ethnic political parties despite having no legal
authority to do so. The actions of the regime towards the ethnic
peoples of Burma demonstrate clearly that they have no true desire
for national reconciliation with the ethnic peoples and that their
actions to subdue the ethnic people are a sham...
____________________________________________________
TORONTO BURMA ROUND TABLE : STATEMENT ON ELECTION ANNIVERSARY
May 28th 2000
[Excerpt]
We urge Lloyd Ax worthy to continue even more vigorously his work,
and the work of the Canadian government, in support of democracy in
Burma.
The Toronto Burma Round Table is working with members of the Ontario
legislature to have it pass a Resolution recognizing and supporting
the Committee Representing the People's Parliament, established in
Burma by the NLD in 1998.
As well, we are working in collaboration with the NCGUB (the Burmese
government in exile) on the international campaign to secure from all
Parliamentarians their personal pledge of support for democracy in
Burma, and their solidarity with their democratically elected
colleagues who have been denied their lawful right to take office.
The request from the Myanmar ambassador to come to our Round Table
meetings was noted. We are still awaiting his letter explaining why
he wishes to attend.
The next meeting will be on Monday June 26th at 7.00 PM at Burma
House, 62 Summerhill Avenue. All and everyone interested to find out
about, and activists already concerned about, the ongoing struggle
for democracy in Burma are most welcome.
________________
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