BurmaNet News: June 7-8 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

June 7-8 2003 Issue #2254

INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: UN Envoy Keeps Talking, Fails to Free Suu Kyi
AFP: Outrage over Suu Kyi but Myanmar people too beaten down to protest
Australian: Detained Suu Kyi 'on hunger strike'
AFP: Myanmar authorities deny rumours of Suu Kyi lieutenant's death
Narinjara: Nine Indigenous People’s Political Parties speak out on the
present political crisis in Burma
Scoop Media: Burma Sanctions Effort Blunted By China, India
Australian: The legend of Mama Suu

REGIONAL
Nation: Thaksin calls for release of Suu Kyi

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Hunger Strike to Call for Suu Kyi's Release

EDITORIALS
IHT: Get tough on Burma
Irrawaddy: Drawing a Clear Line on Burma
Philippine Daily Inquirer: Shared Experience with Myanmar
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania): Burma Shame Repression in Myanmar
Takes An Economic Toll
Chinland Guardian: Current crisis in Burma

TRANSCRIPT
USDoS: Daily Press Briefing, June 6 2003

STATEMENT
ALIRAN, Malaysia

Reuters   June 7 2003
UN Envoy Keeps Talking, Fails to Free Suu Kyi
By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON - A United Nations envoy ended a second day of talks in Myanmar's
capital on Saturday with no apparent progress in efforts to see
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi or persuade the military to free her
from detention.

One of Myanmar's most powerful generals blamed Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy (NLD) for violence last week in which at least four people
were killed.

The comments by military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, published in state
media on Saturday just before he met envoy Razali Ismail, were the first
by a senior junta member on the May 30 violence and indicate Suu Kui is
unlikely to be freed soon.

"The recent course of confrontation taken by the NLD led to creating the
untoward incidents, causing a great loss to the state," Khin Nyunt was
quoted telling officials at an airport opening ceremony on Friday.

"Corrupt practices and the organizational work of the NLD instigated by
foreign nations will not benefit the country."

Suu Kyi, the NLD leader and 1991 Nobel peace prize winner, has been held
in undisclosed locations since violence erupted between her supporters and
those favoring the junta as she toured a provincial town in the north.

The military says four people died and 50 were injured in the clashes. But
dissidents in exile say members of a pro-government group, which had been
following Suu Kyi's convoy in four trucks, beat to death as many as 75
members of Suu Kyi's entourage and local villagers with bamboo and iron
bars.

They also say Suu Kyi received head and shoulder injuries although her car
sped off soon after the violence erupted.

Khin Nyunt held a one-hour meeting on Saturday with Razali, U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's envoy to Myanmar, but there was no
immediate word on what was discussed.

After further meetings at the foreign ministry, Razali hinted the junta
had not yet agreed to give him access to Suu Kyi.

"I'm still talking to the government," he told reporters.

Diplomats had said the meeting with Khin Nyunt would be key to whether the
junta would grant access to Suu Kyi, who, according to some reports, may
have been injured in the clashes.

Razali met Foreign Minister Win Aung on Friday, but the envoy's aides said
the junta's leader, Senior General Than Shwe, who will likely make any
decision on Suu Kyi, was away from Yangon. The government often does not
comment on Than Shwe's trips within the country or abroad until he
returns.

PRESSURE MOUNTS

The United States said on Thursday it suspected Suu Kyi and her convoy
were ambushed by "government-affiliated thugs." The government denies
this.

U.N. sources in New York said Razali's orders from Annan were to meet Suu
Kyi and NLD leaders and said he would cut short his mission and leave
Myanmar if these requests were denied. He arrived in Yangon on Friday and
is due to leave on June 10.

The United States, Britain and the European Union have said they are
considering slapping more trade and investment sanctions on Myanmar as a
result of Suu Kyi's treatment.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which usually avoids
commenting on the internal politics of members, such as Myanmar, expressed
concern about developments in Yangon, saying they were harming the
grouping's image.

As part of a broad crackdown, the junta has shut NLD offices, ordered 19
of its top leaders confined to their houses and closed universities, seen
as hotbeds of support for Suu Kyi.

The NLD easily won Myanmar's last free elections in 1990 but was never
allowed to rule. Suu Kyi has spent much of the past 14 years under house
arrest and was last released in May 2002. The military has ruled the
country since a 1962 coup.
____________

Agence France Presse   June 8 2003
Outrage over Suu Kyi but Myanmar people too beaten down to protest

YANGON: While Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest has provoked outrage across the
globe, there has been little reaction from Myanmar's impoverished people
who have been worn down by four decades of brutal military rule.

Myanmar's economy, which is barely functioning after years of
mismanagement and international sanctions, has left the vast majority of
people more concerned about finding their next meal than thinking about
political change.

"Economically they've been so put down. What they're concerned with is
educating their kids and getting enough to eat. The greater politics
doesn't really affect them," a western diplomat told AFP. "That's the
bizarre thing at the moment, it's outwardly calm. But you don't have to
dig very hard to see that there is some concern about what's going on."

Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was put under "protective custody" by
the ruling military following violent clashes on May 30 between her
supporters and a military-backed group.

US President George W. Bush has led a barrage of international criticism
against the regime's move, but the mood in Yangon and the rest of the
country has remained calm with no evidence of increased security.

"People have accepted it in their stride and it won't bring them out on
the streets, but they know what happened," the diplomat said.

A combination of grinding poverty and the sheer might of the regime has
left the population ill-equipped to launch a repeat of the 1988
pro-democracy protests that were bloodily repressed by the military, she
added.

"There's not the capacity here to do an '88. The government has learnt
over the last 14 years how to emasculate the people."

Gross mismanagement by the ruling generals has turned a once-thriving and
resource-rich nation into an economic basket case, and ordinary people
face a daily battle to make ends meet.

Sanctions have also decimated the economy since being imposed by an
alarmed international community after the 1988 protests and the 1990
elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition but which the junta refused
to recognise.

A currency depreciation early last year raised the prices of basic
commodities and was compounded by a banking crisis which unfolded in
February after a panicky run on banks.

After Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest, Mandalay businessman Ko Kyaw Kyaw told
AFP that people were bracing themselves for worse to come.

"People are expecting that the incident will cause rising commodity prices
and currency exchange rates but nothing has changed too much yet," he
said.

"Business is going as usual but has been no good since February anyway
when the banking crisis began."

Many Myanmar citizens keep up with the news through banned international
radio broadcasts, but while this small act of defiance is common, they are
still too frightened of the military's power to take to the streets.

"The military intelligence agents and their informers are spreading
everywhere. Most of the people would support anyone who acts openly
against the government but many are too scared to be involved," the
businessman said.

"People are sharing news with each other but not in the public arena."

Despite the lack of public reaction on the streets, Aung San Suu Kyi's
immense popularity has never been in doubt.

Thousands of excited people thronged to see the charismatic leader in
every village and town as she made roving political tours across the
country following her release from house arrest in May last year.

"Her travels have shown how popular she still is and that has surprised
the military because she has been suffocated for publicity," the diplomat
said.
____________

The Australian   June 9 2003
Detained Suu Kyi 'on hunger strike'
By Kimina Lyall * Southeast Asia correspondent

AUNG San Suu Kyi has responded to her "protective custody" by Burma's
ruling generals by embarking on a hunger strike, her exiled supporters
believe.

As the junta continued yesterday its tirade of accusations against her
National League for Democracy in the state-run media, Senior General Than
Shwe responded to the visit of United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail
by taking a beach holiday. Mr Razali, whose four-day visit is due to end
tomorrow, has not yet seen either the most powerful man in the military
regime, or Ms Suu Kyi.

General Than Shwe's absence from Rangoon could be considered a personal
insult to the retired Malaysian diplomat, who had had his visit dates for
some time and had an expectation they would meet.

Exiled Burmese dissident Sann Aung, from the National Council for the
Union of Burma, said yesterday Ms Suu Kyi's physician, Tin Myo Win, was
taken into military custody in Rangoon last Wednesday.

He said the doctor's arrest might mean he had been recruited to see and
treat Ms Suu Kyi for what activists say were injuries sustained in the
violence on May 31.

Other sources have told The Australian that military officials took a
friend of Ms Suu Kyi's in to see her, because she had refused to eat any
of the food they had offered her.

The friend had taken in food, the source said, but it was not known if Ms
Suu Kyi ate it.

Mr Sann Aung described General Than Shwe's absence from Rangoon as a "very
bad sign", as it was clear that only the top brass would be able to grant
permission for Mr Razali to see her.

Mr Razali has held meetings with the third-most powerful man in the
regime, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, as well as Foreign Minister Win
Aung, but has so far received no assurances that he can meet with Ms Suu
Kyi.

As the British Foreign Office demanded "immediate international access" to
Ms Suu Kyi, the Burmese ambassador to London, Kyaw Win, warned that the
junta would "defend our sovereignty" if there was a threat of regime
change. Asked if he meant the use of military action, Mr Kyaw Win told BBC
television: "There are many ways of doing it. Whatever the requirements
may be, we will use all means to defend ourselves."

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the US had expanded its
visa ban to include some members of the Union Solidarity Development
Association, a military-affiliated organisation witnesses had claimed was
responsible for the violence that led to Ms Suu Kyi's detention.

The generals showed no sign of diverging from their version of events
yesterday, with Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt quoted in the state-run
newspaper as saying the events would serve as "lessons" for those
responsible for "disorderly and unruly acts".

"With or without foreign assistance, the Union of Myanmar will continue to
strive for the emergence of a peaceful, developed and democratic nation,"
he said, using the military's name for Burma.
___________

Agence France Presse   June 8, 2003
Myanmar authorities deny rumours of Suu Kyi lieutenant's death

YANGON: Myanmar authorities Sunday denied persistent rumours that a top
figure in Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy opposition was killed during
bloody clashes in the country's north last month.

Dissident groups said National League for Democracy (NLD) vice-chairman
Tin Oo, 76, was accompanying Aung San Suu Kyi on a political tour of the
region when their car was attacked by a pro-junta mob on May 30.

Sources in Yangon said the opposition leader was injured in the head and
shoulder when the gang smashed the car's windscreen, and that in the
absence of any news about Tin Oo they feared rumours of his death could be
true.

"The rumours are totally false, he is very much alive and well and we have
even sent him some medicine he has asked for from his family," a source
close to the military government told AFP.

In the first comments on Tin Oo's fate since the unrest, which is believed
to have left as many as 100 people dead, the source said he was being held
at Kale prison in Sagaing division on the India-Myanmar border.

Aung San Suu Kyi was brought back to Yangon and is being held at a
military camp outside the capital, while the rest of the NLD leadership is
under house arrest in Yangon.

Nearly 20 members of the NLD's youth wing who made up the rest of Aung San
Suu Kyi's entourage are believed to be held at Yangon's notorious Insein
jail.

Tin Oo served as defence minister and commander in chief of the military
under former dictator Ne Win, and held the rank of full general until he
was sacked on March 6, 1976.

After falling out of favour with Ne Win, he was accused of bribery and
corruption. He was later charged with involvement in a coup plot and
jailed for seven years.

Tin Oo was released from jail in May 1980 under a general amnesty and
entered the monkhook for two years before pursuing legal studies and then
becoming the co-founder of the NLD along with Aung San Suu Kyi.
___________

Narinjara News   June 8 2003
Nine Indigenous People’s Political Parties speak out on the present
political crisis in Burma

Dhaka, 8th June 03:  Nine indigenous people’s political parties from Burma
expressed their great concern and unhappiness at the recent Friday
killings of 30th May in which the State Peace and Development Council
junta-affiliated thugs are believed to have staged an ambush against the
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and it is feared that approximately 80
leaders and supporters of the opposition National League for Democracy may
have been murdered in the ambush.

In a formal statement dated 7th June 03 the parties expressed that the
present Burmese political crisis would bring catastrophe to the economy,
education, and society at large.  By considering the interests of the
state and the people they urged to immediately stop all forms of terrorism
and condemned the affiliation of terrorism by any parties and demanded
peaceful dialogue as a means for solving the political crisis.

They also expressed how they suffered in anticipation of the coming out of
a tripartite dialogue for a peaceful and prosperous Burma as envisaged in
the 1994 UN resolutions.  Since the pre-independence days the indigenous
peoples with an expectation of the creation of a federal republic that
guarantees equal rights to all the indigenous peoples of Burma gave full
support to General Aung San and that the expectations were dashed when he
was assassinated.  After the 1988 democracy uprising the leaders of the
indigenous peoples again held discussions with Aung San Suu Kyi to fulfil
their hopes.

The signatories of the statement included representatives of the Mara
Pyithu Party, the Zomi National Congress, the Mon National League for
Democracy, the Chin National League for Democracy, the Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy, the Karen National Democracy Congress, the Kayah
State Peoples’ League for Democracy, the Kachin State Nationalities
Democracy Conference, and the Kayan National Unity League for Democracy.
__________

Scoop Media   June 6 2003
Burma Sanctions Effort Blunted By China, India
By Richard S. Ehrlich

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Burma has boasted its two "very good neighbors,"
China and India, will blunt U.S.-led sanctions amid attempts in Washington
for tightening boycotts to support detained opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi.

Burma's leader General Than Shwe, and Foreign Minister Win Aung,
personally laid the ground-work for close, lucrative cooperation with the
governments and two billion people in China and India.

Burma is wedged between the two giants and boasts a coveted, ship-friendly
coast along the Bay of Bengal -- stretching from Bangladesh to Thailand.

"There is no evidence we are worried about sanctions. Not that we want
them, but we are not afraid of them either because we have lived for 26
years on our own before, and we have very good neighbors around us and we
can simply trade and exchange relations with our close, good neighbors,"
Kyaw Win, Burma's ambassador to Britain, said on Thursday (June 5).

"We have the two largest countries of the world on either side who are
happily trading and exchanging all kinds of technical, transportation,
security measures [with Burma] and we are living in harmony with all of
them," the envoy told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The Washington-based Free Burma Coalition (FBC), meanwhile, circulated a
list of quotes by several influential U.S. Congress members who vowed
during the past few days to pulverize Burma's economy with tighter
sanctions.

"It is time for regime change in Burma," Senate majority whip, Mitch
McConnell (R-Kentucky), told Congress.

"The tough sanctions legislation I am introducing...sends a clear signal
that Burma's human rights violators will be punished severely," said
Representative Tom Lantos (D-California).

They joined others in Congress who hope to increase current sanctions to
ban all Burma's exports to the United States, deny U.S. visas to a wider
range of Burmese officials and freeze the regime's money and property
overseas, according to the FBC.

China, however, is Burma's closest ally.

Much of northern Burma, in and around Mandalay, allows Chinese migrants to
live and invest there while using China's yuan currency instead of Burma's
much weaker kyat.

Gen. Than Shwe, in a rare trip abroad, spent six days in China in January
discussing Chinese financial and military aid.

China arms and trains much of Burma's military. Burma depended on China
for more than 40 Chengdu F-7M and Nanchang A-5C warplanes before Russia
sold MiG-29 jet fighters to Burma in 2001.

Burma and China also share a similar strategy in dealing with dissent.
Both hung tough after unleashing bloody military crackdowns which mirrored
each other almost one year apart: Beijing's infamous June 4, 1989
Tiananmen Square massacre was preceded by Rangoon's August 8, 1988 pro-Suu
Kyi demonstrations.

Unrelated -- except for student-led passions for greater freedom -- the
twin uprisings were brutally crushed with similar military force, leaving
more than 1,000 people dead in both capitals.

China rapidly increased its interest in Burma during the past decade,
prompting fear in India of creeping Chinese influence. China trounced
India in a 1962 war.

Exploiting New Delhi's lingering nervousness over China's occupation of
Tibet and other Himalayan mountain high ground, Burma spent the past few
years cozying up to India, which is also vulnerable along its rebel-torn
northeast.

Fighting in India's Nagaland has killed more than 100,000 people on all
sides during the past 50 years. Christian and animist minority ethnic Naga
guerrillas want a return to independence free from India's control.

Naga guerrillas maintain camps across the frontier in Burma -- a thorn
which India hopes to yank with Rangoon's cooperation.

Within a week of Gen. Than Shwe's return home from China, Burmese Foreign
Minister Win Aung flew to India on a five-day trip.

India had been eyeing construction of a modern highway linking mountainous
Nagaland to Burma's Mandalay and Rangoon and on to Thailand's prosperous
capital, Bangkok, with expectations it will enable New Delhi to
commercialize Nagaland and other isolated Indian states which also suffer
insurgencies, poverty and neglect.

India earlier allowed Ms. Suu Kyi to live in exile on Indian soil and
still voices support for an evolution to democracy in Burma.

The worsening insurgency in and around Nagaland and a rising emphasis on
military strength within the Indian government, however, inspired New
Delhi's shift toward friendlier ties with Rangoon in recent years.

While much of the world was shunning Burma, India allowed the opening of a
Burmese consulate in Calcutta in 2002 to ease relations with Rangoon and
speed commerce between the two ports.

Singapore and Thailand also funnel a relatively large amount of investment
cash into Burma and purchase its natural resources and other exports,
while helping to buoy the dictatorship and gloss over its conflicts with
the wider world.

Ms. Suu Kyi and her supporters, meanwhile, have received millions of
dollars from foreign donors.

In the most recent flash of cash, Virginia-based Freedom Forum foundation
gave one million U.S. dollars to Ms. Suu Kyi in February as a "personal
gift" because of "her free-spirited, non-violent struggle for human rights
and democracy."

Burmese dissidents based in Thailand, the United States and elsewhere also
receive aid from non-governmental organizations, volunteers and other
sources to fund their rival political movements, publications, broadcasts
and other activity.

They are rallying for the regime to transfer power to Ms. Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy party which won a suppressed 1990 election
victory.
_________

The Australian   June 9, 2003
The legend of Mama Suu
By Kimina Lyall

Burma's democracy leader never planned on being a freedom fighter, writes
southeast Asia correspondent Kimina Lyall

ON April 5, 1989, during campaigns for national elections in the Irrawaddy
delta region of southwest Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi was faced with an army
unit who had been ordered to aim their rifles at her.

Telling her colleagues, a number of senior members of the National League
for Democracy, to stay put, she began to walk slowly down the street,
defying the soldiers to fire.

It was no empty threat. The military regime had demonstrated its
propensity for violence by crushing huge demonstrations against the junta
the previous year, and had fired on the crowds. While the exact toll will
never be known, thousands are believed to have died or disappeared on that
August day in 1988.

But the woman who until that time had been an academic of little note, and
had only been involved in Burmese politics for less than a year,
demonstrated her resolve.

As she walked down the street, an army major intervened, cancelling the
order to target the democracy leader. Even then, the military could sense
Suu Kyi's impact: the last thing they wanted was a martyr.

Instead, they created an icon. Suu Kyi -- who became secretary-general of
the newly created National League for Democracy in September 1988, in the
wake of those bloody demonstrations -- is now Burma's most famous person,
and one of the most beloved freedom fighters in international politics.

Attempts by the junta to starve her of light -- she has spent eight of the
past 14 years under house arrest -- have done nothing to dull the glow of
her image.

The woman whose name means "bright collection of strange victories" has
achieved precisely none of her goals to bring peace and democracy to
Burma, but she has won 56 major world peace prizes and awards, including
the Nobel in 1991. The Nobel judges called her "one of the most
extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades".

She herself planned none of this. The daughter of Burma's independence
hero Aung San, Suu Kyi was born two years before he was assassinated, just
as Britain prepared to relinquish the colonial rule he had fought against.

Educated at a Catholic school in Rangoon until she was 15, she left the
country with her mother, Khin Kyi, who was posted to New Delhi as Burma's
ambassador.

From there, the young Suu Kyi lived the life of an upper-class Asian
expat, travelling to Britain to study for a BA in politics, philosophy and
economics at Oxford, before working at the United Nations secretariat in
New York, then in Bhutan's Foreign Ministry and as a scholar in India and
Japan. As well as her native Burmese, she speaks fluent English, French
and Japanese.

Never officially in exile, Suu Kyi simply was not living in Burma. There
were obvious reasons for her choice. While she was away, the notorious Ne
Win, who had been a trusted colleague of her father, seized power in a
1962 military coup.

Ne Win's 1980s economic policies "the Burmese way to socialism" had
brought disaster on the Burmese economy, eventually leading to the street
demonstrations of 1988.

By that time, Suu Kyi, who turns 58 next Thursday, had married another
Oxford academic, Tibet specialist Michael Aris, a Briton, and given birth
to two boys, Alexander in 1973 and Kim in 1977.

Although she has claimed to have no direct political ambitions, there is
some evidence she was preparing for her destiny. Before she married in
1972, she sent Aris a note with a single condition: "I only ask one thing,
that should my people need me, you would help me do my duty by them."

In March 1988, her mother suffered a massive stroke. Aris later said that
when Suu Kyi received the telephone call, he had an intuition fate was
calling in her pledge.

Suu Kyi returned to Rangoon, and has never since left Burma. Caring for
her mother, she only became involved in the democracy movement after the
August 8 violence. Two weeks later, as a virtual unknown, she spoke to
thousands of protesters at Rangoon's landmark temple, the Shwedagon
Pagoda.

Responding to accusations by Burma's ruling generals that she was a
"foreign stooge", and a "Western party girl", she said: "It is true I have
lived abroad. It is also true I am married to a foreigner. These facts
have never interfered and will never interfere with or lessen my love and
devotion for my country by any measure or degree."

Once again, Suu Kyi's words proved premonitory.

In 1999, when Aris was dying of cancer, he was denied a visa to visit her
in Rangoon, and she chose not to leave Burma to see him because she knew
the State Peace and Development Council, the junta's current incarnation,
would never allow her to return to the country.

The immense personal sacrifices -- during her first period of house
arrest, from 1989 to 1995, she told a visiting US politician her
conditions were good except "sometimes I have no money to buy food" --
have continued to endear her to most of Burma's population.

Known to the people of Burma as Daw Suu -- Daw is a respectful title for
an older woman -- her close circle of friends in Rangoon know her as Mama
(elder sister) Suu.

She has little time or opportunity for a social life. People who met Suu
Kyi during her periods of house arrest say she would wake at 4.30am and
spend her days in a combination of Buddhist meditation and work. Until her
piano became unbearably out of tune, she would also play her favourite
pieces of Bach.

But Suu Kyi downplays the importance of her own trials. She has always
refused to talk about her personal life in the times when she has been
allowed access to journalists, and not all of it corresponds to her image
as a saint. She and her brother, Aung San Oo, who lives in San Diego,
California, are not on speaking terms and two years ago he filed an
unsuccessful lawsuit claiming ownership of half the lakeside mansion in
which she lives, which is estimated to be worth millions of dollars.

Janelle Saffin, a NSW lawyer and former state Labor MP who has spent a
decade working with Burmese exiles on democracy projects, first met Suu
Kyi while she was under her second stint of house arrest last year. "She's
like an icon rather than a person," says Saffin, who was initially struck
by how much she physically resembled her father. "But I think sometimes
people forget she is a political leader.

"There are lots of politicians who don't like to talk about their private
life and she is one of them. But she also thinks, 'Each and every one of
us in Burma suffers. How can one person's suffering be more important?"'


REGIONAL

The Nation (Thailand)  June 8 2003
Thaksin calls for release of Suu Kyi

In a rare diplomatic move, Thailand yesterday urged the Burmese junta to
immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday said that the Thai government
had talked to the junta and called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi so
that the process of national reconciliation could proceed.

Thaksin said that Burmas Foreign Minister Win Aung had reassured his Thai
counterpart Surakiart Sathirathai that Suu Kyi was safe and had not been
hurt.

Meanwhile, an eyewitness at the clash near a village in Sagaing Divisions
Depayin township between opposition and pro-government supporters last
Friday week said Suu Kyi was injured.

The Burmese witness wrote in a letter obtained by the Thai-based Irrawaddy
Magazine that thugs broke the windows of Suu Kyis vehicle and beat her
with bamboo sticks. The letter said that the attack was sparked by members
of Union Solidarity Development Association, an organisation headed by
General Than Shwe, who leads the military clique that runs the country.


EDITORIALS

The International Herald Tribune  June 7 2003
Get tough on Burma

A year ago, there was hope that democracy might come to Burma. In May
2002, the military junta released Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's most
famous political prisoner, after 19 months of house arrest. The 
government promised to grant its citizens full freedoms and agreed to hold
talks about opening up the political system. These gestures won Burma, a
reprieve from international pressure while the world waited to see whether
the promises would be kept. They were not, and sanctions are once again
needed to force the government to keep its word.

There have been no talks. More than 1,200 political prisoners remain in
jail, many of them elderly and sick. The harassment of Aung San Suu Kyi
and her party, the National League for Democracy, has gradually increased,
culminating a week ago in a violent attack on her traveling convoy that
killed four and injured 50, according to the government (the opposition
says the figures are much higher). There are reports that Aung San Suu Kyi
suffered face and shoulder injuries. The junta must allow the outside
world to see her. She and 18 members of the National League, some badly
hurt, have been rearrested and are being held incommunicado - "for their
own protection," the government implausibly reported. The junta has closed
National League headquarters all over the country.

Since February, the junta had blocked entry to the United Nations envoy
for Burma, Razali Ismail. After  suddenly receiving permission for a visit
he arrived in Burma on Friday. But if he cannot visit Aung San Suu Kyi, he
should leave immediately.

The junta may have cracked down because it believes that the world's
attention is focused elsewhere. But officials are also terrified by Aung
San Suu Kyi's support. As she travels in Burma, she draws crowds in the
thousands.

Her popular support makes her an intolerable threat at a time when living
standards have eroded to their worst levels since the late 1980s, when a
nationwide revolt resulted. Professionals can no longer afford rice. The 
widespread collapse of the banking system has shut down many businesses
and infuriated depositors who have  lost their savings.

The junta's spectacular corruption and mismanagement are mainly
responsible for its economic troubles, but they do make the threat of more
sanctions unusually potent. This week Senator Mitch McConnell, a
conservative Republican, and Representative Tom Lantos, a liberal
Democrat, introduced bills that would extend  a visa ban for paramilitary
officials, freeze the American-held assets of the nation and top
officials, and bar imports from Burma. Many of these exports go to America
and Europe. Europe, which already has a visa ban, should now block Burma's
exports as well. The junta has had a year to demonstrate that its opening
was genuine. Now all ambiguity is gone, and the world's response must be
equally decisive.
____________

The Irrawaddy   June 8 2003
Drawing a Clear Line on Burma
By Kavi Chongkittavorn/Bangkok

The detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues, as well as the
closure of her party’s offices, have in effect annihilated their functions
as an opposition party, and eliminated whatever freedoms that they had
left under such severe restrictions. Without a doubt, one of the biggest
challenges to the international community is whether it will allow a
pariah state like Burma quash its opposition and get away scott-free.

As the details of the ambush emerge, diplomatic sources both in Rangoon
and Bangkok have expressed outrage and concluded that the confrontations
were "premeditated" by the regime’s supporters and aimed at "intimidating
Suu Kyi and harming her."

Many questions have been raised regarding the junta’s motives for the
ambushes and the jailing of Suu Kyi. Representatives from the
Bangkok-based Friends of Burma stressed that the Nobel laureate’s growing
popularity is the biggest threat to the regime. They say that the ambushes
were planned to undermine her political momentum and see it as one the
most serious confrontations since the demonstrations of 1988 and 1996.

Many countries such as Japan and Australia, which have pursued a
middle-of-the-road policy in their dealings with Burma, have expressed
disappointment at the junta’s intransigence. Japan, which for years has
distinguished itself from the West with its pro-engagement policies and
assistance, is reviewing its long-term commitment and its newly mapped out
"new comprehensive approach" to Burma.

 At the moment, China, India and Thailand are the three most important
friends that enable the regime to survive and continue its oppressive
policies.


Even Canada is having second thoughts. That country’s staunch hard-line
approach of rejecting any notion of involvement in Burma now seems to be
being reconsidered, as the Canadians are arguing in favor of humanitarian
assistance to combat HIV/AIDS in Burma.

For the US and the European Union, the regime’s heavy-handed approach is a
matter of "life and death" for the reconciliation process. They say that
Suu Kyi must be released immediately and the visiting UN envoy to Burma,
Razali Ismail, must be able to see her immediately. Both sides have a
series of widening sanctions waiting in the pipelines if the Burmese
regime does not comply.

The EU expects to announce the bolstering of its sanctions against the
regime after Razali completes his trip later this week, according to a
Bangkok-based Scandinavian diplomat. The measures include visa bans for
several Burmese officials and members of the Union Solidarity Development
Association, considered the regime’s thugs. There is also talk of freezing
their foreign assets and an arms embargo. Razali’s latest assessment will
be crucial to determine the scale of sanctions.

Leading US lawmakers have called for a ban on imports from Burma. They
also urged Burma’s neighbors to do more to help ease political tensions
and revive the reconciliation process in Burma.

At the moment, China, India and Thailand are the three most important
friends that enable the regime to survive and continue its oppressive
policies. Individually, they have strengthened the regime through
trade-off policies.

Given Burma’s strategic location, both China and India are "check-mates"
in the Southeast Asian linchpin. India, following years of hard-lined
policies against the Burmese junta, has turned around and is cementing
bilateral ties.

 Unfortunately, since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to power in
early 2001, Thailand has lost its influence over the reconciliation
process in Burma.


Beijing has steadfastly maintained its intimate relations with Rangoon.
The latter’s increased isolation has benefited China, in trade and
security areas in particular. China’s stance is not likely to change.

Outside pressure on the Chinese, which can make a difference inside Burma,
is completely absent. For many, including the US and Europe, North Korea
and its nuclear arsenals are the top priority. On the other hand, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is not in a position to do
what it wants. It is fearful of jeopardizing its excellent Asean-China
relations.

Within the grouping, Asean’s influence over the situation in Burma through
peer pressure has not worked since Burma was admitted as a member in 1997.
Only Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have active Burmese policies.

Unfortunately, since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to power in
early 2001, Thailand has lost its influence over the reconciliation
process in Burma. This is for the plain reason that Bangkok has completely
ignored the opposition. Thaksin has gone out of his way to kiss-up to
Rangoon for the sake of economic interests. He is happy to play a
chaperone’s role, foolishly thinking that Rangoon would follow his lead.

In a similar vein, the Thai Foreign Ministry’s positions issued last
Friday on Burma were a disgrace, to put it mildly. The ministry completely
bought the junta’s justification to crush the opposition and naively
believed that the detention would be temporary and that everything will
return to normalcy after Bangkok’s appeal.

True, the ministry has constantly pledged to support the reconciliation
process, but so far it has been lip-service at best. Thaksin’s government
has concluded that the regime is going to stay in power for a long time,
so it is better to cash in and strike deals while the junta lasts.

So far, outside key partners have not been unified in their positions and
demands towards the Rangoon junta. This stand-off will continue with a "w"
pattern—a period of crackdown followed by a period of relaxation to
appease the UN and international community. The pattern will fit in the
so-called "temporarily-nature" raison d’etre propagated by the junta.

Burmese military leaders hope this process will drag on for as long as
possible, allowing them to further consolidate their grip on power while
resolving ongoing internal power struggles. Importantly, they want to test
the resolve of international community after the war in Iraq. After all,
the West is divided and the rest are still numb.

This could be an opportune time to deliver a serious blow to the junta. If
the UN can take a stronger lead and the international community can bridge
their differences, a greater overall pressure would be brought to bear on
the regime. Sanctions can work only if there is a synchronization of
purposes and timing.

Now is the time for all the outside players to act. Failure to respond to
the junta’ heinous actions would be disastrous and further endanger Suu
Kyi’s life, as well as the prospects of reconciliation and democracy in
Burma.

Kavi Chongkittavorn is an editor of The Nation, an English-language daily
in Bangkok.
___________

Philippine Daily Inquirer   June 8, 2003
SHARED EXPERIENCE WITH MYANMAR
By Raul J. Palabrica

TROUBLE is brewing in Myanmar. Or the Burma of old that Rudyard Kipling
made famous when it was still part of the former British Empire. Travel
journals describe the country as a place where time has stood still.

According to news reports, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's opposition leader
and Nobel peace laureate, was wounded in the head and shoulder when anti-
and pro-military groups in that country clashed two weeks ago. In the
aftermath of that incident, Myanmar's military government, whose official
title is State Peace and Development Council, placed Suu Kyi in its
custody, arrested several officers of the opposition National League for
Democracy party and suspended all classes in the universities.

As a backgrounder, in 1990, the opposition scored a landslide victory in
elections held that year. But the military, claiming that massive fraud
and irregularities marred the exercise, refused to honor the results. It
put Suu Kyi under house arrest and further tightened its grip on the
country. The restrictions on her movement were lifted only last year after
intense diplomatic efforts.

A similar heist almost happened to us in the 1985 snap elections. Beaten
by Corazon Aquino in the polls, Ferdinand Marcos used the rubber stamp
Commission on Elections and Batasang Pambansa to alter the election
results. He tried all tricks in the book to legitimize his "reelection."
He almost succeeded. But the first people power revolution intervened and
he and his family were forced to abandon Malacanang like scared rabbits.

Experience

The Myanmar people are going through a period reminiscent of the martial
law days when Marcos and his minions brutally suppressed political dissent
in the country in the name of law and order. Harassment, imprisonment or,
worse, "salvaging" was the fate of anybody who dared oppose or criticize
his actions and those of his wife and cronies.

Today, 17 years after the end of the conjugal dictatorship, many of those
who were forcibly taken away from their families for questioning by police
and military authorities for alleged sins against the government still
have to be accounted for. In an ironic twist of fate, some of the jailers
and interrogators of those desaparecidos have been promoted to higher
positions or elected to public office.

The Philippines was a functioning and vibrant democracy in 1972 when
Marcos, who was barred from running for another presidential term, felt he
was too young to retire from government so he invoked the ambiguous
martial law provision of the 1935 Constitution to perpetuate himself in
power.

In 1959, or four decades ago, Myanmar had a duly elected president and
legislative body. It suffered from social and economic problems like many
other underdeveloped countries. But the head of the armed forces then,
Gen. Ne Win, thought he could do a better job in running his country so he
seized power from Prime Minister U Nu and, since then, the military has
kept its hold on the government.

The Myanmar people expressed their desire to return to representative
democracy through the 1990 elections that Suu Kyi's party won handily. No
dice. The military top brass had no intention of giving up their
privileged positions. The genie did not want to return to the bottle after
it had experienced the joy of freedom. In the military's case, that of
absolute power.

International pressure

It's Myanmar's misfortune that its ruling officials are not sensitive to
world opinion. They do not give a damn if the rest of the international
community view them with contempt or demonize them in public forums
whenever the opportunity presents itself.

And why not? They have no reason to be scared of the "foreign devils."
They hardly leave Myanmar except for occasional trips to their closest
ally, China, for medical reasons or to buy military hardware. Their
families have no appetite for the pleasures of modern living or enjoy the
amenities that the capitals of the world can offer. They do not have bank
accounts in the United States or elsewhere in the world that can be seized
to pressure them into doing something against their will.

So when the United States and European countries demanded the lifting of
Suu Kyi's house arrest, the military junta thumbed its nose on them. It
described the demand as an interference in Myanmar's domestic affairs. It
relented only after China made the request and, even then, her movements
outside her residence were, and continue to be, closely monitored.

In the Philippines' case during the martial law years, the Marcoses were
conscious of how the rest of the world viewed them. They had the burning
desire to be accepted as part of the world's political and social elite.
How Marcos drooled when then US President Ronald Reagan invited him to the
United States for a state visit! But most importantly, they had bank
deposits and assets in the United States, Switzerland and other tax havens
that required them to be in the good graces of the leaders of those
countries.

Fervent hope

It did not come as a surprise therefore that when key US officials asked
for the release of some prominent political prisoners from detention, the
medical treatment of opposition leader Ninoy Aquino in the United States
and the easing of restrictions on political rights, Marcos was only too
willing to oblige.

As luck would have it, that attitude of greater pliability worked in the
country's favor at the height of the 1986 Edsa Revolution. When US Sen.
Paul Laxalt advised Marcos "to cut and cut clean," meaning to give up the
fight to stay in power, the latter took that advice seriously and
immediately scampered out of Malacanang.

The chances of that scenario being repeated in Myanmar are nil. Outside of
China's leaders, there are no other international personalities who have
communication links with key officials of the military junta. Besides,
with China's spotty human rights record, it's doubtful if it would even
broach the idea to the junta of giving its citizens some democratic space.
That would be like a prostitute preaching the virtues of virginity.

It's a relief that we have passed the stage that the Myanmar people are
going through now. The road to our salvation from martial law was not
easy. We can only pray that the Myanmar people will get over this crisis
with the least sacrifice in human lives.
___________

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)   June 8 2003
BURMA SHAME REPRESSION IN MYANMAR TAKES AN ECONOMIC TOLL

Burma, which since 1989 has called itself Myanmar, is living proof of the
contention that political liberty and economic development go hand in hand
and that political backwardness takes a toll in prosperity.

Economically, the primarily Buddhist nation of some 43 million is a sick
pussycat among the Asian tigers. After a period of a more relaxed
political climate, its government again has cracked down hard on the
political opposition, putting popular leader Aung San Suu Kyi under
"protective custody."

Burma's political history since independence from the British in 1948 can
be characterized only as violent and sad. Successive governments have
faced internal revolts from different political and ethnic groups. The
invariable response has been the imposition of military rule.

Heavy-handed military dictators and a military council headed by Senior
Gen. Than Shwe, in power since 1988, have smothered the country's economy,
taking more than a tiger's share of revenues and stamping out virtually
all private enterprise. Myanmar maintains a standing army of nearly a
half-million.

The star of the political opposition is Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San
Suu Kyi. Ms. Kyi's party won an overwhelming victory in the 1990
elections, garnering 80 percent of the vote in the first free elections to
be held in 30 years. The military refused to hand over power. She has been
locked up off and on since 1989.

Freed most recently last year, Ms. Kyi is now once again under detention.
The United States has maintained economic sanctions against Myanmar since
1997. Gen. Than Shwe's government is most likely to pay attention to
economic pressure that can be applied by two regional organizations, APEC
(Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum) and ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations). APEC and ASEAN should turn up the heat on the
junta to set Ms. Kyi free.
____________

Chinland Guardian News   June 7 2003
Current crisis in Burma
By Salai Za Ceu Lian

The recent violence and physical attack on Suu Kyi and her supporter by
military-sponsored thugs had caused a complete consternation and great
anxiety to not only the democratic  forces but also the whole world in
particular. It is the systematic way of harassing and responding the
democratic forces with violence by the brutal most regime, internationally
condemned SPDC.

The worst of all, the indefinite closure of colleges and Universities for
fear of unrest and nation-wide protest against their regime, is to be
treated as the killing of the next generation of future Burma.

Now the recent violence has clearly revealed to the international
community of their needs to immediately take concrete and punitive action
against the brutal regime instead of having the so-called constructive
engagement which prolong the Junta’s survival. It is the pure indication
of the Junta’s true motives on the talk, and their lack of sincerity in
the ongoing process of national reconciliation and in finding means of
ending the crisis facing the Country.

On the other hand, the good news is that the US congress has lately
approved to completely cease the 350 million worth import from Burma. So
far despite the US being a leading country along with the European Union,
on their tough foreign policy to impose sanction on the military ruled
Burma, it is known that the U.S. still imported $350 million in goods from
Burma, mostly apparel and textiles. It is certain now that this coming up
sanction imposed by US would severely affect the military generals.

According to the reliable source, there has been a speculation inside
Burma that an anti-protest against the pro-democratic movement inside
Burma is to be more taken place despite the recent shameful and brutal act
of terrorism even after being committed against the democratic forces
especially Daw Suu.

The latest incident clearly indicated the absolute necessity of discussing
Burma's political crisis in UN security council which is the most
competent body with a full legitimate mandate and their immediate
intervention in the issue of Burma’s militarism in Burma and the cruel
crime against humanity commited by the military generals.

Talking to general secretary of UNLD/LA, Dr. Lian H. Sakhong by Chinland
Guardian, regarding the recent violence and the UN role on Burma , he said
“ We, the UNLD urge the UN to send a mediator with powerful mandate from
Security Council, who can bring the regime to a dialogue table, by
force---if necessary. We also call the international community and United
Nations not only to condemn but also to take more effective action on
military junta in Burma. Sending a special envoy, whose role is merely to
facilitate the talk between the junta and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is simply
not enough, especially under current circumstances, he added.

Though the outcry and demand of Suu Kyi’s immediate release have been
constantly made by the international community and exile democratic
forces, the authority in Rangoon flatly denied by saying that they had
taken her to protective custody just for temporary. Thus far, we don’t
know the fate and the whereabouts of Suu Kyi.

Now the special envoy of the United Nation to Burma, Mr. Razali is on his
facilitating mission in Rangoon to bring both parties to find ways to
solve the five-decade long political crisis of Burma through dialogue.

We have also known that he would demand the authority to immediately
release Daw Suu. Though apart of his current mission is to secure the
release of Daw Suu however, it has not yet been known whether Mr. Razali
would gain access to see Daw Suu while the authorities constantly refused
the attempts made by the foreign diplomats to gain access to see her.


TRANSCRIPT

U.S. Department of State - Daily Press Briefing, Washington, DC   June 6 2003
Richard Boucher, Spokesman

INDEX:

BURMA
12-13        Government Crackdown on Opposition
13-14,18-19  U.S. Legislation, Other Efforts at Promoting National
Reconciliation

  QUESTION: Sir, I have a question on Burma and Nepal. I have the
statement from
  the State Department on Nepal, the deportation of the refugees, take the
  refugees back to China. Have you in between have spoken to anybody in
Nepal why
  they did it, and also is it because of pressure from the Chinese that
their not
  countrymen support of Maoists against Nepal? And what's the --

  MR. BOUCHER: I think -- well, first of all, as far as why they did it,
you'll
  have to check with the Nepalese Government on that. We have certainly
been in
  close touch with them from the very night, or day -- I can't remember
what time
  of day it was. But from the very day that these events began, our
Embassy in
  Nepal was in very close touch with Nepalese Government authorities,
making very
  clear our views, and we have subsequently been in to them several times to
  explain why this -- why these events are of such concern to us.

  QUESTION: And on Burma, does the Burmese leader (inaudible) that you're not
  paying, it look like, much attention to them because of the other issues
like
  Iraq or Middle East and all --

  MR. BOUCHER: You are not. You may not be. We have paid a lot of
attention to
  Burma throughout. This has been an important issue to us. We have, I think,
  frequently issued statements. We have frequently taken diplomatic steps. We
  have frequently taken other steps to support the efforts of -- towards
  democracy in Burma. We have taken other steps to support the UN
negotiator, Mr.
  Razali, who is headed out there again, I think right now.

  So you may not -- yes, it's true, you haven't been paying attention to
Burma,
  but I can assure you that we have.

  QUESTION: This negotiator, really, he feels that there is not much pressure
  from international community so he can gather and continue to -- to
press all
  the other peace-loving and democratic --

  MR. BOUCHER: Well, that may be true. I think the United States has
certainly
  been at the forefront of efforts to support democracy in Burma. The United
  States has certainly been very active in that regard. And the continued
  detention and isolation of Aung San Suu Kyi is a matter that we condemn.
It's a
  matter that we have raised and will continue to raise with other
governments.
  We think she needs to be released immediately. We think those who have been
  injured need to be provided with all possible medical attention, including
  assistance from international doctors.

  We have called on the State Peace and Development Council for a full
accounting
  of those who are dead, missing or injured from the ambush on Aung San
Suu Kyi's
  motorcade and we have said that ambush on May 30th was premeditated, as
far as
  we can tell.

  The explanations that they have made of the violence and subsequent events
  lacks credibility. Moreover, these actions have to be interpreted as
suggesting
  that they have decided to end efforts at national reconciliation. And that,
  too, would be a very regrettable turn of events.

  We have been actively reviewing our Burma policy in light of the current
  situation. We have expanded existing visa restrictions to include
additional
  members of the State Peace and Development Council-affiliated union,
Solidarity
  and Development Association. The administration now is reviewing the draft
  legislation that is before our House and Senate. We're looking at it very
  carefully. We believe it does contain many useful measures and we're
working
  with the sponsors to ensure passage of appropriate legislation.

  As I pointed out before, U.S. -- United Nations Special Envoy Razali
Ismail has
  arrived in Rangoon to continue his efforts to promote national
reconciliation.
  He's begun meetings with government officials and we feel he absolutely
must be
  allowed to visit Aung San Suu Kyi.

  QUESTION: She has called on the United States that please use your
liberty to
  promote her liberty. That's what she had been saying for the last 12 years.

  MR. BOUCHER: And I think that is what we have been doing. We've been
among her
  -- as I said, among her foremost supporters, and supporters of the cause of
  democracy in Burma.

  QUESTION: Richard, a couple of points on that. How many additional
members have
  you added to that visa list?

  MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to check. I don't have the full details with me
here.

  QUESTION: And on the legislation, can you say which measures you find
useful?

  MR. BOUCHER: I can't, at this point. We're looking at it very carefully,
and
  we'll also look at it as events unfold on the ground.

  QUESTION: Are there any elements in it which you would prefer to see
changed,
  for one reason or another?

  MR. BOUCHER: At this point, I can't get into any precise details. We're
looking
  at it. We see some useful things, but we'll work with the sponsors and
come up
  with what we think is appropriate legislation, if we can.

  QUESTION: Can I jump one country -- jump from Burma over Thailand to
Cambodia
  for a second?
   .................

  QUESTION: Back on Burma real quick.

  MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

  QUESTION: The legislation up on the Hill is proposing sanctions on Burmese
  imports. Does that fall under the useful?

  MR. BOUCHER: As I said, I don't think I am quite at a position in this
point to
  describe what aspects we might work out into what we would consider, and
the
  Congress would consider, appropriate legislation. I think the point to
be made
  now is that there are a number of things going on in Burma that we have
asked
  the government to correct.

  There is a visit of the UN Special Envoy right now going on, and we
would hope
  that he would be able to see Aung San Suu Kyi and would get some clarity on
  these positions and on these policy steps during that visit.

  And, third, we are also now working with the Congress to try to come up
with
  what we consider and they consider to be appropriate legislation based
on the
  useful things we see in their draft so far.

  I don't think I can quite, at this point, tell you what will be in the
final
  legislation because we have to look at how events evolve, look at how
they work
  with or don't work with Mr. Razali, and then work with the Congress on the
  contents of legislation.

  Okay. And then we'll go there next.


STATEMENT

Aliran Executive Committee   June 5 2003
Burma's Dictators Not Serious About Reform
http://www.aliran.com

We are appalled to note that Burma's pro-democracy leader and Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention after being arrested by the
illegal and illegitimate military junta on 30 May 2003. Eighteen others
were arrested with Aung San Suu Kyi at a rally in Monywa, about 600 km
north of the capital Rangoon.

Aung San Suu Kyi was said to have received cuts to her face and shoulder
during clashes between her supporters and government-linked thugs. The
military government said four people were killed in last week's clashes,
but the death toll was horrendous and, according to eyewitnesses, more than
60 people died in the incident.

Burma observers say the violence was actually carefully planned to disrupt
the activities of the democracy movement and provide a pretext for a
nationwide crackdown on its leaders following the tremendous support she
generated. The regime also detained seven leaders of Suu Kyi's party, the
NLD, shut down the party headquarters and closed colleges indefinitely.

These measures indicate the dictators in Burma have never been serious
about reform. We find it difficult to understand how the UN Special Envoy
Razali Ismail is going to tackle the obviously recalcitrant Burmese junta
during his trip to Burma this month - the tenth he has undertaken so far
under UN auspices. It is obvious that Razali has not only misread the junta
but that he hasn't a clue as to how to deal with the junta let alone how to
make them keep their promises. Is the Special Envoy's inability to
understand and thus predict the junta's mindset and actions the basis for
further UN-junta talks? If so, the UN's approach is indeed on very shaky
ground.

As for ASEAN's constructive engagement policy with Burma, it is a sham. If
anything, ASEAN has only discredited itself by admitting an unethical and
illegitimate government into its ranks. And for what? Profits for ASEAN
companies even as the citizens of Burma bleed?

Instead of toadying up to the Burmese junta and defending their actions as
being beyond ASEAN reproach yet again, it is time ASEAN took itself and its
international human rights responsibilities seriously. And so too the UN
Secretary-General. It is time substantive sanctions were imposed once and
for all upon the junta to end their brutal and illegitimate rule in Burma.

This statement was sent to the local media including The Star, New Straits
Times, and The Sun.

ALIRAN is a reform movement dedicated to Justice, Freedom, and Solidarity
and is listed on the roster of the Economic and Social Council of the
United Nations

Website: http://www.aliran.com/