Mainichi Letter to Editor

[carol@xxxxxxx]

Mainichi Daily News, Tuesday, June 4, 1996

Readers Forum: "Coverage of Burma"

To the Editor:

	I thank you for reporting the activities of the Japanese business
federation Keidanren in Burma ("Business group upgrades ties with Burma,"
May 29, 1996).  As one who studied in Japan for more than a decade, I
sincerely want to see Japan assume the role of advocate and leader of
democracy and human rights in Asia, particularly in Burma.  But upgrading
Keidanren's ties at a "bad time" without "turning back" is sharply counter
to expectations for Japan's role in my country.
	Advocates of resuming official development assistance (ODA) to Burma have
made it sound reasonable by first offering assistance to a nursing school.
However, the truth is otherwise.  Actually, this project is heavily ironic,
since it means giving money to the very same military regime that brutally
gunned down nurses at Rangoon General Hospital in 1988.  Although one might
get the impression that ODA is used solely for humanitarian purposes, the
facts are to the contrary.
	Of Japan's ODA prior to 1988, virtually nothing -- nearly zero percent --
went to health, medicine or social welfare projects.  Apart from this single
"showcase" nursing school project, ODA from Japan will be for infrastructure
and serve to extend the military's oppressive rule.  The Burmese people's
lives will not be enhanced; their sufferings will actually be prolonged.
	Consider this "humanitarian" project itself, for a moment.  Given current
health care standards in Burma, Japan's aid will be wholly ineffective.
Why?  Because the impoverished majority can never afford treatment at
existing hospitals.  A patient must pay about 100 kyats per day in a
hospital, not including medication or surgery.  One day's hospitalization is
more than one-tenth of a civil servant's entire monthly salary.  Obviously,
the shortage of nurses and doctors, which sharply worsened after 1989 when
thousands left the country, is not the underlying problem.
	The real issue is whether or not the military regime will respect the will
of the Burmese people, whether it will stop fighting against its own people.
I do not think Japan should side with the military against the people of
Burma.  Obviously, the question is not simply a matter of money, as Japanese
business likes to claim.  This is a matter of morality, right and wrong, one
about which civilized people should care.
	Since the problem goes deeper than ODA money or simple diplomacy, the
Japanese political community should make an effort to understand the
National League for Democracy's position.  I am sure the opposition does not
want to open a new front against the flow of Japanese business.  U Kyi
Maung, the NLD vice-chairman, always cites the beauty of Japanese culture
and the marvel of Japan's great progress in his speeches.  He and others
like him do not want to turn their energies against Japanese money; they
want Japan to understand Burma's reality.  To me, the social and economic
conditions in Burma today are actually very similar to conditions in early
1988.  Injustice persists all over the country.  The superficial "boom"
economy has only made the injustices more acute.
	As an aside, I urge the leaders of Japanese business not to be taken in by
the promises of a regime that keeps no promise.  Please understand that you
money will certainly keep Burmese people crying longer.
	Japan has frequently expressed to the military regime its disgust for human
rights abuses, its despair at failure to honor the elections, and its
disappointment over reform.  At this critical time, I urge the Japanese
government to respect the will of Burmese people, by not prematurely
resuming ODA to Burma before any meaningful progress has taken place.

DR. KYAW TINT
Alhambra, California