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Editorial in OC Register
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Editorial in Orange County Register, Wednesday, 10 July 1996.
(E-mail:letters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Fax: 714-565-3657; Letters to the
Editor, The Orange County Register, PO Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711,
USA).
Bright light in Burma
The United States can best support freedom in Burma by condemning the
dictatorship. Unfortunately, some well-meaning U.S. congressmen
mistakenly are taking a wrong approach.
The cry for freedom rings louder in Burma, breaking through the
dictatorship's barriers of censorship. Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel
Peace Prize laureate and leader of the democracy movement, continues
speaking out against the un-elected regime: the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC).
Last weekend, 10,000 citizens heard her weekly speech given from her home.
That was the biggest crowd in years, according to U Hla Shwe, general
secretary of the Federation for Democracy and Human Rights in Burma. "She
is courageously showing civil disobedience by disdaining the SLORC's
laws," he told us. "She is speaking in spite of the illegal dictators'
threats to jail the democratic movement."
The regime is outraged that she pulled out of a SLORC convention writing a
new national constitution. She explained, "People are not interested in
the present national convention or the constitution they are drawing up."
Instead, Mrs. Suu Kyi is drawing up a new, democratic constitution with
her own party, the National League for Democracy: "We will continue
consolidating ourselves and continue to fight for our rights, not just as
a political party but as a movement that represents the will of the people
of Burma." She added, "Yes, the party congress gave us the responsibility
for drawing up a draft constitution and we will go ahead with that."
The United States can best support freedom in Burma by condemning the
dictatorship. Unfortunately, some well-meaning U.S. congressmen
mistakenly are taking the wrong approach. Senate Bill 1511, the so-called
"Burma Democracy and Freedom Act," would impose sanctions on Burma. It is
sponsored by Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky.
But such sanctions have been imposed on Cuba's communist dictatorship for
30 years. The sanctions mainly have strengthened dictator Fidel Castro's
grip on power by isolating Cuba from the currents of worldwide trade and
freedom.
By contrast, free trade with the old Soviet bloc brought in refreshing
gusts of democracy and free markets.
Sanctions only harm businesses and middle-class citizens, destroying the
livelihoods and international contacts of the very people needing the
private resources to build democracy and freedom.
A better path would be to modify SB 1511, cutting out the sanctions, but
retaining the condemnation of the dictatorship. It also would help if
President Clinton pressured the dictatorship to start respecting human
rights.