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News Related to Burma (2)
Myanmar turns out to be a non-talking point
MYANMAR was the biggest non-issue at this week's security meeting in
Singapore -- despite attempts by Western news agencies to play up the
issue in their reports on the meeting.
There were no in-depth discussion of the issue at any of the sessions,
say CSCAP members.
In fact, it is learnt the US view, expressed by its representatives at
the meeting, was that Myanmar was not as big an issue as it was put out
to be.
The Americans apparently told the meeting that the issue should not be
blown out of proportion.
Mr Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs
in the Defence Department, took part in the meeting, making a keynote
speech on US-Asian security policy in "Clinton Two" -- President Bill
Clinton's second term.
Also participating were members of the US CSCAP.
The seven Asean members agreed last weekend that Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar would be admitted to the grouping at the July summit in Kuala
Lumpur.
This came after the US slapped trade sanctions on Myanmar for continued
violation of human rights.
There are fears that the issue could bring the US and Asean on a
collision course. But it is believed that, contrary to press reports,
the US would not boycott future Asean meetings, including the Asean
Regional Forum talks, even if Myanmar attended these events.
"Asean has already got Myanmar on board. It will cope with the issue,"
said an Asean source.
Monday June 9, 1997 Edition
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Religion
Dalai Lama Gains Popularity as Interest in Buddhism Rises
Daniel B. Wood, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- Hands folded, he sits in lotus position on a
silk-brocaded throne, flanked by 200 monks in orange robes. Behind him,
136 tapestries cover the wall. Flowers and candles punctuate the huge
stage.
As the monks halt a droning chant that has echoed through the cavernous
basketball arena, the lone figure recites aloud in Tibetan. "I am a
simple monk," says Tenzin Gyatso, also known as His Holiness the 14th
Dalai Lama, "spiritual and temporal leader" of the Himalayan kingdom of
Tibet. "I am here to tell you that you can conquer anger and hatred in
your heart."
The man who fled his country in 1959 is riding high in the world
spotlight. After 37 years of globe-trotting activism, touting
nonviolence as the way to end China's repressive occupation of Tibet,
the Dalai Lama is hot.
"The sharp rise in public concern and awareness about human rights
worldwide and the massive growth of Buddhism in Western countries have
dovetailed to give the Dalai Lama a higher profile than he has ever
had," says Mark Muesse, professor of religion at Rhodes College in
Memphis. "Because of his stance on nonviolence amid his own repression,
he represents to people of all faiths the embodiment of humaneness that
he teaches we are all capable of."
"Generally, I want to promote human behavior that is a sense of caring
responsibility and respect for others' rights. That is my main message,"
said the Dalai Lama in an interview in Santa Barbara, where he is
speaking at a conference on peace.
Tenzin Gyatso was recognized at the age of 2, in accord with Tibetan
tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor. He is seen by
Tibetans as an incarnation of Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of
compassion. The Dalai Lama is spiritual and political leader to 6
million Tibetans living within the Himalayan kingdom and about 115,000
in diaspora around the globe. This year, with the passing of longtime
Chinese premier Deng Xiaoping, shifting power in Russia, and the
recognition of human rights as evidenced in South Africa and a destroyed
Berlin Wall, Tenzin Gyatso says the time is ripe for a change in
Sino-Tibetan relations.
"Definitely, definitely, I feel a tide is turning," he said. The gradual
replacement of older-aged, hard-line military/political leaders is
increasingly laying the groundwork to replace repressive, totalitarian
policies that are not working, he says. Worldwide pressure for more
democratic policies coupled with nascent forms of similar activism in
the country is nibbling at Chinese resolve.
The man who won the Nobel Peace Prize is drawing crowds in Western
Europe and the United States as no time in his exile and in levels not
seen since the counter-culture '60s. The growing number of monasteries,
meditation groups, and publications all attest to Buddhism being on the
rise in the West. But experts say this time around the flowering might
have a different cast.
"Tibetan Buddhism is the form that is now most on the ascendancy," Mr.
Muesse says. "People like the florid sense of ceremony and ritual that
come with [it]."
In keeping with a trend that is cutting across all religions, Tibetan
Buddhism is attracting seekers who desire the more affective side of
religion, such as chanting, dancing, and ceremony. But the Dalai Lama
thinks a mere sense of mystery or desire for the exotic is insufficient
reasons to pursue Buddhism.
"You know," he continues, "there is a stirring in Europe, America,
Australia to try something new, exotic. I tell them it is better to
follow their own religious traditions. It is human nature for people to
tire of the normal in their lives. They have a tendency to want new
things.... That level of attraction does not come from a deep sense of
existential quest but rather has more to do with a surface-level
attraction."
(AP)
Burmese Democracy Organizer Dies
Monday, June 9, 1997 7:12 am EDT
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- A democracy advocate jailed by Burma's
military leaders since 1991 has died of heart failure, the government
said today.
Tin Shwe, a 67-year-old organizer for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy, died Sunday at Rangoon General Hospital, said a
government statement received in Bangkok.
He was known to be in bad health, said an NLD member in Bangkok,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
Tin Shwe, a lawyer and well-known writer from Monywa, 380 miles
northwest of Rangoon, also was a prominent student activist during the
democracy revolt of 1962.
He had been arrested as he gave food to Buddhist monks in a
commemoration of victims in a failed democracy uprising three years
earlier, the NLD member in Bangkok said.
Burma's military government suppressed the uprising by gunning down more
than 3,000 unarmed civilians.
Tin Shwe spent quite some time in jail before being tried, and an NLD
source in Bangkok said he had been sentenced to 10 years that was
extended to 15 years.
The government said Tin Shwe was arrested for ``his involvement in the
instigation of civil unrest and for the attempt to form the parallel
government.''
The military carried out massive arrests of the democratic opposition
that year, following a 1990 election in which Suu Kyi's party won 82
percent of the seats in a parliament that the military refused to
convene.
Conditions in Burma's prisons, particularly for political prisoners,
have been described as cruel and inhumane by several human rights
groups. Prisoners are denied medicine and sometimes forced to live in
tiny cells.
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