Myanmar Activists Lacking Japan's S

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Japan Times
September 11, 1998

Respect for Democracy Movement Urged
Myanmar Activists Lacking Japan's Support

by TOMOKO SHIBUYA Staff writer

Since Aug. 13, Thaung Myint Oo has spent most of his time standing outside
the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. Like a dozen others, he has
given up his job to join a demonstration against the country's military junta.

Some protesters have taken ill from standing in the rain, but he is
determined to continue.

"Our individual problems are nothing compared to the future of Burma,"
Thaung Myint Oo, 30, said, holding up a picture of prodemocracy leader and
1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. "We want to let the people
back home know that we support them and remain active even when we are abroad."

Prodemocracy activists like Thaung Myint Oo insist on referring to their
nation as Burma, the name used until the State Law and Order Restoration
Council seized power and officially changed it to Myanmar in 1989.

After the junta stopped Suu Kyi's car on a bridge near Yangon for the second
time last month, Myanmar activists in various countries-including Thailand,
Australia and the United States-renewed demonstrations against the military
government.
The ongoing demonstration in front of the Myanmar Embassy-which they plan to
continue until at least Sept. 18, the 10th anniversary of the junta's
rule-is one of the longest and largest-scaled protests by these activists in
Japan.

"The Burmese prodemocracy movement here is at a 10-year peak, " said Aung
Thu, the publisher of Voice of Burma, a Tokyo-based weekly newsletter. "It
may not bring a big change, but it is giving awareness to other Burmese
residents as well as the Japanese people."
According to the Myanmar Embassy, about 10,000 Myanmar people reside in
Japan today, most of whom have overstayed their visas.

About 150 have been openly vocal about seeking political freedom in their
country.

A Myanmar shopkeeper in Tokyo, who asked not to be identified, said that
many other Myanmar people also support the movement but cannot afford. to be
vocal because they are concerned for their families back home.

To coordinate movements by the activists, four organizations of Myanmar
expatriates - including the Japanese branches of the National League for
Democracy (Liberated Area ) and Burma Youth Volunteer Association - have
recently formed a joint action committee.

The Voice of Burma has also witnessed an expansion in its readership from
some 300 copies when it was founded in 1995 to almost 800 copies today,
according to Aung Thu.

Japanese have also begun to show more interest in the movement. The number
of members in the People's Forum on Burma, a Japanese nongovernmental
organization backing the Myanmar activists, doubled from about 100 in 1996
to 200 this year.

Despite the increasing momentum, however, Myanmar prodemocracy activists
here continue to face difficulties.

Last month, three activists who resided in Japan and once led pro-democracy
groups here changed their stance to support the junta and returned to their
native Myanmar.

Win Naing, who in 1992 became one of the first Myanmar refugees to be
granted political asylum in Japan, reportedly lauded the junta for making
efforts to pursue the country's interests and for obtaining membership in
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Aung Thu argues that their change in attitude is unlikely to affect other
Myanmar people in Japan. "Most Burmese here consider them traitors. Many of
us continue to support the prodemocracy activities. "

An even more serious problem for the activists here is their lack of rights
and freedom due to their legal status.

Japan has only granted refugee status to four Myanmar citizens between 1990
and 1997, compared with 390 in the United States, 110 in Germany and 30 in
France, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Eighty-seven such applications to Japan are still pending.

Japanese lawyer Shogo Watanabe, who has been supporting the Myanmar
activists, criticized Japan's rigid system of granting asylum, saying it has
added tremendous stress to the prodemocracy activists. "The current system
is not made to support refugees but to deport them back to where their lives
would be threatened."

An official of the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau said that the
ministry examines each application without prejudice.

But some critics including Watanabe suspect that Japan's political and
diplomatic relations with an asylumseeker's home country heavily influence
the government's decision. Japan, they argue, is reluctant to provide asylum
to those from countries that maintain friendly ties with Tokyo.

Despite protests from human rights groups, the Japanese government in March
partially lifted its ban on official yen loans to Myanmar and extended Y2.5
billion, citing "emergency" repairs to Yangon's international airport. Such
loans had been suspended since 1988 following the military crackdown on
prodemocracy movements.

Watanabe also insists that Japan improve its treatment of refugee-status
applicants.
In some countries, such as Australia, asylum-seekers are usually granted
special rights when they apply for refugee status allowing them to work
legally and obtain various benefits, including health care, while awaiting a
government decision, he said.

But in Japan, they are treated as illegal residents and deprived of the
legal right to work or have health insurance.

Some activists have even been detained. A 26-year-old Myanmar prodemocracy
activist who arrived in Japan in March has been kept in the East Japan
Immigration Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, despite his application
for refugee status.

"I didn't commit any crime nor did I do anything wrong (against) the
Japanese government, but I have been detained for over five months," said
the activist, who confessed he is already exhausted, both physically and
mentally. "If I get deported, the Burmese government will kill me
immediately. I just need to stay here until my country restores peace and
democracy."

Thae Thae Eiswe, 19, feels the human rights of many Myanmar people are
abused in Japan. 

"The Japanese (government) treats us like criminals. But they should
understand that we wouldn't be here if only Burma was democratic."

There are, nevertheless some signs of improvement. Last Tuesday, the Justice
Ministry for the first time provided a special stay permit to a Myanmar man
whose application for refugee status was denied.

The permit will make his life much easier, providing him the legal right to
stay and work in Japan as well as gain national health insurance for several
years.

But Aung Thu claims the permits are still different from refugee status.
"Our lives will be easier, but politically unsatisfactory," Aung Thu said,
adding that they will still face restrictions when they try to travel
abroad, for example.

Watanabe agrees: "If you consider Japan-Burma relations in the long run, the
Japanese government needs to drastically change its asylum-granting system
to treat Myanmar prodemocracy activists with respect."

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