Burma can't be bought with American

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Subject: Burma can't be bought with American dollars

HEADLINES
A declaration worth a 'Happy Birthday'

Burma can't be bought with American dollars

Don't let democracy die under economic crisis: Asian dissidents




NEWS

A declaration worth a 'Happy Birthday'
Representatives of the world's governments gathered this week to celebrate the
50th birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Inevitably, much
of the focus was on how far the majority of the world's nations are from
achieving its lofty goals. But the remarkable progress made in the last half-
century deserves to be noted, and commemorated.

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are
endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a
spirit of brotherhood... " Those are the fine words of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, formulated in Paris 50 years ago, ratified by the
United Nations General Assembly and since formally accepted by nearly all of
the world's nations.
They were written in the shadow of the Holocaust, in response to the multiple
horrors of a world war in which an enormous number of civilians, and soldiers,
suffered and died in a war quite unlike any known before for its careless
ferocity. The Declaration was born into a world in which there was no nation
in which discrimination on the grounds of race was not a normal, unremarkable
occurrence, in which women were regarded with little comment as inferior,
second-class citizens. It was truly revolutionary.
The human race took a long time to get to this point. Historically, a line
might be drawn back to the institutions of Roman law, under which a male
citizen had the right to a fair trial before his peers (including a good
chance to bribe the jury). It was a start, but that same Roman could murder
his wife or crucify a slave on a whim, without legal retribution.
Then in England, a king was forced by his barons to sign a document we know as
the Magna Carta, a document Eleanor Roosevelt compared to the Universal
Declaration, giving protection from arbitrary arrest and judgement, which was
eventually extended to all Englishmen, and finally women.
The French Revolution and the American Revolution all extended the ideals of
liberty and equality, if often not their implementation. But the jump made in
Paris in the cooling autumn of 1948 was still enormous.
As in the decades that followed. There are now some nations in the world in
which the law, at least, provides that individuals should be treated as
dignified, free human beings, and not discriminated against on the basis of
colour, creed or gender. Many other nations make at least some gestures in
that direction.
It is easy to be critical, to look around Asia, for example, and say there is
not one nation that lives entirely up to the ideals of the Universal
Declaration. But it is a model, and some, a scant few, of the nations of the
world have gone bravely close to implementing that model. They have shown it
is possible, and the Universal Declaration provides a clear track to follow.
As Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said in a taped statement
presented this week at the Human Rights Defenders Summit in Paris, it is
important to look forward, to see what is possible, rather than focusing on
current failings.
Inevitably, much of the talk this week has been of genocide in Rwanda and
Bosnia, female genital mutilation in Africa, Tibetan mistreatment by the
Chinese and torture and false imprisonment around the world.
But while all of those topics are vitally important, we should also make a
little time to celebrate; to place into historical perspective one of the
great achievements of mankind; and to remember the many brave individuals -
some celebrated and lauded, others who lived and died in painful, anonymous
misery - who contributed towards its development and recognition around the
globe. If the human race can make as much progress in the next 50 years in
implementing the Universal Declaration as has been made over the past half-
century, the grandchildren of today's children will be born into a far finer,
fairer world. 
BANGKOK POST - DEC 12, 98


WHAT OTHERS SAY: Burma can't be bought with American dollars
RANGOON, Burma -- Burmese state-run newspapers said on Friday that the
government can't be bought off with a World Bank offer of US$1 billion in aid
to open a dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 
Burma's military government has been officially silent on the offer, which was
revealed last month, but commentaries in the military-controlled press are
believed to reflect the thinking of at least some members of the government. 
''National objectives cannot be enticed and bought with the dollar,'' said a
commentary in the New Light of Myanmar ''To obey such condition is beneath
one's dignity.'' 
The commentary questioned who would benefit from spending a billion dollars to
install the bogadaw, or the wife of a white alien, on the political stage. 
Suu Kyi is married to a British academic, which the military rulers have said
disqualifies her from political office or becoming a national leader. 
The United States charge d'affaires in Rangoon, Kent Wiedemann, said on Voice
of America radio on Thursday that the US would help fund the World Bank
assistance. 
The military has ruled Burma, since 1962, during which time the resource-rich
country has become one of the world's poorest nations. 
The generals have adamantly refused to talk with Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace
Prize winner and leader of the country's embattled democracy movement. 
The only time they chose to meet her face to face was when they had her under
house arrest for six years from 1989-95. 
Suu Kyi's party won 82 per cent of the seats in Parliament in a 1990 election
the military refused to honor. 
In recent months, the military has arrested about a thousand members of her
party and refused to release them unless they sign agreements to quit the
party, according to party leaders. 
The military has said the party members have been invited to guest houses,
where after friendly discussions they chose to resign voluntarily. 
Burmese Press 
The Nation - Dec 13, 98

Don't let democracy die under economic crisis: Asian dissidents
posted at 22:05 hrs (Bangkok time) 
PARIS, Dec 12 -- Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng led a call by Asian activists
meeting in Paris on Saturday for the fight for human rights in the region to
be upheld despite the economic and financial crisis. 
Speaking at a Conference of Democrats of Asia, Wei also warned the West that
even though many Asia nations were moving to free up their markets, ''economic
development will not in itself provoke a move to democracy.'' 
Chinese politics itself was at a ''critical moment,'' he said, adding that
while China was opening up to investors and trade, only a very few people were
reaping the financial benefits. 
Wei was deported from China to the United States last year after spending all
but six months of the last 18 years in Chinese prisons for calling for
democratic reform. 
Olivier Darrason, a former French politician now with a French rights group,
said the collapse of several so-called Tiger economies meant nascent
democracies could return to totalitarian means to restore order. 
The prospect of opening doors to the biggest number of potential consumers in
the world was more important to the West than human rights, he suggested. 
Some of the dissidents -- from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, North Korea,
Myanmar, Tibet and Vietnam -- told of atrocities and repression they had lived
through in their homelands. 
Kong Chul-Hwan, 30, who defected from North Korea to South Korea via China
after spending 10 years in a ''re-education'' camp for ''anti-
revolutionaries'', described the hardships of the country's political victims.
Many women and children were left to starve to death in compounds which
resembled walled-in villages more than prisons. Any who tried to escape and
were caught were ''shot in public,'' he said. 
Kong drew surprised looks from Chinese activists when he said that, as a North
Korean, he found China to be ''a country where one lives well, where the
people are easy-going and where one would like to live. 
''I don't think any country in the world is as bad as North Korea,'' he added.
Tenzin Choedrak, imprisoned for 19 years in his homeland Tibet, found China
less benevolent. Chinese troops took over Tibet in 1951, and Beijing claims
the territory has belonged to it since the 13th century. 
The Chinese, he said, have set about destroying Tibetan culture, pillaged the
earth and brought in millions of 'colonists' in order to outnumber the six
million Tibetans, who have been systematically deprived of their liberty.
Between one million and five million people have been slaughtered there, he
said. 
Ging Ginanjar, an Indonesian journalist who also spent time in jail for his
convictions, said that despite former president Suharto's exit, the outlook
for his country remained ''pessimistic'' with the military occupation of East
Timor continuing and repression still in force. 
Vo Van Ai, the president of the Vietnam Committee for the Defense of Human
Rights, also echoed the view that there was little reason to hope that civil
liberties would gain ground in Asia. Repression looked set to continue in
Vietnam, he added. 
The conference was held two days after the 50th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights which originated in Paris. (AFP)
The Nation - Dec 13, 98