[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Myanmar praises Australia on rights



Subject: Myanmar praises Australia on rights body 

Myanmar praises Australia on rights body 


AFP, Yangon, 19 November 1999. Myanmar says "fruitful" talks are taking place
on Australia's bid to set up a human rights commission
here in an initiative condemned by pro-democracy activists. 

In a major policy speech, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, head of military
intelligence and a leading member of the junta, denied his country was guilty
of human rights abuses. 

He said in remarks published by the official press Friday that Myanmar had been
holding "fruitful and meaningful" talks with Australia on its plan to set up a
commission. 

"Allow me to state that Myanmar does not commit abuses," he told an invited
audience at the end of a diplomacy course here. 

Australia's proposal has stirred the ire of many foreign campaigners and
opponents of Myanmar's military rulers. 

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was angered Australia thought it could
work with the junta to improve human rights. 

"It's a bit like asking the fox to look after the chicken," she told AFP in
August. 

Her criticisms followed a visit by the head of the Australian Human Rights
Commission, Chris Sidoti, to Myanmar earlier this year. 

Australia has defended the plan as a means of engaging the junta, which is
accused of perpetrating forced labour, rape and torture, and other human rights
violations. 

In his remarks, carried by major newspapers here, the general claimed no death
sentences had been carried out since 1988, when the current junta seized power,
and pointed to Myanmar's decision to
allow the Red Cross to visit its prisons as proof of its innocence. 

Khin Nyunt said the military had "no desire whatsoever to hold power for a long
time ... once the constitution has emerged, there must be a transfer of power
to the constitutional government." 

Opponents of the junta ridicule this stand, saying a convention is dragging its
feet on drafting a new constitution for Myanmar, which is anyway specifically
designed to exclude Aung San Suu Kyi from
power. 

They suspect the military will try to establish state apparatus similar to that
of Suharto-era Indonesia when the army kept a tight grip on power. 

Khin Nyunt also advised opponents of his regime not to be swayed by "negative
images" of the country.

He did not refer to Aung San Suu Kyi by name but she is the constant target of
attacks by the military and the official press. 

Government should "give priority to the entire population of 48 million, rather
than putting emphasis on one individual or one organisation," he said. 

His remarks were published a week after it was revealed the World Bank had
advised Myanmar sweeping political reform was vital if it was to reinvigorate
the struggling economy. 

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory
in a general election in 1990 but the military has refused to relinquish power.



Internet ProLink PC User