[theburmanetnews] BurmaNet Special-

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_____________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
August 28, 2000, Update: Stand-off at Dala, Issue # 1608
_____________________________________________________


Editor's Note: This special issue focuses on the stand-off between 
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime at Dala Township.  Today's news 
about Burma unrelated to the stand off is carried in issue 1607.



AP: Suu Kyi's health could be in jeopardy, says party 
Reuters: Myanmar says treating defiant Suu Kyi well
Reuters: Opposition attacks Myanmar rulers on Suu Kyi
AFP: No resolution in sight to Aung San Suu Kyi showdown 
SPDC: Government Provides Daw Su Kyi and Her Assistants with Amenities
AFP: Japan urged to help end Aung San Suu Kyi stand-off 
The Nation:  Repercussions from Suu Kyi's stand-off
FTUB/BIDD: Call to Boycott Companies Doing Business in Burma
Govt of Norway: Norway condemns the military juntas infringement of 
Aung San Suu Kyi
FNLDA: Downer puts another nail in Australia human rights policy





AP: Suu Kyi's health could be in jeopardy, says party 

August 28, 2000

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's health 
could be in jeopardy while she remains stranded in a swampy, mosquito-
infested area in a standoff with the military, her party said Monday. 

 But despite the hazard, Suu Kyi will not accept any medical help 
from the government, the National League for Democracy said, though 
an ambulance and a medical team were put on standby by the 
authorities. 

 Suu Kyi, two other party leaders and 12 youth supporters have been 
stuck since Thursday in the Yangon suburb of Dala, where police 
blocked their way to Kungyangon, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of 
Yangon, for party organization work. 

 The government says it is not safe for Suu Kyi to travel out of 
Yangon where she could be in danger from ``terrorists,'' a claim 
dismissed by the NLD. 

 The group has spent the last five days and four nights in the grassy 
open area where the vehicles were shunted by police. They have slept 
either in the vehicles or in makeshift tents. 

 NLD Chairman Aung Shwe said the vehicles are parked in a muddy field 
swarming with mosquitoes. He said four party members brought Suu 
Kyi's party mosquito repellent, medicine, bedding and plastic sheets 
on Monday. 

 Suu Kyi, awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has long been at odds 
with Myanmar's military rulers. She was freed from seven years of 
house arrest in 1995, but her movements remain restricted. 

 Her NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 general election, but 
the military refused to honor the results. It has since constantly 
harassed and arrested party members. 

 Her last attempt to leave Yangon, in 1998, resulted in a similar 
standoff when she stayed her car for 13 days before returning home on 
her doctor's advice. 

 Party leaders fear another long-drawn-out deadlock this time too. 

 ``They are a determined group and we are a resolute group,'' Nyunt 
Wai, a senior NLD official, said Monday. 

 In a protest letter sent Monday to Gen. Than Shwe, the leader of the 
Myanmar junta, Aung Shwe said the place where Suu Kyi and others were 
stopped ``was unfit to live and could affect their health'' 
 If that happens, ``The authorities who commanded the restriction 
will be held responsible,'' the letter said. 

 A government statement Monday said Suu Kyi was provided ``with some 
beach umbrellas, and a new mobile bathroom to ensure her maximum 
comfort and well-being.'' 

 One photo posted Monday on the government's website, 
www.myanmar.com, showed what it said was Suu Kyi and members of her 
party walking to a house, while other pictures showed members of her 
group exercising and shopping. 





____________________________________________________


Reuters: Myanmar says treating defiant Suu Kyi well


 By Aung Hla Tun 

 YANGON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government insisted on 
Monday it was doing everything to ensure the comfort and safety of 
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she spent a fifth day in her 
car in a roadside protest outside Yangon. 

 ``Since this morning government officials have provided Daw Suu Kyi 
and her companions with some beach umbrellas and a new mobile 
bathroom to ensure her maximum comfort and well-being,'' the 
government said in a statement. 

 The 55-year-old Nobel laureate and more than a dozen members of her 
National League for Democracy (NLD) were halted by police on Thursday 
as they headed south of the capital in two vehicles, and have been 
locked in a stand-off ever since. 

 It was the first time Suu Kyi had tried to leave Yangon since 
another roadside confrontation in 1998 that ended after 13 days when 
deteriorating health and dehydration forced her to return 
home in an ambulance. 

 The government says Suu Kyi is being prevented from travelling 
beyond the town of Dala for her own protection, due to threats of 
violence by ``armed separatist terrorist groups.'' It has asked her 
to go home but says she is free to remain in Dala. 

 In its statement, the government said Suu Kyi and her companions 
were ``still continuing their rest at Sarpachuan ward of Dala town, a 
small but scenic and charming town which is a 10-minute boat ride 
from Yangon.'' 

 

____________________________________________________


Reuters: Opposition attacks Myanmar rulers on Suu Kyi

 By Aung Hla Tun 

 YANGON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition 
accused the country's military rulers on Monday of violating human 
rights with travel restrictions on Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 
who is locked in a roadside stand-off near Yangon. 

 As Suu Kyi spent a fifth day in her car in the town of Dala, her 
National League for Democracy (NLD) sent a letter to the government 
demanding she be allowed to travel freely and saying the authorities 
were responsible if she came to any harm. 

 ``The actions of the authorities amount to a violation of democracy 
and human rights,'' said the NLD, which won 1990 elections by a 
landslide but was never allowed to govern. 
 ``The place where the NLD leaders are being held is unsuitable for 
people to stay overnight, and their health will be affected after 
some time. If this happens, those who stopped them and those who 
ordered them to do so will be entirely responsible.'' 

 The 55-year-old Suu Kyi, her driver and 14 NLD members were halted 
by police in Dala on Thursday as they headed south of the capital in 
two vehicles and have been there ever since. 
 It was the first time Suu Kyi had tried to leave Yangon since 
another roadside confrontation in 1998 that ended after 13 days, when 
deteriorating health and dehydration forced her to return home in an 
ambulance. 

 Suu Kyi was under house arrest for six years until 1995 and her 
movements remain severely restricted. 

 GOVERNMENT SAYS PROTECTING SUU KYI 

 The government says Suu Kyi was stopped for her own safety as 
``separatist terrorist groups'' were in the area, and insisted it was 
doing everything to ensure her comfort. It has said she is free to 
stay in Dala but is encouraged to return home. 

 ``Since this morning government officials have provided Daw Suu Kyi 
and her companions with some beach umbrellas and a new mobile 
bathroom to ensure her maximum comfort and well-being,'' the 
government said in a statement on Monday. 

 But the NLD said it would refuse medicines and treatment offered by 
the authorities. It said that if travel in the area was dangerous, 
the government had been lying when it said it had brought peace to 
the country. 

 ``The authorities have to lift the restrictions as soon as 
possible,'' the NLD statement said. 
 Several countries have criticised the treatment of Suu Kyi, with the 
United States and European Union demanding that she be allowed to 
travel freely. 

 But the government says they had misunderstood the situation, and 
insisted Suu Kyi was being provided with ample supplies. 

 To support its assertion, it released six more photographs said to 
show Suu Kyi and her companions during their ``rest at ... Dala town, 
a small but scenic and charming town which is a 10-minute boat ride 
from Yangon.'' 



____________________________________________________


AFP: No resolution in sight to Aung San Suu Kyi showdown 

YANGON, Aug 28 (AFP) - Aung San Suu Kyi spent a fifth day in her car 
on the outskirts of Yangon Monday as a showdown with Myanmar's regime 
over her right to travel showed no sign of nearing a resolution. 

 The 55-year-old opposition leader and 12 members of her National 
League for Democracy (NLD) were halted south of Yangon Thursday as 
they challenged the military government's ban on her leaving the 
capital. 

 The NLD, backed by an outraged international community, has demanded 
the junta lift the blockade immediately and allow the group to travel 
on to a meeting of the party's youth wing in a nearby town. 

 Monsoon rains have battered the region for the past three days, 
making life extremely uncomfortable for Aung San Suu Kyi and her 
supporters who are camped out in two vehicles in countryside outside 
the hamlet of Dallah. 

 Her party vowed Sunday that the opposition leader would fight a "war 
of endurance" to force the regime to allow her to travel freely and 
to go about legitimate party business in Myanmar. 
 She would remain on the isolated road unless she was allowed to 
travel on or forced to return home, the NLD said. 

 The government insists Aung San Suu Kyi and her group were 
attempting to travel into a dangerous area without proper precuations 
and that every effort was being made to make them comfortable during 
their "visit" to Dallah. 

 It continued a public relations blitz Monday, releasing more 
photographs of the NLD members washing in a nearby stream and 
accepting deliveries of food and water. 

 Large umbrellas and a mobile bathroom were delivered to Aung San Suu 
Kyi "to ensure her maximum comfort and well-being," the military 
authorities said in a statement. 
 The junta said the opposition leader had been visiting local homes, 
but she was not shown in the photographs and the claim could not be 
verified as the area is off-limits to journalists and passers-by. 

 Observers in Yangon said the stand-off was likely to continue for 
several more days at least. 
 "It looks like neither side is willing to back down at the moment. 
It is hard to know what will happen next," one diplomat said. 

 Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in 1995, but her 
movements are closely monitored by her ever-present military escort. 

 The confrontation in Dallah is her first attempt in two years to 
test the restrictions, after a dramatic 13-day stand-off in August 
1998 on a bridge outside Yangon which ended when she succumbed to 
illness and dehydration. 

 NLD central committee member U Nyunt Wai said the latest showdown 
was aimed at pressuring the authorities to acknowledge the right to 
freedom of movement in Myanmar. 

 "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to endure all sorts of discomfort for 
as long as it takes," he told AFP Sunday. 

 The United States, European Union, Britain and France have demanded 
the junta lift the blockade immediately and have reminded Myanmar's 
generals that they would be held accountable for Aung San Suu Kyi's 
welfare. 

 Pro-democracy Myanmar activists Monday appealed to Japan, one of the 
few nations to recognise the military regime, to intervene in the 
stand-off. 

 "As the Japanese government has much influence on the military 
junta, we would like to urge you to assist in alleviating this crisis 
by requesting the Myanmar military junta to lift this blockade," the 
Tokyo-based League For Democracy in Burma said in an open letter. 

 The NLD won a convincing victory in 1990 elections but the results 
have never been recognised by the military, which has carried out a 
campaign of intimidation against the opposition since the student 
uprisings of 1988. 



____________________________________________________



SPDC: Government Provides Daw Su Kyi and Her Assistants with Amenities

August 28, 2000

 Information Sheet N0. B-1500(I)

MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE
YANGON





Daw Su Kyi and her travel companions are still continuing their 
taking rest
at Sarpachaun Ward of Dala Town, a small but charming and scenic town 
which
is 10-minute boat-ride from Yangon.

While Daw Su Kyi visits some homes in Sarpachaun Ward, her travel 
companions
and attendants enjoy visiting downtown Dala as well as taking daily 
dips in
Sarpachaun stream. Since this morning Government officials have 
provided Daw
Su Kyi with some beach umbrellas, and a new mobile bathroom to ensure 
her
maximum comfort and well-being.

Meanwhile, the working people in Dala Town are carrying on with their 
daily
life and business is as usual in this small booming town. But the 
hospitable
Dala locals have their own different views on Daw Su Kyi's visit to 
their
town. One local businessman U Win Maung said," I have my two teenage 
children
attending the recently resumed classes at Thanlynn University in 
Yangon. We
all wish to have our children the opportunity to pursue their 
education
peacefully and continuously, especially after a long closure. I will 
not be
wrong to say that it is the desire of all the parents, not only in 
Myanmar
but in the whole world, to be able to provide a good education for 
their
children's future. We hope Daw Aung San Su Kyi does not disrupt the 
stable
and peaceful environment we are all enjoying today by trying to push 
the
youths and students to become political activists. Her recent 
statement in
encouraging the youths to be politically active worries us a lot.''

Daw Sein Sein from Twante Township who sells traditional earthen pots 
in Dala
said, " Actually, I am not interested in politics but I do sometimes 
read
statements issued by NLD's office here in Dala. Majority of the 
people here
are down to earth people. We are not far from the capital city, 
Yangon and
there are many tourist attractions here. Initially, we hope for and 
expect a
lot of foreign tourists to visit our place in order to earn money for 
the
improvement of our livelihood. But the NLD's policies are designed 
just to
make us suffer because they are preventing foreigners from visiting 
and
investing in Myanmar. There are a number of people here who lost 
their jobs
when some foreign investors had to be pulled out of Myanmar. The 
people who
have been effected are deeply resentful against NLD's insistence for
sanctions and embargoes on Myanmar which destroyed their livelihood. 
Anyway,
I hope she returns to Yangon and leaves us alone with our peaceful 
and normal
life.

Photographs of Daw Su Kyi and her travel companions at follow :
http://www.myanmar-information.net/infosheet/2000/000828.htm




____________________________________________________



SPDC: Some more photos of DASSK and companions

[Posted by Okkar, okkar66129@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Some more photos of DASSK and companions. Pls browse at:

http://www.myanmar-information.net/infosheet/2000/000827.htm




____________________________________________________




AFP: Japan urged to help end Aung San Suu Kyi stand-off 

TOKYO, Aug 28 (AFP) - Pro-democracy Myanmar activists appealed to 
Japan Monday as a road-side stand-off between their champion Aung San 
Suu Kyi and their country's military junta dragged on for a fifth 
day. 

 "As the Japanese government has much influence on the military 
junta, we would like to urge you to assist in alleviating this crisis 
by requesting the Myanmar military junta to lift this blockade," said 
an open letter by the Tokyo-based League For Democracy in Burma. 

 The 55-year-old opposition leader and 12 members of her National 
League for Democracy (NLD) were halted south of Yangon Thursday as 
they challenged the military government's ban on her leaving the 
capital. 

 Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters have been camped out in two cars 
as monsoon rains batter the region. 

 "Japan will be able to play a great role in convincing the Myanmar 
government ... that it should allow NLD members, including their 
leader Daw (eds: honorific) Aung San Suu Kyi, to travel freely in 
their own country," the letter to Japan's Foreign Minister Yohei Kono 
said. 

 Japan, among the few nations to recognise Myanmar's military regime, 
said it had not taken a decision on intervening in the stand-off. 

 "We have not decided our stance," a foreign ministry official said. 



____________________________________________________



FTUB/BIDD: Call to Boycott Companies Doing Business in Burma

August 28, 2000


    As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is once again prevented from meeting her 
own party members, the Federation of Trade Unions, Burma (FTUB) and 
the Burma Institute for Democracy and Development (BIDD) wishes to 
remind the world community that the ciliviized world can send a 
strong and effective message of disapproval to the military junta by 
shutting off the military's access to the hard currency it requires 
to repress the will of the Burmese people.

    THE FTUB and BIDD call on all people of good will and all 
civilized members of the community of nations to stop doing business 
with the military reime in Burma. 

    Individuals can make a difference by boycotting companies that do 
business in Burma and by writing those companies to inform them that 
you will not shop at their establishments or purchase their products 
as long as they continue to do business in Burma. Governments can 
make an enormous difference by enacting effective sanctions that 
completely ban the importation of all products made in Burma until 
the regime hands over power to the NLD, the people's representatives 
elected in 1990. 

    U Maung Maung
    Secretary General, FTUB

  President, BIDD





____________________________________________________




The Nation:  Repercussions from Suu Kyi's stand-off

 Aug 27, 2000.
Opinion
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: Repercussions from Suu Kyi's stand-off
BY KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN 

It was no accident that a confidential report written by the new 
Australian ambassador to Burma, Trevor Wilson, was leaked to the 
press last week. 

The report gave a very negative assessment of human-rights conditions 
in Burma. It said that the junta showed no signs of being interested 
in relinquishing power. 

Australia's stake in Burma is very high, because Canberra believes 
that its current soft approach, as against the harder-line practices 
of the EU and US, is producing positive results in improving the 
human-rights record and promoting political dialogue. 

Canberra is funding a series of human-rights workshops and training 
programmes in Rangoon, hoping that this will help the regime to set 
up a national human-rights commission as in other Asean countries. 

The report was a prelude to the ongoing stand-off between Burmese 
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and military authorities in Dala, 
a town outside Rangoon, as this is the latest indication that the 
regime remains as intransigent as before. It was the first time in 
two years that Suu Kyi had defied a ban on travelling outside Rangoon 
after she made worldwide headlines in August 1988 in a 13-day 
confrontation with the military on a bridge northwest of the capital. 

As Suu Kyi stays inside her car, refusing to turn back, international 
criticism of the regime's action continues to grow. Washington has 
deplored Burma's refusal to allow Suu Kyi and other National League 
of Democracy leaders to travel freely in their own country. 

Britain, which has maintained one of the toughest anti-Burma 
positions in the EU, also weighed in. British Foreign Secretary Robin 
Cook said he deplored the treatment of Suu Kyi. "We urge the 
authorities to lift these unnecessary and unlawful restrictions and 
call on the regime to open an immediate dialogue with Aung San Suu 
Kyi and the NLD," he said. 

The European Union likewise called on Burma to lift travel 
restrictions on Suu Kyi. So far all Asean members remain silent. 

If the confrontation continues this week, all the goodwill that Burma 
accumulated at the recent Asean ministerial meeting will evaporate 
very quickly. Worse still, this stand-off could have wider 
implications. 

First, it would further embarrass Asean, which has suffered for the 
past three years after admitting the pariah state into the grouping. 
It could also derail the Asean effort to assist Burma to meet its 
obligations towards the International Labour Organisation by mid-
November. If that is the case, Burma faces the prospect of having 
more Asean members abstain from voting for it. 

Second, the stand-off, if it deteriorates and causes any harm to Suu 
Kyi's physical condition and to that of her entourage, will certainly 
draw tougher retaliatory measures from the EU. As the president of 
the EU, France has so far adopted a rather pragmatic approach towards 
Burma. France could lose ground to such EU hard-liners as the UK, 
Denmark and Sweden. If that is the case, it could also affect the 
scheduled Asean-EU ministerial meeting in Vientiane later this year. 

Finally it brings Suu Kyi back onto political centre stage inside 
Burma after years of lying low. After the military crack-down in 
August 1988 and the regime's reneging on the May 1990 election, she 
has been playing a catalytic role in promoting democracy in Burma and 
calling for an international boycott of the regime. 

Her presence and defiance will certainly win back those sceptics who 
have dismissed her as a potent political force in a future Burma. 
Bangkok-based non-governmental representatives who met her recently 
said she was in high spirits and would continue her political crusade 
for a democratic Burma. 

In a interview last week Suu Kyi renewed her call for international 
pressure to help achieve democracy in Burma. She said the recent 
opening of universities, closed in 1996 after anti-government 
protests, was a sham. 

At this crucial juncture, it is interesting to watch the role of the 
UN special representative for Burma, Ismail Razali. In his 
assessment, the Australian envoy stressed that his appointment and 
other attempts at more direct engagement with the Burmese leaders 
have yet to result in any substantive improvements. 

Asean and its dialogue partners hope that Razali will be able to make 
a breakthrough within a year given his experience and the country he 
represents, Malaysia. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was 
the key person pushing for Burmese membership in Asean. 

As the world watches the stand-off at Dala, it will witness Suu Kyi's 
iron will and that of those who want to stop her. 






____________________________________________________


Govt of Norway: Norway condemns the military juntas infringement of 
Aung San Suu Kyi

Press release 
(unofficial translation)



The Norwegian Government condemns the Burmese military regimes 
infringement
against Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically rights, and is very worried 
of her
security. We have via our embassy in Bangkok protested towards the 
Burmese
government against the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi and pointed out 
her right
to travel freely in Burma. The Norwegian Government urges the junta 
to start a
dialogue with the opposition.  

Aung San Suu Kyi and ten members of her political party NLD were 
Thursday 24th
August stopped by the military junta on their way to a meeting 
outside Rangoon.
Aung San Suu Kyi refused to follow the juntas demand to travel back 
to Rangoon.
She is now sitting on the fifth day in her car that was supposed to 
take her to
the meeting with the NLD members. 

Norway see this as a new attempt from the junta to gag the legally 
elected
opposition by refusing Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of her 
political
party their right to move around freely in Burma. We are very worried 
for the
health of Aung San Suu Kyi and her party colleagues, and will keep 
the Burmese
government responsible for possible consequences. 

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28th August 2000





____________________________________________________



FNLDA: Downer puts another nail in Australia human rights policy

Friends of National League for Democracy,
Australia
PO Box 288 Enmore NSW  2042

Media Release			28th August 2000
		
Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer,
silent while Burmese military regime puts
another nail into the coffin of Australia's
human rights record

The membership of the Friends of the National
League for Democracy Australia (FNLDA), a
pro-democracy group working for the restoration
of democracy in Burma through supporting the
National League for Democracy's right to take
its place as the legitimate government of Burma,
calls on the Australian Government to end its
relationship with the Burmese military regime
before Australia is shamed even further in the
eyes of the world. The Australian Government's
human rights record, already under the
microscope for its tolerance of mandatory
sentencing and treatment of Australian
Aborigines and detainees in immigrant detention
centres, risks further damage as the result of
its engagement with the brutal military regime
of Burma.

Events over the last week have shown up the
Australian Government's approach to Burma as
little more than a sham. Whilst domestic and
international protests over the sending of a
human rights training team to Burma by the
Australian Government fell on deaf ears within
the Australian Government, the current situation
regarding Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has shown
dramatically to the world that the Burmese
military have no intention of restoring the rule
of law in Burma. Since Thursday last week the
military has forcibly blocked a motorcade of Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National
League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD won by a 82%
majority the last democratic elections in Burma
in 1990. Suu Kyi was stopped by police and
security forces in the Rangoon suburb of Dala on
Thursday when she and other party members tried
to drive out to the countryside for party
organizational work with NLD youth wings. Suu
Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate, has been
confined to Rangoon since her release from house
arrest in 1995, with her travel around Rangoon
closely monitored by the junta. Two years ago
Suu Kyi was involved in a thirteen day stand off
outside Rangoon while she was attempting to
visit elected MPs to a parliament never allowed
to sit.

The military's current action has been condemned
by the international community with the United
States, European Union, Britain and France
demanding the junta lift the blockade
immediately. Australia's voice has however been
noticeably silent. 

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in September 1999 pleaded
with the Australian Government to cease its
policy of engagement with the junta. In a video
smuggled out of Burma, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
cautioned the Australian Government over
policies and contacts with the military
dictatorship of Burma.  "Sometimes we are a
little concerned that the policies of the
Australian Government may not be such that would
hasten the process of democratisation in Burma",
she said.

The FNLDA asks if it is shame over its
engagement with the Burmese junta that keeps the
Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, from
speaking out against the action. "In a week when
even a leaked confidential memorandum to the
Australian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
from the Australian Ambassador to Burma, Mr
Trevor Wilson, provides a very negative
assessment of human-rights conditions in Burma
the Australian Government persists in a soft
approach to the regime" stated Susan Locke,
FNLDA Chair. "Wilson's memo is reported as
stating that the junta wishes to hold onto power
no matter the cost. The Australian Government
has now been caught in a trap of its own making
wherein it cannot speak out against the human
rights abuses in Burma less it itself is
criticised for the abject failure of that
training. Since Australia's human rights team
went to Burma, we have seen a Burmese court
dismiss another appeal to pardon
British-Australian activist James Mawdsley,
sentenced to 17 years in jail in 1999 for
distributing anti-government leaflets, a
continuation of the flow of refugees from Burma
and forced labour within Burma, and an
intensification of the campaign of intimidation
of NLD members to relinquish their party
membership. The military has no interest in
human rights or democracy. 

Mr Downer's latest press release on Burma spends
more time attacking the Australian Labor Shadow
Minister on Foreign Affairs than addressing the
real issue of human rights abuses in Burma. We
appeal to Mr Downer to heed the prophetic words
of Suu Kyi of September 1999 where she said that
contacts which could be construed as approval or
support of the present policies of the military
regime could be very harmful to the movement for
democracy." 

FNLDA believes that if the Australian Government
has truly forged a strong position of influence
with the Burmese junta, then the withdrawal of
the October human rights training should give it
a powerful voice in speaking out against the
blockade of Suu Kyi. "The Australian Government
should use its influence to have the junta cease
the blockade of Suu Kyi and enable her to move
freely throughout Burma" says Ms Locke. "It is
more than ironic that Suu Kyi's fundamental
human rights were denied after the Australian
Government's human rights seminars for Burmese
officials in Rangoon". 

FNLDA members feel strongly that the human
rights seminars have been at best a waste of
time and resources, and at worst a cynical
exercise in paying lip service to the rights of
the Burmese people in order for foreign
companies to gain access to the rich resources
of Burma, once the most prosperous country in
Asia. "No doubt Mr Downer feels deeply for the
plight of the Burmese people and believes that
there needs to be an alternative approach to the
situation in Burma to address that plight" Ms
Locke said. "However, we request Mr Downer to
look at alternative means that do not involve
direct dealings with a regime that has killed,
tortured, imprisoned and enslaved thousands if
not millions of people, and that shows through
this current action against Daw Aung Suu Kyi
that it is not prepared to provide for even one
of the most basic of human rights - freedom of
travel within one's own country."

Consequently FNLDA demands that:

1. the Australian Government publicly denounce
the actions of the regime
2. the Australian Government support action at
an international level, including sanctions, to
have the Burmese military regime engage in a
meaningful dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and the National League for Democracy
3. the planned follow up in October 2000 of the
human rights program session be cancelled in
protest at the treatment of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
4. the Australian Government deny the Burmese
Olympics team permission to enter Australia for
the Sydney 2000 Olympics in protest at the
treatment of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi


Media contact:		Trevor Edmond, Secretary, FNLDA
0418 635 990

Authorised by FNLDA Council Members : Aung Myat
Soe, Cho Cho Mar, Hla Hla Win, Myint Myint Aye,
Ni Ni Swe, Sandar Hoe, Sein Kyaing, Susan Locke,
Thidar Khin, Tin Ohn, Trevor Edmond, Zaw Zaw Oo.


________________


The BurmaNet News is an Internet newspaper providing comprehensive 
coverage of news and opinion on Burma  (Myanmar) from around the 
world.  If you see something on Burma, you can bring it to our 
attention by emailing it to strider@xxxxxxx

For a subscription to Burma's only free daily newspaper, write to: 
strider@xxxxxxx

You can also contact BurmaNet by phone or fax:

Voice mail or fax (US) +1(202) 318-1261
You will be prompted to press 1 for a voice message or 2 to send a 
fax.  If you do neither, a fax tone will begin automatically.

Fax (Japan) +81 (3) 4512-8143



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