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BurmaNet News: December 5, 2000
- Subject: BurmaNet News: December 5, 2000
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000 05:09:00
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
________December 5, 2000 Issue # 1676_________
NOTED IN PASSING: ?an instrument of oppression?
The United Nations General Assembly describing Burma?s legal system.
See Reuters: Myanmar junta cited for long list of rights abuses
INSIDE BURMA _______
*AP: Myanmar independence veterans appeal for release of Suu Kyi
*Agence France-Presse: Police ring Suu Kyi's residence
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Reuters: Myanmar junta cited for long list of rights abuses
*Kyodo: Tokyo meeting to discuss Japan's support for Burma
*Shan Herald Agency for News: Lahu agents in Thailand
*Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Laos expresses solidarity with Myanmar
*Soc.culture.burma posting: Peaceful demonstration held yesterday in
front of Aung San Oo's residence
*The Asian Age (India): Burma mausoleum
ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*Xinhua: Myanmar's Customs Duties Income Up in Eight Months
*Xinhua: Myanmar's Metal Export Rises Sharply in Eight Months
OPINION/EDITORIALS
*NCGUB: What UN General Assembly Resolutions Mean
*Letter to Times Higher Education Supplement: Re. Burma and the Ethics
of Research in a Military State
OTHER________
*Karen Human Rights Group: New KHRG Reports now available online
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
AP: Myanmar independence veterans appeal for release of Suu Kyi
Dec. 5, 2000
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ A group of veterans of Myanmar's struggle for
independence have urged the country's ruling junta to lift restrictions
imposed on opposition leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi.
``We urge that restriction of movement imposed on leaders of the
National League for Democracy be lifted and amnesty given to those
detained for their political activities,'' they said in a letter to the
government made public on Tuesday.
The letter was dated Nov. 20, the 80th anniversary of National Day in
Myanmar, and was signed by 28 people including 90-year-old Bohmu Aung,
who helped lead the country's fight for independence from Britain in
1948.
Suu Kyi, general secretary of the opposition NLD, and her two top
lieutenants have been confined to their homes since Sept. 22.
The restriction was imposed after the 1991 Nobel Peace Price winner
defied authorities by trying twice in one month to travel outside Yangon
on party business.
Six other members of the party's central executive committee were also
put under virtual house arrest for ten weeks, but the restrictions were
lifted Friday.
The NLD faces steady harassment. The party swept general elections in
Myanmar, also known as Burma, in 1990, but the military refused to honor
the result. Hundreds of NLD members have been jailed.
In another letter obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, 11 former
NLD members appealed to the ruling junta to form a constitutional
government.
Among the signatories were Tin Tun Maung, Kyi Win and Than Tun, who
were expelled from the party several years ago after they criticized its
leaders for their uncompromising opposition to the country's military
government.
Known as the State Peace and Development Council, it took power after
crushing massive prodemocracy demonstrations in 1988, killing thousands.
It maintains that it is a transitional administration but efforts to
write a constitution have been stalled for the past five years
The NLD withdrew from a government-organized national convention to
frame a constitution in Nov. 1995, claiming that the process was
``undemocratic.''
____________________________________________________
Agence France-Presse: Police ring Suu Kyi's residence
Dec 05, 2000
RANGOON: Tight security ringed Aung San Suu Kyi's house yesterday after
the release of several of her lieutenants and ahead of a key hearing of
a property suit the opposition leader faces.
A police cordon surrounded her residence and there were no signs that
she would be allowed freedom, despite the junta's decision on Friday to
release six members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) from
house arrest, observers said.
A Burmese government spokesman had said on Friday that ``the temporary
restrictions on the six NLD CEC [central executive committee members]
has been lifted ... and they are resuming their normal activities...''
``U Aung Shwe, U Tin Oo and Daw Suu Kyi are requested to continue their
stay in the present position for the time being,'' the spokesman said.
Ms Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since September 22, when she and
other NLD leaders attempted to board a train in Mandalay, in the
country's north.
Tensions between the Nobel laureate and the junta remained high due to a
property suit filed by her brother and due to resume hearing today.
The brother, Aung San Oo, is seeking to obtain half ownership of her
Rangoon home, which belonged to their late mother Khin Kyi.
Ms Suu Kyi did not appear at the Rangoon divisional court late last
month for the first hearing, and at that time Judge U Soe Thein made a
ruling that, as neither the opposition leader nor her lawyers were
present, the case would proceed without their involvement.
Ms Suu Kyi's lawyers are attempting to gain representation at the
hearing.
The Burma Lawyers' Council, a Thailand-based exile group, has said the
case could clear the way for the ruling State Peace and Development
Council to evict Ms Suu Kyi from the house and cripple her party.
As a United States citizen, the brother would be forced to hand over his
half of the property to the military government if he won the suit.
___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
Reuters: Myanmar junta cited for long list of rights abuses
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly accused
Myanmar's military government of condoning rape, torture, mass arrests,
forced labor and summary executions, among other abuses, to suppress
dissent.
In a four-page resolution adopted without a vote on Monday, the
189-member body praised the southeastern Asian nation, formerly known as
Burma, only for allowing the International Committee of the Red Cross to
visit detainees earlier this year.
As in past years, the resolution urged the ruling military junta, which
has refused to give up or share power, to release political prisoners
from jail and allow the National League for Democracy (NLD) and its
leader to operate freely.
NLD members have been subject to intimidation and sentenced under an
arsenal of laws in what the resolution called a legal system
``effectively used as an instrument of oppression.''
The League, headed by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won elections in
1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to govern. She has been
under house arrest off and on for years.
The assembly expressed ``grave concern at the increasingly systematic
policy of the Government of Myanmar to persecute the democratic
opposition, National League for Democracy members, sympathizers and
their families.''
The junta, the resolution said, indulged in ``arbitrary arrests and
detention and abuse of the legal system, including harsh long-term
prison sentences.''
It deplored such abuses as ``extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, enforced disappearances, rape, torture, inhuman treatment,
mass arrests, forced labor, including the use of children, forced
relocation, and denial of freedom of assembly, association, expression
and movement.''
The resolution was based on a report by Rajsoomer Lallah, a former
Mauritius chief justice, who described the suffocating grip on all parts
of society of Myanmar's military junta.
Some of the worst violence was committed against civilians belonging to
minorities, particularly the Shan, Karen, Karenni and Rohingya groups,
he said.
Arrests can be for such ``violations'' as tuning a radio to a Voice of
America program or hanging up a poster calling for a political dialogue.
Many prisoners lack medical attention, have inadequate diets and are
kept ``in tiny cells meant for dogs.''
While numerous jailed dissidents are students, the entire country
suffers from a lack of education, with the government spending only 1.2
percent of its gross domestic product on education, one of only 11
countries to do so, Lallah said.
Health and welfare fared no better, according to the resolution. It
expressed grave concern at high rates of malnutrition among youngsters.
The government also failed to address the growing spread of HIV-AIDS
infection.
____________________________________________________
Kyodo: Tokyo meeting to discuss Japan's support for Burma
Tokyo, 2nd December: A bilateral conference to discuss Japan's support
for Myanmar Burma 's economic structural reform will take place in Tokyo
next week, Japanese government sources said Friday 1st December .
The Japanese Foreign Ministry did not disclose the location of the
two-day conference and has indicated that the meeting will be held
behind the doors, apparently in consideration that the United States and
Europe are critical of Myanmar's military junta.
The conference opens Monday and Japan will be represented by Seiji
Kojima, the second-ranking official in the Foreign Ministry's Economic
Cooperation Bureau.
David Abel, a minister at the Office of the Chairman of the State Peace
and Development Council, Myanmar's ruling body, will lead the Myanmar
team.
The meeting is the second of its kind. The two countries held the first
round in Yangon Rangoon last June.
The Japanese government argues the kind of support to be offered to
Myanmar would be humanitarian in nature and aimed at creating an
atmosphere that would lead to democracy in the country.
During the previous meeting in Yangon, the US complained that Japan's
support would mean backing the military government of Myanmar and urged
Japanese officials to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi while
in the country.
The Japanese government froze official aid to Myanmar after the 1988
military coup, but has resumed financial assistance to the country for
humanitarian purposes since 1994.
____________________________________________________
Shan Herald Agency for News: Lahu agents in Thailand
Dec. 2, 2000
Reporter: Ing
A source disclosed to S.H.A.N. today of Lahu agents being sent by
Rangoon's military intelligence to northern Thailand.
According to the source, 3 Lahus from Mongton Township, opposite
Chiangmai Province, were put in charge of the intelligence operation in
the 3 northern provinces, namely, Maehongson, Chiangmai and Chiangrai
since October. They were U Ae Long, U Tin Win and U Abi, who would
report to Maj. Thuta Sway, Chief of MI-24 in Tachilek regularly.
Under the 3 were 10 trained operatives who would collect information in
Thailand, mainly on resistance groups, especially the Shan State Army of
Yawdserk.
Their expenses (B. 80,000 per month) were paid by Maj. Thuta Sway, who
held special funds "collected from the Wa's refineries", said the
source.
Lahu constitutes, together with the Wa, Palaung and Pa-O one of the
major ethnics in the Shan State. They are ethnically related to
Burmese, and many serve as Burmese militiamen. There is also a Lahu
resistance movement called Lahu Democratic front, led by Daniel Aung,
elected M.P. from Mongpiang Towngship, and is allied to the Shan State
Army of Yawdserk, Wa National Army of Maha Sang, Palaung State
Liberation Front of Mai Ai Phong, and Pa-O People's Liberation
Organization of Hkun Okker.
____________________________________________________
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Laos expresses solidarity with Myanmar
December 4, 2000
Laotian President Khamthay Sivandone expressed his support for fellow
ASEAN member Myanmar (Burma) to visiting Army Chief General Maung Aye on
Monday, urging Myanmar to continue pursuing its own policies, Lao
National Radio reported.
Maung Aye, vice chairman of Myanmar's ruling junta, led a 38-member
Myanmar delegation to Vientiane Monday morning on a three-day official
visit to Laos, where a border trade pact is to be signed.
The president of Laos, which joined the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) along with Myanmar in 1997, urged the visiting general
to continue pursuing the regime's internal policies despite mounting
pressure from the international community and attempts of "sabotage" at
home, said the state-run Lao National Radio in a broadcast monitored in
Bangkok.
Khamthay also informed Maung Aye that the ruling Lao Communist Party
would hold its Party Congress early next year.
He informed the visiting general that Laos had reached rice
self-sufficiency last year and this year had attracted 89 foreign
investments worth 142 million dollars.
Maung Aye was in Laos at the invitation of Samane Viyaket, president of
the Laotian National Assembly.
The delegation accompanying Maung Aye included Foreign Minister Win
Aung; the agriculture minister, Major General Nyunt Tin; and the
commander of the Golden Triangle opium-growing region in northern
Myanmar, Major General Phein Sein.
During their visit to Laos, the Myanmar delegation is expected to sign a
trade agreement and a memorandum of understanding on setting up a
Myanmar-Laos Friendship Association.
The visit precedes the scheduled foreign ministers' meeting between the
European Union and ASEAN on December 11-12 in Vientiane, which was
almost scrapped because of European governments' reluctance to sit at
the same table with the foreign minister of Myanmar.
Myanmar's junta is deemed a pariah nation in the West because of its
poor human rights record and failure to acknowledge the electoral win of
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party ten years
ago.
Myanmar joined ASEAN in July 1997, despite objections to its membership
by most Western democracies.
Maung Aye - the second most powerful man in Myanmar after the junta's
chairman, Senior General Than Shwe, who is said to be ailing - appears
to be playing a more active role in foreign affairs this year.
Last month, Maung Aye visited India to strengthen diplomatic and
economic ties.
____________________________________________________
Soc.culture.burma posting: Peaceful demonstration held yesterday infront
of Aung San Oo's residence
Posted to the soc.culture.burma newsgroup, Dec. 5, 2000
[Abridged]
A group of Burmese living in LA and San Francisco has peacefully staged
a protest in front of "Aung San Oo's resident[sic] this afternoon.
Protesters have denounced the cruel and shameful action of Aung San Oo,
who took legal action against his own younger sister (1991 Nobel
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi), who has been subjected to harassment by the
military junta for 12 years.
Slogans shouted, leaflets and posters were distributed to all their
neighbours in 4 directions.
There will be a demonstration again at the same place 3897 Auburndale
Street, San Diego on coming Sunday (Dec 10, 2000).
Please contact U Khin Mg Shwe at 626-4588109 and Dr U Aung Khin at
714-6357266 for more info.
With solidarity,
Dr Khin Saw Win (Alice)
____________________________________________________
The Asian Age (India): Burma mausoleum
Date : December 4, 2000
Burma's pro-democracy activists have offered to set up
a trust to manage the last Burmese King Thibaw's
mausoleum at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra.
A spokesman of the "Doboma Asi Ayona" (we Burmans)
here said that frustrated with the Burma military
regime's continuing negligence attitude towards the
historic tomb the pro-democracy activists have decided
to serve and maintain the monument.
"We would be eager to serve it. King Thibaw was a
symbol of the colonial suffering of Burmese and Indian
people. His memory, therefore, needs to be revived and
commemorated," the spokesman said
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
Xinhua: Myanmar's Customs Duties Income Up in Eight Months
YANGON, December 4
Myanmar received 608 million U.S. dollars from customs duties in the
first eight months of this year, 16.87 percent more than that obtained
in the same period of 1999, according to the latest figures released by
the country's Central Statistical Organization.
The main source of Myanmar's customs duties income comes from import
through normal trade and border trade.
Of the customs duties income obtained in the eight-month period, that
from import through normal trade amounted to 535.86 million dollars,
accounting for 88.13 percent of the total, while that from import
through border trade was 72.18 million dollars, representing 11.87
percent.
Myanmar mainly trades with Singapore, China, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia,
Indonesia and South Korea, having border trade with China, Thailand,
India and Bangladesh.
As over 40 percent of its foreign trade is done with member states of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Myanmar pursues the
ASEAN customs duties, applying significantly reduced tariff rates with
them.
Besides, Myanmar, along with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, is also
preparing for the implementation of the World Trade Organization
Valuation Agreement.
Meanwhile, as part of its bid to promote agricultural development,
Myanmar government has exempted import customs duties levied on
agricultural implements including fertilizer, pesticide and improved
variety and machinery.
____________________________________________________
Xinhua: Myanmar's Metal Export Rises Sharply in Eight Months
YANGON, December 5
Myanmar's metal export rose sharply in the first eight months of this
year, registering 20,100 tons, while it was only 700 tons in the same
period of 1999, according to the latest official Economic Indicators.
Meanwhile, the country reduced import of base metal manufactures in the
eight-month period, buying in 149.8 million U. S. dollars' worth of
them, 80.5 million less than the corresponding period of 1999, said the
economic indicators issued by the country's Ministry of National
Planning and Economic Development.
Myanmar annually exports 19,460 tons of base metal and ores, while
importing 255 million dollars of such manufactures.
Myanmar is well endowed with mineral resources, having two state
enterprises under the Ministry of Mines undertaking the production of
metallic minerals such as gold, copper, silver, lead, zinc, tin and
tungsten, and one enterprise dealing with non-metallic minerals or
industrial minerals such as iron, steel, coal, barytes, limestone,
gypsum and dolomite.
The production of precious stones such as gems, jade and diamond is
handled by another state enterprise known as the Myanma Gems Enterprise
under the same ministry.
____________OPINION/EDITORIAL________________
NCGUB: What UN General Assembly Resolutions Mean
Nov. 2000
[Abridged]
By Dr. Thaung Htun, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
Every year since 1991, the Third Committee of the United Nations General
Assembly has been discussing the situation of human rights in Burma and
adopting resolutions and recommendations by the General Assembly with
regard to the ongoing human rights violations by the Burmese military
junta. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions by nature are
not legally binding but they do bear the weight of moral authority and
provide justification for the international community to exert pressure
on the Burmese military regime to bring about change in Burma.
There has been a growing concern by the international community over the
deteriorating situation in Burma. The country has become a top priority
on the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly. The regime has
only to blame itself for becoming isolated and without a friend to
defend its position at General Assembly sessions. It fails to cooperate
with relevant UN mechanisms, particularly with the UN Human Rights
Special Rapporteur, and continues to make allowances for the human
rights violations in Burma. Another factor that contributes to the
regime?s loss of credibility in the international arena is its repeated
irrational excuses and lies to justify its crimes in the country.
Resolutions adopted by consensus annually for the past nine years
underscore the fact that the international community is not swayed by
the regime?s excuses and that it is unhappy over the way political,
economic, social, and human rights issues are being handled by the
regime. The resolutions also indicate that the international community
wants to see a political settlement and peaceful change in Burma through
dialogue.
The resolution passed on 8 November this year was the strongest ever of
the Burma resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly in terms of
language and subject matter. The UN General Assembly not only raised
questions about the violations of civil and political rights but also
the deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights. With regard
to the regime?s crackdown on the National League for Democracy, the
General Assembly concluded that the regime?s persecution of the
democratic opposition was not ad hoc but a ?systematic? perpetration. It
urged the regime to remove all the restrictions against Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi and NLD members. At every UNGA session the regime claims that steps
were being taken gradually to transform Burma into a democratic society
and that the National Convention process was a crucial step towards
achieving that goal. UN missions that the NCGUB delegation comes across
express their doubts about ?disciplined democracy?, a term the regime
uses to describe the system the generals are trying to install.
...The UNGA expressed grave concern over the growing incidence of
HIV/AIDS and high rates of malnutrition among pre-school-aged children
and also criticized the regime for the violation of rights of women and
children, including the recruitment of children as soldiers. The UN
Special Rapporteur submitted a report to the UNGA regarding Burma and
many of the findings were incorporated into the resolution. The
rapporteur noted that the absence of respect for rights pertaining to
democratic governance is at the root of all the major violations of
human rights in Burma. Some of the points cited by the UNGA were the
regimeÆs failure to halt its widespread and systematic use of forced
labor which has compelled the International Labor Organization to take
action, the lack of independence of judiciary and due process of law,
which provided the opportunity to perpetrators of human rights to enjoy
impunity, and the fact that the legal system was effectively being used
as an instrument of oppression by the rulers.
Realizing that the only way to correct the deteriorating socio-economic
and political conditions in Burma is through a process of national
reconciliation, the 55th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
urged the regime to restore democracy and promote national
reconciliation through a substantive political dialogue. In this
regard, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General will be continuing
to explore ways to resolve the political problems in Burma through
dialogue. The UN General Assembly extended the mandate of the UN
Secretary General to monitor the progress of the situation in Burma.
UN members have come to an agreement on the problems and the approach
that the United Nations should take to resolve the issues in Burma. It
is a matter of time before democracy comes to Burma. But, the time that
will take for that to happen will depend on how individual member states
actively support UN efforts to translate their visions into concrete
results.
____________________________________________________
Letter to Times Higher Education Supplement: Re. Burma and the Ethics of
Research in a Military State
Dec. 5, 2000
Dear Madam/Sir
As a SOAS PhD student conducting research on Burma, I read your Dec. 1
issue with interest. Both Phil Baty's article and Gustaaf Houtman's
letter raise important questions about research ethics, as well as the
state of international scholarship on Burma. I would like to comment on
some of the issues raised.
First, I don't think it was made sufficiently clear why Dr Moore's
integrity and judgement are being called into question.
The Burmese junta is violent, illegitimate and corrupt. Its systematic
denial and abuse of human rights has been amply documented by
organisations such as the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and
Amnesty International. The US government, amongst others, is convinced
that the military economy is propped up by drugs money. Most recently,
the ILO has imposed sanctions upon the regime for its refusal to stop
using forced labour.
Right now, as Dr Moore conducts her fieldwork, the pro-democracy
opposition leader and former SOAS scholar, Aung San Suu Kyi, is under
house arrest. Although her party won a General Election in 1990, with
over 80% of the vote, they have been prevented from assuming power.
While Dr Moore has been allowed unprecedented access to Burma for her
archaeological research, foreign journalists and even the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Rajsoomer Lallah, have been denied
entry visas by the military. As was Aung San Suu Kyi's husband, the
late Oxford scholar Dr Michael Aris, when he asked to visit his wife one
more time before dying of cancer last year.
While Dr Moore walks into Burma unimpeded, foreign scholars whose
research addresses any aspect of present-day society or culture
typically have to pass themselves off as tourists or business- people to
even stand a chance of entering the country. The fact that they speak
Burmese and converse with ordinary people is enough to place them, and
all those they speak to, under military intelligence suspicion. As for
Burmese students; they are lucky to get an education at all.
When they led nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations against the
military government in 1988, hundreds of students were killed in cold
blood. Thousands more were forced into exile. In the ensuing years,
Universities and schools have repeatedly been closed down, - sometimes
for years at a time. But even with schools open, education is a low
priority: while 32% of the national budget is spent on the military,
World Bank and UN statistics show that the junta spends just 28 cents
per child on public schools.
Knowing these facts makes it all the more sickening to encounter the
offspring of Burma's military elite in the corridors at SOAS.
But this is not all. As Dr Houtman points out, the field of Dr. Moore's
research provides further grounds for criticism. Why? Because
'national culture' and tourism, which both embrace archaeology, are
fundamental components of the military's strategy for holding onto
power.
My study of the junta's rhetoric reveals that "preservation and
safeguarding of cultural heritage and national character" is one of the
regime's four social objectives. This is a propaganda statement printed
daily in national newspapers and announced daily on the radio and TV.
While it may sound harmless enough, as I have argued in my MPhil thesis,
in practice, it provides the rationale for stamping out difference by
means of physical and structural violence.
It is to 'safeguard' an invented cultural heritage that writers who
voice opposition are imprisoned. It is to 'preserve' the nation's
cultural heritage that villagers have been forcibly relocated and forced
labour used in the construction and restoration of touristic and
archaeological sites. It is to 'preserve national character' that
Burmese soldiers are rewarded for marrying ethnic minority women, in
what some have termed a policy of "ethnic cleansing".
Since Burma's independence, ethnic minority groups have demanded
self-determination. Today, many of them still oppose the central
government. Racial chauvinism and persecution are part of the same
military strategy to eradicate such opposition. It is for this reason
that the junta would welcome any archaeological findings, which bolster
their rhetoric about Burmese racial supremacy.
One of Burma's prime archaeological sites, Bagan, is also one of its
prime tourist attractions. Tourism provides the military regime with
much-needed hard currency. Aside from paying for hotels, transport and
food, every tourist is obliged to exchange $300 on entry into Burma.
This money goes into government coffers. The opposition leader, Aung
San Suu Kyi, has urged foreigners not to visit Burma as tourists until
democracy comes.
We are not told in the article or letter what exactly Dr Moore's
research is about, nor what she intends to do with it. In fact, given
the serious nature of the allegations against her, it seems unfair that
they are made at a time when she is out of the country. Nevertheless,
she must have been aware that doing archaeological research in Burma
with the blessing of the junta's Office for Strategic Studies (which is
part of the Ministry of Defence), leaves her wide open to accusations
of, at best, moral indifference, and, at worst, lending indirect support
to the regime's violent policies.
Before jumping onto that bandwagon too hastily, though, there are other
factors that need to be considered.
For one, it's a fact that other Burma scholars, including Dr Houtman,
have conducted field research in Burma with official approval. That is,
they have entered Burma on a long-term visa to do research with the
permission of a government Ministry. Contrary to popular belief, not
every civil servant is a government sympathiser. It is quite possible
for someone to be working in the Ministry of Defence and to abhor the
regime. And the Burmese system works through patronage. So a western
scholar may associate with a Burmese civil servant, who on the one hand
toes the official line, while using his/her position to create research
possibilities for them.
It is also true, however, that all of those scholars I know who have
conducted research this way, have subsequently published papers which
are critical of the regime.
A further relevant point is the extent to which the debate on Burma
(whether academic or otherwise) has become so polarised, that those who
resist siding fully with the junta's critics are automatically branded
'sympathisers'. There is a distinct tendency, for certain elements
within the democracy movement to become as censorial as the junta they
condemn. In my opinion, this stifles creativity - including in the
search for new solutions to the conflict.
Whatever people think of Dr Moore's actions, is it right for her to be
coerced into joining a political debate she chooses to distance herself
from? Especially, when she is not the only Burma scholar to take an
apolitical stance. Can silence automatically be equated with
agreement?
I am studying Burmese culture and conflict out of commitment to peace.
In a peace research course this summer, I learned that no conflict will
be resolved unless there is dialogue. I was struck by the research of
an anthropologist working in Guatemala, who had opened up a dialogue
with the military there. After years of brutality, this dialogue
appeared to be effecting some positive change. It is out of commitment
to the principle of engagement, as opposed to sanctions, that the
Australian government, virtually alone in this policy, has funded a
series of human rights training initiatives for civil servants in Burma.
Talking to and working with dictators isn't necessarily bad. However,
another key lesson I learned about peace is that, to be effective,
participants in any dialogue must express their beliefs with honesty and
integrity. The anthropologist talked with Guatemalan dictators, but she
always made it clear that she thought their violent practices were
wrong. Similarly, the Australian government makes it clear that they do
not condone human rights abuses.
We cannot speculate about Dr Moore's motives or the kind of dialogue she
entertains with the junta. However, I think it was cowardly of SOAS,
supposedly one of the world's leading research institutions on Asia, not
to comment on this matter - even if in the measured tones of Dr
Steinberg. Knowledge and its propagation are not morally neutral, nor
should they transcend all social responsibility.
I suggest there is a need for institutions to devise objective ethical
guidelines to which all academic research must adhere. Such guidelines
might help us to discuss Dr Moore's case alongside others and pass
judgement less inflected by our own personal prejudices.
In my considered opinion, however, the ethics of her research seem
questionable, not only because of the continued denial of educational
rights in Burma, but also because of the junta's politicisation of
culture. Unless she makes a statement to the contrary, Dr Moore's work
will be interpreted locally within a national cultural policy which is
new-speak for violent tyranny.
Yours faithfully
Beverley Drumm
Charlottesville
VA, USA
Email: yinyin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
__________________OTHER_____________________
Karen Human Rights Group: New KHRG Reports now available online
Dec. 4, 2000
Two recently released Karen Human Rights Group reports have just become
available online at the KHRG web site (www.khrg.org). "SPDC & DKBA
Orders to Villages: Set 2000-B" contains direct translations of over 250
order documents, almost all of them issued by SPDC military and civilian
authorities to villages in southeastern Burma up to the end of September
2000. They include demands for forced labour, threats to shell villages
and execute village elders, forced relocation orders, demands for money,
food and materials under threat of punishment for any failure to comply,
and many others.
"Peace Villages and Hiding Villages" documents the current situation in
the hills of Toungoo District of northern Karen State, where the SPDC
has labelled many villages as 'Peace Villages', which are allowed to
exist only as long as they comply with all demands for forced labour,
money, materials and intelligence. All other villages are decreed
'Hiding Villages' and are systematically destroyed, their people driven
out and arrested or shot on sight. The report studies the impossibility
of survival even in the 'Peace' villages under the increasing
militarisation of the region, including forced labour on roads being
pushed into the district, as well as land confiscation and forced labour
on a new tourism project at Than Daung Gyi which is intended to attract
foreign and domestic tourists.
KHRG will also be improving our web site in the coming weeks, making it
easier to find thematic reports and adding pages on Burma background and
other areas of interest.
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