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PERSPECTIVE: Don't let our extraord
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PERSPECTIVE: Don't let our extraordinary cause become ordinary
By Minn Gyee
October 22, 2001
At present, as you are all aware, the hottest news for all of us is the
?Fight Against Terrorism?. After the September 11th terrorist attacks
in the US, nobody can avoid thinking about international terrorism. But
the war against terrorism is going to be a long one. Nobody can deny
this. At this point in time, every nation and every country is involved
in it. Of course, Burma?s military regime is involved, too.
Every country, every ruler, every dictator, and every leader is trying
to be on the winning side. How about our Burmese Democracy Movement? We
need to take advantage of this situation. But how?
We need to take account of the real situation of our enemy's position
(the military junta?s) and of ours, the Burmese Democracy Movement?s.
But I worry a bit that we have already lost focus on our cause (to some
extent!).
Our older generation has faced enormous hardships and difficulties
before they won freedom or independence for our country. During the
Second World War, our independence movement led by our beloved national
hero, General Aung San, father of our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
encountered a difficulty similar to the one we face today. The
well-known slogan at that time was: ?the difficulty for the English
Government is the best chance for the Burmese Independence Movement?.
Our grandfathers, fathers, grandmothers and mothers transformed the bad
situation into a win-win situation skillfully. For this reason we won
independence from Britain in 1948.
Now we are fighting for the second Independence of our unfortunate
Burmese and Non-Burmese people. This time we are facing a new enemy, a
corrupted, cunning and well organized military gang. This gang has been
committing all kinds of atrocities and crimes since 1962. It has proved
much harder to topple this illegitimate government, the military junta,
in comparison with a foreign government, the British government. The
present military junta has been telling lies incessantly since 1962 and
has pretended to stand for true nationalism. The military junta
monopolizes the news and media in order to cover up their lies. Our
beloved and innocent soldiers and ordinary people are brain-washed and
misguided by the military's false information and by SPDC propaganda.
Now the SPDC is opening the second battle front. This time the military
junta is trying very hard to use the same propaganda as that used inside
Burma. It has been using paid lobbyists. It can afford to hire
foreigners as well as corrupted Burmese nationals to distribute SPDC
propaganda and lies. The military regime has been trying to convince
international organizations like the ILO, the European Community, the
United Nations and the international community by using its lobbyists.
What do we know about the National Reconciliation Talks in Rangoon?
Just look at the results: 174 (out of an estimated 2000) political
prisoners have been released. This is only a small proportion of the
estimated 2000 prisoners inside Burma's ill-famed prisons. The numbers
released were relatively insignificant. On top of that, 140 out of
these 174 are NLD supporters rounded up during Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's
attempted trip to Mandalay last year. Most of them had not even been
officially charged with any crime. So their unconditional release is
rather meaningless. It is true that the regime has also allowed some
offices of the NLD re-open (only in Rangoon, though). These offices
remain under close surveillance by agents of the dreaded Military
Intelligence Service (MIS). With respect to prisoners, the regime may
use its favourite method of ?release and rearrest?. Just imagine how
long will it take to get the permission from the Burmese Military Junta
to open all NLD offices. How long will it take to get the freedom for
all political prisoners?
The military regime in Rangoon has been practicing cunning tricks to
gain maximum political advantage by choosing the timing of releasing a
limited number of political prisoners to coincide with those dates when
it knows the world will be watching. The military junta released U Tin
Oo and U Aung Shwe just in time for the fifth visit to Rangoon by United
Nations special envoy to Burma, H.E. Mr.Razali Ismail. In other words,
these processes seem far more significant to foreigners than they do to
ordinary Burmese. To make the ongoing ?Reconciliation Talks? realistic
and meaningful, stronger pressure from the international community is
needed. The military junta will never ever hand over political power to
a democratically elected government represented by NLD voluntarily.
We must convince the international community to put stronger pressure on
the military junta in order to comply with the wishes of 50 millions
Burmese people.
It is naive to expect that we can get a democratic government through
?Reconciliation Talks? in Rangoon at no price. Don't wait for the
outcome of "Reconciliation Talks? in Rangoon - the waiting time will
last forever. The SPDC is getting most benefit out of the situation.
The military junta is building its own power base while ?Reconciliation
Talks? are dragging on. It is buying time. The longer the duration of
the talks, the stronger will be the grip on power of the military
junta. Please read the following carefully:
The world is full of willing people.
Some willing to work and the rest willing to let them.
We need participation from all of you including all patriotic Burmese
activists and all Burmese and Non-Burmese people, professionals,
politicians, retirees, ordinary workers and refugees (NO ONE EXCEPTED
please!!!). We can shape the world we long for only by our own action.
Nothing can be done without the people?s participation. We have no other
way of achieving our goal. This is the pay-back time for all of us. Our
extraordinary cause is ?to win a second independence from a corrupted,
cunning, merciless, and well organized military gang?. Don't let our
extraordinary cause become ordinary. With this, I would like to say:
Long live our fearless, and beloved student leader MIN KO NAING (who
turned thirty-nine on 18th October) who has been in prison since 23
March 1989.
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
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<html>
<center><font color="#3333FF"><font size=+2>PERSPECTIVE: Don't let our
extraordinary cause become ordinary</font></font></center>
<p><i><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+1>By Minn Gyee</font></font></i>
<br><i><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+1>October 22, 2001</font></font></i>
<p><font size=+1>At present, as you are all aware, the hottest news for
all of us is the ?Fight Against Terrorism?. After the September 11th
terrorist attacks in the US, nobody can avoid thinking about international
terrorism. But the war against terrorism is going to be a long one.
Nobody can deny this. At this point in time, every nation and every
country is involved in it. Of course, Burma?s military regime is
involved, too.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Every country, every ruler, every dictator, and every
leader is trying to be on the winning side. How about our Burmese Democracy
Movement? We need to take advantage of this situation. But
how?</font>
<p><font size=+1>We need to take account of the real situation of our enemy's
position (the military junta?s) and of ours, the Burmese Democracy Movement?s.
But I worry a bit that we have already lost focus on our cause (to some
extent!).</font>
<p><font size=+1>Our older generation has faced enormous hardships and
difficulties before they won freedom or independence for our country.
During the Second World War, our independence movement led by our beloved
national hero, General Aung San, father of our leader Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, encountered a difficulty similar to the one we face today. The well-known
slogan at that time was: ?the difficulty for the English Government
is the best chance for the Burmese Independence Movement?. Our grandfathers,
fathers, grandmothers and mothers transformed the bad situation into a
win-win situation skillfully. For this reason we won independence
from Britain in 1948.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Now we are fighting for the second Independence of our
unfortunate Burmese and Non-Burmese people. This time we are facing a new
enemy, a corrupted, cunning and well organized military gang. This gang
has been committing all kinds of atrocities and crimes since 1962. It has
proved much harder to topple this illegitimate government, the military
junta, in comparison with a foreign government, the British government.
The present military junta has been telling lies incessantly since 1962
and has pretended to stand for true nationalism. The military junta
monopolizes the news and media in order to cover up their lies. Our beloved
and innocent soldiers and ordinary people are brain-washed and misguided
by the military's false information and by SPDC propaganda.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Now the SPDC is opening the second battle front. This
time the military junta is trying very hard to use the same propaganda
as that used inside Burma. It has been using paid lobbyists. It can afford
to hire foreigners as well as corrupted Burmese nationals to distribute
SPDC propaganda and lies. The military regime has been trying to convince
international organizations like the ILO, the European Community, the United
Nations and the international community by using its lobbyists.</font>
<p><font size=+1>What do we know about the National Reconciliation Talks
in Rangoon? Just look at the results: 174 (out of an estimated
2000) political prisoners have been released. This is only a small
proportion of the estimated 2000 prisoners inside Burma's ill-famed prisons.
The numbers released were relatively insignificant. On top of that,
140 out of these 174 are NLD supporters rounded up during Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi's attempted trip to Mandalay last year. Most of them had
not even been officially charged with any crime. So their unconditional
release is rather meaningless. It is true that the regime has also
allowed some offices of the NLD re-open (only in Rangoon, though).
These offices remain under close surveillance by agents of the dreaded
Military Intelligence Service (MIS). With respect to prisoners, the
regime may use its favourite method of ?release and rearrest?. Just
imagine how long will it take to get the permission from the Burmese Military
Junta to open all NLD offices. How long will it take to get the freedom
for all political prisoners?</font>
<p><font size=+1>The military regime in Rangoon has been practicing cunning
tricks to gain maximum political advantage by choosing the timing of releasing
a limited number of political prisoners to coincide with those dates when
it knows the world will be watching. The military junta released
U Tin Oo and U Aung Shwe just in time for the fifth visit to Rangoon by
United Nations special envoy to Burma, H.E. Mr.Razali Ismail. In
other words, these processes seem far more significant to foreigners than
they do to ordinary Burmese. To make the ongoing ?Reconciliation
Talks? realistic and meaningful, stronger pressure from the international
community is needed. The military junta will never ever hand over
political power to a democratically elected government represented by NLD
voluntarily.</font>
<p><font size=+1>We must convince the international community to put stronger
pressure on the military junta in order to comply with the wishes of 50
millions Burmese people.</font>
<p><font size=+1>It is naive to expect that we can get a democratic government
through ?Reconciliation Talks? in Rangoon at no price. Don't wait
for the outcome of "Reconciliation Talks? in Rangoon - the waiting time
will last forever. The SPDC is getting most benefit out of the situation.
The military junta is building its own power base while ?Reconciliation
Talks? are dragging on. It is buying time. The longer the duration
of the talks, the stronger will be the grip on power of the military junta.
Please read the following carefully:</font>
<p><font size=+1>The world is full of willing people.</font>
<br><font size=+1>Some willing to work and the rest willing to let them.</font>
<p><font size=+1>We need participation from all of you including all patriotic
Burmese activists and all Burmese and Non-Burmese people, professionals,
politicians, retirees, ordinary workers and refugees (NO ONE EXCEPTED please!!!).
We can shape the world we long for only by our own action. Nothing
can be done without the people?s participation. We have no other way of
achieving our goal. This is the pay-back time for all of us. Our
extraordinary cause is ?to win a second independence from a corrupted,
cunning, merciless, and well organized military gang?. Don't let our extraordinary
cause become ordinary. With this, I would like to say:</font>
<p><font size=+1>Long live our fearless, and beloved student leader MIN
KO NAING (who turned thirty-nine on 18th October) who has been in prison
since 23 March 1989.</font>
<p> </html>
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