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HEADLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SMH - Downer pushes for access to Suu Kyi
AFP- Junta charges synchronized media offensive
against Myanmar
Christian Science Monitor - Burmese
opposition move fails
BBC - Burma: war of words
continues
AFP - Myanmar says Aung San Suu Kyi
blinded by greed and power
AFP - US rebukes Myanmar for "ridiculous"
claims
AP - Myanmar Official Defends Govt Action
Against Opposition
The Economists - Myanmar’s vicious junta
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - SEP - 8, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sydney Morning
Herald Sep 8, 2000.
Downer pushes for access to Suu Kyi
By CRAIG SKEHAN, Herald Correspondent in Bangkok, and agencies
In the wake of criticism over Australia's decision to establish closer ties
with Burma's military regime, the Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, yesterday sought
diplomatic access to Burma's democracy leader, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been
held incommunicado since Saturday.
Mr Downer said he had asked Burma's Ambassador to Canberra for Australian
diplomats in Rangoon to be allowed to visit Ms Suu Kyi's home, where she had
been confined.
The Burmese ambassador, Mr U Aye, was called into Parliament House to hear
Australia's _expression_ of concern.
Mr Downer said the Australian Government "deplored" the military regime's
denial of Ms Suu Kyi's rights to freedom of movement and association.
He called on Burma's military rulers to enter into a "substantial" dialogue
with Burma's opposition groups, particularly Ms Suu Kyi and her National League
for Democracy (NLD).
The carpeting of the ambassador came amid criticism of Mr Downer by the
Burmese democracy movement over a new Australian policy of closer diplomatic
engagement with the regime and opposition to United States and European Union
sanctions.
There was no immediate comment available from Burmese authorities on
whether Australian diplomats would be allowed to see Ms Suu Kyi.
Last weekend, diplomats from Britain and the US were physically barred from
trying to enter her home in Rangoon.
Meanwhile, a senior member of the ruling junta said the Government had
trouble getting its point of view across in the international media because of
pro-Western bias, state-controlled newspapers reported yesterday.
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, secretary-one of the State Peace and
Development Council, made the complaint as the junta suffered a fresh barrage of
criticism for its latest crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement and
its leader.
"While the international information sector, dominated and manipulated by
some Western nations, are sending news according to their wishes, it is not easy
for a developing country like Burma to inform the world about its true
situation," General Khin Nyunt said to staff of the state-owned television and
radio station on Wednesday.
In New York yesterday, the US President, Mr Bill Clinton, and the British
Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, used their speeches before the UN millennium
summit to denounce the junta's restrictions on NLD leaders.
Mr Clinton said Ms Suu Kyi was a "brave and popular leader" who had been
confined in contravention of UN resolutions.
Mr Blair said the treatment of Ms Suu Kyi was a disgrace. "I call upon the
Burmese Government to let her go free and I call on fellow world leaders to back
that call," he said.
The crackdown, including cordoning of the NLD's national headquarters, has
been in place since Saturday, when authorities forcibly ended a nine-day protest
vigil by Ms Suu Kyi and about 14 supporters.
The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper yesterday carried an angry
reaction to criticism of Burma by the world leaders.
Thursday, September 7 7:17 PM SGT
Junta charges synchronized media offensive against Myanmar BANGKOK, Sept 7 (AFP) -
Myanmar's junta Thursday charged that the global media was collaborating to
conduct a synchronized campaign against the Yangon regime.
"It seems that the media today are quite preoccupied, highlighting
allegations and fabrications launched against the government of Myanmar," the
government said in a statement.
"Stories designed to disinform readers and viewers are created and
synchronized by those with vested interests to serve their ulterior
motives."
"It is no secret that a negative media campaign against the government of
Myanmar has been tailored to coincide with several important events such as the
UN Millennium Summit."
US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair blasted
Myanmar's ruling junta Wednesday at the UN Millennium Summit for its treatment
of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained by authorities in
Yangon since Saturday.
Blair called Aung San Suu Kyi's treatment a "disgrace," while Clinton, who
spoke ahead of the prime minister, likened the situation in Myanmar, formerly
Burma, to those in Serbia and Iraq, where human rights and democracy were also
under siege.
In its statement, the junta dismissed the allegations by Blair, Clinton and
others that Aung San Suu Kyi's rights were being suppressed, saying that such
allegations were "groundless" and "blown out of proportion."
Myanmar authorities raided the National Leaue for Democracyheadquarters and
seized what they called "incriminatory material" and documents early Saturday,
just before they officially announced that a nine-day showdown between Aung San
Suu Kyi and the junta was over.
The Nobel peace laureate and a dozen NLD members had been camped out in
their cars on the outskirts of Yangon since August 24 when they were blocked
from travelling to a party meeting outside the capital.
At the same time as the raid, the authorities effectively placed the NLD
leadership under house arrest, although the junta denied anyone had been
officially arrested.
The NLD won a landslide general election victory in 1990, but the junta has
never recognised the result and is accused by foreign critics and human rights
groups of severe repression of opponents.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Burmese nationalist leader General Aung
San, was put under house arrest for six years and has subsequently had her
movements greatly restricted.
Christian Science Monitor
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2000 WORLD Burmese opposition move fails Joshua Kurlantzick Special to The Christian Science Monitor BANGKOK In prompting a standoff with the country's junta that resulted in her being
detained, Burmese democratic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi may have hoped
to gain greater international condemnation for the Rangoon junta.
But her efforts appear to have backfired on her party, as she has helped
hardliners gain the upper hand within the ruling military regime.
After detaining Ms. Suu Kyi, "the junta is learning that it can completely
ignore the West's pressure, because its key allies like India and China remain
behind it," said Chayachoke Chulasiriwongs, a Burma expert at Bangkok's
Chulalongkorn University.
"Even Japan has been reluctant to put pressure on Burma. The fact that the
SPDC [State Peace and Development Council, the junta's official name] was
willing to treat Suu Kyi so harshly before the UN Millennium Summit, a major PR
event, shows they just don't care about the West," Chayachoke said. "Suu Kyi's
gamble has come back to haunt her, giving her headaches she didn't
imagine."
"The SPDC will try to systematically destroy Suu Kyi's party [the National
League for Democracy]," Chayachoke said.
"The regime now is planning to terminate the NLD by December, showing the
hardest-line members of the SPDC have made their agenda the priority," said Aung
Thu Nyein, a spokesman for the All Burma Students Democratic Front, a leading
pro-democracy Burma group in exile in Thailand.
"They'll try to arrest all the energetic, young members of the NLD, leaving
only older, weaker members operating."
On Aug. 24, Suu Kyi and a dozen supporters attempted to drive outside
Rangoon, the capital, to attend a meeting of her party.
After military police prevented the NLD members from leaving the capital,
they stopped in the suburb of Dallah and refused to move.
Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest as military police raided NLD's
Rangoon headquarters and seized what the junta called "incriminatory material"
suggesting the NLD was planning terrorist acts. Since Sept. 2, a ring of riot
police have guarded Suu Kyi's residence and the home of her deputy Tin Oo,
preventing anyone from seeing her and reportedly manhandling the British
ambassador when he attempted to visit Mr. Oo.
Trying to refute reports that opposition leaders are under house arrest,
the junta on Wednesday released photos purportedly showing an aide to Suu Kyi
walking in downtown Rangoon.
Several Rangoon analysts believe Suu Kyi, the1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner,
timed her attempt to leave the capital to coincide with what she perceived as
divisions within the regime; and to show more moderate generals that they have
to work with her to create a lasting political solution for the country and win
favor from the West.
Last month, the junta's deputy minister for development, Zaw Tun, was
sacked for denigrating the regime's economic management. At the time, diplomats
in Rangoon said there was a growing fissure between more pragmatic generals led
by intelligence chief Khin Nyunt and hardliners led by General Maung Aye.
The junta's crackdown on Suu Kyi and her party has brought censure from the
West. Still, it appears that Suu Kyi's actions actually have strengthened
hardliner Maung Aye's faction, since Burma's closest friends have said little
about the crackdown, showing the junta that it can treat the NLD more harshly
without risking its most important alliances, experts warn.
China, Pakistan, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, India, and
Japan are Burma's key trading partners and suppliers of military
assistance.
None of those countries have commented publicly on the junta's treatment of
Suu Kyi. And Australia, the non-Asian nation closest to Rangoon, has refused to
cancel its relationship with Burma's military rulers.
Burma has limited economic and political ties with the West, since many
Western states imposed tough sanctions on Rangoon after the junta refused to
recognize the NLD's overwhelming victory in free elections during the
1990s.
Senior General Than Shwe, head of the SPDC, is reportedly in failing
health, and he may give way to a successor within the next two years. "The
rivalry between Maung Aye and Khin Nyunt to succeed Than Shwe is really
intensifying," Aung said. An analyst in Rangoon warned that if Maung Aye takes
over, Burma, renamed Myanmar by the junta, could revert to the situation it was
in before 1988, when it was completely isolated from the West and run by a
leadership that did not care that the country was an international
pariah.
BBC - Thursday, 7 September, 2000,
22:31 GMT 23:31 UK
Burma: war of words continues The British government has rejected accusations that it has been improperly
interfering in the internal affairs of Burma.
A foreign office minister John Battle said in a statement that recent
criticism of Burma was a result of the government's violation of human and
political rights.
He was speaking as a war of words continued over the Burmese government's
treatment of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held
incommunicado at her house since the government forcibly brought her back to
Rangoon on Saturday.
The United States and Britain have called for her to be released; official
Burmese newspapers have accused critics of acting for their own selfish aims.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
BBC - Thursday, 7 September, 2000,
16:45 GMT 17:45 UK
Burma attacks 'negative campaign' Burma's military government has attacked what it says is a "synchronised
negative media campaign" designed to paint a damaging picture of the country and
its treatment of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a statement on its website, the government condemned "a flurry of
groundless accusations" which it said had been has been "tailored to coincide
with ... the UN Millennium Summit".
The comments come a day after US President Bill Clinton and UK Prime
Minister Tony Blair both used their speeches at the summit to condemn the latest
crackdown on the Burmese opposition.
'Safe and well'
Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) have not been seen since Saturday when police forced them to
return to the capital, Rangoon.
The move brought an end to a nine-day roadside stand-off, brought about by
the opposition leader's efforts to visit party officials outside the city.
The Burmese authorities insist Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues are safe
and well inside their homes in the capital, but they have denied Western
diplomats and journalists access to her.
The gates to Aung San Suu Kyi's house on Rangoon's University Avenue are
reportedly padlocked with armed security personnel outside.
Government statements earlier in the week said the NLD leader and her
colleagues were under investigation for alleged "terrorist" connections.
However, it has denied that any opposition figure has been formally
arrested.
'Neo-colonialist stooge'
On Thursday the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper added to the war
of words with Burma's critics saying the NLD leader was neo-colonialist stooge
being kept under supervision for her own safety.
"[Burma's] leaders, wise in the ways of evil-minded people, clearly foresee
perils under which [Aung San] Suu Kyi is flitting about unwarily," the newspaper
said in its commentary.
"All these protesters, presidential candidates, heads of state, the
secretary-general of the UN, blithely jumped on the trumpet-blowing bandwagon of
calumniating Myanmar [Burma], not because they see, they hear, they know for
themselves [Burma's] affairs, but for their own selfish purposes and aims," it
said.
Friday September 8 5:20 AM ET Myanmar Press Attack on Suu Kyi
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's state-run press on Friday accused pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of being power-hungry and blamed her for pushing the country toward ``utter devastation.'' The military government started a new crackdown on Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy last week, following a nine-day confrontation when authorities blocked her from traveling to the countryside. The NLD headquarters have been closed and senior party officials confined to their homes. Myanmar's Kyemon newspaper, in a commentary Friday, revived an old allegation that Suu Kyi had once called for Western military intervention in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Suu Kyi operates ``with the aim of pushing the country toward utter devastation,'' the paper said. ``With the aim of grabbing power, the democracy stunt princess and her party invite foreign interference and welcome any intervention or invasion,'' it said. Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her nonviolent pro-democracy work, is a favorite target of the state-controlled press, which parrots the military government's claim that she and her party are impeding progress toward democracy and prosperity. Police stopped Suu Kyi and 14 companions on Aug. 24 in a suburb outside the capital as they headed into the country for party work. Suu Kyi refused to return to Yangon, and the party members drew international attention by camping out in their cars until they were forcibly returned to the city on the night of Sept. 1. The government said NLD leaders were asked to stay home as authorities conducted an investigation at their headquarters. The government alleges there are links between some NLD youth wing members and anti-government groups who were allegedly planning ``terrorist'' activities. Myanmar's government has kept the NLD on a tight leash since 1988, when Suu Kyi led pro-democracy demonstrations. The military allowed national elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when the NLD won a landslide. Friday, September 8 3:05 PM SGT
Myanmar says Aung San Suu Kyi blinded by greed and power YANGON, Sept 8 (AFP) - Myanmar's ruling junta Friday
slammed detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as a traitor blinded by
greed and power, state media said.
A commentary in the New Light of Myanmar, which usually reflects the
government's stance, said that Aung San Suu Kyi was "blinded by greed and
power," which is preventing her from dealing forthrightly with the
government.
"She is making slanderous attacks on the government and yet saying that she
is ready for negotiations."
Aung San Suu Kyi has said she is willing to negotiate with the government
regarding the country's political future, as long as Yangon recognizes the
results of 1990's free elections, in which her National League for Democracy
(NLD) party won a resounding victory.
As long as Aung San Suu Kyi and her "national traitor gang" make these
demands and accused the government of abridging their rights, the government
would not negotiate, the New Light said.
"If the so-called party leader wants to make actual concessions in view of
the national interest, she should stop ... all her acts of destruction,
disturbance and obstruction."
Myanmar has come under fire during the ongoing United Nations Millennium
Summit for its treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders.
The United States on Thursday accused Myanmar of concocting a "ridiculous"
misinformation campaign to obscure what it described as a blatant violation of
Aung San Suu Kyi's human rights.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called on the junta to
release the democracy figurehead and her colleagues from effective house arrest
following her roadside standoff with security forces.
US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair blasted
Myanmar's junta Wednesday at the UN Millennium Summit over the Aung San Suu Kyi
affair.
Myanmar authorities last Saturday simultaneously placed Aung San Suu Kyi
and other NLD leaders under house arrest, raided the National League for
Democracy (NLD) headquarters and seized what they called "incriminatory
material" and documents.
At the same time, the junta officially announced that a nine-day showdown
between Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime was over
The Nobel peace laureate and a dozen NLD members had been camped out in
their cars on the outskirts of Yangon since August 24 when they were blocked
from travelling to a party meeting outside the capital.
The NLD won a landslide general election victory in 1990, but the junta has
never recognised the result and is accused by foreign critics and human rights
groups of severe repression of opponents.
Friday, September 8 6:53 AM SGT
US rebukes Myanmar for "ridiculous" claimsWASHINGTON, Sept 7 (AFP) -The United States on Thursday accused Myanmar of concocting a "ridiculous" misinformation campaign to obscure what it described as the blatant violation of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's human rights. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called on the junta to release the democracy figurehead and her colleagues from effective house arrest following her roadside standoff with security forces. "The Burmese government now claims that American and British diplomats somehow orchestrated recent events in order to embarrass the regime," Boucher said in a statement. "This is a self-serving fabrication. It represents a cynical attempt by Burmese authorities to deflect attention away from its blatant violation of Aung San Suu Kyi's human rights." "We reject these ridiculous claims and call upon the Burmese government to end its policy of misinformation," he added. The US statement came after Myanmar's junta charged that the global media was collaborating to conduct a synchronized campaign against the Yangon regime. "It is no secret that a negative media campaign against the government of Myanmar has been tailored to coincide with several important events such as the UN Millennium Summit," it said. The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper meanwhile claimed that Aung San Suu Kyi was a neo-colonialist stooge being confined for her own safety. US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair blasted Myanmar's junta Wednesday at the UN Millennium Summit over the affair. Blair called Aung San Suu Kyi's treatment a "disgrace," while Clinton likened the situation in Myanmar -- formerly Burma -- to those in Serbia and Iraq, where human rights and democracy were also under siege. In its statement, the junta dismissed the allegations by Blair, Clinton and others that Aung San Suu Kyi's rights were being suppressed, saying that such allegations were "groundless" and "blown out of proportion." Myanmar authorities raided the National League for Democracyheadquarters and seized what they called "incriminatory material" and documents early Saturday, just before they officially announced that a nine-day showdown between Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta was over. The Nobel peace laureate and a dozen NLD members had been camped out in their cars on the outskirts of Yangon since August 24 when they were blocked from travelling to a party meeting outside the capital. The NLD won a landslide general election victory in 1990, but the junta has never recognised the result and is accused by foreign critics and human rights groups of severe repression of opponents. Friday, September 8 9:38 AM SGT
Myanmar Official Defends Govt Action Against Opposition UNITED NATIONS (AP)--Myanmar's
foreign minister on Thursday rejected charges his government mistreats
opposition leaders, saying it merely had to take "preventive action" against
those who want to lead the country to anarchy.
Win Aung, who was addressing the United Nations Millennium Summit, admitted that his government was taking measures "to prevent anarchy and the disintegration of the country." But while doing so "the government handles the situation in a most
humanitarian manner," he said.
His denial followed reports that Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the
National League for Democracy, and eight other top leaders have been confined in
their homes since Saturday in the latest crackdown by the country's ruling
military junta.
The West has criticized the action as a gross violation of human rights.
"Myanmar is building democracy in our own way," Win Aung said. It was wrong
for other states to want to impose their methods of government on others, he
said.
He said that "in our country that faced a conflict, the guns have been
silenced. And yet there are those who want to stir up tranquil waters. Then we
have to take preventive measures."
"We have to respect the 15 million people who want to preserve the peace,
we do not want to see any movement which would lead the country back to total
anarchy and disintegration," he said.
Myanmar's government has kept the Suu Kyi's opposition group on a tight
leash since 1988, when she led pro-democracy demonstrations. The league
overwhelmingly won the country's 1990 general elections, but the military barred
it from taking office.
In New York on Wednesday, U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime
Minister Tony Blair used their speeches before the summit to denounce the junta
in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
"We face a clear moral test today in Burma, where a popular leader who has
struggled peacefully for dialogue has once again been confined, with her
supporters imprisoned and her country in distress, all in defiance of repeated
U.N. resolutions," Clinton said.
The Economist - Sep 8,
2000
Myanmar’s vicious junta
“Constructive engagement” has failed. Outsiders should offer no comfort to
the military regime until it shows a genuine readiness to reform
FEW cities are as gloomy as Yangon, the rot-blackened capital of Myanmar,
known in better days as Rangoon and Burma respectively. By day, unemployed
youths line the streets. By night, in the deserted centre, soldiers stand guard
behind barbed-wire blockades. Under the grip of military rule, few people dare
talk politics, even in private. Beyond the capital, it is worse: in some parts
people must endure slavery, eviction from their villages, destruction of their
crops, murder and theft by the army.
The one bright light amid the murk is Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the
National League for Democracy (NLD). Her nine-day protest, trapped in a car on
the outskirts of Yangon, and her subsequent detention under what amounts to
house arrest, remind her countrymen, and the wider world, both of the
intransigence of the military junta and of the fact that an alternative still
exists, despite years of oppression. Miss Suu Kyi’s party won a general
election, in 1990, by a landslide, but the soldiers refused to move aside.
Instead, they dug in, occasionally making a few cosmetic changes to improve
their image: three years ago, for instance, they changed their name from the
State Law and Order Council to the State Peace and Development Council.
Nowadays they claim to bring order and stability to a country divided by
ethnic rivalry, though in reality their intimidation encourages rebellion,
notably along Myanmar’s borders, and thousands have fled to Thailand in search
of jobs and safety. They also claim that a new election will be held once a new
constitution has been written.
In truth, the soldiers’ intentions remain unchanged, as they admit in their
franker moments. Not long ago they openly vowed to “eliminate” the NLD, and they
have recently been forcing members to leave the party in droves. Miss Suu Kyi’s
protest was timed, in part, to show that the party will not yield. It is welcome
evidence of her continuing readiness to defy the junta and fight for democracy.
For two years, since a similar set of protests in 1998, she had lain low,
leading some of her countrymen to fear—and the junta to hope—that the democrats
were a spent force. They are not.
Insidious co-operation
Not much has been going their way, though. Although ritual denunciations of
Myanmar are still made in various world bodies, and though Indonesia, the
biggest country in South-East Asia, has junked its military autocrat in favour
of a democratically chosen president, Myanmar’s junta has been all too
successful at ingratiating itself with its neighbours. It enjoys cordial
relations with China. And, more importantly, it is looked on with an
increasingly benign eye by most members of ASEAN, the Association of South-East
Asian Nations, which admitted Myanmar to its ranks in 1997.
ASEAN argued then that “constructive engagement” would soften the generals and that trade would bring liberalisation, much as Japan claimed when it tried to promote investment in Myanmar earlier in the 1990s. More recently, other countries have also tried to engage the junta. India has sent its army chief to discuss their common border. Australia has offered to help set up a human-rights commission in Myanmar. Now even the European Union says it is ready to abandon its previous stand-offishness towards the regime and attend an ASEAN meeting in Laos in December at which Myanmar will be represented. All bar Britain purport to believe that engagement, not isolation, will bring a change for the better. They are wrong. As the continuing persecution of Miss Suu Kyi and her party
shows, ASEAN’s policy has not achieved either its declared aim of reforming the
junta or the underlying strategic aim of many of the region’s diplomats:
stopping Myanmar becoming a cockpit of Chinese-Indian rivalry.
Like North Korea, Myanmar is a weak country run by vicious people whose one
diplomatic skill is an ability to play more powerful countries off against one
another. ASEAN should realise that any decent club, even one that admits a
communist country like Vietnam, lays down some basic standards for its members’
behaviour. It should censure Myanmar in the strongest terms and make it plain
that its membership will be suspended if Miss Suu Kyi is not released, her party
allowed to organise freely and a realistic plan put forward for a return to
democracy. Others should help ASEAN to that realisation—and prominent among them
should be the European Union, with a prompt announcement that it won’t go to the
Laos meeting in December.
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