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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - OCT - 03, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC- Swiss impose sanctions against Burma,
Afghanistan
IRNA - Switzerland slaps sanctions on Myanmar
and Taliban
Asahi - It's time for
Tokyo to tighten the screws on Yangon
AFP - Keeping free trade on track tops ASEAN
agenda
AFP - Myanmar says tougher Swiss sanctions will
hinder democracy
AFP - Free trade agreement to dominate ASEAN
economic ministers meet
AP - ASEAN Tries To Boost Free-Trade
Zone
AFP - Britain accuses Myanmar junta of lying over beating of
jailed Briton
Ananova - Burma prison
guards' beating denial 'a tissue of lies'
AsiaWeek - Truth and Lies in Myanmar
BBC - Monday, 2
October, 2000, 17:45 GMT 18:45 UK
Swiss impose sanctions against Burma, Afghanistan Switzerland is imposing new sanctions on Burma and
Afghanistan.
The Swiss foreign ministry said it would freeze assets in
bank accounts owned by members of the military junta in Burma and officials of
the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Exports of arms and other items which could be used for
internal repression or terrorism would also be banned. Switzerland has had some
sanctions in place against Burma since 1996 and the new measures mirror a
stricter regime imposed by the fifteen-member European Union in April.
The sanctions against Afghanistan are in line with
measures approved by the United Nations security council last year.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
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058
Switzerland-Sanctions Switzerland slaps sanctions on Myanmar and Taliban Vienna, United Nations, Oct. 2, IRNA -- The Swiss government is to impose sanctions against the ruling Taliban movement in Afghanistan as well as the military junta in Myanmar, Swiss Radio International reported today. The measures, announced by the foreign ministry on Monday, bring Swiss policy into line with that of the European Union and the United Nations. They include financial sanctions, as well as a visa ban on the two countries' rulers. Arms exports will also be prohibited. The government took the decision even though Switzerland is not a member of the UN or the EU. The UN placed sanctions on Afghanistan a year ago because its ruling Taliban movement refused to extradite the businessman, Osama bin Laden. He is suspected of masterminding attacks in 1998 against the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The Swiss government also decided to take punitive
measures against Myanmar in protest at its record of human rights
abuses.
Under the embargo, the foreign ministry is also
freezing development aid projects in
Myanmar.
The foreign ministry said Switzerland had criticised the
regime in Yangon for several years over its policies of forced labour
and disregard for human
rights.
ND/MHJ/JH Asahi Evening News
It's time for Tokyo to tighten the
screws on Yangon
Special to Asahi Shimbun Asia Network By Kavi Chongkittavorn
October 2, 2000
With the eyes of the international community still focusing on the plight
of Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the hardening intransigence of the
junta leaders in Yangon (Rangoon), Japan's Myanmar (Burma) policy has once again
come under the world's microscope.
Japan is by far the biggest and most eager donor of humanitarian aid to
Myanmar. Tokyo has indicated it is willing to grant additional assistance if the
regime moves toward reform and further liberalization.
More than other countries, both in the West and Asia, Tokyo is betting that
the junta leaders' goodwill and survival instincts will lead it to loosen up
after further contacts and exchanges. Japan hopes its policy will eventually
lead to a political environment that encourages dialogue and national
reconciliation.
After a decade, it is still an unfulfilled wish.
Japan is not alone in entertaining this approach. In the past two years,
Australia has been trying to teach the regime it once strongly condemned to
respect human rights and adopt the principles of democracy.
Canberra has spent a lot of money on experts and seminars, hoping that the
junta would follow the successful experience in Indonesia and set up a national
human rights commission. But Australia's soft approach is being criticized at
home.
It was no coincidence when a cablegram written by the new Australian envoy
to Yangon to his boss in Canberra was leaked to an Australian daily newspaper
recently. It said the prospect for improvement of human rights inside Myanmar
was slim.
Painting a gloomy picture, it noted that the much-heralded appointment of
Dato Ismail Razali, special representative for Myanmar, and his visit in July
has not yielded any positive result.
Razali is scheduled to visit Yangon again in early October to prepare a
report on the latest situation for Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United
Nations. It comes on the heels of the blockade of Suu Kyi's travel, and the
report is expected to be harsh on the regime.
Since the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in 1988, Japan has been
ambivalent in its Myanmar policy even though it showed toughness in earlier
years by halting official aid.
After Myanmar joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in
1997, Tokyo became more accommodating with the junta. Given its historical
sentiment and business interests there, Japan has already established footholds
in Myanmar, arguing that it is pivotal to keep the dialogue open while the West
continues to isolate Yangon.
Now, its Myanmar policy is at risk and could potentially clash with ASEAN.
At the moment, the organization still maintains solidarity on Myanmar, but this
blanket support is wearing thin. Thailand broke rank with ASEAN in July when it
acted alone and abstained from a crucial vote in the International Labor
Organization (ILO) to sanction Myanmar.
With its labor situation up for review at ILO in mid-November, ASEAN
members and the European Union are in limbo with their a wait-and-see attitude
toward Myanmar. They are keeping their fingers crossed that Myanmar will comply
with ILO recommendations to halt all forms of forced labor. There has not been
any progress.
If Yangon remains stubborn, ASEAN's core countries are expected to follow
the Thai example and vote individually. Such move can also derail the long
awaited ministerial meeting between ASEAN and the Europe Union in December.
Finally, if Japan maintains its status quo, it would jeopardize its overall ties
with ASEAN as well as Japan-Thai relations.
Tokyo needs to take a more assertive role on Myanmar given its substantial
aid and leverage as well as close rapport with the regime's leaders. Japan's
policy can work better if it tightens the screws and cooperates closely with the
international community.
Without a broader and tougher policy, Myanmar will continue to manipulate
and drag its feet on the reconciliation process. Worse, the regime will benefit
from Tokyo's generosity without resorting to political dialogue.
(The author is executive editor of the Bangkok-based English newspaper The
Nation.)
Tuesday, October 3 7:09 PM SGT
Keeping free trade on track tops ASEAN
agenda
CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Oct 3 (AFP) - Keeping the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Area (AFTA) on track will top a
meeting of the region's economic ministers, officials said Tuesday.
The meeting of economic ministers runs from October 4 to 7.
ASEAN ministers will review progress on AFTA, which aims to liberalise
trade in most goods by 2003 in the region, they said.
Following the financial crisis in 1997 and 1998, some ASEAN countries have
sought to delay the lowering of tariffs in certain sectors.
In May ASEAN trade ministers agreed in principle to a request from Malaysia
that tariff cuts for its automotive industry be deferred for two years until
2005.
Malaysian officials have said they needed more time to prepare their local
industry to withstand foreign competition.
Host Thailand, which has a large automotive industry, has submitted
proposals on how neigbouring countries could be compensated when one AFTA
country defers its commitments to cut tariffs.
But senior trade officials holding preparatory meetings for the ministerial
gathering that officially begins Thursday failed to reach agreement on a
compensation proposal.
A Malaysian official who asked not to be named made it clear that Malaysia
would state its case for a slowdown in AFTA forcefully during the meeting.
"It's not just a question of dollars and cents. There's a social dimension
involved," he said, referring to thousands of jobs that could be lost if foreign
competition was "prematurely" introduced.
Malaysia's national car industry is one of the country's biggest
employers.
Philippine Assistant Trade Secretary Jose Antonio Buencamino agreed that
the "whiplash of the Asian financial crisis" was still being felt in some
countries and they remained vulnerable to foreign competition.
But delegates also warned that any agreement to a slowdown in AFTA could
precipitate a general slackening on commitments.
"We have to make sure that this protocol we are negotiating doesn't become
a pandora's box for reopening commitments," Buencamino said.
But at the same time, there should be some flexibility to address
difficulties faced by individual countries, he said.
The ministers of ASEAN -- which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnman -- will
also discuss moves to link AFTA with the Closer Economic Relations agreement, a
free trade arrangement between Australia and New Zealand.
Meantime, security went into high gear Tuesday to prevent planned protests
from overshadowing the ministers meeting.
Crack troops aided by bomb-sniffing dogs combed the hotel venue and parked
cars here Tuesday as security preparations shifted into high gear.
Security guards surrounded all economic ministers arriving at the hotel and
prevented any members of the public or the press from getting near the
ministers.
Security officials said more than 300 policemen had been mobilised to ring
the venue with guards amid reports that protesters may stage demonstrations and
that anti-Myanmar insurgents could launch terrorist attacks.
The Nation daily had previously reported that more than 1,000 police and
private security units would be deployed in Chiang Mai during the meeting.
There was "growing concern among various government agencies and the public
about renewed action by the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors," anti-Myanmar
insurgents who one year ago stormed the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok and took
hostages.
Farmers from northern Thailand also are expected to hold protests during
the meeting. Violent protests marred a meeting of the Asian Development Bank
here in May.
Tuesday, October 3 7:00 PM SGT
Myanmar says tougher Swiss sanctions will hinder democracy YANGON, Oct 3 (AFP) - Myanmar's
military junta Tuesday scoffed at the toughened sanctions announced by
Switzerland, saying they would hinder rather than hasten the cause of human
rights and democracy.
"Myanmar regrets that Switzerland has decided to impose certain measures
against (the country) like those adopted by the European Union," the foreign
ministry said in a statement.
"At a time when an increasing number of international observers have come
to acknowledge that the policy of sanctions is not working, this action by
Switzerland will obstruct rather than hasten the process of promoting human
rights and democracy in the nation."
The junta was reacting to the Swiss government's announcement on Monday
that it would begin freezing funds held in the country by members of Myanmar's
junta as well as banning the supply of materials which could be used for
internal repression or terrorism.
Myanmar's junta has long been accused by human rights organizations of
severe repression of those who show any signs of dissent.
The beefed-up sanctions bring Switzerland into line with measures taken by
the European Union and the UN Security Council.
"The action will not have any great impact since there are no funds held by
members of the Myanmar government in Switzerland and Myanmar has not brought
items prohibited under the said decision in recent year," ministry added.
"Myanmar is not a recipient of any large-scale assistance from
Switzerland," it said.
The tougher sanctions being adopted by Bern, which has already had a
restrictive policy in place towards Myanmar since 1996, were implemented by the
15-member European bloc in April.
The Swiss government's decision to step-up sanctions comes against the
backdrop of an apparent renewed campaign by the junta to crack down on the
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).
Two weeks ago, Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders were escorted from
Yangon's railway station by police after being barred from travelling to the
northern city of Mandalay to investigate reported crackdowns on the party. At
least 100 party supporters were rounded up and detained.
NLD deputy chairman Tin Oo is still being held at a military base 50
kilometres (30 miles) north of Yangon while Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD
central executive committee members remain under de facto house arrest.
The NLD won a landslide general election victory in 1990, but the junta has
never recognised the result.
Tuesday, October 3 4:43 PM SGT
Free trade agreement to dominate ASEAN
economic ministers meet
CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Oct 3 (AFP) - Keeping the planned Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Area (AFTA) on track will top the
upcoming meeting of the region's economic ministers here, officials said
Tuesday.
The ASEAN ministers will review progress on AFTA, which aims to liberalise
trade in most goods by 2003 in the region, they said.
But following the financial crisis in 1997 and 1998, some ASEAN countries
have sought to delay the lowering of tariffs in certain sectors.
In May ASEAN trade ministers agreed in principle to a request from Malaysia
that tariff cuts for its automotive industry be deferred for two years until
2005.
Malaysian officials have said they needed more time to prepare their local
industry to withstand foreign competition.
Host Thailand, which has a large automotive industry, has submitted
proposals on how neihgbouring countries could be compensated when one AFTA
country defers its commitments to cut tariffs.
But senior trade officials holding preparatory meetings for the ministerial
gathering that officially begins Thursday have thus far failed to reach
agreement on a compensation proposal.
The senior officials have passed the issue to the ministers to
settle.
"At this point, it's beyond the mandate of the senior officials,"
Philippine Assistant Trade Secretary Jose Luis Buencamino told AFP.
A Malaysian official who asked not to be named made it clear that Malaysia
would state its case for a slowdown in AFTA forcefully during the meeting.
"It's not just a question of dollars and cents. There's a social dimension
involved," he said, referring to thousands of jobs that could be lost if foreign
competition was "prematurely" introduced.
Malaysia's national car industry is one of the country's biggest
employers.
Buencamino agreed the "whiplash of the Asian financial crisis" was still
being felt in some countries and they remained vulnerable to foreign
competition.
But delegates also warned that any agreement to a slowdown in AFTA could
precipitate a general slackening on commitments.
"We have to make sure that this protocol we are negotiating doesn't become
a pandora's box for reopening commitments," Buencamino said.
But at the same time, there should be some flexibility to address
difficulties faced by individual countries, he said.
The ministers of ASEAN -- which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnman -- will
also discuss moves to link AFTA with the Closer Economic Relations agreement, a
free trade arrangement between Australia and New Zealand.
They will also meet with counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea to
discuss greater cooperation within East Asia.
The ministers will also hear a report on investment trends in the region
and how ASEAN can compete with Northeast Asia, particularly China, in the race
to lure foreign capital.
And the ASEAN ministers also will discuss new initiatives to promote the
region as an investment haven, at a time when several Southeast Asian financial
markets are among the world's worst performers, delegates said.
Tuesday, October 3 4:30 PM SGT
ASEAN Tries To Boost Free-Trade Zone BANGKOK (AP)--With investor
confidence slipping in Southeast Asia, its economic ministers will meet in
Thailand this week to try to resolve disputes about a regional free-trade zone
and to expand economic ties with countries outside the area.
Another goal of the three-day meeting, beginning Thursday in the northern
town of Chiang Mai, will be to reduce investor concern about security and
political problems in some of the 10 nations that form the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
In Malaysia, police recently have seized arms from Islamic militants. In
Myanmar, also known as Burma, the military junta has come under intense Western
criticism for its crackdown on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In the
Philippines, the government has launched a military offensive against Muslim
rebel groups holding local and foreign hostages.
Investors appear even more concerned about Indonesia, where 15 people were
killed last month by a bomb at the Jakarta stock exchange and where street riots
occurred after corruption charges were lifted against Suharto, the ailing former
dictator.
"The internal problems...contribute to a picture of a region in turmoil. It
has been one of the important factors leading to a regionwide drop in stock and
currency values," said John Funston, senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies, a think tank in Singapore.
Foreign Investment Declining
Foreign direct investment is declining and stock markets are sinking across
many ASEAN members, still recovering from the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.
Rising global oil prices also are taking a toll on expenditure, especially in
countries dependent on oil imports, an issue to be discussed by the ASEAN
ministers in Chiang Mai.
But the main task for the ministers will be to find ways to get their own
house in order: an ambitious plan to create a free-trade area in ASEAN has run
into trouble over Malaysia's insistence on a temporary exemption for its car
industry.
Malaysia said its national Proton car needs more time to rehabilitate after
the Asian crisis. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has argued that the industry
risks being squeezed by global auto giants.
Funston said Malaysia's backtracking has "sent the wrong message about what
ASEAN is trying to achieve in economic reform and trade liberalization."
Under the ASEAN Free Trade Area, six members - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - have until 2002 to reduce tariffs on a
number of manufactured and agricultural products within the range of zero to 5
percent. The less developed economies of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam
have a longer grace period.
But in May, ASEAN states agreed to give Malaysia grace until 2005.
Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi -
who will head the World Trade Organization from the year 2002 - said last week
that ASEAN needs a way of settling exemptions from the ASEAN Free Trade Area to
make sure that all members honor multilateral trade agreements.
In Chiang Mai, the ministers are expected to review a proposed procedure
whereby states seeking exemptions would have to negotiate first with individual
states and to offer tariff reductions in other areas as compensation.
Northeast Asia Reforming Faster, Reaping Investment
The ASEAN Free Trade Area's troubles underscore concerns that sluggish
progress on economic reform has slowed Southeast Asia's recovery from the
financial crisis that began in 1997.
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore recently warned that Northeast
Asia is winning more foreign investment than Southeast Asia because it has shown
more willingness to liberalize its economies. He pointed to efforts by South
Korea and Taiwan to allow more foreign ownership and to open key service sectors
like telecoms and banking.
China is also prospering as it prepares for entry into the WTO. Foreign
direct investment rose by 24 percent in the first seven months of this year to
$27.64 billion. South Korean investment grew by more than 20 percent over the
same period.
By comparison, direct investment in Thailand for the first half of the year
amounted to just $1.03 billion, less than half of the total for the whole of
1999.
In the Philippines, it was 44 percent below the 1999 level. In Malaysia,
investment applications in the manufacturing sector in the first seven months
amounted to just $1.07 billion, one-third the total approved for the whole of
1999.
In Chiang Mai, the ASEAN ministers will try to increase their region's
economic cooperation with Northeast Asian countries. They also will hold talks
with the European Union about how to lift export obstacles and will discuss
expanding the ASEAN Free Trade Area to include Australia and New Zealand by the
year 2010. Britain accuses Myanmar junta
of lying over beating of jailed Briton
LONDON (AFP) -
- Britain has rejected as a "tissue of lies" a denial by Myanmar's junta that a
British pro-democracy campaigner was badly beaten while in prison.
Baroness Patricia Scotland of Asthal, junior minister in the Foreign Office, said the Myanmar ambassador to Britain was summoned on September 27 to hear a protest over the alleged beating of James Mawdsley. "I was met, I regret to tell you, by barefaced denial,"
she told the House of Lords on Monday.
"I was told that there had been no assault, that James
Mawdsley had, while handcuffed, caused the injury himself. You will not be
surprised to hear that I was not willing to accept that tissue of lies," she
said.
Britain would continue to seek a "proper response," she
said, adding that the treatment of Mawdsley was "a grave abuse of human rights
and we will not tolerate it."
"Burma today is in a worse condition than ever before,"
she said. "Its people are abused. Its economy is on the ropes. Its international
standing is at an all-time low. Time is running out for the regime.
"World opinion will not give up on Burma. For the generals
to continue down the present blind alley is as risky as it is
irresponsible."
Mawdsley, 28, has said he was badly beaten by guards at
Keng Tung prison in northern Burma, where he has been held in solitary
confinement since September 2, 1999.
A British vice-consul visited him last week and reported
that he had suffered "two black eyes and a suspected broken nose."
Myanmar's junta last week denied that Mawdsley has been
beaten and accused Britain of "making irresponsible remarks and groundless
accusations merely to discredit the government of Myanmar."
Mawdsley, who has British and Australian nationality, is
serving a 17-year jail sentence after being arrested near the border with
Thailand last year in possession of pamphlets denouncing Myanmar's military
regime.
The Yangon junta has resisted all attempts to force it to
relinquish power to the National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi, which
won 1990 elections.
Ananova - Oct 2,
2000.
Burma prison guards' beating denial 'a tissue of lies' Burma's denial that jailed British human rights campaigner
James Mawdsley, 27, had been severely beaten by his prison guards has been
condemned by a Foreign Office minister as a "tissue of lies".
Junior Minister Baroness Scotland of Asthal, who had
protested about Mr Mawdsley's treatment to the Burmese ambassador in London last
week, told peers: "I was met, I regret to tell you, by barefaced
denial.
"I was told that there had been no assault, that James
Mawdsley had - while handcuffed - caused the injury himself. You will not be
surprised to hear that I was not willing to accept that tissue of
lies."
Mr Mawdsley, who is serving a 17-year jail sentence for
distributing pro-democracy leaflets, is reported to have suffered a broken nose
and two black eyes after complaining about being held in solitary confinement in
a remote prison on the Burma-Thai border.
Lady Scotland, responding to a short debate on human
rights in Burma, said the UK was continuing to press for a "proper response".
She said she had made it abundantly clear at her meeting on September 27 that
Burma "cannot treat a British national in this way", and went on: "It is a grave
abuse of human rights and we will not tolerate it."
The minister, who strongly condemned the military regime's
oppression of Burma's own ethnic minorities, told peers: "Our thoughts are with
James Mawdsley and his family as he sits out the second year of his sentence,
imposed for the 'heinous' crime of handing out pro-democracy
leaflets."
Lady Scotland added: "Burma today is in a worse condition
than ever before. Its people are abused. Its economy is on the ropes. Its
international standing is at an all-time low. Time is running out for the
regime.
"World opinion will not give up on Burma. For the generals
to continue down the present blind alley is as risky as it is
irresponsible."
During the debate, which was opened by former Liberal
Democrat MP Lord Alton of Liverpool (Ind), there were cross-party calls for the
United Nations to set up a special international criminal tribunal to try
members of the Burmese regime for genocide and crimes against
humanity.
Lady Scotland urged peers to wait instead for the
establishment of the proposed International Criminal Court.
Asiaweek
From Our Correspondent: Truth and Lies in Myanmar The junta lives in a world of self-delusion By DOMINIC FAULDER October 2, 2000
Web posted at 7:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 7:30 a.m. EDT I first met Aung San Suu Kyi a few days after the bloody coup of September
18, 1988, that ensconced the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
Looking tired and drawn after six weeks that had pulled her from total obscurity
to global prominence, she was sitting stiffly in the somber study at 54,
University Avenue, the home of her ailing mother, who lay upstairs in terminal
decline.
I apologized for asking a "sensitive question", but wanted to know if she
felt her future lay in Burma or England, the country where she had resided with
her family for much of her adult life. Suu Kyi bristled visibly, and told me in
no uncertain terms that she had always made it perfectly clear she would return
home to Burma when her country needed her. It was my first glimpse of her steely
resolve, powerful sense of destiny and capacity for elegant bluntness. The
truth, as we have since discovered, was that she was back in Burma for the
duration -- to pursue at whatever cost a vision tightly bound to the dream her
father, pre-independence hero General Aung San, had not lived to realize. "And
why is that such a sensitive question?" she shot back at me.
I shifted uncomfortably since one of the more obvious reasons was sitting
alongside -- her husband, Michael Aris, an Oxford academic. He was quite
impassive as the interview progressed, but the truth must have pained him
greatly. The prospect of a normal married life had evaporated for the
foreseeable future, possibly forever. Not then or at any point after in our
encounter did Suu Kyi defer to Aris. Nobody then could have predicted the long
years of cruelly enforced separation the couple and their two sons would endure
as Suu Kyi doggedly clung to her vision of what was true and best for her
homeland. When Aris died prematurely last year, he had wickedly been denied the
chance of a last visit with his wife. This was purportedly on compassionate
grounds. The junta argued, totally disingenuously, that he was too sick to
travel and that medical facilities in Yangon were inadequate.
Even some members of Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy,
have faulted her for being too unyielding and stubborn in her dealings with the
junta. In response, she has frequently pointed out that the generals are
themselves far from reasonable. And in cynically rebuffing the wishes of a dying
man, they proved she was telling the truth. Reasonable people with any sense of
decency would never resort to such emotional blackmail.
In recent weeks, Suu Kyi has been back doing what she does best: attracting
international attention by highlighting simple truths. Though released from
house arrest in 1995, she is many ways still a prisoner. Once again, she
attempted to exercise some freedom of movement and travel beyond the confines of
the capital. The first standoff on the outskirts of Yangon was timed perfectly
to embarrass the junta at the time of the United Nations' Millennium Summit. It
worked.
After almost a week Suu Kyi and her supporters were roughly bundled back to
town. Her security was at risk if she proceeded, contended the same junta that
renamed itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in 1997 because
"Law and Order" had been pretty much "restored". Later in September, Suu Kyi was
again prevented from traveling, this time by train to Mandalay. No tickets were
available. She'll know to book next time. On an earlier occasion, her carriage
was simply uncoupled and she was left on the platform.
The junta claims that Suu Kyi gives them no credit for their many
achievements and that she consistently sours the outside world's opinion of a
nation shamelessly ravaged by British colonialists. The truth is that the
British departed more than 50 years ago -- well before they left a number of
other countries in the region that have gone from strength to strength. For most
of the time since independence, Burma has willfully isolated itself from any
normal foreign relations, never mind "interference". This is the country that
even saw fit to resign from the non-aligned movement.
If, as the junta claims, it has pacified and stabilized most of the
country, how is it that an allegedly free citizen cannot make a trip to Mandalay
and other areas not particularly noted for ethnic unrest? Arguably, of all the
population centers in Myanmar (as Burma was officially renamed in 1989),
Mandalay has seen the most dramatic changes in the past decade. It now even
boasts an airport with one of the largest runways in the world. If this and
other developments are genuinely achievements, wouldn't it make more sense for
the generals to let Suu Kyi actually see them? What "truths" need they hide from
her when they can showcase successes?
But the "truth" in Myanmar doesn't seem to resemble the truth in most other
parts of the world. Would it be untrue to say that letting in Aris for a last
compassionate visit could have done the junta's stock nothing but good? Would it
be untrue to say that Suu Kyi touring the countryside during the U.N. summit
would have been interpreted as a sign of normalization and mellowing? Would not
the same hold true for an overdue fact-finding visit to Mandalay?
Myanmar may be ready for the truth, but apparently not yet the generals.
Recently, the junta has been trying to convince the world that James Mawdsley, a
young British-Australian held in solitary confinement in jail at Kengtung near
the Thai border, blackened both his eyes and broke his own nose with his
handcuffs during a scuffle with prison guards. Nobody believed similarly
nonsensical explanations in the beating of Malaysia's former deputy prime
minister, Anwar Ibrahim. Indeed, there is very real cause for concern about
Mawdsley, given what he now knows firsthand of the true conditions inside
Burmese prisons.
The last comparable case was that of James Leander 'Leo' Nicols in 1996.
Nicols was a de facto honorary consul to various Scandinavian countries and a
supporter of Suu Kyi. A diabetic, he was imprisoned for owning an unregistered
fax machine. After relentless interrogation, he died having been denied
appropriate food and medicine. A senior government spokesman claimed he was a
victim of too many "fatty foods" -- not normally a complaint made about the
cuisine at Yangon's infamous Insein Jail. In fact, a brazen lie.
Surprisingly, the biggest recent casualty in the SPDC's battle with the
truth has been one of its own brighter rising stars. At a business seminar in
July, the deputy minister of national planning and development, Brigadier
General Zaw Tun, spoke with a candor possibly unprecedented in a serving officer
since General Ne Win staged his coup in 1962. Among many topics covered during a
three-hour talk, he spoke of his superiors' fixation with a possible currency
crisis (that already exists), inflated growth figures, failure to develop a
free-market economy, and the counter-productive propaganda on state television.
"Some who are holding responsibilities in the country lack proper awareness," he
tactfully confided to his audience.
Zaw Tun was promptly dismissed for having the temerity to suggest the
generals might be deluding themselves. His frankness, however unwelcome among
the top brass, is actually a breath of fresh air. It proves that there are
members of the widely reviled Burmese military establishment who at least
recognize the truth -- even if they dare not speak it.
For Suu Kyi, who has never been afraid of speaking the truth as she sees
it, there may be some cause for hope here. Even if they do not agree with much
of what she has to say, it's actually quite easy for senior figures in the
military to halt the flow of lies. The real challenge is for the two feuding
parties to start discovering which truths they may actually be able to agree
upon. Only then can they get beyond emotions and start trading facts instead of
vitriole. Fact No. 1: it's never too late to start dealing with the truth.
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