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BURMA RELATED NEWS - MAY 13,
2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Myanmar Democracy Leader Resumes
Work
AP - Conservationist Killing Suspect
Held
The Independent - 'Burma has turned a
page, and I don't want it to remain blank'
DS - Diplomatic triumph in Burma
Xinhua - Myanmar Makes
Important Step Towards National Reconciliation by Dua
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Democracy Leader Resumes
Work
Mon May 13, 4:21 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has
resumed a full schedule of activities with her National League for Democracy
party since Myanmar's ruling junta released her from 19 months of house arrest a
week ago, a party spokesman said Monday.
"She has been busy meeting party members and making plans ... to visit party branch offices," said NLD spokesman U Lwin. He said Suu Kyi had also met with several diplomats and friends since her widely celebrated release. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in September 2000
for defying a government travel ban. The Nobel peace laureate has said her
release is unconditional and that she can travel freely.
On her first day of freedom, May 6, Suu Kyi made an
unannounced two-hour visit to Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most important
Buddhist temple.
Since then, Suu Kyi has met with several diplomats from
the United States, European Union (news - web sites) countries, Japan and the
United Nations (news - web sites).
On Saturday, she went to a wedding ceremony for the
daughter of a friend in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, also known as
Burma.
Suu Kyi's release has raised hopes that the junta is
willing to make concessions to opposition demands for democracy. However, U Lwin
denied reports that Suu Kyi and the military regime were gearing up for a new
round of conciliatory talks.
"I'm not aware of any preparations being made," he
said.
The junta came to power in 1988 after violently crushing a
pro-democracy uprising. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the
results, which gave the NLD a resounding victory.
Conservationist Killing Suspect
Held
Sun May 12,12:23 PM ET MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Police
in northern Thailand said Sunday they have arrested a man from neighboring
Myanmar who allegedly shot and killed the American owner of a private wildlife
sanctuary and four other people.
Officers said Maung Htwe, 19, a former employee of the Highland Farm and
Wildlife Refuge belonging to William Deters, had confessed to the Friday
killings, which were allegedly the result of a botched burglary attempt. He was
arrested in a police raid Saturday night.
The other victims were two men and a woman who worked at the farm, and a
3-year-old girl who was the child of one of them. A Dutch man who had recently
become a volunteer worker at the sanctuary survived the attack by hiding in a
bathroom.
Police said Maung Htwe, originally from the Myanmar capital, Yangon, would
be charged in the killing and face the death penalty if convicted.
His brother, Than Zaw Teik, 23 and a Myanmar woman, Ma Kyi, were also
arrested Saturday and were expected to be charged with receiving stolen
property, which carries a jail sentence of six to seven years.
Police allege that Maung Htwe sneaked into a building on the farm and took
six or seven guns, but encountered the 63-year-old Deters and the other victims
as he was leaving, and shot them.
Police had originally theorized that a personal dispute had been behind the
killings. Officers said that they pursued a different theory after Deters' wife,
Pharanee, who had been away in Bangkok during the attack, returned to the house
Saturday evening and informed them that the guns were missing.
Police then suspected the attackers had inside knowledge of the farm, and
began investigating former employees. Maung Htwe had lost his job there two
months ago and a gun belonging to Deters was allegedly found in his
possession.
Deters' 35-acre farm is located about 25 miles south of Mae Sot, a major
trading town on Thailand's border with Myanmar. The farm was founded in 1991,
and evolved into a refuge for abandoned, mistreated or injured gibbons.
The border area where the farm is located has security problems because of
guerrillas and refugees who cross over from Myanmar, also known as Burma.
The Independent
'Burma has turned a page, and I
don't want it to remain blank'
The Monday Interview: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Secretary of Burma's National League for Democracy By Peter Popham in Rangoon 13 May 2002 The small, grubby concrete building stands on a broad road in the middle of
leafy Rangoon, but one doesn't pay much attention to the architecture because
the headquarters of Burma's National League for Democracy (NLD) is always a mass
of people these days: students wearing lungi flapping fans; grizzled, whiskery
veterans; women with tiny babies; all clustered round on their haunches on the
pavement outside. The sprawling, dingy space within is a constant hubbub of
activity; a tiny urban village, a domesticated political commune.
A woman in the corner is going full pelt with a treadle sewing machine,
running up party flags; at the far end a free English lesson is in progress,
open to all, party members or not. A few foreign journalists sit and stew; party
members scoop drinking water out of a cauldron that sits on a tripod behind a
column. The librarian marshals her small, battered collection of books.
There is a sudden commotion at the door, an urgent hushed announcement, and
the men and women around the entrance stop whatever they are doing and stand up
straight, forming two neat lines. The party's general secretary, Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, steps briskly into the office, arm swinging like a soldier, the ghost
of a smile on her face, and vanishes up the stairs.
Freed from house arrest one week ago today, the world's most famous former
political prisoner has established a simple routine: mornings at her lakeside
home, meeting diplomats and other important people; afternoons upstairs at the
NLD's HQ, closeted with party colleagues, representatives of Burma's ethnic
minorities ? and squeezing in foreign journalists willing to wait their
turn.
The door to the long, shabby, boiling hot committee room squeaks open, and
the famous lady in the baby blue bodice and the long narrow traditional skirt is
discovered sitting at one corner of the long table.
She rises: a firm handshake, very long fingers; a head rather large for the
slim, fragile-looking frame ? some say she has lost weight since she was last in
public, and she is certainly ashy pale. But the gaze of her large brown eyes is
bold and steady. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting such a long time," she says
in her cut-glass Oxford accent. "Please give my regards to all our old friends
at The Independent."
Burma is a nation of 45 million people with the most repressive and
regressive government in Asia. If it has a hope of transformation, that hope
rests on the narrow, sloping shoulders of this slight 56-year-old woman. In 1988
Suu Kyi was an academic-turned-housewife, happily settled in a tall Victorian
house in Oxford, with a professor husband, two teenage sons and Puppy, a
Himalayan terrier. But her father was Aung San, the foremost hero of Burma's
struggle for independence, and in 1988 Suu Kyi was caught up in the struggle for
democratic change and catapulted, thanks to the charisma of her father, into
becoming its leader and figurehead.
Twelve years ago Suu Kyi's party won a general election with more than 80
per cent of the seats, but the military rulers brushed aside the result to stay
in power. Politically Burma has been stuck in the mud ever since. With her
release last week, after 19 months confined to her home, her country is finally
on the move again. Or is it? "I've always said I'm a cautious optimist," she
says. "So in one sense I agree with people when they say that. At least we're
somewhere new where we have not been and I would cautiously say that where we
are is better than where we have ever been.
"But I think the more important thing is where we're going to, and how
quickly."
Burma has long been one of the most isolated nations. The day after Suu
Kyi's release, the splash headline in The New Light of Myanmar, the national
newspaper (Myanmar being the regime's term for Burma) read: "Senior General Than
Shwe meets President of Socialist Republic of Vietnam", above a photograph of
the two on either side of a large vase of flowers. Nowhere in the paper was
there a hint of the event that last Monday thrust Burma to the top of news
schedules all over the world.
Twenty years ago, Burma was truly cut off. Today the best efforts of the
generals cannot keep the world at bay, and news of Suu Kyi's release spread as
quickly here as everywhere else. A senior Western diplomat in Rangoon says: "The
government is committed to creating a multiparty system at some point. They
couldn't keep her under arrest for domestic political reasons. They know
everyone's listening to the Voice of America and the BBC: people are
extraordinarily well-informed."
And the economic impact of her release was immediate: within days of her
release, the kyat, the local currency, had risen 30 per cent against the dollar,
merely because Suu Kyi was back in business.
Her country is at a fateful juncture. On the face of it, Suu Kyi's release
is a rerun of 1995, when she emerged from her house after nearly six years'
confinement. Within months relations turned sour. But one man close to the
negotiating process insists today is very different. "In 1995 this country was
booming, the generals thought they would succeed economically so they would not
need to deal with their opponents ... Today both the regime and the NLD need
each other. In 1995 the international community was split, with the regional
countries supporting the regime and the West supporting Suu Kyi. Today there is
no split. We're in a much better situation than ever before."
Suu Kyi herself wouldn't go quite that far. "I believe in an official
statement the authorities said something about turning a new page, and I
certainly don't want the page to remain blank for a long time ? blank until it
turns grubby.
"What we want is for the page to be filled up ... quickly with a lot of
useful and desirable stuff. The confidence-building stage is over, and it has to
be over, you can't keep on at that stage for ever, it becomes
counter-productive."
Does that mean she is waiting for the regime to make the next move? "I
don't think I would put it like that. I think if it is the right time, either
side should be prepared to make the right move. It's not a question of you first
or me first."
One Western insider says: "Until last Monday they were talking to each
other about finding some understanding, some room. Now it's a test: they are
saying, let's see if when she's out it corresponds to what we thought. And on
her side she's seeing how far she can do what she wants."
So far Suu Kyi has not been disagreeably surprised. "We have both kept our
sides of the bargain ... I have not been stopped from going wherever I pleased
and they have not followed us, they have not made problems for some of our
supporters ... I think we've kept our side of the bargain because we've made it
clear to our people that we don't want them to come here and turn every day into
a political rally."
The challenge now is to go further: to build agreements on the basis of
which the country can re-engage with the outside world, so that, for example,
development aid can relieve schools and hospitals. The urgency of that challenge
could not be clearer to Suu Kyi. And her admirers in Rangoon's diplomatic
community wish the generals could grasp the opportunity she represents.
One who has watched her closely since her arrest says: "She's the top. I
say this to the regime: she is completely genuine, she has the intellectual
capacity ? why are you so suspicious? Go with her!"
Another diplomat who sees her regularly says:"She's the real ticket, an
extraordinary leader. She's very capable of running the country ? not by
herself, of course ? capable of providing the people with a vision of the
future, to allow them to overcome the sins of the past." Such colossal
expectations have been the staple of Suu Kyi's life since 1988. She seems at
ease with them now. "I once said something to a friend about my normal way of
living, and she said, 'you don't lead a normal life at all'!" She laughs. "So
I'm very wary of using the term normal."
Political life has yet to resume at the fever pitch of 1995. But she's
keeping busy. "I've been to see one or two people; an old aunt of mine, I went
to pay my respects to an abbot who has been very kind to us ? but nothing much,
because there hasn't been time. And by the time I leave this office I'm so
tired, all I want to do is run home and have a bath!"
The Daily Star
Diplomatic triumph in
Burma
Abul Faiz, NLD Arakan State Organiser Maungdaw,
Burma
Mon. May 13, 2002
Our heartfelt congratulation to Mr. Razali Ismail for his diplomatic
triumph on the reconciliation process between the Burmese military dictators and
the democratic opposition led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She has been released on
6th May 2002 and it appears that a coalition government consisting of army top
brass and civilians will be formed. On principle, there will be seven states and
seven divisions in Burma as before. It is likely that the Rohingya problem will
remain unsolved if their legitimate rights and freedom are left unattended and
the due share not given.
According to the history, Islam reached Arakan before 788 AD and since then
it played important part towards the advancement of civilisation in Arakan.
Muslims ruled the country together with Rakhine. Coins inscribing Islamic logo
were in use from 1430 to 1785 AD while the Persian language was the court
language of Arakan till 1845.
The criteria to qualify as an indigenous race in Burma have already been
met and in the past Rohingya had been recognised as such by the democratic
governments in Burma. Given the historical records and the declaration made, it
is the birthright of Rohingya to be a citizen belonging to an indigenous race of
Burma and nothing short of this will satisfy them. Justice, equality and
legitimate rights and privileges of Rohingya should be enshrined
constitutionally. Denial of their deserving status will be tantamount to
religious and racial discrimination.
In Arakan State (Rakhine State), it may have its constitution with
provincial assembly. There must be at least one-third members in the assembly of
Arakan State from Rohingya community and the Constitution should be embodied
with religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and educational
rights. Likewise, no less than one third of the ministers should be from Muslims
in Arakan. Non-Muslims and Muslims should alternate the position of head of the
State. Similar arrangement should be made in different strata of the local
government and other such bodies. The appointments of Rohingya and their
assignment should be in Rohingya majority area and it should be proportional to
the percentage of Muslims among the local population.
It is well known to the world that the Rohingya has been victim of
persecutions by both Burmese authorities and the Rakhine people since 1942 and
as such there should be constitutional guarantee for the security of life and
property of Rohingya in both Burma's and Arakan's constitutions. If not, there
is every likelihood that Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand,
etc. will have to bear the perpetual burden of Rohingya refugees as the attitude
of army and the Buddhist population along the border area with Bangladesh is to
erase the Muslims from Arakan.
Roundup: Myanmar Makes Important
Step Towards National Reconciliation by Dua
Xinhuanet 2002-05-13 12:43:31
YANGON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The
Myanmar military government unconditionally released Aung San Suu Kyi, General
Secretary of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), from house
arrest on May 6.
It was an important step taken by the government to ease the sharp
contradiction between it and the NLD and to realize the country's national
reconciliation.
The Myanmar government claimed that the day, May 6, 2002, marked a new page
for the Myanmar people.
Myanmar's political crisis originated from more than ten years ago. on
September 18, 1988, the present Myanmar military government took over the power
of state amid danger fallen on the country and on May 27, 1990, the government
sponsored a general election. The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of
Father of Myanmar General Aung San, won a landslide victory with 396
parliamentary seats out of 485.
After the election result was announced, the Myanmar military government
did not hand over the state power to the winning party,the NLD.
To gain back the ruling position originally owned by itself, the NLD
launched a tit-for-tat struggle and a prolonged political crisis was sparked.
During the past over ten years, Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest
for seven years and seven months.
The release of Aung San Suu Kyi is inseparable from the mediation efforts
made by Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, who isalso Special Envoy of U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Since appointed as the envoy in April 2000, Razali
made seven trips to Myanmar for the mediation bid.
The release of Aung San Suu Kyi by the Myanmar government has been
generally welcomed by the international community. Statementsissued by member
states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), western countries
led by the U.S. and international organizations such as the United Nations and
the World bank, called it a positive step.
Razali, the U.N. secretary-general's Myanmar affairs special envoy, even
described the government's move as "a major milestone towards the process of
national reconciliation."
Observers here believe the government's release of Aung San SuuKyi came out
of considerations not only politically but also economically.
On political consideration, the move aimed at creating the required
conditions for national reconciliation which could ease the international
pressure and expand Myanmar's diplomatic space.
On economic consideration, the move aimed at improving the image of Myanmar
internationally, trying to get reduced or cancellation of economic sanctions
imposed on Myanmar by the international community.
The release of Aung San Suu Kyi is only the first step forward in the
process of Myanmar's national reconciliation and the realization of it still
remains a long way to go.
The NLD Central Executive Committee said in a statement after Aung San Suu
Kyi's release "We haven't changed our basic policy matters for the time being.
These matters must be resolved throughtalks." It said it opposes foreign
investment in and aid to Myanmar while the country is ruled by the military.
The statement added it would adopt a flexible stance in the talks with the
government. The NLD, however, insisted that the result of Myanmar's 1990 general
election should be recognized.
Obviously, this NLD's stance is unacceptable by the military government. It
is predicted that Myanmar still faces so many challenges in the realization of
national reconciliation.
In bringing about the national reconciliation, it not only has to handle
well the issue between the government and the NLD, but also the issue of
anti-government ethnic armed groups.
As what Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said after Aung San Suu
Kyi's release, it was not enough to bring national reconciliation in Myanmar.
Peace could only come with a ceasefire between Yangon and anti-government
minority armed groups, he remarked
The release of Aung San Suu Kyi has enabled Myanmar to gain some really
benefits. After her release, the value of Myanmar currencies has risen somewhat.
Although the western countries insist to continuously impose economic
sanctions against Myanmar, Japan expressed willingness tosupport Myanmar's
efforts towards nation-building in a more activemanner, deciding to provide
financial aid of 628 million yens (about 5 million U.S. dollars) to Myanmar for
the rehabilitation ofa hydro-power plant.
Analysts here note that the release of Aung San Suu Kyi by the Myanmar
government shows that the country's political deadlock hasbegun to unfreeze. The
move will contribute to the peace, stability and development of Myanmar and the
Southeast Asia region.It will also push the democratic process of Myanmar to
some extent. |