Statement / Press release - on the 12th annual memorial of August 8, 1988.

Statement / Press release - on the 12th annual memorial of August 8, 1988.

Defying international objections, the Japanese government is overtly trying to resume help to Burma’s ruling military junta. Time and again in her speeches, Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has pleaded with the Japanese government to help restore democracy in Burma. She has repeatedly asked Japan to pressure the military to sit down at the negotiation table with the National League for Democracy, the party that overwhelmingly won the 1990 general elections. Japan has turned a deaf ear to Burma’s champion of democracy and instead has helped prolong the rule of the State Peace and Development Council, the illegal military government.

Though it promptly cut off official development assistance (ODA) to Burma following the brutal military crackdown on democracy protesters on August 8, 1988 (known as 8888) and in the weeks following. Japan now plans to release fresh so-called humanitarian aid to the same ruthless junta. Japan provided humanitarian aid worth US$2629.58 million to Burma between 1994 and 1998, according to a report from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is clear evidence that Japan is supporting the junta.

The military government of Burma is among the world's worst drug offenders. It gives safe haven to drug kingpins like Khun Sa and is one of the abettors of main sources of opium, the raw material for deadly drugs such as heroin. Yet, while other countries are taking drastic action against the junta, Japan is helping the narco-dictators through the back door by giving money ostensibly to cultivate buckwheat. Japan cannot verify that this money will go to crop substitution. Japan’s action may merely pour fuel on the fire.

At the G-8 summit in Okinawa July 21-23, Japan publicly advocated the preservation of rainforests, yet at the same time it is helping the Electric Power and Development Corporation of Japan (EPDC) to dam the Salween River in Burma, a project that will submerge vast tracts of rainforest and displace ethnic minority communities. Thus Japan shows one face to its fellow industrialized nations and a very different one to developing nations like Burma.

The International Labor Organizaton recently condemned the junta for using forced labor and warned it to stop its human rights abuses or face worldwide punishment by year-end. Japan’s reaction was to shamelessly criticise the ILO for its decision and admonition. While we understand Japan's fear of pointing a finger at a nation which uses forced labor in light of its widespread use of the practice during the World War II (including in Burma), Japan’s request that a compromise should be found between the ILO and Burma amounts to aiding the unlawful activities of Burma’s junta.

Japan, which is trying very hard to become a member of the UN Security Council, is arresting democracy activists seeking refugee in Japan and sending them back to Burma, where they face persecution. Japan refuses to accept as refugees even those so recognised by the UNHCR. How can a Japan, which cannot even give refuge to a few "persons of concern" within its own borders, be trusted to provide security to the rest of the world?

During a junta-sponsored concert on May 24, 1999, in Tokyo, two Burmese democracy activists were beaten by a group of the military junta’s people. There is evidence enough of photographs, videotapes, and eye-witnesses. It has recently come to light, however, that the prosecutor conceded that the case cannot be tried due to insufficient evidence. We think the real reason is pressure from the Japanese government. The outcome in this case, where a court is not allowed to punish the wrongdoers, is an insult not only to the actual victims but also to human rights and, last but not least, to all Burmese democracy activists. It shows that administration of justice in Japan has a long way to go.

Keeping its own economic gains in mind, Japan invited junta Brigadier General Kyaw Win to Japan in January 1999. More recently, Japan invited hated junta leader Khin Nyunt, who is responsible for the killings of democracy activists during 8888, to attend Prime Minister Obuchi’s funeral. It has used such occasions to help legalise the ruling junta which has not transferred governmental powers to the elected parliamentarians of the 1990 elections.

On the historical day of August 8, 2000 which is the 12th annual memorial of popular uprising for democracy in Burma, we call on the Japanese Government to make more reality and fulfill the following:-.

1/ To cease all financial support such as ODA to Burma.

2/ Stop the Salween river dam project, which will only cause the submergence of vast tracts of rainforest and displace ethnic minority communities.

(Note. To all Japanese firms, individuals concerned and NGOs to remember the 1990 cold feet treatment Japan got from India’s Sardar Sarovar dam project, when public rally forced Japan to withdraw funding part of it.)

3/ Urge the military junta of Burma to sit down at a dialogue between the elected Members of Parliament (in the 1990 elections) of NLD led by Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic minorities groups.

4/ Release all political asylum seekers, detained in immigration detention centers in Japan.

5/ Retry the 1999 May 24 case that occurred in Tokyo, where two Burmese democracy activists were severely and one-sidedly beaten by Burmese Embassy people, at the junta-sponsored concert.

6/ Urge Suzuki Motors, Marubeni Corporation and Mitsubishi Motors to stop their investment in Burma until the elected MPs of the 1990 elections govern the country.

Alliance of Burmese democratic activists group

Rm. 502, APTO Bldg

7-18-1, Takinogawa, Kita-ku

Tokyo 114-0023

Japan.