|
----------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS - June 24,
2001.
----------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------- NYT - Burmese Editor's
Code: Winks and Little Hints
AP - Checkpoint On Thai-Myanmar Border
Reopens
AFP - Tiny Nauru facing tougher new money
laundering deadline
JT - More than words
are needed in Myanmar
The Nation - Waited in
long queues to go through formality
The Nation - Border
joy after long closure
The Nation - Account
trade to go ahead
Bkk Post - Opening ceremony today
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Reclaims 10,493 Hectares of
Vacant Land
Scotland on Sunday - Long-suffering Burma loses faith in democracy’s favourite
martyr
---------------------------------------------------------------- The New York Times
June 24, 2001
Burmese Editor's Code: Winks and Little
Hints
By SETH MYDANS
BANGKOK, June 22 — The trick is in the presentation, said U Tin Maung Than,
a Burmese writer and editor who played the game hard, bobbing and weaving,
winking and nudging, honing his metaphors, comparisons and historical references
until it all became too much and he fled here from Myanmar for safety.
Writing under censorship is an intricate and multilayered exercise that
consumed Mr. Tin Maung Than. Sometimes you aim too low and the readers miss your
point entirely, he said. Sometimes too high and the censors catch you.
It is a game played by all independent-minded writers in the military
dictatorship of Myanmar, the former Burma: the writer versus the censor. The
stakes are high; at the worst, the penalty box is prison.
Daily newspapers in Myanmar are government-run outlets for turgid official
propaganda. But there are also scores of independent magazines and newsletters,
large and small, most of which confine themselves to gossip, sports and
lifestyle features. Only a few try to push the boundaries of what is
acceptable.
Mr. Tin Maung Than, 47, was the editor of Thint Bawa (Your Life), a monthly
general interest journal that grew progressively sharper and more challenging as
he himself became bolder and more self-critical of what he saw as his own
passivity.
Late last year, he sensed from growing hints that the authorities saw him
as a political problem and that he was in danger. "Two or three years in prison
is O.K.," he said in an interview here. "But more than 10 years, the cost is too
high." With his wife, who is a doctor, and their two young children, he fled
across the lightly patrolled border into Thailand, where he is waiting for
paperwork to enter the United States.
Though it finally became too much for him, it seemed clear in the interview
that the duel with the censors fascinated Mr. Tin Maung Than. He became an
expert at it.
In Burma, as in other repressive states, writing under censorship is an art
form in itself, for both the writer and the clever reader. Many of its rules are
universal.
"You cannot criticize," Mr. Tin Maung Than said. "You have to give hints
that you are being critical, that you are talking about the current system. The
hints are in your choice of words and your tones and your composition. You use
words with double meanings."
He wrote a simple story about a little boy who confronted the mayor of his
town, demanding that he build a bicycle path. The hint was in the title: "About
a 10-year-old Boy and About You and Me."
He wrote about repression in the education system under British colonial
rule. Readers were nudged to draw their own conclusions about the education
system of today.
He wrote about flag burning in the United States, ostensibly to criticize
it but, between the lines, to give a glimpse of freedom.
"If we want to talk about fear, we cannot talk about fear in the political
context," he said. "So we talk about children's fear and its impact on society.
The key is that you have to give little hints that you are not really talking
about children."
The enterprise can be as demanding on the readers as on the writers.
"It is a sort of work of art, and when you read a work of art you can
interpret it in many ways," he said. "Only the keen readers who are interested
in social issues — activists and intellectuals — will understand the meaning.
But if you are a layman who is only interested in romantic novels, you will not
understand."
The challenge is to get through to those keen readers without tipping off
the censors, who work for the government's Press Scrutiny Board. "The censors
are neither smart nor fools," he said. "They are regular guys. Sometimes they
are not interested in their work. They get bored. Sometimes we intentionally
make an article long so it will be boring for them to censor. But we have to
strike a balance because we do not want to make it boring for the readers,
too.
"Sometimes as an editor you have to select a very aggressive, very critical
article. You know it will be censored. But you want to get another article
passed. It's just like playing chess. Sometimes you move a pawn — O.K., you lose
it — so that you can move another piece another way."
Like chess, this can be an intimate sport. "I have personal relations with
some censors," Mr. Tin Maung Than said. "I go to the cafe with them, like with
other friends. Sometimes we appeal their decision, so we try to explain why it
is acceptable."
Sometimes, he said, a censor will ask for the reasons in writing so that he
will have something to show his superiors.
Poetry can be especially trying for an editor, and so can poets. "For some
poems," he said, "the censors demand a written explanation. So that's one of the
editor's jobs. You cannot ask the poet to explain it — `Oh, I am a poet, that's
not my job' — so it is up to the editor to explain it in an acceptable
way."
One of the difficulties is that an editor can never be sure what the
censors will pounce on. A report on mosquitoes in the capital, Yangon, was
censored. References to drought or poor crop yield are forbidden because they
could arouse fears of price rises.
Gibes about preferential treatment for officials — a room at a guest house,
a seat on a train — are unacceptable.
So are discouraging reports about the fate of national sports teams.
Once, when the soccer team lost badly in the regional Tiger Cup,
sportswriters were ordered to write only upbeat articles. So they wrote nothing.
After another humiliating loss, all mention of the team was banned for several
weeks from magazines and journals.
For Mr. Tin Maung Than, political journalism was an exploration of limits.
A medical doctor and journalist, he became the editor of Thint Bawa in 1992 with
the hope of examining the forbidden subject of democracy. His work evolved from
carefully selected translations of foreign articles to increasingly daring
writing that pushed against the boundaries.
For writers who are seen to have crossed the line into opposition, the
punishment can be prison. Far more common, though, for the independent
magazines, are more subtle penalties that have created an effective culture of
self-censorship.
The brilliance of the system is that it puts the onus on the publisher. The
material is not submitted to the censors until the magazine has been
printed.
If an article is deemed unacceptable, it must not only be removed but
replaced in a new press run by material of an equivalent length so that readers
do not see the traces of censorship.
If this happens — or if an entire publication is barred — the cost to the
publisher can be enormous. And if these rules are not followed, publication can
be suspended for six months.
"I have had an experience of 72 pages that I had to rip out," Mr. Tin Maung
Than said, nearly one-third of an issue. Sometimes the reprinted publication
must be submitted more than once.
Formally, a Western expert on the Burmese press said, writers and editors
are not usually imprisoned for their journalistic work. But prison is still a
very real threat.
"They try to find other reasons for arresting you," the expert said. "They
suggest that you have been having contacts with the underground
opposition."
One victim was Tin Moe, a prominent poet and opposition figure, who was
imprisoned for three years when his work was circulated underground. He later
fled the country.
It is also easy for the authorities to use a blacklist to bar a writer from
publication or even from any mention in print.
Mr. Tin Maung Than told the story of an innocuous recent article in which a
writer described a dinner party he had attended. The article included the names
of the guests, all nonpolitical laymen.
One of the names was Ko Yu, coincidentally the same name as that of a
writer and former opposition member who had died. "Even though he was dead and
even though he was a different man," Mr. Thin Maung Than said, "the censor
ordered that the name Ko Yu be deleted from the article."
---------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday June 24, 1:45 PM
Checkpoint On Thai-Myanmar Border
Reopens
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)--Around
2,000 Thai and Myanmar citizens gathered early Sunday to celebrate the reopening
of a key border checkpoint linking eastern Myanmar and northern Thailand that
had been closed for more than four months after a military clash, officials
said.
"Border trade has resumed as usual," a Myanmar military official in Yangon said on customary condition of anonymity. Local officials exchanged bouquets on the Friendship Bridge between the
eastern town of Tachilek and the northern Thai town of Mae Sai, before declaring
the crossing open at 6:30 a.m. Sunday (2330 GMT Saturday), said Decha Satapol,
the Mae Sai district chief.
It is one of the three main checkpoints on the more than 2,000 kilometer
Thai-Myanmar border. Tachilek is 500 kilometers northeast of Yangon.
The closure has badly hurt businesses that rely on border trade in both
towns.
The reopening follows a visit last week to Myanmar by Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra to improve bilateral relations which had reached their lowest
point in years after clashes between the Thai and Myanmar armies at the border
in February. Several civilians in both towns were killed by shelling.
Thaksin agreed to a Myanmar request that Thailand lift a ban on exports
like fuel, rice and construction material shipped through Mae Sai.
The ban was put in place in February to deny supplies to the Myanmar
military and ethnic Wa rebels accused of smuggling vast amounts of illegal drugs
to Thailand.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday June 24, 10:37 AM
Tiny Nauru facing tougher new money
laundering deadline
AUCKLAND, June 24 (AFP) - The worlds richest nations have put Nauru, a tiny Pacific republic with 400 off-shore banks, on a special watch list and are threatening it, the Philippines and Russia with tough new money laundering sanctions by the end of September. The deadline will hit just a week after Nauru, one of the worlds most
secretive nations with just 10,000 people, hosts the 16-nation Pacific Forum
summit and becomes the regions chair for the following year.
One of the sanctions will require global warnings that doing business with
the three countries runs the risk of money laundering, which is a criminal
offence in much of the rest of the world.
Nauru, a 21 square kilometres (8 square miles) nation just south of the
Equator, has been accused of being a key player in laundering 70 billion US
dollars in Russian Mafia money. Its banks are all registered to one mail box in
the village of Aiwo.
Three other Pacific tax havens on warning -- the Cooks, Marshalls and Niue
-- seem to have escaped immediate sanctions but remain on a 17-nation list of
non-co-operative countries or territories (NCCT).
The list was compiled by the 29-nation Financial Action Task
Forceheadquartered in the Paris offices of the Organisation of Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) who at the weekend released the FATF report
at www.oecd.org/fatf.
FATF had 15 NCCTs but has now removed the Bahamas, Cayman Islands,
Liechtenstein and Panama and added Egypt, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Myanmar
and Nigeria.
The OECD itself has set a July 31 deadline on seven Pacific nations, among
35 states, to impose tight new tax haven controls. This initiative is in trouble
as the United States Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill warned against interference
in a state's internal affairs.
FATF said Nauru lacked a basic set of regulations against money
laundering.
"It has licensed approximately 400 off-shore banks, which are prohibited
from taking deposits from the public but are poorly supervised," FATF
says.
"The excessive secrecy provisions guard against the disclosure of the
relevant information on those off-shore banks and international
companies."
FATF said in a statement they were recommending additional countermeasures
against Nauru, the Philippines and Russia.
These measures include "the possibility of enhanced surveillance and
reporting of financial transactions and other relevant actions" as of September
30.
This will happen "unless their governments enact significant legislation
which addresses identified money laundering concerns."
FATF countries will act by imposing "stringent requirements" that will
identify individuals and companies using facilities in Nauru, the Philippines
and Russia. It calls for enhanced reporting mechanisms "on the basis that
financial transactions with such countries are more likely to be
suspicious".
It also calls for warnings to "non-financial sector businesses that
transactions with entities within the NCCTs might run the risk of money
laundering".
FATF welcomed the progress made by the Cooks, Dominica, Israel, Lebanon,
Marshalls, Niue and St Kitts and called on them to continue their work.
The report noted the Cooks had 1,200 registered international companies and
seven off-shore banks but had "no relevant information" on who they were. The
Marshalls was noted for having a small financial sector with just three on-shore
banks and none off-shore, but it had around 3,000 international companies
registered to it. Niue has five off-shore banks and 5,500 companies (the country
has a population of around 800).
The current NCCT nations are: Cook Islands, Dominica, Egypt, Guatemala,
Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Lebanon, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria,
Niue, Philippines, Russia, St Kitts and Nevis and St Vincent and the
Grenadines.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Japan Times: June 24,
2001
More than words are needed in Myanmar
By NYUNT SHWE
Special to The Japan Times Myanmar is no longer a closed-door country and people who have an interest
in it and its people now enjoy much greater access than in the past. Information
that would have remained secret in the past quickly becomes public knowledge in
today's global village. The old adage "Honesty is the best policy" is more
important than ever for those who would like to maintain their dignity.
There are exceptions, however. Myanmar's generals and prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi have been engaged in secret talks since August but the content of the talks have yet to be revealed to the general public. Some critics have voiced their disapproval of the secrecy, saying Myanmar's
people deserve to know the substance of the talks. Others regret that
representatives of Myanmar's ethnic minorities were not included in the
discussions. Though most dissidents around the world have enthusiastically
expressed their hopes and expectations, dissidents who currently reside in Japan
say they cannot trust the military junta.
I believe it is neither important nor necessary to make public the content
of the talks or to include the participation of ethic minorities. The
negotiation process is delicate, and the prodemocracy forces must place their
faith in Suu Kyi and allow her to pursue the talks in a manner she feels most
appropriate.
Suu Kyi would rather risk her life than sacrifice the interest of the
people. Every one of us knows of her sincerity, honesty and integrity and, most
importantly, her legacy that stems from being the daughter of the late Gen. Aung
San.
The talks may be taking longer than some would like, but to tame an angry
and unreasonable bull we have no choice but to display patience, constant
goodwill and love. If the prodemocracy forces persist with the time-honored
teachings of Buddhist conduct, the generals will one day submit.
For their benefit, I only wish the generals would see the sense of this
wisdom sooner rather than later, otherwise they will have to suffer longer with
their subjects.
Rumors and speculation cannot be avoided as the talks continue. One rumor
has it that Suu Kyi has made an agreement with the generals to not participate
in any future governments and to leave the country for good once reconciliation
is reached.
The government has long demanded such an agreement. If this rumor is true,
it would signify a truly admirable decision on Suu Kyi's part, but the generals
would be going too far in making such a demand.
To no longer be involved in politics would be enough of a concession for
Suu Kyi. She should be allowed to decide where she would like to stay and what
she would like to do with her private life. She should be encouraged to pursue
her dream of improving the education of Myanmar's youths. Her energy and
strength should be fully utilized for the benefit of the country.
If the generals were truly astute, however, they would welcome Suu Kyi's
participation in the reconciliation government, as is the will of the people.
The generals should keep in mind what former dictator U Ne Win, their godfather,
once said: We must forget and forgive what is bitter, remember what is sweet,
and work and strive for the future together.
The generals have been in power since 1988. Allowing Suu Kyi to participate
in the next government would be a good chance for them to prove they genuinely
love the country and its citizens.
The outcome of their 13-year rule has been deep suffering for Myanmar's
people. Inflation has risen by 12-fold, and is expected to continue to increase
in relation to the dollar. Prices of commodities are about 50 times higher than
they were during the worst period of the previous government.
The most unfortunate citizens are government officers, workers, teachers,
soldiers, police personnel and other citizens who neither have land nor their
own business. Young men are increasingly abusing drugs, and more young women are
engaging in questionable behavior.
The incidence of HIV infection is rapidly rising as well. Under the former
socialist regime, only half a dozen AIDS cases were reported in 1986. Now it is
estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of cases in Myanmar.
Unfortunately, the government's policy is to ignore drug traffickers (drug
abuse is one of the primary factors behind the spread of AIDS) but to imprison
those who attempt to involve themselves in politics. They should realize that
their practice of driving a majority of Myanmar citizens into abysmal poverty
and suffering utterly contradicts the teachings of Buddha.
There will only be love and praise for the generals if they truly strive
for reconciliation and begin to rebuild the country from scratch. Japan and
other international friends are waiting for the appropriate time to offer
substantial assistance. That timing, however, depends on the sincerity and
honesty of the current regime.
Nyunt Shwe was formerly a township leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. He has resided in Tokyo since 1991. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - June 24,
2001.
waited in long queues to go through
formality
Thousands of Burmese flooded Thai markets
Mai Sai—Thousands of Burmese crowded local markets after a major border
checkpoint was reopen yesterday to purchase consumer and agricultural products
after more than fourmonth of closure.
The sudden influx of Burmese traders and customers also caused bottleneck
at the immigration booths and traffic jams nearby and within the city. Thai and
foreign visitors also to enter Tachilek.
Most of the Burmese returned with rice, vegetables, pork and soft drinks
and cooking oil in their carrying bags or transporting vehicles.
Boonma Techachaorenvikul, president of Mae Sai Businessmen Club, said that
the reopening of border trade will promote tourism and bilateral trade. “It is
good that everything has returned to normal,” he said.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - June 24,
2001.
Border joy after long closure
An air of celebration isexpected to mark the reopening of the Mae
Sai-Tachilek border crossing this morning and trade - including banned strategic
goods - should again be in full swing by noon.
The reopening will signify renewed ties between Thailand and Burma, which
until very recently have been marred by months of clashes, said Thai officials
attending the Township Border Committee yesterday.
The meeting also agreed that three temporary checkpoints at Sai Lom Choi,
Tha Sai and Tha Pangha would also be opened to facilitate cross-border trade and
the movement of people.
Thailand agreed to lift its ban on rice, medicine, fuel and vehicle parts
imposed after an outbreak of cross-border shelling in February.
The issue of 27 Thai products banned by the Burmese authorities was not
discussed in detail, but the Burmese promised to relax the measure so that trade
could return to its normal level.
Before the TBC met, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sent a letter to the
Thai delegation stressing the need to strengthen relations in order to solve the
border and drugs problems. Thaksin also instructed the TBC to meet more
regularly to improve mutual understanding.
During his recent visit to Burma, Thaksin reached an agreement with his
Burmese counterpart that the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint should be opened within
a week without any conditions attached.
Domesak Kamsaisaeng, head of the Thai TBC coordinating team, said the
meeting could not take place in Mae Sai out of concern for a protest by local
villagers about the lignite electricity plant in Tachilek. Meanwhile, a press
van was abruptly stopped at the middle of the bridge connecting the two
countries by Burmese security officials citing an order from the Tachilek
district chief.
After three hours of discussion, officials from both countries put on a
rare show of amity by gathering for a group photograph at the checkpoint holding
hands and cheering.
The move stunned villagers on both sides, who had had to endure over four
months of tense border conflict.
"It is a good starting point for the bilateral relationship ," said Colonel
Wanthip Wongwai, who co-chaired the TBC with Lt-Colonel Aye Soe from Burma. "We
have agreed to meet more often".
Mae Sai district chief Decha Satthapol said the opening ceremony of the
checkpoint would be marked by cultural shows and musical performances.
Chairman of Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce Sermchai Kittirattanapaibul
expressed optimism about the resumption of full border trade, saying that the
ties would improve in the long term.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - June 24,
2001.
Account trade to go ahead
Vorapun Srivoranart
The central bank governors of Thailand and Burma will meet soon to put in
place an account trade between the two neighbours, thus increasing Thai banking
investment in Burma's economy as envisaged in the recent summit meeting in
Rangoon, Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai says.
Surakiart said after meeting his Burmese counterpart Win Aung on Friday
that the State Peace and Development Council chairman Senior General Than Shwe
was "very interested" in the account trade with Thailand.
He said the Burmese authorities should submit a list of products to be
considered by the Commerce Ministry for a special generalised system of
preferences.
The issue was first discussed during a meeting between Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra and Than Shwe last week in Rangoon.
Its objective is to enhance economic transaction without being subjected to
foreign-exchange fluctuation. The net settlement could be conducted every three
or six months.
Thaksin believes that economic and investment cooperation with an
impoverished neighbour like Burma will in the long term bring about mutual peace
and stability. The approach also fits well with the present government's
emphasis on economic diplomacy.
Thailand is the third largest investor in Burma, accounting for about 17
per cent of total foreign direct investment. Border trade last year registered
around Bt18 billion, with Thailand importing over Bt7 billion worth of goods
from Burma while exporting over Bt11 billion worth. Surakiart said Burma had
complained about the scale of investment by Thai banks in Burma despite the fact
that licences had already been granted. As a result, he said, the Thai premier
has instructed the central-bank governor to look into ways of finding scope for
expansion.
Road links will also be expedited to facilitate the flow of goods and
people.
Priority will be given to three routes: Mae Sai-Tachilek-Keng
Tung-Jinghong, Mae Sot-Myawaddy and the route between Kanchanaburi and Tavoy,
where a deep-sea port is being built.
Surakiart believes border de-marcation will not impede economic
cooperation, citing Thak-sin's desire to turn conflict into cooperation.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - June 24,
2001.
Opening ceremony
today
Locals cheer as Thai delegation returns Subin Khuenkaew, Chiang Rai
Thai and Burmese residents gathered at the Friendship Bridge in Mae Sai
cheered as a Thai delegation returned from Tachilek with confirmation that the
border checkpoint would reopen.
Col Wanthip Wongwai, chairman of the Thai Township Border Committee, said
the Mae Sai-Tachilek crossing would be reopened today without conditions.
Customs authorities are to take over control as the ban on strategic goods,
including fuel, rice, vehicles, auto spare parts and medicine will be lifted at
the same time. The lifting of the ban would mean free border trade again, Col
Wanthip said, noting that the military would remain alert for security and
anti-narcotics duties. Celebrations would be held in the morning on the
Friendship Bridge before the official opening ceremony of the checkpoint, which
has remained closed since February.
Both sides have agreed to strengthen their relations by meeting more often,
said Col Wanthip.
He said the Burmese and Thai committees did not touch on issues other than
the re-opening the checkpoint. The Thai delegation met at the site for a
rehearsal before leaving for a meeting in Tachilek. It was chaired by Maj-Gen
Prasasart Luewattananont, of the Supreme Command, who said it was the government
and the Defence Ministry's policy to work from local levels up to boost
bilateral co-operation.
The Thai delegation was welcomed by chairman of the Burmese TBC, Lt-Col Aye
Saw. They returned at noon with Tachilek governor and Lt-Col Aye Saw.
Chiang Rai governor Samrueng Punyopakorn yesterday suggested that
co-operation from a third country be sought to help solve border problems
between the two sides. He was speaking after giving a special lecture on the
impact border checkpoint closures had on local economies.
Business operators at the seminar also called for closer ties and
co-operation between Thailand, China, Burma and Laos. They said the closure of
the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint had cost local firms up to four billion baht in
lost business.
Meanwhile, the Rak Mae Sai group, which is opposed to the construction of a
lignite-powered electricity plant in Tachilek, protested against the
scheme.
The villagers also lauded Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for his effort
to have the checkpoint reopened and start normalising relations with
Burma.
"We believe in his ability to solve the problem of the power plant which
would cause air pollution for Thai people," one of them said.
They also claimed that people who took away 20 of their protest banners
were state officials. The cloth banners were erected along the road to oppose
delivery of parts for a Chinese-made power generator and other equipment. Mae
Sai residents have already forced a convoy of 44 trucks carrying generator parts
to Burma to return to Bangkok.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Reclaims 10,493 Hectares
of Vacant Land
2001.06.24 11:02:56 YANGON, June 24 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar has reclaimed 10,493 hectares of vacant and virgin lands in the
country's nine divisions and states in nearly two and a half years,
according to the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation
Sunday.
There are over 4.21 million hectares of vacant and virgin lands in these
nine divisions and states, namely Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Magway,
Tanintharyi, Mandalay, Shan, Kachin and Kayin.
These lands had been reclaimed up to March this year by local private
entrepreneurs since they were permitted to do so in November
1998.
The government's move to allow them to reclaim these lands was aimed
at supplying sufficient food for the growing population in future and
promoting the agricultural sector.
Myanmar's population, with an estimated annual growth of 2 percent,
reached 50.12 million as of 2000.
Meanwhile, the government is rendering assistance to the private
entrepreneurs to get access to technical know-how in the undertakings,
according to the ministry.
Myanmar's cultivable land stretches 18.220 million hectares in the
whole country, of which 10.125 million have been put under crops, while
8.1 million remain to be utilized.
The country's agriculture accounts for 37 percent of the gross
domestic product and 25 percent of the export value.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scotland on Sunday.
June 24, 2001.
Long-suffering Burma loses faith in
democracy’s favourite martyr
Cathy Scott-Clarke and Adrian Levy
Her refusal to bow to her country’s military junta has earned her the Nobel
peace prize and the respect of the world.
Aung San Suu Kyi chose to remain in Burma even when her British husband was
dying in England, fearing that if she left the country she would never be
allowed to return.
The leader of the National League for Democracy, whose father led the
country towards independence from the UK in 1948, united the opposition parties
and divided ethnic groups as a powerful force against the generals who ruled the
country.
However, after a decade of representing the opposition of the Burmese
people to the regime, former supporters are saying that Suu Kyi’s years in
isolation as a political prisoner have left her autocratic and ill-equipped to
edge Burma towards democracy.
The revelations are particularly important when the attitude of the
military junta appears to be changing. Suu Kyi declined an offer to begin
discussions with the junta in January.
In February a number of hardline generals were killed in a helicopter
crash. It was believed to be an accident but US intelligence has discovered that
it was caused by a mid-air gunfight. Clearly the junta was not as united as it
had been when, in May 1990, it ignored the elections which gave the NLD 392 out
of 485 parliamentary seats.
While the world’s most famous political prisoner, Suu Kyi, fought for
democracy from behind the locked gates of her Rangoon home, the country has been
slowly strangled by a junta that has launched dozens of military campaigns
against its people - one million of whom are now missing.
But supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi have voiced fears that the Nobel peace
prize winner might not be able to convince the generals that she still wields
the kind of popular backing that forced change in Indonesia, Serbia and the
Philippines.
It is a matter of record that over the 12 years that Suu Kyi has spent
under house arrest, formally or informally, hundreds of party workers have been
killed.
Also more than 65% of the NLD’s elected MPs and party members have
resigned, been imprisoned or gone into exile.
But what is only now emerging is that dissent has been brewing within the
NLD since the fated general election. When the regime failed to honour the
results, the NLD leader called for hundreds of thousands of supporters to clear
the streets.
"I do not want to encourage this tradition of bringing about change through
violence," said Suu Kyi. The NLD strategy would be to isolate the junta by
calling for international sanctions, citing its success in South Africa, where
Nelson Mandela had been released in February 1990. But could a nation like
Burma, forged by thousands of years of conquest, annexation and bloodshed, be
reformed through peaceful means alone, some in Suu Kyi’s party began to ask.
After talks between Suu Kyi and the generals broke down in 1994 - the last
time they met - she reiterated the need for sanctions. It was derided by member
states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that promptly invited Burma
to join as an observer.
Calcification set in. Suu Kyi wrote of holding on to dharma and metta,
loving kindness, in the face of generals who demonstrated "the banality of
evil". The junta talked of "annihilating the foreign whore" and its deputy
chairman General Maung Aye, Burma’s army chief, warned: "I will never deal with
those who would have us hung."
When Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in 1995 the fact that her
strategy was being opposed within her party began to leak out. Than Tun and
Thein Kyi, NLD MPs who had spent many years in prison, accused their leader of
acting unilaterally after she announced in November that year that the party was
boycotting the junta’s National Convention - a toothless committee formed to
devise a blueprint for democratic government.
Suu Kyi was opposed to clauses in the convention that guaranteed the
generals a role in any future government and barred anyone with foreign
relatives. Her critics claimed that by walking out and with no other plan in the
offing, she had severed the NLD’s only line of communication with the generals.
The following summer, Than Tun and Thein Kyi presented Suu Kyi with a
10-page report, signed by another seven NLD MPs, that called on her to adopt
"more realistic policies". They were critical of the NLD’s reliance on its
sanctions call that they claimed had cut the Burmese people off from the outside
world while failing to bring the junta to its knees.
Burma, unlike South Africa, barely participates in the global economy and
can endure Western boycotts. Many Asian businesses and organisations, angered by
what they saw as neo-imperialist meddling, began to invest, while British and
American companies withdrew. The bankrupt generals forged ever-closer ties with
the country’s drug barons.
The NLD leadership closed ranks. A resolution was passed that gave Suu Kyi
and her chairman, Aung Shwe, complete control over decision-making, a move to
counter the junta’s outlawing of NLD party congresses. On January 6, 1997, Than
Tun and Thein Kyi were expelled from the party.
The following February, another of Suu Kyi’s close aides broke ranks. The
Far Eastern Economic Review published an extraordinary article entitled ‘The
Burmese Fairy Tale’, written by Ma Thanegi, who had served three years in prison
after joining the democracy movement. "My fellow former political prisoners and
I are beginning to wonder if our sacrifices have been worthwhile," she wrote.
"Suu could have changed our lives dramatically. She could have struck up a
constructive dialogue with the government and laid the ground for a sustainable
democracy. We had hoped that when she was released from house arrest that the
country would move forward again. Suu’s approach has been moral and
uncompromising, catching the imagination of the world. Unfortunately, it has
come at a real price for the rest of us."
In March 1999, 28 NLD MPs, including Tin Tun Maung, a central committee
member, and Kyi Win, a former student leader, appeared to support Ma Thanegi’s
stance. They called for the NLD to hold talks with the regime without Suu Kyi,
who responded by suspending four of them, accusing them of "colluding with
military intelligence".
The dissatisfaction spread beyond the party. Student campaigners who
triggered the mass democracy uprisings of August 1988, in which thousands were
shot by the junta, began to question the NLD’s lack of progress. The Irrawaddy,
a magazine published by exiled Burmese students in Chiang Mai, northern
Thailand, warned last year that Suu Kyi needed a bigger stick to avoid becoming
"a victim of history".
A breach in the democracy movement has now opened up in the border regions
too, occupied by Burma’s ethnic groups that make up 30% of the country’s
population. Leaders of the Karen, Karenni, Chin and Arakanese have formed a
jungle coalition to oppose the military junta rather than trusting the NLD,
which previously campaigned on their behalf.
Last year, a leader of the Shan people, from the north-east, said: "Suu Kyi
never has anything to say about the needs of ethnic groups like the Shan.
‘Democracy first,’ she tells us ‘and then I’ll consider your demands.’ We’re
sick of waiting."
Suu Kyi is quick to dismiss dissent. She said recently: "We have had a few
people leave but they were working with the authorities. Not everyone has the
staying power."
But what has her enduring alliance with the West - one that centres on
passive resistance and international sanctions, contributed to the struggle in
Burma? It has made Suu Kyi the world’s most prominent spokesperson for "freedom
and democracy" after Nelson Mandela, and she is undoubtedly a remarkable
talisman for the Burmese people, who once brought cohesion to a fractured
opposition.
In turn, we in the West have adopted Burma as our pocket pariah, but
sanctions are a limited gesture that have cost us little and achieved even less.
Does the fact that some are now calling for these new talks to take place
without Suu Kyi reflect a concern within Burma that only seasoned political
horse-traders will break the impasse?
With her unwavering moral standards and Western sensibilities, it appears
compromise is something that Suu Kyi will never accept. It is possible that
Burma could adopt a power-sharing agreement, a peculiarly Asian form of
democracy not unlike that which thrives in Thailand, where army generals have
abandoned their khakis for pin-striped suits. But would Suu Kyi be able to
accept this?
The full version of this article is published in the July issue of Prospect
magazine: www.prospect-magazine.co.uk.
The Stone of Heaven, The Secret History of Imperial Green Jade, by Adrian
Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, is published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
---------------------------------------------------------------- |