Burma's ploy to escape sanctions
By Zin Linn
Column: Burma Question
Published: October 15, 2009
Bangkok, Thailand —
Last week Burmese leader Than Shwe allowed detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet Western diplomats, at her request, to talk about the sanctions imposed on the military regime.
The Nobel Prize winner, who remains under house arrest, was driven to a government guesthouse on Oct. 9 to meet acting U.S. Charge d'Affaires Thomas Vajda, British Ambassador Andrew Heyn, who represented the European Union, and Australian Deputy Head of Mission Simon Christopher Starr for an hour to discuss the possible lifting of sanctions on Burma.
It was no surprise that the junta agreed to Suu Kyi’s request, as the sanctions are hurting the regime, said a Burmese journalist on condition of anonymity. Senior General Than Shwe would like to improve relations with Western countries, both to improve the country’s economic condition and increase his legitimacy, he said.
“However, people do not believe the affair is an honest move,” he said, pointing out that the junta’s supreme commander wanted to get the international community to support his so-called “discipline-flourish ing democracy.”
The surprise meeting with diplomats followed two consultation sessions this month between Suu Kyi and the junta's liaison and Labor Minister Aung Kyi, to discuss her Sept. 25 proposal to help end sanctions against the regime.
On the same day, Oct. 9, Than Shwe spoke at military headquarters in the capital, Naypyitaw, confirming the launch of general elections as scheduled in 2010. He said he would not yield to demands from domestic and international critics who say that the country’s military-sponsored Constitution should be revised ahead of next year’s elections.
The 2008 Constitution, the junta said, was “approved” by more than 90 percent of eligible voters during a referendum in May 2008, just a few days after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. The outcome of the referendum was widely dismissed as a sham, but the regime has ignored calls from the international community and Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, to review the Constitution.
Although there are 10 registered political parties in Burma, most are inactive. An electoral law should be put in place to allow new parties to form and register to contest the elections. The international community, led by the United Nations, has constantly urged that the election be all-inclusive, free and fair.
In April the NLD set forth the conditions for its participation in the 2010 elections. It requested that all provisions in the Constitution that are not in accord with democratic principles be amended, and that the poll be all-inclusive, free and fair under international supervision.
Rights groups have also said that the regime must release all 2,100 political prisoners, including NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, if it wants the elections to be regarded as legitimate.
The elections, which promise to be neither free nor fair in a country long condemned for human rights abuses, were planned following the 2008 Constitution, which in effect reinforces military control over any democratically elected administration.
The Western democracies and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have warned that the world community would not recognize the election results unless the NLD participates in the polls and Aung San Suu Kyi is freed from house arrest, where she has been kept for 14 of the past 20 years.
International sanctions have been imposed on Burma since 1988, when the military mercilessly cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations, leaving an estimated 3,000 people dead. The United States and the European Union increased their sanctions after the junta refused to acknowledge the NLD's victory in 1990 elections and then arrested opponents and suppressed every type of opposition. Most of the sanctions target the top generals in particular.
In addition to the U.S. and EU sanctions, the regime is presently suffering assorted sanctions from Australia, Canada and Japan. The regime has been left without development assistance from international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Asia Development Bank.
Than Shwe hinted this year that he would be willing to open a political dialogue with Suu Kyi if she agreed to cooperate on the sanctions issue. However, in his speech to the War Veterans Organization, Than Shwe said that some powerful nations were trying to force and influence Burma under various pretexts.
“However, the military government of Myanmar does not get scared whenever intimidated and will continue to work relentlessly for a better future of the state and the people by overcoming any difficulties,” Than Shwe said.
There is a contradiction between allowing the Lady to meet with Western diplomats and the heartless tone of Than Shwe’s speech at the meeting with war veterans. People are concerned that the Lady is being exploited by the crooked military chief. The purpose of allowing her to meet with the diplomats seems to be to get the sanctions eased and to persuade the world to support Burma’s version of democracy.
According to some analysts, there has been no improvement at all in the junta’s treatment of its citizens. In 2009 there have been more acts of aggression, more restrictions toward media and civil society, more control over Internet users, more arrests, more political prisoners and more military attacks in ethnic minority areas.
Sanctions are not likely to be lifted until the junta takes positive steps such as ending aggression against the NLD and ethnic parties and allowing freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.
The best option would be for the junta’s supreme commander to agree to dialogue with Suu Kyi in pursuit of national reconciliation. The 2008 Constitution and the junta's unyielding adherence to its seven-step roadmap toward the 2010 elections will create a highly unstable political climate. Without an agreement of national reconciliation, the elections will achieve nothing.
A sugarcoated concept like “discipline-flourish ing democracy” cannot be sold in this information age. Citizens have enough knowledge to differentiate between sham and genuine freedom. http://www.upiasia. com/Politics/ 2009/10/12/ burmas_ploy_ to_escape_ sanctions/ 4736/
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Burma's ploy to escape sanctions
ミンコーナインを忘れない～ビルマの民主化運動リーダー、ミンコーナイン 獄中で迎える47歳の誕生日に～
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ビルマ市民フォーラム メールマガジン 2009/10/15
People's Forum on Burma
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
在日ビルマ人民主化活動家のみなさんから、以下、ミンコーナインの
47歳の誕生日に行う会合のお知らせをいただきました。
ぜひご参加ください。
ＰＦＢ事務局 宮澤
http://www1.jca.apc.org/pfb/
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
【転送・転載 歓迎】
*****************************************************
ミンコーナインを忘れない 2009.10.18(日）18時～・池袋
～ビルマの民主化運動リーダー、ミンコーナイン 獄中で迎える47歳の誕生日に～
*****************************************************
みなさま、
いつもビルマの民主化運動へのご支援、どうもありがとうございます。
2008年11月、ビルマ民主化運動リーダー、ミンコーナイン氏は軍事
政権により懲役65年の刑に処せられました。
ミンコーナイン氏は1988年ビルマ全土に拡がった民主化運動の主役を
担った学生たちのリーダーです。1989年3月、軍事政権により逮捕され、
17年以上の獄中生活を送りました。2004年11月に釈放されましたが、
「88世代学生グループ」の主要メンバーとして2007年8~9月の反軍政
デモの口火を切ったのち再び逮捕・投獄されました。
現在は、ビルマ北東部シャン州のケントン刑務所に一人、収容されています。
視力の低下や心臓病を患っていますが、当局は適切な治療を許可していません。
今月10月18日、ミンコーナイン氏は47歳の誕生日を迎えます。
彼は家族から遠く離れた塲所にある刑務所の小さな独房の中で一人、
47歳の誕生日を迎えるのです。
刑務所の極めて不健康な環境の中、病状の悪化も進み、苛酷な毎日を
過ごしていることでしょう。
世界の仲間はあなたを忘れない、ミンコーナインは一人ぼっちではない、
世界の人々もあなたと共にビルマ民主化のために闘っている：私たちは、
みなさんと共にこのメッセージを獄中の彼に届けたいと思い、
「ミンコーナインを忘れない」というタイトルの下、彼の４７歳の誕生日会を
開催します。
そして、ミンコーナイン氏を含むすべての政治囚一人ひとりに思いをはせ、
一刻も早く刑務所から釈放されるよう、アピールしたいと思います。
ぜひご参加ください。皆さまのご協力をよろしくお願いいたします。
■日時： 2009年10月18日（日） 18時～21時
■場所： 池袋 豊島区民センター 4階
http://www.toshima-mirai.jp/center/a_kumin/
東京都豊島区東池袋1-20-10
JR山手線池袋駅東口下車 徒歩約5分
■入場： 無料
■プログラム（予定）：
・ミンコーナインを含む全ての政治囚の釈放を求めるお祈り
（仏教、キリスト教、イスラム教）
・ミンコーナイン その活動を振り返る（映像）
・ミンコーナインへのメッセージ（各支援団体より）
・その他
■主催：
全ビルマ学生連盟（外交委員会）ほか在日ビルマ人民主化活動家のみなさん
■賛同団体：
（社）アムネスティ・インターナショナル日本
ビルマ市民フォーラム
ビルマ情報ネットワーク
ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチ
アーユス仏教国際協力ネットワーク
ヒューマンライツ・ナウ
■問合せ先（日本語可）：
ポーンミントゥン 090-4221-1988
ミャットゥ 080-3424-2759
ゾーミントゥン 080-1137-0672
*****************************************************
Burmese activists repose faith on new Japanese government
Burmese activists repose faith on new Japanese government
by Salai Pi Pi
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 21:14
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burmese pro-democracy activists on Wednesday met Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister in Tokyo and urged the Japanese government to pressurize Burma’s military rulers to implement change in the Southeast Asian nation.
The meeting held in the Deputy Foreign Minister’ office is the first ever after the Japanese opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) swept to a historic victory in elections in August this year.
Burmese pro-democracy activists led by Maung Maung, General Secretary of the National Coalition Union of Burma (NCUB) in exile, a coalition of political organisations, met Mr. Tesuro Fukuyama for about half an hour.
“We discussed issues related to Burmese opposition groups’ efforts to push the ruling junta to kick-start a process of national reconciliation in the country,” Dr. Min Nyo, representative of the NCUB for Japan, who was also present in the meeting, told Mizzima.
Dr. Min Nyo said, during the meeting, NCUB’s delegates also requested the Japanese government to support an effort to file a lawsuit against Than Shwe and the military leaders at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their crimes against humanity.
Along with Fukuyama, Mr Sue Matsu, Secretary of the Japanese Members of Parliament Union, and Japan’s Labour Unions’ President Mr. Koga were also present in the meeting.
Dr. Min Nyo said Fukuyama was interested in a proposal made by the NCUB delegates to have a permanent envoy in Japan in order help Burmese opposition get access to the Japanese government on matters related to Burmese affairs.
He said the Democratic Party of Japan, which came to power after defeating the Liberal Democratic Party, is likely to shift its approach on Burma and take a stronger stand in pushing the regime to begin national reconciliation.
Japan, under LDP rule, had been soft and was into quiet diplomacy in the past. It has avoided rhetorical condemnation and criticism of the Burmese regime.
“The present Japanese Prime Minister understands Burma’s problem. He has even talked to Aung San Suu Kyi and long supported the democracy movement,” Dr. Min Nyo said.
“The DPJ has also included supporting democracy in Burma as part of its policy,” he added.
Japan has stopped new aid to Burma since opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrest in 2003 but it continues funding emergency health projects and provides training and technological assistance.
Japan, which sided with China and Russia against US’s proposed UN Security Council resolution on Burma in 2006, threatened to suspend about 500 million Yen aid to Burma after a Japanese photojournalist, Kenji Nagai, was shot dead by a Burmese soldier during the crack down on monk-led protesters in September 2007.
However, Japan resumed relief aid to Burma after the deadly Nargis Cyclone lashed Burma’s delta areas, leaving over 130,000 people dead and missing and about 2.4 million people devastated in May 2008.
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