Burma needs to call off immediately Unjust Laws and Orders

Sat, 2011-04-23 00:41 — editor
Myanmar
By Zin Linn


An alliance of democratic political parties – Friends of Democratic Parties – pushed the new President Thein Sein’s government to start putting into practice the promises he made in his inauguration speech without delay.

The 10-party alliance – including Democratic Party of Myanmar (DPM), National Democratic Force (NDF) and five ethnic parties - released a statement on 5 April, urging Thein Sein Government to carry out the objectives mentioned by Thein Sein in his speech made on March 30 and 31 concerning reconstruction of the nation and starting of national reconciliation.

However, people have different opinion. They want to restore law and order in the first place. As today judiciary system is totally collapsed due to corruption, the court-verdicts were made by buying-off. In his speech, President Thein Sein highlights to be a clean government and to reinforce the judicial pillar.

He said,"We guarantee that all citizens will enjoy equal rights in terms of law, and we will reinforce the judicial pillar. We will fight corruption in cooperation with the people as it harms the image of not only the offenders, but also the nation and the people. So, we will amend and revoke the existing laws and adopt new laws as necessary to implement the provisions on fundamental rights of citizens or human rights. Here, we will make reviews as soon as possible, and we will submit reports in order that ‘Union Parliament’ can carry out legislative tasks based on the findings."

So far, the government courts are running along the old bribery path. Underprivileged people are thrown into jail without committing any crime while relatives of military elite are flouting the law by many ways. Especially, the courts always punish severely toward political-minded young citizens for their frankness. The military smashed up the whole judiciary mechanism.

Before the 1962 coup d’état, the judiciary system in Burma was on average, considered to be competent and independent, particularly at the appellate courts. The 1974 constitution designated single party ruling by the Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP) creating ‘People’s Courts’. BSPP was in command of the judicial system especially in political cases, as the courts acted as another arm of the BSPP government, rather than as a guardian of civil rights. The judicial system continued to exacerbate through the 1980s as party associations instead of professional skills.

After the military takeover on 18 September 1988, the entire civilian government institutions, including the judicial system, were eliminated. The 1974 Constitution was put off and the military regime directly ruled the country by martial law which overruled all executive, legislative and judicial powers.
Military tribunals were set up in July 1989 to try criminal offenses. A vast mass of those brought before the tribunals were students, members of the NLD or other political parties, Buddhist monks and other pro-democracy activists.

The military tribunals were brought to an end in September 1992. The civilian courts do not guarantee the people of Burma a fair trial as most cases are tried in whimsical summary way and most verdicts are decided by the military intelligence officers in advance of the trial.

In his report to the United Nations General Assembly in 2000, Professor Pinheiro discussed the justice system in Burma, focusing on developments since the Judiciary Law was promulgated in 2000. His observations included perplexity among law enforcement and judicial officers, not to mention the public, about what laws are currently in force, to what extent, and how conflicts are to be resolved in practice. Independence of the judiciary is not respected, Professor Pinheiro identified.

Professor Pinheiro recommends: “a systematic review of all existing legislation that criminalize the exercise of the most fundamental internationally recognized human rights, with a view to amending it or bringing it into conformity with both the principles stated in the Judiciary Law and international human rights standards. Allegations of abuse of power should be investigated and the persons found responsible brought to trial. Special courts should be disbanded – as were military courts.”

Freedom of expression, information and association is controlled by more than half a dozen laws, the violation of which, may be, and in fact is, widely sanctioned by 3 to 20 years in prison.
There are over 2,000 political prisoners who have been detained and sentenced for having peacefully expressed their views verbally, for participating in peaceful demonstrations or in activities of political parties. Some of them are punished for having written about human rights or political issues in the country or for reading or possessing written materials judged illegal.

It is very important for Burma’s new government to repeal these unjust laws and orders for democratic Burma en route for the restoration of the rule of law, peace and justice. And political prisoners who have been thrown into jail under such unjust laws must be released.

Currently, a signature campaign to release political prisoners and begin political dialogue with the opposition in Burma has been launched by reformists plus activists. The campaigners start collecting signatures via National League for Democracy members, ethnic political groups, veteran politicians and 1988 student-generation groups.

The signatures will be directly submitted to President Thein Sein urging to take responsibility for people’s desires. Thein Sein has pronounced in his speech to form a clean government and it will be a good opportunity for the new President to start change by releasing political prisoners who languish under unjust laws.

- Asian Tribune -