Thu 11 Jun 2009
Myanmar: 64 Words for Aung San Suu Kyi
Posted by Mong Palatino under Balkers
[20] Comments
Do you want to show support for Myanmar opposition leader and global democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi? A new website was launched last week where anyone from around the world can leave a 64-word message of solidarity for imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The website 64forSuu.org is named as such to mark Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday on June 19.
Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi can leave and view video, text, twitter and picture messages on the website. A sample of 64-word message of support:
“Nineteen years ago, the Burmese people chose Aung San Suu Kyi as their next leader. For most of those 19 years she has been kept under house arrest by the military junta that runs the country. We must not stand by as she is silenced again. Now is the time for the international community to speak with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi.”
This brief statement was signed by many personalities and other famous names which included George Clooney, Sec. Madeleine Albright, Drew Barrymore, David Beckham, Bono, Matthew Broderick, Sandra Bullock, John Cusack, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Václav Havel, Helen Hunt, Anjelica Huston, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Ashton Kutcher, Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Naomi Watts. Twitter is an integral part of the campaign:
It is the first political campaign to use twitter with an integrated website to harness the reach and influence of some of the world’s most influential celebrities. Through replies and re-tweets, the campaign message reached an estimated 5 million people through Twitter alone in its first five days.
One of those who tweeted support for Aung San Suu Kyi was Yoko Ono. The website launching was deemed successful as global leaders sent their statements of support for Aung San Suu Kyi. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is also a supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi. Check out his message on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8yH9Qnhx20&feature=player_embedded
Brown’s 64 words of support:
“I add my voice to the growing chorus of those demanding your release. For too long the world has failed to act in the face of this intolerable injustice. That is now changing. The clamour for your release is growing across Europe, Asia, and the entire world. We must do all we can to make this Birthday the last you spend without your freedom.”
Many Southeast Asians also expressed support for Aung San Suu Kyi. From Erich Jao of the Philippines:
The free people of the world support your cause and the nobility of your sacrifice to further the freedom of Myanmar. Let this year be the last time you breathe the air of oppression and tyranny. Evil shall never thrive in light and let the world cast the spot light of truth upon your fight and let it not be delayed in acting swiftly!
Monika Neff from Malaysia left this message
Dear Aung San Suu Kyi Happy birthday,what you are doing for the People of Burma makes you a hero besides others who sacrificed their lives for their people,like Nelson Mandela and Ghandi.people like you are only a few,all we can do is show our support like this.We love you Suu Kyi,one day Burma will be free and it will be because of your sacrifice!
Picture message sent by a supporter from Thailand
Margaret Posnett from Cambodia texted this message on the website
I have alwys been in awe of your patience and wisdom. I pray that you will have the strength to continue to be a pillar of justice for Burma and us all. God Bless You.
64forSuu is also on Facebook. Are you ready with your 64 words of support for Aung San Suu Kyi?
Well done Mong. After her latest arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi is finally receiving Western publicity on her 19-year house arrest for winning a democratic election in Burma (Myanmar).
64forsuu.org is a great display, of how world outrage can be focused into
a single vehicle thanks to the WWW
My 64 (or less);
Fascist dictatorships are notoriously disinterested in popular support. They are also notoriously short-lived. Only democracies, endure the long run.
U.S. Obama administration says it may reach out to the junta,
that sanctions (as even Secretary Clinton has recognized) have been a failure, leaving many skilled workers without jobs (eg. in the garment industry) and doing the regime’s work for it by further isolating the country.
One thing you might know that 50 million Burmese people are not fool enough to say good bye to Su Kyi and junta himself is not silly enough to ignore this as 2010 election is closer. Junta planed carefully and will do everythings to Su Kyi in order to keep her out from the sight of Burmese people and international community.
Welcome Wong Li and MKT. Here is an interesting article from The Malaysia Star today on Suu Kyi.
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Sunday June 14, 2009
Suu Kyi: Is there still purpose in her struggle?
By MARTIN VENGADESAN
COME Friday, the world’s most famous prisoner of conscience will turn 64. But there is no cause to celebrate.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s latest gift from the government of Myanmar was another farcical trial designed to extend her detention. On May 14, she was moved from her home on University Road in Yangon, where she has been under house arrest for most of the last 19 years, to Insein prison.
The court’s argument was that, by allowing American John William Yettaw to enter her lakeside residence, she had violated the terms of her house arrest.
Suu Kyi’s plea was that she felt sorry for Yettaw after he swam across Lake Inya to visit her.
Tibetan and Myanmarese exiles participate in a candle light vigil on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, in New Delhi on June 4. Portraits on their banner depict Aung San Suu Kyi and Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.
This recent travesty is yet another tribulation the Nobel Peace Prize winner has had to endure in her long struggle to bring democracy and freedom to her native country (called Myanmar by its military rulers, but still known as Burma internationally).
Despite a thumping win in the 1990 general elections, Suu Kyi has never been allowed to take office as her country’s rightful leader. During her extended detention, her British husband, Dr Michael Aris, died, and she has barely seen her two sons, Alexander and Kim.
What does this woman really mean to the people of Myanmar today? Is there still purpose in her struggle, or is hers a futile effort?
Aung San Suu Kyi’s family has played a crucial role in her country’s history . Her father was the enigmatic nationalist leader Aung San, who flirted with both communism and fascism in his desire to see Myanmar freed of British colonial rule. But he was assassinated in July 1947, just months before the country gained independence. (He was 32 then and Suu Kyi, only two.)
Jonson Chong
In the years following independence, the country was torn by divisions. In the vacuum left by Aung San, the ruling Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) saw a power struggle between his successors, U Nu and Ba Swe, both of whom served as prime minister. Communist Party of Burma leaders Than Tun and Thakin Soe (whose wife was the younger sister of Suu Kyi’s mother, Khin Kyi) broke with the AFPFL.
Thakin Soe then launched a guerilla war as ethnic tensions flared in the newly independent nation. In the mid-50s Aung San’s older brother, Aung Than, became a parliamentary opposition leader as U Nu’s government barely clung unto power.
When Myanmar’s fragile democracy was crushed by military leader Ne Win in 1962, few knew that it would lead to 47 years (and still counting) of virtually unbroken rule by the military.
Thant Myint-U, grandson of former United Nations Secretary General U-Thant and author of the acclaimed River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma, is saddened by the troubled path his country has taken.
“There is a myth that Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948 as a peaceful and prosperous country, only to decline mysteriously afterward. The Great Depression impoverished millions in the country, which was then devastated during WWII.
“In 1947, on the eve of independence, General Aung San and almost the entire political leadership were gunned down. A year later, the communist party, the biggest political party in the country, rose up in rebellion, and half the army defected to various ethnic and other rebel militia.
“The Chinese Nationalists then invaded in 1951 and created turmoil in the eastern Shan states. It’s hard to see how any government, democratic or not, could have coped well; I think U Nu’s government did a good a job under the circumstances.
Aung San, the legendary independence fighter of Burma.
“When General Ne Win took over, he could have taken things in different directions. That he chose to nationalise the economy, expel hundreds of thousands of ethnic Indians, and isolate Burma from the outside world – cutting off almost all trade, tourism and investment – was a huge disaster for the country,” Myint-U says. Ne Win officially stepped down in 1988 after violently clamping down on dissent, but continued to control the regime through his successors, Generals Sein Lwin, Saw Maung and Than Shwe. Early 2002, Than Shwe established his own power and placed Ne Win under house arrest in March. The old dictator died eight months later.
Than Shwe also arrested Ne Win’s family members, who tried to return to power, and dismissed ex-Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, whom he felt was too moderate.
But the aging ruler has done little to improve the lot of his people. The Buddhist monks’ pro-democracy protest in September 2007 (which saw thousands of them being gunned down), and Cyclone Nargis (which wreaked havoc in the country in May 2008) only highlight the indifference of the regime.
Thant explains: “These were very tragic events, but Burma’s challenges remain the same: ending 60 years of armed and ethnic conflict, lifting the country from its terrible poverty, and finding a way (to move) from army rule to some sort of popular, civilian government. “The next year or so will be the most important. There is change within the armed forces leadership. Critics say the new constitution and the elections planned for 2010 will not be democratic. But they will represent, at the very least, a massive shake-up of the existing structures of government.
“And all this is happening at a time when relations between the Myanmar army and the 20-odd armed groups in the country are at a watershed. People often see Burma through the narrow lens of politics in Yangon, and forget that the country has been at war since 1948, and that it has nearly two dozen different ethnic-based armies, some fielding over 10,000 troops, backed by armour and artillery.”
With Myanmar now an impoverished police state creaking under the weight of mismanagement, and rife with ethnic-based rebellions, Aung San Suu Kyi remains a beacon of hope.
Interestingly she is the third of Aung San’s five children, three of whom died at a young age. Suu Kyi’s favourite brother, San Lin, drowned in 1953, while her oldest sibling, San Oo, does not support her struggle. Indeed, at one point, he initiated legal action to regain possession of the family home!
Riot police officers take position on their trucks parked in front of the City Hall in downtown Yangon on June 9, after a Myanmar court ruled that Aung San Suu Kyi, on trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest, could only have one defence witness. – AP
Following her return to Burma in 1988, initially to care for her dying mother, Suu Kyi soon became a focal point of resistance to the regime. When the Saw Maung government held an election in 1990, her National League for Democracy (NLD) trounced the army’s proxy party, the National Unity Party, by winning 392 seats to its 10! Now almost two decades on, she shows little sign of giving up her struggle.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat communications director Jonson Chong has a personal interest in Myanmar’s struggle, having spent time in Insein.“In 1998, I was campaign co-ordinator for the human rights NGO, Suaram. In an initiative co-ordinated by Altsean Burma (the Alternative Asean Network on Burma), I went to the country with 17 activists from Australia, the United States, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia (of the two, one was ex-Star journalist Ong Ju Lynn),” Chong recalls.
“We wanted to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Aug 8, 1988, crackdown by the military junta, which killed thousands of pro-democracy protesters. We knew the Burmese would be unable to commemorate the event.
“What we didn’t know was the extent of their fear and paranoia. While discussing what to do upon our arrival, one of us used the word ‘democracy’. The taxi driver got scared! No driver would go near Aung San Suu Kyi’s house, so we had to walk.
“Both sides of the road were cordoned off with barbed wire. We were determined to show the Burmese that we were with them, so we handed out little red cards that read something like, ‘Do not forget those who have sacrificed their lives. We are with you in your struggle for democracy and freedom.’
“We were arrested and detained, first in a military camp and then Insein. After a week, we were tried in a kangaroo court and sentenced to five years’ hard labour. Then the Burmese home ministry decided, in the interest of bilateral relations, to suspend the sentence and deport us instead!”
Having seen the fear engendered by Burma’s regime, Chong’s admiration for Suu Kyi is boundless.
“Her struggle for democracy and human rights is close to my heart. I see her as an equivalent of Nelson Mandela, if not Mahatma Gandhi. This is a physically frail woman who has steadfastly stuck to her people’s cause, making great personal sacrifices along the way. She is subject to constant intimidation. Yet she subscribes to non-violenceand is guided by universal principles of justice. As a Buddhist, I identify with her methods and philosophy.
A Myanmar national living in Thailand holds up a poster of Aung San Suu Kyi during a rally calling for her release, in Bangkok last month. – Reuters
“I have no doubt that she is as important to the Burmese as King Bhumipol is to the Thais Her people, both at home and abroad, speak of her with reverence. To them she is a hero and a symbol of hope.”
Amnesty International Malaysia campaign co-orinator K. Shan also feels for the people of Myanmar.
“Refugees from the country have been coming here for a long time. At last count, there are about 20,000 of them. But there has been no improvement in conditions for them here. We hope the Malaysian government will look at the problem and find a solution. In fact, Asean as a whole has failed to come forward to protect the rights of these displaced people.”
Still, Shan sees hope in their unwavering dedication of their cause.
“Many of them are young people who have escaped from a climate of oppression, and developed politically here. They are very committed to liberating their country. They see Aung San Suu Kyi as the legitimate leader of the people. In the contest between democracy and authoritarianism, she represents their will and struggle.”
Malaysia-based Nyan Lin Aung, an NLD activist in charge of migrant workers’ issues, says Aung San Suu Kyi is virtually irreplaceable.
“She has a unique position. She is a national leader who leads by example. She stands for justice and is trusted by everyone in the country. She is accepted not just by the Burmese race, but by also the Shan, the Mon and the Karen.
“We are worried about her health. The current regime is afraid of her popularity and always tries to undermine her. They have even tried to infiltrate the NLD. The situation at home is terrible now, but we won’t give up. Even though we had to leave because of the economy and rigid control by the military, we have faith that one day things will change. Aung San Suu Kyi can change our future.”
Burma Campaign for Malaysia leader Tun Tun agrees. “She is a brave woman. She could have lived a safe life in England. But she sacrificed that to fight for our freedom. We all admire her very much. Even when she got money from foreign governments, she didn’t use it for herself. She set up the Aung San Foundation to support the education of the next generation.
“Aung San Suu Kyi believes, and makes us believe that one day, people power will win. Sad to say, there is no good news from our country. People are suffering but the military dictatorship seems unaffected. The current Asean engagement policy is very good for the government, but bad for the people.”
Myint-U continues to worry about the direction in which his country is headed.
“Under colonial rule, Burma’s traditional social structure entirely collapsed. The recent increase in its population (of about 55 million) has bred a new class of rural and urban poor. Millions of young people are moving around the country and across the Thai border in search of work.
“Critical social services (like healthcare) are far from adequate. There is no idyllic, timeless Burma, only a country which has undergone massive social and political upheaval, 60 years of civil war and over 30 years of intellectual and economic isolation,” he says.While Aung San Suu Kyi is the undisputed leader of her nation’s struggle for democracy, there is debate over what international organisations can do. Myint-U believes that Myanmar must not be isolated by its neighbours.
“An approach based on economic sanctions and condemnation from afar is a mistake.
“If we look at democratic change elsewhere in Asia, a key factor has been the rise of a strong and confident middle-class. I think Western sanctions, especially the withholding of aid, have undermined the possibility of economic reform and development, and severely weakened the middle class in the country.
“Myanmar is one of the poorest nations in the world. Yet it receives a fraction of what Laos or Cambodia get per capita in development aid. I think countries in the region all have a role to play in helping Myanmar find a way out of poverty. That would be a huge contribution to democracy as well,” he adds.
Copyright © 1995-2009 Star Publications (M) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)
Chevron and Total, are partners with the junta. They funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to the regime, and, according to a report in last week’s Financial Times, the IMF has concluded that the generals, using accounting trickery, deposit less than 1% of the revenues from natural gas exports into the national budget. The net result is that the gas (belonging by rights to the Burmese people as a whole) is sold abroad, with the revenues shared between foreigners and a hand full of generals. The Burmese people get nothing from it.
YouTube channel for
>Democratic Voice of Burma
from 64 For Suu
to sixtyfourforsuu@lists.burmacampaign.org.uk
date Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 1:21 PM
subject [64forSuu] Thank You From Aung San Suu Kyi
Dear Friend,
We’ve just heard that from inside Burma’s notorious Insein prison Aung San Suu Kyi has asked her lawyer to thank the tens of thousands of people that wished her happy birthday last Friday.
Her lawyer Nyan Win just released this message: “She said she thanks those at home and abroad who wished her a happy birthday, because she cannot reply to everyone”.
Burma’s brutal regime wants the world to forget Aung San Suu Kyi. The tens of thousands of people like you that left birthday messages of support to her sent a strong message to Burma’s General’s. We showed that the world will never forget Burma’s democracy leader or any the 2,155 political prisoners currently detained in appalling conditions inside Burma.
We’d like to thank everyone that left messages of support for Suu Kyi on the website and on her Facebook page. If you haven’t sent her a message of support yet there’s still time, just go to http://www.64forSuu.org
Thank you for all your support, together we are making progress.
Johnny Chatterton
Campaigns Officer
Burma Campaign UK
It’s so sad that absolute power corrupts!
Happy Birthday to a brave person whose soul will always be free.The power crazed militia can not live for ever and they will one day be of no consequence.Aung San will be remembered for ever.Her purity of spirit brings hope to us all.
Welcome Britain. May the junta one day be of no consequence, because they are the ones behind bars…
That could be their real reason to jail Suu Kyi at this time: so that she
can be no factor in their sham election of next year. Unless it makes for
a bigger internal backlash – perhaps it can backfire on them yet. Suu Kyi certainly wins out in the court of world opinion, and the junta certainly strikes out.
An excerpt below from the UN Daily Newsletter of Monday. The fact the junta would receive Ban Ki-moon suggests they may be prepared to return Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest, or perhaps even release her. But Ki-moon is talking like a diplomat spotting legitimacy to the regime, and acting like reasonable solutions & cooperation between it and it’s opponents is a real possibility. That I doubt, very much.
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Secretary-General to visit Myanmar later this week
29 June – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Myanmar from 3 to 4 July, at the invitation of the Government, to highlight key issues such as the need to release all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, it was announced today.
Mr. Ban, who last visited the country in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Nargis last May, “looks forward to returning to Myanmar to address directly with the senior leadership a broad range of issues, including longstanding concerns to the United Nations and to the international community,” his spokesperson, Michele Montas, said.
The Secretary-General, she added, believes that the issues of political prisoners, the resumption of dialogue between the Government and opposition to achieve national reconciliation, and setting the stage for credible elections “cannot be left unaddressed at this juncture of the country’s political process.”
Further, he considers building on the joint humanitarian effort following his visit to Myanmar last May in the aftermath of Nargis, which killed nearly 150,000 people, to be also essential.
“The Secretary-General believes that the sooner these issues are addressed, the earlier Myanmar will be able to move towards peace, democracy and prosperity,” Ms. Montas said. “He looks forward to meeting all key stakeholders to discuss what further assistance the United Nations can offer to that end.”
–
You mean Brad Pitt signed and Angela Jolie didn’t? Uh oh sounds like a break up on the horizon, lol. This is an all too common occurance as we are seeing in Honduras now. The saddest thing is most of the democracies seem to be surviving on our aid. And as we move away from the Republican or shall we say more towards the socialistic system as in the Clinton era as opposed to an extreme Imperialistic system we get out of debt and actually have a surplus. Hopefully this happens again with Obama but there should be more happy mediums worldwide and more of an understanding of what makes governments rise and fall. I don’t like feeling more socialistic and I don’t like hearing the resolve from the republican lifers that we might as well be in China. But it seems we can’t afford to be republican fulltime.
Welcome aboard Ecomike. Latest email from 64forSuu.org is below;
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from 64 For Suu
to sixtyfourforsuu@lists.burmacampaign.org.uk
date Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 9:18 AM
subject [64forSuu] Ban Ki-moon In Burma – Help Us Keep The Pressure Up
Dear Friend,
Today UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon arrived in Burma, as the regime once more delayed Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial. When he arrived Ban Ki-Moon said it was his top priority to secure the release of all of Burma’s political prisoners – this is a breakthrough for us as that’s what we’ve been campaigning for him to do for many months.
We need to ensure that Ban turns words into action. The regime is hoping that by stringing out Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial the world will forget her; we can’t let that happen. We need tens of thousands of people across the world to show that they haven’t forgotten her by demanding that the regime release Suu Kyi and all of Burma’s political prisoners at 64forSuu.org
The global movement calling for the release of Suu Kyi has never been stronger. With over 16,000 messages, and the backing of political leaders, major celebrities such as Julia Roberts, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and Bono, 64forSuu.org has demonstrated the scale of global outrage. Over a hundred thousand people support her on Facebook facebook.com/aungsansuukyi, and thousands are supporting her on Twitter (by using the hashtag #ASSK64 Twitter).
TAKE ACTION: LET’S KEEP THE PRESSURE UP
Aung San Suu Kyi is Burma’s most high profile political prisoners but across Burma there are 2,154 other political prisoners enduring appalling conditions inside Burma’s squalid prisons. They face brutal torture, are banned from receiving family visits and denied proper medical care. Please go to 64forSuu.org now and leave a message calling for their release.
With your help we can show that no matter what the regime try the world will never forget Burma’s brave political prisoners.
Thank you,
Johnny Chatterton
Project Manager
64forSuu.org
Few people realize the strange twists that history takes. Immediately after World War II, if a knowledgable observer were to have predicted which southeast Asian country would become the area leader, most would have chosen Burma. It was the world’s largest rice exporter. It had more minerals than any other country in the region. It had an educated, English-speaking, highly intelligent population. It had as good an infrastructure as any other country…Imagine a world with Rangoon far ahead of Bangkok or Singapore.
Instead, history twisted the necks of the Burman people. Of all the Burmese people.
Welcome back DChauls. With an educated population the turnaround will hopefully be fairly rapid after the junta is finally deposed.
Last week it announced a delay in issuing a verdict until 11 Aug. That suggests to me a reprieve may be pending, otherwise they just convict Suu Kyi and get it off the radar screen.
Story link from MSNBC
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Suu Kyi and American Intruder Convicted by Burmese Court
Opposition Leader’s Sentence Commuted to 18 Months of House Arrest
By Tim Johnston and Colum Lynch
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 11:46 AM
BANGKOK, Aug. 11 — Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced Tuesday to an additional 18 months under house arrest for breaching the terms of her previous incarceration, a decision that immediately triggered widespread international condemnation.
A court in Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison initially sentenced Suu Kyi, 64, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, to three years of hard labor on grounds that she illegally harbored an American tourist.
But Burma’s interior minister later read a statement from Gen. Than Shwe, chairman of the ruling junta, commuting the sentence to 18 months under house arrest. The statement said he made the decision partly in light of Suu Kyi’s position as the daughter of Aung San, the father of Burmese independence, and partially in the interests of the future peace and prosperity of the country, according to the diplomat.
John Yettaw, the American who swam across a lake bordering Suu Kyi’s villa and entered her heavily guarded property uninvited, was sentenced to seven years, including four of hard labor.
Two co-defendants in Suu Kyi’s trial — Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma, a mother and daughter who have been the democracy activist’s companions and housekeepers for the past five years — also received an initial sentence of three years that was commuted to 18 months of house arrest.
“A ripple of shock went ’round the room,” said one European diplomat who attended the hearing. “We looked at these three slightly built women, one of whom uses a walking aid, and it was beyond belief.”
Suu Kyi’s defense team said it would appeal the verdict.
International officials immediately renounced the verdict. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon strongly deplored Burma’s actions and the European Union vowed to impose new economic sanctions against individuals responsible for Suu Kyi’s continued imprisonment.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a U.N. embargo on all arms imports to Burma, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged new restrictions on Burma’s export of rubies and hardwood, two key sources of government revenue.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a measured statement, reiterating her call for Suu Kyi’s release and saying that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate “should not have been tried and should not have been convicted.
Clinton, speaking in Goma, Congo, also called for the release of more than 2,000 other political prisoners, including Yettaw.
“We are concerned about the harsh sentence imposed upon him especially in light of his medical condition,” she said at a news conference with Congolese foreign minister, Alexis Thambwe. “The Burmese junta should immediately end its repression of so many in this country, start a dialogue with the opposition and the ethnic groups. Otherwise the elections they have scheduled for next year will have absolutely no legitimacy.”
European leaders said that Tuesday’s judgment was designed to prevent Suu Kyi from participating in the country’s upcoming elections. “This is a purely political sentence designed to prevent her from taking part in the regime’s planned elections next year,” Brown said.
The U.N. Security Council, at the request of France, plans to convene an emergency session to condemn the Burmese verdict. But U.N. diplomats said they doubted that Burma’s closest ally on the council, China, would agree to support any tough action against the country, saying the legal case was a domestic matter.
A draft statement negotiated by the United States, France and Britain expresses “grave concern” over Suu Kyi’s verdict, and calls for her immediate release from prison. It also urges the Burmese government to allow a more inclusive political process leading up to next year’s election.
A European diplomat said that the council’s Western powers are seeking to secure an immediate consensus that today’s verdict is unacceptable, and then to explore whether China is prepared to accept the imposition of more painful economic sanctions at a later date.
Ban, who is on vacation in Seoul, issued a statement this morning saying that he was “deeply disappointed by the verdict.”
“The Secretary-General urges the Government to immediate and unconditionally release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and to engage with her without delay as an essential partner in the process of national dialogue and reconciliation,” according to the statement, which was issued in New York. “Unless she and all other political prisoners in Myanmar are released and allowed to participate in free and fair elections, the credibility of the political process will remain in doubt.”
Even Malaysia, which was instrumental in bringing Burma into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 10 years ago, expressed its dismay.
“I think there is a need for ASEAN foreign ministers to have an urgent meeting to discuss this issue, which is of grave concern,” Anifah Aman, the Malaysian foreign minister, told Agence France-Presse.
Suu Kyi was charged in May after Yettaw, an American from Falcon, Mo., swam across Inya Lake, sneaked onto her property and spent the night in her house. Yettaw, a devout Mormon who relatives say suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his service during the Vietnam War, told the court he was acting on a vision in which he saw Suu Kyi being assassinated by terrorists.
Suu Kyi said that she allowed Yettaw, a diabetic, to stay only because he was exhausted.
“I acted without malice simply with intent to ensure that the one concerned should not suffer any adverse consequences,” she told the court in her closing statement.
Suu Kyi’s defense had argued that the constitutional measure under which she was charged had been superseded and that government security forces should bear responsibility for allowing Yettaw to breach the cordon that surrounded her home.
The sentence will effectively keep Suu Kyi out of circulation until after the conclusion of elections that are due to be held next year.
“She is not being imprisoned because an American swam to her home but because she is viewed as a strong threat to the legitimacy of this regime and its plans for next year’s elections,” said Jared Genser, a lawyer who represents Suu Kyi overseas.
Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 14 of the 19 years since her National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in general elections, a result that the ruling generals annulled.
But she remains the regime’s most dangerous opponent: the one figure with the ability to unite the fractious and demoralized opposition within the country.
Authorities mounted a huge security operation outside the prison, with an estimated 2,000 police and government militia manning checkpoints in an attempt to forestall any public demonstrations.
“The people who favor democracy do not want to see riots and protests that can harm their goal,” said the government-run New Light of Myanmar in a commentary on Tuesday.
© 2009 The Washington Post Company. Don’t repost on Balkingpoints…
First the 2 week pause by the junta in issuing a verdict. Then the return to house arrest. Effectively a victory for Suu Kyi.
There was a good loud uproar from the world over this (see 64forSuu.org), which appears to have had an effect on even the most reclusive and repressive of regimes. The WWW is proving to be quite an effective echo chamber against bad governments, when it manages to channel and focus the objections of ordinary people all over the world.
Now the question of whether Yettaw, the trouble-making swimmer, gets bailed out by Bill Clinton or actually has to do that hard-labor sentence…
…hell, it only took a Senator ;^)
____
Burma Releases Detained American
Webb Says He Also Requested Suu Kyi’s Freedom
BANGKOK, Aug. 16 — Burmese authorities have released the American whose uninvited visit to the home of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi led to her being sentenced to 18 more months of house arrest, allowing him to leave the country Sunday with Sen. James Webb (D-Va.).
“He’s not a well man. He had a medical incident this morning when they read him his orders of deportation. He’s now undergoing a thorough medical review in a hospital and soon he will be able to return to his family,” Webb told a news conference in Bangkok after returning from a two-day visit to Burma, also known as Myanmar.
John Yettaw, 54, a Vietnam War veteran who suffers from epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder, was sentenced last week to seven years in jail for swimming across the lake behind Suu Kyi’s house to warn her that he had had a vision in which she was killed by terrorists.
Webb, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, is the most senior U.S. official to visit Burma in more than two decades. He used his rare meeting with the government’s leadership to ask for Yettaw’s release on humanitarian grounds, for a visit with Suu Kyi and for her release.
“They granted two of those three requests in the meetings. They have not yet communicated on the third,” Webb said Sunday.
Although he expressed his gratitude to Burmese authorities for freeing Yettaw and allowing him to see Suu Kyi, he was careful not to say he is optimistic about her release.
“I am hopeful that as the months go forward, they will take a look at it,” he said of his request that Suu Kyi be released.
Many analysts think Burmese authorities used Yettaw’s visit as an excuse to keep Suu Kyi out of circulation in the run-up to elections, due to be held next year.
“I hope that over time, the government of Myanmar will understand that with the scrutiny of the outside world judging their government very largely on how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, that it is to their advantage to allow her to participate in the political process,” Webb said.
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Webb gave little indication of how his suggestions were received by Gen. Than Shwe, who leads the government, and the other generals he met.
Webb’s visit has been controversial. Many observers think it sent the wrong signals to a regime that had only days earlier defied concerted international pressure to release Suu Kyi from detention. But Webb is part of a growing movement that thinks past attempts to isolate the regime have failed and that engagement is the only alternative.
“The problem with international policy towards Burma has been that it’s been all about ‘sending the right signal’ — it has all been about symbolism, with very little substance and pragmatic thinking,” said Thant Myint-U, an analyst who is a leading proponent of engagement.
It is a position that resonates with the Obama administration, and Webb’s trip to Burma has significant echoes of the recent visit by former president Bill Clinton to North Korea.
“Jim Webb’s trip hopefully represents a watershed towards a more pragmatic approach that will actually yield results, that will help the Burmese people and be in the U.S. national interest,” Thant said.
© 2009 The Washington Post Company. Don’t repost on Balkingpoints…
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi gives backing to U.S. engagement
By Aung Hla Tun
Fri Sep 25, 4:39 AM
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will support U.S. plans to engage with the isolated nation but only if opposition groups are involved in any dialogue, her party said.
Suu Kyi’s backing followed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s announcement that Washington wanted dialogue with the country’s military rulers but would not lift its tight sanctions on them.
“(Suu Kyi) said she had always supported the idea of engagement. However, that engagement should be done with both the military government and the democratic forces,” said Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Nyan Win met with Suu Kyi on Thursday after U.S. embassy officials in Yangon briefed the NLD about the rapprochement plans. Nyan Win gave no details about what was discussed.
Analysts said the development was positive for both sides although it was far from clear what the two sides could agree on.
Speaking in New York on Wednesday, Clinton did not elaborate on the engagement plans, giving no indication about a timeframe, who would lead talks and what demands would be made in order for sanctions to be lifted.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Myanmar since 1988, when an estimated 3,000 people were killed in an army crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
U.S. ties with Myanmar appear to be less frosty than in recent years and last month’s visit by U.S. Senator Jim Webb — the first by a senior U.S. official in more than a decade — was hailed by the junta as a big success.
Clinton said in July that the United States would help Myanmar if its army rulers held free, fair and inclusive elections and released Suu Kyi, who has been in detention, or “protective custody,” for 14 of the past 20 years.
POSITIVE STEP
Suu Kyi was given another 18 months under house arrest last month for letting an American intruder stay at her home for two nights. Critics said that ruling was designed to keep her out of elections next year, the first in the former Burma since 1990.
Analysts said the change in approach was a positive step that could eventually lead to reforms in a country crippled by five decades of economic mismanagement and oppressive army rule.
“The regime wants to normalize relations with the U.S. to convince the world and the Burmese people that their elections will be legitimate,” said Win Min, a Burmese exile and lecturer at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
“This engagement will be a gradual process. We shouldn’t expect too much, but it’s a lot better than the previous policy.”
Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo said dialogue would be advantageous for both sides. Engagement could eventually bring big benefits to Myanmar, while allowing the United States to gain a strategic foothold in a country traditionally allied with its powerful neighbor China.
“What’s most significant is that there’s a willingness from both sides. They know they have to talk and they know they need to build trust,” said Aung Naing Oo.
“Although it’s a positive and pragmatic move, the biggest stumbling block will be the negotiations. For this to work, there needs to be patience, compromise and a real understanding of the mindset of both parties.”
Copyright © 2009 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Don’t repost on Balkingpoints.
Junta in Surprise Talks with Suu Kyi
Detained Activist Taken to Meet Myanmar Official; Possibility of Cooperation between Gov’t, Pro-Democracy Leader
YANGON, Myanmar, Oct. 3, 2009
(AP) Detained Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was escorted into surprise talks with a junta official Saturday, a week after writing a letter to the military leader proposing a new era of cooperation.
The unannounced meeting between Suu Kyi and Relations Minister Aung Kyi lasted 45 minutes and took place at a government guest house near her lakeside home in Yangon, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was driven to the meeting in a police motorcade, the officials said. Details of the talks were not immediately known.
The meeting came a week after Suu Kyi sent a letter to junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe. In it, she said she is willing to cooperate with the junta in having international sanctions lifted and proposed that she meet with Western diplomats to discuss the measures, according to her National League for Democracy party.
“I don’t know what they discussed, but I believe it could be related to the letter sent last week to the senior general,” said Suu Kyi’s lawyer Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman for her opposition party.
The letter appeared to be a confidence-building gesture to the junta. Suu Kyi, 64, had previously welcomed sanctions as a way to pressure the junta to achieve political reconciliation with the pro-democracy movement.
The movement has insisted on concessions from the government if they are to work together, particularly the freeing of political prisoners and the reopening of party offices around the country.
Suu Kyi’s meeting with Aung Kyi was their sixth since his post was created in October 2007 and the first since January 2008. The job of relations minister was created at the urging of U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari after the U.N. Security Council urged the junta to open talks with the country’s pro-democracy movement.
Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years.
On Friday, a court rejected Suu Kyi’s appeal against the extension of her widely condemned house arrest. The decision was expected and was another reminder that the military junta treads warily when considering concessions to the opposition or improving relations with the West.
The United States announced last week that it is modifying its tough policy of isolating the military regime and will instead try to engage the junta through high-level talks.
Washington said it will still maintain its political and economic sanctions against the regime. It and other Western nations apply sanctions because of Myanmar’s poor human rights record and its failure to turn over power to Suu Kyi’s party after it won the last elections in 1990.
Friday’s court ruling against Suu Kyi upheld her August conviction for breaking the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an uninvited American at her home earlier this year. She was sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest, which means she cannot participate in elections scheduled for next year, the first in Myanmar in two decades.
Suu Kyi’s legal team said Friday they plan to appeal to the Supreme Court within 60 days.
Suu Kyi was barred from attending the appeal and was informed of the ruling by her physician, who visited her later Friday, Nyan Win said. He said authorities have agreed to allow her personal doctor, Tin Myo Win, to visit her once a month.
On his last visit two weeks ago, the doctor said Suu Kyi had low blood pressure, but after Friday’s visit said she was well, Nyan Win said.
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
U.S. diplomats meet with pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi
November 4, 2009 — Updated 1044 GMT (1844 HKT)
(CNN) — U.S. diplomats met with imprisoned pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, Myanmar TV showed.
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and deputy Scot Marciel were shown greeting her outside the Inya Lake Hotel in the former capital, Yangon, before they went inside for talks.
The American diplomats met with Myanmar’s prime minister on Tuesday.
The visit is part of a shift in U.S. policy toward the Southeast Asian country that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in September, in which the United States would try to directly engage with the military leaders of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, without abandoning existing sanctions.
Suu Kyi’s detention has been a key point of contention between the United States and Myanmar. And critics have accused Myanmar’s ruling junta of convicting Suu Kyi, 64, to keep her from participating in 2010 elections.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been confined in her house for about 14 of the past 20 years.
She was sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest after John Yettaw, an American man, swam uninvited to her home in Yangon.
In August, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia flew to Myanmar to secure Yettaw’s release and became the first American official to meet with junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
© 2009 Cable News Network. Don’t repost on Balkingpoints…