It’s Burma’s generals who should be persecuted

06/06/2009
Philippine Daily Inquirer

The recent arrest and detention of Burma’s democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi poses a monumental challenge to democracy.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, is being tried on charges that she violated the terms of her six-year house arrest. The charges came with only two weeks to go before the expiration of the term of her house arrest.

She was supposed to be freed on May 27, but the junta found another reason to extend her detention period when an American war veteran spent a night at the waterfront villa where Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years.

Unelected and unwanted by their own people, the ruling generals of Burma are now becoming more and more irrational and paranoid. Instead of forging a sincere dialogue with the National League for Democracy (NLD), they have chosen to marginalize the opposition and its leader, Suu Kyi, by fabricating charges against her.

Since the junta took power in 1962, there has been a clear absence of the rule of law in Burma. This has resulted in massive human rights violations, which include systematic rape, forced labor, killings of media practitioners and human rights defenders, and torture of political prisoners, whose number has now reached 2,100, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma.

When Burma was adopted by the ASEAN in 1997, there was hope that somehow it would democratize and follow certain democratic standards and norms. That expectation failed to materialize and ASEAN cannot compel its spoiled member to initiate tangible democratic reforms. Despite international criticisms, the junta continues to violate all the borders of decency just to maintain its grasp on power.

Torture of political prisoners and rape of women happen almost daily in Burma. In the Insein prison, where Suu Kyi is undergoing her current trial, thousands of people are murmuring for justice.

As the protest intensifies against the trial of Suu Kyi, the military regime remains unwilling to lend an ear. It has rejected foreign criticisms as mere interference from abroad. Speaking at a meeting of European Union and South East Asian ministers in Cambodia, Burma’s deputy foreign minister insisted that the trial was not a human rights issue.

Suu Kyi is not guilty of any crime. A staunch advocate of non-violent struggle, she has long earned the respect of Burma’s people and the world’s admiration for her various contributions to the advancement of human rights. The junta, on the other hand, after years in power, has not earned anything except global anger.

Knowing Burma’s tyrannical regime, it is not hard to predict the verdict of the trial. But ASEAN and the United Nations should not wait any second longer to extend help to free all of Burma’s political prisoners.

Burma is suffering and Suu Kyi is just one of the many living symbols of the noble cause to free Burma once and for all. If somebody must be prosecuted, it is the junta generals!

—EGOY N. BANS,
spokesperson,
Free Burma Coalition-Philippines (FBC-Phils),
15 Door 15 Casal Bldg.,
Anonas Road, Quezon City

Aung San Suu Kyi hits back at the "bullying" generals

Myanmar's Suu Kyi trades barbs with junta

Sunday, May 31, 2009

YANGON (AFP) — Myanmar's military junta accused Aung San Suu Kyi Sunday of covering up a visit to her home by a US man which led to her trial, as the pro-democracy icon hit back against the "bullying" generals.

The regime said the Nobel laureate was not above the law and issued its sternest warning yet against foreign interference in the case, under which she faces up to five years' jail for breaching her house arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi has proclaimed her innocence at the closed prison trial, insisting that she only offered "temporary shelter" to American John Yettaw after he swam to her lakeside house, and has branded the proceedings as biased.

"It is no doubt that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has committed a cover-up of the truth by her failure to report an illegal immigrant to the authorities concerned," Major General Aye Myint, Myanmar's deputy defence minister, told a security forum in Singapore.

"Thus there was no option but to open legal proceedings in accordance with the law," Aye Myint said. "She permitted him to stay.... She communicated, provided him food and shelter."

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention, mostly at her crumbling lakeside mansion. She was moved to Yangon's notorious Insein Prison and charged on May 14.

The 63-year-old opposition leader met with her lawyers at the jail on Saturday ahead of final arguments in the case, which are due to be heard on Friday. A guilty verdict is widely expected.

Her party said Sunday that she was upset that Myanmar authorities had entered her residential compound without permission to stage a reconstruction of Yettaw's visit for the purposes of the trial.

"Aung San Suu Kyi said she is not completely satisfied as Mr Yettaw and the authorities went into her compound last week for a demonstration (of how he got into the property)," party spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.

"It was not in accordance with the law. She said it was unjust bullying," added Nyan Win, who is also part of her legal team.

Yettaw, a 53-year-old Mormon and former US military veteran, was arrested on May 6 after swimming to Aung San Suu Kyi's house using a pair of homemade flippers and spending two nights there.

He has told the court that he had had a vision that Aung San Suu Kyi would be assassinated by "terrorists" and was told by God to warn both the opposition leader and the Myanmar government.

Aung San Suu Kyi said in a statement to the court this week that she could not be held responsible as the junta had failed to boost security despite her having reported that Yettaw made a previous visit to the house in November 2008.

However Nyan Win quoted the democracy campaigner as saying that she "has no grudge to Mr Yettaw and his family."

International critics accuse Myanmar's military regime of trumping up the charges in a bid to keep her locked up ahead of elections in 2010, as the latest six-year period of her house arrest expired on Wednesday.

But in his speech in Singapore, Myanmar's Aye Myint said the case against Aung San Suu Kyi was an internal matter.

"Countries should refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Myanmar that will affect peace and security of the region," said Aye Myint.

"It is the universal legal principle that no one is above the law," he said

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, speaking at the same forum on Saturday, pressed Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi and said there needed to be "real change in Burma". Burma is Myanmar's former name.

Ann Taylor, Britain's minister for international defence and security, made a similar call on Sunday.

Myanmar last week hit back at rare criticism from the normally placid fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the treatment of the democracy campaigner.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member bloc, said ASEAN leaders would discuss Myanmar at a summit in South Korea on June 1-2.

Meanwhile more than 100 people rallied in Singapore late Sunday as part of a regional effort by civil rights groups to press Myanmar's military rulers to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

Similar rallies were also held simultaneously in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand, organisers said.

Asean Ministers Call for Release of Suu Kyi

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
28 May 2009

Foreign ministers from Asean countries concluded meetings in Vietnam Thursday by calling on the Burmese junta to release pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi.

In a joint statement with the EU, the ministers said Ang San Suu Kyi should be freed from house arrest, where she has spent 13 of the past 19 years.

The joint announcement with the EU was a break from Asean routine, with member countries typically unwilling to get involved in the internal affairs of others.

The ministers called for the early release of those under detention and the lifting of restrictions on political parties.

Burma’s ruling junta rejected the statement, calling Suu Kyi’s case a “legal,” and neither a political nor human rights, issue.

“We don’t accept pressure and interference from abroad,” said Maung Myint, a deputy minister for Burma, also known as Myanmar.

Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her non-violent struggle to bring peace and democracy to Burma, which became an Asean member in 1997.

Local Cambodian rights organizations have called for the release of Suu Kyi, and Thailand, currently the head of Asean, has voiced “grave concerns” over her case.

Let injustice fester in Myanmar, don't interfere: Burmese military Junta

Myanmar tells ASEAN, EU not to interfere in Suu Kyi trial

May 28, 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Myanmar's foreign minister Thursday warned a meeting of European and South-East Asian leaders in Cambodia not to interfere in the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, currently under way in Yangon.

In his opening address to a meeting of European Union and Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers in Phnom Penh, Nyan Win said Suu Kyi's trial was an internal legal matter and 'international interference' threatened Myanmar's sovereignty.

'We understand that the international community has taken a great amount of interest in this trial, but in doing so it has overlooked the important issue of non-interference,' he said. 'This is an internal legal issue and it is not a human rights issue.'

Nyan Win said last week's statement by the Thailand-chaired ASEAN Secretariat, which criticized Myanmar's actions, was an act of interference and threatened the military-ruled country's democratization efforts.

'The case of one person should not overshadow the process of democratization in Myanmar,' he said. 'This process in now entering its most important stage.'

Wednesday marked the sixth anniversary of Suu Kyi's arrest on charges of undermining national security and the beginning of her most recent detention in her home-cum-prison.

Suu Kyi is currently on trial in Yangon for allegedly violating the terms of her detention by allowing US national John William Yettaw to swim to her lakeside compound on May 3 and stay there until May 6.

No formal discussions on the trial have been scheduled for the two-day meeting in Phnom Penh, but Cambodian Foreign Ministry officials said earlier this week that some delegates were likely to urge Myanmar to release Suu Kyi.

Dozens of protestors gathered outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh Wednesday and urged ASEAN leaders to expel Myanmar from the regional alliance unless it immediately released all political prisoners.

Burmese Protest at Phnom Penh Embassy

(Photo: DAP news)

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
27 May 2009

Around 50 human rights advocates and Burmese citizens demonstrated in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Phnom Penh Wednesday, calling for the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The peaceful demonstration coincided with a meeting of Asean foreign affairs ministers.

“We expect this meeting will discuss Aung San Suu Kyi’s case, and we are pushing the Burmese government to release not only Suu Kyi but also to release 2,000 political prisoners,” said Kek Galabru, president of rights group Licadho.

Police barred protesting from coming too close to the embassy, where they had planned to submit a petition. A police official accepted the petition without the presence of an embassy official instead.

Suu Kyi has been in detention for 13 of the past 19 years. The military junta in Burma, now called Myanmar, is conducting a hearing to decide whether her house arrest will be extended, following the bizarre visit of a US man to her home earlier this month.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the detention of the Nobel laureate was not on the agenda for Asean ministers.

Activists demand Aung San Suu Kyi's release in Phnom Penh

Myanmar nationals protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government to release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Myanmar activist holds a portrait of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government to release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Activist from Myanmar holds a portrait of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Myanmar national holds a portrait of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government to release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Myanmar national holds a portrait of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government to release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Burma lashes out at Thailand over Suu Kyi

25/05/2009
Bangkok Post

Burma lashed out at Thailand on Sunday for interfering in its internal affairs after the government called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Burma said the statement last week by the Foreign Ministry "deviated from the practice of Asean," under which countries supposedly must not criticise other members.

"It is tantamount to interfering in Myanmar's internal affairs," said the Burmese statement, printed by the mouthpiece media. Independent reporting is banned in Burma.

The government appealed to the Burmese junta to release Mrs Suu Kyi, because the show trial at Insein prison in Rangoon threatens that country's ``honour and credibility''.

It urged "humane treatment" for Mrs Suu Kyi and reminded the junta that it had ignored the group's previous calls for her release from detention. It said, however, that Thailand held fast to its policy of engagement with the military government.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win said last week Suu Kyi's trial "will proceed fairly according to the law." Diplomats who were given a brief glimpse of the trial inside Insein prison said it appeared scripted.

The trial resumes on Monday. "I have no guilt as I didn't commit any crime," she told the court.

Mrs Suu Kyi formally pleaded innocent on Friday, and was locked in her cell over the weekend.

Suu Kyi's lawyers will submit a list of defence witnesses on Monday, and they expected the trial to run for two more weeks.

She is charged with harbouring an American intruder, John Yettaw, who swam to her house on the banks of Inya Lake last month and stayed overnight. If Mrs Suu Kyi is found guilty, the junta will conveniently keep her locked up. Her term of house arrest is running out.

She has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years in detention, most of those years at her home under police guard, with her phone line cut and visitors restricted. (Agencies)

ASEAN says Suu Kyi trial a 'grave concern'

Tuesday May 19 2009
Reuters

BANGKOK, May 19 - Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbours expressed "grave concern" on Tuesday at the trial of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, but the chair of their regional group, Thailand, ruled out sanctions.

As a "responsible" member of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Myanmar "has the responsibility to protect and promote human rights", Thailand's government said in a statement.

"It is therefore called upon to provide timely and adequate medical care to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as to accord her humane treatment with dignity," it said, noting the generals had ignored ASEAN's previous calls to free her.

Suu Kyi, whose latest detention began in May 2003, is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest after an American intruder spent two days in her home this month. The trial started on Monday and was due to resume today.

Critics say the charges, which could see her jailed for five years, are aimed at keeping the Nobel Peace laureate in detention until after elections in 2010. She has denied the charges.

Since joining ASEAN in 1997, the generals have been a thorn in the group's relations with the West, which has repeatedly urged ASEAN to exert more pressure on the regime.

Critics fear a proposed human rights body under a new ASEAN charter signed in 2007 will have no teeth, given the charter's commitment to the group's mantra of non-interference.

Thailand, which holds the rotating chair of ASEAN, said the group was ready to "contribute constructively" to national reconciliation and a peaceful transition to democracy in Myanmar.

But it also warned that with the eyes of the world on Myanmar, "the honour and credibility of the Government of the Union of Myanmar are at stake".

The military has ignored the international outrage over Suu Kyi's trial as it pushes ahead with a "roadmap to democracy" expected to culminate in elections next year. The West calls it a sham aimed at entrenching the military's grip on the country.

NO SANCTIONS, SAYS THAILAND

The European Union threatened tougher sanctions against the regime on Monday, four days after the United States renewed its measures against the military government.

But some EU ministers said Asian countries could exert a stronger influence on Myanmar. They planned to discuss the situation with their Asian counterparts at a meeting of foreign ministers in Hanoi next week.

The Europeans are unlikely to secure tough measures from ASEAN, which has shunned sanctions in favour of engaging the generals, although neither policy has worked over the years.

China and India - which have strong commercial ties to the impoverished but resource-rich former Burma - have been silent on Suu Kyi's trial.

Thailand, which shares a 1,800 km border with Myanmar and is a major trading partner, has made clear sanctions are not an option.

"Thailand will not use strong measures or economic sanctions against Myanmar because it is not an appropriate resolution for the current problem," Foreign Ministry official Chavanond Intarakomalyasut told reporters yesterday.

Aside from Thailand and Myanmar, ASEAN's membership includes Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.