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Like the gorillas ruling the Planet of the Apes,
Burma’s generals yesterday (Monday May 18) put Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi on trial for what our government has called trumped-up charges.
(Daw is a Burmese honorific that may be translated “Lady”)
The daughter of Burma’s
foremost modern-day hero, the international democracy icon Suu Kyi,
is accused by her Planet of the Apes clone oppressors of harboring
an American who swam to her home where she is under house arrest. If
this incident had not happened, her latest period of detention—a
six-year term—would have ended on May 27.
The Burmese generals simply could
not take the risk of letting her go free to lead her National League
for Democracy party in elections next year.
The military has ruled Burma
since 1962. Gen. Ne Win first held power as an outright military
strongman and then as a constitutional president. The present junta
came to power in 1988 after Ne Win’s resignation. The generals are
preparing for 2010 elections which would be Burma’s first since
1990. These elections are supposed to be the second step in the
generals’ so-called 12-step road to democracy. The generals
invented this process in response to international criticism of
their oppressive and anti-democratic system.
In addition to the UN and the
Western nations, critics of the Burmese generals’ human-rights
abuses and cruelty include the Philippine government and Asean (the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations of which Burma under the
military junta is an unworthy member).
Suu Kyi is in fragile health
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, is
known to now be in poorer health than last year, after being a
prisoner of the generals for 13 of the past 19 years. In 1990, she
and her NLD candidates won the elections, defeating the
junta-supported party despite the latter’s cheating and the police
and military’s repression of the citizenry. The Burmese generals
then nullified the election results, accusing Suu Kyi and her
partymates of cheating. They put her and many of her fellow NLD
party leaders under arrest.
The present charge against her
arises from the insane action of an American, John Yettaw, who swam
across the river to Suu Kyi’s house, which is guarded by the
Burmese junta’s soldiers.
Suu Kyi’s lawyers and doctor
think Mr. Yettaw is some kind of nut. She asked him to go away but
eventually allowed him to stay out of pity because he complained of
being fatigued and suffering from cramps.
The military ultimately arrested
Mr. Yettaw. Then they also arrested Suu Kyi, her personal physician
Dr. Tin Myo Win and some of her household staff. Suu Kyi was
immediately transferred from her house to Insein prison. Dr. Tin Myo
Win was released on Sunday.
Yettaw’s insane acts a junta
ploy?
NLD people and many Burma
watchers suspect that this whole incident was a junta ploy. Mr.
Yettaw had apparently swam to Suu Kyi’s house months before but
was caught and turned away. He could be naïve fool acting out a
dream of writing a book about a Nobel Peace Prize and globally
revered figure. Burma’s generals could have then used him to be
able to accuse and convict Daw Aung Suu Kyi of violating the
conditions of her house arrest. One of these conditions is for her
not to meet anyone, much less foreigners, without the junta’s
permission.
If convicted, she could be
sentenced to five years in prison. She would therefore not be of
much use to her National League for Democracy partymates, if they
decide to run in next year’s election.
Calls for immediate release of
Suu Kyi
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto
Romulo’s call for the immediate and unconditional release of the
Nobel Peace Prize winner and other members of the political
opposition detained by the country’s military leaders was also
made by President Gloria Arroyo herself in April. She spoke with the
junta’s Prime Minister Thein Sein at the sidelines of the aborted
Asean Summit and Asean-Plus meeting in Thailand.
The President appealed to the
Burmese junta through PM Thein Sein for the release of Suu Kyi on
May 27 when the extended time of her arrest was to expire. According
to a Foreign Affairs statement, she told the Burmese PM that Suu
Kyi’s release would produce “tremendous goodwill for Myanmar
from the international community.”
“As a neighbor of Myanmar, the
Philippines has a deep sense of friendship with the people of
Myanmar. We only have your country and your people’s welfare at
heart. This is the single, most concrete piece of advice and
experience I can share with you,” the statement quoted Mrs. Arroyo
as saying.
The DFA statement said PM Thein
Sein expressed appreciation for Arroyo’s suggestions and said that
the Myanmar government would take them into account. It also quoted
Thein Sein saying that his government was committed to its program
of democratization and reconciliation. He cited the adoption of a
new Myanmar constitution in 2008 as the “critical first step” in
the road to democracy. The government was also preparing for general
elections in 2010, Thein Sein was quoted as saying.
That 2008 Burmese constitution
was, however, drafted by the generals’ minions without any inputs
from the country’s pro-democracy groups. Then it was passed in a
rubber-stamp national referendum whose voting process was called
fraudulent by the opposition.
PM Thein Sein’s words to our
President were, as we now see, as worthless as the chattering of a
chimpanzee.
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