Malaysian Rohingya Refugees Sosaity (MRS)

Ban gravely concerned about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
MRS 14/05/2009
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed grave concern over the news that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to the Insein Prison to face criminal charges.
A statement from the UN press office says the Secretary-General believes that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is an essential partner for dialogue in Myanmar's national reconciliation and calls on the Government not to take any further action that could undermine this important process.
The statement says that as the secretary-general has said repeatedly, he believes strongly that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all those who have a contribution to make to the future of their country must be free to be able to do so to ensure that the political process is credible.

Donn Bobb, United Nations Radio.
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Burma's struggle, Aung San Suu Kyi's role
MRS, 7 - 08 - 2009 The eighteenth anniversary of the “8-8-88” massacre in Rangoon is a moment to reaffirm the core principles of Burmese people's long march to democracy, says Kyi May Kaung.
(This article was first published on 8 August 2006) 7 - 08 - 2009

Burmese people across the world, whether in the homeland or in exile, have for the last eighteen years marked today's date with particular sharpness and poignancy. 8 August 1988 was the occasion of a massacre in the capital Rangoon in which the emerging, democratic “people's power” movement of students, workers and citizens was drowned in blood.

The military regime which had ruled the country since 1962 showed that day and in the forty days of nationwide repression that followed (in which perhaps 10,000 people altogether were killed, including 3,000 on the day itself) that its determination to retain its power was absolute. This was confirmed when the ruling junta, having been forced by the strength of the people's will to concede an election in 1990, refused to recognise the overwhelming victory of the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Since the terrible events of “8-8-88”, millions of Burma's people have endured continuing repression, suffering, hunger and hardship under a pitiless dictatorship. But if they do not give in to the temptation of despair, much of the reason lies in the fortitude and constancy of Aung San Suu Kyi herself, who in surviving three periods of house arrest (of which the current one is the most severe and isolating) has proved herself an inspiration to her people.

Daw Suu (Daw = “auntie” in Burmese, a prefix of respect for a mature lady) is the daughter of independence hero Aung San and the recipient of the Nobel peace prize in 1991. Today, she will not be able to join her friends and colleagues to mark this melancholy anniversary. But in her Rangoon confinement, she must know that all Burmese who care for their country's freedom and future are connected to each other partly through the living presence of The Lady.
A Burmese life

Aung San Suu Kyi is in many ways an embodiment of Burma's (renamed “Myanmar” by the junta in 1989) modern history. Her father, General Aung San, was gunned down with his entire cabinet on 19 July 1947 at the age of 32 by a nephew of his political rival, U Saw. Among the other victims (who came to be known collectively as “the martyrs”) were friends of my parents such as the Mongpawn Sawbwa, and the Shan chieftain Sao Sam Htun.

While the Mongpawn Sawbwa survived in hospital for a few days after the assassination attempt, Aung San died on the spot. It has become part of Burmese people's national legend that when U Saw's nephew burst into the room, Aung San – sitting at the head of the long table – stood up and stretched out his palm outwards, appealing for peace and forbearance. But he was shot point blank and his body slid under the table. A student of my father who was near the secretariat that day rushed to the scene and arrived just in time to witness the bodies being pulled down the stairs, bump by bump.

This painful memory, part of our collective trauma and multiple individual traumas, has been replenished many times since, not least by the military's shootings of civilians in 1962, in 1976 and in 1988.

1988 was the great watershed event that has changed all our lives. But it was not the end to Burmese people's travails; almost two decades after the junta's crackdown, Burma's rulers are still tightening the screws.

At a “birthday party” to mark Daw Suu's 61st birthday on 19 June 2006 in Silver Spring, Maryland, Christina Moon of the US Campaign for Burma showed a photograph of the shaved head of the remains of Thet Naing Oo, a dissident beaten to death on the streets of Rangoon in full view of passers-by. There were two large gashes on the head, which had been crudely stitched together with large black stitches like a centipede's feet.

Suu Kyi was under her first period of house arrest when her National League for Democracy won the 1990 elections, and remained incarcerated until her release in 1995. Each time she was freed, she would test the limits of the junta's tolerance by campaigning throughout the country. On 30 May 2003, thugs calling themselves the Union Solidarity Development Association (Usda) waylaid Suu's party at a place near Depayin, an incident now infamously known as the Depayin massacre. Suu was then taken into “protective custody” by the regime, and held in the notorious Insein prison.

Some NLD supporters survived to tell the Depayin story. I met two who were able to make their way to the Burma-Thailand border and eventually to the United States, where they travelled the country to deliver their testimony. U Khin Zaw told me that an imposter monk, standing near a tree felled across the road, had stopped the line of minivans and cars carrying the NLD leaders at a spot outside Depayin in mid-evening. The “monk” asked that Daw Suu stop and engage in “dialogue”. When Daw Suu replied that it was getting late and they needed to continue on their journey, the attack started.

Requisitioned trucks shone their headlights on the road as the Usda goons, high on alcohol and/or drugs, beat people in the crowd. U Khin Zaw described how he heard the sound of cracking skulls and ran off in a panic. As in previous attacks of this sort, Suu's driver managed to press the accelerator and drive off – but the car was blocked further down the road and everyone arrested.

After several months in Insein, Suu was returned to house arrest after a gynaecological operation. This third incarceration, which still continues, is only the latest in a lifetime of difficulties. The death of her father when she was still an infant was followed by the drowning of her elder brother on Inya Lake near her family house (awarded by the democratic regime of U Nu to her mother, the first widow Daw Khin Kyi, in the 1950s).

In 2000, Suu lost Michael Aris - her husband, staunch supporter, and the father of her two sons, Alexander and Kim - to prostate cancer. Daw Suu has been under periodic attack by the government-controlled press of Myanmar, due to her interracial marriage and her mixed-race children. Only people who have lived in Burma, and have been exposed to such a vulgar mentality will really understand the pain such attacks must cause.

Aung San Suu Kyi refused the chance to leave Burma to see her dying husband because she could not abandon her people and their cause. Yet she has always responded to questions about the sacrifices she has made in her personal life by saying these are nothing compared to the suffering of Burma's people.

Eighteen years is a long time. But the spirit and example of Aung San Suu Kyi is a beacon of hope that Burmese people's collective agony will indeed come to an end.
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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, GUILTY

MRS News: 2010 Election, Burma, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, John William Yettaw on August 11, 2009 by buffalohair The trial of Daw Aung Suu Kyi has come to a dramatic conclusion. Predictably Daw Aung San Suu Kyi along with her live in companions was found guilty of allowing John William Yettaw to stay in her home. 3 years was the initial decision then lowered to 18 months in the dramatic final moments of the trial.

In an unusually open atmosphere, foreign journalists were allowed into the court room for the reading of the verdict. After the 3 year verdict was read Burmese Home Minister Maung Oo entered the courtroom and read a signed order by Snr-Gen Than Shwe. Within the statement Than Shwe made full recognition of Daw Aung Suu Kyi being the daughter of a national hero, General Aung San. He also made reference to Aung San being the architect of Burma’s Independence from British rule. Then the order suggested that the 3 year sentence be commuted to 18 months with provisions she be released even earlier if she shows good moral behavior. The order shared this decision with Aung Suu Kyi’s companions as well. She will be returned to her family compound under house arrest. She will be allowed guests if she goes through the proper channels and given access to TV and daily news papers for the duration of her time under house arrest. The verdict could have been much worse, there is no question.

On the other hand John William Yettaw, the perpetrator of this whole fiasco, did not fare as well. He got 7 years of hard labor for his intrusion into Aung San Suu Kyi’s compound, 3 years immigration violation, 3 years security violation and 1 year for his casual swim. But if I read my South Asian play book correctly I see John Yettaw as bargaining tool in light of North Korea’s recent behind the scenes jack pot from the negotiations for the two American journalists. Since John Yettaw had a series of medical emergencies in recent days his health is definitely in question. It would appear John’s swim will soon cost more than he bargained for since he will become the subject of future negotiations.

If he remains in custody there is no doubt he will not survive in the brutal Burmese prison system. When Burmese courts say hard labor, they mean hard labor. His merry little adventure was not appreciated by the Burmese people. With prisons teaming with political prisoners who revere Daw Aung San Suu Kyi he could possibly pay an unexpected price for his folly. Diplomacy and Burmese Law, Criminal Procedure Section 401, are his only options at this juncture. CPS 401 states; “suspend the execution of a sentence or remit the whole or any part of the punishment to which one has been sentenced”. The price for his freedom now rests in the hands of our diplomatic community and ultimately the American taxpayers.

Whether or not John William Yettaw was purposely allowed to swim to Daw Aung Suu Kyi’s home is of no consequence at this time. This intrusion has cost the pro democracy movement dearly since now Aung Suu Kyi will be under house arrest during the proposed election of 2010. I do give Gen. Than Shwe credit for commuting part of the sentence though. Now the ball is in his court and if he truly wants reconciliation he has a multitude of options at his disposal. He has the power to alter the course of Burma’s history and change his legacy. It will be interesting to see how the course of history unfolds.
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