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Burma Net News: June 9, 1996. #438
- Subject: Burma Net News: June 9, 1996. #438
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 09 Jun 1996 05:46:00
Received: (from strider) by igc2.igc.apc.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id FAA29052; Sun, 9 Jun 1996 05:45:47 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 1996 05:45:47 -0700 (PDT)
------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------
The BurmaNet News: June 7-9, 1996
Issue #438
Noted in Passing:
My poor old husband, he is the most
indulgent husband that ever was. I don't know what they
mean by saying I am his puppet. They know very well
that it is not the case.
- Aung San Suu Kyi
(See JUNTA LOSING PATIENCE AS SUU KYI
FLAUNTS DEFIANCE)
HEADLINES:
==========
THE SUNDAY TIMES : JUNTA LOSING PATIENCE AS SUU KYI
FLAUNTS DEFIANCE
AP : BURMESE DISSIDENT VOWS TO DEFY BAN ON
PRO-DEMOCRACY MEETINGS
AP : LAW THREATENS BURMA DEMOCRACY
AP : DEMOCRACY LEADER DEFIES GOVERNMENT THREAT,
ADDRESSES MEETING
CNN : US AMBASSADOR TO UN SPEAKS ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING
THAILAND TIMES : ABSDF CALLS ON PEOPLE TO DEFY
OPPRESSIVE POLICIES IN BURMA
REUTER : JAPAN MAY BE ASKED TO ACT ON AID ON BURMA
REUTER : SOUTH KOREA OPTIMISTIC ABOUT BURMA
REUTER : BONN SLAMS BURMA FOR GAGGING SUU KYI
REUTER : SINGAPORE SAYS WEST SIMPLISTIC ON BURMA
REUTER : US ENVOYS FACING TOUGH MISSIONS
REUTER : FRANCE CRITICIZES BURMA'S NEW LAW MUZZLING
OPPONENTS
MCS : ENVOYS NAMED
U KYAW WIN : LETTER TO PRESIDENT
AP : SINGAPORE'S LEE URGES NATION TO FOLLOW HIS PATH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JUNTA LOSING PATIENCE AS SUU KYI FLAUNTS DEFIANCE
[THE SUNDAY TIMES] 9th June'96
AUNG SAN SUU KYI, the Burmese opposition leader,
yesterday vowed to continue her democracy campaign
despite a clampdown by the ruling military junta and the
threat of jail.
Speaking after she had addressed a crowd of about
10,000 supporters outside her home in Rangoon, she
insisted that the weekend meetings would continue in an
effort to bring democracy to the country.
Under a new law announced on state television this
weekend, Suu Kyi and her colleagues face jail terms of
up to 20 years if they advocate an unauthorised state
constitution or are found guilty of "acts disturbing public
order".
Wearing violet and white jasmin in her hair, Suu Kyi was
cheered yesterday as she stood on a platform to speak
over the spiked fence outside her house.
"It went very peacefully," she said afterwards. "Our
people are very disciplined. They sit quietly; they clap a
bit; they laugh a bit. We are aware that our work is
surrounded by difficulties and sometimes even with
danger. We have to proceed with our work."
So far the generals have turned a blind eye to the
weekend assemblies, although any unauthorised
gatherings of more than 50 people are illegal. Increasingly
vitriolic attacks in the state-run media indicate, however,
that the patience of the junta is wearing thin.
On Friday, the authorities gave a direct warning to the
opposition to fall into line or face harsh consequences: "If
the NLD [National League for Democracy] becomes
outlawed, all its members, unlike the case of elected
candidates who were treated as temporary guests of the
government during their recent detention [a reference to
Suu Kyi's house arrest] would be sent straight to the
Insein University of Life."
Insein is a notorious prison where hundreds of political
detainees have been incarcerated and tortured.
The state press stopped just short of calling Suu Kyi a
spy, claiming she was a puppet of her British husband,
Michael Aris, an Oxford academic. Suu Kyi vehemently
rejected the suggestion yesterday.
"My poor old husband," she said. "He is the most
indulgent husband that ever was. I don't know what they
mean by saying I am his puppet. They know very well
that it is not the case."
Suu Kyi has become a powerful symbol for democracy
campaigners. The daughter of Aung San, the architect of
Burma's independence from Britain, she emerged as the
unlikely heroine of the democracy movement when she
returned from Britain in 1988 to care for her dying
mother.
That year the army seized power after gunning down
thousands of student protesters during six weeks of
violent demonstrations.
The generals who run Burma hoped that six years under
house arrest would sap Suu Kyi's courage and blunt her
popular appeal. They took a calculated gamble when
they freed her from house arrest last year, aiming to win
foreign plaudits and international financial backing but
her growing popularity has strengthened the hand of
hardliners in the military regime who want to clamp down
on the opposition.
Suu Kyi appealed yesterday for an end to foreign
investment in Burma. The inflow of private foreign cash
has increased more than tenfold since the government
launched a series of economic reforms in 1992. British
firms are among the biggest investors; Sea Containers has
announced it is to spend up to 320m on tourist cruises
from the ancient city of Mandalay.
******************************************
BURMESE DISSIDENT VOWS TO DEFY BAN ON
PRO-DEMOCRACY MEETINGS
Associated Press Web-posted Saturday, June 8, 1996; 6:22 a.m. CDT
Dateline: RANGOON, Burma
The military government on Friday banned all acts disturbing public
order on the eve of the weekly speech by pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi.
The order said violators will be subject to five to 20 years in prison, an
explicit warning to the thousands who have been drawn to Suu Kyi's
speeches each Saturday outside her home.
Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council said this week
that Suu Kyi's meetings would be banned because her National League for
Democracy had abused the government's leniency.
Suu Kyi said she would defy the ban.
Through a supporter, Suu Kyi issued a message saying, "I will proceed
with the Saturday lecture as usual."
The ban on Suu Kyi's meetings will deprive Burmese of practically their
only contact with the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, whom the
regime held under house arrest for six years until freeing her in July.
Thousands of people have braved arrest each week to hear her talk. Others
around the country listen to clandestine tapes made at the meetings.
Meanwhile, the state-controlled press warned Suu Kyi's party not to go
ahead with plans to draft an alternate constitution, saying such actions
would "make it an unlawful association without fail."
"Members of the unlawful association will not be called in for questioning
at the guest houses as was recently done and given clean white bedsheets
and treated as guests of honor," said one article.
*****************************************
DEMOCRACY LEADER DEFIES GOVERNMENT THREAT,
ADDRESSES MEETING
Toronto Sun
June 8, 1996
RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Defying threats of harsh punishment from the
government, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi addressed more than
5,000 supporters who gathered in front of her house today.
The one-hour meeting took place without any interference from the
authorities. The crowd cheered and shouted "Long live Aung San Suu Kyi"
and "Let the cause for democracy be successful" when she appeared at the
gate to her compound late this afternoon.
Burma's military government announced Friday that prison sentences of
five to 20 years awaited anyone who incited, demonstrated, spoke, or wrote
"in order to undermine the stability of the state, community peace and
tranquillity and prevalence of law and order."
The law's immediate target appeared to be Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991
Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Burma. She has
met with her supporters every Saturday since being released from six
years of house arrest last July. Her speech today was much milder than
usual, containing no remarks critical of the regime. It was not clear
whether she would be subject to legal action over the rally.
The government imposed the law in reaction to recent challenges by the
democratic dissidents to the authority of the military which for 34 years
has governed Burma, also called Myanmar. Besides prison sentences, the
law calls for fines and confiscation of property, and decrees that any
organization found in violation will be suspended, disbanded or outlawed.
The law came a day after the military informed Suu Kyi's party that it was
banning the Saturday meetings -- already prohibited under a law that
forbids gatherings of more than 50 people, but which has not been
enforced. Suu Kyi said then that the meetings would continue.
The new law, signed by the chairman of the country's junta, Senior Gen.
Than Shwe, also makes unauthorized writing of a constitution subject to
the same penalties. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy announced
last month after a party congress that it was doing just that, rejecting a
constitution being drafted by a government-organized convention that has
been meeting for three years.
The weekend meetings represent virtually the only opportunity that
Burmese have to see Suu Kyi -- pronounced Soo Chee. The government
has blocked most of her efforts to travel around the country or even to
gatherings in the capital's suburbs. About 2,000 people have been
coming to Suu Kyi's Saturday meetings, and thousands more listen to tapes
made there of what she says. The crowd grew to 10,000 people on the day
the party congress met at Suu Kyi's house, despite the government's efforts
to block the meeting by arresting 262 participants.
The congress adopted resolutions calling on the military to turn over
power to the overwhelmingly pro-democratic parliament elected in 1990.
The regime never honored the elections, and the congress was to bring
together surviving candidates on the sixth anniversary of the vote.
***************************************
LAW THREATENS BURMA DEMOCRACY
June 8, 1996.
By AYE AYE WIN Associated Press Writer
RANGOON, Burma (AP) A stringent new law meant to stifle pro
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared to be having some effect
today, keeping away much of the crowds of supporters that usually gather
every weekend outside her house.
Burma's military government announced Friday that prison sentences
of five to 20 years awaited anyone who incited, demonstrated, spoke, or
wrote ``in order to undermine the stability of the state, community peace
and tranquility and prevalence of law and order.''
The law's immediate intent was to block Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991
Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Burma, from
holding her regular Saturday afternoon meeting outside the gates of her
Rangoon home.
Ninety minutes before the time Suu Kyi normally meets with her
followers, only about 100 people had gathered before her gates far fewer
than the thousands who have come lately. No barricades or security forces
were visible.
``I will go to the meeting as usual,'' said Ma Nyo Nyo, a 28-year-old
grocery store owner who arrived before noon. ``I am not afraid of the law.''
Organizers were considering moving the gathering inside Suu Kyi's
compound, in hopes that would mollify the government. A senior member of
her National League for Democracy said he expected Suu Kyi would speak.
``If the people come in front of the house, Madame Aung San Suu Kyi
cannot hide inside the house,'' said the man, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. ``She will meet and greet her supporters.''
The government imposed the law in reaction to recent challenges by the
democratic dissidents to the authority of the military which for 34 years
has ruled Burma, also called Myanmar.
Besides prison sentences, the law mandates fines and confiscation of
property, and decrees that any organization found in violation will be
suspended, disbanded or outlawed.
The law came a day after the military regime informed Suu Kyi's party
that it was banning the Saturday meetings already prohibited under a law
that forbids gatherings of more than 50 people, but which has not been
enforced. Suu Kyi said then that the meetings would continue.
The new law, signed by the chairman of the country's junta, Senior
Gen. Than Shwe, also makes unauthorized writing of a constitution subject
to the same penalties.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy announced last month after a
party congress that it was doing just that, rejecting a constitution being
drafted by a government-organized convention that has been meeting for
three years.
The weekend meetings represent virtually the only opportunity that
Burmese have to see Suu Kyi pronounced Soo Chee since the regime freed
her from six years of house arrest last July.
The government has blocked most of her efforts to travel around the
country or even to gatherings in the capital's suburbs.
About 2,000 people have been coming to Suu Kyi's Saturday meetings,
and thousands more listen to tapes made there of what she says. The crowd
grew to 10,000 people on the day the party congress met at Suu Kyi's
house, despite the government's efforts to block the meeting by arresting
262 participants.
The congress adopted resolutions calling on the military to turn over
power to the overwhelmingly pro-democratic Parliament elected in 1990.
The regime never honored the elections, and the congress was to bring
together surviving candidates on the sixth anniversary of the vote.
********************************************************
***************************************
US AMBASSADOR TO UN SPEAKS ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
June 9, 1996.
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- For the second day in a row, the U.S. team hit
hard on human rights at the U.N. Women's Conference. The chair of the U.S.
delegation, Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright, finally said
the words many had been waiting for when she made the direct reference to
Chinese policies.
"No woman -- whether in Birmingham, Beijing, Burma should have to undergo
forced sterilizations or abortions," said Albright, who also echoed Hillary
Rodham Clinton's criticism of the Chinese government's harassment of
participants in the parallel grass-roots Non-Governmental Organizations forum.
***************************************
STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING
U.S. Department of State
96/06/07 Daily Press Briefing
Office of the Spokesman
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
I N D E X
Friday, June 7, 1996
Briefer: Nicholas Burns
Q Do you have anything on Burma?
MR. BURNS: I do have something on Burma, yes.
Q (Inaudible) threats --
MR. BURNS: That's right. Ron, we've seen the
statements by the military dictators in Rangoon that they
intend to forbid Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize winner,
from giving her normal Saturday address to the supporters of
the National League for Democracy.
I would just note that the United States Government
calls once again upon the Government of Burma to cease and
desist in its pressure tactics against the Democrats in
Burma.
Aung San Suu Kyi has a right, under international law
and under any reasonable standard of decency, to speak out
about conditions in her own country. She also has a right
to expect that her compatriots, who were arrested over the
last two weeks, should be released from government detention.
By the count of the American Embassy in Rangoon, 150 of
the 260 people who were originally detained have been
confirmed released. That leaves a considerable number of
people -- well over 100 -- who have not been released, who
remain under government detention. Why? Because they
wanted to express themselves in support of democracy.
So we strongly support the rights of the National
League of Democracy. We strongly support Aung San Suu Kyi.
We would like now to try to work with some of our
allied and friendly governments in Asia to try to find a way
to convince the Government of Burma to stop its pressure
tactics.
The Japanese Government has made some very positive and
forceful comments in public, including some by the Japanese
Foreign Minister. We would like to see similar comments and
similar action from some of the other governments in the
region.
As you know, we have identified that individual who
will serve as an American envoy -- a special American envoy
-- on the Burmese crisis. I believe there will be an
announcement forthcoming, if not today, I'm sure early next
week, about the identity of that person; and he will be
dispatched to the region to try to see what the United
States can do to work with these other countries in the
region to increase pressure on the Burmese Government to act
in a civilized manner.
Q This envoy will go next week, is what you're
saying or just --
MR. BURNS: I don't have the dates of his departure,
but I can tell you the individual, who's a prominent
individual, has been identified. He's agreed to take up
this assignment, and I think it's probably the best course
of action right now.
The Burmese Government appears to be impervious to the
feelings and sentiments of its own people. Perhaps it will
respond more effectively if some of its trading partners in
the area and fellow Asian countries can be organized in such
a way to try to put more pressure on the Burmese Government.
*******************************************
ABSDF CALLS ON PEOPLE TO DEFY OPPRESSIVE POLICIES
IN BURMA
June 8, 1996.Thailand Times
Bangkok: A dissident Burmese students group said he ruling military junta
is pushing the country into deeper political turmoil by banning the
opposition's weekly and called on the people to defy oppressive rules in
their country.
In a statement released yesterday, the All Burma Students'
Democratic Front (ABSDF) urged the international community to take action
aginst the regime, officially known as the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (Slorc), and support opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her
party the National League for Democracy (NLD).
The group's statement came following news of a ban on Suu Kyi's
weekend forum starting this week. NLD sources said party chairman Aung
Shwe had been told by the Slorc that the weekly speeches would be banned
starting today.
However, Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and
released from a six-year house arrest last July, said she would go on with
her weekend meetings.
Suu Kyi held a three-day party congress last last month defying
the junta's attempted obstruction in which more than 260 NLD activists
were detained in order to halt the meeting. June 8, 96
******************************************
JAPAN MAY BE ASKED TO ACT ON AID ON BURMA
TOKYO, June 8 (Reuter) - Japan, largest aid donor to Burma, is likely
to come under pressure from a U.S. mission headed to Asia to help head off a
crackdown on dissidents in Rangoon, diplomatic sources said on Saturday.
The White House has announced that envoys William Brown and Stanley Roth
will visit Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore, Manila and Tokyo from
June 10 to 17 to discuss a coordinated response to brewing political tensions
in Burma.
Tension has been set off by a law enacted by Burma's military rulers on
Friday that effectively muzzles Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her
opposition party.
On Friday, Japan repeated its call for the military rulers to allow Suu
Kyi to make weekend speeches outside her home.
``I believe gatherings should be allowed in view of the principle of
freedom of political activities,'' foreign minister Yukihiko Ikeda told
parliament.
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, was freed from six years
of house arrest last July by Burma's military government. Since then popular
political gatherings have been held outside her house with crowds of up to
10,000 people.
Despite regular cautions to Burma against cracking down on dissidents,
Japan has so far held off from using its aid of about $140 million a year as
a lever in ensuring the country moves towards democracy.
The diplomatic sources said in view of the latest events Tokyo may now be
asked to send a stronger signal about linkage of its aid and democracy.
Last Monday about 100 Burmese activists rallied in central Tokyo to
demand an end to Japanese aid and business support to the Rangoon military
government.
Many of the activists carried banners urging Japanese firms such as
Mitsui and Mitsubishi to leave Burma.
03:13 06-08-96
******************************************
SOUTH KOREA OPTIMISTIC ABOUT BURMA
PHNOM PENH, June 7 (Reuter) - The first South Koreans to officially visit
Cambodia since the two countries re-established formal ties last month said
they were optimistic about investment in the Southeast Asian nation.
``The delegation has a good impression of the situation here. I am quite
sure there will be quite a lot of Korean companies starting to come and do
business here,'' delegation spokesman Chung Il-Chung said on Friday.
The 53-member South Korean delegation included foreign affairs and
finance ministry officials, plus executives from over 30 companies including
Samsung, Hyundai Corp, Gold Star, Daewoo and Hanjin Construction.
The delegation left for Laos later on Friday.
A Korean consortium on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Cambodian
government to pay $3 million towards a Trunked Land Mobile Radio Service, a
10-year project that will help develop Cambodia's miniscule communications
network.
The Korean Investment Mission to the Greater Mekong Sub-region is
touring Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam following the seven-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) December decision to promote investment in
Indochina.
ASEAN agreed to cooperate with China, Japan and South Korea in its
investment planning for the Mekong nations, which include Burma, Cambodia,
Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and southern China.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
``Because the ASEAN initiative is supported by our President Kim
Young-Sam, we can expect strong support from state banks. The funding is a
key factor,'' Chung told Reuters.
A government official in the delegation said South Korean manufacturers
were being hit by rising costs and might want to relocate their factories in
Cambodia.
``This would be a good base for manufacturing for exports to the ASEAN
market and the developed world,'' Ohm Ki-Sung said, adding there was
interest in construction, telecommunications and light industries such as
garments, shoes and electronics.
``We are very much encouraged, and most of us are ready to continue
discussions in order to realise fruitful and concrete projects,'' he said.
South Korea and Cambodia agreed on May 15 to open representatives
offices in each other's capitals, more than 20 years after Seoul severed
ties when Cambodia embraced communism.
Cambodia is one of the few remaining allies of Stalinist North Korea,
with whom the capitalist South is still technically at war.
09:31 06-07-96
*******************************************
BONN SLAMS BURMA FOR GAGGING SUU KYI
BONN, June 7 (Reuter) - German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel on Friday
slammed Burma for a new law muzzling opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and
her party, calling it a ``new low-point in the domestic and human rights
situation'' in the country.
The law prohibits anyone or any organisation from speaking out against
the government in any way that would disturb the current policies of the
military government.
Apparently aimed at Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, it also
prohibits anyone from disrupting government moves to draw up a new
constitution.
In a statement, Kinkel called the move ``a further attempt by the
generals of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) to
maintain dictatorial power.''
``This move shows that the generals are only interested in holding on to
power and not in bringing about the national reconciliation which the
overwhelming majority of the people want,'' he added.
``I urge the military government to release all political prisoners
without preconditions and to refrain from doing anything which could lead
events to escalate.
``The future of the country can only be assured through a substantive
dialogue with the democratic opposition, whose representative is Nobel peace
prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.''
14:51 06-07-96
******************************************
US ENVOYS FACING TOUGH MISSIONS
BANGKOK, June 8 (Reuter) - Asian leaders will be reluctant to help the
United States apply coordinated pressure on Burma's military rulers to ease
their crackdown on anti-government activists, analysts and Burma exiles said
on Saturday.
Two U.S. envoys seeking support to end the campaign against democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be hampered by a Southeast Asian tradition of
non-interference in other countries and Washington's perceived lack of
leverage in the region, they said.
The Clinton administration has urged Burma to halt its ``pressure
tactics'' and said it would send experts William Brown and Stanley Roth to
the region to discuss a coordinated response to brewing political tensions in
Burma.
They will visit Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore, Manila and
Tokyo from June 10 to 17.
Diplomatic sources in Tokyo said Japan, the largest aid donor to Burma,
would be urged to use its influence on Rangoon to move towards democracy.
But despite regular cautions to Burma against cracking down on
dissidents, Japan has so far held off from using its aid of about $140
million a year as a lever.
Burma's military rulers passed a tough new law on Friday that effectively
bans Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her opposition party from saying or
doing anything contrary to the government's planned new constitution.
Analysts said the tradition in the seven-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) of staying out of other countries' business will make
the U.S. envoys' job tough.
``There is a very strong feeling within ASEAN that one should not comment
on the internal politics of another country,'' said Bruce Gale, an analyst
with Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Singapore.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, and Vietnam, and follows a policy of ``constructive engagement''
with Burma, rarely commenting on its affairs or its treatment of its
citizens.
Burma last year took the first step towards membership of ASEAN which
says it wants Burma to join by the year 2000.
``To the extent that Burma might be seen as a possible future ASEAN
member, they (ASEAN) may feel uncomfortable going along with the U.S. because
it would create a precedent that might be a little bit worrying,'' Gale said.
``I don't think they'll achieve anything,'' said one Burmese exile who
closely watches developments in his country.
``The U.S. doesn't have any leverage with Burma or even with ASEAN,'' he
said. ``I don't see what they can tell the Burmese to make them change.''
An exiled elected member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
party, Teddy Buri, said the business links between Burma's ruling State Law
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and its southeast Asian neighbours did
not bode well.
``It's not going to be very easy,'' said Buri. ``There are a lot of
vested interests between the SLORC and the individual countries in the
region.''
But he said he was optimistic Japan, which criticised a crackdown in
Rangoon last month, would continue to speak out.
``The interesting part is whether they would actually condemn the U.S.
for taking such a blatant stand ... I think they would probably try and keep
quiet about it,'' Gale said.
``And by not saying anything in defence of Burma, I think they could
appear to be supporting the U.S. without actually supporting the U.S. I think
that's about as much as the Americans could hope for,'' he said.
05:26 06-08-96
****************************************
SINGAPORE SAYS WEST SIMPLISTIC ON BURMA
SINGAPORE, June 8 (Reuter) - Singapore elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew
suggested it was simplistic to think economic pressure would improve the
situation in Burma.
Many in the West advocate economic sanctions on Burma as a means of
pressuring its military government to permit more democracy and take a more
liberal attitude toward human rights.
``We've had representations made by the Australians, the British, the
Americans (saying) 'squeeze them'. You shouldn't be investing, creating jobs
and lending support to the military, but can we squeeze them?,'' Lee told a
Friday dinner gathering of 250 journalists and diplomats.
``Would they be better off? I don't think so,'' Lee said.
Burma lagged other countries in southeast Asia in rejecting socialism and
opening up to foreign investment, and had to deal with deep-seated problems
like proverty and rebellious ethnic groups, he said.
If squeezing Burma toppled the government, it would probably then take
active intervention from a major power like the United States to keep the
country from splitting into half a dozen parts, Lee said.
He said Burma had only one instrument of government, its army, and that
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, championed by many in the West, would
likely find it difficult to govern if she actually gained power.
``If I were Aung San Suu Kyi I think I'd rather be behind a fence and be
a symbol than after two or three years'' be found impotent, Lee said.
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, was freed from six years
of house arrest last July. Since then popular political gatherings have been
held outside her house with crowds of up to 10,000 people.
Burma's rulers appear to have stepped up pressure on the opposition in
recent weeks, arresting more than 250 members of the opposition National
League for Democracy (NLD) who were planning to attend a party congress and
warning the party could be outlawed and its members sent to prison if it
continues its policies.
The government passed a tough new law on Friday that effectively muzzles
Suu Kyi and the NLD from saying or doing anything deemed contrary to the
government's planned new constitution.
Lee was addressing the Singapore Press Club and the Foreign
Correspondents Assocation for the first time in decades.
Touching on local politics, Lee said the ``old guard'' of Singapore's
ruling Peoples Action Party had put together a team of competent younger men
with high integrity.
``When you ask me will Singapore survive after Lee Kuan Yew, my answer is
yes, but provided (Prime Minister) Goh Chok Tong keeps his team together and
keeps on strengthening it by constant self renewal,'' he said.
03:33 06-08-96
**********************************************
FRANCE CRITICIZES BURMA'S NEW LAW MUZZLING OPPONENTS
PARIS, June 8 (Reuter) - France criticised Burma's military government
on Saturday for imposing a sweeping new law muzzling opponents and said that
only dialogue could lead the country to national reconciliation.
``France again expresses its concern at Burma's domestic situation
following the recent measures taken by Burmese authorities,'' the Foreign
Ministry said in a statement.
``It reaffirms that the start of a true dialogue is the only way of
launching the country on the road of national reconciliation,'' it added.
The new law passed on Friday, apparently aimed at Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy party, prohibits anyone from saying or doing
anything considered contrary to the plans of the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) to write a new constitution.
09:18 06-08-96
******************************************
ENVOYS NAMED
"The U.S. envoys, William Brown and Stanley Roth,
will meet with officials in Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Japan from
June 10-17, the White House said."
**************************************************
LETTER TO PRESIDENT
President Bill Clinton
The White House
Washington
Dear Mr. President:
Situation in Burma continues to deteriorate by the hour. The State Law and
Order Restoration Council has now outlawed the National League for Democracy
and has declared that only SLORC's National Convention can legally draft a
new constitution for the country. SLORC has prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from
addressing the throngs of people who have congregated on the street in front
of her home as of this week end.. Aung San Suu Kyi has declared that she
will defy SLORC's edict. SLORC has declared that it will "annihilate" all
opposition to its iron-fisted rule.
Please give top priority to the appointment of a special envoy to deal with
the Burmese situation. I respectfully take the liberty nominate former
President Jimmy Carter or Strobe Talbott to undertake this very delicate but
urgent mission.
Sincerely yours,
U Kyaw Win
Professor
Orange Coast College
Costa Mesa, California
(303) 642-0880 until 14 June 96
(714) 831-2000 after 19 June 96
*******************************************
SINGAPORE'S LEE URGES NATION TO FOLLOW HIS PATH
AP-Dow Jones News Service
June 8, 1996.
SINGAPORE -- With tears in his eyes, ageing leader Lee Kuan Yew urged
Singapore to preserve the wealthy and honest but authoritarian society he
created over three decades, saying democracy is not for his city-nation.
Inept leaders and racial hatred in this multiethnic 'tinderbox kind of
society' could destroy all his achievements in a few years, said Lee, 72.
'Humpty Dumpty cannot be put together again,' Lee said in a media dinner
speech followed by questions late Friday.
It was his first formal news conference to foreign reporters since 1959
and his first public appearance outside Parliament since he underwent a
second heart surgery in March.
Lee's eyes became red with tears as he recalled his and his colleagues'
struggle in the 1960s to turn this malaria-infested, violence-ridden
island into an economic miracle.
He choked and read out haltingly: 'We did not focus our minds on our
navels or we would have missed the rainbow in the sky. We pursued that
rainbow and that was how together we built today's Singapore.'
Lee, prime minister from 1959 to 1990, said Western-style democracy
practiced in Taiwan or India 'may make for an enjoyable (election)
campaign but I am not sure we need that in Singapore.'
He also defended the military regime in Burma, saying 'the only
instrument of government' in that country is the army.
Troops are needed even to clear squatters from streets, said Lee, who
himself has a reputation for a no-nonsense approach to problems.
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has none of those powers, said
Lee, adding that she should stay 'behind a fence and be symbol than after 2
or 3 years be out without a machine and be discovered impotent.'
During his time, Lee created a legacy of an incorruptible and super
efficient administration. He still remains a powerful figure in the Cabinet
as the senior minister, but critics have often asked if Singapore will
survive after him.
'I say yes,' said Lee. But only if Singapore continues to have 'tough
minded, dedicated, determined, able and honest leaders.' Second, the people
must be aware of Singapore's economic and strategic vulnerability, he said.
Thirty years of growth and stability have made people complacent. They
are more concerned about material benefits and selfish gains, Lee said.
'This is very dangerous, because things can go terribly wrong very
quickly,' he said.
In the face of hardships, dormant mistrust between majority Chinese and
minority Malays and Indians could 'very easily' turn into racial riots, Lee
said. 'There are deep primeval forces at work,' he said.
For this reason, Singapore will always put society above individual
rights as in the United States.
He ridiculed the chaotic democracies like India, Taiwan and the
Philippines.
'The Indians just love an arguments. That is why it is such a wonderful
time in India. They never get a consensus. What you have is more debate,'
he said.
Former Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao believed the answer to
failings democracy is more democracy, Lee said, adding: 'Well he has got it
now.' He was referring to Rao's defeat in recent elections and a new
government of a 13-party coalition.
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