Letter to Shadow Minister for Forei

[ricchie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Letter to Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australia

Mr. Laurie Brereton M.P.(ALP)
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs                             
                                                                 Date 9/12/1996

Dear Sir, 

        Your news release on 5/12/96 is a welcome message for us and we
appreciate very much for your and the labor party's strong support to our
struggle for the return of Human Rights and democracy and freedom in Burma.

        Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appealed on Tuesday for the international moral
and practical support for the movement for the democracy in Burma.  She also
said to the former commonwealth secretary-general, Mr. Sonny Ramphal, in
Cape Town that I would like the world to know that the repression in Myanmar
is getting worse. She always urges for the economic sanction as a mean of
putting pressure on the brutal military regime known as SLORC.

        On many occasions the Burmese community in Australia has requested
the former labor government and the present federal coalition government to
review the current Bench-mark policy and respond positively to Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi's call for economic sanction.

        We are now very happy to see that you can now grasp the real image
of the ruling military regime in Burma.  As you have noted in your speech,
the military thugs have no intention to enter seriously into dialogue with
the opposition groups and pave the way to democratization of Burma.  As you
notice in the latest news that thousands of students and the people in
Rangoon were marching in the streets calling for the return of just and
democratic system in our motherland, Burma.  Again, the regime crushed the
students protest by detaining hundreds of them.  

        We Believe that you are right thinking people and as Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi said, we would welcome the world and practical support of right
thinking people.

        We strongly believe that there will never be a true democratic Burma
as long as the military keeps on holding power.  Unless the generals are
pushed into a tight corner and there exists as alternative, the generals no
longer come to the negotiation table.  Putting pressure, both economical and
political, is the only way to deal with the brutal regime.  We'd like to
express our heart-felt thanks to you and Labour party for your support.

Yours Sincerely,

(Anti-SLORC Action Committee)
-All Burma Students' Democratic Front,
-National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Australia,
-Committee for Restoration of Democracy in Burma,
-Karen Youth Organisation,
-Burmese Family Sydney,
-Australian National Union of Students,
-Free Burma International Students' Solidarity Network.
PO Box 133, Campsie NSW 2194 Australia