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BOYCOTT PEREGRINE
- Subject: BOYCOTT PEREGRINE
- From: burma@xxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 07 Apr 1997 20:18:00
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STATEMENT BY THE AUSTRALIA BURMA COUNCIL AND THE BURMA OFFICE IN
RESPONSE TO PEREGRINE?S POSITION ON ?TRAVEL TO MYANMAR?
7th April 1997
It is pleasing to see that Peregrine has seen fit to comment on travel
to, what they term ?Myanmar?. Even the Australian Government, in a bid
to support the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Nobel Peace
Laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, refers to the country as Burma.
Peregrine might well take note of this.
It is noted that the Peregrine statement refers to the Dalai Lama?s
position on visiting Tibet, however, does not refer to Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi?s position on visiting Burma. Mr. Michael Roche, Director,
Peregrine, would do well to give the same credence to
the rightful leaders of Burma as he does to the spiritual leader of
Tibet.
Peregrine also refers to the fact that tourism will enlighten the world
to the atrocities of the SLORC and, therefore, have a positive effect.
Peregrine should note that there has been an enormous escalation of
slavery in Burma since the introduction of SLORC initiated ?Visit
Myanmar Year?, and in many discussions with returning visitors to the
country it is clear to those of us who fight for democracy there, that
people are most certainly not able to see the true brutality of the
SLORC.
Mr. Roche also refers to the closed door policy of Ne Win. While this
was a devastating time for the people of Burma none would say that ever
in Burma?s history have things not been worse for the people than
today.
The Australia Burma Council and the Burma Office working for the
democratic movement of Burma would welcome the opportunity to discuss
these issues with Mr. Roche in a bid to reach agreement. It must be
noted, however, that as long as the NLD asks the world to boycott
?Visit
Myanmar Year? the position of the Burmese community in Australia will
support their wishes.
Once again we call on Peregrine Adventures to halt the promotion of all
organised travel to Burma.
For further information:
-- Daniel Aung, Burma Office (02) 9264 7694
-- Amanda Zappia, Australia Burma Council (06)
297 7734
-- Michael Roche, Peregrine Adventures (03)
9663 8611
Peregrine Adventures Statement included for your
information.
A Statement on Peregrine?s position on travel to Myanmar
As clearly stated in the Peregrine South East Asia brochure, ?Our aim
in
introducing tourists to Burma is to expose the country to outside
scrutiny and to give the Burmese a chance to communicate directly with
foreign visitors. It is not an endorsement of Burma?s current
political
system or human rights record.?
In addition, Peregrine contracts a small, family-run, local business to
operate its holidays in Burma. It is a totally private business,
independent of government involvement or profiteering. In fact, they
pay considerably less company tax than Peregrine pays to Australian
government. Peregrine also encourages clients to book additional
bicycle and sulky hire from local, private, small business.
As a philosophy, Peregrine agrees with the Dalai Lama?s stance on
Tibet. The only way to force change within a corrupt system is to open
the system up to outside scrutiny, not to hide it from the world. The
Dalai Lama encourages as many tourists as possible to visit Tibet and
spread their opinions around the world so that pressure, through public
opinion, can be applied to the Chinese government. Isolation only
allows a corrupt authoritarianism to prosper, as shown under the years
of the Ne Win regime, when Burma closed its doors to the outside world
and waged war on its own people.
Peregrine facilitates travel for those who want to become better
informed of the true situation in Burma for themselves. Peregrine
hopes
that these individuals return more knowledge on the situation and can
make more effective communicators on the issues.
For more information please contact Michael Roche, Director, at
Peregrine, 258 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne 3000