Response to News Release of IRI

[OKKAR66127@xxxxxxx]

Response to News Release of IRI

Reference:  News Release
International Republican Institute (IRI)
Dated:  June 30, 1997.


1. 	The IRI claims that it ? provides assistance to Burmese dedicated to the
sole use of non-violence to oppose SLORC?s rule.?

What is your definition of non-violence?

Is the use of weapons to cause death and destruction, an act of violence and
terror only when American lives are threatened?

How many more innocent Myanmar people do you wish to see mutilated and dead
before you will admit that terrorism was committed on our soil by your
grantees as you call them  -  the so-called Burmese and ethnic groups for
democracy?    Or is it your position that Myanmar lives are expendable, no
matter how many so long as you can put.
 
2. 	Just a few instances to refresh your memory, although it needs no
refreshing.

FACT	A bomb was exploded by grantees ( who are trained demolition experts)
 of your organization or affiliated organizations,  at our sacred shrine, the
Maha Pasana Cave, Yangon where the Buddha?s Tooth Relic from the Republic of
China had been put on display for homage by the Myanmar people on 25-12-96.

Four innocent people were killed, two of them just budding youths, leaving
behind grief-stricken families, parents, widows and orphans.
It was an outrageous act, a sacrilege committed by these terrorists 
( no other word can describe them) for they not only killed and maimed but
trespassed on our religious faith.  Every single Myanmar citizen condemned
this sacrilege.

You cite Mahatma Ganchi and Martin Luther King.  Your analogy is false.
 These great men were victims of violence at the hands of the same kind of
people as your grantees.  Gandhi and King were not  murderers and traitors
like them.

FACT   A parcel bomb sent by post from Japan by members of one of your
affiliations to the residence of the State Law and Order Restoration Council,
Secretary 2 Lieutenant General Tin Oo, killed his eldest daughter, a beloved
daughter, a good wife, mother of two young children, a university lecturer
and a Ph.d candidate.  She was uselessly cut down in the prime of life.

Can you in all good conscience call this an act of non-violence?

FACT   Other acts of violence too numerous for detailed recounting.

·	Many blameless villagers have been killed and disabled because a handful of
ethnic malcontents vent their frustrations by deliberately mining the
cultivation plots of these poor people whose only livelihood is to till these
fields.  How does this help the cause (if there is) of these insurgents?
 What sins have these helpless villagers committed?

·	Mining of passenger trains.  Innocent passengers minding their own
business, not hurting anyone have been maimed and killed by your ethnic
insurgents throughout the years, and except for our own people, there was no
one to protest these acts of violence.

These are not wild accusations.  If you are really sincere and caring as you
so vociferously claim, you can verify these cases and many others for
yourselves.  Why rely on verbal reports. Rumours and exaggerations.

Are these not acts of violence?  Do they not qualify as acts of terror?  Or
do you call such acts, terrorism only when they happen in your country and to
members of the white community?

To plot and commit  violence and terror on such a scale requires
organization, planning and funds, all of which are supplied so generously by
organizations like yours, even though you know what the outcome will be - the
loss of innocent lives.

2. 	You termed the condemnation of these terrorist acts by the State Law and
Order Restoration Council ?Orwellian? and go on to make empty charges of
forced labour, torture and executions.  It is not worth rebutting these
groundless accusations, for it would be like giving a reply to a question
like, ?Have you stopped beating your wife.?  But please do take careful note
that if the Myanmar Government were truly guilty of wholesale torture and
executions of dissidents, they would not be still running around killing
people, destroying property and decrying and belittling their own country and
their people.

3. 	Cramer says  ? the IRI has, since the beginning, conducted its work in
the open.  We are proud that we have stood with those at the forefront of
peaceful efforts to bring change to Burma.?

Glad you admit it at last.  For if that is not meddling in our internal
affairs, I don?t know what is.

Yes! You assist  ??..thousands  of  Burmese.?, but what about the more than
48 million in the country.

While on this subject, may I inform you that there are so many right thinking
up and coming young men and women, who take every opportunity of the improved
conditions in every sector of our country and of the new market-orientated
economy to improve themselves and get ahead.  They learn new languages and
skills like computer operations, programming and engineering.  They take on
new jobs and work hard to build up their CVs  There are hundreds of thousands
of such upwardly mobile youths, who work hard and refuse to take any handouts
unlike your sycophants.  The negative policies of the US Administration and
your self-righteous, misguided attitudes towards us hurt these young people
and their future the most.

That is an unforgivable sin.

Most Myanmar people, unlike your parasitic lot, value their self-respect.
 Self respect may not appease hunger but without it we are less than human.
 We have a saying, very popular with our youths.  It says:  The King Lion,
though he starves, will not stoop to eat grass.?

Just a word to the wise in conclusion.  Myanmar is heading towards a bright
democratic future, one of our own choosing, in spite of all you can do to
obstruct us.   

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