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FBC-Philippines Statement, August 2



Subject: FBC-Philippines Statement, August 26, 1997

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MEDIA RELEASE for August 26, 1997


FREE BURMA COALITION- Philippines
26 August 1997

Open letter of the Free Burma Coalition- Philippines to the Honorable
Chief Justices attending the 7th Asia-Pacific Conference of Chief
Justices



We, members of the Free Burma Coalition- Philippines, respectfully
call the attention of Your Honors to the presence of Chief Justice U
Aung Toe who represents Burma/Myanmar which is illegitimately ruled by
a military junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council(SLORC).

Your honor are perhaps not unaware the National League for Democracy
(NLD) led by Daw Auing San Suu Kyi won 392 of the 485 available seats,
or 82 percent of the seats in the 1990 elections called  by the SLORC.
This demonstrated that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD won the said
elections. Sadly the SLORC did not respect the decision of the people,
but instead subjected officials and members of the NLD and the peoples
of Burma to widespread human rights abuses, repression and
exploitation that inevitably led to the erosion of the rule of law.

There are numerous cases which involve the unlawful arrests and
punishment of members and supporters of the NLD by SLORC authorities,
and laying the new charges against NLD members and other political
prisoners already serving sentences in Insein Prison, as in the case
of U Win Tin and 23 other political prisoners. Due process was denied
in numerous instances.

Physical assaults were also carried againsts the leaders of the NLD as
exemplified by the November 9, 1996 attack on a three-car motorcade
bearing NLD leaders U tin Oo, U Kyi Maung, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
by some 200 people armed with metal batons, stones and other weapons.
This act was perpetrated with the not-so-far presence of SLORC's
security forces, military intelligence officers and traffic police.
Army officers were also stationed in the area. If such acts are done
with impunity to the leadres, what the ordinary people suffer must be
terrible.

We beseech Your Honors to exert moral pressure on your honorable peers
to actively dispense without fear or favor lest the supreme courts,
the last recourse of citizenry for justice, becomes an object of
cynism and mockery. We are articulating these sentiments due to our
perception that there is growing tolerance for injustice and
increasing violation of the rule of law within the Asia Pacific
region, particularly member countries of ASEAN. Massive human rights
violations by the SLORC have been ignored in ASEAN's acceptance of the
same as a new member. So also is the silence of ASEAN to the treatment
of East Timorese by the Indonesian government And recently, ASEAN's
attitude to the bloody coupd'etat of the Cambodian Second Prime
Minister Hun Sen betryas the associations propensity towards strong
authoritartian rule. Our own Philippine Supreme Court need to redeem
its prestige, credibilty and respect of the community from the
negative perceptions that some of its members were involved in
improprieties and would align themeselves with those bent in
desecrating our Constitution and install a virtual national security
state.

We call on your honors to lead in the establishment of an independent
Asia-Pacific Human Rights Commission based on the internationally
accepted human rights instruments and affirm the universality of human
rights.


END

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FREE BURMA COALITION-Philippines
c/o Initiaitves for International Dialogue
Unit 15 D-15, 2nd Floor, CASAL Bldg.,
Anonas Road, Project 3, Q.C. 1102
Philippines

Tel/fax # 63-2-435-2900
E-mail: iidmnl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




A L T S E A N - B U R M A
ALTERNATIVE ASEAN NETWORK ON BURMA
*tel: [662] 275 1811/693 4515 *fax: [662] 693 4515 *e-mail: altsean@xxxxxxxxxx
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