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A posted message in SCB (r)



COURAGE IN BURMA
16.7.98/THE NATION
THE WASHINGTON POST

Certain figures in history demonstrate such courage and honour in
the struggle for freedom that the rest of us can only gape in
wonder. Some of these leaders, like South Africa's Nelson
Mandela, have lived long enough to see their jailers brought low;
others, like Nigeria's Moshood Abiola, have not been so
fortunate. One such figure, Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, remains
today a captive. Like Mandela, she has the inner strength to
inspire a movement and shame a dictatorship. But the odious
generals who misrule her land are not ready to  acknowledge her
rightful claim to leadership. The US and its allies should
champion her cause more actively.

Last week Suu Kyi, 52, showed again her fearlessness in the face
of thuggery. She defied her de facto house arrest and drove north
from the capital to meet a fellow party member. The regime's
thugs blocked her way and sent soldiers to lift her car and turn
it to point south again, with Suu Kyi inside. Even then, she did
not budge. After a standoff of nearly 24 hours, the meeting she
had sought took place.

Increasingly, Burma finds itself isolated in the world. Only
China maintains warm relations; Beijing just sold the Burmese
regime 20 new warplanes. Even Burma's neighbours, such as
Thailand and the Philippines, which traditionally avoid
interference in one another's affairs, have expressed alarm at
the regime's behaviour. But they, like the US, could do more.
Later this month Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will
travel to Manila to take part in a meeting of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations. She and her colleagues should turn up
the pressure on Burma's thugs.