Washington Post's Editorial on Burm

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Burma Crackdown


	   The Washington Post, Editorial 
                 Monday, September 14, 1998 

                  WITH THE ECONOMY deteriorating and its political control
slipping, Burma's military regime has responded in the only way it seems to
understand -- with  more repression. Some 700 members of the National League
for Democracy  including 194 elected members of parliament, have been detained
in recent months, many in the past week. Some, including an octogenarian, were
rousted from their beds. The regime says the democrats were "invited" into
custody so the regime could "present the government's view." Even before the
latest roundup, three elected members had died in custody, and scores more
were being held in often deplorable conditions.

                  Burma -- or, as the current regime calls it, Myanmar -- is a
Southeast Asian  nation of 46 million people with great natural wealth and
beauty, a strategic  location and a tragic modern history. In 1990, its
military rulers permitted a  parliamentary election, which they lost
overwhelmingly to the National League  for Democracy. They never have
permitted the parliament -- which is Burma's only legitimate government -- to
meet.

                  Just last month a commission of the International Labor
Organization  concluded after a yearlong study that Burma's regime -- in
particular its  military -- engages in forced labor on a massive scale. This
"gross denial of  human rights" involves pressing women and children to walk
ahead through  suspected minefields, build roads and perform other dangerous
and unpaid  tasks. Resistance is met with torture, rape, beatings and murder.

                  At the same time, because of the regime's incompetence and
increasing  isolation brought about by U.S. economic sanctions, Burma's
economy is  declining rapidly. The World Bank recently declared the country
ineligible for   new loans because it has not repaid past ones, a signal to
other lenders to steer clear, and is reconsidering a loan to neighboring
Thailand for a power  plant that would depend on natural gas from Burma.

                  Students recently staged their largest demonstration in
years, despite obvious   risks, and Buddhist monks have protested and been
arrested. Instead of the  dialogue requested by the democrats, the regime
responds with more arrests.  The United States has spoken out clearly against
the regime. Japan and  Burma's neighbors in Southeast Asia should likewise
make clear that more  repression can only increase Burma's isolation.