Protests in Order

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Subject: The upcoming visit of Military Intelligence officer Brig. Gen.
  Kyaw Win to Japan.  

Please write letters protesting the upcoming visit of Military Intelligence
officer Brig. Gen. Kyaw Win to Japan.  

This is an outrageous visit.  Kyaw Win is an official of the notorious
Burmese Secret Police.  As such he is responsible for the on-going attempt
to destroy the NLD by arresting NLD parliamentarians-elect, members of the
party's organizing committees at all levels right down to village.
Thousands of NLD members have been illegally arrested and detained by
military intelligence units, subjected to intimidation and forced to resign
from their positions.  All over the country we've seen the so-called
dissolution of township branches of the NLD.  

Warnings that Daw Suu can be arrested at any time have been sounded in all
the official media.  Again, this would be undertaken by military
intelligence.  

The NLD has filed a criminal complaint against Khin Nyunt, Chief of the
National Intelligence Bureau, military intelligence, under Chapter 4,
Section 4 (a) of the Judicial Law.  A desperate attempt to protect the
party, given the lack of any indepence in the judiciary.

Why would the Japanese Foreign Ministry invite Khin Nyunt's number two man
on an official visit?  Are they preparing the Japanese people for a
fullscale resumption of "normal relations" with the SLORC/SPDC?  Anything is
possible, but the absurd excuses "the official" is quoted as saying in the
Japan Times article below.

The Foreign Ministry official responsible for Kyaw Win's visit is Kazuyuki
Takimi and he can be reached at <kazuyuki.takimi@xxxxxxxxxx>

Those Diet members who can read English are, in no particular order,

Yuriko Takeyama (Liberal) <yuriko-t@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Yukio Hatoyama (DPJ) <hatoyama@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Yukihisa Fujita (DPJ) <yf01-yfj@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Wakako Hironaka (DPJ) <hironaka@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Yuriko Koike (Liberal) <yuriko@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Kiichi Miyazawa (LDP) <g04398@shutiinor/jp>

Please voice your concern about the dangerous direction of Japanese/junta
relations, the resumption of ODA to the junta in clear violation of Japan's
own oft-stated principles regarding allowable expeditures for the militlary,
and the apparent abandonment of the pro-democracy movement inside the
country.   

Thanks for your support!

 - - - - - 
First junta official to visit 

Japan Japan Times: 7 January 1999, Thursday.

Protests seen for Myanmar junta official
By HISANE MASAKI          Staff writer 
        A top Myanmar military intelligence official will visit Japan later
this month at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry in  efforts to
strengthen dialogue between Tokyo and Yangon through personnel exchanges,
ministry officials said  Wednesday. 
        Brig. Gen. Kyaw Win is to arrive in Tokyo on Jan. 20 for a 10-day
stay, during which he will meet with leaders in  political, economic and
other circles for an exchange of views on relations between the two
countries, the officials said  requesting anonymity. 
        Kyaw Win's visit is expected to draw criticism from human rights
groups -- both in Japan and abroad -- denouncing the  Myanmar military
regime for violations of human rights and democratic principles. Although
many other high-level  regime officials have visited Japan, they have done
so only at the invitation of the private sector, mainly businesses. 
        Kyaw Win is believed to be a right-hand man of Lt. Gen. Khin Nuynt,
the regime's intelligence chief and No. 3 man.  Kyaw Win is a deputy
director general of the Myanmar Defense Ministry's Office of Strategic
Studies established three  years ago. The office is headed by Khin Nuynt. 
        The Office of Strategic Studies has a uniformed staff of about 40
and is intended to function as a think tank for the  commander in chief of
the defense services when a civilian government is eventually formed. 
        The military took power of Myanmar in a 1988 coup and put opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest in  1989. The military then
annulled the results of a 1990 election, in which Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy won  a landslide victory. 
        Originally called the State Law and Order Restoration Council, the
regime renamed itself the State Peace and  Development Council in November
1997. 
        Although Myanmar was admitted to the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations in July 1997, it is still shunned by large  parts of the
international community for shortcomings in human rights and democracy. The
United States and  industrialized European nations have even toughened
economic and other sanctions against Myanmar in the past few  years due to
the SPDC's continued crackdown on the prodemocracy movement led by Suu Kyi. 
        Although Japan suspended fresh economic aid for Myanmar, except that
for humanitarian purposes, after the coup, it has  staunchly advocated a
policy of "constructive engagement" with the SPDC to encourage favorable
changes in Myanmar. 
        Japan is widely believed to have played a key role behind the scenes
in persuading the military regime to release Suu  Kyi from house arrest in
the summer of 1995. 
        Japan has had a long and amicable relationship with Myanmar. Aung
San, Suu Kyi's father, a revolutionary hero for the  country, received
training in Japan during World War II. "We have maintained personnel
exchanges with Myanmar even  since the 1988 coup. We need to further
strengthen channels of dialogue with the NLD as well as with the SPDC all
the  more because the Myanmar situation is now deadlocked," one Foreign
Ministry official said, also requesting anonymity. 
        Defending the ministry's decision to invite Kyaw Win, the official
said it will be significant for such a key Myanmar  figure to see firsthand
how Japanese feel about the SPDC. 
        "There are various opinions in Japan about the SPDC. Some people are
sympathetic to the SPDC but others are critical  of it," the official said.
"But Japanese people who visit Myanmar usually do not make any remarks that
make the ears of  SPDC officials burn. This leaves them with an inaccurate
impression that no Japanese people have bad feelings toward  them."
	
 

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