Australia's Foreign Minister, Dr. M

[azappia@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Australia's Foreign Minister, Dr. Michael Aris visa

Free Burma Coalition, Australia

Australian Parliament, House of Representatives
Questions to Alexander Downer, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister


Re: Dr. Michael Aris visa and Aung San Suu Kyi


House Hansard
23-03-1999
Page 3429- 3430

Kyi, Aung San Suu

Mrs. Gash- My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.  The Burmese 
government has refused to issue a visa for Dr. Michael Aris, husband of 
Aung San Suu Kyi.  Could the Minister for Foreign Affairs inform the House 
what the Australian government's response is to this situation?

Mr. Downer- First, I thank the honourable member for Gilmore for her 
question.  I particularly have noted the honourable member's concern for 
Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband's bid to get a visa to visit Burma at a 
time when he is suffering from the greatest of ill health.  The honourable 
member for Gilmore has gone out of her way to express the view that Dr. 
Aris should be given a visa to visit Burma to be able to visit his wife in 
circumstances where his health has deteriorated very severely.  The 
honourable member for Gilmore deserves to be congratulated for the effort 
she has made on this issue.  I notice she made a very good speech yesterday 
in the parliament on this very matter.

The Australian government has made representations to the so-called SPDC, 
the governing authority in Burma.  Our ambassador spoke to the home affairs 
minister in Burma last month saying that we would like to see a visa issued 
to Dr. Aris.  The Burmese authorities have so far said that they would not 
be prepared to issue that visa and suggested that Aung San Suu Kyi should 
leave the country and go to another part of the world, presumably Britain, 
to see her ill husband.  Understandably, Aung San Suu Kyi is concerned 
that, if she leaves the country, she will not be allowed back in, so that 
is obviously for her a very serious consideration.

It remains the view of the Australian government that the SPDC in Burma 
should do the humanitarian thing and grant Dr. Aris a visa.  There is no 
downside for the Burmese government to do that.  It would be a humanitarian 
and decent thing to do.  The man is seriously ill.  He wants to see his 
wife in the circumstances that he is in.  She wants to see him and she 
should be able to see him and he her.  The Australian government calls on 
Burma to take a much more humanitarian approach to this issue.


House of Representatives
Monday, 22 March 1999
Page 3401-3402

Kyi, Aung San Suu

Mrs. Gash (Gilmore) (10.45 p.m.) - Yesterday was the International Day for 
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  It was also National Harmony 
Day, promoting this government's Living in Harmony initiative.  Australians 
are lucky but they have also worked hard to live in an accepting and 
harmonious society.  The concepts of 'fair go' and 'helping a mate' are 
strong in the Australian culture.  Others are not so lucky.  I would like 
to say a few words about the refusal of the Burmese authorities to grant a 
visa to Dr. Aris, the sick husband of Aung San Suu Kyi.  As one who has 
been deeply involved in the movement for democracy in Burma, at times I 
have focused on the political and social wellbeing of the Burmese people as 
a nation.

Today, however, I am reminded that there is a human fact to politics-the 
relationship of husband and wife.  Let me take this opportunity to bring to 
the attention of the House recent developments in Burma.  I speak of the 
reluctance of the military authorities of that country to carry into effect 
the wishes of a desperately sick husband pleading to visit his wife at her 
home in Rangoon.  Reports from Burma indicate that the Burmese government 
is assessing the application for entry by Dr. Aris and has floated an 
alternative solution-a visit by Aung San Suu Kyi to her sick husband in 
London.  However, the leaders of the National League of Democracy have 
advised against such a move.  They are concerned that the military junta 
might prevent Suu Kyi from re-entering the country to continue the struggle 
to which she has committed herself, a non-violent fight for peace and a 
return to the democratic union of the people of Burma.

I am aware that our Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Alexander 
Downer, and our ambassador in Rangoon, Ms. Lyndel Maclean, have made 
representations on behalf of the Aris family to the authorities in the 
government of Burma to seek a relaxation of the travel restrictions placed 
upon the family.  In face, the substance of the representations made to the 
Burmese government was that the Australian government believes a visa 
should immediately be issued to Dr. Aris, on compassionate grounds, so that 
he might see his wife, Aung San Suu Kyi, before he dies.  I would like to 
ad my voice of concern and I invite fellow members to join in my appeal to 
the military leaders, a plea to display some compassion and, in the spirit 
of Metta, to remove the barrier that separates a sick husband from his 
wife.

Burma is predominantly a Buddhist country and I am informed that there are 
some among the leaders who hold a strong attachment to the Buddhist faith, 
a faith that is unique for its tolerance, rationality and universality.  I 
appeal to those members to exercise a loving kindness and a warm and 
forgiving spirit to embrace the pain of the Aris family as if it were their 
own.  I would like to remind the authorities in Burma of the words of the 
'Great Teacher' on which the traditions of the Burmese people are built:
We should not forget that man has a heart
We should not forget that if man treats treats the world kindly
The world will treat him kindly

I would like to place on record my thanks and those of others in my 
electorate to our foreign affairs minister for the work he is doing on 
behalf of the Burmese people and for his humanitarian approach to this 
grave concern of Aung San Suu Kyi and her fight for the freedom of Burma's 
people.