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Honoring Burmese women for democr



Subject: Honoring Burmese women for   democracy struggle

Published Sunday, June 20, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News 

                       ,FLO

                                     DENNIS ROCKSTROH


                       Honoring Burmese women for
                       democracy struggle

                       BY DENNIS ROCKSTROH
                       Mercury News Staff Columnist 

                       TODAY is Father's Day, but in a corner of Fremont's
Central Park,
                       the tribute will go to women.

                       And, amid the honors and hors d'oeuvres, those
celebrating may even
                       speak of unpleasantries -- such as the thug
government that keeps them
                       in exile.

                       The world shudders at the horrors of the homeland.
The European
                       Parliament said that what is going on is ``a crime
against humanity.''
                       The Parliament condemned forced labor, ``massacres
and ethnic
                       cleansing and the destruction of food.''

                       Yugoslavia? 

                       Nope -- Burma, a.k.a. Myanmar.

                       Without a lot of fanfare, Burmese exiles have been
escaping to the
                       United States over the past three decades. There are
an estimated
                       10,000 in the Bay Area and similar numbers in New
York, Chicago and
                       Los Angeles.

                       The Burmese are a deeply religious people, and there
are four Burmese
                       monasteries here: in Boulder Creek, Half Moon Bay,
San Jose and
                       Fremont.

                       The Burmese community will gather at 10 a.m. today to
honor all
                       Burmese women, but Aung San Suu Kyi in particular.

                       Suu Kyi is the national symbol of the democracy
struggle against the
                       military junta that runs Burma as a really mean
private club.

                       Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma's national hero,
Gen. Aung San, who
                       helped win independence from Great Britain and was
assassinated in
                       1947. In 1988, Suu Kyi returned to Burma from exile
to nurse her ill
                       mother. While she was there, a national uprising
against military rule

                       erupted. She emerged as the movement's leader. The
military crushed
                       the uprising, but in 1990 her party, the National
League for Democracy,
                       won a national election by a landslide.

                       The generals refused to recognize the election. 

                       Even so, Suu Kyi has struggled to lead Burma to
change, employing
                       non-violent means. In 1991, she was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize.

                       Still, the situation in Burma receives little
attention. And the Burmese
                       here lead quiet, almost unnoticed lives.

                       ``Quite a few people tell me, `You're the first
Burmese I've ever met,' ''
                       said Robert Aung Myint, a member of the Burma
Association and a
                       retired U.S. Air Force technician. ``We are here and
would like
                       Americans to know that atrocities and ethnic
cleansing are not just
                       taking place in Kosovo.'' 

                       Myint said it is difficult to raise the ire of
Burmese back home. They
                       are overwhelmingly Buddhist and tend to tolerate
hardship.

                       Especially with a thug government.

                       ``The Burmese are a docile people,'' he said. ``If
they demonstrate, the
                       military shoots 30 or 40 of them, and the rest are
scared.''

                       The world community continues to pressure Burma to
reform.

                       ``Instead of yielding power, the military has abused
it, denying the
                       people of Burma not only democracy but virtually any
free expression
                       of political and other basic human rights,'' U.S.
Secretary of State
                       Madeleine Albright said in a radio address over Radio
Free Asia in
                       May.

                       ``They have placed more than 150 democratically
elected members of
                       parliament under arrest,'' Albright said. ``. . . The
people of Burma are
                       paying a terrible price for the arrogance and
brutality of their leaders.''

                       Earlier this year, the U.S Embassy in neighboring
Thailand issued a
                       statement that read in part: ``Over the last eight
years, Amnesty
                       International has well-documented evidence of a
pattern of forced
                       portering, ill treatment and unlawful killing of
unarmed civilians during
                       counter-insurgency operations by the Burmese army
against ethnic
                       minority groups.''

                       The Thailand Times reported earlier this year that
more than 100,000
                       Burmese, the majority of them ethnic minorities, had
fled across the
                       border in recent weeks after a severe military
crackdown.

                       Engineer Richard Aung Myint, Robert's older brother,
said that although

                       the potluck celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the
park near the
                       senior center is for fun, it is also a political
statement.

                       It is an unusual gathering for another reason.

                       ``Religion is a big part of our culture,'' Robert
Aung Myint said. ``That's
                       the reason for most Burmese gatherings.''

                       And that, he said, leads to the principal Burmese
outlook on life: ``Live
                       peacefully in the world and with all living things.''