Released Briton returning to Myanma

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Subject: Released Briton returning to Myanmar; no criticism 

Released Briton returning to Myanmar; no criticism 

AP, Bangkok, 8 November 1999. Rachel Goldwyn, a Briton released after
serving than less two months of a seven-year sentence for an antigovernment
protest in Myanmar, said Monday she is to return there to work on an
anti-drugs project. 

Miss Goldwyn, 28, said in a statement at London's Heathrow Airport that she
is not allowed to criticize
Myanmar's military regime as part of the deal for her release, and she now
thinks anyway it is better to
work from the ''inside'' in a non-confrontational way. 

''Please understand that one of my bail conditions is 'not to interfere in
the internal affairs of Myanmar'
and so do not look to me to pass critical comment,'' Miss Goldwyn said
after arriving from Singapore
with her parents. 

After her release Nov. 1, she and her parents were given an official
three-day tour to the Chinese
border to observe counter-narcotics in the Kying Tong and Mong Lar regions. 

Miss Goldwyn, an economics graduate, said the tour followed a letter she
wrote in jail to the authorities
saying she wanted to help the poorest people of Myanmar and could do
independent research if
released. 

''The offer was accepted. I was released and I'm shortly to return to the
country to examine the
counter-narcotics measures,'' said Miss Goldwyn. 

''They have said that doors will be opened to me,'' she said, adding that
the authorities had also made it
clear she would be returned to jail if she stepped out of line. 

''Now I'm going to be on the inside and I think that will be useful. If I
don't go and have a look, how will
I ever know?'' she said. 

She was jailed after chaining herself to a lamppost Sept. 7 and singing a
pro-democracy song in the
capital, Rangoon. 

She said details of the research project had not been finalized and gave no
indication of when she would
return to Myanmar, also known as Burma. 

The worst aspect of her time in Insein jail was the isolation and being
constantly watched by four women
prison guards, she said. She went on hunger strike for four days demanding
to see British diplomats. 

The British Foreign Office describes her release as a victory for ''quiet
diplomacy.'' 

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962. Human rights groups estimate
1,200 political prisoners are
being held in dilapidated, disease-ridden jails. 

Prisoners include another foreign protester, James Mawdsley, a dual
British-Australian citizen. He was
sentenced to 17 years imprisonment in August after his third protest. There
has been no hint of clemency
for him. 

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