Time for Asean to kick Burma out

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) notes with grave concern that the violence in Burma continues unabated despite international condemnation. As neighbours, Malaysians can empathise with the despair of the Burmese people, and no one should bear seeing the sufferings of millions continue.

This year, I had visited the Burmese refugee camps at the Thai-Burma border together with other Asean parliamentarians and personally witnessed the desperate conditions there. In this day and age, no one should have to live in such places, not especially in a prosperous region such as Asean.

Every Burmese refugees and democratic activists whom I had met had appealed to our compassion and solidarity. They have placed enormous hope on us, their neighbour. to support their struggle to restore peace and democracy, to use our liberty to speak for them.

We must not fail them today.

PKR unites with the international community in urging the immediate cessation of violence. We also call on the United Nations to redouble its efforts to restore democracy and secure the release of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

We welcome Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's condemnation of the Burmese junta in New York last week. We are satisfied that the Malaysian government has long last acknowledged PKR's basic assertion that Asean's policy of constructive engagement had failed to bring peace and freedom in Burma.

We call upon the Malaysian Foreign Ministry to immediately support the United Nations in stepping up the pressure on the Burmese junta to stop the brutal violence and to immediate facilitate dialogue between the military junta and democrats, including Suu Kyi, under its auspices.

Should there be no improvement on the part of the Burmese junta to end the vicious suppression of the Burmese people, we believe that Burma should not only be barred from attending the Asean summit in Singapore this November, but that the Malaysian government should lead the rest of the region by tabling a resolution to expel Burma from Asean immediately, and in addition to apply trade sanctions on the recalcitrant junta.

Only such direct steps will prove our resolute firmness in indicating to the Burmese military junta, that state violence against people who long only for freedom, democracy and peace, is absolutely unacceptable in Southeast Asia.

-Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail,via Malaysiakini

(The writer is PKR president and deputy chair of Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar.)


Appeal to all Burmese staying overseas

Following paragraphs show the typical character of the chief of the evil that we are facing right now!

Than Shwe, a former postal clerk who began his army career fighting insurgencies by Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, has had an iron grip on power since 1992, having ousted or co-opted any challengers within the military.

Not well educated, he rarely makes public appearances, and there is no record of him traveling to a Western country.

Diplomats who have met him say he has a streak of xenophobia common to Myanmar’s military and an almost visceral hatred of Suu Kyi, who has become an international symbol of the yearning for democracy in Myanmar.

In 2004, Than Shwe ousted his main rival, Gen. Khin Nyunt, the powerful head of intelligence, who favored some dialogue with Suu Kyi.

He has also been reported to be deeply attached to the predictions of astrologers and views himself as a throwback to the old kings of Burma. Now in declining health at 74, he suffers from hypertension and diabetes.

People in Burma could not do more than what they have done in the last few weeks. They have demonstrated their courage, discipline and sacrifice to the free world through TV, Internet blogs, and web sites. We were witnessing the modern day barbaric brutality, on time line, or live over the BBC,CNN, and Aljazeera and all other international news.

Why Burmese people seems to be giving up again?

1. They were facing not the rubber bullets, but Automatic machine guns.

(AK47/ G3 Machine Guns that Burmese Army used against protesters, effective killing range is one to one and a half mile)

2. They are poor, demoralized by the Junta’s prolonged suppression.

3. The ray of hope, Daw Aung San Su Kyi is under house arrest. Other hope, the Monks have been systematically disrobed, detained, and tortured.

4. Most of the 8888 student leaders were arrested.

This is the high time for all of us, lucky enough to be in the free world, not to satisfy with your own successful life abroad. Please stop the attitude of “What else we can do?”

We could do a lot, if all of us are united and rise up against the tyrants. Just remebber

“How brave are the civilian reporters using cell phone, and Internet to report the Military Brutality. ”

“How brave are the Monks to face the Automatic Guns by reciting peace and continue marching”

“How Brave are the 8888 students, fully aware of the consequences, but instigate the revolution”

So,all of us should take our own responsibility for the real Independence of our Mother Land . As you have read the above paragraph, Than Shwe and his regime are not genius.

They survive because there rule of law comes from the barral of the Automatic Machine Gun.

All, who loves Burma. who want to see Burma as it used to be , an Indepandant, prosperous , beutiful Mother Land. Please come and join your nearrest Democratic Movement. What we are doing is National Politics, not power or party politics. So, all of us has to shoulder the responsibility.

- BURMA SITMONE Weblog

(This blogger is a Burmese Medical Doctor, staying in an Asian country for almost two decades. But still waitng for the time to go back home once Burma is liberated from Milatary Boots.

SitMone means in Burmese Sit = Army, Mone = hate or hatred. This blog is dedicated to all Burmese who hate MilataryGoverment.)

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