Burma, thirst for freedom
At the time this article is being written, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is again under house arrest. Her recent attempts to travel freely through her own country were all blocked by the military. The deputy leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Tin Oo, is currently also under arrest. Many elected members of parliament of the NLD and other parties remain imprisoned.
Daw Aung San Suu KyiThe military junta of Burma, recently renamed from State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) into State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in an example of Newspeak that would make Orwell proud, is determined to cling to power. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Liberal International Prize for Freedom. She was unable to receive both prizes, because the military authorities prevented her from doing so.
Sanctions
Switzerland was the last country, following an example of the European Union, to impose tougher sanctions on Burma. Bank accounts in Switzerland of members of the military government were frozen. Export of any items that could be used for internal repression was outlawed.
The European Union had already taken the same measurer earlier, and also expelled military personnel from Burmese embassies and suspended all non-humanitarian aide.
The National League for Democracy has supported sanctions and asked to do even more, reducing foreign investment and tourism in Burma.
Elections
On 18 September 1988, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) seized power under the pretext of maintaining order until multiparty elections could be held. Elections for a constituent assembly took place in 1990 and were widely judged free and fair. In spite of massive attempt to hinder and harass the opposition, the National League for Democracy won 392 seats of 485, a massive majority.
The SLORC subsequently announced that the elections were not meant to result in a parliament but merely in a constituent assembly that would prepare a new constitution. In 1991, the SLORC retrospectively amended the electoral law to exclude many current members from the assembly and bar them from standing for election again. Later, the SLORC declared that the political parties involved in the assembly were "subversive" and "unfit to rule" and that no transfer of power would take place.
In the mean time, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) had been formed in exile. The prime minister of this government, formed in December 1990 on the Thai border, was Sein Win.
Over the years, the SLORC occasionally negotiated with the National League for Democracy and mostly used brute forced. Anyway, the elected members of the assembly were never allowed to take up office and many of them are in exile or even in prison.
Human Rights
Apart from trampling on political rights, the SLORC is guilty of an impressive catalogue of human rights violations. Amnesty International estimates that some 1,200 political prisoners, including 89 prisoners of conscience remain incarcerated. There is massive ill-treatment of political prisoners. Members of ethnic minorities suffer extrajudicial executions, forced labour and forcible relocations. There is no freedom of association worth mentioning.
Liberal International
Liberal International has good relations with both the National League of Democracy and the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi received the 1995 Prize for Freedom. Suu Kyi was unable to receive the Prize in person and the then president of Liberal International, Sir David Steel, attempted several times to travel to Burma to present the Prize to her. The SLORC has always blocked these visits, refusing a visa on the ground it was not "an appropriate time to visit Rangoon." The Prize was eventually presented in London to Michael Aris, the late husband of Suu Kyi.
Liberal International has been working to give active support to the NCGUB and the NLD. Recently we have been involved in collecting signatures for the release of the imprisoned members of the parliament elected in 1990. Liberal International has also been active in putting pressure on the Burmese military authorities to allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party to function normally and to take up their legitimate places in a democratic Burma.
By Jan Weijers, Secretary General of the Liberal International. This article originally appeared in issue 38 of the London Aerogramme, the Magazine of Liberal International.
