To Burmese Freedom Fighters-Re: "Burma tragedy highlights ineffectiveness of UN".
- From: "Kyin Ho" <kyinho@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 28 Jun 2006 14:02:00 -0700
June 28, 2006
The Spectrum
Burma tragedy highlights ineffectiveness of U.N.
Sadly, North Korea isn't the only nation in East Asia where the
population
is persecuted and enslaved by the government, beset by disease and
starvation, and cowed into submission by an egocentric leader. Today
Burma
is one of the world's worst human rights offenders and is wracked by
internal instability that threatens to spill over to its neighbors and
beyond.
A military-led regime has run Burma as a one-party state since 1962,
taking the country ever deeper into isolation and paranoia. In 1989,
the
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) renamed the country
"Myanmar," but it hasn't stuck. Senior Gen. Than Shwe has been the
defacto
head of state since 1992 and has methodically consolidated his power
and
sidelined or eliminated all rivals.
In recent years, Than Shwe has assumed royal titles and prerogatives
while
spending tens of millions of dollars on a national pagoda-building
campaign. Meanwhile, most Burmese are impoverished. He appears nightly
on
national television, giving offerings to the monks and blessing crops.
Frequently the broadcasts feature his grandson, establishing the
concept
of a ruling dynasty.
Building grandiose shrines and pretending to be royalty would be
relatively harmless, but Than Shwe also presides over a dirty war
against
his own people. The Burmese army - known as the "Tatmadaw" - is engaged
in
a relentless, extremely violent campaign against anti-regime rebels and
the ethnic minorities that nominally support them. Burmese
"counterinsurgency" practices include forcible relocation, destruction
of
villages and foodstuffs, child conscription, torture, rape and mass
executions.
Correspondingly, the regime has locked down the border areas where
these
things occur, making them virtually inaccessible to media and human
rights
monitors. But the effects of the turmoil cross borders. There are
reportedly more than a half-million internally displaced persons within
Burma, with another half-million refugees living in Thailand,
Bangladesh,
India and Malaysia. Diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are
spreading dangerously. Recent outbreaks of bird flu among poultry in
Burma
are another grave concern.
On the political front, a struggling democratic opposition - the
National
League for Democracy (NLD) - is increasingly constrained in its
activities, and its members are imprisoned on the slightest pretext.
The
leading figure in the NLD is a 61-year-old woman, Aung San Suu Ky, who
has
been under house arrest for the past three years and has been confined
by
the regime for almost half of the time since 1989.
An advocate of nonviolent opposition, Suu Ky is the daughter of Burma's
own independence hero, who was assassinated in 1947. In 1990, she
clearly
won a popular vote in national elections - while under house arrest -
but
the government refused to honor the vote. She was awarded the Nobel
Peace
Prize in 1991 for her ceaseless work for democracy, and she is without
a
doubt the most beloved figure in Burma. Suu Ky has been hospitalized at
least twice while under arrest, and there is growing concern for her
health. She could die in government custody, sparking a nationwide
upheaval.
Although Burma is already the target of international sanctions -
mostly
hurting the Burmese people - there are increasingly insistent calls for
more U.N. "action" on Burma. International pressure is building.
The case of Burma would be an ideal one for strong, decisive,
multilateral
action. But after watching the slow agony of Darfur and witnessing the
monumental corruption of the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program in Iraq, can
anyone
seriously expect the U.N. to do anything meaningful to help the Burmese
people?
Tad Trueblood has more than 20 years of experience as an officer in the
U.S. Air Force and as an analyst in the national security community. He
is
a Santa Clara resident.
_____________________________________________________________
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