UK POLITICIANS SUPPORT BURMA'S DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT ON ANNIVERSARY OF 1990 ELECTIONS

By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

LONDON  (ANS) -- Leading British Parliamentarians from all the country’s major parties have sent a strong message of support to Burma’s democracy movement, and a signal to the ruling military regime that it should change its ways.

In a letter signed by more than 25 members from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the Parliamentarians recognized the Burmese Members of Parliament elected on May 27 1990 as the legitimate representatives of the Burmese people. They also expressed hope that those elected would soon be able to take their seats and form a government after 14 years of being denied that recognition by the ruling military regime.

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) Burma (officially called Myanmar) has been ruled by a military regime which seized power in a 1962 coup. Elections were held on May 27 1990, and the National League for Democracy (NLD) won over 80 percent of the parliamentary seats. However, the military ignored the results, imprisoned many of the victors and continued to rule, changing its name to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). According to CSW, more than 1,400 political prisoners remain behind bars.

According to a CSW spokesman, “The regime’s actions have completely failed to match its rhetoric about democracy. On May 7, for example, five Burmese were sentenced to long prison terms, accused of contact with unlawful associations in exile, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).”

The politicians’ letter (initiated by CSW) will be delivered today (the 14th anniversary of the elections) in Rangoon to the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party which won over 80 per cent of the Parliamentary seats in 1990. It will also be read out at a protest outside the Burmese Embassy in Washington, DC organized by the US Campaign for Burma.

The letter read in part that the parliamentarians salute the “dignity, steadfastness and commitment to delivering democracy” of the Burmese democratic parties, and pay tribute to those who died or disappeared in the attack on Aung San Suu Kyi on May 30 last year. “We stand with you in that struggle,” CSW reported the writers commented.

In portions of the letter directed at the ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which CSW reported disregarded the results of the 1990 elections and imprisoned most of the victors, the writers were direct. British politicians urged the regime “to enter into tripartite dialogue with the NLD and the ethnic national groups, including the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Mon, Chin, Kachin and Arakan, to pave the way for a transition to a democratic, federal system of government.”

In addition, the politicians also called for a nationwide cease fire and an end to the “gross human rights abuses which amount to crimes against humanity,” CSW reported. The parliamentarians also called on the regime to open all of Burma to international human rights monitors and humanitarian relief agencies.

CSW reported that those who signed included Michael Ancram, Shadow Foreign Secretary, on behalf of the Opposition and Oliver Letwin, Shadow Chancellor, Sir Menzies Campbell, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, and Labor MP Glenda Jackson.

In a related move, CSW reported, Baroness Cox introduced a debate in the House of Lords on Tuesday, focused on the persecution of the ethnic nationals. Baroness Cox, Honorary President of CSW-UK, has visited the Karen, Karenni and Shan refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on the Thai-Burmese border many times, most recently in April. In April, she visited the Chin and Kachin refugees on the India-Burma border.

In her speech in the House of Lords, CSW reported that Baroness Cox gave evidence of continuing and widespread human rights violations, including forced labor, rape and religious persecution, and called on the British government to urge the European Union to impose tougher sanctions on the regime.

She also urged the United Kingdom to provide humanitarian relief to the over one million Internally Displaced Persons trapped in the jungles of Burma, without adequate food, medicine or shelter, and called for a nationwide ceasefire in Burma.

According to CSW Baroness Cox said, “We owe it to any people suffering such atrocities to do everything in our power to help them. However, ethnic national groups such as the Karen, the Karenni, the Chin and the Kachin have a historic relationship with us - fighting alongside our soldiers and sometimes giving their lives for them.

“Therefore, they hope that we will not forget their loyalty or let them down now in their hour of need. I hope that this debate will reassure those people of our loyalty to them and our commitment now to do everything possible to ensure they achieve the freedom, peace and justice that they desire so passionately and for which they are paying such a high price."

Additional information is available by contacting Richard Chilvers, CSW’s Communications Manager, at richard.chilvers@csw.org.uk  or by visiting www.csw.org.uk. Chilvers may also be reached at 020 8329 0045.

CSW is a human rights charity which while working on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs also promotes religious liberty for all.

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