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PREFACE
This report is about human courage and dignity. In face of the most
stringent deprivation and under the harshest duress, man can stand
up and show that there is still one freedom that can't be taken
away: the freedom to choose how to respond to the situation. The
political prisoners of Insein could have chosen to bow to the use
of force. Their spirit could have been broken by torture and solitary
confinement. But instead, they have chosen to respond with calmness
and nobility. Not only have they pleaded not guilty to the trumped
up charges of the SLORC, they spoken out in their defense, defending
their basic human rights and dignity and denouncing the unfair trail.
The report is an authentic document and in a sense
a SLORC official document. It shows the perception and the standard
used by the SLORC in as far as human rights are concerned. Writing,
reading, drawing pictures, listening to radio programmes, communicating
and other basic freedoms of expression are considered an offense
liable to long years of imprisonment and hard labor.
As we read through this report, we can imagine the
conditions of life in the infamous Insein prison. The image which
came to my mind is one of a medieval goal. Only the instruments
of torture may be different but the disregard of human life and
the arbitrariness remain the same. This regime advocates law and
order but there is only a farcical rule of law as SLORC governs
by their own decrees and controls the courts of justice. This report
confirms there is only a semblance of court proceedings, for no
mater how weak the accusation, how valiant and accurate the defense,
the sentence could have been written in advance. The courts of justice
bow again to the higher raison d'etat which in this case is the
survival of the regime.
The situation in Burma is a challenge to the world
community. There are people who want to accommodate the SLORC saying
that business is business and what SLORC does or how much people
suffered is their own business. This attitude of condoning atrocities
is self-centered and may result in short-term gain at the expense
of longer-term dignified relationship. The unconditional admission
of SLORC as full mumber of ASEAN is an example of such an attitude.
The SLORC would like to used ASEAN as a gate way towards international
legitimacy. As a member of ASEAN it would sit at the same table
as respectable world leaders, and its generals would walk on red
carpet alongside heads of states reviewing the truth of honour.
But what honour would they have as long as they persist in the suppression
of the people.
There must be tangible improvement in human rights
and democracy in Burma before it becomes a member of ASEAN. In concrete
terms, the high-handed national convention should be replaced by
a genuine one where the SLORC, the democratic opposition and the
ethnic nationalities can start negotiations on the basis of mutual
respect with the aims of achieving union and reconciliation. ASEAN
could demand such tripartite negotiations begin in exchange for
the SLORC's admission into the group. In other words, ASEAN governments
should be firm in winning concrete concessions from the SLORC of
else there should be no deal.
Unfortunately, some ASEAN governments seem to partially
espouse the SLORC's view that puts human rights on for the sake
of security, economic growth or the like. Democracy and good governance
are not achieved at the expense of exclusion of the maintenance
of the rule of law or economic progress. The exclusivity of on against
the further only reflects the shortcomings of the present group
of leaders. If some ASEAN governments can change their attitude
on this matter they will be in a better position to influence positive
change in Burma. Then the admission of Burma into ASEAN will reflect
the spirit of amity and interdependence.
The 22 defendants who pleaded not guilty in Insein
are suffering in their struggle for what they believe. Today, they
may be reviled by the SLORC, but tomorrow their deeds will be remembered.
Today, some of us may already show our gratitude and recognition
of their sacrifice. We may learn from their experiences. It would
be a poor excuse to say that we cannot act to defend human rights
as they did because we are afraid. The SLORC punishes them as an
example to show what may happen to those who oppose it. It wants
to creat a culture of fear. To counter this, we may invoke a quote
from Aung San Suu Kyi:
"A people who would build a nation in which strong
democratic institutions are firmly established as a grantee against
state induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds
from apathy and fear…If we want democracy, we need to show courage…the
courage to do what one knows is right even if one is afraid."
This report is homage to the 22 defendants who have
the courage and integrity to do what they know is right. May they
be an inspiration for us. With that inspiration we should redouble
to efforts to assure the release of all political prisoners in Burma.
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