Burma Ruby

Shareholder

Power

Starve the Burmese Military Dictators of Dollars by selling your shares in companies (Unocal, Total, Premier Oil, Friedland Mining) who support them by investing your money in Burma. Please do this before June 19, as a birthday present for Aung San Suu Kyi

An appeal by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

The future of my country lies in the hands of the younger generation.

Under the present military government the whole educational system is neglected and higher education is is virtually non-existent with the closing of the Universities.

PROSPECT BURMA is a non-political charity which does its best to fill the gap. It funds scholarships for young Burmese, most of whom have been forced to look for their higher education abroad. It arranges training and education courses in Thailand and elsewhere.

I warmly commend its work to you, and hope that you might be able to offer it financial help. Read more about Prospect Burma at:

http://www.prospectburma.org

Read the latest news from Burma

Friday March 9, 2001

Students in US and UK are getting impatient

"Slavery ended over 100 years ago in the United States. We shouldn't be supporting a modern form of slavery in Burma through this university's 57,000 shares in Unocal oil company," said Andrew Price, leader of the Free Burma Coalition at the University of Virginia. "We have enough problems in our own backyard, and US corporations shouldn't create more for us in Burma."

Students at American and Bucknell universities and Trinity College have already successfully pressured their universities to divest shares in and refuse to purchase from companies operating in Burma.

Clothing companies JanSport, Kenneth Cole and the Dress Barn all promised to cease sourcing from Burma late last year after protests. JanSport said after its withdrawal in October: "Recently some collegiate-licensed apparel was found to have been manufactured in [Burma] without JanSport's or the university's knowledge. This was expressly against JanSport's manufacturing policy. I assure you, JanSport . . . immediately took steps to transfer the production to an alternative facility."

On Thursday, Burma, which along with Afghanistan accounts for 90 per cent of world heroin production, was again decertified by the US government for non-compliance with its anti-narcotic efforts. Randy Beers, assistant secretary for Narcotics and Law Enforcement, said: "The government of Burma has also been unwilling or unable to take on the most powerful trafficking groups directly and continues to refuse to surrender major drug traffickers under indictment in the United States."

Sunday January 28, 2001:

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad quoted as saying --

On Elections: "When an election is held, people must learn the limits of elections. Not use elections to undermine authority."

On Forced Labour: "For a government that is poor it is a way of taxing the people -- contributing the labour instead of money,"

FEBRUARY 12 was Burma's UNION DAY.

Use your power as a Shareholder to help Free Burma

Find out if any of the Corporations in which you own shares does business with Burma. Let me know if you find this connection and, together, we'll make sure the world knows about it. That will be start of a campaign to mobilize shareholders around the world.

Compare the patience and perseverance of a true leader of her people with the cynicism, evasiveness and materialism of some leaders of the free world.

US President Clinton backs multinational corporations in a key court challenge to a Massachusetts law designed to promote democracy in Burma, while UK Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, says the human rights situation in Burma is appalling but not urgent because it had been appalling for such a long time.

Popular image of a romantic Burma of pagodas and bullock carts. Click the link to learn the truth p

Click here to see behind this exotic picture to see where Burma is and read a summary of this country's history.
January 4, 2000 was the 52nd Anniversary of Burma's Independence It has been subjugated by brutal military dictators for 38 of those years.
The recent populist surge for freedom and democracy in Indonesia has led to action by the United Nations and freedom for East Timor. Can anything like it spread to Burma? And can it succeed after the dreadful carnage of the uprising of 8-8-88 ? Despite the audacious and courageous leadership shown by Daw Suu Kyi, the answer, regrettably, has to be "NO". But who knows what may happen in year 2000? Watch this space
Your power as Shareholder can help Free Burma
Read Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's interview with Roger Mitton of ASIA WEEK and please find some way of your own to help fight her cause for Burma's freedom in this new millenium. Spare some of your precious time to read this page and follow its links. I can guarantee that you will be shocked.
Do you own shares in any multi-national Corporations? Premier Oil and Unocal are among the biggest, cynically profiting hugely from the suffering of Burmese people while funding the army of the country's Dictators. Use the power your bucks give, put a spanner in their works. See how!

Last updated July 22, 2000
Burma Ruby has had visitors

Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt has recently spoken to the world on Radio Myanmar about "... a constitution that is being drafted ..." The drafting has so far taken years. When can the world expect this long-awaited new Burmese Constitution? How soon after that will the long-suffering Burmese peoples be able to exercise their democratic right to vote for the party of their choice, which must include the National League for Democracy (NLD? A year ago I CHALLENGED GENERAL ABEL TO STATE CLEARLY THAT THIS TIME THEY WILL RESPECT THE WISH OF THE PEOPLE IF THE NLD GAIN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, AS THEY DID IN 1990? But nothing has changed!!
In April 1999, Junta chief Senior General Than Shwe vowed to acquire new state-of-the-art weaponry to ensure the armed forces can measure up to any potential enemy. Than Shwe's call, made in a speech at the Defense Services Academy, follows the announcement of a budget guaranteeing 34 percent of government spending on the military.
"With a view to seeing that our Tatmadaw (military) is able to measure up to armies around the world, Tatmadaw men here must keep striving to be well versed in high technology," he was reported saying in the New Light of Myanmar. "High technology or state-of-the-art weaponry and other modernization can be acquired," he said, adding that measures were already being taken to "nurture highly proficient human resources," Orwell's double- speak for bribing the Tatmadaw to train its "state-of-the-art" weaponry on their own people.
No hint was given as to where new weapons might come from. Details of military-ruled Myanmar's budget began to filter out Monday, revealing heavy spending on the armed forces even as its economy buckles under foreign sanctions and Asia's economic crisis. Estimated funding for the military in the 1999/2000 budget, is worth 430 billion kyats, officials said. And we can all guess on who those weapons will be trained. Not a foreign power, you can be sure.
So there is a worsening scenario facing the Burmese people in the new millenium. An article by R.C. Longworth in the Chicage Tribune of November 19, 1999, discusses a globalisation survey of Industry which reveals what we knew already - that Corporations in the USA prefer Dictatorships, with "Democracy paying the price". What applies to US applies to the rest of the Industrialised world. There is only one conclusion that can be drawn from this:
BUCKS rather than BULLETS or BOMBS are needed in the new millenium to restore democracy in countries like Burma. The likes of Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates can be more important than Presidents and Prime Ministers, no matter how powerful the countries they represent may be. Politicians cannot impose effective economic sanctions, but the heads of big Corporations can, if they can forget about the "bottom Line" for a year or two. Are they prepared to give it a go? Are the millions of shareholders in these multinational businesses prepared to vote them into doing so? If you have any suggestions for action along these lines, or know anyone who has, please mail me. If you want to use your own Shareholder Power, this is what you can do.

Read what the press in Thailand think of recent developments concerning British citizen, Rachel Goldwyn, who has decided, controversially, to return to Burma with the approval of its brutal military Dictators to carry out research for a Master's degree on an unspecified subject. However, as the new millenium begins, Rachel's changed her mind. Read the following paragraphs written by this brave lady. for a detailed report of her experience as a prisoner in Burma.

"With the passage of time my confusion has cleared, and I've come to see that returning to do research is not only wrong but dangerous. How could I be objective with a 7 year sentance hanging over my head, and why would the SPDC talk earnestly with me when they ignore the words of the UN and the ILO?
"Even more worrying is the fact that the regime itself is involved in the drugs trade, were I to tread too heavily on their toes it would be easy for a bullet to wind up in my back. By convincing me that entering dialogue rather than confrontation the SPDC has attempted to undermine me and the democracy movement. Dialogue is needed, but not with me, with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically elected leader of Burma, to whom the SPDC continue to refuse to hand over power. She has repeatedly attempted dialogue, but the regime will not shift.
"James Mawdsley is still imprisoned under a 17 year sentance for distributing pro-democracy material. Some 1,500 Burmese political prisoners languish in Burmese jails, sufferieng cruel and relentless punishments for standing up for their beliefs. Over 300,000 ethnic minorities exist as refugees, fleeing the brutalities of the military that wants control of their resource rich lands.
" A nation of 48 million people groan under the weight of a paranoid and self perpetuating regime. "Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy" scream the propaganda billboards and daily papers. Now that I'm free don't forget Burma and her suffereing. I shall be continuing to fight for democracy, although from the safety of South West London. Now that the British government has admitted that it could enact unilateral financail sanctions against Burma if it so chooses we've got our work cut out for us. We'll not rest until the SPDC releases all political prisoners and transfers power to Burma's democratically elected representatives."

Use this link to visit THE BURMA CAMPAIGN UK web site and get details of the 9.9.99 FREEDOM RIDE held in London and read Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's statement to the world outside the prison that is Burma today.

There is a demonstrable link between the development of the tourist industry in Burma and wide-scale human rights violation carried out by the Burmese military regime. A recent visitor reported being stopped near a bridge by an armed teenager on guard duty, while further along gangs of even younger boys were wielding spades and shovels on road-building chores.
"Those children would have been attending school in any other country. Burma today must be the only country in the world that wants to keep its population uneducated. Burma could only exist in a Kafka novel or in Alice's Wonderland," he remarked sadly.
Revolutions against authority are usually led by the educated young. Is it any wonder therefore that the Burmese Dictators have closed Universities and keep youngsters from their schooldesks. It is essential that anyone considering a visit to this country on business or holiday should heed Daw Aung San Kyi's request:

"Do not visit Burma yet".

JUNE 19, 1999 was

"WOMEN OF BURMA" DAY!!

Since 1997 Burma activists and their supporters have celebrated June 19, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday as Women of Burma Day, a time for all of us to express our solidarity and support for women of all backgrounds who have been resisting the military regime in Burma. These women of different ethnicity, religion, educational background and occupation continue to work for peace and democracy while living inside Burma, in the border camps, or in exile.

Last year, the NLD endorsed this day by declaring June 19 as National Womens Day inside Burma. The military regime was so upset that they "retaliated" by declaring July 3 as Myanmar Womenms Day. We hope you will celebrate the "right" womens day on June 19.
"Burma might seem far away but Vermont's streets are filled with its heroin," says Representative Mary Sullivan. "Burma's people have been crying out for our help in restoring democracy to their country."
Slorc avoids bankruptcy by its involvement in the drug trade. Khun Sa and other warlords live in luxury, impunity and safety while money laundering accounts for a large part of SLORC's mysteriously large income, and 45 to 65 percent of the national budget goes to the military.
Burma's problem is not a national, internal affair. That is an absurd myth. International sanctions, thwarting SLORC's survival tactics, are the only alternatives to "open warfare" a la Kosovo, the only way to teach SLORC lessons in civilised conduct, forcing their abdication in favour of freedom and democracy.

Web-site updated July 22, 2000 - in the 53nd year of Burma's Independence

has had visitors

Daw Suu Kyi's husband, Dr Michael Aris, callously denied a visa by the Burmese Dictator to visit his wife for the last time, died in Oxford, England, on March 27, 1999, his 53rd birthday.

MAY 14th - 27th. 1999 was the 9th anniversary of the "lost" election in which Daw Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won an overwhelming mandate from the Burmese only to have this result ignored by Dictator-Generals colonising their country for the past 37 years.

Discover a new word - - in the English vocabulary. See how it applies to Burma's brutal military Dictators. Read below as SLORC tells the world what it means.

MILITARY BACKED PARTY BEGINS CAMPAIGNING IN ABSENCE OF NLD

The political party supported by Burma's military junta has commenced election campaigning. In early March 1999 the National Unity Party (NUP), formerly the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), commenced its campaign in the wake of forced resignations and detention of numerous National League for Democracy (NLD) Members of Parliament by the junta.

According to sources a colonel and executive of the NUP, Saw Kyaw Khin Win, met with NUP supporters in Kawkareik, Karen State on March 4.He told the small gathering that the NLD had become very weak following mass resignations and that the NUP must begin preparations for the next election, should there be one.

He also mentioned that party members should assist the military regime, as considerable progress had been made during its rule. The BSPP was dismantled during the mass demonstrations in 1988 and a new political known as NUP was established in its place. As the state party, the BSPP's assets were the property of the state.

However, contrary to the existing laws, the Burmese military handed over BSPP finances, buildings and other important materials to the NUP. Despite the junta's 26-year period of socialist rule and the NUP's backing from the military, however, the party won only 10 seats in the parliamentary elections in 1990, while the NLD gained 392 seats. The NUP contested and lost all 14 constituencies in Karen State.

Saw Khin Kyaw Win, who was an NUP candidate and former Chairman of the Karen State BSPP, was defeated by an NLD candidate by a large margin. The NLD candidate, Saw Chit Than, was forced to resign from Parliament in early 1992. All Burma Students' Democratic Front For more information please contact 01-253 9082, 01-654 4984

This is conducted at a furious pace with an anonymous supporter of the military junta governing Burma since 1962. It began sometime in December 1998. Round One ended March 13, 1999 with dramatic revelation of my critic's identity. I will leave it to the reader to decide who won on points..

World nations boycott Interpol-sponsored conference on Heroin control convened in Rangoon.

Read all about it.

When you're done,you may use your browser back button to get back to this main page. Continue to use the back button to explore these pages at your leisure. But before you do, read the criticism of a supporter of the Burmese Military junta on regarding Burma Ruby's view of the current situation in his country, and her reply below.

Please help me with any comments you may have.

Here's one explicitly, bluntly, less than complimentary:

Kyaw Kyaw Win says BURMA RUBY is: "Biased, inaccurate, misguided trash."

"Dear U Kyaw Kyaw Win: Please e-mail me. Be more specific about inaccuracies"

Read U Kyaw Kyaw Win's detailed response to my invitation on

Dear U Kyaw Kyaw Win:Thanks for your reply. I will ignore your personal attack and stress instead that I share your desire for the prosperity and happiness of all the people of Burma, I must, however, take issue with you over "that woman". Presumably you refer to the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (known as Mrs Aris to your publicity machine).

Why do you and your masters hate and distrust her in inverse proportion to the love and trust shown to her by the vast majority of your countrymen and women? You are right. She was not elected. Not being interested in a political career, she did not stand for election, but chose instead to use her international reputation and national prestige, as daughter of your country's national hero, Bogyoke Aung San, to lead a political Party (The National League for Democracy) as their General Secretary. The candidates of that Party won a landslide victory in the 1990 election, only to be illegitimately denied power by your military masters, who clearly show much greater trust in the bullet than the ballot. If Daw Suu Kyi wasn't an elected member of the 1990 Parliament, why did Burma's military dictators deny the elected members of NLD their legal right to run their country? "That lady" has repeatedly confirmed that she has never held any passport other than that of her own country. What is it in your Constitution, drawn up by her late father, that can prevent her holding any official post in the land of her birth?

There are other questions which democrats around the world want your masters to answer. Perhaps you can deal with those too. I look forward to our continuing debate.

Read this ongoing

Read the true story of a brave man who was tortured to death by the Burmese Dictators.

On January 5, 2000, we've had yet another milestone on Burma's perilous road to freedom - the 52nd anniversery of its Independence from British colonial rule, offering little hope to the infinitely tolerant, generous, fun-loving people of Burma.

What better Christmas present could the Governments of UK and USA have given that courageous lady, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, than to defy historical precedent and ignore the de facto Dictatorship brutalizing Burma as you read this.Instead they could have recognized the National League for Democracy (NLD) Committee, of which the lady is General Secretary, as the only lawful, elected representatives of the Burmese peoples. But to their discredit they chose not to do so.

Asiaweek (Dec 25, 1998-Jan 1,1999) writes of Daw Suu Kyi:

"They were drives to nowhere. Yet for all that, Aung San Suu Kyi achieved what she set out to do: keeping the cause of Myanmar democracy alive. First in a car, then in a van, she set out to visit leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) outside Yangon. Forced to a standstill, she lived in the vehicles for days, daring soldiers to move her. Her July standoff, shrewdly timed just as ASEAN ministers met in Manila, turned the heat on the junta which has denied the NLD's sweeping electoral victory in 1990. Keeping up the pressure, she has set the military a new deadline to convene a parliament based on that mandate. Subsequent official media campaigns to discredit Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi as a "menace to the nation", only undermined Yangon's claims to political dialogue. Another year of curtailed freedom has not dimmed the profile of Myanmar's most recognized figure..Aung San Suu Kyi, is often pilloried in the official press as an "axe-handle", a term used by the junta against people it considers agents of foreign governments. Then who is handling the axe-head and inflicting injuries on her, if it isn't her brutal jailors.

"Ordinary people love and trust her. They have no idea whether her tactics are right or wrong. The disillusioned people are those who have worked with her," said a veteran National League for Democracy organizer, talking of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi.

December 10 was the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Burma is a signatory, but whose current Military rulers have signally failed to honour.On this important anniversary,Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has the following message from the Burmese Capital,Rangoon, for the attention of free Governments around the world.

"Perhaps for the people of Burma today, Article 21 has a special poignancy. This article provides for the right of everyone to take part in the government of his country and declares that the will of the people, which should be the basis of the authority of government, should be expressed in periodic and genuine elections. Eight years ago, democratic elections were held in our country but the results of the elections have not been honoured by the military regime and the victorious party, the National League for Democracy, has been subjected to the most gruelling persecution. So for us, as for many others, the struggle for democracy has become synonymous with the struggle for human rights. We would appreciate the world coming out with messages of support and we would like elected parliaments of this world, especially, to support our committee."

These photographs are of the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Daw Suu Kyi and her father, Burma's National Hero, Bogyoke Aung San, founder of the national army (Tatmadaw). He fought Britain and Japan in turn in World War 2, only to be assassinated by a political rival on the eve of his country's independence over fifty years ago.

Daw Suu Kyi, Nobel Laureate, daughter of Burma's national hero, Aung San, people's choice in the 1990 General Election, has been denied her right by the ruling military junta.

The peacock is the ancient symbol of Burma, the star its goal - FREEDOM. Click the flag to read the latest developments in Burma.

Bo Aung San, father of Daw Suu Kyi, founder of the Union of Burma, assassinated on the eve of Independence in 1947

Father and daughter flank a flag of freedom, the flag of the National League for Democracy, a party which won a landslide victory in UN supervised General Elections over eight years ago in Burma, and which has been denied power by a ruthless Military Junta who recently, blatantly and shamelessly, name themselves SPADCO, the STATE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL.

This Junta is not only shameless, but childish too, in the propaganda they use to counter legitimate demands for power by NLD's Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. ''Took Westerner spouse, hard to believe,'' the garbled verse spouts. "Born in this land, Myanmar blood. Grew up in West, blood mixed. ... Witch-like she proceeds. Witch. Alien witch's wiles, we won't accept. '' - tongue-twisting verses by a backroom Burmese spin-hack screams hysterically, incoherently, in SPUDCO's double-speak English daily - "The New Light of Myanmar." My mis-spelling of the junta's acronym, easily interpreted, is deliberate and fully deserves to describe a group of men with reputations for incompetence.

Find out who I am, why I'm so concerned, and why you should be too.
Photographs smuggled out of Burma show the severe bruising she received last yearwhen Dictators' thugs clumsily manhandled her out of her car.

Burmese women suffer an even worsefate.

If the international community gives diplomatic recognition to the National League for Democracy(NLD) parallel government formed on September 16 and led by Daw Suu Kyi, the Military Dictators calling themselves the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) will be in real trouble. The NLD urgently need recognition by all democratically governed, free nations. Read a summary of the NLD statement and urge your Government to recognize them as the legitimate Government of their country.

A new phrase - "insular grandstanding"- was coined by the late Derek Fatchett, then Minister of State in the British Foreign Office at a recent (1998) speech in London. An adventurous and aggressive address was let down by a sound-byte implying the age-old: "Er ... after you ... er ... Claude" excuse for doing little or nothing.

Some "what" questions

Of what brutal event in Burma is August 8 the anniversary?

What event was fifty two years old this year?

What has not yet celebrated its Fiftieth Anniversary?

August 8, 1988, is known world wide as 8/8/88. Tens of thousands of Burma's down-trodden citizens, of all ages and races, rose in protest against their Military Dictators. They were met with guns and shot as they ran for cover. Estimates of civilian casualties vary, but its murderous memory haunts its people. Click here to read about this heinous crime and the NLD it spawned.

The State Law and Order Council (SLORC) has given itself a new name but it is run by the same Dictators and has an old colonial policy. Their goal, unchanged, is to make the country a gaol (jail) for its people. The Burmese Military Junta speaks of "disciplined democracy". Get their message? Do as we instruct you, or it's the prison for you. When asked by a reporter which prison he had to live in, Ye Tay Za, a prominent student activist and former political prisoner, replied: "Which prison do you mean? There are only two prisons in Burma - the prison with walls and the prison without walls."

There are only 12 years before their fiftieth anniversary. Whether they get there depends not only on all the peoples of Burma, but on active support from free conscientious folk around the world.

Read the true story of a brave man who was tortured to death by the Burmese Dictators.

Where I was born before WW2 when it was a British colony. Click here to Free Burma

So who or what event has had a 52nd Anniversary? Is it a just cause for celebration? Click to find out.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's Party, the National League for Democracy, (NLD) won a handsome mandate - 82% of the popular vote - from her people in a General Election over eight years ago. She has been denied basic personal freedom, and the democratic right to lead her country, by the military machine ruling Burma at the point of a gun. These Dictators' pathetic excuse to even discuss the future of Burma with her is that she can't be trusted because her husband is English.

Fifty two years ago on January 4, 1948, BURMA won its independence from British Colonial rule. This fertile sub-tropical country has endured a civil war throughout this half century and a brutal military dictatorship for over thirty years. Today one woman isolated from husband and sons, fights in a distinctive, non-violent way, to give that country a thread of hope. But she does need help.

Photos of this courageous lady after encountering SPDC thugs during a car stand-off, August '98, and bruises from the manhandling she endured

The price to pay for fighting Dictators Bruising today. Could there be worse tomorrow? Daw Suu Kyi will not be deterred from seeking to free her homeland from Dictators

Throughout August, Daw Suu Kyi made four determined attempts to exercise her right to move freely around her own country to meet members of her Party elected in1990 General Elections. Each time she was intercepted and ordered back to Rangoon. Each time she stubbornly refused. Although short of food and water, she stayed in her car, on the last occasion for thirteen days, when it had to be lifted off the ground to turn around. She suffered physical discomfort, considerable embarrassment from loss of privacy, and bruising to her arms and body when finally being manhandled out of her car into her Rangoon home.

She had set a deadline of August 21 for an Assembly of all elected Representatives to be held in Rangoon. The Junta ignored it. The day passed without any significant protest. The world has also virtually ignored it. Short of a miracle, her future, and Burma's, look bleak.

Start again

My BURMA RUBY quartet of novels are dedicated to her resolute father and Burma's National Hero, Bogyoke Aung San, assassinated months before his goal was achieved, and to his equally determined daughter. They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Well, let's prove it. Let's ridicule these Burmese Dictators by showing the world that they've slavishly copied in reverse a racial taboo used by Britain in Colonial Burma a century ago. Stuff the moving story of lovely teenager BURMA RUBY down their throats and give those Burmese bullies indigestion.

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Racial taboo in Burma copied fromBritish Colonialism

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An Epilogue to Empire

Legend of the Golden Rock of Kyaik-tiyo

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The Burma Campaign (UK)

Last updated July 22, 2000

Burma Ruby has had visitors

The following article links the brutal regime in Burma with drug traffic from the Golden Triangle, the social horror of life today.

COLONIZATION OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE?
BURMA'S CIVIL WAR FUELS THE WORLD'S DRUG TRAFFIC. WHO CARES?

Two headlines - what's the connection? Read on if you care.

COLONIZATION OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE ... FOR THE PEOPLE? (a parody of the famous phrase used by US President Abraham Lincoln)

How else can you describe the brutal regime of a military junta, imposed on the people of their own country? That has been Burma for thirty five years.The word, "colonia" is a millennia old, used to describe the settlement of a minority amongst a hostile majority in recently conquered territory. How else could you describe the Dictators controlling Burma with its army and acolytes since 1962?They allowed a General Election in 1990, arrogantly confident that the Burmese majority was bound to anoint its hold on their country with their democratic approval, torn apart as it was by civil war since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. But the military junta, SLORC, lost their gamble against the beautiful, brave lady opposing them. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won over 80% of the vote.I called the Burmese Embassy in London at the time to confirm the incredible news that the Dictator-General, Ne Win, had refused to hand over the reins of government to the daughter of the national hero of his country, Bogyoke Aung San, who was tragically assassinated in 1947 on the brink of independence.

"What's the result of your recent election?" I asked after the usual pleasantries. There was no reply."Who will be your Prime Minister?" I persisted patiently. "General Saw Maung," came the hesitant reply.

"But didn't Daw Aung San Suu Kyi win by a large majority?" I asked as politely as I could.

"Her husband is English," the man at the far end of the line snapped. "She cannot be trusted."

The line went dead. I slammed the phone down in disgust. The Burmese Dictators were adopting Britain's colonial taboo in reverse. Before World War 2 when Burma was a British colony, a European who married an Asian was a social and political outcast. Now an Asian who married a European was suffering the same fate. Wrong then, it is wrong now, but far more tragic.Then it was personal, foreigners pilloried by their own kind for following their hearts and not their heads, or sacrificing the joys of true love by letting their heads rule their hearts. Now it is little short of catastrophic for all Burmese citizens who showed wisdom in their 1990 election verdict by rejecting that sterile racial taboo.

It was at that moment in Burma's history that I decided to write my BURMA RUBY QUARTET.But Dictators need the threat to national survival that only a war can deliver, to gain power and keep it. If it's not beyond their borders, why then a civil war will do as well. Burma's version of dictatorship was conveniently named the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) - recently absurdly renaming itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Amidst the uncertainty following the assassination of Burma's national hero, Daw Suu Kyi's father, Bo Aung San, in July 1947, and the country's independence in January the following year, the virile minority Shan and Karen demanded more autonomy from the majority Burmese. It wasn't long before they began fighting for it. Civil war started on on both fronts and the stage was set for SLORC. They snatched power in 1962 and, continuing to defy world opinion, have hung on to it ever since.Their war against the Karen and Shan minorities soon verged on the excesses of ethnic genocide and they have permitted, if not actively encouraged, the harassment and persecution of Christian and Muslim communities, a form of Buddhist fundamentalism that is alien to the inherent tolerance of the Burmese. There is also video evidence of the use of forced labour to construct roads and railways, a slavery extending to children in a desperate attempt to entice tourists and attract much needed foreign capital.

But it is not only the hapless Burmese citizens who suffer from this ghastly state of affairs in a remote Asian country of forty odd million people, of which many around the world know little and seem to care less. Millions in America and Europe whose lives are being destroyed by the evil derivatives of opium, are the starkest testimony to this social cancer.

BURMA's CIVIL WAR FUELS THE WORLD'S DRUG TRAFFIC

The "GOLDEN TRIANGLE" overlapping Thailand and Burma is a tangled tale of greed and exploitation, and one fact is beyond contention. The bulk of the world's heroin is purified from opium poppies farmed on the Shan Plateau in northwest Burma.Shan rebels fighting from freedom from Burmese tyranny claim it is necessary to buy food for their people and weapons for their militia. About ten years ago the Drug Lord at the time offered a visiting American Congressman a remarkable deal to stop the trade in opium in exchange for America's support for the Shan people's struggle for independence. The Congressman didn't trust the Shan Lord and America went on supplying the Burmese junta with millions of dollars of military hardware against a promise to crack down on the drug trade, capture the Drug Lord and extradite him to face American justice.A decade later, exports of opium have swollen tenfold under his successor, Khun Sa, while he relaxes in his luxurious Rangoon home, his fortune invested in hotels for foreigners visiting Burma. The US State Department recently admitted that they had misjudged the situation in the Shan States, but the Drug Enforcement Agency continues to support the Burmese dictators and demand the extradition of Khun Sa to face trial in the States.Of course this is a simplified synopsis of a complex plot, but the story-line is clear. It is not in the interests o SLORC to end the opium trade. Both political power and personal wealth depend on it. Introduce democracy to Burma, negotiate peace among the warring factions and we may end the deadly traffic in drugs from the Golden Triangle.Too happy an ending to this story you may remark cynically, and with some justification. But consider for a moment what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi can offer, apart from her obvious courage and love for all her people. In 1971, Professor Josef Silverstein of Cornell University, in an appraisal of the political legacy of her father, Aung San, made these observations:-"In practice as well as in theory, Aung San stood for local autonomy, diversity and limited separation among groups which were ethnically different from Burmans and wanted to retain their differences ... He was trusted by the minorities because he had a clear view of their rights and place in the Union of Burma. His ideas provide an important guide-post for Burmese seeking a permanent answer to the vexing problem of majority-minority relations."Given the opportunity, Bo Aung San's daughter, Daw Suu Kyi, should do no less. Burma and the world would be much the healthier for it/

WHO CARES?

I do, for one. And so should everybody concerned with and about the drug problems of the world. Must we wait another decade for the production of this pernicious weed to multiply ten-fold? The Free World must act decisively and together to write the epilogue of this other and far more evil Empire, the Drug Empire."

True story of a man murdered by SLORC
February 21, 1998

Dear Uncle,

I attach for you a copy of the report written by the eye-witness to the treatment that Dad was subjected to by General Ne Win's executioners called SLORC/SPADCO prior to his death.

A member of Leo Nichols family

THE LAST DAYS OF LEO NICHOLS is an eye-witness account of how Leo Nichols, was tortured to death systematically. A Burmese businessman, Mr Nichols was a close friend and supporter of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He also served as honorary Consul for Denmark. He was arrested and later sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for owning two illegal fax machines, although the real reason was his solid support of the Democracy movement.

It is a very tragic account of how ruthless and willing executioners serving the late 20th Century tyrant, General Ne Win, tortured systematically to death a Burmese supporter of the democracy movement. Since Ne Win's so-called Revolutionary Council (later renamed Burma Socialist Program Party) destroyed democracy on March 2, 1962, there have been hundreds of thousands of Burmese who have been mercilessly tortured, gang-raped, conscripted, destroyed and executed at the hands of the General and his executioners.

Sein Lwin, Spectacles Tin Oo, Khin Nyunt and the like, live in their Rangoon villas surrounded by Uzi-carrying guards, ride in chauffeured and, perhaps, bullet-proof, black Mercedes, trembling for their own lives while they constantly issue execution orders to mercilessly torture, rape, murder and loot innocent Burmese peoples whose only sin is to cry for peace and freedom.

In spite of their commanding a 350,000 strong army, these men are cowards holding 45 million Burmese hostage at gun-point. Lacking any soul, these men tremble at the slightest sign of challenge to their illegitimacy and power, be it a "democracy song" sung by a group of High School students on the streets of Rangoon or Mandalay, or a "democracy message" sent from Leo Nichols's "illegal" fax machines. The result is inhuman retaliation against those with the courage and conviction to do the right thing. The Free Burma Coalition condemns these tyrants for their cowardice and inhumanity, and pledges that the loss of Uncle Leo and thousands of other "Leo Nichols" in Burma, victims of tyrants in uniform, will not be in vain.

The Coalition calls on people around the world to wake up to the fact that Burma is dying a slow death in the hands of one of the most ruthless, spiritually empty, and morally and intellectually bankrupt regimes in the world. For any advice as to how to turn the following true story into a political springboard for the Burmese grassroots movement, please contact Professor Kyaw Win at gawsa@juno.com. The following was written by Moe Aye, a former political prisoner currently working with the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), to give readers a perspective as to how and why Mr James Leander Nichols died in Insein Prison during his incarceration.

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The Last Days of Leo Nichols

by Moe Aye

It was in May 1996 when I saw Mr.Nichols in Insein prison. I was serving my final year of a seven year prison sentence, and the Burmese military junta was campaigning hard to attract foreign visitors to the country. They had christened it "Visit Myanmar Year". Even so, I remember that the military leaders imprisoned many foreigners that year.

Most of these imprisoned foreigners were from China, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan and the majority had come to Burma for business reasons. I don't include the more than 400 Thai fishermen as foreigners because they are frequently arrested.

Among the many imprisoned foreigners I encountered, I can recall two with Burmese connections. One of them was Dr. Shum, also known as Yunuk and Saw Yan Naing, who was a Burmese with Malaysian citizenship. He was a businessman, an artist and song writer. The other was Mr. Leo Nichols. I didn't know if he was Burmese. All that I knew then was that he was honorary Consul-General to Denmark and said to be very close to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Dr.Shun and Mr. Nichols were sent to Insein Special Prison where political prisoners are held. It was a well known fact in Insein at the time that the Burmese military regime held a grudge against these two, more so than anyone else in the prison.

On an evening in May 1996, when I was emptying the chamber pot with other prisoners, we saw a man in yellow sports shirt and white prison sarong. A blue hood was pulled over his head and he was sitting among the rice pots in the back of the truck. The truck was used to carry rice and curry pots from the main Insein Jail to our special jail. "A new prisoner", I thought to myself.

Out of sheer curiosity, we hung around for a while to see if we could find out who the new prisoner was. I thought he could be someone I knew, a fellow- student, perhaps. We saw a warder lead him down from the truck before the rice pots were unloaded. He was then taken into the Mail Jail Office. He was tall, white, and handcuffed behind his back.

Soon after, two warders took him towards the cells of Hall 1 where we were housed. By that time, the handcuffs had been taken off and the hood removed. The man did not look Burmese but resembled a white foreigner. He was wearing spectacles and looked uncomfortable in his prison sarong which was designed for Burmese prisoners. The sarong barely covered his knees. We saw him untying the sarong and re-tying it while he was walking along, as if it was not fastened properly. When he arrived at his cell we noticed he had a large forehead and thin hair. It was obvious that he was shocked and frightened.

We wanted to say hello to him but were warned by two accompanying warders: "Don't speak to him now," they said. "The MIS captain is still in the Main Jail Office." Because the warders were friendly with us, we followed their advice and instead smiled at the new foreign prisoner. Blank, perplexed, he looked back at us but did not say a word. Shortly afterwards, we saw warders drag him into cell-5. However, to our luck, the next cell housed an elected NLD representative who knew the foreign prisoner. Soon they were speaking in English, a language the warders did not understand.

Within half an hour, we came to know that his name was Mr. Leo Nichols and that he had just been sentenced to three years imprisonment for helping Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He was suffering from dysentery and we were soon busy looking for medicines for him. He said he could not eat the prison food, so we collected biscuits and other dry snacks for him among fellow political prisoners. We sent the food to him through a friendly warder and hoped that it might satisfy his hunger for a while.

Mr. Nichols was unlucky. We were between prison visits from our families and the supplies we had secretly stockpiled were almost gone. We were therefore unable to give him better food. Later we were informed that the NLD parliamentarian explained to Mr. Nichols in English about the rights of political prisoners and foreign prisoners. He advised Mr. Nichols to talk to the prison authorities to demand his rights. The MP also explained to him that the jail hall where he was housed was for political prisoners and that he should not be disheartened. As soon as he heard that was surrounded by political prisoners, Mr. Nichols said "Hello" to everyone in English.

We cheered him up whenever we had the chance to get out of our cells and walked by his cell. Those who could speak English spoke to him as soon as the warder disappeared, and asked him various questions. I recall some of the things he told us.

He said he was detained for helping Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and that he had sent faxes for her. As a result he was given 3 years imprisonment with hard labour. A court which conducted a summary trial, sentenced him. He didn't know the name of the court but tried to explain it was a special court.

Before sentencing he was taken to an MIS Interrogation Centre and questioned for six consecutive days. He said when the MIS came to arrest him, they confiscated all his money, which was more than two million kyat from the recent sale of some land in Maymyo. We didn't know whether it was his own land or it if belonged to someone else. He told us that he was arrested the day after the land sale.

He wasn't able to tell us exactly where he was sent after his sentencing and before his transfer to our cells. But he did say that he was taken to a hall where there were many prisoners and had to stay there for a few days. He then was transferred to a tiny room and had to stay there a few more days until he was taken to our hall.

The prison authorities confiscated his watch and other clothes upon his arrival in Insein. The pair of trousers he was wearing was taken away because the prison officials said that he could not wear trousers in prison. Instead, he was issued with a white prison sarong and a white shirt. He said that a prisoner gave him the yellow sports shirt he was now wearing.

We asked him whether he was beaten or forced to sit in a 'pour san'* position on his arrival. He said that he had to sit in this position for a long time, though he was not beaten. As he spoke to us, we sensed a feeling distress in his voice.

The 'pour san' sitting position is used by the authorities for inspection of prisoners, counting prisoner numbers, or for punishment. The prisoner must sit cross-legged on the floor with his hands on his knees, back straight and head bowed. The 'Poun San' Hall is where new prisoners are taken in order to teach them the rules of the game. It is also used for punishment.

Judging by what he had said, we concluded that he may have been detained in a section of Insein where prisoners are held before sentencing. On the day he was given three years imprisonment, we believed that he was probably transferred either to Hall-6, which was known as the punishment hall, to a 'dog-kennel' cell, or held in one of the detached cells within the interrogation hall. We also concluded that by forcing Mr. Nichols to sit in the 'poun-san' position for long periods, the military junta had shown their extreme hatred of him. This reminded us of U Win Tin and Saya U Tin Moe, the two most well- known political prisoners in Insein at the time.

The Junta had made U Win Tin, an NLD Central Executive Committee member, stay in a cell with well known criminals, notorious for their bullying, extortion and physical abuse. As for Saya U Tin Moe, who is widely known for his fiery poems, he was forced to go through Hall-5, the 'Poun-San' Hall, upon arrival. Later he was forced to share a cell with criminals in the same hall.

However, both of them were allowed to keep a shirt and a sarong which they each brought from their homes. In the case of Mr. Nichols, he was not even allowed to keep any of his belongings. We therefore all thought Mr. Nichols to probably be the most hated prisoner of the regime.

Mr. Nichols also had diabetes and that made his condition all the worse. As a sufferer of this disease, he was required to be very careful with what he ate. In addition, he needed regular exercise. However, he wasn't given proper food and he never had the chance to take regular exercise to alleviate his suffering.

According to Mr. Nichols he had to stand for hours during interrogation and was not allowed to sit or walk around in order to diminish his stiffness and pain. According to the friendly warder, MIS officers and Mr. Nichols exchanged angry words in English during one of the interrogation sessions in the Special Prison. He told us that he overheard some MIS officers discussing how to break down his morale and said they were talking about the best ways to give Mr. Nichols a 'lesson' and 'psychological torture'. We also learned about the ruthless determination of his interrogators. Another warder who got on well with us told us that MIS Major Soe Nyunt had ordered his men to carry out their duty regardless of the consequences after he read Mr. Nichols interrogation report. The Major said: "Be tough on him no matter who he is. I'll take full responsibility if anything happens."

Mr. Nichols confided in us that he was very afraid of the night time, the time when he was taken away for questioning. Trembling and pitiful, he recounted what happened during interrogations sessions. He said he was interrogated countless times before being sent to Insein and yet it was far from over. He added: "They have continued to question me even now and I don't know if I can go through this any longer. I can't take this anymore." He said he told the MIS everything he did for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi but they had continued to question him repeatedly in the mistaken belief that Mr. Nichols had helped Daw Aung San Suu Kyi more than what he had revealed to them.

We suggested to Mr. Nichols that he appeal to Chief Warden U San Ya who was in charge of the Special Prison, and to his Deputy, U Min Wei, regarding his declining health. However, U San Ya simply told Mr. Nichols that he had no authority to provide any medicine for his dysentery, diabetes and hyper- tension without the permission of the MIS. He told Mr. Nichols: "I am afraid the prison cannot arrange any food that is suitable for your diabetes."

A while later, U San Ya warned us: "You must not give any medicine, food or clothes to Mr. Nichols." He said that if the MIS conducted a surprise search and found anything more than what he now had in his cell, all the special Prison officials would not only lose their jobs but would also stand trial. "And you prisoners who have provided food or medicine will be severely punished," he added.

Another inconvenience that added to his misery was defecating. The chamber pot was difficult enough to use, but he also had nothing with which to clean himself afterwards. It was all right for Burmese political prisoners because during our first few days and weeks in prison we used cigar butts to clean ourselves and broken bits from our bamboo sleeping mats. It was, however, a great discomfort and embarrassment for Mr. Nichols. We gave him bits of clothing torn from old prison uniforms and told him to soak them in water from the drinking pot to clean himself. One of the prisoners exchanged his new prison sarong with the old one that Mr. Nichols was wearing, and another prisoner temporarily changed his shirt with Mr. Nichols yellow sports shirt so that he could wash it for him.

We hid a small piece of soap in one corner of the water enclosure for him. By various means we persuaded the warder whose duty was to keep an eye on Mr. Nichols, to turn a blind eye while he was bathing. Because of that, Mr. Nichols was able to spend a little more time during his bath. We also provided him with towels. We pleaded with the warder not to report these activities to the prison officials regarding Mr. Nichols. In return, Mr Nichols would repeatedly say "Thank you" to all political prisoners who walked past his cell. We took his expression of gratitude as recognition of our help.

While he was in Insein, there were four political prisoners Mr. Nichols was most interested in and felt extremely upset for. They were the Venerable Saya Daw U Nyana, a monk who was forcibly disrobed and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, the youngest political prisoner, Han Win Aung, who was only 20 years old at the time, Kyaw Soe Lin (aka) Pyaung Lay, who had been in prison for the second time, and Thein Htun Oo (aka) Kyet Oo.

When Mr. Nichols heard that Han Win Aung, Kyaw Soe Lin and Thein Htun Oo had each been given 7 years for their political work, he repeatedly cried out: "Oh, my God!!". He was deeply concerned at their heavy prison terms and couldn't believe his ears. He was so sympathetic and upset that he wanted to find out more about them. He tried to talk to them whenever the opportunity availed itself and promised everyone that he would tell the world about the suffering of political prisoners in Burma in great detail when he got out of prison.

He was never able to fulfil his promise.

One day we saw him taken away by MIS officers in a truck carrying empty rice pots. As usual, there was a hood over his head. When he failed to return we began to get very worried. Four days later he finally showed up with MIS officers. We noticed that his legs were swollen and his face was all puffed up. As soon as the MIS Officers left, he told us that he had had to stand for many hours on end while being questioned, and that he was not allowed to take a rest. He did not understand why he was being treated this way even after they had sent him to prison. He said it several times. The MIS repeatedly asked for his opinions about the possible actions of the European Union regarding Burma. They also asked questions concerning Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's personal life.

We spoke to warden U Tin Win, who was in-charge of medical care at the Special Jail and requested that he provide the necessary care for Mr. Nichols. He explained to us that he couldn't do anything to help because Mr. Nichol's case was being tackled the MIS directly. He asked us to understand the situation. But he advised us to give Mr. Nichols at least 4 tablets of algae medicine every day. This had to be done secretly. With this advice, we approached a warder to buy us a bottle of algae tables and we planned to give Mr. Nichols this medicine twice a day. But Mr. Nichols never had the chance to take our medicine.

A few days after his return, the MIS again took Mr. Nichols away with a hood over his head. We never saw him again. About a week later we heard the tragic news that Mr. Nichols had died.

In the short time that he lived in cell-5 of the Special Jail, he was never able to spend 24 hours straight in his cell. He was routinely questioned and transferred from one hall to another. When he was taken out of his cell for the last time, he was suffering from acute dysentery, vomiting and dizziness. His legs were visibly swollen and he couldn't walk properly.

He said a few farewell words to his cell neighbours as if he was going away for good. He said to the NLD representative: "I'll lie down on the floor if they force me to stand to ask questions this time. I can't take this any more ... I think I'll be lucky if I make it back here one more time. If I can't make it back, please tell tell everyone here for me that I owe them for their kind help."

All that we were told was that he was forced to choose the path in which there was no way back.

Web master's note: The above article is published with the full support of the Leo Nichol's family, the author, Moe Aye, and the Free Burma Coalition. Find out more about the FBC, click the map below

Please help me with any comments you may have.

Go Home withBurma Ruby

Birth of the National League for Democracy (NLD)

March 13, 1988

Two students are killed by riot police in Rangoon while protesting police brutality. This is the spark that ignited the modern Free Burma Movement.

March 18, 1988

Steamy Friday ..... Students marched downtown and demonstrated. Hundreds of Muslims returning from afternoon prayers got mixed with the crowd; many were beaten and packed into prison vans. Many died through lack of ventilation.

June 1988
Universities reopen. Students told to sit exams unfinished the previous March
July 1988

Ne Win, head of SLORC, steps down as protest after protest explode on streets but remains behind the scene as "puppet-master" of the SLORC Military Junta.

August 8, 1988
The timing was perfect. People waited until 8 minutes after 8 o'clock that morning to go on the streets, starting nation-wide strikes. At 11.45 PM troops began the four day massacre, firing into the crowds gathering in front of Rangoon City Hall. .

August 10, 1988

Troops fired in front of Rangoon General Hospital, killing doctors, nurses and Red Cross Workers trying to rescue the wounded, and even while they pleaded with soldiers to stop firing. In North Okkalapa. a suburb of Rangoon, bodies, dead and alive, were taken in trucks and incinerated.. Some bodies were hurled into rivers. Authorities reported 500 killed. Diplomats claimed figures approaching 10,000.

August 12, 1988

Sein Win resigned after only 18 days in office. Dr Maung Maung was installed as President on August 19 and held that post until September 18.

August 26, 1988

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi first spoke publicly in front of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. Some 700,000 people soon rallied at the Buddhist shrine to hear the daughter of Burma's assassinated Independence hero, Aung San. Daw Suu Kyi had returned to Burma to nurse her dying mother and had no political track record. She called the democracy uprising Burma's "second struggle for independence". She went on to become leader of the movement and was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Her National League for Democracy won the 1990 General Election by a landslide, but the military ignored the results. It has since tried to grind down the opposition through a long campaign of arrests and intimidation.

September 18, 1988

Troops are withdrawn. Burma's people gain confidence. Unified by their demand for democracy, they believe will soon be successful, and respond with massive demonstrations around the country. However, the Army retaliate. Thousands are killed. This swift, harsh military action was far more brutal than the massacre of 8/8/88. A handful of journalists and diplomats watched helplessly, witnessing the mass murder from the windows of the US Embassy. When a curfew began at 8 pm that night, the soldiers shot at random continuing to do so for several days. So many arrested, tortured, imprisoned. So many fled homes, families. their country.

.
September 27, 1988

National League for Democracy (NLD) was created with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi its General Secretary. Then the NLD began pressing for a General Election to be held.

to return from whence you came

Headline News from early 1999
January 14, 1999 - RON CORBEN, BANGKOK reports -

Burma's opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's pro-democracy Party, the National League for Democracy, have filed a criminal complaint against Burma's military Intelligence Chief, General Khin Nyunt, accusing him of attempting to dismember and destroy the their political Party. Diplomatic observers say the case will focus the International spotlight on the issue of the rule of law in Burma.

arrensted and forced to resign from the Party. The crackdown began after the NLD's pledge to convene Parliament, when high profile attempts by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with Party members led to several stand-off's between her and the Military Government, when she was prevented from travelling outside Rangoon.

The complaint, filed with Burma's Chief Justice, accuses Khin Nyunt of being behind the Government's crackdown against the NLD. In recent months 1000 NLD members