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The champion of Burmese democracy marked her sixth month of captivity last weekend. The Nobel Peace Prize winner was dragged into prison on May 30 after government thugs attacked her convoy, killed scores of her supporters and threw all of her party's leadership into prison. Punishing inter-national pressure is being placed on the military regime to free Ms. Suu Kyi, but she told diplomats last week that she would refuse her own freedom from house arrest until her jailed colleagues are freed.

How many U.S. politicians would do the same? How many other politicians would jump at the chance to get out of captivity? How many would rationalize that they might be able to do more agitating outside that remaining inside on principle? How many of us would say "me first" instead of "the others first?".

For Aung San Suu Kyi, such things are a matter of duty and honor. She understands that none of us is truly free so long as others are not. Even though the 58-year -old mother of two has spent much of the past decade under solitary guard and even though many of her friends have been murdered or imprisoned, she remains unbroken and unbowed. She doesn't waver--even to get a glimpse of sunlight herself. And that's why "The Lady" is so unique and so revered.

If you still need another example of why helping Aung San Suu Kyi to bring democracy to Burma is so important, another little-noticed news story deserves mention. The Far Eastern Economic Review last week reported that military ties between Burma and the rogue North Korean government have been increasing. There have been recent indications that Pyongyang may be supplying Burma with new weapons, possibly in exchange for shipments of heroin, which North Korea then sells to dealers in Taiwan and Australia.

U.S. and Asian officials believe that Burma is negotiating to buy a number of surface-to-surface missiles from North Korea. It appears that North Korean technicians are working at the Monkey Point Naval Base near Rangoon, possibly preparing to install missiles on Burmese warships.

And just imagine what kind of trouble a narco-state like Burma could make with its own missiles. Those who have pooh-poohed the worsening situation in Burma because they think the country has little strategic interest should think again. Its neighbours, India and Thailand, are increasingly worried about the drugs and refugees pouring across the border from Burma. China, which has beefed up its troops on the Burma border in case of a collapse, covets Burma as a vassal state.

Which brings us to the United Nations. If you need more examples of why the United Nations deserves scorched castigation for ineffectiveness, the Burma crisis is ample proof. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has relied for a long time on a part-time emissary, a Malaysian businessman, Razali Ismail, to negotiate with the Burmese generals. The problem is that Mr. Razali has been conducting business deals with the generals at the same time. His company is providing the technology to place microchips in Burmese passports. The United Nations has ignored the conflict of interest.

The U.N. human rights envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, has visited Burma more than a half-dozen times with little result, because he has been given no power to make things happen; there are no reper-cussions for delays or human rights abuses. Likewise, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution last week urging the junta to pursue democratic reforms, but it had no teeth.

Mr. Annan reportedly is giving the junta until 2006 to make progress. Meanwhile, malnutrition, AIDS and drug trafficking are rampant in Burma. The secretary-general could bring the Burma crisis to the Security Council for action, but he hasn't.

To its credit, the Bush administration has opposed the abuses in Burma more vigorously than the rest of the world. Just last week, the Treasury Department took the rare step of using the Patriot Act to crack down on Burmese banks that are allowing money laundering for drug traffickers. And on Thursday, the White House issued a statement protesting the death sentence slapped on nine Burmese citizens who oppose the regime.

But more pressure could and should be applied. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, the leading voice in Congress on the Burma crisis, has urged the administration to send the Burmese ambassador home until changes are made. That's a good idea. And Mr. Annan should send someone with real international stature--like former Sen. George Mitchell-- to negotiate a real road map to democracy.

In the meantime, Aung San Suu Kyi remains the only person in this scenario to show real guts and real class. In this season of comfort and joy, she shouldn't be forgotten.

Below there is a magical portrait of "The Lady", Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, relaxing on the roadside in the Chin State during her recent country-wide tour of her lovely country, which ended with her arrest and the death of many of her supporters. Daw Suu Kyi is still, as of June24, 2003, under arrest as is U Tin Oo. Chairman of her Party, the National League for Democracy.There are more photographs further down this page.

The English language edition of "Burma ~ Women's Voices Together" is due out soon. Women's organisations will be completing translations into the Burmese, Shan, Kachin, Karen and Mon languages later in the year.

The dream of Burma as a strong, prosperous Union where all her people are ensured freedom and security is an endeavour that must be approached with unified efforts by all our people. Only a nation built on understanding and trust will endure, and provide its people with a haven where their creativity will be nourished and their humble dreams made possible. The necessary prelude to the building of such a Union is national reconciliation.

Reconciliation does not mean surrendering our unique cultures, abandoning our traditions, or relinquishing our customs. Rather it means creating a way by which different ideas and practices can exist together without being unfriendly to each other. More positively, it means being complemented and empowered by diversity.

We should therefore value our differences as they make us unique in today's world. Understanding each other will help us create a strong, lasting foundation on which we can build a nation that truly represents us and of which we can be proud. The adversities that we have had to face together have taught us that there are no barriers that cannot be overcome. Intolerance and misconceptions are the greatest threats to harmony and reconciliation. It is not enough simply to "live and let live" - genuine tolerance requires an active effort to try to understand the point of view of others; it implies broad-mindedness and vision, as well as confidence in one's own ability to meet new challenges. If our country is to progress into a strong, prosperous Union that guarantees the freedom and security of all its citizens, we each must be aware of our own potential and work to realize this vision.

Women have traditionally played the role of unifier and peacemaker within the family. They instil a nurturing sense of togetherness and mutual caring. They balance love and tender-ness with discipline while nurturing growth and understanding. Women have the capacity for the compassion, self-sacrifice, courage and perseverance necessary to dissipate the darkness of intolerance and hate, suffering and despair. Women have an innate talent for resolving differences and creating warmth and understanding within a framework of mutual respect and consideration. This talent should be used to address not only our individual, family and community needs, but also to contribute towards the process of reconciliation, which will make our country a democratic society that guarantees the basic rights of the people. 

Burma has been an independent nation for more than half a century but we have still not been able to make it a true refuge for our people. Too many have been forced to try to find refuge elsewhere. There is much that still needs to be done before our country can become the place that best offers us heart's ease and happiness, the home where we can enjoy the tranquillity of assured justice and the warmth of a caring society. Such a time can and will come only when unity and peace come to Burma.

The women inside and outside Burma who are working for ethnic reconciliation in Burma are laying a sound foundation on which the Union of our dreams can be established. Their work will be honoured by all who truly love our country and who would like to see our peoples realize their potential, secure within the rule of just laws and good governance. 

I hope this book will help build greater understanding of the ideas, dreams and experiences of many different types of women from Burma. These women are not speaking merely for themselves; they are also voicing our cares and aspirations. They are teaching us that while our differences define us, it is ultimately our similarities that form a foundation of enduring strength.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi pictured among children from a Magwe School at the end of May, 2003, a few days before she and her supporters were attacked by thugs working for Burma's military dictators. "The Lady", as she is widely known in Burma, is pictured below in the Arakan earlier in her tour addressing thousands of Burmese folk who refuse to be intimidated from welcoming her enthusiastically.

You may be asking how the free world can help his brave lady, daughter of the hero of her country, the overwhelming choice of her people in free elections held 13 years ago, and the winner of a Nobel Peace Prize a year later. Please read this article by Mr Fred Hiatt, published days ago in the Washington Post, and either mail me your comments, or add your comments to myThank you. 

Almost everyone who opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, both here and overseas, agreed that Saddam Hussein was a monster. "We're glad the dictator is gone," they say now. "But war was the wrong way to unseat him." Fair enough. But then, what is the right way? Aung San Suu Kyi might like to know. 

In case you haven't been following the news from the other side of the world, she is the leader of pro-democracy forces in Burma, a lush, predominantly Buddhist nation of Southeast Asia. At the moment she is thought to be in Insein Prison, the terror center outside Burma's capital, where dog kennels have been converted to torture cells and prisoners are forced to beat each other bloody for the entertainment of guards.

If Saddam Hussein's rule was monstrous, the regime of Burma's junta is no less so. Ethnic cleansing, rape as an official tool of repression, heroin and HIV/AIDS as primary exports, a vast security apparatus spreading fear throughout society, slave labor -- Burma's got it all.

But Burma has something that distinguishes it from most totalitarian systems, too. In Iraq, Hussein's apologists could claim, up to the very last minute, that the Iraqi people loved him. You could scoff at the claim, but you couldn't absolutely prove it false. In Burma, you can declare with mathematical certainty that the regime is illegitimate: It lost a 1990 election to the National League for Democracy, which won 82 percent of parliamentary seats even though its leader -the same Aung San Suu Kyi -- was under house arrest at the time. Those elected were never permitted to take their seats. Quite a few, in fact, ended up in Insein.

Given all that, you might ask why regime change is not on the world's agenda. Last week the United Nations General Assembly adopted a $2.17 billion budget for the coming year for peacekeeping operations. Why nothing for democracy-keeping?

It's accepted, now, that the "international community," as we call it when no one wants to take responsibility, would have been justified if it had violated Rwanda's sovereignty to prevent genocide there -- that is was morally remiss, in fact, in failing to do so. Many nations supported the violation of Serbia's sovereignty to save the people of Kosovo from forcible eviction from their homes. 

The people of Burma have been suffering far longer. Yet somehow, as in North Korea, it is considered perfectly moral to stand aside and watch crimes against humanity that just unfold in slower motion than Rwanda's. The Burmese generals are permitted to shield themselves behind a sovereignty that does not legitimately belong to them. Leaders around the world go on receiving their ambassadors and embracing their foreign ministers.

Is it fanciful to dream of a democracy-keeping force that would liberate the people of North Korea (where at least 2 million have died of officially induced starvation) or Burma? No doubt. Jacques Chirac would be upset, Kofi Annan would remind us of the absence of consensus, George Bush would see no issues of national security to justify the use of force. 

But then, what would they do? Sen. Mitch McConnell has one suggestion, and he persuaded 96 other senators to go along: a ban on imports from Burma. Such economic punishments often have little effect, or end up hurting poor workers more than rich generals. U.S. business almost always opposes sanctions.

But for a couple of reasons, Burma might be different. The regime -- which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council -- controls most of the economy and so would be immediately affected. U.S. clothing and shoe importers, who account for most Burmese goods sold in this country, became so disgusted by the child labor and other coercive practices of the regime that, through their trade association, they actually endorsed an import ban before the Senate voted. Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and development expert, said Friday that sanctions "are more likely to be effective there than almost anywhere else I can imagine" -- provided other countries join in.

With which McConnell agrees. "Our actions will not be truly effective until our European allies and Burma's neighbors also place pressure on the junta," he said last week.

And that brings us back to all those politicians who bowed to no one in their disdain for Saddam Hussein -- but who insisted war could never be the answer. They have a chance to show that another way might work. Aung San Suu Kyi is waiting.

You may be asking how the free world can help his brave lady, daughter of the hero of her country, the overwhelming choice of her people in free elections held 13 years ago, and the winner of a Nobel Peace Prize a year later. Please read the article above by Mr Fred Hiatt, published days ago in the Washington Post, and either mail me your comments, or add your comments to myThank you. 

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Karen Christians ask for your prayers

Karen struggle for their freedom and human rights
 
 

Karen Christians ask for your prayers

Karen struggle for their freedom and human righ