88 Generation Students (Exile): Ojea Quintana wants to meet Suu Kyi

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Ojea Quintana wants to meet Suu Kyi

UN rights envoy asks Myanmar to allow Suu Kyi visit
Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:59am EST* Ojea Quintana makes third visit to Myanmar next week

* Wants to meet political party leaders before elections

GENEVA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights investigator for Myanmar called on the ruling junta on Thursday to let him meet pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his third visit to the country next week.

Myanmar, once known as Burma, is preparing for its first elections in 20 years, the final step in a democratic "road map" it says will end almost half a century of unbroken army rule.

"I hope that my request to the government to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be granted this time. It would be important for me to meet with political party leaders in the context of this year's landmark elections," Tomas Ojea Quintana said in a statement.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi is one of more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar.

She has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years and was sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest last August for harbouring an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home.

The guilty verdict sparked an international outcry, and was dismissed by critics as a way of keeping her in detention for the elections, which many observers expect in October.

The approach of elections makes this year a critical time for the people of Myanmar, according to Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar.

The Argentine lawyer and human rights expert, who has served in the independent post since May 2008, is making his third visit to Myanmar from Feb. 15-19 at government invitation. He was denied permission to visit Suu Kyi during previous visits.

Ojea Quintana plans to meet senior government officials and press his earlier recommendations, including the need to release political prisoners and revise domestic laws to comply with international human rights standards, the statement said.

He also plans to travel to Northern Rakhine state, home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group, to evaluate the human rights situation there.

He will report his findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council during its next regular session in Geneva in March. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Tim Pearce)

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I am disappointed by the unwillingness of the government of Burma to deliver on its promises for democratic dialogue and the release of political prisoners."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I would like to make an appeal to President Bush: Please take pride as a President who has worked hard for Burma to achieve something before his term expires.”

-U Gambira, a leader of the All-Burma Monks’ Alliance that spearheaded nationwide protests in Burma in September---

—

U WIN TIN

Because we refuse to bow to these unjust election 'laws,' our party will be abolished by the regime soon. Still, the NLD will not disappear. We will be among the people, with the people. We will continue to fight for democracy, human rights and equality among all ethnic nationalities, by peaceful means. —

Win Tin, a member of NLD Central Executive Committee

From Stalin to Burma, a history lesson

They may wear different cloaks, but under the surface all dictators are similar. As the memory of dictators like Joseph Stalin fades, mistakes of the past repeat themselves with a vengeance in forgotten places like Burma.One writer said of Stalin: “He had found Russia working with wooden ploughs and left it equipped with atomic [stock]piles.” But perhaps the true question doesn’t regard Stalin’s undisputable impact on humanity, but whether the legacy justified all the human sacrifice. To Stalin, the millions killed as a consequence of his ambitious drive were simply stepping stones along the road to national prosperity. However, such a Machiavellian frame of mind can neither be justifiable nor ethical.Stalin utilized numerous harsh methods in attempting to meet his ‘utopian’ goals. Collective farms were prevalent, while each Five Year Plan sought to leapfrog Russia ahead of competing nations and systems. Toward this end, virtually every industry fell under the direct control of the government and its de facto and shackled workforce. And the sad truth, more often than not, was results never met by an increasingly impoverished population.Stalin’s principle instrument for maintaining control over his country was his secret police. Through this institution, fear was instilled in the hearts of the people. The final death toll from Stalin’s regime is indeed staggering, with estimates ranging from 10 to 20 million people having perished.Stalin was under the belief that all his actions, extreme or otherwise, were necessary in order to pull Russia into the industrial age. Yet, ultimately, the major flaw in Stalin’s reasoning was that he claimed all sacrifices were necessary and for the future of Russia. “Life has improved, comrades. Life has become more joyous,” he once remarked. And while he was thinking about the future of the country and the generations to come, the standard of living within Russia had plummeted.Today, forgetting that dictatorship is a self inflicted wound, some intellectuals and humanitarians reason that simply sending more aid and increasing engagement are starting points to improving the political situation in Burma. But when they begin to regard the active opposition, as symbolized by Aung San Suu Kyi, as increasingly irrelevant, the time has come to refresh their memory about Joseph Stalin and the enormous price of dictatorship. It is one thing to want to bring Burma into the international community, but it is another to coddle and nurture tyrants without speaking out against their inhumane acts.So far, newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama and Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton have taken a cautious and slow approach toward Burma. But in a world of competing interests and ideology, it will be a great tragedy if they fail to take a firm stand against the dictators in Burma.After all, the United States and its allies helped reform the militaries in Indonesia and Turkey within democratic transitions and transformations. Now, the U.S., United Nations, ASEAN and the European Union need decisive and effective leadership to help Burma. Obama and Clinton have a great chance to seize this mantle…if they are willing to seriously take on the leadership role.Today, even as Burma’s generals tragically act more and more like Stalin, could it not be that the army as an institution in Burma was originally inspired by similar beliefs to those of countries such as Indonesia and Turkey? This should offer an important clue as to where to begin with Burma.

88 Generation Students (Exile)

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Ojea Quintana wants to meet Suu Kyi

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