30 August 2007

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) strongly condemns the acts of the Myanmar military junta in arresting and detaining ‘pro-democracy 88 Generation Students Leaders’, human rights activists and civil society in Burma participating in peaceful demonstrations.

Regional legislators are also concerned that the regime has also arrested two of Burma’s most internationally renowned activists, Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, for reasons of ‘undermining stability and the security of the nation’. Reports from within Burma show that the protesters are nothing but peaceful.

The protests, occurring because of a recent astronomic hike on fuel prices, are a clear appeal by the people of Burma to their military rulers to address the desperate economic and political state the country is in. Recent reports state that over a hundred people have been detained since demonstrations began, more are detained everyday.

AIPMC urges the junta to promptly release those arrested for taking part in the peaceful demonstrations and to respect their rights to express themselves, especially in the light of the price hike. AIPMC is very concerned that the rampant arrests, on weak grounds and the continued violent suppression of freedom of expression in Myanmar, denies justice to the people.

AIPMC further fully supports the call for democratic restoration in Burma, which would lead to a subsequent reform in the country’s economic situation.

Current and former parliamentarians from the region hope that the military regime will respect the rights of its people and allow them the room to express their wishes for better standards of living in the country.

The mandate of democratization in Burma which the military junta accepted from ASEAN as a condition for membership includes the freedom of expression and freedom of public assembly. These are basic principles in the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

AIPMC also strongly urges ASEAN to do more in addressing the unrest happening inside one of its member states and to consider sending a special envoy into the country to monitor the situation and to urge the junta to refrain from further acts of violence and to respect the rule of law in Myanmar.

Ends

Signed on behalf of AIPMC by:

Zaid Ibrahim (Malaysia)

Mario Mayong Joyo Aguja (Philippines)

Lim Kit Siang (Malaysia)

Loretta Ann P Rosales (Philippines)

Teresa Kok (Malaysia)

Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel (Philippines)

M. Kulasegaran (Malaysia)

Lorenzo Erin Tanada III (Philippines)

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Malaysia)

Aquilino Q Pimentel Jr (Philippines)

Kraisak Choonhavan (Thailand)

Tristanti Mitayani (Indonesia)

Jon Ungphakorn (Thailand)

Djoko Susilo (Indonesia)

Buranaj Smutharaks (Thailand)

Marzuki Darusman (Indonesia)

Charles Chong (Singapore)

Eva Kusuma Sundari (Indonesia)

Inderjit Singh (Singapore)

Tuti Indarsih (Indonesia)

Son Chhay (Cambodia)

Nursyahbani Katjasungkana (Indonesia)

Muhammad AS Hikam (Indonesia)

For media contact or to facilitate an interview with AIPMC members, please call: Roshan Jason (AIPMC Executive Director) at +6-012-3750974 or the numbers above.

The Associated Press, August 24, 2007

Southeast Asia’s main lawmakers’ group may let the victors of Burma’s 1990 election join its annual congress, officials said Friday—a rare recognition of pro-democracy politicians exiled from the military-ruled country.

Nearly 100 dissident leaders, mainly members of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, recently sought “special observer” status at the general assembly of the lawmakers’ group known by its acronym, AIPA.

AIPA, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, said in a statement that it agreed at its congress in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia this week to refer the matter to its top committee for a decision by next year. AIPA comprises legislators from eight Southeast Asian countries.

“This is a big and long-overdue move,” said San Aung, who was elected to Myanmar’s parliament in 1990 and now lives in neighboring Thailand. “We look forward to a positive and progressive decision by AIPA to grant us our rightful place among them.”

The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in Burma’s 1990 election, the first freely contested poll in nearly three decades. But the ruling military refused to hand over power, insisting that a new constitution was needed before it could do so.

Activists say at least 33 of those elected to the parliament now live in exile, while more than 80 are considered “stateless” and their whereabouts are uncertain.

The military’s continued rule has left Burma isolated from much of the world community, which wants power handed to a democratically elected government.

AIPA has members from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Two other Asean member nations—Burma and Brunei—are “special observer” countries. Burma’s junta usually sends diplomats to AIPA’s congress.

Another group of Asean lawmakers who have been pushing for democratic reforms in Burma expressed hopes that AIPA will “decide favorably and grant Burma’s elected MPs observer status, if not full participatory presence.”

Burma’s elected parliamentarians “have long awaited recognition from AIPA and other regional parliamentary groupings,” the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus said in a statement Friday.

The Associated Press, August 24, 2007

Southeast Asia’s main lawmakers’ group may let the victors of Burma’s 1990 election join its annual congress, officials said Friday—a rare recognition of pro-democracy politicians exiled from the military-ruled country.

Nearly 100 dissident leaders, mainly members of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, recently sought “special observer” status at the general assembly of the lawmakers’ group known by its acronym, AIPA.

AIPA, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, said in a statement that it agreed at its congress in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia this week to refer the matter to its top committee for a decision by next year. AIPA comprises legislators from eight Southeast Asian countries.

“This is a big and long-overdue move,” said San Aung, who was elected to Myanmar’s parliament in 1990 and now lives in neighboring Thailand. “We look forward to a positive and progressive decision by AIPA to grant us our rightful place among them.”

The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in Burma’s 1990 election, the first freely contested poll in nearly three decades. But the ruling military refused to hand over power, insisting that a new constitution was needed before it could do so.

Activists say at least 33 of those elected to the parliament now live in exile, while more than 80 are considered “stateless” and their whereabouts are uncertain.

The military’s continued rule has left Burma isolated from much of the world community, which wants power handed to a democratically elected government.

AIPA has members from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Two other Asean member nations—Burma and Brunei—are “special observer” countries. Burma’s junta usually sends diplomats to AIPA’s congress.

Another group of Asean lawmakers who have been pushing for democratic reforms in Burma expressed hopes that AIPA will “decide favorably and grant Burma’s elected MPs observer status, if not full participatory presence.”

Burma’s elected parliamentarians “have long awaited recognition from AIPA and other regional parliamentary groupings,” the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus said in a statement Friday.

Statement 23 August 2007

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) urges the military rulers of Myanmar to immediately release Burmese student leaders and human rights activists who have been arrested in Yangon over the last three days during peaceful protests against the increase of petrol prices in the country.

The arrests clearly indicate that the human rights situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate and that the military junta continues to act with disregard to regional hopes for a peaceful democratic transition of the country’s leadership.

ASEAN, having recently agreed in principle to form a regional human rights body, must take it upon themselves to urge Myanmar’s military leaders to respect the rights of its citizens and to immediately cease its acts of violence against those demanding justice and fair treatment.

It is reported that the peaceful protests against the sudden hike of fuel prices in Myanmar began in Yangon on Sunday, August 19. Numerous Burmese citizens have been arrested since and reports have surfaced of the junta’s use of violent means to suppress these expressions of displeasure with the governance of the county.

AIPMC is extremely concerned that the military junta’s handling of these peaceful protests may result in similar bloody scenes of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising in Myanmar that saw the killing of many innocent lives.

Ends.

For enquiries, please contact Roshan Jason, AIPMC Executive Director, at +6012-3750974

Bernama: Tue 21 Aug 2007

The effort to create a regional human rights commission under the Asean Charter is a right move towards influencing Myanmar’s military junta to advocate political and economic reforms, Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus president Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said today.

He said that although the progress in solving the issue of human rights violation in Myanmar had been slow, there had been some progress on the issue lately, especially in the perception of Asean leaders over the human rights situation in Myanmar.

“Ten years, ago they were not willing to talk about the issue but now the leaders are saying something and there are also transformation and awareness of the problem even at the highest level,” he said.

He told a news conference this after a seminar on Asean & Myanmar’s Democracy held here on the sidelines of the 28th Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly conference.

Zaid said that now Asean leaders talked more about integration by accommodating more guidelines, rules, charter and human rights commission and although it was not known whether these are binding, nevertheless, they were moving foward in the right way in realising reforming Myanmar.

“I think that the creation of an Asean Charter with regional human rights commission in it will create a positive impact in correcting the human rights violation situation in Myanmar.

“After having adopted all these principles of human rights and setting up a commission it would be difficult for Asean leaders to ignore human rights violation in Myanmar, he added.

Reuters Mon Aug 20, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Giant Asian neighbours India and China must take a greater role in pushing military-ruled Myanmar towards political reform, a group of Southeast Asian lawmakers said on Monday.

The United States, the European Union and Japan have sanctions in place against Myanmar, but the junta has avoided total isolation by using its vast natural gas reserves to befriend energy-hungry China and India.

“All of us — ASEAN, China and India — will benefit from genuine reforms in Myanmar, just as all of us will suffer if Myanmar’s situation continues to deteriorate,” Charles Chong, a Singapore lawmaker, told a meeting in the Malaysian capital where deputies are gathered for an ASEAN interparliamentary assembly.

“It is in our individual and collective interests to work together to motivate the Myanmar authorities to act more responsibly.”

Some pro-democracy activists blame China and India for the failure of efforts to isolate the military regime.

Beijing has been a long-time supporter of Yangon, selling it arms worth millions of dollars, buying large amounts of timber and minerals and exploring energy projects there.

New Delhi supported opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in the early 1990s, but altered tack to court the military regime in what some analysts see as a strategy to counter China.

It has invested in developing ports, building roads and railways and is also competing with Beijing for Myanmar’s oil and gas reserves. Yangon is also helping New Delhi fight militants across the border in India’s troubled northeast.

Critics say a plan by Myanmar’s generals to draft a new constitution and eventually hold elections is a sham aimed at entrenching military control of the country’s 54 million people.

“The Myanmar authorities have been intimidating ethnic groups to go along with a proposed constitution that will give the military control over the future parliament and government,” said Malaysian lawmaker Zaid Ibrahim.

“This is worsening tensions in the country,” said Zaid, who is president of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar. “Even China is getting concerned that war may break out along the China-Myanmar border during next year’s Olympics.”

Ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations last month urged Myanmar to restore democracy and release political detainees, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

An estimated 1,100 political prisoners are believed to be behind bars in the former Burma. Suu Kyi, 62, has now been confined for more than 11 of the past 17 years. Her latest detention began in 2003.