Burma

I haven't followed this story too closely the past week or so, but it is absolutely disgusting. I'm sure you can find some news stories with more hard info, but this editorial is pretty much right on regarding what our response should be. Here's hoping the President & Congress do the right thing, both by passing the necessary legislation & by pressuring Japan & other countries that prop up this horrific regime.

Where Is She?

Friday, June 6, 2003; Page A26
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21769-2003Jun5.html

A WEEK HAS PASSED since one of the world's most courageous women, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, came under attack by goons controlled by the military regime in her Southeast Asian nation of Burma. No credible source has seen her since. She is reported to be injured and in custody at a military facility. Many of her supporters also were attacked, in many cases reportedly killed or seriously injured. A number of members of Congress, including Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John McCain of Arizona, have expressed eloquent outrage, but world leaders have been slow to follow suit. Reactions, in fact, have ranged from the inappropriately cautious to the unspeakably fatuous. We're thinking in the latter case of Japan, whose foreign minister responded to the attack on and arrest of Burma's rightful leader with an expression of satisfaction in the pace of democratization.

President Bush and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan should take the lead in demanding that U.N. diplomats and Red Cross officials be given access to Aung San Suu Kyi; that she be released from custody; and that the regime at long last take steps toward its promised transition to democracy. Burma is an important country of 50 million people at the crossroads of India, China and Southeast Asia. Its people voted overwhelmingly in parliamentary elections in 1990 for Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, though she was even at the time under house arrest. The ruling junta nullified the results and kept her confined for the better part of the past 13 years. A year ago, the junta allowed her to resume meeting with supporters. But her evident continuing popularity with the Burmese people may have been more than the corrupt generals could stand.

Now those generals undoubtedly are watching to see whether they can get away with their latest crackdown. In addition to scooping Aung San Suu Kyi back up, they have shuttered universities and party offices and added to their store of 1,400 or more political prisoners. Every reaction such as Japan's is, as Mr. McCain said, "music to the junta's ears," increasing the danger to Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters. China and Burma's Southeast Asian neighbors similarly have pursued a policy of "engagement," now quite obviously failed. A different approach is in order.

Mr. McConnell showed the way to such a different approach this week when he introduced legislation banning imports of goods (primarily textiles, clothing and shoes) made in Burma. Such economic sanctions sometimes hurt workers more than rulers, but they could be effective in Burma -- particularly if other nations join in -- because most businesses there are controlled by the junta and its cronies. Reflecting that potential effectiveness, and the odiousness of the regime, Mr. McConnell's bill and its companion House measure already have support from the Republican chairmen of the foreign affairs committees in the Senate and House, Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and Henry J. Hyde of Illinois, who are often skeptical of sanctions; from Democrats such as sponsors Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Tom Lantos, both of California; and from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.). Even the trade association of clothing and footwear importers, offended by the regime's "abuse of its citizens through force and intimidation," supports an import ban.

While the legislation moves through Congress, Mr. Bush could implement many of its provisions by executive order. He could find no better way to demonstrate his commitment to democracy and his revulsion at a brutal dictatorship.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company