UN, US and EU should investigate the discriminating ASEAN laws on Burmese citizens

 Be careful Dr Gambari, in dealing with Singapore led ASEAN

UN, US and EU should investigate the discriminating ASEAN laws, rules and regulations  of ASEAN imposed on Myanmar/Burmese citizens as modern Apartheid.

Be careful Dr Gambari, Singapore led ASEAN is selfish, greedy, cunning, have kaisu culture and are going to keep Myanmar SPDC Junta as an ASEAN member forever, under their protection, so that they would be able to exploit its remaining wealth. They all are hypocrites, just giving a lip service to made themselves look good infront of the international media.

At the same time, they will continue to discriminate the Myanmar citizens in their own countries.

Even amongst foreigners, we all are unfairly discriminated with ASEAN  Apartheid Laws.

Even amongsts foreigners, they give favour to the Europeans, Americans, Arabs, Australians, Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese, Hongkoners, Indonesians, Commonwealth members and their other fellow ASEAN members other than Myanmars. 

All the rich ASEAN countries especially; Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are shamelessly and unfairly practicing the discriminating extra rules and regulations as RED TAPES on all the Myanmar citizens. UN, US and EU should look at those practices, laws, red tapes as modern Apartheid.

Although all the ASEAN governments are willingly giving FULL ASEAN membership status to the illegitimate SPDC Junta, they are not granting the Myanmar/Burma citizens same rights and privileges that are usually extended to all other ASEAN citizens. The talk of ASEAN CHARTER and ASEAN INTEGRATION is EMPTY and RHETORIC.

BE careful ASEAN Governments, we, Burmese people WILL NEVER FORGIVE NOR FORGET your double standards in dealing with our citizens and at the same time keep on supporting the cruel SPDC Military Junta.

We all know and saw with our eyes how you had given special privileges to other FOREIGNERS and REFUGEES but blatantly denied to extend on all the Burmese Citizens in your countries.

We all know and saw with our eyes how you had given:

1. visa free status,

2. scholarships, (Almost all of your scholarships and training facilities are all taken up by the family members, relatives and cronies of Myanmar Military.)

3. student visas,

4. Employment Passes,

5. Refugee status,

6. Work Permits,

7. Permanent Residence status,

8. Granting of full citizenships,

9. Business licenses,

10. Medical Registrations,

11. Practicing certificates for lawyers, engineers etc.

with fast tracts to other foreigners but denied or delayed or refused to extend the same privileges on Burmese citizens coming to your ASEAN countries for a visit, work, study, migrate or taking refuge.

Ethnic and religious links seem to play little or no part in the negotiations when considering the re-settlement of Burmese refugees.   Refugees like the Burma’s Shans in Thailand (who are known as Thai Yai, meaning Big T hai) are likewise cold-shouldered by the hosts.  Thais do not wish to keep their ethnically similar Buddhist brothers, Shans, Mons and Karens. (There are Buddhist and Christian Karens.)  Some historians have commented that Thais seem to have a hidden agenda in keeping their cousins, some of whom are rebels, as a buffer against their strong Burmese enemy.  This has been going on for few centuries. 

        Chins in India are related to the Mizorams and Rohingyas (who are closely related to Chittagonians) in Bangladesh, and Burmese Muslims in Malaysia also are facing the same problems with their ethnic and religious “brothers”. 

(g)   Because of all these problems, it was no wonder that at the meeting organized  among Altsean-Burma, Burma Border Consortium, Burma Issues, Forum Asia, Jesuit Refugee Service and Non-Violence International, which coincided with the visit to Pang Tractor refugee camp in Maehongson by Rev Jesse Jackson, the scathing remarks of Sunai Phasuk from The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (better known as Forum Asia) were made: 

“UN High Commissioner on Refugees is doing little to protect its charges.”  

Dr Mark Tamthai of Thailand’s National Security Council (NSC) supported Sunai Phasuk’s attack. 

        Ms Kirsten Young from the UNHCR’s Bangkok regional office lamely replied that “refugee protection is mainly state responsibility.”  

Almost impossible to improve Burma/Myanmar’S POLITICAL SITUATION 

First of all, we have to accept that we cannot do anything to improve the political conditions in Burma.

1. No country is willing to wage a war for a “REGIME CHANGE” in Burma/Myanmar.  If not for the 9-11 tragedy and the bad experience of expensive, bitter, and protracted rebellions in Iraq, there would be hope for more aggressive action by the US in Burma.

1. China India and ASEAN countries, especially Thailand are not only on the J unta’s side but are also protecting them from the West’s economic sanctions and political attacks.

1. • We still remember the days after the 1967 anti-Chinese riots and the killing of thousands of Chinese in Yangon.  Communist China gave full support to the Burmese Communist Party.  There were rumours, surely over-exaggerated, that 100,000 Red Army soldiers “deserte d” the Chinese Army, wore the new Wa rebel uniforms, and joined the Burma Communist compatriots. They failed to dislodge the Junta.

1. • India’s few decades of support to the pro-democracy forces also failed.

1. • It was reported in the Burmese newspapers that Burma’s last democratically elected Prime Minister U Nu had decided to return to Burma after abandoning his Government in exile in Thailand.  The Burmese newspapers alleged that the neighbour’s Deputy Defence Minister offered full financial and military support if U Nu agreed to allow Shan State to join their country after independence.  This may be also have been a lie to drum up the nationalist spirit of Burmans to support the unpopular Military government.

Important Note: we are not revealing or repeating the above rumours and unfounded allegations to accuse any country, nor do we even wish to know the truth.  (Some of us may even wish for this kind of external help nowadays.)  We only wish to prove that even under these adverse conditions, there was no successful regime change.  Further, with the present reversal of conditions of switching supports by all Burma’s neighbours, it is almost impossible to topple the Junta.

1. Even if NLD got the chance to f orm a government and democracy prevails, the Ethnic Minority and minority Religions would continue to suffer the discriminations of their Big Brother, the Burman Buddhists.

1. Even if all transferring of power could be smooth and rapid, it would take at least a generation to change the habits and mindsets of the government and private sector employees, and to rebuild the economic infrastructure to be on par with that of the developing neighbours’.

    7,   Myanmar’s crippling economy and stifled demands for political and economic reforms will fuel more racial violence in the near future.  The Military government may incite racial and religious hatred in order to take advantage and profit from the riots.  Both sides will promote this with their own agendas.  The Government will try to divert the attention of the people’s hatred and anger directed to them.  They need a scapegoat for their economic and political failures.  It will succeed as this divide-and-rule policy is a well-tested and effective policy. In addition, it will also show all the minorities that the government is their protector.  At the same time, the government can prove that they were needed to unite the country and for the maintenance of internal peace.  The bogeyman is needed to drum up support for them and all the people are coerced to unite behind the Military leaders. The anti-migrant policy, anti-foreigner policy, foreign threats, Communists and western countries’ imperialist plots, and danger of racial and religious riots, are used effectively and successfully by numerous dictators all over the world.

1. Most of the governments around the world never try to understand the very reasons many Burmese Citizens of all races and religions wish to leave their country in the first instance.  To state a few:

·        Racial and religious discriminatory policies that suck the life out of minority ethnic and religious groups, sometimes amounting to ethnic cleansings.  

·        Cruel and lawless Military dictators’ oppressive and ever changing unjust laws, created according to their whims and fancies. 

·        The lopsided military-appointed eunuch judiciary who is always loyal and obedient to the Military rulers.

      Widespread corruption, abuse of power and absence of accountability at each and every level of the government machinery.

·        The police also ignore the rule of law but rule by the law, ordered by their army masters.

·        Dozens of local armed militia groups signed peace treaty with the army, and the still active Ethnic Minority rebels at the Burma borders are also crushing the people from other side.

·        There may be not an obvious war but there are internal conflicts or rebellions as well as a lot of internally displaced persons in Burma.

 

·        Numerous restrictions on the people’s daily life, travel, investments, trade, monetary policy, transport of goods, import/export, religion, education, etc. are pushing the people to their limits. 

 

9.            As long as there is no respect for the RIGHTS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES AND DISCRIMINATIONS against the minority religions, there is no hope of stopping people leaving Myanmar.  Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002) wrote: “… today’s human rights violations are the causes of tomorrow’s conflicts.”

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples a nd all nations.

 On the 50th Anniversary of this Declaration, UN Security General Kofi Annan said:   

   “Human Rights are foreign to no culture and native to all Nations.  It is a mirror that at once flatters us and shames us, that bears witness to a record of progress for parts of humanity while revealing a history and reality of horrors for others.” 

“It was never the people who complained of the universality of human rights, nor did the people consider human rights as a Western or Northern imposition.  It was often their leaders who did so.”           

After looking at the above quotations, real conditions in Burma/Myanmar and the people’s plight, we do not need to give any further evidence to convince the reader that there are a lot of problems going on in Burma/Myanmar that are almost impossible to solve or change, and no one can prevent the people’s flight out of the country.

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples a nd all nations.

 On the 50th Anniversary of this Declaration, UN Security General Kofi Annan said:   

   “Human Rights are foreign to no culture and native to all Nations.  It is a mirror that at once flatters us and shames us, that bears witness to a record of progress for parts of humanity while revealing a history and reality of horrors for others.” 

“It was never the people who complained of the universality of human rights, nor did the people consider human rights as a Western or Northern imposition.  It was often their leaders who did so.”           

After looking at the above quotations, real conditions in Burma/Myanmar and the people’s plight, we do not need to give any further evidence to convince the reader that there are a lot of problems going on in Burma/Myanmar that are almost impossible to solve or change, and no one can prevent the people’s flight out of the country.