Unión de Myanmar/Birmania (Continuación)

MundoAsia,

In May I finally experienced a free and fair election. Unfortunately, I was thousands of miles from my homeland – Burma. I witnessed the UK's May elections as a refugee in the country.

Next month, there will be elections in Burma and the eyes of the world will briefly turn upon the country. But these elections will be neither free nor fair. The polls are a masquerade designed solely to appease global opinion. The only winners will be the corrupt and brutal elite who rule the country. Dictatorship will continue.

Yet, the mere fact that elections are taking place offers a glimmer of hope.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

We are now a month away from the first elections in Burma in 23 years. That should give us cause to celebrate. Sadly, that is wishful thinking. Burma’s 55 million people continue to suffer brutal oppression. Abject, needless poverty is, for most, a daily reality. These elections will be little more than a sham to perpetuate military rule.

So when Asian and European leaders meet on Monday in Brussels, the U.K. will be calling for us to speak with one voice against the gross mistreatment of the Burmese people.

That means being unequivocal: These elections will be neither free nor fair.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, recently said the world must exercise “utmost vigilance” to ensure the approaching elections in Myanmar (Burma) are free and fair.

We are disappointed in such comments, which focus on the election as something important for our country, as something worth waiting and watching for, although this election is not the solution for Burma.

The elections, scheduled for Nov. 7, are designed to legalize military rule in Burma under the 2008 constitution, which was written to create a permanent military dictatorship in our country.

After the election, the constitution will come into effect, a so-called civilian government will be formed by acting and retired generals who all are under the military commander-in-chief, and the people of Burma will legally become the subjects of the military.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

The United States decided this week to support the creation of a United Nations commission of inquiry into the Burmese military regime's crimes against humanity and war crimes. That human rights violations have occurred is clear, and many have noted that the Burmese junta's restrictions on its upcoming elections make it all but certain the generals will retain power. The real dilemma is whether it is better to express moral outrage at these offenses or to hold off, presuming the possibility of eventual change under a new government.

The options for nation states to express moral outrage are well established: sanctions, war crimes trials, embargoes.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

By the end of this year, Burma will be holding its first election in two decades. This southeast Asian nation has been in the grip of the military government since 1962.

The military government has yet to announce the exact date, while there are rumours that the election could be held on 10 October, in conformity with the Burmese generals' superstitious beliefs about numbers, that if it is held on 10/10/10 it could bring them victory.

In the last election witnessed by the country in May 1990, the now-dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) – a party led by the Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – won a landslide majority of 392 seats out of 492 seats.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

"Don't worry, don't worry daughter, everything will be fine, change is coming soon."

Tomorrow is an important day. William Hague, the UK's foreign secretary, may not be aware of the date's significance, but August 8 should be etched into his memory, as it is mine.

Tomorrow is my father's day. When I was very young, I was taught that my daddy was a man in a photograph, and later I was shown he was the man in the prison, where we visited him and where I touched his fingers through iron bars and pretended that the armed guards surrounded him to protect him.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

With Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attending the ASEAN Regional Forum this week, it is an opportune moment to examine U.S. efforts to engage with Burma (also known as Myanmar). When President Obama was inaugurated, many in the international community were particularly enthusiastic about a return to U.S. multilateralism to address global problems. Nowhere was this more necessary than in the case of Burma, where a brutal military dictatorship has for decades both oppressed its people and failed to yield power, despite losing democratic elections in a landslide in 1990.

Many observers of the nascent administration, myself included, applauded Clinton's announcement in early 2009 of a full review of U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

This is a sensitive moment in relations between the United States and the world’s most corrupt regime: the military junta that has plundered Burma for decades as if it were a private fiefdom.

The Obama administration has attempted to apply a strategy dubbed “pragmatic engagement.” As it works to rethink its position amid the present cacophony of foreign and domestic crises, there is a danger that Washington might give Burma short shrift and unwittingly soften its stance toward the country’s military leaders. It should be careful not do so. And it should take the junta’s nuclear-weapons ambitions seriously.

The regime in Burma has a history of deceiving American officials.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Burma's military regime has forced our party, the National League for Democracy, to make a tough decision on whether we will continue to operate legally.

The ruling generals, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), issued a set of unjust electoral laws this month that threatened to abolish our party if we did not re-register at the election commission within 60 days.

We know the cruel nature of the regime. We did not expect the electoral laws it established would offer a semblance of fairness. But we also did not expect that the regime would use its laws to remove our leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and all political prisoners from the political process.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfricaMundoAsia, ,

News of Nelson Mandela’s release dominated the radio broadcasts by the BBC and Voice of America on Feb. 11, 1990. I felt I understood why he had resisted so long, because in Burma, as in South Africa at the time Mr. Mandela was in jail, the majority of people were struggling to make their voices heard. Within three months, the military junta would refuse to recognize the results of our national election — and I would be locked up in Rangoon’s Insein Prison for leading a demonstration.

Released in 1993, I was sent to prison again in 1994. It was during my second sentence that I managed to read a magazine article describing Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

Il est des perceptions qui ont la vie dure. Comme celle que l’on a d’une Birmanie scindée en deux entités manichéennes, la junte militaire d’un côté, la leader de l’opposition démocratique et prix Nobel de la paix Aung San Suu Kyi de l’autre. L’une des erreurs de l’Occident est de penser son approche de la «question birmane» à travers ce prisme bipolaire et de concentrer ses efforts sur une transition démocratique censée à elle seule panser les plaies d’une société birmane meurtrie. Or, à trop vouloir d’abord porter le flambeau démocratique, nous avons ignoré les véritables fondements de l’instabilité de la Birmanie.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Much attention has been focused on Sen. James Webb's recent visit to my country and his meetings with Senior Gen. Than Shwe and incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. I understand Webb's desire to seek a meaningful dialogue with the Burmese ruling authorities. Unfortunately, his efforts have been damaging to our democracy movement and focus on the wrong issue -- the potential for an "election" that Webb wants us to consider participating in next year as part of a long-term political strategy. But the showcase election planned by the military regime makes a mockery of the freedom sought by our people and would make military dictatorship permanent.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

It has been a good few weeks for Burma's dictator, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, even though Sen. Jim Webb secured the release of an imprisoned American during his recent visit and even though the sentencing of Burma's democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, after this summer's sham trial was roundly condemned. With all the media attention, Than Shwe got a dose of what he appears to crave most: international legitimacy. And he is assured that Suu Kyi, who won Burma's last free elections in 1990, will remain under house arrest during the 2010 elections. Last month Burma's state-run media even hailed the regime for its humanitarian nature and called for targeted economic sanctions to be lifted.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

Eight years ago I visited Myanmar as a private citizen, traveling freely in the capital city of Yangon and around the countryside. This lush, breathtakingly beautiful nation was even then showing the strain of its severance from the outside world. I was a guest of an American businessman, and I understood the frustration and disappointment that he and others felt, knowing even then that tighter sanctions would soon drive them out of the country.

This month I became the first American political leader to visit Myanmar in 10 years, and the first-ever to meet with its reclusive leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, in the haunting, empty new capital of Naypyidaw.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

Twenty years of sanctioning and lecturing Burma's military regime have failed. The West needs to engage with Burma's leaders, increase humanitarian aid and reopen commercial relations with the country. If it doesn't, not only will positive change remain as elusive as ever, but the country will turn quickly and irreparably into an economic vassal of China.

In a sign of just how impervious the regime is to Western pressure, last week, opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to her fourth spell of house arrest. Two thousand political prisoners remain locked up. And a transition to democracy appears nowhere in sight.…  Seguir leyendo »

, MundoAsia

El resultado atroz aunque inevitable de la parodia de juicio al que ha sido sometida Aung San Suu Kyi constituye la prueba definitiva de que el régimen militar de Birmania está dispuesto a seguir desafiando al mundo.

La desoladora noticia de que ha sido condenada a cumplir otro año y medio de arresto domiciliario no sólo es una tragedia para ella y su familia sino también para el pueblo birmano, que sufre diariamente a manos de los tiranos. Era el momento de que los generales atendieran el creciente clamor por un cambio y optaran por la vía de la reforma que exige la región y la comunidad internacional.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

La dictadura birmana ha asestado un nuevo golpe al indigente país sobre el que lleva gobernando durante casi 50 años. El pasado viernes confirmó el encarcelamiento de la líder del movimiento por la democracia en el país: Aung San Suu Kyi. La semana pasada se escucharon los alegatos finales en el nuevo juicio que se celebra contra la líder de la oposición y Premio Nobel de la Paz, que se enfrenta a otros cinco años de detención si es condenada por haber roto los términos de su arresto domiciliario. El fallo del tribunal -favorable a la Junta Militar- se ha pospuesto hasta mediados de agosto.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

For two weeks, the world has been transfixed by images of Iranians taking to the streets to demand the most basic human freedoms and rights. Watching these courageous men and women, I am reminded of a similar scene nearly two years ago in Burma, when tens of thousands of Buddhist monks peacefully marched through their nation's streets. They, too, sought to reclaim basic human dignity for all Burmese citizens, but they were beaten back by that nation's harsh regime.

Since those brutal days in September 2007, Burma's suffering has intensified. In the past 21 months, the number of political prisoners incarcerated by the junta has doubled.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

The trial of the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, has once again catapulted events in Burma onto the front pages of newspapers around the globe. The leader of Burma's struggle for human rights and democracy has been charged with violating the terms of her house arrest after an American citizen swam across a lake and broke into her home last month. Heads of state from Asia and the West, celebrities, and U.N. leaders such as human rights chief Navi Pillay have responded strongly, demanding not only an end to the trial in Burma's kangaroo courts but the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia

In Burma, things just go from bad to worse. Last week, the country's revered democracy leader and Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was taken ill. Her doctor reported she was short of breath, had low blood pressure and was needing an IV drip. That was just before he was detained. Then there was news of an American who had swum to Suu Kyi's house and stayed for two nights in her basement. Now Suu Kyi has been taken to the notorious Insein prison to be tried on trumped-up charges.

To anyone with even a passing notion of Burma's Orwellian political context, this latest development is oddly predictable, even given the surreal circumstances.…  Seguir leyendo »