Madam, – I refer to Susan McKay’s disturbing report on the pitiful plight of Burmese refugees languishing in the soul-destroying camps on the Thai-Burma border (“Facing the grind of life in limbo”, Life Features, February 25th), and to your commendable Editorial of the same date.
The brutal misrule of the military junta, in power in Burma since 1962, has to be ended before these traumatised people can be repatriated. But these arrogant generals, who continue to enrich themselves at the expense of their impoverished fellow-citizens, remain defiant in the face of calls for a return to democracy from concerned world bodies such as the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council, the European Union and ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations).
Your readers should not be under any illusion that the elections which the regime plans to hold in 2010 might be free, fair and democratic. A new constitution, cobbled together by the generals and their collaborators, and due to be brought into force by the proposed elections will enshrine military rule and copperfasten their unyielding grip on power. In short the elections will be a total sham and should not be accepted by the democratic nations of the world.
The proposed constitution gives the military an effective veto over parliamentary decisions. It does not repeal existing draconian laws, and does not guarantee basic human rights.
The head of state has to have been in the military, and cannot have been married to a foreigner. This is specifically aimed at preventing Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the democratically elected National League for Democracy, from ever being elected.
Members of religious orders, such as monks, are banned from voting, as are all current and former political prisoners. At a stroke this disenfranchises almost all organised opposition to the dictatorship.
These few clauses from the new constitution clearly show that the intransigent thugs ruling Burma have no intention of voluntarily relinquishing power and restoring true democracy to their troubled land.
To support or condone the running of elections so obviously flawed would be an insult to Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the other 2,200 political prisoners, whose only “crime” is demanding democracy while their tormentors continue to show their contempt for the UN and the world community of nations. – Yours, etc,