Madam, - Thank you for reporting on the outcome of talks on a new Burmese constitution (The Irish Times, September 4th). The so-called "national convention" which took so long to cobble together this flawed constitution was but a farcical travesty, inasmuch as the National League for Democracy, which won a landslide election victory in 1990, was not represented. Aung San Suu Kyi, the brave and charismatic leader of the NLD, is held under house arrest in Rangoon, where she has been totally isolated for almost 12 of the past 18 years.
The military junta has been misruling Burma for over 45 years, and has brought this once prosperous land to the brink of ruin and starvation. Democracy was ruthlessly crushed, students shot dead while peacefully taking part in street demonstrations, and imprisonment, torture, and forced labour were used extensively to quell any signs of unrest. If ever a sorely oppressed people needed moral and material support in their just struggle for freedom it is surely the long-suffering people of Burma.
A watching world sees but does not seem to care enough to take any real steps to help these abandoned people. It is true that feeble and ineffectual efforts have been made from time to time by the UN and the EU to influence the generals to move towards their stated aim of restoring democracy. But is all too clear that they have been corrupted by their 45 years in power and have no real intention of doing so. Entrenched in this new constitution is the proviso that 25 per cent of parliamentary seats will be reserved for military appointees. This, along with the barring of Aung San Suu Kyi from holding elected office, gives the lie to any pretence of democratic freedom.
The Irish Government must get credit for its stance on this issue, both within the UN and the EU, but I must call on it to be more vociferous and forceful and to "lead the pack" internationally, rather than being an anonymous part of a "common position" within the EU. It would surely be right and just that Ireland, so long oppressed itself, and from whose history the people of Burma drew much inspiration in their struggle against British imperialism, should be in the vanguard of international effort to bring democracy to this afflicted country.
Let us not forget that Aung San Suu Kyi is a freeman of both Dublin and Galway, though imprisoned in Rangoon. - Yours, etc,
GEAROID KILGALLEN, Crosthwaite Park South, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.