AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear Mr President,

1. We truly welcome the US secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s three day historic visit to Burma on November 30, 2011 in line with the US commitment to a policy of principled engagement and direct dialogue as part of dual-track approach. We have also learnt that the trip accompanied by Counselor Cheryl Mills, Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary Michael Posner, Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma Derek Mitchell, and Policy Planning Director Jake Sullivan is based on “genuine interest” of helping to improve the lives of people in Burma in concrete ways.

2. Due to current circumstances in Burma, we would like to expect the visit of the US high-power delegation is to persuade transformation to a more open country with outstanding human rights rather than strategic interest to check China’s influence in Burma, which we also agree with this kind of purpose.

3. As we all have learnt from media, the situation in Burma is changing like the way the west want to see and hear which in fact, it is only skin deep from our point of view as patriotic Burmese who really want to see real freedom in Burma from one of the most oppressive dictatorial regime since 1962. Countable changes in Burma include 200 of political prisoners have been released although new regime claims that twenty thousand prisoners were freed. Despite the recent relaxation of media restrictions, notorious Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) in Burma is still in place whereas articles written by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and news reports covering a protest by monks in Mandalay calling for the immediate and unconditional release of political activists and the end to fighting in ethnic areas and another protest by farmers in Rangoon against land confiscation were refused to publish. Also several issues such as armed conflict in the ethnic areas, reports about China, international and regional affairs, the Dawei Deep Seaport Project are not allowed to publish. Amended political party registration laws don't make huge different comparing to existing unsupportive 2008 constitution but to pave the way for the National League for Democracy to be able to contest in by-election.

4 We understand that the intention of granting the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN is to closely monitor the developments in human rights and democratic change as well as to improve the chances of further reform. The whole world knows that the deal to give the regime the chairmanship of the bloc in 2014 is to release all political prisoners in Burma. But just after bali summit, Thein Sein told the reporters that there is no prisoners of conscience in Burma.

5. According to reliable evident the regime was seeking to build nuclear weapons rather than power plants though it was a long way from succeeding. This is direct copying to North Korea to challenge the rest of the world regarding their appalling human rights record. We also agree senator's Richard Lugar request to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to discuss and find out the status of nuclear development in Burma. It is not true that dictators in Burma have denied nuclear ambitions and told Sen. John McCain during a visit in June that Burma was too poor to pursue a nuclear arms program.

6. Though the regime proclaims that Democracy have been implemented in Burma, the whole world witnessed wide spread vote rigging and voter intimidation carried out by officials in 2010 election. In the 2008 constitution and electoral laws were also rigged in favour of the regime: a quarter of parliamentary seats were reserved for military officials, commander-in-chief retains wide-ranging veto powers and the authority to resume direct rule, guaranteeing the army’s grip over the state regardless of who wins. They are simply designed to entrench military rule behind a facade of civilian government with their regular tactics of cheating Burmese people and international community.

7. Controversy over whether sanctions against Burma by the west work or not, we would like to highlight that clearing sanctions in Burma is one of the regime's wish list. First and foremost advantage will go to the regime and its cronies as soon as the west withdraw its sanctions. Those benefits include legalizing their ill-gotten money via Swiss banks and other western banks and to gain the opportunity that dictators and their family can travel and live in Europe and the US. We understand that Congress has passed Burma-specific sanctions following instances of serious violation of human rights in Burma. These began following the regime's violent suppression of popular protests in 1988, depeyin massacre in 2003 and slaughtering monk-led demonstration in 2007, and have continued through several subsequent periods in which Congress perceived major human rights violations in Burma. We also learnt, the United States support democracy promotion in other countries implementing both bilateral and multilateral programs to promote democracy.

8. With the knowledge of the US assessment on democracy and human rights around the world, We believe the US won't fuel any regime that systematically oppress its own people and the regime that is afraid of being punished by their committed crimes. As patriotic Burmese, we found that the US is the only country that can help and promote the emergence of real democratic state of Burma. In the same way, we find the US is still in contact with solving the problems in Burma. We believe that the US will not ignore the troubles that Burmese people have had for a half century by inhumane dictators. We believe that the US understands the changes we have been seeing in Burma are just on the outside and dictatorial system is still energetic even though the new regime claims that they are civilian government. Please be strongly suggested that current regime is still in the course of sophisticated cheat to the people and international. The new regime have created almost every establishment that should have in democratic country such as parliaments, human right commission, rights to protest, allows formation of labour unions etc. where actual practises have not been utilized.

9. However the so-called civilian government distorted from reckless dictators is not showing transparency toward democratization process in Burma. No indication to release remaining political prisoners can be seen in Burma after being granted as ASEAN chair. Informal or doubtful cease fire agreements have been made with some ethnic armed organizations. Fighting in some ethnic areas have been going on especially northern Burma.

10. Lifting the US sanctions too early may lead to ignorance of implementation for the emergence of real democratic Burma and fundamental rights for the people and ethnic minorities will still be denied whereas the Burmese regime has never kept their promise since they took on power. Therefore the specific deal that the Thein Sein regime must implement before removing sanctions should be set for the sake of Burmese people. For that reason, we, undersigned agree that (a) all the remaining political prisoners must be released unconditionally (b) substantial and nation-wide cease fire agreement must be made toward the end of civil war in Burma (c) true democratic circumstance that include Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, all other individual and democratic organizations who are endeavouring for freedom and democracy in Burma, and all the representatives from ethnic minorities must be implemented.

Respectfully,