IS AUNG SAN SUU KYI STILL ALIVE ?

Jim McNalis

[Jim McNalis is the creator of the very well known sculpture of Aung San Suu Kyi. Jim made the sculpture with clay from Burmese soil which he secretly packed away in his suitcase on his returns home from his occasional trips to Burma.

He presented his famous sculpture of Aung San Suu Kyi to Burmese government in exile who later it to Aung San Suu Kyi’s family in Britain.

Jim also made a sculpture of Saw Bo Mya, the much revered leader of Karen National Union (KNU). KNU are a Karen ethnic resistance force fighting against SPDC military regime in Burma.

Lately, Jim made sculptures of the three famous comedians in Burma, called “the Three Moustache Brothers” who bravely make jokes on SPDC military regime.]

The whereabouts, health and well-being of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma are increasingly becoming a matter of great concern. It is time to demand that Gen. Than Shwe and the hierarchy of the current regime prove that Aung San Suu Kyi is still alive.

We are not demanding that she be freed. Nor are we attempting to interfere with the government in any way. We are merely asking for proof that she is alive.

It is also helpful to point out that although most articles refer to her and her party, the National League for Democracy, as the “dissidents” or the “opposition”, they are, in fact, the freely elected leaders of Burma. In open elections in 1990, the people of Burma made their choice by rejecting the military regime and electing Daw Suu Kyi and the NLD by a landslide.

So when we speak of her and the NLD, we are actually referring to the only legitimately elected government of Burma.

As you know, Aung San Suu Kyi has spent the greater part of the past 16 years under house arrest. Whenever she has been released, she and her followers have been subjected to violent government supported assaults.

The events following the most recent assault on Daw Suu Kyi and her followers at Depayin in May of 2003 have painted an increasingly sinister picture. Daw Suu was seen to have had blood in the area of her head and neck before she disappeared into military custody. There was unresolved controversy about weather the blood was from an injury she sustained or if it was blood from the colleagues who were slaughtered around her. In an interview with Kyaw Soe Lin, her driver, he said that observers “saw some cuts on her neck” when the military stopped the car and removed her. She literally vanished into military custody for months. Later it was learned she was kept in isolation for some time in the notorious Insein prison in Rangoon “for her own protection” the regime said. Later we heard news that she was recovering from “female” surgery and that her doctor reported she was recovering nicely at her home in Rangoon.

In December of 2004, the regime ordered all of Daw Suu Kyi’s staff and security people be removed from her home. The phone lines to her house were cut again.

The regime has banned visits from her colleagues, friends and members of her National League for Democracy party. No representatives of foreign embassies, the United Nations special envoy, International Red Cross, Amnesty International or other international and humanitarian organizations have been permitted access to her for over a year.

Her house arrest which was to be lifted in October 2005 has been arbitrarily extended for another year. The military regime has deliberately deceived the Burmese people and the world by proclaiming they are sincere about achieving democracy. They continue to bide their time with sham conventions and false “roadmap to democracy” plans. All the while, they are waging a war of attrition on Aung San Suu Kyi, the only person who the Burmese trust to lead them to freedom and democracy. The regime’s intentions regarding Daw Suu Kyi have always been transparent: die or leave the country. They are playing a waiting game. For nearly 15 years the regime has guaranteed that she receive inadequate nutrition and medical care. Political prisoners coming out of Insein and other prisons talk about how the regime gradually added poisons to their food to insure deteriorating health. They fear that the regime has been doing the same to Daw Suu Kyi.

The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reported in a recent article that Burma’s military junta forced the Malaysian foreign minister “to postpone his scheduled visit to the country because it doesn’t want him to meet with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi”. The same article quoted NLD spokesman Myint Thein as saying they were very concerned about her health since her doctor has not been allowed to maintain weekly scheduled checkups.

For months, people who have risked getting a look at her house on University Ave. have reported that it is rundown, lifeless and seemingly deserted.

Items in Burmanet and The Irrawaddy on January 18 and 19, 2006 report that the barricades near her house on University Avenue have been moved. Why, all of a sudden and after so many years, vehicular and pedestrian traffic has been allowed to pass her house is a current mystery.

Meanwhile, an increasingly paranoid government has been hastily relocating their headquarters to Pyinmana in the middle of the country. The DVB reported that it has been rumoured that the regime might relocate Daw Suu Kyi to Pyinmana also.

Governments and other agencies make “strongly worded” statements from time to time. There has been pressure to place Myanmar on the UN Security Council agenda but time passes and this repressive, deceitful government continues to play games with false promises of democracy.

The world abets this plan by refusing to get involved. It recalls the saying that;

“In order for evil to exist, it only requires that good people do nothing”.

It is unimaginable that Daw Suu Kyi, a woman who has sacrificed everything to defy the generals and stand for democracy in Burma, must stand alone. Everything has been taken from her. She can no longer see her children. She lost her husband to cancer while the regime refused his entry into Burma during his last days.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to live without human contact in complete isolation. How can good people anywhere remain indifferent to her now? As time goes on, her very life is in question as the regime stalls for time.

Again, this is not a request to demand the regime free Aung San Suu Kyi or to interfere with their government in any way. It is an urgent plea to ask them to merely prove she is still alive.

How sad that the free world has abandoned her and is willing to allow a woman of Suu Kyi’s caliber to be brutalized; to let her waste away unsupported and in isolation. Must we hesitate until she, along with scores of other political prisoners, is dead before we get serious about helping her and the people of Burma?

Please, please ask the question: _

“IS AUNG SUN SUU KYI STILL ALIVE?”

James R. McNalis 

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Comments

U Nwe Aung (Germany) said _

Hi Jim, thank you for your concern re Daw Suu. We all feel the same and are doing every possible thing for her benefit. Only the free world is forgetting her and does almost nothing before too late. We appreciate your sincere " wake-up " call to the free world and hope for their immediate response. May Buddha bless her!

Nhin Nwe,  USA, said _

I wish DASSK runs and get elected as General Secretary of UN, the world needs someone in her caliber and selfless dedication, right now the UN is a farce, seems top to bottom corrupted, just look at the oil for food program of Iraq how can you rely or trust UN. ASEAN is only now voicing their discontent just because their investments in Burma are at stake, and also left out of the pie sharing scenario with this unreliable military thugs, and now China, India and Russia are backing the thugs to get a piece of a pie of our natural resources and make use of Burma's advantageous geographical location to build land-bridges and railroads for distribution and marketing of goods. With Russia and China Vetoing and keep blocking votes, it is hindering our democratic process for freedom. I think if DASSK leaves Burma she will be more effective and become General Secretary of UN, than the Burmese People will surely get our freedom.

Khaing Mar Phyoe said _

I wish Daw Aung San Suu Kyi can long live, and be freed as soon as possible. I pray for her to be a new leader again in her country.

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If you have evidences of genocide committed by military regime please contact burmadigest@tayzathuria.org.uk