The military junta has brought a new case against the activist leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the flimsy basis of a visit to her house by an American man named John Yettaw. The charge is that by meeting Mr. Yettaw, Aung San Suu Kyi has violated the terms of her house arrest, but the world does not think so. Why?John Yettaw tried the same thing last year but the authorities stopped him before he got to the house, which is one of the most well guarded places in Myanmar.
This time, he was allowed to sneak in so that the government would have an excuse to throw the book at Aung San Suu Kyi, again. The junta is looking for a way to stay in power and to thwart Suu Kyi from contesting in the elections next year.
She is scheduled for release from house arrest later this year at the completion of a 6 year sentence. But, the Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi was ordered to spend another 18 months under house arrest, while John Yettaw flew home with Democrat Senator Jim Webb who had secured his release.
Democrat Senator Jim Webb, who has close links to US President Barack Obama, won guarantees for Yettaw's release when became the first senior US official to meet Myanmar's reclusive junta chief Than Shwe.John Yettaw is a former Vietnam vet, 53 years old, from Falcon Missouri. His neighbours describe him as an intelligent conversationalist and an alcoholic suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
He strapped on a pair of homemade flippers and swam over one mile across a lake to see Ms. Suu Kyi. This time he managed to sneak in and spend two nights in the house before being caught while trying to swim away.
The world now is looking at America to undo what her citizen had caused, not only to Aung San Suu Kyi, but also millions of refugees all over the world who want to go home and be liberated.
The recruitment of child soldiers in Burma is still widely practiced by the Burmese army, but this young boy made his escape to Thailand.
United States data in 2006 listed Myanmar as the world's third largest source of refugees after Afghanistan and Iraq because large groups of refugees are in hiding around the country and they are penniless and desperate.
Today, the situation is so bad that there are large numbers of refugees escaping to China, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Malaysian government says there are about 25,644 Myanmar asylum-seekers in the country but refugee groups believe the real figure is more than double that.
The majority are Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar's Rakhine state while the rest are Christian Chins, Karens and Shan.
Most of the Chin refugees are men in their late teens or early 20s who ran away from their homes in north-western Myanmar to escape persecution.
The groups are in very bad shape as they have no money, no food and fear for their safety. Hundreds of thousands of Chins have fled from Chin State to escape severe ethnic and religious persecution committed bythe military regime.
The UNHCR registration process has been closed since July 2005, leaving thousands of genuine refugees unable to obtain official refugee status or obtain any documents from the UNHCR.
Their daring escape to foreign countries has become an infestation to poorer countries who are unable to provide them with food, shelter and clothing.
Those who were caught by the Malaysian law enforcers and who are not registered with UNHCR were sent to the Lenggeng detention camp where they will await deportation. This is not the way they want to go home because the junta regime will mete severe punishment on them – hard labour.
Facts from foreign press.
No comments:
Post a Comment