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Speak Out for Victims of Burma's Police State

By Scott Bates, The Republican-American (Connecticut)

October 1, 2007

Switching cabs quickly in the steamy streets of Rangoon, I hoped to lose the secret police detail that was following my every move. A democracy activist agreed to meet with me, and leading the police to my new contact would have placed him in grave peril.

In the spring of 2002, I spent 10 days in Burma, or "Myanmar," as the military rulers of the nation renamed it. A friend who was a U.N. diplomat wanted to connect me with a Burmese democracy activist so I might learn what really was going on in that reclusive country. What I saw confirmed in my mind that Burma is, in the words of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, "an outpost of tyranny."

For 20 years, Burma has been ruled with an iron fist by a military junta that has led the nation into abject poverty. While neighboring nations such as Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam are experiencing tremendous economic growth, the 50 million people of Burma suffer from disease, malnutrition, and an economy shattered by corruption and incompetence. During my visit to three major cities in Burma, I saw the toll taken on a peaceful people trapped inside an Orwellian police state.

In the ancient city of Bagan, 4,000 Buddhist temples stretch across the expansive plain. In the center, a modern metal and wire structure raises high above the thousand-year-old bricks that make up the temples and pagodas. Burmese soldiers armed with machine guns trained at the populace below manned a guard tower, equipped with searchlights and loudspeakers.

On the road to Mandalay, I saw endless convoys of trucks careening along rutted dirt roads. The Burmese with whom I spoke said the trucks moving north to China were carrying heroin and human cargo to serve as cheap labor or worse. The trucks headed south from China carried weapons and cash for the military leaders of Burma.

In the center of Rangoon, a Nobel Peace Prize winner is under lock and key. "That is the lady's house," said my cab driver in a conspiratorial whisper as we drove past the home of Aung San Suu Kyi. She was the leader of Burma's democratic movement that triumphed in the elections of 1988. Those were the last elections in Burma as the military junta in charge of the nation voided the election results and placed Kyi under house arrest. She has remained there ever since. The military dictators of Burma offered her a one-way ticket to see her husband who was dying of cancer in England. Ms. Kyi refused to abandon her people.

She has served as the sole source of hope for those in Burma who struggle for freedom, until last week.

In what is a miracle for the people of Burma, thousands of Buddhist monks have taken to the streets to protest for "sufficient food for the people and release of political prisoners." Their courage cannot be underestimated, for their activities are monitored by the secret police. The monks can expect beatings, detentions and disappearances of their friends if these protests dissipate and the world's attention is pulled away.

The protests mark the high point for the democracy movement in Burma and places the military government in a vulnerable position. But what can we accomplish here from the United States, to alleviate the suffering of 50 million Burmese and recapture our reputation for support of human rights after the disappointments of Iraq?

China is the sole lifeline left for the Burmese military regime. The regime still ships its people, precious gems and timber to China in return for the weapons that keep it in power. A plan for supporting democratic change in Burma must focus on effecting a change in Chinese support of the military dictatorship.

Americans have the ability to help lead a global effort to isolate the Burmese regime. In the lead up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese regime is particularly conscious of its public image. A public campaign raising the issue of China's support for Burma's repressive regime certainly would raise China's cost of doing business with the tyrants in Rangoon. Chinese support for a U.N.-sponsored global arms embargo against the regime in Burma should be the objective. This is a cause worthy of our time and commitment.

Speaking up for the people of Burma is the right thing to do for millions who are trapped behind the barbed wire of a police state. Standing up to the military dictators in Rangoon is the right way to put Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib behind us, and place the protection of human rights back at the center of U.S. foreign policy.

Scott Bates is vice president of the Center for National Policy and police commissioner of Stonington, Conn.