PRESS STATEMENT : DATE 30th. JANUARY 2001 NO IMMEDIATE ELECTION, NO ENGAGEMENT WITH BURMA!

Suaram welcomes the suggestion of Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to General Than Shwe of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) of Burma to hold general election in the country. Although the idea was received well by the SPDC's general, according to the prime minister, Suaram is however disappointed with the non-commitment of the SPDC regime to give an exact date for the election to be held.

The promise of General Than Shwe to have the general election when the time comes is a highly irresponsible statement and a meaningless promise as this could extend to years with the right of the Burmese to elect their choice of government being deprieved forever. The right of the Burmese to an immediate general election is especially important as the SPDC is currently an illegal military regime running the country without the mandate of the people since they denied the landslide election victory of National League for Democracy (NLD) and came into power through a coup e' tat in 1990.

If ASEAN is serious about bringing democracy to Burma, ASEAN should stop all bi-lateral and multi-lateral constructive engagement, especially all trade with Burma until a fair and free general election is being held in Burma.

To begin with, Dr. Mahathir's government should take the lead and immediately stop all Malaysian trade and investment in Burma in order to push for an immediate election to happen in the near future. Otherwise, the United Nation Special Rapporteur on Burma, Tan Sri Razali Ismail who happens to be a Malaysian and also a former permanent representative of Malaysia to the United Nations, will have no more moral and legitimate ground to carry out his duties in his present capacity.

Yap Swee Seng

International Coordinator

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Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) add: 383, 1ST FLOOR, JALAN 5/59, PETALING GARDENS 46000 PETALING JAYA, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA
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