My last post was about Aung San Suu Kyi and her whereabouts. In that post, I referenced a discussion I had with John Smith Thang. Mr. Thang has since posted a recording of that discussion. It is available here:
Since the discussion with Mr. Thang, I have written a letter to Canada’s Foreign Minister and Canada’s Ambassador to the UN sharing Mr. Thang’s and my concern. You will note as well in my previous post that I followed up on my pledge to check current UN activity in Burma/Myanmar. There is quite a lot going on there.
We continue to hope and pray for positive change in Burma.
This post was supposed to be about Ghana or Guyana but after watching a recent BBC Hard Talk interview with Suu Kyi’s son, Kim Aris, and speaking to Burmese activist John Smith Thang, I decided on a Burma/Myanmar focus. You might remember that I completed a consulting assignment in Burma in 2016 for two international NGO’s and described my experiences in the second last chapter of my book “Overseas Adventures – From Afghanistan to Zambia and Points In-Between”. It was my Burma work that focused on promoting training and employment opportunities for refugee returnees that was part of my discussion with Mr. Thang, a Burmese national promoting democracy and development in Burma from his current base in South Korea.
During my stint in Burma, Ms. Suu Kyi was Chief Government Counsellor (and de facto head of state) and there were hopes that democracy would be firmly established even though the Army held 25% of all the seats in Parliament according to the revised constitution. Hopes were dashed when at the next election, which Suu Kyi’s party won, the Army called foul and conducted a coup the night before the winning party members were to take their seats. Since then, Ms. Suu Kyi and most other members of her government have been in prison.
Her son, Kim Aris, appealed on the BBC for his mother to be released and in the interim for her to be allowed visitors and medical treatment which she has been denied. Kim was worried that he didn’t know where she is currently being held in prison but has learned the conditions are hard.
Since the coup, there has been bloody civil strife in Burma with various opposition and ethnic groups fighting with the military and reports of serious human rights violations by the military against civilians. A 5-Point Plan for resolution of the conflict put forward by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) put forward in 2021 has been largely ignored by the military junta in Burma and atrocities continue. So too does fighting by the various opposition groups which has enabled them to take control over some territory from the junta.
Pro-Democracy Group Activities
Kyoto Review of South-East Asia has a detailed article about the pro-democracy movement in the country.
John Smith Thang who I spoke to earlier this week has chosen to support Burmese democracy from outside the country. His organization Liberal Democracy Movement of Burma publishes magazines and has contacted foreign leaders including the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking support to solve the crisis in his home country. John has also held several discussions on YouTube to highlight issues in Myanmar and proposals on the way forward. He may be contacted at gbdigest@gmail.com to get web addresses for his podcasts and other information.
Canada’s Relations with Burma/Myanmar
Canada maintains an Embassy but at lower than Ambassador level, has stopped some major development projects but still has a small grants program for Burmese NGOs and other non-state actors. The Government has in place numerous sanctions against the military junta in Myanmar and is a signatory to a recent multi-country statement about Myanmar.
The United Nations continues to provide humanitarian support to Myanmar in addition to targeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through more than a dozen specialized UN agencies such as UNESCO, FAO. UNAIDS and UNWomen.
There are many things we can do to help Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma. First, write to your Member of Parliament asking the Government to act on her release. Second, consider contributing to reputable organizations such as the United Nations specialized agencies and international NGOs such as Save the Children which are doing humanitarian work in Burma now. I hope you will find a way to help including through prayer.
