Letter to the editor on recent events in Burma

9 May 2002 

A traditional Burmese saying states that "success has too many fathers". It's interesting to watch world leaders clamoring to highlight the contribution that they have made in getting Aung San Suu Kyi out of house arrest. We must remind ourselves Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD supporters shouldn't have been detained in the first place. Particularly sickening today, has been Alexander Downer's almost disregard for Aung San Suu Kyi during his term as Foreign Minister. He said once that Aung San Suu Kyi is not the leader of the country and the Australian government wouldn't act as if she was. Thank goodness she can speak for herself again- Aung San Suu Kyi out of house arrest is going to make it harder for Australia to get away with their so called 'softly softly' approach. More wisdom from the Burmese reminds us that at the end of the day, "the good chose to stick together and the bad stick together." Who is Australia with Mr. Downer? I think Australian people, given a choice, would stick with Aung San Suu Kyi. Stop flirting with the generals. And lets see some sophisticated foreign policy while we are at it. We are not all as unsophisticated as the Burmese generals. We want Our aims are to restore a civilian government in Burma- not achieve cosmetic change and opportunities for photos. Australia must ask itself, what have we done to assist the realization of a civilian government in Burma. As far as I see, it, not much at all.

- Toe Zaw Latt [ABSDO]

Ref: Statement of Australian Foreign Minister