Faces of 2007

In September 2007 a “citizen reporter” caught it on film—showing Kenji shot at pointblank range and providing immediate evidence to the world of the brutality of the troops and police in suppressing the demonstrations.

UN, Asean, the International Community

The brutal suppression of peaceful demonstrations in Burma in September shook the world, unleashing outrage and condemnation by every government that cherishes freedom and democracy. In the US, the president’s wife, Laura Bush, joined the international campaign for democratic change in Burma, making personal telephone calls to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to tell him of the dismay felt by all Americans over the events in Burma.

Laura Bush, the US first lady [Photo: AFP]

The US Chargé d’Affaires in Burma, Shari Villarosa, added her outspoken views on the regime’s brutality in interviews with CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera TV, while Britain’s new ambassador, Mark Canning, took on the role of a reporter himself, informing outside media on the scenes of carnage he was witnessing in Rangoon.

Burma’s partners within Asean weren’t silent. Singapore’s elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew spoke for many within the group when he expressed his outrage at how the regime was suppressing dissent. He predicted the junta would not be long in power, citing not only its unpopularity but also its management of the economy, which he described as “rather dumb.”

Even China was unusually outspoken. It urged the junta to accelerate democratic reform and expressed support for the UN’s mediating role.

The UN’s role involved dispatching Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s personal envoy Ibrahim Gambari on two successive missions to Burma, preceded by a tour of several Asian capitals.

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari
[Photo: AFP]

Gambari claimed progress had been made towards achieving a dialogue between regime leaders and the opposition, although he didn’t get to meet Snr-Gen Than Shwe and the other two top junta generals during his second stay in the new Burmese capital, Naypyidaw. The regime kept the UN envoy virtually a prisoner there, compelled to stick to a government-ordained schedule—a form of “capital punishment,” quipped some observers.

Gambari did manage to retrieve something from otherwise fruitless trips—a statement by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, expressing her readiness to cooperate with the regime in bringing about a dialogue.

While the junta triumvirate gave Gambari the cold shoulder, his colleague who heads the United Nations Development Programme office in Rangoon, Charles Petrie, got the boot—ordered to leave Burma when his accreditation expires. His offence? His office had dared to issue a UN Day statement drawing attention to the “deteriorating humanitarian situation” in Burma.

It was a cruelly ironic end to Petrie’s time in Burma. Once accused of being too soft on the regime, the inoffensive, mild-mannered official was now an unwanted persona non grata. Gambari had been royally received in Burma in comparison to Petrie’s treatment.

Anti-junta Advocates

The Burma Campaign UK and the US Campaign for Burma were at the forefront of the international wave of disgust, dismay and protest when the Burmese regime launched its barbaric suppression of the September demonstrations. Their efforts to throw the world spotlight on the events in Rangoon received wide support from public personalities whose names guaranteed attention.

One unusual campaign attracted special attention—the “Panties for Peace” initiative launched by the Lanna Action for Burma, based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The organizers pointed out that Burma’s superstitious rulers believed that contact with women’s undergarments robbed a man of his powers. Women around the world rose to the challenge, dropped their drawers in the post and inundated Burmese embassies with parcels of feminine underwear.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Although some of her critics and Burma’s regime leaders maintain that Aung San Suu Kyi is no longer a relevant force in the country’s politics, she is still a symbol of political struggle in Burma and the generals cannot afford to ignore her. Governments may differ in their policy on Burma, but they all call for the release of Suu Kyi.