As part of the marking of Aung San Suu Kyi’s 60th birthday outside the Norwegian Parliament last Sunday, Kaythi, a Burmese human rights activist presented the following appeal. -Please use your liberty to promote ours, begged Kaythi, on behalf not only of the 1400 known political prisoners in Burma, but rather for the entire population. (21-JUNE-05)

Min Ga Lar Ber Shint,

Mr Chairman, Guest of Honour Mr Øystein Djudedal, other Dignitaries, Guests and Invitees, Master of Ceremonies and all participants.

Ladies and Gentlemen, first, I would like to thank you for asking me to speak at this ceremony for our leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s, 60th birthday. I will try to keep my comments within the given time.

The master of ceremonies has already said a little bit about me. My name is Kaythi. I have been an Executive Committee member of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), AAPP, and I am also a Committee member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (Foreign Affairs Committee). I was a political prisoner in Burma, having been arrested for my political activities in 1991. Prior to 1991, I had been a member of the student union since 1988, and had been continuously involved in political movements. When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won the Noble peace prize in 1991, university students, including me, began peaceful demonstrations in Rangoon to express our concerns. We demanded the release of all political prisoners, permission for student unions to operate legally and the transfer of state power to the winning party of the 1990 election, the National League for Democracy, or NLD. For these activities, I was arrested on December 15, 1991.

I am here today, on behalf of political prisoners in Burma, my colleagues and my friends, who are struggling for democracy and human rights in Burma, to honour our leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to share some of my experiences and knowledge.

Daw Suu once said, “We want the world to know, we are prisoners in our own country.” There are more than one thousand four hundred political prisoners in different prisons in Burma. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained in her house since May 2003. This is the third term of detention for her. Today, she has been in detention for 9 years and 238 days exactly. All political prisoners are currently being denied basic rights, being tortured, both mentally and physically, and several have even died during their interrogation or prison term, unable to withstand the cruel torture and inhumane conditions they have been made to endure.
Now, I would like to highlight two cases which happened recently in Burma.
On the 13th of this month, five members from the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS), who have been detained since December 2004, received life sentences. They were prosecuted by the regime after the Military Intelligence (MI) found some pamphlets from an opposition group in the houses of two of them. This shows that people in Burma can be given ridiculously exaggerated sentences of life for something as simple as the distribution of pamphlets from an opposition group.
Additionally, last month, Mr. Aung Hlaing Win, a member of the National League for Democracy, was killed during interrogation. He was arrested because of his involvement with the NLD on May 1st, and was dead by May 7th. According to the testimony of hospital staff, he died before he got to the hospital, and was in fact sent to the hospital as a corpse. Five medical specialists found 24 external wounds on his body. 3 of his ribs were fractured, and a fourth rib was broken in two, causing bruising to his heart. Bruising was found around his throat and trachea, and also his stomach and colon were found to be decaying.

You can learn more about these cases from the AAPP website. 

So, I would like to say that our county completely lacks any state mechanism to prevent arbitrary detention and torture. As Burma is a military state, any military personnel or policeman can arbitrarily detain anyone they perceive to be a threat to national security or to be in allegiance with an opposition group. They can carry out arrests, without arrest warrants, and with no review by an independent judicial authority. Both in urban and rural areas of the country, arbitrary detention is directed specifically at political activists and their supporters, and is meant to stifle any opposition.

In reviewing these two cases, it is clear that our people have no rights. We have no right to believe, think, speak or write freely. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has thus urged the world to:

“Please use your liberty to promote ours.”
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a unique leader. She was chosen overwhelmingly by the people, making her legitimacy monumental and undeniable. She has risked her life and paid, and continues to pay, an unbelievable price for the Burma of her dreams. Her sacrifices are a solace for the people of Burma in desperate and difficult times. Everyday spent in darkness only makes her a greater symbol. Her intellect is unquestionable, and her commitment and sacrifice has no parallel.

At this ceremony, I would like to convey sentiments which she expressed in 2002.

She stated,
 
??The first foreign country she wishes to visit is Norway because the people of Norway have been very, very supportive in times of difficulty in our country. And the Norwegians are selflessly and wholeheartedly supporting us.??

I strongly agree with her.

So, I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to Norway and its people.

‘Thank you Norway.’

To conclude my speech, I would like to state my desire to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners released immediately and unconditionally. Also, I hope that the world will not ignore Burma’s struggle to be a democratic country. I believe the Burma of our dreams will become a reality in the near future.

‘Long live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.? 

Thank you.