------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: December 6, 1996 Issue # 586 Noted in Passing: I would like the world to know that the repression in Myanmar is getting worse - Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (see: THE HINDU: SUU KYI APPEALS FOR INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT) HEADLINES: ========== BKK POST: SUU KYI PUT UNDER "VIRTUAL HOUSE ARREST" THE ASIAN AGE: SUU KYI IS BARRICADED AGAIN IN HER HOUSE AP: SUU KYI BREAKS HOUSE CONFINEMENT THE HINDU: SUU KYI APPEALS FOR INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT BKK POST: PROTESTS POSE CHALLENGE TO SLORC UPI: STUDENTS PROTEST OUTSIDE BURMA EMBASSY AP: BURMESE DEMAND PROTESTERS' RELEASE BKK POST: JOURNALISTS PROTEST BEATING OF COLLEAGUE REUTERS: U.S. WARNS AGAINST USE OF FORCE REUTERS: RIGHTS GROUP SLAMS MAJOR POWERS FOR HYPOCRISY TT: KNU LEADER BO MYA REJECTS SLORC'S SURRENDER OFFER THE NATION: FLOATING HOTEL IN BURMA BOULDER DAILY CAMERA: BOULDER SHOULD BOYCOTT BURMA BKK POST: EDITORIAL - COLONIALISM CLAIM FAR FROM CREDIBLE ANNOUNCEMENT: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- BKK POST: SUU KYI PUT UNDER "VIRTUAL HOUSE ARREST" December 5, 1996 Rangoon, Agencies Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained in her compound yesterday after authorities warned they could not guarantee her security she left home. The warning amounted to-an order restricting Mrs Suu Kyi's movements n the wake of the largest protest critical of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) in years. It came less than a month after a mob, allegedly organised by the government attacked her, car. Mrs Suu Kyi protested against her confinement by the military regime, labelling the move illegal. She was restricted her home on Tuesday following demonstrations by students of the Yangon Institute of Technology in Rangoon. "We will make it known to the authorities that we protest this illegal confinement. Every time there is a demonstration some people always take it as their job to put up roadblocks," Mrs Suu Kyi told Reuters. She said she believed the confinement was imposed because the student protests on Monday and early Tuesday made Slorc feel the situation was volatile. "But the volatile situation has nothing to do with me or the National League for Democracy (NLD), she said, referring to her pro-democracy party which won elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to rule. Mrs Suu Kyi denied any links between the student protests and the NLD, but noted that there was a "moral tie" between the students' cause and that of her organisation as both sought justice and human rights. While authorities continued to maintain she was free, NLD party covice chairman Tin Oo denounced her confinement as "virtual house arrest". At 7 p.m. on Tuesday Mrs Suu Kyi demanded that she be permitted to meet with party president Aung Shwe, and co-vice chairman Kyi Maung and Tin Oo "If you don't fulfil my wish I will rush through and go and see them myself," he quoted the Nobel Peace laureate as saying before the meeting was allowed. Major Hla Min of the military's office of strategic Studies said authorities had simply requested that Aung San Suu Kyi stay inside her house "for her own safety." "She was requested not to go out because of what is happening out side," Hla Min said. "Yesterday she complied, but if she wished to go out, it's her own choice." Hundreds of students Monday began the most defiant protest in Burma since the ruling junta took power in 1988, marching through Rangoon demanding students' rights, before they were forcibly bundled into trucks by hundreds of riot police early on Tuesday morning. All 609 demonstrators, including 487 students and 122 non-students, were released Tuesday afternoon after an identity check, said Hla Min. Witnesses had estimated that as many as 700 people had been taken away. While Rangoon remained quiet yesterday, diplomatic sources said that students believed some of the demonstrators were still being held, though they added that such reports were unconfirmed. Students were at the forefront of the pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 that were crushed by the military, after which the ruling junta called the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) came to power. Analysts said the demonstration had been a stronger expression of general discontent with Burma's political and social system than the sit-down protest held soon after the October incident. ***************************************************************** THE ASIAN AGE: SUU KYI IS BARRICADED AGAIN IN HER HOUSE December 4, 1996 Rangoon, Dec. 4: Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Wednesday that five supporters of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained by Burma's military authorities after leaving the leader's compound. The five youth members of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy were arrested on Tuesday after leaving her home, which has since been sealed off, the London-based group said in a statement received here. The arrests came as Burmese security forces rounded up at least 300 student demonstrators on Tuesday when they refused to disperse after an overnight student protest march in Ran- goon. "Amnesty International considers the five to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely for excercising their right to free association," it said. Amnesty said it was concerned for the safety of the five, citing recent reports of beatings and torture of suspects detained by the Burmese police, adding that young people were particularly vulnerable to police harassment. Ms Suu Kyi has also been prevented from leaving her home or from receiving visitors. However, analysts said Ms Sun Kyi's situation did not appear to be linked with the student protests. The students began demonstrating on Monday to demand action against police officers accused of beating students in October, the release of prisoners jailed by the military junta and the right to form a student union. In an interview with the BBC, Ms Sun Kyi said that while she believed the students had no political links, she supported "any movement which is a demonstration against police brutality." ***************************************************************** THE HINDU: SUU KYI APPEALS FOR INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT December 5, 1996 CAPE TOWN, The Myanmar Opposition leader, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, saying she had not been allowed to leave her home since Monday's student protests in Yangon, appealed on Tuesday for moral and practical support for her party. Speaking by telephone to the former Commonwealth Secretary General, Mr. Sonny Ramphal, in Cape Town, Ms. Suu Kyi said: "I would like the world to know that the repression in Myanmar is getting worse." She said she had been prevented by police from leaving her home since the student protests, resulting in the arrest of 300 demonstrators. The students were protesting against what they called unfair police handling of a brawl between some of their colleagues and restaurant owners in October. Ms. Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD). is a member of the board of Mr. Ramphal's Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), which met in Cape Town. "We as a party are subjected to so much persecution that it is almost unbelievable. We are supposed to be a legitimate party, duly registered, and yet we are not even allowed to do regular party work," she said in a call taped and played to reporters. "My house is barricaded off every weekend and today it is barricaded off and probably they will close the street for a few days to come. Members of our party are subjected to very, very severe persecution all the time. People are evicted from their homes, people have been threatened with loss of jobs and our elected Members of Parliament are forced to resign," she said. "We would welcome the moral and practical support of right- thinking people..... she said. Mr. Ramphal promised to broadcast Ms. Suu Kyi's appeal adding "where better to send that message to the world than from South Africa". ***************************************************************** BKK POST: PROTESTS POSE CHALLENGE TO SLORC December 5, 1996 Vithoon Amorn rangoon, reuters Burma's biggest student demonstration since 1988 took the country's military rulers by surprise and was unlikely to be the last such challenge to the government, diplomats said on Tuesday. Nearly 2,000 students of the Yangon (Rangoon) Institute of Technology (YIT) took part in a peaceful 20hour protest which started on their campus on Monday before spilling into the streets of central Rangoon before sunrise on Tuesday. "We were surprised by the number of students taking part in the protest, which was much bigger than the previous ones," said one diplomat, who declined to be identified. "They (the government's security forces) must have been caught unprepared and were not organised to set up roadblocks," he said. A Western diplomat said the Rangoon government might also have been reluctant to deal harshly with the students at a time when it faced international criticism of its human rights record. It's partly a problem of organising security forces and partly restraint," he said. The United States and some other Western countries have accused the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) of widespread human rights abuses, attacked a recent crackdown on the pro-democracy movement led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and accused the government of involvement in the heroin trade. The Western diplomat said although Rangoon had since returned to its normal pace, more student-led protests could not be ruled out in the next several months. "You may not see another protest next week or next month but it will likely happen again," he said. Students had said they were protesting against what they termed police manhandling of colleagues involved in a brawl with restaurant owners in October. Diplomats said at one point the protest displayed a clear political tone, however. "It had a more visible political edge than the ones in October," said the Western diplomat. YIT students staged a smaller protest against the handling of the brawl in October. The diplomat referred to banners calling for human rights, justice and fair government which did not feature in the October protest. Another Western diplomat said for the first time since 1988, the YIT students demanded a right to organise an independent union on their campus. Witnesses said some students were seen carrying a portrait of Burma's independent hero Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi, early on Tuesday shortly before riot police cordoned off about 400 protesters near a d junction close to the Shwe Dagon | Pagoda in central Rangoon. After the October brawl, three students were arrested temporarily and two ordered not to attend classes. A spokesman for Slorc said on Tuesday two policemen involved in the student arrests had been fired and given two-year jail sentences. Some students protested that the police punishment was too lenient compared with a seven-year jail term facing convicted armed pick-pockets. Senior Slorc officials declined to confirm the number of students briefly detained on Tuesday but claimed all were released later after their identity papers were checked. YIT campus sources said about 81 students who had participated in the protest reported back to their school by late Tuesday morning. They could not say how many were still absent. ***************************************************************** UPI: STUDENTS PROTEST OUTSIDE BURMA EMBASSY December 4, 1996 BANGKOK, Dec. 4 (UPI) _ Burmese students protesting the detention of hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators in Rangoon earlier in the week have staged a rally outside the Burmese embassy in Bangkok. The gathering included several key members of the All Burma Students Democratic Front and the Independent Karen National Students Organization. An estimated 2,000 Burmese students took to the streets in Rangoon on Monday to protest the police handling of a brawl in which three students had been detained in late October. The protest continued throughout the night and ended only when police removed a reported 700 demonstrators in trucks. A spokesman for the State Law and Order Restoration Council later claimed that all had been released after their papers were checked. Leader of the Bangkok protest Saw Pai Htoo Chit, who is secretary- general of the Karen group, together with other Burmese students in exile staged their protest for over an hour outside the Burmese embassy. Signs saying ``We support student movement in Burma'' and ``Release all political prisoners'' were placed at the embassy gates as guards and police looked on. ***************************************************************** AP: BURMESE DEMAND PROTESTERS' RELEASE December 5, 1996 TOKYO (AP) _ Burmese democracy advocates protested briefly in front of the Burmese Embassy Wednesday, demanding that the nation's junta release students detained after protests in Rangoon, police said. In Tokyo, about 30 Burmese supporters stood in front of the embassy for about 10 minutes with their mouths taped shut, said a police official. No arrests were made at the peaceful demonstration, he added. A letter handed through the gates of the embassy expressed support for the protesters in Burma, and urged the country's military rulers to release everyone taken into custody, according to a police report. The letter said the Tokyo demonstrators taped their mouths shut to dramatize what it called the use of force to silence Burmese democracy. **************************************************************** BKK POST: JOURNALISTS PROTEST BEATING OF COLLEAGUE December 5, 1996 Burmese journalists working for the foreign media condemned the beating of one of their colleagues by police while he was covering this week's student street protests. Myo Thant, a reporter for the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun, was beaten up early on Tuesday as police dispersed about 400 demonstrating students from the Yangon Institute of Technology (YIT) in central Rangoon, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Myanmar (FCCM) said. The FCCM, which groups 18 Burmese journalists working for foreign news agencies and publications, complained to the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) that Myo Thant, 40, was beaten despite his attempts to identify himself as a journalist. "The FCCM strongly condemned the brutal and humiliating act of the security personnel on member U Myo T ant, while he was on legal routine news coverage duty, and decided to ask the authorities to take appropriate action against the security personnel involved," the FCCM said in a statement. Myo Thant's family said yesterday he had been admitted to hospital for medical checks. He had earlier told the FCCM that he was detained by security personnel for about three hours along with other protesting students. The demonstrators were protesting what they called unfair police action. ***************************************************************** REUTERS: U.S. WARNS AGAINST USE OF FORCE December 5, 1996 The United States cautioned Myanmar military rulers Tuesday against harming protesters involved in the country's biggest student demonstration since 1988. "We are calling upon the SLORC to respect the rights of the demonstrators to assemble peacefully in the streets of the city and to express their views," said State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns. "We believe that no harm should come to them," Burns told reporters. The Myanmar government should listen to students and to the opposition NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi," and engage in a systematic conversation with them about the future of the country," he said. Washington has slapped a visa ban on senior SLORC officials and has passed legislation allowing U.S President Bill Clinton to impose economic santions if repression in Myanmar worsens. *************************************************************** REUTERS: RIGHTS GROUP SLAMS MAJOR POWERS FOR HYPOCRISY December 4, 1996 WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Clinton administration and other major powers put profits ahead of human rights, weakening efforts to stop offenses around the world this year, a U.S. human rights group charged Wednesday. But the group, Human Rights Watch, credited growing consumer aversion to products made under harsh labor conditions for helping to counter the trend. In its "World Report 1997," the group slammed governments and organizations, including the United States, Japan, the European Union, and the World Bank, for claiming that their trade and political policies would eventually bolster human rights in countries like China, Bosnia and Russia. "The most disturbing trend that we saw in the last year was that the major powers repeatedly deferred the immediate promotion of human rights in the name of often dubious long-term strategies,"said Kenneth Roth, executive director of the group. "While quite willing to exert economic pressure in the name of human rights on poor states like Burundi, Cuba, Libya, or Sudan, they acquiesced in abuses by economically attractive countries like China, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria , and Saudi Arabia," the group said in its seventh annual report, which covered human rights developments in 74 countries. Roth singled out the Clinton administration for failing to use its leverage on trade issues with China to spur Beijing to release political dissidents and religious activists. "The Clinton administration simply collapsed," he said. "Chinese officials were given every reason to conclude that for the rest of the world, access to Chinese markets far outweighs concern for the rights of Chinese citizens." In Bosnia, the report slammed Washington and the European Union for dropping their pursuit of war criminals and endorsing "seriously compromised" elections. "The major powers squandered a historic opportunity to create an international system of justice for the most culpable human rights abuses," Roth said, referring to Bosnia and Rwanda. In Russia, atrocities in Chechnya went unchecked, the group said. "Instead, at the height of Russia's renewed slaughter of civilians in Chechnya, the Council of Europe ignored its own human rights standards to admit Russia as a member, and the International Monetary Fund awarded Russia a $10 billion loan." In the Middle East, the Clinton administration tolerated arbitrary arrests by the Palestinian and Israeli authorities and Syrian repression of dissidents in order to save the peace process, the report said. But it added that the human rights abuses themselves created an air of mistrust that undermined peace talks. Human Rights Watch hailed positive steps in several countries, including South Korea, South Africa, India and Guatemala, where governments brought people to justice for the first time for abuses committed by officials in the past. The most favorable trend was in consumer pressure on companies that used sweatshops and child workers or damaged the environment, Roth said. The best responses came from the apparel industry, where brand name image was essential, he said, pointing to Levi Strauss and Co and Liz Claiborne as examples. Oil and minerals companies had been less willing to change. Because of the impact of consumers, Human Rights Watch is now putting significant effort into investigating human rights practices of multinationals around the world, including French oil giant Total and U.S.-based Unocal, which are working on a gas pipeline in Burma, British Petroleum in Colombia, and Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria, Roth said. ***************************************************************** TT: KNU LEADER BO MYA REJECTS SLORC'S SURRENDER OFFER December 5, 1996 (Thailand Times) by Assawin Pinihvong TAK Burma' s military junta has delivered an ultimatum to the Karen rebels yesterday, demanding they surrender unconditionally, a Thai military source said yesterday. The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) recently sent an ultimatum to Gen Bo Mya, leader of the Karen National Union (KNU), demanding that his group lay down their arms and give up fighting the military government. The SLORC also demanded the KNU sign a peace agreement with the government as other minority groups the Kachin and Mon have done and cooperate in developing the country. Rangoon's ultimatum came days after the latest round of peace talk with the KNU failed to reach substantial progress. According to the source, who asked not to name him, the SLORC has offered to provide accommodation, private car and maids in Rangoon to Bo Mya like other minority group leaders, should he agrees to surrender. However, the source said, the KNU leader rejected the demands and vowed never to surrender. Meanwhile, a KNU senior official has welcomed an idea to have Thai army chief Gen Chettha Thanajaro act as middleman between the two sides, but confirmed the KNU still clings to its original demands. The KNU's demands include setting up of territory under its control and equal rights for the Karen people. ***************************************************************** THE NATION: FLOATING HOTEL IN BURMA December 5, 1996 RANGOON - Thailand's Central Group, operator of department store and hotel chains, this week officially opened its 132-room floating hotel, moored at a waterfront in western Rangoon. Food and beverage manager Paiboon Sari said the four-decked floating hotel enjoyed an average 50 per cent occupancy rate, up from about 30 per cent in July 1995 when it first opened for business. He said Burma's Visit Myanmar Year, which started last month, would bring more foreign tourists to Rangoon. Paiboon said the Central Group invested about Bt300 million (US$12 million) in the Finnish-built hotel. (TN) **************************************************************** BOULDER DAILY CAMERA: BOULDER SHOULD BOYCOTT BURMA December 3, 1996 (Editorial) Tonight City Council members will stray from local issues such as bike paths or speed bumps, and turn their sights halfway around the world. On the agenda is a proposal to establish Boulder's formal boycott of corporations doing business with Burma. Despite the fact some folks snicker at the 'People's Republic of Boulder' entertaining a foreign policy, we urge support of the proposal. It is in Boulder's best interests, and it will make a difference in the fight against human-rights abuses. Boulder and other U.S. cities are directly affected by a Burmese regime responsible for more than 60 percent of America's heroin supply. Boulder should be especially concerned since heroin sales have reportedly increased on its streets (Daily Camera, Nov. 15). Drug production has more than doubled since the military junta took control of Burma in 1988. The junta, called SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council), was born out of a bloody massacre of Burmese citizens who were peacefully protesting 26 years of single- party rule. Thousands of demonstrators were killed, jailed and tortured. Bodies were hastily disposed of in a crematorium - some demonstrators were still alive. SLORC remains in power after throwing out the results of Burma's 1990 elections, in which 80 percent of Burma's parliamentary seats were captured by a democratic party (National League for Democracy). NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest and was not released until 1995. Last month a car carrying Aung San Suu Kyi was hit with rocks thrown by a mob working for the junta. Her followers and activists in the states fear for her life now more than ever. Aung San Suu Kyi is a Nobel Laureate and daughter of a general who liberated Burma. She represents what other countries don't offer - an alternative. Burma's unique situation has led eight U.S. cities and Massachusetts to pass proposals that prohibit spending taxpayers' dollars on companies that do business in Burma. Boulder would be joining a growing number of grassroots groups in sending a message to corporate boardrooms. And that message speaks to the bottom line in the same language which finally brought the release of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Oil companies (Total, Unocal, Texaco) are the biggest financial supporters of Burma's brutal regime. A project is well underway to extract and transport natural gas using a pipeline 40 miles off Burma's coast. The military will reap $400 million each year from the gas. And don't think that those funds will help the country's sick, poor and uneducated. More than 50 percent of Burma's budget goes to the military to purchase arms (despite a lack of outside enemies). A meager 2 percent goes to education and less to health care. The pipeline is both the country's largest potential source of liquid funds, and the largest source of conflict between the military and pro- democracy groups. And like others in the past, this venture is being linked to slave labor and destruction of villages. Oil companies either flatly deny abuses or claim political neutrality. It's impossible to deny first-person accounts pouring out of refugee camps or from the pages of human rights organizations' reports. One mother with a newborn was forced to work on a road project to benefit the military and Unocal. An impatient soldier couldn't stand for the mother to take feeding breaks, and threw the baby into a nearby fire. Boulder's City Council isn't being asked to support sending troops or even killing the pipeline. It is being asked to say that Boulder recognizes Burma's democratically elected government, and only that government can sell the country's natural resources to benefit all of the people. **************************************************************** BKK POST: EDITORIAL - COLONIALISM CLAIM FAR FROM CREDIBLE December 5, 1996 (editorial) Burma's claim that it is the victim in the international narcotics trade is unconvincing. Rangoon says drug trafficking has its rots in colonialism. Apart from the historical inaccuracy of the claim, Burma continues to miss the pint. It sown failures are a major reason for drug problems both at home and abroad. It is a popular defence these days to claim sympathy as a victims. The criminal from the broken family, the killer who was driven to temporary rage have become standard sights in courtrooms and police lockups around the world. Also common is the government claiming to be the victim of heartless neighbours or history when it abuses its citizens or makes war. Sometime, people and small nations are victims, no doubt. And sometimes they are not. Burma's latest line on illicit drugs stresses the claim that the nation has been victimised. There were no drugs until the British colonised Burma, according to recent statements from Slorc and its media. The always entertaining New Light of Myanmar newspaper, in recent articles, has made the interesting claim that poppy plantations only appeared after 1885, when the British subdued the country. There was no smoking of opium in Burma until after the British took over. Not only that, but the nation is still trying to shed its colonial legacy and this is why Rangoon is sometimes a little slow to react to drug problems. It won't wash. Historical documents from centuries before British colonisation show that opium poppies flourished in the area now known as Burma. Not only that, but there are many such documents showing that use of opium was widespread as medicine, including by Burmese monarchs. Colonialism was a vicious system imposed unjustly upon Burma and elsewhere. But the colonialists did not bring opium to Burma. Nor has colonialism been a problem for Burma for quiet some time. Burma has been an independent nation for many decades. Its regimes have forged a series of policies. In Burma, not only did foreigners fail to influence the policies, but successive Rangoon regimes have gone to great lengths to keep out all foreign influence. The truth about the narcotics trade in that Burma lags far behind its neighbors and most of the world in dealing with this deadly problem. It was written - on its own - some extremely harsh laws against drug trafficking. it has joined - as an independent country - a number of treaties and organisations against illicit drugs. No colonialist government or other foreign country has victimised Burma during this process. The media in Burma claim Slorc is committed to the fight against drug production and trafficking. The same media print statistics which show another story. According to the Burmese press, between September 1988 and the end of 1995, authorities seized 13,808 kg of opium and 1,815 kg of heroin. Given the internationally accepted average yearly production of 2,000 tons of poppy, Burma produced at least 14 million kg of opium, enough to make 1.4 million kg of heroin during that period. So Slorc has seized about .001 percent of heroin produced. Burma has made much of the fact it has signed drug agreements with its neighbours, including Thailand, China, India, Laos and Bangladesh. All these pacts aim at reducing production of drugs, interrupting the smuggling of narcotics, and catching and punishing the international criminals who profit from the trade. It is early in the day to make a final judgment, perhaps, but so far Burma has made little progress in these goals. Slorc's claim that it is a victim is far from credible. By attempting to lay the blame on others, and on its legacy, Burma seeks to deny responsibility for its own actions. It is time Slorc started working seriously to help its own citizens and its neighbours with the serious narcotics problems both face. (BP) ***************************************************************** ANNOUNCEMENT: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY December 6, 1996 Tuesday, December 10, 1996 5:00 - 6:00 pm Boston Common, near Park Street T Station (Will be held at the Paulist Center, 5 Park Street in inclement weather) A Candle-light Vigil is being held for Burmese prisoner of conscience Dr. Ma Thida, recipient of the 1996 Reebok Human Rights Award. Ma Thida, a physician and well known fiction writer is a prisoner of conscience in Burma. She served as a campaign aide to Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the Burmese people's struggle for democracy and human rights. During student protests in 1988, Thida risked her life to treat demonstrators injured by the military. In 1993, she was arrested for distributing leaflets and campaigning for democratic change. She was convicted in a secret trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Dr. Ma Thida is being held in solitary confinement and has serious health problems but has not received adequate medical treatment. Please join the candle-light vigil and learn more about the human rights situation in Burma. Participate in the CALL TO ACTION campaign to free Ma Thida.