Burma, saperti Malaysia, telah dijajah oleh kolonialis British.
Pada 1948, Burma mencapai kemerdekaan, dan sistem kerajaan demokrasi berparlimen telah wujud dari 1948 sehingga tahun 1962, apabila tiba-tiba pihak tentera telah melakukan satu rampasan kuasa.
Regim tentera ini telah enggan mengembalikan kuasa politik kepada sebuah kerajaan demokratik, tetapi tekanan dalaman dan daripada luar akhirnya mengakibatkan satu pilihanraya umum diadakan pada 1990, dengan kefahaman bahawa pihak rejim tentera akan mengembalikan kuasa mentadbir negara kepada kerajaan yang bakal dilantik rakoyat Burma. Pihak rejim tentera juga bersetuju untuk mengembalikan sistem demokrasi berparlimen.
Pihak rejim tentera memberikan sokongan penuh kepada satu parti, iaitu
National Unity Party (NUP). Parti-parti politik yang lain telah dihalang berkempen.
Aung San Suu Kyi, pemimpin parti National League for Democracy(NLD) telah ditahn rumah (house arrest) sejak bulan Julai 1989. Ramai pemimpin lain parti NLD dan parti-parti lain juga telah dipenjarakan. Akses ke media dan juga orang ramai juga dihalang.
Tetapi, pada 27/5/1990, apabila keputusan pilihanraya umum diumumkan, didapati bahawa daripada 485 kerusi parlimen yang dipertandingkan, parti NLD telah berjaya menang 392 kerusi (iaitu lebih 80%). Parti-parti kumpulan ethnik minoriti telah berjaya memenangi 65 kerusi, dan parti sokongan rejim tentera, iaitu NUP, hanya berjaya memenangi 10 kerusi. Jelas sekali, rakyat Burma telah menolak pemerintahan tentera.
Tindak balas rejim tentera kepada keputusan pilihanraya ini adalah untuk tidak mengembalikan kuasa kepada rakyat - tetapi meneruskan dengan pemerintahan tentera. Kuasa politik dan kuasa pentadbiran negara yang seharusnya diserahkan kepada Aung San Suu Kyi dan NLD tidak berlaku.
Penindasan bertambah, dan ramai pemimpin politik dan rakyat telah ditangkap dan dipenjarakan, di mana ada yang telah meninggal semasa dalam tahanan. Ramai juga telah berlari keluar daripada Burma dan masih tidak dapat pulang. Penindasan berterusan sehingga kini.
Pada hari ini, di Malaysia terdapat lebih kurang 500,000 migran daripada Burma - di mana ramai di dalam kumpulan ini tidak dapat pulang ke Burma, di mana jika pulang mereka berisiko tinggi ditangkap, ditahan/dipenjarakan, didera...dan juga mungkin dibunuh. Secara munasabah, ramai tidak ada apa-apa pasport atau dokumen perjalanan keluaran rejim tentera Burma...
Di negara Thai, bilangan orang Burma tidak berdokumentasi adalah lebih kurang 2 juta.
Kebanyakkan daripada mereka yang berada di Thailand dan Malaysia tidak berminat sangat untuk mendapatkan kerakyatatan negara lain, atau ditempatkan semula di negara asing jauh daripada Burma. Harapan kebanyakkan mereka adalah untuk pulang ke negara Burma (Myanmar) apabila rejim tentera kini sudah tiada lagi.
Ingin juga dinyatakan, bahawa di Malaysia juga ada lebih kurang 100,000 Buruh Migran yang datang dengan izin kerajaan Burma.
Pada 19/6/2009, Aung San Suu Kyi menyambut ulalngtahun ke-64 beliau - beliau masih ditahan rejim tentera.
Suu Kyi rai hari lahir ke-64 dalam penjara
Pemimpin demokrasi Myanmar, pengawal kongsi makanan
YANGON: Pemimpin demokrasi Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, berkongsi makanan dengan pengawal penjara ketika menyambut hari lahirnya yang ke-64 semalam, selepas pemerintah junta enggan membenarkan beliau menerima pelawat, kata anggota kanan parti pimpinannya.
Pemenang anugerah Nobel itu kini ditahan di penjara Insein, atas tuduhan ingkar perintah tahanan dalam rumah selepas seorang lelaki warga Amerika berenang menyeberang tasik dan bermalam di rumahnya Mei lalu.
Ketika anggota parti Liga Kebangsaan Untuk Demokrasi (NLD) mengadakan majlis sambutan hari jadi Suu Kyi, jurucakapnya Nyan Win berkata beliau sudah ke penjara untuk membawa nasi bersama lauk, kek hari jadi dan bunga.
"Suu Kyi memesan makanan itu supaya beliau boleh mendermakannya kepada mereka di sekitar penjara, tetapi oleh kerana tiada siapa menemaninya, Suu Kyi akan menyambutnya secara kecil-kecilan di sana," katanya.
Nyan Win berkata beliau tidak dibenarkan menemui Suu Kyi tetapi sudah meminta kebenaran pihak berkuasa untuk berbuat demikian Isnin ini.
Saksi berkata di sebalik kawalan ketat , 300 anggota NLD menyambut hari jadi beliau dengan memberi makanan kepada sami Buddha, melepaskan burung merpati, burung pipit dan belon warna-warni.
Aktivis yang memakai baju T kuning juga berdoa untuk pembebasan Suu Kyi sebelum bertepuk tangan dan melaungkan kata-kata: "Semoga Aung San Suu Kyi akan dibebaskan segera" sebelum memotong kek.
Sayap pemuda parti itu pula memuji pemimpin mereka dengan menyanyikan sebuah sajak berjudul 'If' ciptaan Rudyard Kipling yang diterjemahkan Suu Kyi ke dalam bahasa Myanmar.
Saksi berkata, pegawai polis berpakaian preman merakamkan gambar orang ramai memasuki bangunan, manakala polis berpakaian seragam berdiri tidak jauh dari situ di samping lima trak membuat kawalan.
Tahun ini bukanlah kali pertama Suu Kyi menyambut hari lahirnya bersendirian. Beliau menghabiskan tempoh 13 daripada 19 tahun di Myanmar menjalani hukuman tahanan dalam rumah, apabila junta enggan mengiktiraf NLD menang pilihan raya 1990. - AFP - Berita Harian, 20/6/2009
Adalah sungguh memalukan apabila Malaysia telah menangkap 16 orang Burma di kawasan Petaling Jaya apabila mereka menghadiri satu perayaan Hari Jadi Aung San Suu Kyi yang dianjurkan oleh kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat dan Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya pada 19/6/2009.
Police last night arrested 14 Myanmar nationals for taking part in an illegal gathering to celebrate the 64th birthday of Myanmar activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
Petaling Jaya OCPD ACP Arjunaidi Mohamed said some 30 Myanmar nationals had begun gathering near the Taman Jaya lake at about 8pm.
Police at the scene ordered the crowd to disperse. They also arrested 14 Myanmar nationals who did not possess any valid travel documents.
Malaysiakini repot :-
...A team of 50 police officers broke up a gathering in Petaling Jaya to celebrate Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday at about 9pm and detained 16 people.
Those arrested are believed to be refugees from Burma who were at the birthday celebration to express their concern for their country’s democracy icon.
The Burmese military regime has kept Suu Kyi in detention for 13 of the past 19 years, and she is now on trial at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison over a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside home.
According to human rights group Suaram, the 16 were arrested even before the event kicked off.
“All those arrested now are detained in the Petaling Jaya district police station and denied access to lawyers. They might be moved to immigration,” said Suaram coordinator Temme Lee.
The 16 were taken to the Petaling Jaya police station where a crowd had gathered outside to press for their release.
The aborted celebration - which was to be held in an open area near Amcorp Mall in Taman Jaya - was jointly organised by Pakatan Rakyat Selangor and Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ)...- Malaysiakini, 19/6/2009, 16 refugees arrested at Suu Kyi's 'birthday bash'
On the occasion of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday that falls on 19th June 2009, we, the undersigned reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Burma.
After achieving its independence from the British in 1948, Burma was ruled by a democratically elected government until the 1962 army coup.
Finally, the military junta agreed to hold elections in 1990, and return Burma to a parliamentary democracy. But the run-up to the elections inspired little confidence in the process. Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the most popular opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), was placed under house arrest in July 1989. Many other senior NLD officials were jailed. The NLD had little access to media and few resources compared to the military-backed National Unity Party (NUP).
On 27th May 1990, the Election Results revealed that out of the 485 parliamentary seats contested, the NLD won 392 (over 80%). Ethnic minority parties opposed to the military junta won 65 more seats. The military-backed NUP only won 10 seats. It was clear indication that peoples of Burma rejected military rule.
The military junta's response to this overwhelming defeat was simply to change the rules, and not hand over power to duly elected Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD. Repression intensified, and many NLD and other elected representatives were arrested. Some have died in prison. Others fled into exile. Today, in Malaysia, it is estimated that there may be more than 500,000 Burmese undocumented migrants,
We call for the immediate handing over of power from the military regime to the duly elected Aung San Suu Kyi and the elected representatives.
We reiterate our call for the immediate discontinuation of the trial, and withdrawal of the charges against Aung San Suu Kyi who has been absurdly charged and is now being tried for the offence of breaking the terms of her house arrest, in particular the condition that forbids visitors, after an American man, swam across the lake and entered her house uninvited and refused to leave.
We call for ASEAN and ASEAN member governments, to immediately intervene and urge the government of Burma to respect human rights, and to adhere to the numerous United Nations resolutions, including General Assembly Resolution 49/197 [1995], which, amongst others, “…call on the Government of Myanmar to release unconditionally and immediately the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now in her sixth year of detention without trial, and other political leaders and remaining political prisoners…’
We also call on the United Nations(UN), the European Union(EU) and all concerned nations to act for the immediate withdrawal of this absurd charge, to secure the immediate and unconditional release of all political detainees and to restore democracy and human rights to Burma and its peoples.
Lastly, and most importantly, we wish Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Happy Birthday, and wish for her and the peoples of Burma the strength and the continued commitment to struggle for a better Burma, where human rights, justice and democracy exist.
Pranom Somwong
Charles Hector
for and on behalf of the following 24 organisations,
Bar Council Human Rights Committee
Burma Campaign Malaysia
Center for Independent Journalism, Malaysia
Community Development Services, Sri Lanka
Development Action for Women Network (DAWN), Philippines
Empower Foundation, Thailand
Foundation for Women, Law and Rural Development (FORWARD), Thailand
Friends of Burma, Malaysia
Grassroots-HRE,Thailand
Legal Support for Children and Women (LSCW), Cambodia
MADPET (Malaysians against Death Penalty and Torture)
MAP Foundation, Thailand
Mekong Ecumenical Partnership Program, Christian Conference of Asia(MEPP)
Myanmar Refugee Volunteer Group (MRVG)
National League for Democracy (NLD),LA, Malaysia
Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM)
People's Service Organization (PSO), Malaysia
Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER)
Society for Christian Reflection (SCR)
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), Malaysia
Tenaganita, Malaysia
Women's Studies Center,Thailand
Workers Hub For Change (WH4C)
Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association ( YCOWA)
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