[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 10, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the January 7, 1996 New York Times Magazine 
contains an interview with the leader of Burma's democracy movement, 
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
  Many of us have followed her situation, during six years of house 
arrest, and her recent release by the Burmese authorities. She is a 
woman of remarkable courage, honesty and clarity of purpose. She wants 
to do whatever she can to improve the lives of her people, and she has 
devoted her life to that goal. She believes unequivocally that 
democracy is the only way, and she has the trust and support of the 
overwhelming majority of Burmese citizens.
  As she says in the interview, the Burmese authorities continue to 
refuse to even discuss a process for instituting democracy, because 
they are too fond of their power and privileges. But Suu Kyi knows that 
eventually the SLORC will have to sit down and negotiate with her. As 
she points out, that is what happened in South Africa, and even in the 
former Yugoslavia although there only after the slaughter of a quarter 
of a million people and the destruction of much of Bosnia. Those two 
examples represent the SLORC's options. Either a peaceful way out, or 
mass demonstrations and an explosion of violence that will make them 
wish they had listened to her.
  Mr. President, I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of Senator 
McConnell's legislation to impose sanctions on the Burmese government. 
Senator McConnell has been a strong advocate for human rights and 
democracy in Burma, and I applaud him for it. It is important that the 
United States have a consistent policy, and I believe that until the 
SLORC demonstrates a genuine willingness to negotiate the transition to 
democracy with Suu Kyi, our policy should be to isolate the SLORC from 
the world community it yearns to be part of. In that regard, I would 
note that the SLORC has named 1996 ``Visit Myanmar Year.'' I hope that 
anyone considering accepting the SLORC's invitation will read the 
interview with Suu Kyi, and be aware that they may find themselves 
staying in hotels and traveling on roads that were built with forced 
labor.
  Mr. President, I am not going to ask that the entire interview be 
printed in the Record, but I urge all Senators to read it. I do ask 
unanimous consent that Suu Kyi's response to the question ``What do you 
want people in the United States to know about you?'' be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  Excerpt From Interview With Suu Kyi

       Q: What do you want people in the United States to know 
     about you?
       A: That we are not near democracy yet and that there are, 
     so far, no signs that we are progressing toward 
     democratization. The National Convention [that Slorc was 
     holding to draft a constitution], as it stands, is not a step 
     toward democratization at all.
       I think a lot of Americans very much take their rights for 
     granted. And I think many of them do not know what life is 
     like for those of us whose security is not guaranteed by a 
     democratic constitution. So I would like to ask them to try 
     to put themselves in our shoes, and ask how they would feel 
     if they were deprived of all rights. I would like them to see 
     us not as a country rather far away whose sufferings do not 
     matter, but as fellow human beings in need of human rights 
     and who could do so much for the world, if we were allowed.

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