[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 82 (Thursday, June 5, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S7471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 AUNG SAN SUU KYI: RELEASE HER UNHARMED

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, Burma's brutal and illegitimate military 
government committed yet another vicious atrocity last week when Aung 
San Suu Kyi and many members of her democracy movement were suddenly 
assaulted by a paramilitary group. Some of her supporters were killed 
and many others were wounded. She herself was taken into so-called 
``protective custody'' by the regime but little more is known of her 
whereabouts, her health, or the safety of the 20 or so people arrested 
with her.
  The violent repression of these democracy activists is another sad 
and infuriating example of the continuing efforts by the Burmese 
government to block any genuine political reform in the country.
  Only a year ago Suu Kyi was released from one of her numerous 
occasions of house arrest in Burma, this one lasting 19 months. Her 
release last spring came with the promise to release political 
prisoners and begin a new discussion with her party. That party, the 
National League of Democracy, legitimately won power in a 1990 
election, but was denied the opportunity to take office in the 
government crackdown that followed.
  This cruel attack is another example of a corrupt government that 
continues to commit flagrant human rights violations against its 
citizens, uses rape as a weapon of intimidation and torture against 
women, and forcibly enslaves child soldiers to fight their own people.
  This new atrocity has outraged the world, and many governments have 
denounced it. Stronger action by the international community is long 
overdue, and we must act as well. Under S. 1182, the Burmese Freedom 
and Democracy Act, we call on the Burmese government to release Suu Kyi 
and her supporters immediately and with no additional harm. Our 
legislation will impose a total ban on import from Burma. It will 
freeze the Burmese government's assets in the United States. It will 
tighten the visa ban on their government officials. It will oppose any 
new international loans to its government.
  I am very encouraged by the swift decision of President Bush and 
Secretary Powell to express their outrage and concern. Congress must do 
all it can to support the courageous struggle for democracy led by the 
heroic Aung San Suu Kyi. We pray that she will be released unharmed. 
She won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1991 for her courageous 
leadership, and again and again she continues to show us why.

                          ____________________