[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13838]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN BURMA

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. RANDY ``DUKE'' CUNNINGHAM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 4, 2003

  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to show my wholehearted 
support for those struggling for freedom and democracy in Burma and to 
condemn Burma's ruling military junta for their premeditated and 
cowardly attack on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi--whose whereabouts and 
condition are still unknown--and members of her National League for 
Democracy this past weekend.
  Although they won an overwhelming victory over the military junta in 
Burma's 1990 election and are the legitimate, elected government of 
Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD's mandate to rule has been ignored 
by the junta for 13 years and one week as of today. While Aung San Suu 
Kyi and the NLD are committed to working with the junta in order to 
reach a non-violent political solution to restore democracy in Burma, 
the junta has shown their utter contempt for such civilities and has 
resorted to violence as every scared, impotent dictatorship does when 
it feels threatened. In this case, the evil-doers did not stop at a 
brutal assault, they followed up their premeditated attack by putting 
the nobel laureate and her top officials in so-called ``protective 
custody,'' then proceeded to shut down their party offices around the 
country, tear down their party flags, cut party members' phone lines 
and place top members under house arrest. So afraid of the power and 
will of their people and especially the youth of their country, the 
junta went so far as to shut down all universities the day after the 
attack.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States stands for freedom and we have always 
shared the goals of others around the world who strive for democracy. 
These cowardly attacks are an assault on free people everywhere, and we 
must act now to condemn them and immediately increase pressure on this 
evil regime. I urge my colleagues to join with me in condemning these 
despicable attacks.
  Daw Aung San Suu Kyi once said, ``Please use your liberty to promote 
ours (Burma's).'' I believe I just did. I encourage others to heed this 
plea as well.

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