[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 20]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 27384]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 BURMA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PETER T. KING

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 5, 2003

  Mr. KING of New York. Mr Speaker, earlier this year, I cosponsored 
the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 with my good friend, 
Congressman Tom Lantos, ranking member of the International Relations 
Committee. That legislation passed the House by a vote of 418-2, 
providing a strong mandate for the U.S. State Department to rally 
international support for Burma's struggle for freedom. I am proud of 
the support the House of Representatives has given to the 1991 Nobel 
Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, and her struggle for freedom 
in Burma.
  Over the past 2 weeks, Burma's military regime has again launched a 
brutal crackdown against dissent. When 900 Buddhist monks marched on 
the streets of Mandalay, the country's second largest city, the regime 
reacted violently, opening fire on the crowd and killing at least one 
monk and placing several more in intensive care.
  At the same time, this regime instigated violence against the 
country's Muslim population, resulting in the torching of several homes 
and the murder of innocent civilians.
  I am concerned that the international community has remained too 
silent. We need to take a serious look at the efforts of the United 
Nations Secretary General's special envoy to Burma, Razali Ismael. Are 
his efforts hampering or helping the struggle for freedom in Burma? 
Burma's exports of narcotics and refugees, ongoing human rights abuses 
present a serious threat to regional security yet this has never been 
addressed by the United Nations Security Council. Maybe it is time that 
a new envoy and a new approach by the United Nations will breathe new 
life into a failed process.

                          ____________________