BURMA – Burmese women speak up for peace to mark Suu Kyi’s 65th birthday
30 June 2010 11:11 am

assk_bday_nation.jpgBurmese women
in Thailand are making their voices
heard for the sake of peace in Burma to mark democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi's 65th birthday today.
assk_bday_nation.jpg(19 June 2010, The
Nation)
Burmese women
in Thailand are making their voices
heard for the sake of peace in Burma to mark democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi's 65th birthday today.

Suu Kyi
has spent 14 years altogether as a political prisoner under
house arrest in Rangoon.
"The only way
there can be peace in Burma is through national
reconciliation and the democratic system. We need dialogue and a review
of the 2008 constitution. But there will be no national reconciliation
in Burma as long as there are political prisoners," Lae Lae Nwe said at a
book launch for "Burma Women's Voices for Peace", hosted by publisher
Altsean-Burma at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand.

The book is being published to celebrate Suu Kyi's birthday,
which has also been named "Women of Burma Day".

Lae Lae Nwe is a former political prisoner. She fled to the
Thai-Burmese border after serving four years in Rangoon's Insein Prison
and contributed her prison experiences to the book, which is a
collection of stories and poems written by Burmese women about their
experiences as refugees, human-rights activists, migrant workers and
political prisoners.

"The regime has tried to make political prisoners suffer," she
said.

Lway Aye Nang of the Women's League of Burma has urged the
international community not to endorse this year's election, because
2,157 political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi and 177 other
women, are being held throughout the country in barbaric conditions.

"Democratic progress in Burma requires the release of all
political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a vital initial
benchmark," she said, adding that the military regime was now seeking to
formalise its domination by basing this year's election on the 2008
constitution.

"A sham democratic process aims to further strengthen military
power and allow military immunity on human-rights violations
constitutionally while the people of Burma, inside and in exile,
continue to strive for democracy and human rights persistently," Lway
Aye Nang said.

The Women's League of Burma's representative also criticised the
Burmese junta's constitution, saying it reinforced stereotyped women as
primarily mothers and needing protection.

"The constitution provides a permanent role for the military in
the country's political administration, guaranteeing 25 per cent of the
seats of both houses of parliament will be held by military personnel,"
she said, adding that women were practically excluded from military
service in Burma.

The only women's groups cooperating with Burma's national
programme are government-backed non-governmental organisations,
including the Myanmar Women's Affairs Federation, the Myanmar Women's
Entrepreneurs Association and the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare
Association.

However, the leadership of all of these is dominated by the
wives
of the junta leaders. They are often corrupt and exploit their
positions for personal gain.