Open Letter to the Ruling Generals in Rangoon

SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION (SDU)

Open Letter to the Ruling Generals in Rangoon

Dear members of the SPDC: 

The SDU is aware that Secretary 1, General Khin Nyunt, among others, is very much incensed by the License to Rape report of the Shan Women Action Network (SWAN) and the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF). The SPDC has issued blanket denials and very rigorously attacked SWAN and SHRF, accusing them of plotting with the "terrorist Ywet Sit“ and the Burma Fund to sully the honor of the armed forces. 

The fact of the matter is that in the democratic movement, forces within it are autonomous. Civil society bodies and NGOs, and as well the media people take great pride in their independence and guard their autonomy and rights jealously. The movement's leaders and leaders of organizations, armed or unarmed, have no control over these autonomous, civil society groups, and they in turn, very strongly resist any attempts by those on top to manipulate them. This is how things are currently within the democratic opposition, and it will be thus in the future democratic, federal Union of Burma. 

Regarding the License to Rape issue, the SHRF has been posting reports on human rights abuses, including rapes, in the Shan State every month, for well over ten years. As well, brave Shan individuals have complained to authorities about the atrocities inflicted on the people. The SPDC as well as its predecessors, SLORC, has ignored these reports, and local authorities have threatened (and even punished and extrajudicially executed) those who dared to complain. 

The SPDC took notice of the rapes report only now, and this is owed to the two or three sentences press advisory put out on this matter by the State Department of the United States. The SDU sadly notes that the SPDC or the adhoc Government of Myanmar is responsive only to foreign opinions and pressure, but not to the voice or the sad and horrific plight of the people. 

There is no need for the SDU to define what the duties and responsibilities of governments are. Foremost among them is to serve the people and be accountable to them in every way, and to punish wrongdoers. 

SWAN and SHRF understand this and their report is to alert the defacto government of Burma/Myanmar to the tragic plight of Shan women, the most vulnerable and noble segment of the population in any society. We expect the SPDC as the defacto Government of Burma/Myanmar will not politicize the License to Rape report, and that it will charge a commission of independent, neutral, credible, and distinguished national and international figures to look into the matter, in a transparent manner, and with guarantees that witnesses will not be intimidated or harmed whatsoever, in any way. 

The SDU also appeals to the SPDC, the defacto government of the country, to take serious note of the numerous crises besetting the country and the people from every walk of life. This is not the time to play the politics of vested and narrow interest. 

We, together with all opposition leaders, elected MPs, political parties, civil society leaders and associations, and the people, are ready and prepared for dialogue -- to sit together as problem-solvers around the dialogue table. The SDU is prepared to respect the SPDC as a major problem-solving partner, if the SPDC is so inclined. 

The SDU, together with the people and their leaders and elected representatives, is willing to seriously consider and address all the concerns and aspirations of the SPDC and the military, and will work for a "win-win" solution, a solution that will benefit all sectors and segments of the population of the Union of Burma, including the military. 

We hope that the SPDC will soon come up with a dialogue initiative and begin public preliminary talks with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Khun Tun Oo that will lead to tripartite dialogue. Or alternatively, that the SPDC will respond constructively and positively to any dialogue initiative of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and/or Khun Tun Oo.