Statement
by Lim Kit Siang - Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong
in Petaling Jaya
on Thursday, 25th October 1996
The latest repressions by SLORC are additional reasons why the military junta’s application for membership of ASEAN should be rejected
It is most unfortunate that the visit of the Malaysian Foreign Minister, Datuk Abdullah Badawi and his meetings with leaders of State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) have made no impression whatsoever on the Myanmese military junta on the need to respect ASEAN and international opinion for progress to be made on the democratic situation in Burma.
The latest series of repressions by SLORC are in fact additional reasons why the military junta’s application for membership of ASEAN should be rejected.
The latest SLORC repressions include:
- stopping Burmese 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from leaving her home;
- detention of the co-vice chairman of the National League for Democracy, Kyi Maung, 79;
- police brutality against university students;
- government clampdown on computer ownership that could be used for accessing the Internet SLORC has banned outright the unauthorised possession of a computer with networking capabilities. Breaches of the law are punishable by a prison sentence of between seven and 15 years. There are similar sentences for anyone who is found using a computer to send or receive information on various matters, including state security, the economy and national culture.
I will raise in the Malaysian Parliament next week the failures of the visit of the Malaysian Foreign Minister and the ASEAN “constructive engagement” policy to effect any perceptible progress in democratisation in Myanmar and to urge the Malaysian Government to stop being the leading proponent for Myanmar’s admission into ASEAN by next year.
25th October 1996