Written by U Ne Oo on 2000-08-14
Dr U Ne Oo
18 Sr U Ne Oo
18 Shannon Place
Adelaide SA 5000
14th August 2000
The Hon. John Howard MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Facsimile: (+612) 6273-4100
Dear Prime Minister:
Re: Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering in Burma
I am a Burmese exile residing in Adelaide and I call your attention to the drug trafficking and money laundering in Burma. In this connection, I enclose my report on the current situation together with the recommendations. As you may be awons. As you may be awqre, Burma is one of the major illicit drug producing country and the world's second largest source of heroin. Drug related corruption in Burma is out of control because even the Burmese military at the senior level are involved in production and trafficking of illicit drugs. In recent years, Australia has become a major drug destination country for the Burmese heroin of which 85 per cent of heroin sold in Australia came from Burma's Golden Triangle. We therefore expect the amount of ill-gotten money laundered from Andered from Australia by drug traffickers can be substantial.
I commend your effort for initiating a multi-faceted anti-drug strategy, including supply and demand reduction plans, since November 1997. To take measurs on drug-money laundering is the necessary parto of supply reduction. I therefore request you and Federal Government of Australia to enact a legislation similar to Drug Kingpins Acto of the United States; prohibit Australian nationals and Australian businesses from dealing with Burmese drug kingpins and military jand military junta. I also ask the Federal Government of Australia to place the ban on entry visa for those military leaders, drug kingpins and their immediate family members and also put a freeze on accounts belonging to them. Please also note that the request for prohibiting Australian businesses from dealing with the drug kingpins and military junta in Burma is not one and the same thing as the activists calling for economic sanctions on Burma.
In the light of recent Burmese junta arresting and jailing of prominentg of prominent opposition leaer, I appeal to the Australian Government to review its policy approach to Burma. The Australian Government has provided human rights training to the Burmese civil servants and posted an anti-drug liaison officer to Rangoon. Although these policy initiatives are commendable and do not constitute a change in Australian policy towards Burma, they should not be used as the justification for Australian Government not taking a decisive action on the drag traffickers and money launderers and, in particular, particular, the corrupt military leadership in Burma.
In closing, I thank you for your kind attention to these matters.
Yours respectfully and sincerely
Sd. U Ne Oo.
The Times Of India, August 11, 2000
.
Senior Burma Opposition leader jailed
for 21 years. 1 years.
RANGOON,(AP) Burma: The secretary of a 10-member proxy parliament set up by the Burma pro-democracy party of Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to 21 years in jail, said a party statement received on Thursday.
"Aye Tha Aung, Secretary of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament and a delegate representing ethnic-based political parties was arrested by the military dictators on 24 April. It was learnt that he was given (a) 21 year prison sentence," the statement said.
He was sentenced on was sentenced on June 21 and had been denied the right to a defence lawyer, said the statement issued by the committee, led by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. It did not say what Aye Tha Aung had been charged with.
The committee denounced the jail term and noted that Aye Tha Aung's family had only been allowed to see him once, on July 27. The Burma government could not be reached immediately for comment.
The NLD, which won a landslide victory in 1990 general elections but was barred by the ruling military from takilitary from taking power, set up the CRPP in September of 1998 when the government ignored its demands to convene a parliament.
Since the formation of the CRPP, which directly challenges the regime's legitimacy, authorities have stepped up pressure on the party. Several elected representatives of the NLD have been detained and many have resigned from the party.
Since it was set up in 1988, hundreds of NLD members have been imprisoned, usually after summary sentencing. The Burma regime has faced international censure and sanctions for its poor human rights record.
