| Home > South-East Asia >> Burma | |
Invitation to return falls flat among exiles
Irrawaddy - October 28, 2011
"We have been forced to be in exile. One thing we have to be careful of is that the president's talk is not a declaration of general amnesty like in 1980, during Ne Win's government. It is just the talk of the president," said Aung Moe Zaw, the chairman of the Democratic Party for a New Society, an organization operating in exile.
Aung Moe Zaw pointed out that in 1980, junta chief Gen Ne Win announced a general amnesty for exiles and prisoners under which many prominent exiles such as U Nu, Burma's former prime-minister who Ne Win had ousted in a military coup, returned to the country. Without such an amnesty in place, Aung Moe Zaw said, exiles such as himself and his organization had no plans to go back to Burma.
Some international Burma observers, including the Brussels-based International Crisis Group and Georgetown University professor David Steinberg, have prominently featured Thein Sein's invitation for the exiles to return home in making their arguments that significant reform is currently taking place inside Burma. But even sources close to the Burmese government have told The Irrawaddy that Thein Sein has undermined his own position on exiles by failing to follow-up with concrete actions making it easy for them to return home.
Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP-Burma), also sees Thein Sein's invitation as weak without the backing of specific policies and laws that would protect the returning exiles.
"The president said the non-criminal exiles can return home. It is just talk and there's no law or policy on this issue. It is not a part of reforming of country. The Burmese government has done this with the intention of making the exiles weaker," he said.
Bo Kyi also said that despite some signs of openness in Burma, it is still hard to believe the government – as an example, he cites the Burmese foreign minister's public position among the international community that there are no prisoners of conscience in Burma.
In addition, observers note that Thein Sein did not define what he means by "non-criminal," and point out that many political prisoners currently held in Burmese jails were placed there on spurious "criminal" charges under draconian state security laws.
Members of Burma's diverse ethnic groups who are living in exile are also cautious about returning home, with some even seeking asylum in foreign countries since the time that Thein Sein delivered the offer in his speech.
Zipporah Sein, the general-secretary of the Karen National Union, an ethnic armed group, said that if the Burmese government really wanted to show improvement it would release all of the political prisoners as the first priority and then institute a ceasefire with the ethnic armed groups.
"Human rights violations and battles are still happening in the ethnic areas. Those kinds of problems will never end without a political discussion and solution. I believe that without a political solution, no improvement will happen," said Zipporah Sein.
Dr Maung Zarni, a prominent figure in the Burmese democracy movement and a research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said that without analyzing how and why people became exiled, it is not possible to predict the conditions under which they would return to Burma.
He also said that personal safety is not the only factor that many exiles will take into consideration in making the decision of whether or not to go back home, noting his own personal experience of returning to Burma in 2005 after leaving his family and cancelling his asylum in the US, but finding upon arrival that there were so many Burmese government restrictions that he couldn't do or write anything.
"If the people can't think, discuss and express themselves freely yet, and if the government hasn't become the servant of the people yet, no exiles will return home, including me, because the leaders of the country and the MPs are just people who suck the blood of the citizens and who control the people like animals.
Until there's a system or government which treats people as human, I don't see the exiles that have self-respect returning home," Maung Zarni said.
Some actions taken by Thein Sein's government have given exiles cause for concern that if they go back to Burma, their activities will in fact be restricted and they may not be allowed to leave. A source close to the Burmese embassy in Bangkok said that exiles wishing to return home have to sign a five-point statement saying that they will: avoid actions and words which can harm the state; avoid writing, talking and lobbying which can harm the stability of the state; avoid contact with illegal organizations; avoid actions that are destructive or harassing; and be loyal to the state and stay within the law.
In addition, the source said that if any exile who has already requested asylum in any foreign country wants to return home, that person must leave their travel documents and identity card at the embassy, which will provide them with a letter of identity. There is no transparent policy stating whether the exiles who return home will be allowed to travel abroad once again.
Some exiles have found that they were not even welcome to return to Burma. Ba Aye and his wife, Than Than Nyunt, who are currently citizens and residents of Australia, received visas from the Burmese embassy in Canberra and returned to Burma on Oct 4, but the Burmese immigration office at the Rangoon International Airport didn't allowed them into the country told them to go back to Australia.
Those who have thus far successfully tested the waters and returned from exile include persons who had become citizens of a foreign country and persons who remain citizens of Burma.
Harn Yawnghwe – who is a Canadian citizen, the director of the Euro-Burma office in Brussels and the managing director of the Democratic Voice of Burma – went back to Burma on Oct 21 and issued a statement saying that he did so because of Thein Sein's invitation. However, Harn Yawnghwe also said that he was making a private trip to his hometown in Shan State and he had no political agenda, fixed itinerary or intention of acting on behalf of any organization during his stay.
Examples of exiles who remain Burmese citizens returning home include Peter Lin Pin, who was elected as an MP in the 1990 election, which the previous military junta disallowed, and some comedians from Tee-Lay-Tee Ah Nyeint, a traditional Burmese dance group.
See also:
 |