Elected Member of Parliament for the Loikaw-2 Constituency (Burma).

To the Inter-Parliamentary Union Human Rights Committee

Geneva.

February 1, 1999.

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Human Rights Committee,

My name is Teddy Buri. I was elected as an NLD MP for the Loikaw

Constituency in Karenni State, in the Eastern part of Burma on 27 May 1990.

I left Burma in March 1994, and joined the National Coalition Government

of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) in July 1995 and am currently serving as the

NCGUB's Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs. I am currently living in exile.

On behalf of the people of my constituency in Loikaw, all of the elected

members of Burma's parliament and the NCGUB, I want to thank you for this

opportunity to testify about conditions of my fellow MPs.

Nine years have now elapsed since the May 1990 general elections in which

the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 82 percent of the seats.

Still, the military regime -- which has renamed itself the State Peace and

Development Council -- refuses to honor its promises and its obligation

under national and international law to transfer power to the elected

parliament. Instead, it has launched a systematic strategy to prevent the

parliament from ever convening and to ensure that there will never be a

restoration of democracy in Burma. To implement this strategy, the regime

is resorting to deception, harassment, coercion, threats, prison and

torture. A number of elected MPs and NLD organizers have also died in

prisons under conditions which suggest that their deaths were intentional.

The basis for the junta's campaign to thwart democracy in Burma is the

decree it issued in July 1990. In this decree, Declaration 1/90, the

regime declared itself extra-constitutional and subject to no power except

its own. With Declaration 1/90 and the increased repression of all the

successful parties, it became clear that the generals had no intention to

abide by their obligation to transfer power. The NLD, consequently, held

secret meetings in Rangoon and Mandalay and formed its own plans to convene

the parliament and seek international recognition. Although the original

plan was to form a parallel government inside Burma, arrests and travel

restrictions forced some of us out of the country to pursue our mission,

and the NCGUB was established in a liberated area near the Thai-Burmese

border in December, 1990.

In the years since 1990, the NCGUB has worked to secure international

support for the restoration of democracy and the NLD has worked inside

Burma, seeking to negotiate with the regime and to work with the people for

a peaceful transition to democracy.

In 1998, after eight years of waiting, the NLD renewed its request to the

SPDC that it convene the parliament. On the eighth anniversary of the 1990

elections, the NLD informed the junta that it wanted the parliament

convened by August 21st and that if the regime refused to fulfill its

obligations under national and international law the NLD would seek to

convene the parliament notwithstanding the regime's failure.

In response, the regime -- principally through the Directorate of Defense

Services Intelligence -- vastly stepped up its campaign, not only to stop

the parliament from convening, but also to wipe out the democratic

movement. This campaign is characterized by illegal and inhumane tactics

and has resulted in the incarcerations of more than 150 members of

parliament. This is in addition to the approximately 40 members of

parliament who were already imprisoned by the regime. More than 10,000

members of the NLD have been forced to "resign" from the party and

extraordinary new hardships are being imposed. The regime is now demanding

that NLD offices submit daily lists of persons visiting their offices and

produce membership lists, office files and account books.

The SPDC is not only arresting those whose only crime was winning an

election, but is staging, off and on, a National Convention, ostensibly to

draft a new constitution. In reality, this Convention is stage-managed to

convey an appearance of democratic process while producing a constitution

that would forever foreclose the restoration of democracy in Burma. Out of

700 delegates to the Convention, only a little more than 100 were elected

members of parliament. Others have been handpicked by the military. For a

rigorous analysis of the National Convention, I would call your attention

to a report by the International League for Human Rights and the

International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development, "The

National Convention in Burma (Myanmar): An Impediment to the Restoration of

Democracy," which is appended to my written testimony.

The regime's campaign of fear against the elected Members of Parliament and

their political parties has taken a terrible toll on the M.P.s, their

families and the people of Burma. At present, approximately 200 members of

parliament-elect are incarcerated -- some in prisons; some in what the

military euphemistically refers to as "guest houses." Thanks to the work

of Amnesty International and other human rights groups, the world well

knows the infamous conditions inside Burma's prisons. According to

information we are receiving, treatment and conditions in the "guest

houses" are, at best, akin to minimum-security prisons. In many cases

however, the treatment is truly life-threatening. The regime is not

providing adequate food or medical treatment and in some cases, is not

allowing anyone else to either. I would point to the recent death of U

Aung Min, a member of the Mandalay Division Organizing Committee who died

on October 21, 1998 while in custody at a "guest house."

On 16 September 1998, the parties which won the overwhelming majority of

parliamentary seats formed a Committee Representing the People's Parliament

(CRPP) to act on behalf of the entire parliament. The parties constituting

the CRPP are the National League for Democracy, Shan National League for

Democracy, Arakan League for Democracy, Mon National Democracy Front and

Zome National Congress. Four ethnic groups which have signed cease-fires

with the regime, the Shan Nationalities People's Liberation Organization,

the Kayan New Land Party, the Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation

Front and the New Mon State Party also supported the CRPP. This Committee

has been given signed mandates from 60 percent of the elected parliament

members authorizing them to begin the work of the parliament, which the

CRPP is now doing.

Among the CRPP's first actions were to revoke illegal laws promulgated by

the regime and to restore the writ of habeas corpus. At present, the

Committee is appealing for international recognition and has formed

subcommittees charged with responsibilities for specific subject areas,

such as ethnic affairs, finance, education, foreign affairs and defense.

Thus far, the leaders of all the political parties in the Norwegian

parliament and the leaders of five parties in the Danish parliament have

given their support to the establishment of the CRPP as the legitimate

representative of Burma's democracy, and the Socialist International has

recognized it as "the legitimate instrument of the will of the people of

Burma".

Mr. Chairman/Ms. Chairman and members of the committee, let me stress this

point. The parliament which the Burmese people elected in 1990 is the

repository of democratic legitimacy in Burma. The Committee Representing

the People's Parliament is a necessary --and legitimate -- step toward

convening the full parliament and restoring a democratic system. We seek

IPU recognition of the CRPP and assistance in winning recognition by all

the IPU member parliaments. Today, I come before you to seek your support.

We look forward to the day when we will be able to serve with you in the

IPU. Your recognition and support will speed that day.