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Will Burmese ever experience justice? |
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Commentary
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by John Moe
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Friday, 03 April 2009 16:39 |
In Cambodia, members of the ageing leadership of the Khmer Rouge, including the chief of the notorious prison and torture center of Tuol Sleng, are finally being hauled before a tribunal to investigate their alleged accountability in crimes against humanity that led to the deaths of some two million Cambodians in the last half of the 1970s. But what about the caretakers of Burma's notorious prisons? Burmese political prisoners and their families’ have been tortured both physically and mentally by the military regime for decades, without anyone ever being held accountable.
Additionally, Thai Judge Tonglor Chomngarm, as he was handing down sentence to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, proclaimed: "The defendant is a leader of government and should have acted with a good example to others, so the court decided not to suspend the sentence and decided to jail him for two years." As such, the greatest question to ask of Burma's justices is, "Will Naypyitaw's generals ever be held responsible under the laws of accountability?"
In Burma, how many university students and protesters were killed during the 8-8-88 uprising, as students rose up in protest against the policies of the military dictatorship? Or what about the events of May 30, 2003, when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy were viciously attacked outside the village of Depayin?
In the case of the latter, the murderers of an estimated 70 people continue go unpunished – six years after their crimes – while Burma's Chief justice maintains an icy silence, even as victims of the massacre are instead incarcerated.
And in the Middle East, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was found guilty of the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shiite town of Dujail – among a myriad of similar offenses. He was subsequently convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging in 2006, following his removal from power in the wake of a U.S. led invasion.
Yet, in Burma, the genocidal campaigns of the Burmese Army directed at minority ethnic communities continue to go unpunished, the international community failing to come the rescue.
Taiwan's former president, Chen Shui-bian, faces trial on charges of corruption and the embezzlement of 3.1 million dollars, in addition to other indictments. If Chen is convicted he faces life in prison. Likewise, how much money have Burma's generals managed to sequester in hidden accounts over the course of their decades in power? Yet, unlike Chen, they remain enshrined in their seats of power.
In sum, there has been no justice in Burma for years. 88 generation leaders are still serving long years of imprisonment, even as the military government woos domestic and international populations to support their proposed 2010 general elections and the state sponsored parties that will vie for seats in a new Parliament.
Nevertheless – despite his strategy to ensure the military's continued grip on national power – Senior General Than lives a life of fear, having seen the fate of world leaders who chose to act against best interests of their people. Burma's population longs for the day when the generals who have done wrong by them are also confronted with the sword of justice.
We can say this: after all is said and done, not even Burma's recalcitrant generals will be able to avoid their day of reckoning for crimes committed against the very people they purport to serve.
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Commentary 
