Significant gestures

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released their formal statement reacting to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's commuted sentence of 18 months house arrest from the original sentence of three years' hard labour.

We are disappointed to learn that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty and sentenced to three years hard labour. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi did not plan to violate the terms of her house arrest, and the intrusion into her house was by a person who appears to be of unsound mind.

We are however happy that the Myanmar Government has exercised its sovereign prerogative to grant amnesty for half her sentence and that she will be placed under house arrest rather than imprisoned.

We are heartened that Minister of Home Affairs Major General Maung Oo had announced that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be allowed to see doctors and nurses, communicate with her party, watch local television channels, read local newspapers and journals, and can receive visitors with the government's permission and that there is a possibility that she could receive amnesty for the remainder of her sentence.

These are significant gestures by the Myanmar Government. We hope that the Myanmar Government will allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in the political process as soon as possible. A meaningful dialogue between the Myanmar Government, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political groups in an open and inclusive process of national reconciliation is the only hope for the long term political stability of the country.

(Emphasis mine)

Significant gestures? The only thing significant is how easily our government is looking the other way, accepting the military rulers who are not elected by the Myanmar people, and not even mentioning that Myanmar is ruled by the military. This is a trial that never should have happened; how is she to control if a whackjob decides to swim across a lake to visit her?

It is nothing less than a blatant excuse to keep Miss Suu Kyi out of the Myanmar elections slated to happen in early 2010, and our government made it sound a lot more legitimate than it really is. A farce does not turn legitimate no matter how significant a gesture is. Benjamin Zawacki, researcher with Amnesty International Burma, got it right:

Arguably, the generals conceded three and a half years and harsh conditions in Insein prison. Effectively, they conceded nothing.

And we have conceded everything.