Reactions to US sanctions in accord with Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act

DVB ( July 29,2003 )

US President George W. Bush signed Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act on Monday closing US market to imports from Burma. The law will take affect after 30 days.

Although the SPDC has dismissed the US sanctions on Burma as ‘cannons with no balls’, the people of Rangoon told the DVB that they are immediately becoming effective and many factories in Hlaing Thaya in Rangoon have been closed down as a result.

Moreover, some garment factories in New Pale Township are also being closed down by their Taiwanese employer and she planning to move her factories to Cambodia, said a Rangoon resident as follows:

A Rangoon resident : They are moving their company to Cambodia. They have already considered the move before the sanctions became effective. The company boss is a woman from Taiwan. They did warn people that they are withdrawing their activities here. After the Dipeyin incident, they became quite frightened and they immediately planned to move to Cambodia. The employees are not given compensations. They all lost their jobs. My daughter is working in the factory in Pale. They have 300 employees there. Tiger Beer has 400-500 employers and the like…they could have 100,000 to 200,000 workers in the whole country.

A Burmese economist Dr. Zaw Oo said that the US economic sanctions are not Thingyan ceremonial cannons (without cannon balls) as claimed by the SPDC but they will genuinely hurt the regime as follows;

Dr Zaw Oo : This law is quite wide-ranging. They have banned all exports from Burma and according to last year’s data, Burma exported US$ 400 millions worth of goods to the USA. These goods seem to be still in Burma. If they could sell these goods to other countries, you could say that the sanctions are ‘cannons without balls’. But the problem is out of the $400 millions, 90% of them are garment and textile goods. These goods were exportable to the USA because of the import quotas allowed to Burma. What I mean is - these Burmese exports are for the USA only. You can’t export them to other countries. These export goods are likely to get stranded in Burma. These can’t be sold in Burma either. As investors are starting to leave Burma, there could be some stronger repercussions.

Dr. Zaw Oo also comforted the workers who are directed affected by the sanctions as follows:

Dr Zaw Oo : As the whole country is in trouble, the workers are likely to be affected too. It is not a good situation for anyone. I do feel for them but whatever it is – you won’t have to wait for too long. Currently, while the US government is piling on more pressures, it is also starting to look for less painful way out of Burmese political difficulties. Meanwhile, we have to face the problems together until we have a democratic market system. In the future when there is democracy, we could earn twice or thrice the amount of what you are earning now. As they say, the higher the water, the more magnificent the water lily; when the country’s situation is better, the people could fare much better. I want to encourage you to face the problems with courage with a view to the future.

Burmese opposition groups based on the Thai-Burma border also welcome the US concerning sanctions to be imposed on Burma and they insisted that it is an essential and crucial time to take punitive measures on the SPDC.

DVB’s Aung Lwin Oo reports:

Aung Lwin Oo : Firstly, the general secretary of the NCUB, U Aung Moe Zaw commented on the US sanctions as follows:

U Aung Moe Zaw : It is time to take punitive measures on the military junta in Burma. It is time to impose multilateral sanctions on the SPDC through the UN. Above all, it is time for the international community to start political intervention in Burma through the UN as soon as possible.

Aung Lwin Oo :Phado Mahn Sha, the general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU) expressed the views of the KNU as follows:

Phado Mahn Sha : We fully support the law concerning the sanctions. We believe that we will have political changes in Burma sooner only when we have biting sanctions on the SPDC. That is the reason why we give our support. Moreover, we believe that the law is compatible with the interests and benefits of ethnic nationals and people of Burma.

Aung Lwin Oo :Moreover, U Aung Moe Zaw also described what should be done continuously in order to solve the current political difficulties in Burma:

U Aung Moe Zaw : Although the USA has ratified the bill for democracy in Burma, we still don’t know where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is being detained now. The situation in Burma is still complicated. In this situation, we want to urge the USA government to discuss the affairs at the UN Security Council and to continue to put more pragmatic and severe pressures on Burma as soon as possible.

Aung Lwin Oo :Similarly, Phado Mahn Sha also gave his opinions on the future actions as follows:

Phado Mahn Sha : It could not be done by the USA alone. Other countries need to join and give a hand. For example, if the EU, Japan, China and ASEAN follow suit, there will be instant effects. But, you can’t do it with international pressures alone. Workers, farmers, in a word, the people as a whole, and ethnic nationals and the political parties who represent them inside Burma should enthusiastically fight the SPDC.