To The Silver Town
The Burmese Hill People and the Search for Freedom

by David Ferguson

1.The Book and the Brother

In 1795 an English diplomat was taken by his Burmese guides to visit one of the villages of the Karen. The villagers were electrified by the sight of a white face and asked, with the help of an interpreter, if this man was the white brother they had been expecting. When the Englishman asked the villagers what this white brother was supposed to do they told him he was to bring them a book like the one their forefathers had lost ages before. The author of the book was said to be Y'wa the supreme God, having given them the lost book the white brother was to set them free from their oppressors. Surely the Karen were not asking Britain to add Burma to their empire? Fearing a trap and seeing the discomfort of his Burmese guide the Diplomat denied all knowledge of Y'wa and his book. The Karen were not attempting trickery they were simply repeating which had been handed down among them since ancient times; and so they continued to wait for the lost book to be restored.

In 1816 a Muslim traveller entered a Karen village. The Muslim was not light skinned but he did have with him a book which he said contained writings about the true God. Seeing their fascination with the book, the Muslim offered it as a gift to an elderly Karen sage. The sage wrapped the book, which none of the Karen could read, in muslin and placed it in a special basket. Gradually the people developed rituals for venerating the sacred volume. The sage dressed himself in ornate garments befitting his role as keeper of the book and carried a special cudgel as a symbol of his spiritual authority. He and his people waited for the teacher who would one day come and explain to them the contents of the sacred book.

The American missionary Adoniram Judson arrived in Burma in 1817, seven years before the first of the wars by means of which the British added Burma to their empire. In terms of numbers his mission amongst the Burmese Buddhists went very poorly and much of his energy went into translating the bible into Burmese. As he worked on his translation, Karen would pass by his window reciting the ancient hymns of their people. If Judson had understood that language he would have been astonished. The Karen people were singing of the one true God Y'wa, of the first couple Tha-nai and Ee-u who lived in a garden where they were tempted by the evil one Mu-kaw-lee into eating the fruit of trial; as a result of their disobedience it was said suffering and death had entered the world. They also sang of the lost book of Y'wa which would one day be restored to them by the white foreigners who would come from the west.

One day a Karen man, a former robber and murderer named Ko Thah-byu obtained work at Judson's mission. As Judson explained to him the gospel of Jesus Christ he came to realise that the bible was indeed was the lost book that the Karen had been awaiting for centuries. When two of Judson's colleagues announced plans to launch a new mission based in the city of Tavoy in southern Burma he asked to go along. He journeyed into the hills of what is now Karen state and began preaching each time he came to a Karen village. Soon hundreds of his converts came flocking down to Tavoy to see the "white brother" who had at last arrived with the lost book.

Ko Thah-byu continued to travel from village to village telling the people of the Karen the good news of Jesus Christ. Eventually he heard of the village which, twelve years earlier had received the book from the Muslim traveller. The book still kept in its sacred basket turned out to be the Book of Common Prayer and the Psalms in an edition printed in Oxford. After hearing the gospel the aged sage gave up his fantastical dress and cudgel, and subsequently became a believer in Jesus Christ.

Other missions among the Karen were equally successful; in the next few years thousands of the Karen became Christians. Ko Thah-byu continued to preach among the Karen until his death. Today at least a third of the six million or so Karen are Christian. Yes, the Karen are still there. Just.

But they are suffering terribly. Betrayed and forgotten by their white brother they are being killed, imprisoned and tortured by the military junta that illegally governs Burma. Soon, says one of their oppressors, if you want to see a Karen you will have to look in a museum.

2. Empire and Mission

The history of what we now call Burma (or Myanmar) is one of power struggles between three dominant tribal groups the Shan, the Mon and the Burmese. Sometimes powerful leaders from one or other of these groups were able to hold much of the country together, at other times races and kingdoms were more fragmented.

The British took over Burma in a series of 3 wars: 1824-26, 1852-53 and 1886. The first two of these campaigns resulted in the conquest of parts of the country, but left the Burmese King in place, and thus could be seen by the Burmese as another temporary power shift. The third and final war was decisive. The King was deposed from his new capital of Mandalay and Burma was ruled as a province of British India until it was occupied by the Japanese during the second world war. It is important to realise that what is now Burma was never totally united prior to the British conquest. Karen state and the border regions were not taken until the third campaign. This means that although the missionary work originated by Adoniram Judson runs parallel to the wars with Britain, during the period of intense evangelisation, the Karen state was not under British rule.

The Karen Christians felt a responsibility to proclaim the good news of the lost book restored to the other hill tribes and so in 1558 they began a mission to the Kachin who live in the north of Burma. By that time tens of thousands of the Karen had become Christians. However when the Karen missionaries arrived in Kachin state they were astonished to learn that the Kachin also believed in a Supreme Creator who gave their forefathers a book which they had since lost. This creator is known among them as Karai Kasang and, like the Karen, the Kachin responded to Christianity as the fulfilment of the beliefs they already held. In a period of less than a century 250,000 of the half million or so Kachin's became Christians.

In the east of Shan state lying between Thailand and China near the border with Laos live about a quarter of a million Lahu. Among the Lahu the Creator is called Gui'Sha. The Lahu had a tradition which told how their forefathers had known the law of God but had lost it; their prophets told them that one day Gui'Sha would send a white brother with a white book containing the white laws of Gui'Sha, the laws that had been lost to them long before. Many Lahu wore cords around their wrist to symbolise their bondage to the nats or spirits.

Among the Wa who live in the mountains between the Kachin and the Lahu God is known as Siyeh. From time to time Siyeh would send prophets to the Wa who would remind them of the ways of the one true God. It was one such prophet who one day in the 1890's announced that Siyeh had told him that the white brother had finally come near. He saddled a pony and told some of his followers to follow the pony which would lead them to the white brother. The pony lead them over 200 miles down into the city of Kengtung where they learned the gospel from the American missionary named William Marcus Young.

Young had been commissioned to take the gospel to the Shan. Taking Karen missionaries with him he established a base in Kengtung, capital city of Shan state. One day while he was preaching on the theme of the ten commandments some people of the Lahu came down from the mountains to trade. When they saw his white face and the white interior of the book in his hand, and listened to him describing the laws of God they begged him to follow them up into the mountains telling him that their people had been waiting for him for centuries. Upon receiving the Lost Book they asked Young to cut the cords, symbolising their bondage to the spirits, from their wrists.

It was in the early days of the mission to the Lahu that the pony sent from the Wa arrived in Kengtung, turned into the gate of the mission compound and headed towards a well. Young who had been digging the well climbed out. The Wa messengers asked whether he had brought them a book from God and Young nodded in reply, and so once again the lost book was found. In the following years some 10,000 Wa became Christians.

I have told these stories in some detail because they are not widely known. The rest of this account of recent Burmese history will be comparatively brief since this is widely documented elsewhere. Those who want more detail are referred to the recommendations for further reading. Many writers recognise the impact of Christianity on the hill tribes and many mention the legends of the Karen as a reason for their tendency to ally themselves with the west, and in particular with the British, for example during world war two. Some mention a 19th century theory that the Karen were a lost tribe of Israel, but that does not fit the facts, The Karen and many other hill tribes knew the story of Adam and Eve, but make no mention of any of the great figures of Israel's history. The origins of their folklore seems to predate the establishment of Israel as a nation.

For the Karen and other minorities the coming of the British meant in part a liberation from Burmese oppression and an opportunity for education and development. The missionaries built schools and many Karen were able to go on to higher studies and take up modern professions. Many found work in the British run administration.

3. The First struggle for Independence

The Burmese majority remain for the most part Theravada Buddhists, and as in many parts of the world religion and national identity are closely tied together. For many years they had dominated Burma both militarily and culturally, and had tried with limited success to convert the Karen and other hill people. They were puzzled by and at times resentful of the success of Christianity amongst these peoples.

In the early years of the twentieth century attempts to purify Theravada Buddhism developed into a movement for Burmese independence. During the second world war Aung San, who had emerged as one of the leaders of this movement, went, along with a group of others known as the thirty comrades, to receive military training in Japan. Those thus trained, along with others formed the Burmese Independence Army (BIA) which helped the Japanese to drive the British out of Burma. During the three and a half years of the Japanese occupation the BIA acted as enforcers for the Japanese. Aung San himself desired to overcome the racial divisions within Burma, such as that between the Burmese and the Karen, divisions which he felt had been exacerbated by the British. He encouraged the creation of a Karen battalion in the BIA. Whatever Aung San's own position it was not shared by all in the BIA which committed many atrocities against the Karen and other ethnic minorities who were seen as British collaborators. Aung San himself was later accused of committing the murder of a village headman during this period. He took full responsibility for the death insisting that there had been a legitimate court marshal.

Many of the Karen, along with members of other hill peoples left Burma with the retreating British forces and later parachuted back in. Loyal allies of the British, the Karen were excellent jungle warriors, and helped to organise villagers against the Japanese and the BIA. In 1944-45 the Karen, Karenni and Kachin helped the allies to recapture Burma. In return the British government promised the Karen people their own state. It was a promise they did not keep.

It had become plain that the Japanese had no intention of granting Burma independence, and were in fact more oppressive than the British, therefore the BIA switched sides towards the end of the war and fought against the retreating Japanese. After the war the AFPFL (Anti-Faschist People's Freedom League) led by Aung San asked the British to grant Burmese independence. The various non-Burmans, fearing domination by the Burmese, asked for separation from them. In 1947 representatives of the Shan, Chin and Kachin agreed at the Panglong conference to co-operate with the Burmese government and not seek secession for at least a decade. The Karen and other ethnic minorities were not represented. However the conference made a good beginning and further negotiation might well have been possible. It was not to be: on 19 July 1947 Aung San and six other members of the executive council of the AFPFL were assassinated by Burmese political rivals. U Nu the most senior member of the AFPFL left alive completed the negotiations and in January 1948 became Burma's elected leader.

4. Civil War

As soon as he came to power U Nu was faced by an uprising by the Burmese Communists, and was assisted in resisting this by the non-Burman units within the army. However during this time he was raising his own army which he soon turned against the Karen and other non-Burman units. The Karen and others began a series of peaceful demonstrations aimed at procuring independence or some form of federalism. When this failed they turned to armed rebellion as did the People's Volunteer Defence Organisation, formed to resist the British.

Nu held power throughout the 1950's but in order to do so had to rely strongly on the army. In 1962 General Ne Win who Nu had made commander-in-chief of the army overthrew Nu's government and established a military dictatorship. One of his first actions on coming to power was to dynamite the Student Union buildings, regardless of whether they were occupied, lock up thousands of protesters and shoot many others. It was a taste of what was to come.

By the late 1970's there were well over a dozen armed opposition groups controlling something between 20 and 30% of Burma's land mass. The communists held large areas of Shan State whilst ethnic armies held much of the border country. In the early 1970's Ne Win introduced the Four Cuts policy which aimed to cut off food, funds, recruits and intelligence from the various rebel groups; this policy which included forced labour and forced relocation had the result of driving the civilian population which supported the rebels into destitution. Despite this the military opposition continued and in 1976 nine of the ethnic armies united to form the National Democratic Front alliance.

Ne Win's Burmese Way to Socialism, a policy which he pursued throughout the 1970's and much of the 1980's, involved increased militarisation and state control, large scale repression and denial of human rights, and the isolation of Burma from the international community. His economic policies were disastrous and the country became increasingly impoverished.

5. The Second Struggle

The opposition to Ne Win's rule grew; demonstrations in 1974 and 1976 were repressed with brutal force. In 1988 there was another round of mass demonstrations led by university students and Buddhist Monks, in Rangoon, Mandalay and most of the provincial towns. Again they were repressed with the military firing into the crowds and killing hundreds of civilians, clubbing to death protesters, including boys and girls in their early teens.

Pro-democracy activists fled to the hills where they allied themselves with the ethnic armies. As a result of this agreements were later forged between ethnic and pro-democracy groups whereby most of the ethnic armies agreed to drop their objective of full independence and pro-democracy groups agreed to the concept of a federal state with some autonomy for the ethnic regions.

Meanwhile a new figure emerged as a leader of the pro-democracy movement. Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Aung San was born in 1945 and had spent the first 15 years of her life in Burma, thereafter she lived abroad. In 1967 she gained a degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University. In 1972 she married a British scholar Michael Aris and in 1974 moved with him to the UK. Throughout the 1970's an 80's she made frequent visits to her mother who remained in Burma. So it was that in 1988 she had returned to Burma to tend her mother who had suffered a stroke.

It was the resignation of Ne Win and his announcement of a referendum on Burma's political future that was the immediate catalyst for Suu Kyii's move into political action. Her family house became a meeting place for activists and on August 26th 1988 she made a historic pro-democracy speech at the Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon. In the coming months she travelled the country making many more speeches.

Like her father Suu Kyii is a devout Buddhist with a strong sense of the link between Theravada Buddhism and Burmese national identity. Like her father she desires unity between the Burmese and the ethnic minorities, and like him she tends to blame the British and the Christian missionaries for these divisions, especially that between the Burmese and the Karen. She is deeply committed both to human rights and democracy, commitments strongly linked to her Buddhist beliefs, and she rejects the argument that these are western ideas alien to Burmese culture, claiming rather that Buddhism has always been a flexible ideology, open to new ideas.

Ne Win had stepped down but hand picked a junta which assumed power in September 1988 - the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). The SLORC continued the policy of massacring civilian demonstrators, but the impoverished regime was eager to obtain international recognition and the resultant financial aid. Therefore the SLORC announced democratic elections for May 1990 calculating that it could control the election results by splitting the opposition.

In response to this Suu Kyi and her associates formed a part, the National League for Democracy (NLD). In so doing they managed to unite the opposition. In Burma 19th July, Martyrs Day, commemorates the murders of

Aung San and his cabinet. In the days leading up to this commemoration in 1989 Suu Kyii voiced the belief that the chief obstacle to political change in Burma was that Ne Win still controlled the army. She expressed doubts about the willingness of the junta to turn over power to a civilian government, doubts that proved to be well-founded. On the 20th July 1989 she was placed under house arrest by the SLORC.

In spite of this when the elections were held in May 1990 the NLD won 82% of the parliamentary seats, its allies 16% and the SLORC's National Unity party only 2%. The NLD are therefore the legitimate government of Burma.

The junta never honoured the election result and Suu Kyi remained under house arrest. Elected members of parliament have been harassed, arrested, disqualified, or forced or coerced to resign. Some have died in prison, while others fled to areas held by the ethnic resistance groups and formed a parallel government.

6. Visit Myanmar?

Meanwhile the SLORC renamed Burma Myanmar; short for Myanmar Naing Ngan, which means Burman country, a name traditionally used by Burmans to refer to the central plains. Ethnic minorities see this as an act of ethnic cleansing while pro democracy groups see it as the act of an illegal regime. Hence both reject the new name.

In July 1995 Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest, although she remained severely restricted. However in November 1995 delegates from the NLD walked out of the new government controlled National Convention, arguing that it was not democratic. SLORC responded with another wave of arrests. In May 1996 when the NLD announced a meeting to mark the anniversary of its annulled election victory, SLORC arrested over 300 NLD members, 273 of whom were elected MP's.

Nevertheless November 1996 saw the belated launch of Visit Myanmar Year.

The aim was to attract international tourists and the accompanying revenues. However many of the things which make this tourism possible, the roads, railways and airports were built using forced labour from the ethnic villages. Many of the sights available have been beautified by the forced relocation of village communities. For these reasons the NLD have asked people not to visit Burma until democracy is restored, In response many people have chosen not to become guests of the junta. The Burma Campaign UK have called for a boycott of all Lonely Planet Publications until its Burma Guide, which encourages people to visit Burma in defiance of the NLD, is withdrawn.

English human rights activist James Mawdsley, who spent 450 days in a Burmese prison for protesting against the junta, backs the NLD saying, "It is sinful for sightseeing tourists to breeze around Burma pouring dollars into the generals' coffers," but adds that "... those who would learn more, those who are sensitive, should definitely come. If they spend their money wisely the junta need not see any of it; it can go directly to the people: for example by staying in private guest houses rather than Junta owned ones."

7. The Border Areas Under the Junta

The SLORC renamed the State Peace and Development Council(SPDC) in 1997 has continued with the Four Cuts policy, applying this more ruthlessly than ever. In order to gain complete control of the villagers the Burmese army, known as the Tatmadaw, has systematically destroyed hundreds of villages and forced the villagers to relocate to army controlled areas where they are used as forced labour. The range of tasks imposed on villagers is vast including being asked to act as forced porters or guides, messengers or sentries, building and maintaining fences, trenches, booby traps and barracks, cutting and hauling firewood, cooking and carrying water to soldiers, building and rebuilding roads, growing crops for the army on confiscated land and engaging in profit making activities for the officers.

Every army unit demands most of these things from the surrounding villages, and a village may be surrounded by as many as 5 army units even in non-conflict areas. The work is hard, with demands made for a specified number of villagers on a daily or weekly basis, any household failing to comply is fined, if the fine is not paid people, including children and pregnant women are taken by force. Those who become sick or unable to continue are killed or left behind.

Mobile SPDC patrols often grab farmers on sight to compel them to work, with the result that many villagers run as they see an army patrol coming. If they run they are considered to be a rebel and are shot at. To avoid forced labour men often leave the village and go to ground in the forest while the women, children and elderly remain to protect the house from looting by soldiers. This makes the women vulnerable to rape by the army patrols. Often they are forced to labour in place of the missing man or held hostage by the army, accused of being the wives of 'rebel soldiers'.

Caught between the Tatmadaw and the opposition armies villagers may be compelled to help opposition groups and then punished by the SPDC for doing so. Although they support the aims of the opposition groups in principle villagers often ask them not to fight the SPDC in their area because of the brutal reprisals that will ensue.

Landmines laid by both SPDC and opposition armies have become another threat to villagers. The Tatmadaw use villagers as minesweepers, specifically choosing women and children to march in front of columns of soldiers.

In Karen state traditional methods of hill farming have been rendered impossible. The result is that many have no option but to flee or starve. Knowing the fate that awaits them many flee to the hills as soon as they are ordered to relocate and survive by secretly growing subsistence level rice crops. Others make their way to the Thai border where they become refugees.

8. Doing Business with the Generals

In order to maintain itself in power the junta needs foreign revenues. Most people seem to have seen through the attempt to obtain this through tourism and have stayed away in droves. Successful campaigning and shareholder pressure have led to the withdrawal of several famous names: PepsiCo, Texaco, British Home Stores, Heineken, Apple Computers, Phillips, Hewlett Packard, and recently Triumph International.

In May 1997 President Clinton banned U.S. companies from any new investment in Burma. This withdrawal was exploited by the British company Premier Oil which has now also sold its interests in Burma though it would insist this is not a response to human rights campaigning.

Suu Kyi has identified the French company TotalFinaElf as "the principal supporter of the military regime". In spite of her protests the company and its three partners Unocol, PTT-EP and MOGE have developed an offshore gas field, the Yadana field, in the Andaman Sea. The field is linked to the coast by a pipeline that crosses 65 Kilometres of Burmese territory to the Thai border. It is estimated that Total earns $400 million a year from the deal they have signed with the Burmese military.

James Mawdsley puts the issue very forcefully. "The oil in Burma belongs to the people of Burma, and if (anyone) wants to deal in it they should pay the representatives of the people of Burma the NLD. But to pay instead a group of thugs who use the money to oppress the country is wicked."

Not surprisingly Total do not see the issue in those terms. In February 2002 I wrote to Total UK requesting that they terminate their interests in Burma in the light of Suu Kyii's request and the abuses perpetrated by the regime. I did not make any reference to the use of forced labour or displacement of the population in the building of the pipeline. However it was these charges the company chose to answer in replying to me. They claimed that no forced labour, or indeed manual labour of any kind, was used in the building of the pipeline and that there was no population displacement. This contradicts the findings of a US judge who in a court case involving Total's partners Unocol ruled that Unocol did know of and benefit from the atrocities committed by Burma's army in connection with the building of the pipeline. According to the judge the evidence showed that villagers had been forced to work and that entire villages had been relocated for the benefit of the project. Furthermore The Financial Times in February 2001 quotes an unnamed executive from Total as saying that the company has "become more strict" in ensuring that no forced labour is used in projects there. It is difficult to see the need for this increased strictness if forced labour has never been used in the first place.

I had suggested in my letter that they follow Suu Kyi's request and stay away from Burma, even at the cost of short term job losses, until the country has the rule of law and basic democratic institutions in place. In response they argue that cutting off the investment which could create jobs and wealth in Burma will not help the country develop and that it is in Burma's interest to open up, and ultimately, to increase the standard of living and encourage social change. As examples of this they site a training program for local employees and the opening of clinics, hiring of doctors and equipping of schools in the areas involved in the project.

All of this is of course very laudable, and may bring short term benefit to a handful of people within Burma. While in some countries international investment may help open societies and bring democratic change, in Burma foreign investment simply perpetuates the rule of the junta. Full foreign ownership of companies operating in Burma is forbidden and almost all large investments are carried out through joint ventures with the junta. While, as Suu Kyii has pointed out, very few Burmese benefit from foreign investment the SPDC does. The bulk of this revenue goes to equipping and expanding the army, an army that has no external enemies and has imported over $2 billion in weapons since 1989.

9. Drugs

In a book written for Children, Suu Kyii points out the wealth of natural resources in Burma. As well as its oil and gas reserves, Burma has large supplies of timber, including 80% of the world's teak. It has stocks of fresh water fish, and buried under its rich and fertile soil are rubies, sapphire and jade. From its coasts come some of the world's most beautiful pearls. In spite of this abundance Burma remains a poor nation, its economy in ruins thanks to the generals. In recent years it has sustained itself through another trade: supplying hard drugs.

The "Golden Triangle" where the frontiers of Burma, Laos and Thailand meet has always been a major heroin producing region. The poppies from which the drug is refined are cultivated by poor farmers for whom they are a main source of income. The bulk of the immense profits have however tended to go to opposition armies and to the military or government officials who promote or at least tolerate the trade. The area is now also becoming a major manufacturer of metamphetamines or speed.

In 1989 the Wa soldiery rebelled against the mainly Chinese leadership of the Burmese Communist Party to form the United Wa State Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army of Kokang. The SLORC negotiated ceasefires with these peoples many of whom were deeply involved in heroin trafficking. The pacts allowed the Wa and Kokang armies to continue opium cultivation with support in drug trafficking operations from the Tatmadaw.

The result of this has been an almost fourfold expansion of Burma's heroin production with Burma second only to Afghanistan as a producer. Analysts believe that earnings from heroin smuggling may now exceed those from all Burma's legal exports, thus criminalising much of Burma's economy. Addiction has become much more common within Burma and the neighbouring countries, and it has been accompanied by an increase in the spread of AIDS through needle sharing. Meanwhile within the Tatmadaw many officers in the field are receiving payment not in cash but in drugs. One divisional commanders stipend is 200,000 amphetamine tablets per month.

Only in the context of a stable democratic government, the rule of law and true economic development within Burma can a viable alternative to drug production be found for the small farmers.

10. International Relations

Burma lies between India and China. It's smaller neighbours include Thailand and Laos. The strongest influence in recent years has been China. The bulk of the weapons imported since the junta assumed power in 1988 have come from China. These range from small arms to jet fighters and have been used to expand and modernise Burma's army. The precise value of these imports is difficult to determine since some may have been bought at friendship prices or acquired in barter deals.

Burma is not at war, the weapons are used to impose military rule on its own people. Many have fled across the border, and live as refugees in Thailand. Even there they are not safe; the Tatmadaw frequently crosses the border to launch attacks against refugees They abduct exiles from their homes, they rampage in refugee camps using mortars and machine guns, burning down entire camps and killing women and children. The Thai army does not always protect the refugees.

Burma's military expansion and its repeated incursions across the Thai border are causing its neighbours to fear that it will become more belligerent. Furthermore its increased reliance on China is seen as part of a broader drive to expand China's political and military influence throughout southern Asia and the Indian Ocean. The desire to wean Burma away from Chinese influence was an important factor influencing the decision by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to grant Burma membership in July 1997. This fear also led to improved military and commercial relationship between Burma and India after 1999. However there have been signs recently that India, Thailand and even China are beginning to lose patience with a regime that is flooding their countries with addictive drugs.

As mentioned above in 1997 President Clinton banned US companies from any new investment in Burma. The US has led efforts to block the junta's access to international loans and aid from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank. Neither the US, Canada nor the European Union will sell arms to Burma. The EU also has a number of other measures in place including: the suspension of trading privileges; a ban on defence links; a ban on non-humanitarian aid and on the supply of equipment that might be used for internal repression or terrorism and a visa ban and assets freeze for regime members. In addition to the measures imposed by the EU the UK claims not to encourage trade, investment or tourism with Burma and to his credit when Premier Oil tried to twist the words of the government Robin Cook declared: "Premier Oil has said that they have been given the green light by the Foreign Office. I was very angry with that ... we made it clear to Premier Oil that we would prefer it ... if they ceased their involvement with Burma." The UK government may express disproval but it has taken no firm steps to prevent investment.

A more thorough approach would be to impose a total ban on foreign trade and investment. Despite promises by the Labour Party to legislate for sanctions on British investments in Burma when in opposition, the UK government have still not done so. Once in power the labour party argued that such sanctions were illegal because the situation in Burma had not deteriorated and therefore was not a matter of urgency. In December 1999 The Burma Campaign UK brought a case against the then Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in response to which the government accepted that its refusal to legislate for sanctions against Burma had no legal ground. Two and a half years later a British Company, Premier Oil, was still one of the military regime's most important investors, helping to bring millions of dollars of future revenue to the dictatorship. Even with the withdrawal of Premier Oil a number of British companies continue to trade with Burma.

The United Nations has made many strongly worded condemnations of the junta and has passed several resolutions demanding that the SPDC recognise the outcome of the 1990 election. In spite of these declarations the UN has taken no concrete steps against the junta. A reasonable first move would be the imposition of an arms embargo against Burma. But such a step would have to be taken by the security council and could be vetoed by China, the junta's principal arms supplier.

A Personal Conclusion

Being a postman I do not regularly watch late night television, but one night early in 2001 I switched on halfway through a program about James Mawdsley and his imprisonment and return from Burma. As a member of Amnesty International I knew something about the human rights abuses in Burma and had read several of John Pilger's pieces on the subject. The program brought home the horrors of the situation in a new way, and Mawdsley made a tremendous impact upon me. I was impressed by his sheer integrity and the unity of his Christian faith and political action. Shortly afterwards I read an article about James's mother, Diana Mawdsley, and as a result of that became involved in Jubilee Campaign's action on Burma.

An article in Just Right, the magazine of Jubilee Campaign, described Burma as Britain's faithful wartime ally, and in the following issue a man who had been involved in the British action in Japanese occupied Burma wrote in to correct this claim, pointing out that it was not the Burmese who had been Britain's loyal allies but the various hill tribes such as Chins, Nagas, Kachin and Shan but above all the Karen. He went to say that, "Partly because of a tribal legend, partly as a result of Christian missionaries, the Karen accepted the British as friends and allies." Suddenly I remembered reading something many tears ago about the missionaries and the tribal 'legends' of the Karen. I got Richardson's book down from my shelf and reread the sections on Burma. I saw a strange pattern spreading out across history, a tale of greed and self interest, loyalty and betrayal, suffering and hope. The letter in Just Right continued: "We gave all the hill tribes protection from the oppression that Burmese kings had imposed upon them. They supported British guerrilla activity throughout the war ... and to our eternal shame Britain ignored the sacrifices that the hill tribes had made and handed them over to majority Burmese people when we gave the country independence. The problems this has caused over 50 years are plain to see - tens of thousands of Karen killed and many more living as refugees. And a British Oil company (Premier Oil) pretends that it is justified in pouring revenues into the coffers of the Burmese military."

In a strange way I felt that with James Mawdsley a circle had neared completion. For it was while Mawdsley was in prison that he read the lost book of the Karen. He had asked for a bible thinking that his captors would find that request hard to refuse, and upon receiving and reading it felt tremendously near to God. Mawdsley has done an important job in drawing attention to the situation in Burma, and that situation is slowly changing. Earlier this year Ne Win was placed under house arrest and Suu Kyii was once again released. Mawdsley warns us not to see this a reason for inaction; the SDLP have not discovered the rule of law for they are still making political arrests. Even the Foreign Office admit that the pace of change is still too slow. God Mawdsley tells us is a God of action not words, and I feel deeply humble and a little futile that all I am doing here is to add more words to the many that have already been spoken about Burma. If these words inspire prayer or action perhaps they are not wasted. And perhaps we will live to see the ancient prophecy of the Karen fulfilled:

"At the appointed season Y'Wa will come.
... Dead trees will blossom and flower ...
Mouldering trees will blossom and bloom again."

                  – David Ferguson

Further Reading and Action 1 Books Freedom from Fear - Aung San Suu Kyii (Penguin 1991) – An excellent introduction to Burma and his history by someone who is helping to shape it. This collection includes early academic works on Burmese culture under British rule, and a number of shorter pieces including the text of the historic speech at the Shwedagon pagoda. The essay 'My Country and My People' originally the text of a book written for children is an excellent introduction to Burmese history and culture. The Heart Must Break, The Fight for Democracy and Truth in Burma - James Mawdsley (Century 2001) – In telling Mawdsley's own story the book includes a great deal of information and testimony about the situation in Burma. It is a warts and all portrait of a man who is a true hero for our times. Eternity in Their Hearts, The Untold Story of Christianity Among Folk Religions of Ancient People - Don Richardson – The material concerning the hill people of Burma is to be found in chapter 2 entitled 'People of the Lost Book'. 2. Campaign Groups The Karen Human Rights Group - an excellent web site which I have drawn on extensively in the above account of Burma's history. Burma Campaign UK - another good site. Useful for details of specific campaigns or actions. The Burma Project - another good web site that I have also drawn on in the above account. Very informative and good indications of possible government and UN actions. Jubilee Campaigns - A UK based Christian human rights group, active in campaigning on Burma in the UK parliament; includes suggestions for action and regularly publishes Just Right magazine. Christian Solidarity Worldwide - another Christian group. Active in campaigning on the human rights situation in Burma and supporting Burmese refugees in Thailand. Amnesty International - regularly campaigns on Burma. Appendix 1 In July 2002 when I wrote to Jack Straw reminding him of the case brought against Robin Cook by the Burma Campaign U.K. and asked whether the government would legislate to prevent the investment in Burma by Premier Oil, and why, given that the SPDC has no right whatsoever to be recognised as a legitimate government, British companies are allowed to continue to prop up this corrupt regime? I gave the following brief review of the case for sanctions: The current government the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)is not a legitimate government. The legitimate government of Burma is the National League for Democracy (NLD), elected in 1990 when it won 82% of the parliamentary seats. The leader of the NLD Aung San Suu Kyii has appealed for sanctions to applied against the Junta because of the urgency of the appalling denial of human rights in Burma. Abuses against human rights in Burma include the following: systematic use of forced labour applied to millions of people each year; a massive ethnic cleansing campaign against the Karen and other ethic minorities; the holding of at least 1800 political prisoners including student leader Min Ko Naing who has now served thirteen years in solitary confinement for a ten year sentence, and several elected members of the true government; routine use of torture; rape of women from ethnic minorities; the burning of villages and crops leading to the creation of thousands of refugees and millions of internally displaced persons; the forced recruitment of minors into the military. Burma is now the foremost producer of heroin in the world. Officers in the National army are currently being paid in amphetamine tablets rather than cash. It is becoming increasingly isolated from its neighbours - India, China and Thailand - because it is flooding those countries with hard drugs. The recent emergence of Aung San Suu Kyii from house arrest should not be seen as signifying a change of heart by the SPDC; the SPDC continue to make political arrests, to hold prisoners unjustly and to pursue their genocidal policies. Suu Kyii's release is therefore not a reason for opposing sanctions, especially since her detention was itself a breach of international law. I received a reply from Philip Lord of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The letter was rather odd. It said that they had received many similar letters from supporters of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an organisation I had made no reference to in my letter. He went on to say that as my letter indicated, the UK has been in the forefront of the international communities efforts to bring about national reconciliation and the return of democracy. My letter indicated nothing of the kind. He went on to list a range of measures which the UK along with the EU has in place. He pointed out that the UK does not encourage trade investment or tourism with Burma and made some general points about recent improvements in the situation in Burma, but expressed concern about the slow pace of change, continued use of forced labour, recent fighting in Shan State, and reports of rape by army personnel. He mentioned that the UK will continue to support several UN and EU initiatives, all of which are very welcome, but made no reference to the issue which had been the subject of my original letter: legislation for sanctions in the light of the outcome of the BCUK court case. He concluded by informing me that a copy of his letter would appear in the CSW newsletter and Website. I assume therefore that I was sent a form letter, and the actual content of my letter was largely ignored. There is however an alternative possibility. It may seem unlikely that anyone making a query about Burma would automatically be sent a letter directed at members of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and as it happens I had left my name and address on the CSW website shortly before writing the letter, although I did not draw on any of their material on Burma in writing it. Could it be that someone from the foreign office had a peep at the CSW mailing list? Appendix 2 Translations of Karen Hymns and Teaching The following translations are taken from the book Eternity in Their Hearts by Don Richardson. He derived the translations from a number of different nineteenth and early twentieth century missionary writers. Y'Wa is eternal, his life is long. One aeon-he dies not! Two aeons-he dies not! He is perfect in meritorious attributes. Aeons follow aeons-he dies not! * * * Who created the world in the beginning? Y'Wa created the world in the beginning! Y'Wa appointed everything. Y'Wa is unsearchable * * * The omnipotent is Y'Wa; him have we not believed. Y'Wa created men anciently; He has a perfect knowledge of all things! Y'Wa created men at the beginning; He knows all things to the present time! O my children and grandchildren! The earth is the treading place of the feet of Y'Wa. And heaven is the place where he sits. He sees all things, and we are manifest to him. * * * Y'Wa formed the world originally. He appointed food and drink. He appointed the "fruit of trial." He gave detailed orders. Mu-kaw-lee deceived two persons. He caused them to eat the fruit of the tree of trial. They obeyed not; they believed not Y'Wa... When they ate the fruit of trial, They became subject to sickness, aging, and death... * * * At the appointed season Y'Wa will come. ... Dead trees will blossom and flower ... Mouldering trees will blossom and bloom again. Y'Wa will come and bring the great Thau-thee ... [Thau-thee seems to be the name of a sacred mountain] Let us ascend and worship. * * * Good persons, the good, Shall go to the silver city, the silver town. Righteous persons, the righteous, Shall go to the new town, the new city. Persons who believe their father and mother Shall enjoy the golden palace. When the Karen king arrives, There will be only one monarch. When the Karen King arrives, There will be neither rich nor poor. * * * O children and grandchildren! Respect and reverence your mother and father! For when you were small, they did not suffer so much as a mosquito to bite you. To sin against your parents is a heinous crime. * * * O children and grandchildren! Do not worship idols or priests! If you worship them, you gain no advantage thereby, While you increase your sins exceedingly. * * * O children and grandchildren! Love Y'Wa, and never so much as mention his name [lightly]. If you speak his name[lightly], He goes farther and farther from us! O children and grandchildren! Do not be fond of quarrelling and disputing, but love each other! Y'Wa in heaven looks down upon us. And if we do not love each other, It is the same as if we do not love Y'Wa! * * * O children and grandchildren! If we repent of our sins, And cease to do evil-restraining our passions- And pray to Y'Wa, he will have mercy upon us again. If Y'Wa does not have mercy on us, there is no other one who can. He who saves us is the only one-Y'Wa * * * O children and grandchildren! Pray to Y'Wa constantly By day and night! * * * The following account Richardson takes from the writings of a man named Alonzo Bunker who lived among the Karen for thirty years in the late nineteenth century. I have condensed it slightly. "It is quite impossible to describe the solemn and reverential manner in which these white-haired elders recited the attributes of Y'Wa, and with what awed attention the children listened [when] the old prophet of the village ... arose and extended his hands, as if in benediction, and said: "'O children and grandchildren, formerly Y'Wa loved the Karen nation above all others. But they transgressed his commands, and in consequence ... we suffer at present. Because Y'Wa cursed us, we are in our present afflicted state and have no books.' "Then a great hope seemed to light up his face as, looking toward the stars, ... he exclaimed:'But Y'Wa will again have mercy upon us, and again he will love us above all others. Y'Wa will save us again. It is [because we listened] to the language of Mu-kaw-lee [Satan] that we suffer.' "Then followed ... [an] impassioned recitation of the lyrical verse of his ancestors: "When Y'Wa made Tha-nai and Ee-u he placed them in a garden ... saying, "In the garden I have made for you [are] seven different kinds of trees, bearing seven ... kinds of fruit. Among the seven, one tree is not good to eat ... If you eat, you will become old, you will sicken, you will die ... Eat and drink with care. Once in seven days I will visit you ... " "'After a time Mu-kaw-lee came to the man and woman and said, "Why are you here?" "'"Our father put us here," they replied. """What do you eat here?"asked Mu-kaw-lee "'"Our Lord Y'Wa, has created food for us, food without limit." "'"Show me your food," said Mu-kaw-lee."' ... They pointed them out saying, "This one is astringent, this sour, this bitter, this savoury, this fiery, but [as for] this tree, we know not whether it is sweet or sour. Our Father, the Lord Y'Wa said to us, "Eat not the fruit of this tree. If you eat it you will die.'" "' ... Then Mu-kaw-lee replied, "It is not so, O my children. The heart of your Father Y'Wa is not with you. this is the richest and the sweetest. ... If you eat it, you will possess miraculous powers. You will be able to ascend to heaven. ... I love you, and I tell you the truth, and conceal nothing. If you do not believe me, do not eat the fruit. If you will eat the fruit as a trial, then you will know all..."'" In paragraphs that follow, the man, Tha-nai, refuses the enticement and walks away. The woman, Ee-u, lingers, succumbs to temptation, eats the fruit and then entices her husband, who also eats. Alonzo Bunker's translation continues: "'... The woman returned to Mu-law-lee and said, "My husband has eaten the fruit." [Mu-kaw-lee] laughed exceedingly, and said, "Now O conquered man and woman, you have listened to my voice and obeyed me." "'The next morning Y'Wa came to visit them, but they did not follow him with the singing of praises as usual. He drew near to them and said, "Why have you eaten the fruit of the tree that I commanded you not to eat? ... Therefore you shall grow old, and you shall become sick, and you shall die." "' ... When Y'Wa had cursed man, he left him. ... In course of time sickness began to appear. One of the children of Tha-nai and Ee-u fell ill. Then they said to one another, "Y'Wa has cast us off. We cannot tell what to do. We must go and ask Mu-kaw-lee." "'So ... they went to him and said, "... we obeyed your words, and ate. Now our child is ill. ... What will you advise?" "'Mu-kaw-lee replied, "You did not obey your Father, the Lord Y'Wa. You listened to me. Now that you have obeyed me once, obey me to the end."' "Then the old prophet related, still continuing in the ancient verse of his people, how Mu-kaw-lee instructed them in the principal offerings that were to be made [for] various kinds of sickness. These offerings were to be made to his servants the nats [spirits] who presided over certain diseases as well as accidents. "He also told how Mu-kaw-lee instructed them to divine by the bones of a fowl, which became for the hillmen the guide to almost every act of life." Burma: Despite multiparty elections in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party winning a decisive victory, the ruling military junta refused to hand over power. Key opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient AUNG SAN SUU KYI, under house arrest from 1989 to 1995, was again placed under house detention in September 2000; her supporters are routinely harassed or jailed. Ethnic groups: Burman 68%, Shan 9%, Karen 7%, Rakhine 4%, Chinese 3%, Indian 2%, Mon 2%, other 5% Religions: Buddhist 89%, Christian 4% (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%), Muslim 4%, animist 1%, other 2% Country Name: conventional long form: Union of Burma conventional short form: Burma local short form: Myanma Naingngandaw local long form: Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw (translated by the US Government as Union of Myanma and by the Burmese as Union of Myanmar) former: Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma note: since 1989 the military authorities in Burma have promoted the name Myanmar as a conventional name for their state; this decision was not approved by any sitting legislature in Burma, and the US Government did not adopt the name, which is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw Burma is a resource-rich country that suffers from abject rural poverty. The military regime took steps in the early 1990s to liberalize the economy after decades of failure under the "Burmese Way to Socialism", but those efforts have since stalled. Burma has been unable to achieve monetary or fiscal stability, resulting in an economy that suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances - including an official exchange rate that overvalues the Burmese kyat by more than 100 times the market rate. In addition, most overseas development assistance ceased after the junta suppressed the democracy movement in 1988 and subsequently ignored the results of the 1990 election. Burma is data poor, and official statistics are often dated and inaccurate. Published estimates of Burma's foreign trade are greatly understated because of the size of the black market and border trade - often estimated to be one to two times the official economy. Despite renewed border committee talks, significant differences remain with Thailand over boundary alignment and the handling of ethnic guerrilla rebels, refugees, smuggling, and drug trafficking in cross-border region; Burmese attempts to construct a dam on border stream with Bangladesh in 2001 prompted an armed response halting construction; Burmese Muslim migration into Bangladesh strains Bangladesh's meager resources World's largest producer of illicit opium, surpassing Afghanistan (potential production in 2001 - 865 metric tons, down 21% due to drought, and to a lesser extent, eradication; cultivation in 2002 - 105,000 hectares, a 3% decline from 2000); surrender of drug warlord KHUN SA's Mong Tai Army in January 1996 was hailed by Rangoon as a major counternarcotics success, but lack of government will and ability to take on major narcotrafficking groups and lack of serious commitment against money laundering continues to hinder the overall antidrug effort; major source of methamphetamine and heroin for regional consumption

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