Monks want Suu Kyi and junta to meet

Bangkok Post
Jan 16, 2008
ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

Burmese monks living abroad yesterday called on international leaders to back their demand for an immediate meeting between Burma's military junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. They said the United Nations-led reconciliation effort was too slow in its efforts to bring about such a desired meeting.

''We cannot just keep hoping for a dialogue between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi to bear fruit and just wait for the slow process led by the UN to shed some results,'' Uttara, a member of the International Burmese Monks Organisation, said in Bangkok.

Change in Burma could not wait for the UN process, which was hampered by bureaucracy and diplomatic manoeuvring.

''Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy for Burma, has to wait for visa approval before entering Burma,'' Uttara said. ''To get any desirable and quick result out of the Security Council, member countries have to agree with one another, which is not easy.

''The chance has come to us and we have to accept our role to bring peace to Burma.''

Uttara, who is based in London, and Pannya Vamsa, from Penang, are on a global tour, which includes Indonesia, Japan, India, Europe and the United States to garner support for their mission.

They helped set up the International Burmese Monks Organisation in Los Angeles in October after monks in Burma were killed in street protests last year.

The two monks are setting up a chapter in Thailand this week after meeting several monks who fled Burma during the bloody crackdown and are now living in exile in Thailand.

Pannya Vamsa, 80, said support from neighbouring countries was vital if democracy was to be restored in his country.

Uttara, 58, expressed concern for the safety of monks and nuns, saying he had learned over 2,000 of them went missing during the junta's suppression drive. The figures could not be confirmed because of the difficulty in accessing the monasteries. He said there were only a few dozen monks still in temples there.