Workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) today held a picket to press for continued changes in Burma following the military junta's capitulation when it relinquished its scheduled chairmanship of ASEAN."It is not enough that Burma relinquished its Chairmanship, but tangible reforms should be instituted in that country," said APL Secretary-General Josua Mata. "To this day the junta ruling Burma continues to systematically violate the Burmese people's rights."
"Burma's junta is fabled worldwide for its atrocities, not the least of which is the repression of workers' rights to form unions and collectively bargain," said Mata. "Reports of forced labor and inhumane treatment of prisoners have not stopped coming from inside that country," he added.
Mata also said that year after year, thousands of activists are jailed in Burma. "The
press is stifled, restrictions extend to the simplest act of purchasing and using fax machines. The Internet is off-limits to everyone except government agents."Worst of all, according to Mata, the democratically elected government leaders of the 1990 general elections "are either in exile, under arrest and in prison, or dead. Its most prominent leader, Aung Suu Kyi, continues to languish in house arrest," Mata pointed out.
APL vowed to continue to help in efforts to press the State Peace and Development Council, Burma's ruling junta, to implement reforms towards the eventual democratization in that country.
"For a country which only knows too well the hardships of being under a dictatorship, the Philippine government must equally share the burden as a member of ASEAN to press the SPDC to relinquish power and allow for a democratic transition in power," Mata stressed. "Otherwise Burma runs the risk of being left behind forever."
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