Even George Yeo lies

From: "truth"
Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:43:49 GMT
Local: Wed, Aug 5 2009 12:43 pm
Subject: Even George Yeo lies

truth comment: george yeo is one of the better and enlightened
minister in the leegime. but after so many years in the company
of liars and cheats, george is turning into one of them as well.

John Moe

I refer to the article published by The Online Citizen (TOC) on Sunday, 2
August 2009, reported by Ravi Philemon under the title, "George Yeo's Meet
the People Session at McDonald's".

According to the TOC report, Mr Yeo made some controversial comments about
Burma's pro-democracy icon, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, her husband and her
family, including the much-loved father of Aung San Suu Kyi- Burma's
independence leader, General Aung San.

According to Ravi Philemon's report :

"The focus then shifted to ASEAN and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Mr. George Yeo
said, "It is very sad that she has been imprisoned for so many years." But
he was quick to add that we must not oversimplify the problems in Burma. He
felt that as the country was very complex in its make up with the Burmese
making up only about 50% of the total population of the entire population of
Burma, only the military could hold the entire country together. He added
that it was the military that had ruled Burma from independence and that it
was Aung San Suu Kyi's father, General Aung San, that was the original
military man that had ruled the country since independence."

General Aung San, the leader of Burma's independence movement, was
assassinated on 19 July 1947. Burma's first constitution was established in
1948. Therefore Mr Yeo's incoherent comments were completely incorrect. The
Burmese military did not rule the country "since independence", as Mr Yeo
said.

Chronically, Burma was a fully democratic republic from 1948 to 1962. On 4
January 1948, the nation became an independent republic, named the Union of
Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first
Prime Minister.

Why does Mr Yeo owe an apology to Aung San Suu Kyi? Mr Yeo said "that it was
also General Aung San who created the rule that a Burmese who married a
foreigner cannot rule the country and that now Aung San Suu Kyi is married
to a foreigner."

Mr Yeo is thoroughly mistaken.

The 1948 Constitution stated: "No person shall be eligible for election to
the office of President unless he is a citizen of the Union who was, or both
of whose parents were, born in any of the territories included within the
Union." Aung San Suu Kyi's parents were both Burmese. She was born in Burma
and she is still a Burmese citizen. Therefore she can be President of Burma,
as stated in the Consitution.

Mr Yeo's comment is thus a great insult to Aung San Suu Kyi and her family.
Also, Mr Yeo, who is Singapore's Foreign Minister, has insulted over 52
million Burmese who hold the highest respect for General Aung San.

As Burma's first constitution was established only in 1948, after General
Aung San had been murdered, it is impossible for General Aung San to create
a rule to ban any Burmese who married a foreigner from ruling the country
. The military junta only introduced the rule in 2008, deliberately
aimed at preventing Aung San Suu Kyi's participation in the 2010 elections.

Mr Yeo would have Burmese adhere to the Constitution which was first
suspended when General Ne Win came to power through a coup, and which was
later amended by the junta for political purposes. Equally, should not Mr
Yeo be demanding that the Burmese junta adhere to the results of the 1990
elections which Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD won overwhelmingly?

Mr Yeo's comments, which shows his ignorance of Burmese history, has added
fuel to the fire, especially at a time when Aung San Suu Kyi is in a
politically-motivated mock trial for breaking the conditions of her house
arrest. The charges were laid after an American man paid an uninvited visit
to her home. It is widely expected she will end up in jail. The verdict of
her trial is expected to be delivered on Friday.

Mr Yeo said: "It was because her husband is a foreigner and from the
'western world' that the 'western world' has come to support Aung San Suu
Kyi and have failed to recognise the rule of the military".

In 1972, Aung San Suu Kyi married Dr Michael Aris, a scholar of Tibetan
culture, in Bhutan. The following year she gave birth to their first son,
Alexander Aris, in London; their second son, Kim, was born in 1977.
Following this, she earned a Ph.D. at the School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London in 1985.

Mr Yeo denigrated not only Aung San Suu Kyi's personal life , his comments
also cast aspersions on her family and her supporters. Mr Yeo's labeling
of Dr Aris as someone from the 'western world" shows his lack of sympathy
for Aung San Suu Kyi, her husband and their children.

Dr Aris died of cancer on his 53 birthday on March 27 1999. He had requested
to see his wife one last time in Burma but his request was denied by the
military junta.

The fact that the 'western world' supports Aung San Suu Kyi has nothing to
do with her husband being a foreigner . The support for the Burmese cause
and for Aung San Suu Kyi comes from all parts of the world, including Asean
countries.

Mr Yeo added that "the problem in Burma is actually a very deep family
dispute and the road to democracy for Burma is long and that the elections
next year is but a small step towards that goal."

Burma's political imbroglio is created by neither Aung San Suu Kyi nor her
party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) . The NLD had won a landslide
victory in the 1990 elections organised by the military junta which, till
today, has refused to hand power over to the NLD. Burma's problems are
created by the military regime itself such as forcing millions of ethnic
minorities to flee to neighboring countries, ignoring humanitarian aid to
cyclone Nargis' victims and killing monks and protesters. The military
regime imprisons thousands of political prisoners. News are now emerging
that the regime is also seeking to build nuclear reactors with help from
North Korea.

Mr Yeo said that "ASEAN has worked well in keeping the peace in this region,
in subjecting the member nations to peer pressure and in trying to forge
economic integration."

Ironically, Mr Yeo's statement is contradicted by Singapore's Senior
Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong, who had said that "Singapore investors will
likely wait until after Myanmar's elections next year before pouring any
more money into the country". His comment came at the end of a four-day trip
to Burma in June where he met with Burma's top generals, including Senior
Gen Than Shwe.

To conclude, Singapore's Foreign Minister insulted Aung San Suu Kyi, her
husband Dr Michael Aris and Burma's independence leader, General Aung San.

Given the fact that Mr Yeo has gotten his facts wrong, Does he not owe Aung
San Suu Kyi - and the Burmese people - an apology?