Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I would like to speak of the situation in Burma. I raise this issue on behalf of my constituents of Karen and Chin heritage and on behalf of the ethnic nationalities in Burma. It is true that many ethnic peoples of Burma have come to this country as refugees. We should understand why this has been the case and why we continue to take some 1,900 refugees a year from the camps on the Thai-Burma border. I thank my friends from the Karen and Chin communities in Perth and my friends from many ethnic groups in Burma who have provided me with the information to allow me to better understand the history of Burma and the situation that exists to this day.

There was a time when the Burmese government was the subject of sanctions. At that time, the acknowledged leader of the opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest, many dissenters were in jail and the leadership of Burma wore uniforms. Of course, the sanctions are now gone, and the uneducated observer would believe that Burma has made progress and is somehow worthy of our trust. However, this is, sadly, not the case. The reality is that there is not a true democracy in Burma. My point is that the government of Burma is not worthy of this nation's trust but they are deserving of our sanctions, and I will justify that statement in this speech.

There has been a civil war in Burma for 66 years. That means 66 years of continuous fighting and 66 years where Burma has been held back, all because of the unwillingness of the regime in Burma to adopt a federal democratic system. Peace could be achieved by offering such a federation where the ethnic peoples of Burma would have the peace, freedom, self-determination and personal safety that they desire. But, despite that clear opportunity for a very easy way forward, the regime in Burma resists that chance.

Why? They do so because they know the truth about some demographic realities. They know that people of ethnic heritage actually outnumber ethnic Burmans. To conceal that fact, they try to count some Buddhists as Burmans. That of course is not true; 60 per cent of the population of the country are the so-called 'ethnics'—of non-Burmese ethnicity—and more than 60 per cent is the territory of the ethnics.

At the heart of a regime such as Burma is the first priority: self-preservation, a determination to hold onto power at all costs. Obviously that ambition is helped by ensuring that the ethnic people are prevented from ever having the opportunity to vote. They have also locked up control of the houses of parliament by having a constitution that ensures one-third of all seats in both houses go to the military. Apart from the parliament, the key positions in every part of the government and the public service are held firstly by Burmese Buddhists, then other Buddhists, then Burmese Christians and then ethnics that are Christians.

The leadership of the government is of course the same former military leadership that has controlled Burma since 1988. They just wear suits now; there is no other difference. I, therefore, say that the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi leads the National League for Democracy does not make Burma a real democracy. She cannot run for president, because she married a foreigner, and the NLD is not even eligible to run for one-third of the seats in the houses of parliament.

Leaving the obvious absence of true democracy to the side, I just want to talk about some other stark realities that we should be aware of. Although it is not well known, in every ethnic state in Burma there is fighting, and the Burmese Army is seeking to increase their troop numbers, despite there being a so-called ceasefire in some states. It must also be noted that the regime seeks to make use of the natural resources of the ethnic states for their own purposes.

Last month I visited Thailand and the border region of Burma at my own expense with my friend, and a long-term supporter of the Karen community, Scott Johnson. I went because I know many people from the Karen Welfare Association in Perth and the Tribal Refugee Welfare Association in Perth. They have told me about what was really going on inside Burma. I thank Connie and Keith Allmark for their advice and for everything they do for the Karen community, and also for the decades of support they have provided to refugees from the ethnic areas of Burma.

I also thank Paul Kyaw, the President of KWA, and his team of Richard Lwin, Charity Htoo, Joansy Pegrum. I also thank Major-General Nerdah of the Karen National Defence Organisation, and well-known Karen politician David Thackabaw for their support and hospitality during our visit.

I have heard consistent reports of brutality and atrocities, but as the source of some of my comments today I would like to pay particular tribute to an excellent organisation, the Free Burma Rangers. I encourage anyone who doubts the validity of what I say today to look at their website freeburmarangers.org. FBR is a multiethnic humanitarian service. They send teams, provided by ethnic pro-democracy groups into the areas under attack by the Burmese Army in order to provide emergency medical care, shelter, food, clothing and human rights documentation. The teams use a communication and information network inside Burma that provides real-time information from areas under attack. Primarily they are about health, and reporting the facts of what is going on.

Free Burma Rangers began as a result of the Burmese Army offensives in 1997. The establishment was a reaction to the destruction of villages, murders and over 100,000 people fleeing their homes. To this day over one million people are still displaced inside Burma. In that time over 250 multiethnic relief teams have been trained. There are now 71 full-time teams active in Arakan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Kayan, Lahu, Mon, Naga, Pa-Oh, Palaung and Shan areas of Burma. The teams have treated over 500,000 patients and helped over 1.1 million people.

It is an impressive organisation that has done great good, but again I know that some people think Burma is going well. For those who think that, I would like to talk about the recent Free Burma Rangers reports. On 2 December 2014, the rangers reported that there had been no reduction in violence between Burmese Army forces and ethnic groups, in spite of the international attention President Obama's visit to Burma received. The two-week period which included the president's visit was marked by 20 clashes between the Burmese Army and ethnic groups. These clashes resulted in the deaths of 24 ethnic resistance fighters, along with 28 wounded; while four Burmese Army soldiers died and one was wounded. The Burmese Army moved more than 1,508 troops, 48 supply trucks and 38 supply horses, and operated five transport and reconnaissance aircraft in northern Shan state and Kachin state. These figures reflect an active military operation, not the actions of a peacekeeping force.

On 11 December it was reported that on 19 November 2014, the Burmese Army's Light Infantry Battalion 390 fired a 105 millimetre Howitzer at the Kachin officer training school in Waingmaw in Kachin State, killing 23 trainees. That included two Free Burma Rangers that were present. Later on, the Burmese shelled villages and displaced persons camps, killing three more people. The Free Burma Rangers also reported that two Kachin girls were raped and killed on 19 January 2015 by troops of the Burmese Army. The girls were named Maran Lu Ra, age 20, and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin, age 21. They were Kachin Baptist volunteer missionaries working in northern Burma along the Kachin-Shan state border. The rape occurred in the KBC church compound in northern Shan state. On the night of 19 January, Burmese Army troops came into the church ground where the girls were sleeping, raped them and then beat them to death.

At Nam Lim Pa Village in Kachin state on 30 January, the Free Burma Rangers teams found three bodies with evidence of torture. All three were killed when the Burmese Army attacked in late November 2013. A total of seven people were killed in or nearby the village. One of the victims was La Bang La Ring; he was killed by the Burmese Army in Nam Lim Pa and found with six deep knife or axe cuts on his back, as well as other signs of torture. He was a deaf-mute.

Nhkun Brang Aung was 20 years old and mentally disabled. When everyone else was fleeing the advancing Burmese Army troops, he said he was not afraid of the Burmese Army because he did not believe troops would bother someone like him.

Another unidentified body was found with rope burns; his head had been scalded with boiling water; his body bore signs of additional torture; he had been shot to death.

When Scott Johnson and I visited Mae Sot in Thailand, we met with a number of Thai, Karen and others from different ethnic groups. I even met with a mine clearer who told me how significant the Burmese Army mine threat was. He is doing a great job of recruiting and training local ethnic people to help clear the mines. For me the use of mines by the Burmese Army is a significant issue. The Burmese Army operates hundreds of outposts and camps in the territory of the ethnic peoples. They lay antipersonnel mines around these posts and when they leave, they leave the mines behind. Upon reoccupation by the local ethnic villagers, some mines get cleared but sometimes someone is killed or maimed before they clear the mines or if they trip a mine that has been missed.

When I visited the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot in January, I visited the prosthetic limb workshop and saw where they assist those victims of the Burmese army's landmines. When I was at Oo Kray Kee village in Karen State, Burma, I saw some people that had lost limbs.

I believe that the Burmese regime should be held accountable for their use of landmines. I have also been told that in June 2011 in the north of Shan State, the Burmese army even used chemical weapons. I should also mention that there are consistent allegations that the Burmese have a strategy of selling drugs into the ethnic communities. These are the strategies of the Burmese regime and they should be known.

In my visit to the region and from what I have seen, I certainly found the 'ranger' reports, the stories of other people I met and some of the sights quite disturbing. I did, however, find the many ethnic leaders and the Karen people I met inspiring. I saw many young men and women carrying weapons and I saw the people living in very basic conditions, yet determined to fight on for a better future. I saw five-year-old children delighted with the new thongs they had just been given. I met two boys of eight and five years old, who had been orphaned when their parents had been shot in front of them or had disappeared. When asked what they wanted to do when they grew up, they answered, 'To be soldiers.' It was a moment I will never forget.

I also met a number of leaders of the UNFC, or the United Nationalities Federal Council. They represent the majority of the people in the ethnic nations within Burma. They have 12 member nationalities and four associate groups. The UNFC want peace and a democratic Burma, and we should listen to them.

Firstly, they want to sign a nation-wide ceasefire, but not yet. Overall they want a federated union based on the original Panglong Agreement of 1947. The union they want must be state based and the nation should be divided into states. They told me that although there would be around 20 states, only about four would be Burman-majority states. Several of the districts currently said to be Burman majority are actually more Karen majority areas. Having such a system would see federal and state parliaments. Specifically, they want constitutions for each state and a revenue base. Nationally, they of course want a real constitution and not the current one that enshrines the military in a third of all seats, and not the 2001 constitution either.

When I asked the UNFC what they would like Australia to do, the first thing they said was that although the Australian embassy was active, it was not active enough in pursuing reform in Burma. In particular, the UNFC wants the ambassadorial-level Peace Donor Support Group to meet with them, but also to bring the Burmese government and the ethnics together for talks.

Another concern of the UNFC is how more nations and even NGOs are channelling aid through Burma itself, giving the regime the opportunity to exert more control. The position of the UNFC is therefore that it is not yet the right time to invest in Burma or even to allow aid through the central government. In some cases it is alleged that foreign aid is being used for the construction of roads for military use so they can access ethnic areas in order to repress the ethnic peoples. In any case, the border region is being increasingly starved of aid monies and this is making it very difficult to support the refugee numbers along the border. In particular, it is said that the rice and other food going to refugee camps is being reduced as foreign governments tell their NGOs to go into Burma rather than continuing their efforts along the border.

There are some places in the world where internally displaced populations are useful for political mileage, such as the camps in the Palestinian Authority controlled areas and supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. This is not the same at all. The refugee camps along the Burma-Thailand border are there not for cynical political advantage but because it is just not safe inside the ethnic areas in Burma.

As I have said already. The unscrupulous use of landmines, torture, murder and rape by the Burmese military show exactly what sort of threat the people face. The situation is just not safe for the mass movement of refugees back inside the borders of Burma. The trouble is that through the premature diplomatic embracement of Burma, Western nations, China and others in the region are providing tacit consent, whereas we must hold the regime in Burma to account.

To conclude, I say that I have great respect for the ethnic peoples of Burma. They are long suffering, and the privation and challenges I saw in January and at the start of this month are a day-to-day existence for them. Support from Australia and internationally can be achieved. I have laid out what they want and we should act to assist them. If we do not, then the fighting will continue. If we do not, the maiming, the torture and the rape will continue. If we do not, then people will continue to die at the hands of the regime.

As I saw in Oo Kray Kee in Burma, the Karen and many of the other ethnic nations have been involved in 66 years of civil war to defend themselves and their culture. They have the materiel capacity to maintain their resistance and they have the will to maintain their resistance. The only way that this war, the killing, the maiming and the rape will stop will be through international pressure. All can be resolved with a true democracy of federated states. It is time to act.

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