13/10/07

More than 500 Peace Walkers led by Burmese Buddhist monks in Sydney paid tribute to monks and civilians who have been killed in the recent crackdown by the Burmese military regime in Burma .

Different communities and organizations from religious groups, human rights organisations, trade unions, political parties and the Burmese community in Sydney joined together to commemorate the monks who have sacrificed their lives for the cause of the Burmese people.

The Peace Rally walked from Martin Place to the Royal Botanic Garden and they gathered at the garden for a Symbolic Ceremony of wearing a red T-shirt, tying monk’s robe on a tree and tying red ribbons on each participant’s hand.

The Peace Walkers also demonstrated their solidarity with the monks and people who are in fear of the repressive regime.

Spokesperson of the Australian Burma Council and a protest rally organizer, Dr. Myint Cho said “We show our solidarity and support to the Buddhist monks who have paid their life, detained in the interrogation centres and tortured by the ‘military intelligence’ organisation. So this is a very strong message to our Buddhist monks that we show our solidarity and support behind their movement”.

The Peace Walkers also give a strong message to the Australian government that the government needs to take action in direct intervention of the military regime to halt their violence and bloodshed on its own people and pushing the regime to initiate a meaningful dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic leaders.

The Australian government has been under pressure on Burma’s issue since the protest emerged in Burma after the fuel price hike up to 500% in August. The Australian Burmese communities are still asking questions why the Australian government didn’t put enough pressure on the regime like UN and EU.

“The Australian government has no interests in Burma particularly in the areas of the economic and political strategies, so they aren’t more effective on Burma . But the Australian government needs to listen to the Burmese community in Australia and support effectively for peace and democracy in Burma” said Dr Myint Cho.

Kate Lee, the protest rally organizer and the assistant secretary of the Australian Service Union – New South Wales says, unless the voters pressure the government they will not care and change their policy, that is how the political process in democratic countries work. “The government will act only when they realize they have no choice, so that the pressure from the voters has a great influence” she said.

The Australian government does have political interests with Burma. They use their aid budget to train the Burmese military regime. More recently, the Manly Daily local newspapers revealed that five police officers from Burma have been trained at Australian Institute of Police Management in Manly, Sydney over the last five years. According to the newspapers, there could be more Burmese police officers.

The recent crackdown in Burma shows that all the Australian government’s secret activities with the junta have failed to bring peace and democracy in Burma - instead it has substantially increased the violence, bloodshed and torture to its innocent citizens.

The greater involvement from Australian individuals and people with high profile like community leaders of different groups, the celebrities and the religious leaders will make a great influence on the Australian government’s policy on Burma said Kate Lee.

An estimate of 1500 people took part on Peace Walk in four Australian capital cities Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth.