Examination of Witnesses (Questins 177-179)
MR MAUNG
MAUNG
21 JUNE 2007
Q177 Chairman: Good afternoon and thank
you very much for coming to give evidence. We very much appreciate
your being here. As you know, the Committee is conducting an inquiry
into the situation in Burma, specifically the aid and support
that Britain is giving to people inside Burma, how effectively
it works, what could or could not be done to improve their plight
and what might change the situation. Obviously you have definite
views about this. Reading from an interview you did in The
Irrawaddy, you said, "And no NGO, no government is going
to provide for Burma for ever, we know that. So therefore nothing
should be given to Burma at the moment to tackle the humanitarian
crisis—that is my stand." That is a pretty strong statement.
Why do you believe that no humanitarian aid should be given until
there is a change in the political system, which does not look
likely to happen any time soon? That may be a view you can comment
on. Do you take the same view about cross-border aid or only in-country
aid?
Mr Maung: There are two parts
to the question. When I gave the interview I was talking about
the overall change of momentum where especially governments from
Europe were going into Burma with aid and that by working with
aid development this would solve Burma's political issues. This
is not the correct way. The main thing is the political change
that is needed that is going to help the country. That is what
I was trying to explain to The Irrawaddy. For the record,
we as the NCUB[1]
have said that we agree with the Three Diseases Fund for malaria,
tuberculosis and HIV. Other material assistance needs to be decided
on, issue by issue. This is where we stand regarding aid to Burma.
On cross-border assistance, we have always asked for support.
We have been doing that with the resources we have, not through
NGOs but by ourselves, especially through the medics that are
crossing the border, through the teaching programmes. We have
always asked for help but help has never been given to us.
Q178 Chairman: Your point about the Three
Diseases Fund is taken but are you saying that everything else
that might be being done to try and provide humanitarian support,
whether it is food, medical or whatever other services, to internally
displaced people within Burma or just people in poor communities
in Burma, is achieving nothing or, worse, may be counterproductive?
Is that your view?
Mr Maung: Food is something that
you will not be able to solve by giving aid. You cannot help displaced
people from inside Burma. I do not think any NGO has access to
internally displaced people who are between the cities and the
border. It is not going to the people.
Q179 Mr Singh: You made the point
that aid is not the solution to the issues in Burma. There is
a whole host of exile groups and there is also the National Council
of the Union of Burma. What political solutions is this union
seeking? How do you see the way forward politically if aid is
not one of the answers?
Mr Maung: We see that the Burma
political issue has to be solved through dialogue. We are always
asking for dialogue. We believe that if the regime goes into dialogue
with the National League for Democracy (NLD), this is the first
step towards solving the problem. The NLD has always said again
and again that they are ready for dialogue. The regime has not
responded. We are the people who are living outside. We have the
ability to travel around and explain to people like you here.
We can try to raise the pressure on the regime to go to the dialogue
table. We are looking for a solution through dialogue and for
us, the people who are living outside, we need to put pressure
on the regime so that it goes to the dialogue table.
1 National Council for the Union of Burma Back
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