Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05RANGOON313
2005-03-14 08:15:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:  

Burmese Sage Urges USG Boycott of '06 ASEAN

Tags:  PREL BM ASEAN 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS RANGOON 000313 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL BM ASEAN
SUBJECT: Burmese Sage Urges USG Boycott of '06 ASEAN
Summit

UNCLAS RANGOON 000313

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL BM ASEAN
SUBJECT: Burmese Sage Urges USG Boycott of '06 ASEAN
Summit


1. (SBU) Burma's foremost female journalist, writer,
and social critic, Ludu Daw Amar, recommends that the
United States boycott the 2006 ASEAN summit scheduled
to be hosted by the Burmese junta. Her strongly
worded counsel, in keeping with her nearly 70 years
of public activism for equality and liberty in Burma,
was relayed to DCM and P/E Chief during a March 8
courtesy call at her home in Mandalay. After a
polite general exchange with Burma's literary doyenne
about her work and family, emboffs asked, "Do you
have any advice for us?" expecting tips on living a
long and fruitful life. She immediately switched
gears to the political realm, stating, "The United
States and the European Union should boycott the 2006
ASEAN summit."


2. (SBU) Ludu Daw Amar, 90, has long been one of
Burma's leading publishers, translators, authors, and
sometime socialist revolutionary, having organized
student strikes and protests as early as 1938. She
maintains an avid following among intellectuals,
cultural and social groups, and student organizations
supportive of the pro-democracy movement. Despite
her advanced age, she reports that Burmese security
agents still monitor her activities.


3. (SBU) One of her surviving sons, living in the
Burma-China border area, reportedly leads a remnant
of the Burma Communist Party. Another son is Aung
San Su Kyi's attorney in the court case pitting ASSK
against her AmCit brother in an estate dispute about
her house. Emboffs noted a large painting of Aung
San Su Kyi hanging over Ludu Daw Amar's dining room
table. A third son, running the family publishing
house in Mandalay, is very close to ASSK's inner
circle of Rangoon friends and confidants. That the
regime remains concerned about the activities of 90-
year old Ludu Daw Amar speaks to her continuing
influence and to the generals' obsession with
controlling and repressing critics of the military
dictatorship.

MARTINEZ