Bush freezes assets of state-owned Myanmar companies

The Associated Press May 2, 2008

President George W. Bush froze the assets of state-owned companies in Myanmar propping up the nation's military junta, which has been condemned by the international community for suppressing pro-democracy dissidents.

"These companies, in industries such as gems and timber, exploit the labor of the downtrodden Burmese people, but enrich only the generals," Bush said Thursday, referring to Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

The new order allows the Bush administration to go after state-owned enterprises - something it previously did not have the authority to do. The U.S. government already has the power to go after individuals and companies.

In remarks at the White House marking Asian Pacific American heritage month, Bush said the military regime in Myanmar continued to reject the will of its people to live under leaders of their own choosing.

"Over the past eight months, my administration has tightened sanctions on the regime," he said. "We've imposed visa bans on the junta's generals and their families and their cronies, trying to send a clear message, and we hope the rest of the world follows as well."

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

Its government has been widely criticized for human rights abuses and suppression of pro-democracy parties such as the one led by the Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for more than a decade.

The ruling junta, run by Than Shwe, refused to honor the results of 1990 general elections won by Suu Kyi's party.

Last September, at least 31 people were killed and thousands more detained when the military cracked down on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks and democracy advocates.

Dissidents in Myanmar and exile groups elsewhere have urged voters to vote on May 10 against the constitution, saying it was merely a ploy to perpetuate more than four decades of military rule.

"The people of Burma have long awaited the opportunity to live in a true democracy," Bush said. "The referendum vote scheduled for May 10, 2008, could have been that opportunity. However, Than Shwe and his regime are ensuring that the referendum vote will be on a dangerously flawed constitution, and will not be free, fair, or credible."

Claims of forced voting

Hundreds of government workers in Myanmar were forced to vote in favor of an army-drafted constitution in non-secret ballots, held more than a week before a May 10 referendum, some of the workers said, Reuters reported from Yangon.

In one of the cases, about 700 employees in the Ministry of Electric Power-2's Yangon office were forced to tick their ballot papers with local referendum officials observing, witnesses said.

"We were all shocked, and some people were furious, but they couldn't do anything," said one of those present on Wednesday, who did not want to be identified for fear of recrimination by the country's military rulers.

"They said those who wanted to vote 'no' had to hand in their resignation," the worker said.

Civil servants in Naypyidaw, the new capital, also reported voting in which they were forced to endorse the charter.

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