US embassy cable - 05RANGOON313

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