While initially stating that he was opposed to the bill, I was later informed that he had voted to support it (thanks Andrew!). So, I decided to find out why:

Wednesday 25 June 2008

Dear Mark Lazarowicz,

I wrote to you on the 5th May regarding the terrorism laws in the UK, specifically the ability to detain suspects without charge for a substantial period of time.

Part of your reply:
“You will no doubt be aware there is currently a proposal under discussion to raise the 28 day limit to 42 days. While I am of course open to all reasonable argument, I have certainly not been convinced of the case for this extension, and at present I do not intend to support it.”

I am interested to know what changed your mind on this matter as I believe you voted for this Bill when it came up in the House of Commons earlier this month, and indeed on other Bills such as the renewal of Control Orders in February, and any other legislation that blatantly removes a citizen’s basic rights without charge.

Yours sincerely,

Fergus Macdonald

I came across some of the information in this letter from a few sites I found through writetothem.com. There is quite a wealth of information on MPs available on the internet which I was slightly unaware about. I’m not surpised by this, but I have never looked it up before so wasn’t quite sure how or where this was available. It makes interesting reading if you want insight into how the person you vote for actually performs his/her duties.

Anyway, Mark replied personally to my email the same day, which again is impressive timing, and a thorough response:

Dear Mr Macdonald

Thank you for your email. I have to tell you that it was only after a great deal of thought I decided to support the government proposal on this issue. It is no secret that I had a great number of reservations about the proposal, so I shall explain why I eventually decided to vote in the way that I did.

Firstly, having looked at all the information available to me, I was persuaded that there was a case for a ‘reserve power’ of the type proposed, as long as it was genuinely that, and not a power which became used on a regular basis.

Secondly, the various amendments and concessions made by the government have made it clear that the power will indeed be a reserve power. It is certainly not the case that there will become an automatic 42 day detention period. The power will only be able to be used in closely specified circumstances, for a limited time period, with parliamentary approval on each occasion, and will require the approval of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Lord Advocate. It is therefore a very different proposal from the ’90 days’ proposals, to which I was very strongly opposed and which I had no hesitation in voting against.

Thirdly, the Prime Minister has personally made it clear that there is no intention to seek any further changes in the number of days for which pre-charge detention is available, and that he expects these powers to be used very sparingly, perhaps (hopefully) never. I have posted in my “blog” a copy of the Prime Minister’s letter to Labour MPs on the subject. There is a link to this from my website www.marklazarowicz.org.uk.

It is always of course possible to exaggerate the threat of terrorism – but equally, we should not ignore that it is a real threat as well. That does not mean that our primary response should be security measures – the most important thing is to tackle factors underlying terrorism, whether that be social divisions at home, poverty, and sometimes foreign policy. But sometimes security measures are important as well.

It is very hard, of course, to get the balance right. The recent case of Abu Qatada seems to highlight these difficulties. He has been released on bail (indirectly as a result of the provisions of the Human Rights Act, introduced of course by this Labour government); if it had not been for Control Orders, he would now be under no realistic controls, notwithstanding the clear views expressed by the Courts previously about him.

I realise that this is not the type of answer you would like, but I can assure you that I considered the issue of “42 days detention” very carefully, and eventually thought it was right to vote in the way that I did.

I am sorry to disappoint you – and obviously if you have any comments in response I would be happy and interested to hear from you.

Mark Lazarowicz MP

In light of this reply, which I did not manage to fully read until this morning, I made the following reply:

Dear Mr Lazarowicz,

My apologies for the slow reply to your letter, I am currently in South East Asia and have just spent a few weeks travelling through Laos  and Cambodia where internet access is not as good as some other places.

I thank you for your timely and thorough reply to my letter of 25th June, and I am certain that the situation that our country faces at this time is far more complicated than I can understand as a moderately-informed citizen. I also believe from reading your letter and looking at how you have voted on other matters (for example the recent bill to make MP’s expenses more transparent) that I can trust your response and therefore your judgement – which is a welcome feeling!

Regards,
Fergus Macdonald

It’s reported that over 1.5 million people are at serious risk from diseases such as cholera, dysentery and malaria and may die if aid is not delivered soon. It seems that the number of dead cannot be accurately determined at this time, but i am confident that this disaster is on a par with the terrible earthquake in China. It’s rather strange then that China sent 50,000 troops to Sichuan province to help with the aid effort, but is blocking UN sanctions to force the Burmese government to accept foreign aid! I understand the principal that the Burmese should decide for themselves, but i think that when this many lives are at stake – there’s not really much time to look at everyone’s principals.

China broadcasts to the media globally that it would appreciate foreign help; unsurprisingly everyone scrambles to show them how much they can do…and maybe they can get a few new trade agreements next year, but at the same time they block aid from going to Burma! It doesn’t really make sense in my head.

So…what can be done. On Saturday 17th May, the Global Day of Action for Burma’s Cyclone Victims will take place. The emphasis is on getting the rest of the world to enforce aid upon Burma to save literally millions of lives. I don’t agree with this tactic as it will only worsen relations with the government, but then i also do not have a better solution to propose!

Protests are taking place in London as follows:

French Embassy: Time: 12:30 – 13:00
Address: 58 Knightsbridge London SW1X 7JT

American Embassy: Time: 13:30 – 14:00
Address: 24 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 2LQ

Foreign Office: 14:40 – 15:10
Address: King Charles Street London SW1A 2AH

Click here to view a map of the day’s protests.

Other protests across the world can be found here.

TAKE ACTION
The Burma Campaign UK and MTV have joined forces again to call for action by
the United Nations Security Council. Visit http://www.mtvburmaaction.com to email the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the permanent members of
the United Nations Security Council.

TAKE ACTION
Email European Union governments calling on them to agree targeted economic
sanctions that will ensure European companies no longer help pay for the
guns and the bullets used against peaceful protesters in Burma. Visit:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/eu_sanctions.html

Also, photos are now online of the 10,000+ strong march that took place in London on Saturday. You can see the set here or the slideshow here.

Edinburgh is hosting a ‘Run for Relief‘ in the meadows, followed by a lunch which will be addressed by Zoya Phan, a Burmese refugee who now works for Burma Campaign UK.

There’s also a discussion taking place this Thursday (4th October) at St John’s Church Hall on Princes Street about the situation in Burma, and what people in Scotland can do about it.

If you’re at all interested in this, or just feel that you want to help out, please check out the websites of the organisations involved…come along on Thursday…or even get your trainers on this Saturday! It’s only 5K around the meadows…and you can walk if you want to. Register here online before 10pm Thursday 4th October.

However, Sylvester Stallone has recently returned from filming on the Thai/Burmese border and has spoken about the atrocities which he saw. I have little doubt that by the time the smoke clears and democracy is restored to the country the world will learn of truly the appalling abuse of human rights which i believe happens there daily.

On the plus side, the UN Special Envoy met with the government today. So far there’s little news about the meeting which may even still be going on, however i imagine the outcome will be somewhat similar to the foreign minister’s announcement that the government reacted adequately to political activists who were exploiting peaceful protests to destabilize the government.

Feel free to check out some of my pictures of the country here, or as a slideshow here, and ponder the situation like this little fellow below!

China and Russia have vetoed the UN proposal to condemn the government’s actions, with China reportedly saying that if they were to meddle in Burma’s civil affairs, that surely they should be meddling in Frances when they have protests such as the riots in Paris last year. Hardly the same situation, but you’ve gotta love the Chinese’s spin on the situation. Hopefully they will do their utmost to appease the situation anyway.

Having been there and met Burmese people, it truly saddens me to think about this happening. I’ve chosen my words carefully here and i can honestly say that without exception we did not meet an unpleasant Burmese person. Everyone we met was overjoyed to see us and we didn’t notice a hint of aggression, anger or hatred in anyone we met for the whole time we were there. The worst thing was that we were so popular that everyone wanted to talk to us to practice their English and wouldn’t leave us alone! Life in the spotlight is hard i tell you!

On the plus side, this was the main story on BBC news this morning, and on their website. The UK PM and US President have both announced that they will take action against the ruling junta, and an urgent UN Security Council meeting has been scheduled for today at 7pm. Hopefully the international community will get involved with this issue and not allow the appalling abuse of human rights to continue in the country.

The BBC has some good pictures of the protests here.

However, they were not allowed access to University Avenue and therefore could not pass the house of Aung San.

I’ve not been there myself, but was shown photos of the road by a guy we met while in Yangon, who managed to snap a couple before he was ordered to put his camera away. There are armed guards and a road block at each end of the road stopping all traffic and most pedestrians from travelling down the road. In unprecedented fashion, the armed guards allowed some 1000 or so monks to walk down the road, stop outside Aung San’s house and chant a mantra for over 15 minutes, before blocking the road again. It’s reported that she came out of her house to greet the passing monks.

Hopefully this will not appease the monks and their supporters and that this type of behaviour will continue.

They are marching from the outskirts of Yangon, to Shwedagon Pagoda in the centre of town. It’s the holiest shrine in the country and is said to house relics of four Buddhas within it. It is historically been used as the gathering point for protests and gatherings, and has seen both General Aung San demanding independence in 1946 and his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi and over half a million others protesting for democracy in the 1988 uprising. Unfortunately, 1988 ended terribly with thousands of monks and civilians killed or put in prison. Hopefully these protests will have better results.

I urge everyone to take an interest in this case. The situation in Burma today has been described as the worst abuse of human rights anywhere in the world. Millions of people have been moved from their homes, imprisoned, tortured or killed. The economy is in shambles, save for a few countries (mainly China) which still do business with the military junta government. Check out the Burma Campaign website and join the fight to help restore democracy in Burma. This is in no way the same as the western pseudo-democracy that is being imposed on Iraq, Burma held legitimate elections in 1990 which saw the National League for Democracy win roughly 80% of the votes. Currently i believe that Burma holds the record for the highest number of legitimately elected members of parliament currently held in prison, never mind the scores more that simply disappeared.

Please publicise this issue so that it can be changed for the better.

Initially i was overjoyed to hear about this. They are protesting against the military junta government’s refusal to apologise for raising the tax on fuel and subsequently for breaking up a peaceful protest staged by students and pro-democracy activists last week. This comes just days after they announced that NLD spokeswoman Aung San Suu Kyi will remain under house arrest for another year.

I hope that this doesn’t end in a bad way for the monks. They are revered in Burma and therefore hold a great deal of weight with the general public. The fact that they are taking to the streets shows just how drastic the situation has become, and how the rest of the world needs to stand up and take notice of the unspeakable abuses of human rights which occur in the country on a daily basis. I hope that the government don’t come down too harshly on them, although i fear that if they do that the country will rise up against the government and civil war will break out. The consequences of which may be beneficial for the country, but the process will most certainly end in huge loss of life.