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Burmese receives rights award

President Chen Shui-bian, left, presents an award to Cynthia Maung, a doctor from Myanmar, in recognition of her work on human rights, in Taipei yesterday. Maung has set up a clinic along the Thai-Myanmar border to take in refugees fleeing the unrest in Myanmar. PHOTO: PATRICK LIN, AFP

Cynthia Maung, the founder of Mae Tao clinic in the town of Mae Sot, Myanmar, yesterday received the 2007 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award (ADHRA) in Taipei for her commitment to Burmese refugees suffering under the military junta that rules the country.

"I ask the international community and Taiwanese friends to support the long-term struggle for peace in Burma. At the same time, we should continue together to rebuild democracy," Cynthia said as she thanked the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, which granted the award.

She said Myanmar has been unable to improve its human rights record and that Burmese would continue to live in misery without international aid.

Over the past ten years, the junta government has destroyed more than 3,000 villages in eastern Myanmar and about 1.5 million to 2 million Burmese have been forced to leave their homes, she said.

In 1989, Maung started a makeshift clinic along the Thai-Burmese border, which has since grown to include several departments, such as blood and eye clinics and trauma and prosthetic departments for land mine victims.

Today, some 200 patients a day receive free health care from five physicians, 140 health workers and 100 support staff. The Clinic trains 100 new health workers every year and offers internships to heath workers from local communities.

"On behalf of the government and the 23 million people of Taiwan, I recognize Dr Maung for her long-term dedication to hundreds of thousands of Burmese refugees. Her will and actions defending her compatriots and safeguarding basic rights are admirable," President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said.

With Myanmar confronting difficulties on the road to democracy, Maung receiving the award becomes more meaningful, Chen said.

"[Maung's] selflessness and great love are in sharp contrast with the atrocities and mercilessness of the junta," Chen said.

In September and October, pro-democracy activists in Myanmar staged protests against the military junta, which reacted by launching a violent crackdown -- a repeat of the military government's reactionto a pro-democracy uprising in 1989.

The foundation, a government-affiliated institution, created the award last year to support democratic development and promote human rights throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The inaugural Award was given to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who doubles as the foundation's chairman, lauded Maung for her success in providing not only medical care for her patients, but also job training, social services, health education, child protection services and community-building activities.

"Dr Maung has become more than a physician. She has implemented her idea of building a community based on respect for life and human rights," Wang said.

Wang also praised Reporters Without Borders for its contributions in exposing the human rights situation in China over the past year and said it has used the prize money to create a Chinese Web site in Chinese, enabling Chinese readers outside of China, which blocks such Web sites, to access information related to human rights and freedom of speech.

The award includes a sculpture and a grant of US$100,000 to support the work of the winner.
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