Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., greets Sharon Moo after speaking to several hundred Burmese refugees Saturday at Crescent Hill Baptist Church. / Sam Upshaw Jr.;The Courier-Journal/Sam Upshaw Jr.
Less than a week after returning from Myanmar, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell spoke to several hundred Burmese refugees in Louisville Saturday, praising the country’s fledgling democratic reforms but saying it was too soon to lift sanctions.
McConnell, long a leading critic of Myanmar’s military junta and a chief sponsor of sanctions aimed at halting political repression and ethnic persecution, told the mostly ethnic-Karen refugees that his first-ever visit left him cautiously hopeful that real change is imminent.
The Kentucky Republican cited the recent release of hundreds of political prisoners, a cease-fire with Karen separatist rebels, new laws allowing peaceful assembly and an upcoming election expected to bring democratic leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament after more than a decade of house arrest.
“For a long time I’m sure many of you wondered if anything would change in Burma,” he said, using the old name for the country as his words were translated. “But clearly change is in the air.”
But many of the refugees who came to hear McConnell at Crescent Hill Baptist Church — which has become a gathering place for some of the nearly 2,400 Burmese refugees resettled to Kentucky since 2006 — met his optimism with deep skepticism.
While grateful for having such a powerful ally in Congress, the refugees during a question-and-answer session questioned whether the strides toward democracy would be real or lasting and asked McConnell how the U.S. would verify changes.
Several said they did not trust the regime, which has fought for years against Karens and other ethnic groups, pushing hundreds of thousands into refugee camps on the Thai border. Some cited recent news reports that the government was again battling another ethnic group in the north of the country.
“I welcome change, but the government can say they change, and yet the people on the ground are still suffering and the people still have to live in fear,” said Ka Waw, who came to Louisville last year with his three children from the camps and now works at a factory. He said the Karens should have an autonomous state.
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Mahn Saing, a Burmese refugee who has lived in Louisville for years and runs a restaurant, said he thinks that the government is motivated by sanctions that hurt government-owned businesses — not by a desire for democracy.
Mya Zaw, who hasn’t been home to Mandalay since fleeing in the wake of a bloody crackdown on 1988 democratic protests, said much more progress is needed before he would feel safe going home.
“I’m not comfortable to return right now; I don’t trust them,” he said.
McConnell said the United States, which plans to upgrade diplomatic relations with Myanmar, would work with reformers inside the country and track whether the April 1 elections are fair and that all political prisoners were released and that the Army halts attacks on ethnic groups.
During McConnell’s trip, he met with Suu Kyi, President Thein Sein, ethnic leaders and two recently released political prisoners. He said he’s working with Suu Kyi to form a list of prisoners to be released and will rely on her advice in deciding on sanctions.
“We have an American saying that talk is cheap, and I understand that,” McConnell said. “They say all the right things. Our job is to verify.”
He also said more efforts toward a comprehensive reconciliation between ethnic groups and the government are needed before the changes benefit refugees. As a result, it will take time “before large numbers of Karen are dumped out of refugee camps and go home,” he told reporters afterward.
Jason Abbott, director of the University of Louisville’s Center for Asian Democracy, who attended Saturday’s talk, agreed that it’s “way too early to expect a direct effect on the refugee problem.”
McConnell said he came to speak because he’s sensitive to the plight of the refugees, who spent years fleeing the government or in camps before being resettled. Many have little education and face struggles finding jobs and adjusting to the culture, according to resettlement officials.
At the end of his talk, he took time to shake hands with several hundred of the refugees.
“I sympathize with their situation,” he said.
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