Dokument #1247685
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
According to a Burmese professor at the
Northern Illinois University's Center for Burma studies, party
membership is "strongly encouraged" for those holding government
positions. [ Telephone conversation of 15 May 1990.] Government
employment in Burma includes many sectors such as teaching,
military, etc., due to the overwhelming dominance of the economy by
the State. [ Ibid.] If someone is specifically asked to join and
explicitly refuses, sanctions are likely to be imposed. [ Ibid.] A
Burma specialist at the State University of New York indicated that
government employees were generally expected to join the party. [
Telephone conversation of 15 May 1990.] He added that he knew some
people who had left the country to avoid joining the party. [
Ibid.] This information could not be corroborated by the published
sources currently available to the IRBDC in Ottawa.