Friends, Brothers, Sisters - We have gathered here this evening holding lighted candles in our hands signifying our solidarity and desire for light, peace and justice for our beloved motherland Burma. We have asked our religious leaders to lead us in prayers to a superior being so that in someway a change can be brought about in Burma to divert the catastrophe that is looming over it.

All of us are aware of the tense and desperate situation in which the people are existing. In desperate situations terrible things can happen. We do not want a repeat of 8.8.88. We do not want our friends and relatives in Burma to be shot down on the streets and buried alive. The future is grim. The people are hungry. There is no freedom. People need space to move and breathe and thrive.

The struggle for freedom, human rights, and democracy has gone on for too long. Have we reached boiling point? Will that day be 9.9.99? We do not know. But what we do know is that everything that is happening in Burma to day is pointing towards a revolution of the spirit that cannot be contained.

The people of Burma want democracy. They do not want an autocratic government that deprives them of their basic human rights. So many have sacrificed their lives. Not just Burmans but fellow human souls who share our sufferings and hopes like James Mawdsley who is in a prison in Burma today. Let us remember him in our prayers as we remember all our other compatriots languishing in the jails deprived of freedom for having a political opinion that does not please the greedy and power hungry rulers who have held our people as hostages for over thirty years.

Those of us who can speak out, who are given refuge in countries like Australia are able to breathe, work and speak freely. Let us use our freedom to promote and help our fellowmen and kindred souls to obtain their freedom from military dictatorship.