Points
to raise in your letter:
How you express your concerns is
entirely up to you, but what we need is to get the following
points across:
Background
Indonesians have been paying for their
own oppression by making debt payments on arms deals sanctioned
by the UK government that the UK knew could be used to suppress
human rights.
Indonesia is excluded from receiving debt
relief as the current system does not take into account
the legitimacy of the debts. This is a moral outrage and
a major failing of the international community to deal with
irresponsible lending and borrowing.
Demands
1. Sign the Parliamentarians' Declaration on shared responsibility
in international lending.
2. Publicly pledge support for cancellation of the arms
debt owed by the Indonesian government to the Export Credit
Gurantee Department.
3. Ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to cancel this debt
unconditionally through the Paris Club.
Some tips to remember when writing
to your MP...
Keep it personal
The most important thing is to make your own points, in
your own words. An MP can tell when they are getting a ‘form’
letter, and these kind of letters have very much less weight
with parliamentarians. According to ex-MSP Mark Ballard
a personal letter counts around three times as much as a
form one, and ten times as much as a postcard.
Introduce
yourself
You don’t need to go into great detail, but if you’ve
had previous contact you might want to refer to that. The
most important thing is that you are a constituent, and
therefore someone that the MP has to take notice of!
The constituent
is always right!
Tell the MP what it is that’s troubling you. It’s
great if you’re briefed on the issue that you are
talking about, but the MP isn’t going to be trying
to pick holes in your argument. It’s their job to
deal with your concerns, not argue with them.
Give your
MP something to do
The clearer you are about what you want the MP to do, the
more likely it is that they will do it. Our main demand
in this campaign, for example, is that the MP asks the Chancellor
of the Exchequer to cancel the £700 million arms debt
to Indonesia. This is much more likely to happen if you
ask for a follow up: ‘Could you write back to me with
details when you have got a reply from the chancellor?’
Following up
Once you’ve got the channel open you are in a good
position to follow up. You will be able to organise lobbies
later on, and make sure your MP signs up to Early Day Motions
when they happen. If your MP sits on any relevant committees,
you can always ask them to raise the issue there as well.
And if you don’t feel you’re getting adequate
feedback, you can always ask for it.
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