Burma Related News - Oct 21-23, 2007.
- From: TIN KYI <mtinkyi@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:52:33 -0700
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BURMA RELATED NEWS - OCTOBER 21-23, 2007
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HEAD LINES
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AFP - Myanmar junta seizing relatives of wanted protesters: rights
group
AFP - Myanmar agrees first visit by top UN rights official in four
years
AFP - UN envoy 'encouraged' by Indian position on Myanmar
AFP - Myanmar still in fear as curfew lifted
AFP - Environmental group appeals to China to stop Myanmar dam project
AFP - As Myanmar cracks down, ethnic Chins flee
AFP - Implications of US Myanmar sanctions unclear: Singapore
AP - UN says Myanmar has agreed to earlier visit by UN envoy
AP - India silent on Myanmar crackdown
AP - Workers Call for Myanmar Boycott
AP - China says UN official to arrive Wednesday for talks on Myanmar
Reuters - India baulks at taking tougher line against Myanmar
AFX - China Power Investment, Yunnan Power Grid join Myanmar's
Irrawaday dam project
Asia Times - COMMENT: ASEAN key to Myanmar change
CNA - ASEAN to keep engaging Myanmar, sanctions won't work: George Yeo
Salem-News - Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi: Myanmar's Saviour?
IHT - Myanmar lifts curfew and ban on assembly in Yangon
IHT - Monks in Myanmar learn the limits of moral authority
Jakarta Post - RI envoy discusses change in Myanmar with generals
ANI - Protestors demand India to shun 'non-intervention' policy
towards Myanmar
DVB News - NLD members face two years' imprisonment
DVB News - NLD members allege torture during interrogation
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Myanmar junta seizing relatives of wanted protesters: rights group
Tue Oct 23, 12:19 PM ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) - The Myanmar junta is taking relatives of protesters
hostage if it cannott find the people it wants to arrest, rights
groups said Tuesday after returning from a trip to the region.
The mission, from the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) called for
further international sanctions against the military regime over its
"brutal and systematic" crackdown on peaceful protests last month.
"Arrests are still taking place," said FIDH delegate Gaetan
Vanloqueren, who visited the area from Ocober 13-21.
"The regime is now taking family members hostage when the persons
sought are not at home."
In late September in Yangon, Myanmar's main city, the authorities
suppressed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks, killing at
least 13 people and jailing about 3,000.
The rights delegation did not enter Myanmar during its fact-finding
visit but interviewed witnesses of the crackdown in neighbouring
Thailand and on the Thai-Myanmar border.
"While no accurate and verifiable number of deaths or wounded can be
given at this stage, we can assert that the repression was brutal and
systematic," said Vanloqueren.
"Most of the participants (in their study) witnessed people being shot
dead, as well as persons beaten to death," he told a press conference
in Brussels.
The regime "is conducting widespread arbitrary arrests in Rangoon
(Yangon) and elsewhere," he added.
The rights group also distributed statements from anonymous witnesses.
"I saw people on the ground," said one such witness, who attended the
Yangon street protests.
"A student leader was shot dead with one shot ... After that they shot
with a machine gun. People fell down. Many were shot," said the
witness, identified as a "poet".
"Most of the people killed were monks as they were in the front of the
march when the soldiers attacked," the witness said.
The testimonies from the other witnesses was similar. Some of the
witnesses predicted more demonstrations, amid anger at the attacks --
especially on the country's revered Buddhist monks -- and over food
shortages.
Earlier this month European Union foreign ministers approved new
sanctions against the Myanmar regime, including an embargo on the
export of wood, gems and metals.
The EU already had broad sanctions in place against Myanmar's
leadership and their families -- with 375 people on a visa-ban, asset-
freeze list.
Guy Ryder, secretary general of the ITUC, said the sanctions were
going in the right direction, but not far enough.
"It is difficult to understand why some sectors, such as gas and oil,
are excluded" from the sanctions, he said.
The trade union group is also writing to the 400 foreign companies
operating in Myanmar and plans to mobilise trade unions to protest at
their national offices, he added.
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Myanmar agrees first visit by top UN rights official in four years
Tue Oct 23, 5:19 AM ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The ruling generals in Myanmar have agreed to
the first visit by the UN's top human rights official in four years,
the United Nations said on Monday.
The announcement comes in the aftermath of a violent crackdown on pro-
democracy protesters that left at least 13 people dead and intensified
international criticism of the military junta.
The junta agreed to a visit by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special
rapporteur on human rights, and suggested that it take place before a
regional summit in Singapore next month, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas
said.
The UN's top envoy on Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, is also scheduled for
a return visit to the country next month amid a flurry of diplomatic
efforts to put pressure on the junta.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been in the international
spotlight since pro-democracy protests spearheaded by the country's
revered Buddhist monks were put down by the regime.
Nearly 3,000 people were rounded up and detained -- many of them monks
-- and at least 13 people were killed. The military, which has run the
country with an iron fist since 1962, has repeatedly quashed any shows
of dissent.
Pinheiro has not been allowed to visit the country since 2003. The UN
spokeswoman said Myanmar had suggested that he come before November's
summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win confirmed the offer in a letter to
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, she said.
In an appearance at the United Nations in New York earlier this month,
the foreign minister blamed the bloodshed in his country on "political
opportunists" backed by "powerful countries."
Protests with only a small number of demonstrators erupted in August
when the regime doubled the price of fuel overnight, leaving many
people in the impoverished nation unable even to afford transport to
get to work.
The fuel price protests mushroomed into mass demonstrations against
the regime after the monks took up the cause. In the last two or three
days before they were quashed, the marches drew an estimated 100,000
people to the streets.
The demonstrations were the biggest challenge to the regime in 20
years.
Their suppression has unleashed a wave of international criticism and
sanctions against the regime, which has kept opposition leader and
Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the
last 18 years.
The junta has repeatedly insisted it will act on its "road map" for
democracy, but international critics have called the process a sham.
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won
elections in 1990 but was never allowed to govern, said it welcomed
Pinheiro's visit.
"We hope to meet him," NLD spokesman Han Thar Myint told AFP in
Myanmar.
Meanwhile Gambari, the UN envoy on Myanmar who visited the country
last month to express outrage over the crackdown, is also expecting to
return in November.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told
reporters Monday that Washington was working with the UN, China,
India, ASEAN and European allies to Gambari back into the country as
soon as possible.
"It's urgent that Mr Gambari be allowed to come into Burma, to
facilitate in the reconciliation that is necessary and in the
transition to a new order that's necessary for Burma (Myanmar) to
become a normal state," he said.
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UN envoy 'encouraged' by Indian position on Myanmar
by Elizabeth Roche
23 minutes ago
NEW DELHI (AFP) - The United Nations envoy on Myanmar said Tuesday he
was "encouraged" by Indian pledges to support efforts to resolve the
crisis in its military-ruled neighbour.
The comments came after the diplomat, Ibrahim Gambari, met with Indian
leaders who have come in for heavy criticism over their muted reaction
to the junta's violent crackdown on anti-government protests led by
Buddhist monks.
"Every country has the sovereign right to decide how to deal with
Myanmar," Gambari said of India, which has been accused of failing to
live up to its label as the "world's largest democracy".
But after talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign
Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the envoy said he was "very encouraged by
their response."
"The fact that I was received at the highest level shows that the
government of India is committed to working with the UN secretary
general," said Gambari, who is in India as part of a regional tour to
drum up support for UN efforts to push for democratic reforms in
Myanmar.
"They are fully supportive of the UN... and have given undertakings to
do everything in their power to help in the deliverables," he added,
referring to the lobbying of Myanmar's junta on democracy and human
rights.
India has cultivated close ties with Myanmar's military rulers in
recent years, citing its huge energy requirements as well as its need
to jointly battle separatist rebels who are active along the two
countries' jungle border.
The country is also competing for influence with its main Asian rival,
China.
New Delhi has voiced its "concern" over the crackdown on pro-democracy
protests in Myanmar, but has also opposed the imposition of sanctions,
arguing they are counterproductive.
"As a close and friendly neighbour, India has multi-dimensional
linkages with Myanmar. Consequently, initiatives should be mindful of
the need for a peaceful and stable Myanmar," the foreign ministry said
in a statement on Gambari's visit.
Last week, US President George W. Bush while announcing fresh
sanctions on Myanmar, said China and India needed to do more pressure
the Myanmar junta.
Gambari said it was "up to India to decide what more it can do," but
that he had made several suggestions.
These included securing the release of detainees including pro-
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, seeking a more "inclusive" national
reconciliation process and engaging the military regime more
comprehensively.
"Whatever India can do, whatever other countries can do to ensure
qualitative results... would be welcome," he said.
Gambari, who is due to depart for China later Tuesday on the next leg
of his regional tour after visiting Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and
India, said he saw an Asian "consensus emerging" on how to deal with
the reclusive regime and was "fully satisfied" with the progress.
He praised Beijing, saying "the Chinese have actually been quite
helpful" in pushing for UN visits and meetings with junta leader
General Than Shwe and Aung San Suu Kyi.
Gambari said his visit to Beijing would be to "acknowledge what they
have done but also to encourage them to do more."
The envoy added that he would be returning to Myanmar in the first
week of November for another visit.
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Myanmar still in fear as curfew lifted
Sun Oct 21, 12:36 PM ET
YANGON (AFP) - Residents in Yangon on Sunday welcomed the end of a
curfew imposed on the eve of Myanmar's bloody crackdown on peaceful
protests, but voiced fears in private over the country's iron-fisted
junta.
The government ended the curfew Saturday in Yangon, Myanmar's main
city, where authorities suppressed pro-democracy protests led by
Buddhist monks in late September, killing at least 13 people and
jailing about 3,000.
Residents said they were relieved to see the end of the nightly
curfew, which lasted from 11:00 pm to 3:00 am, but confided that they
did not yet feel that life had returned to normal.
"People are very happy about the end of the curfew. We are free now,"
said one company official in his 30s, who declined to be named.
"But people, including myself, continue to worry about the situation
because of what happened in Yangon last month," he said.
The end of the curfew came as military-run Myanmar was under global
pressure over the deadly clampdown on dissent, with the United States
stepping up sanctions against the top generals including junta leader
General Than Shwe.
Than Shwe has offered to meet with detained democracy icon Aung San
Suu Kyi in a move seen as the regime's effort to defuse international
pressure following the violence last month.
But the junta chief has said the dialogue will follow only if the 62-
year-old Nobel peace laureate gives up what he calls her support for
"confrontation, utter devastation, economic sanctions on Myanmar and
other sanctions."
On Sunday, the government demanded Aung San Suu Kyi drop her support
for sanctions. She has publicly discouraged foreign investment in
Myanmar in a bid to pile pressure on the ruling generals.
Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, tolerates little public
dissent, but anti-junta rallies began in August following a massive
hike in fuel prices and snowballed into the biggest challenge to the
regime in nearly two decades.
A 55-year-old housewife said she was glad that the government lifted
the curfew, but added she would stay away from Yangon's golden
Shwedagon Pagoda, a rallying point for protesters.
"I would like to go to Shwedagon Pagoda, but dare not go there right
now. I am too afraid," she said.
While authorities have sharply reduced the security presence around
the pagoda, Myanmar's most important landmark, several plain-clothes
officials were still standing guard on Sunday.
A 41-year-old mother of a teenage boy said she continued to fret about
security despite the end of the curfew.
"My son is very happy because he can go out with his friends at night.
But I am worried about the security situation. I asked my son not to
stay outside too long," she said.
During the curfew shops closed early and Yangon's streets, normally
bustling with people hanging out at tea shops late into the night,
were eerily quiet.
One tea shop owner said he hoped more customers would return after the
end of the curfew.
"My business suffered during the curfew because I had to close my shop
around 9:00 pm, and most of all, we had very few customers," said the
owner in his 50s.
Street tea shops are very popular for nights out among people in
Myanmar, one of the world's poorest nations, where few people can
afford to go to restaurants.
"I hope customers will return to my shop soon. I want my business to
return to normal again," he said.
Apart from the curfew, the junta also cut the country's Internet links
in a bid to curb the flow of images and information on the deadly
crackdown being spread around the world.
Internet access was restored only recently, but the military
government continued to ban foreign media, including the BBC and Voice
of America, as well as news outlets run by exiled dissidents.
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Environmental group appeals to China to stop Myanmar dam project
Tue Oct 23, 5:13 AM ET
BEIJING (AFP) - An environmental group appealed Tuesday to the Chinese
government and a number of Chinese enterprises to stop work on a dam
project in Myanmar that threatens to block one of Asia's great river
systems.
China Power Investment Corp. and China Southern Power Grid are among
the handful of companies involved in building the Myitsone hydropower
plant across the Irrawady river, the Kachin Development Networking
Group said.
"We are approaching the companies and the Chinese government because
this area is very important for our Kachin people," said a group
spokesman, referring to the inhabitants of Kachin state, where the dam
is located.
"We're appealing to the Chinese government to stop the dam project,"
said the spokesman, who asked not to be identified because of frequent
trips to China.
The group warned in a statement the dam had serious social and
environmental impacts, including the displacement of an estimated
10,000 people.
The Myanmar military junta allows Chinese partners to manage the
project which will eventually transmit electricity to China and
potentially generate more than 500 million dollars in revenue per
year.
After an official opening ceremony in May this year, a permanent
worker camp was set up at the site and survey work is ongoing.
Dams in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, have a poor safety record
and recent breaks in 2006 have led to flood surges which have swept
away houses and bridges, causing fatalities and destroying power
stations, the statement said.
The Irrawaddy dam site is less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from
Myanmar's earthquake-prone Sagaing fault line.
Dam breakage would be disastrous for Myitkyina, the capital city of
Kachin State, which lies only 40 kilometres downstream, it said.
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As Myanmar cracks down, ethnic Chins flee
by Linda Chhakchhuak
Tue Oct 23, 2:54 AM ET
AIZAWL, India (AFP) - After Myanmar's bloody crackdown on pro-
democracy protests in September, ethnic Chins escaping to India say
they are being targeted to join pro-junta rallies or pay hefty fines
-- or worse.
There are approximately two million Chins in Myanmar and Chin
organisations say they face persistent persecution for being
Christians and non-ethnic Burmese.
At least 13 people were killed and 3,000 detained when Myanmar's junta
suppressed peaceful protests that broke out after a fuel price hike
and drew around 100,000 people, led by Buddhist monks, onto the
streets.
And in the weeks after the crackdown, Chins, who have a long history
of migration to India to escape poverty and forced labour, say the
military and its supporters are forcing them to march in support of
the junta.
Those who don't face persecution.
"The army leaders in our village gave a public notice to all the
people to attend a rally on October 8," said a Chin woman recently
arrived in India who asked not to be identified.
"Anyone not attending would be fined 10,000 kyats (1,560 dollars) or
imprisoned. I was ordered to pay this huge amount, which there is no
way for me to pay, so I fled rather than face life in an army prison
camp."
Last week, the woman reached Aizwal -- the capital of India's
northeastern Mizoram state which shares a 400-kilometre (250-mile)
border with Myanmar, which was previously known as Burma.
Aizwal is around 70 kilometres from the Indo-Myanmar border.
Rights workers say hired gangs allied with the military are using
physical force on people to get them to join the rallies.
"They have an organisation called the Chiang Khai Phyu i (Youth
Organisation in Support of the Burmese Government), which works with
the army," said Zo Sang Pui, head of the All-Burma Democratic Lushai
Women's Organisation, a Chin group working in Mizoram.
"They are used to beating and physically intimidating the public. This
'unofficial army' is more dangerous than the army in uniform as they
are nothing but a bunch of untraceable thugs hired by the junta to do
all their dirty work," she said.
In Hakha, the main town in Myanmar's northwestern Chin state and with
a population of about half a million, a pro-military rally took place
earlier this month, but rights workers said that support was forced.
With many of the young having fled to India to earn a living -- there
are an estimated 100,000 Chin refugees in India, 70,000 of them in
Mizoram -- it is mostly the elderly who are left behind and they offer
little resistance.
"Most are too tired to resist as only old people are left in most
villages," said Salom, coordinator of the Women's League of Chinland,
an umbrella grouping of Chin women's organisations.
"Each house is expected to send one person to attend such rallies or
pay a heavy fine. In such circumstances, where people are already
weighed down by poverty, the old people simply go and attend," she
said, not wishing to give her last name.
"People come out of fear. The army makes people shout slogans in
support of the junta which are filmed and then released through the
state TV channels as well as supplied to international news agencies,"
said Salom.
"People must understand that these are just false pictures. As a
student in 1998, I was also forced to go to one such rally in Hakha."
A Chin rebel group launched an armed struggle for a separate homeland
two decades ago, but later splintered into separate organisations.
Mizoram is one of the states in India's insurgency-wracked northeast
to share a border with Myanmar. New Delhi relies on the military
regime for help in flushing out militants fighting Indian rule.
India has come under fire for letting its strategic and business
interests prevail in the gas-rich nation by not pushing its neighbour
over the crackdown, although New Delhi has asked Myanmar to release
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and expressed concern over the
suppression of protests.
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Implications of US Myanmar sanctions unclear: Singapore
Mon Oct 22, 5:19 AM ET
SINGAPORE (AFP) - The implications of US sanctions against three
companies in Singapore are not clear, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said late Monday.
"MFA has just been formally informed by the US embassy in Singapore of
the stated sanctions today, which affect three companies in Singapore
that are linked to a Myanmar national, Tay Za," it said in a
statement.
"The implications of these US sanctions are still not entirely clear.
We are studying them and will also seek further clarification from the
US if necessary."
The three firms with offices in Singapore are among seven named by
President George W. Bush under sanctions designed to target
organisations with ties to Myanmar's ruling junta. They aim to pile
more pressure on the regime after its deadly suppression of pro-
democracy protests last month.
According to Bush's order issued Friday, the companies which are
either based in or linked to Singapore are: Pavo Trading Pte Ltd, Air
Bagan Holdings Pte Ltd and Htoo Wood Products Pte Ltd, which is also
listed as being from Myanmar's main city, Yangon.
Observers of Myanmar say Tay Za, the tycoon behind the three Singapore-
linked firms, is a charismatic close associate of the ruling Myanmar
junta.
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UN says Myanmar has agreed to earlier visit by UN envoy
Tue Oct 23, 12:55 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Myanmar's military rulers have agreed to a
return visit by U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari in the first week of
November rather than mid-November, the U.N. announced Tuesday.
The U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have been
pressing the Myanmar government to move up Gambari's return trip so he
can try to promote efforts at national reconciliation and moves toward
democracy.
Ban sent Gambari to Myanmar after the government sent troops to quash
peaceful protests, initially led by students and then by Buddhist
monks, in late September.
He met with junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe, as well as twice with
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but he has so far failed to
bring about a dialogue between the two sides.
Gambari is on a six-nation tour of key Asian nations, discussing the
situation in Myanmar and urging support from key nations.
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas announced Tuesday that Gambari
``expects to visit Myanmar in the first week of November as the
Myanmar government agreed to bring forward his standing invitation to
the country.''
``While the exact travel dates have yet to be arranged, Mr. Gambari
will be going to the country directly from the region,'' she said.
Gambari has already visited Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and he
flew from New Delhi to Beijing on Tuesday. His final stop will be
Japan, Montas said.
``Mr. Gambari has been urging India and other regional countries to
actively encourage the government of Myanmar to continue to cooperate
with the secretary-general's good offices efforts, including by
addressing continuing human rights concerns and by encouraging Myanmar
to receive Mr. Gambari as early as possible in order to kick-start a
dialogue with the opposition,'' she said.
Gambari held ``detailed and substantive discussions'' Tuesday with
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior officials,
Montas said.
The U.N. announced Monday that Myanmar's government has agreed to a
visit by the U.N.'s human rights investigator, who has been barred
from entering the military-ruled country since 2003.
In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, Myanmar's
Foreign Minister Nyan Win suggested that Paulo Sergio Pinheiro's visit
take place before the Nov. 17 summit of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, Montas said.
The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned Myanmar's crackdown on
demonstrators at an emergency session on Oct. 2 and urged an immediate
investigation of the rights situation in the country.
Romanian Ambassador Doru-Romulus Costea, who chairs the 47-nation
rights council, appealed to the Myanmar government on Oct. 9 to permit
an urgent visit by Pinheiro, who was appointed as the U.N's
independent expert on human rights in Myanmar seven years ago.
Costea met with Nyunt Swe, Myanmar's top U.N. diplomat in Geneva, that
day and told him that Pinheiro, a Brazilian human rights specialist,
would be able to travel ``at any time should the government of Myanmar
give its approval.''
Pinheiro is scheduled to visit U.N. headquarters in New York on
Wednesday.
The Human Rights Council's resolution strongly deploring ``continued
violent repression of peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar, including
through beatings, killings, arbitrary detentions and enforced
disappearances'' was its first criticizing a government other than
Israel since the council replaced the discredited Human Rights
Commission last year.
The council, which lacks enforcement powers, is limited to focusing
global attention on human rights offenders.
The protests in Myanmar began Aug. 19 after the government hiked fuel
prices in one of Asia's poorest countries. But they are based in deep-
rooted dissatisfaction with the repressive military rule that has
gripped the country, previously known as Burma, since 1962. The
protests were faltering when Buddhist monks took the lead late last
month.
Soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators and the military junta said
10 people were killed, but diplomats and dissidents say the death toll
is likely much higher. Thousands were arrested, and the hunt for
participants is reportedly continuing.
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India silent on Myanmar crackdown
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 23, 3:53 AM ET
NEW DELHI (AP) - A United Nations envoy visited Indian leaders on
Tuesday, hoping to rouse the world's largest democracy from its
relative silence over the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests
by the military government in neighboring Myanmar.
U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari is on a six-nation tour to press Asian
nations - in particular China and India - to take the lead in
resolving the crisis as the European Union and the U.S. push for
expanded sanctions against Myanmar.
India, which has established deep economic and military ties with the
junta over the last decade, says it's talking quietly to its neighbor,
an approach that has galled critics who argue New Delhi's inaction
makes it complicit in the brutal repression taking place in Myanmar.
"We feel that India should stop protecting and strengthening the
military butchers of Burma," said Thin Thin Aung of the Women's League
of Burma, while protesting recently outside the home of Sonia Gandhi,
the head of India's ruling Congress party.
Protests in Myanmar began Aug. 19 after the government raised fuel
prices in one of Asia's poorest countries. They were based in a deep-
rooted dissatisfaction with the repressive military rule that has
gripped the country, previously known as Burma, since 1962. The
protests were faltering when Buddhist monks took the lead late last
month.
Soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators and the military junta said
10 people were killed, although diplomats and dissidents say the death
toll is likely much higher. Thousands were arrested, and the hunt for
participants is reportedly continuing.
On Friday, President Bush announced new measures targeting the assets
of Myanmar's leaders. He also tightened controls on U.S. exports to
the country, also known as Burma. In addition, he urged China and
India to do more to pressure the junta.
China, which Gambari is expected to visit on Wednesday, has taken some
action - Beijing is credited with pressuring Myanmar's generals to
meet with Gambari earlier in the month. India, however, has done
little publicly. In fact, as the protests gathered steam last month,
India's petroleum minister, Murali Deora, was in Myanmar signing a
$150 million gas exploration deal.
Apart from several mild statements expressing "concern" over the
situation in Myanmar and suggestions that it would be "helpful" to
release detained democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi,
India has said little else, even as pressure has grown on New Delhi to
act.
India insists that quietly working behind the scenes is more
effective.
"Violence and suppression of human rights is something that hurts us,"
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters last week on the
way home from a visit to South Africa.
"Having said that, we have to recognize that Myanmar is our next door
neighbor and sometimes it does not serve the objective you have in
mind by going public with condemnations," he said.
Critics dismiss India's quiet diplomacy, saying New Delhi is simply
loathe to give up access to Myanmar's copious natural resources, such
as timber and natural gas.
"As a democracy one expects more from India," Brad Adams, the Asia
director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
"We would like India to speak publicly. They do their diplomacy in
private but there is no doubt that public diplomacy is necessary" said
Adams, adding that India needs to make it clear to the junta that
there will be consequences for its actions.
As India's economy began to boom it became desperate to lay its hands
on the energy resources necessary to fuel its rapid economic growth
and provide power to its 1.1 billion people. Myanmar's natural-gas
reserves proved too tempting.
India has also been keen to secure the cooperation of the Myanmar
military to help contain several separatist groups fighting New Delhi
rule in India's northeast, a region that borders Myanmar. Several of
the groups have set up bases over the border used to launch attacks
against India.
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Workers Call for Myanmar Boycott
Tuesday October 23, 10:57 am ET
Trade Unionists Call for Boycott Against Businesses That Work With
Myanmar Regime
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Trade unionists called Tuesday for workers
across the world to boycott companies that do business with Myanmar's
repressive military regime, singling out French oil company Total SA.
Myanmar's junta has arrested thousands people in a crackdown on pro-
democracy protests in recent weeks, shooting dead at least 10 when
troops fired into crowds of peaceful demonstrators last month.
The inward-looking military elite has largely ignored world opinion
and pressure during its 45 years in power but makes money from
allowing foreign companies such as Total to pump out some of its vast
reserves of oil and natural gas.
Guy Ryder, secretary general of the International Trade Union
Confederation, said he wanted to keep up the pressure on corporations
that help prop up the Myanmar regime.
He drew a parallel with trade union boycotts of South African goods to
force changes to the apartheid system of racial segregation.
"Our intent and our ambition is indeed to mobilize trade unions
nationally and public opinion to bring that type of pressure to bear,"
he told reporters. "The parallels with what we did in the apartheid
era are rather persuasive."
He said the big business players had not yet addressed union demands
to back away from Myanmar.
"The Totals of this world have not yet answered. We are going to
pursue them," he said.
ITUC has just returned from a joint mission with the International
Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) to the Myanmar-Thai border where
they spoke with 13 witnesses of the political and military oppression
continuing in Myanmar.
In film it shot on Oct. 18 and shared with Associated Press
Television, Myanmar national Moe Swe -- a member of the Yaug Chi Oo
Workers Association -- alleged that Total's gas pipelines were linked
to forced labor and human rights violations.
"We want Total to withdraw from Burma," he said. It supports the junta
in buying weapons "to oppress our Burmese people and they violate the
workers' rights."
The European Union on Oct. 15 agreed to expand sanctions against
Myanmar to include imports of timber, gemstones and precious metals in
response to the junta's crackdown on pro-democracy groups. It held off
applying them to give U.N. mediators more time to sway the military
leaders to start talks with pro-democracy groups.
But the EU shied away from targeting Burmese oil and gas exports or
preventing European companies from operating in those sectors in
Myanmar.
However, France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Oct. 2
that new sanctions France was drafting would not spare Total, which
has been producing 17.4 million cubic meters of natural gas per day
from its Myanmar wells, according to the Total Web site.
Total, France's biggest company by market capitalization and revenue,
has said it has not made any capital expenditures in Myanmar since
1998. It said any "forced withdrawal" would simply clear the way for
another company to step into its place.
EU sanctions against Myanmar in place since 1996 have banned arm sales
to Myanmar, frozen Myanmar government assets and forbidden senior
government officials from traveling to Europe.
***************************************************************
China says UN official to arrive Wednesday for talks on Myanmar
AP - Tuesday, October 23
BEIJING (AP) - A United Nations envoy was to arrive in Beijing on
Wednesday for two days of talks on Myanmar, a Chinese Foreign Ministry
official said.
The envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, is on a six-nation tour to press Asian
nations _ in particular China and India _ to take the lead in
resolving the crisis in Myanmar after the recent violent crackdown on
pro-democracy protests by the country's military government.
Foreign Minister spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference that
Gambari would meet State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and Assistant Foreign
Minister He Yafei.
"He will exchange views with China on the situation in Myanmar, and
will talk about the mediation efforts of the U.N. secretary general,"
Liu said.
He did not give any other details.
Gambari met with India's foreign secretary, Shivshankar Menon, on
Monday.
His visit comes as the European Union and the United States press for
expanded sanctions against Myanmar.
On Friday, U.S. President George W. Bush announced new measures
targeting the assets of Myanmar's leaders. He also tightened controls
on U.S. exports to the country, also known as Burma.
In addition, Bush urged China _ which has been credited with
pressuring Myanmar's generals to meet Gambari earlier in the month _
to do more to pressure the junta that has ruled the Southeast Asian
nation since 1962.
Last month tens of thousands of people turned out for rallies in
Myanmar, which started as protests against fuel price increases and
then grew into the largest show of dissent in decades.
The junta claims that 10 people were killed when troops opened fire on
demonstrators to disperse them. Diplomats and dissidents say the death
toll was much higher.
***************************************************************
India baulks at taking tougher line against Myanmar
Tuesday October 23, 06:45 PM
By Y.P. Rajesh
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Giant neighbour India promised to help push
Myanmar towards democracy on Monday but, as expected, stopped short of
committing to a tougher line against its military rulers.
India mostly reaffirmed its policy towards the former Burma in
response to calls from a special U.N. envoy that New Delhi join the
rest of the world in getting Myanmar's junta to end its repression of
pro-democracy activists.
"As a close and friendly neighbour, India has multi-dimensional
linkages with Myanmar," an Indian foreign ministry statement said
after Ibrahim Gambari held talks with top leaders during a two-day
visit to New Delhi.
"Consequently, initiatives should be mindful of the need for a
peaceful and stable Myanmar," it said. "India will continue to play a
constructive and positive role, along with like-minded countries, to
this end."
Gambari is trying to forge a united front in Asia to prod the junta in
Myanmar and held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
India had given an undertaking to do all it can to push for democracy
in Myanmar, Gambari had said earlier, adding that while he did not
doubt New Delhi's commitment, countries could not be stopped from
pursuing their own methods.
"I am encouraged by the undertaking which they have given to do
everything possible ... use their influence to encourage the
authorities in Myanmar to continue their cooperation and to deliver
tangible results," he told a news conference.
India, along with China, is considered to have some sway over the
junta in Myanmar, which has kept a tight lid on the country since
crushing Buddhist monk-led protests that began last month.
The demonstrations grew into the biggest against the military regime
in 20 years and official media said 10 people had died. Diplomats and
pro-democracy activists, however, say the death toll could be much
higher.
LIMITED INFLUENCE?
New Delhi has courted the military rulers since the early 1990s in a
bid to counter Beijing's influence in Myanmar and access its rich gas
reserves, in a turnaround of a policy that initially supported
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
India has come under significant pressure in recent weeks, including
from U.S. President George W. Bush and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-
Moon, to influence the junta to ease up on repression of protesters
and open talks with Suu Kyi.
But India has hedged its bets and played a delicate diplomatic game,
calling for political reform while opposing sanctions and underlining
that it would not help to openly condemn a neighbour.
Indian analysts have been divided over whether New Delhi can afford to
change its policy towards Myanmar while pursuing its economic and
strategic interests.
Most, however, had predicted that they did not expect any change to
come about, if at all, due to Gambari's visit.
Indian diplomats frequently say that the world overestimates New
Delhi's influence over Myanmar's generals.
Thant Myint-U, grandson of former UN Secretary-General U Thant from
the then Burma, and who teaches history at Cambridge University, said
he partly agreed with that assessment.
"My guess is that outside influence may not be enough to move the
regime forward on political reforms," he told the Hindu newspaper in
an interview during a visit to New Delhi this week.
"But it can help move the regime on other issues such as economic
reforms and humanitarian issues. On some of these issues it has enough
leverage to make a positive impact," he said referring to India.
***************************************************************
AFX News Limited
China Power Investment, Yunnan Power Grid join Myanmar's Irrawaday dam
project
10.23.07, 3:37 AM ET
BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - Chinese companies, including Yunnan Power Grid
Corp and the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), are at the
center of new plans to dam the Irrawaday River in neighboring Myanmar,
a local pressure group said.
Yunnan Power Grid will connect the Myitsone hydropower plant, located
at the confluence of the Irrawaday, to the Greater Mekong power
network and to the rest of China, according to the Kachin Development
Networking Group (KDNG), a human rights organization based in the
northern Myanmar state of Kachin.
KDNG's Naw La said that 'standards such as emergency measures for dam
breaks, public participation, and impact assessments that are written
into Chinese law are not being followed in the Irrawaday dam
project.'
CPI -- one of China's 'big five' state-owned electricity companies --
has signed deals with the Myanmar power bureau to build as many as
seven dams in the area, KDNG said.
China's Southern Power Grid Corporation is also a strategic partner in
the project after signing an agreement earlier this year, said the
pressure group.
The Chinese companies could generate as much as 500 mln usd in
revenues per year from the projects, but KDNG says that the 150-meter
dam will threaten the livelihoods of as many as 1.5 mln local people.
The activities of Chinese companies in Myanmar came under scrutiny
last month after a series of protests in the country's capital,
Rangoon, were crushed by the government.
As well as hydropower, Chinese enterprises are also involved in
logging, mining and natural gas exploration in Myanmar.
***************************************************************
Asia Times - Oct 24, 2007
COMMENT: ASEAN key to Myanmar change
By Michael Vatikiotis
SINGAPORE - The announcement of a constitutional drafting committee in
Myanmar may look like another step along the military junta's seven-
step road map to such a goal, but in fact it is more bad news for the
international community's determined effort to encourage a peaceful
political transition to democracy there.
The appointment of the 54-member committee appears to close off the
possibility of making the process more inclusive, and denies the
fledging dialogue process between the junta and opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi of a major area of compromise.
The junta appears to be doing just what everyone feared: closing ranks
and resisting pressure to make concessions to the domestic opposition
and concerned members of the international community. This makes it
all the more important for Myanmar's neighbors, big and small, to
agree on a strategy involving political and economic aid and
assistance.
The military regime may now be talking to United Nations envoy Ibrahim
Gambari, but the absence of regional accord on the way forward ensures
that Myanmar's generals can play divide and rule, however loud the
calls for change, however strong the threat of sanctions.
There have been calls for Myanmar's powerful neighbors China and India
to take the lead, but a paucity of constructive advice about how to
change the status quo. One idea gaining currency is a core group based
on the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council,
plus Norway, Japan and Singapore, the latter as the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) standing chairman.
While such a configuration may send the right message in terms of
global concern, it may be the wrong way to persuade China and India to
change their views as it smacks of great power arm-twisting. Myanmar's
military rulers will also be able to spout the usual rhetoric of neo-
colonial conspiracy.
Far more effective would be a core group or mechanism anchored in the
region, rather than in New York. China in particular needs cover from
regional neighbors before breaking with its long and now outdated
tradition of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs.
Therefore support from ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, is
critical.
If ASEAN can agree to support a peaceful transition, with appropriate
measures of carrots and sticks, there is no question that major powers
like India, China and Japan, upon which the Myanmar authorities depend
for vital trade and aid, will have to follow. The question is how?
ASEAN's track record on Myanmar isn't all that consistent. For years
since admitting Myanmar as a member in 1997, the regional grouping has
made ineffectual attempts to influence the regime and never quite able
to confront the repression and isolation that has kept the country one
of the poorest in the region, with close to 60% of the population
living on an average income below US$400 a year.
The screw started to turn after the latest outburst of protest and the
brutal crackdown that followed. Singapore, the current chairman of
ASEAN, wrote to the government expressing the group's "revulsion" at
the violent repression of demonstrators. There followed a chorus of
disapproving comments from other ASEAN capitals.
But alas, almost a month after the crackdown began, no one can agree
on a plan. And time is running out. Once ASEAN heads of government
gather in Singapore for a summit towards the end of November, if
nothing concrete is proposed, the generals in Myanmar will correctly
conclude that they have once again been given a pass.
Most ASEAN leaders have expressed full and unqualified support for
Gambari's mediating mission in Myanmar. But they should go further and
seek high-level consultation with China and India. Such a move would
indicate an emerging regional consensus for political reconciliation
and transition in Myanmar and further strengthen Gambari's hand.
Next, ASEAN and China should agree on a mechanism to facilitate aid
and assistance to Myanmar. For all of its strategic clout, China will
not want to take the lead. Such a working group might be composed of
ASEAN's immediate past chairman (the Philippines), the current
chairman (Singapore) and the incoming chair (Thailand) as well as
China and possibly India. Indonesia will ask for a role and should be
given one in the form of a high-profile convenor or envoy to lead this
group, which might be dubbed "Friends of Myanmar".
Something like the Six Party Talks framework pioneered by China in a
bid to end the nuclear crisis in North Korea likewise has some
resonance in the case of Myanmar. Pyongyang's stubborn recalcitrance
was broken only by China's intervention, yet China managed to find a
mechanism that made this intervention seem benign and mutually
beneficial for all the parties. A mechanism like this for another
neighboring state, Myanmar, could be convened swiftly once China in
particular gives a green light.
Once established, the working group could be placed at the disposal of
the United Nations and support internal dialogue brokered by Gambari.
It is not enough for ASEAN to simply support Gambari's mission with
words; there must be action and a plan to contribute aid, investment
and technical assistance to help the Myanmar people achieve comparable
levels of prosperity in the region.
As usual, however, ASEAN is divided. Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed
Hamid Albar, perhaps still smarting from his own rude rebuff at the
hands of the Myanmar junta last year, sees no need for ASEAN's active
involvement. Thailand, rather positively, is in favor of a working
group mechanism. Indonesia, unhelpfully, appears to place trust in its
own ties to the junta in a vain hope that Myanmar's generals will
follow the example of Indonesia's generals a decade ago and go quietly
into political retirement.
There is an urgent need for ASEAN to end its disagreements and
dithering, and work as one with China to shape a regional consensus.
Myanmar has made it known that it will only speak to Gambari, so he
must go with the full backing of the region. Other major powers may
want a role, but experience suggests that interventionist diplomacy is
best managed within the region.
In the 1980s, ASEAN broke all of its rules and backed a mechanism for
bringing the warring Cambodian factions to the table. True, the
parties to this conflict were exhausted, weak and divided; Myanmar's
generals remain defiant and have all the guns. But the outcome is what
counts. Cambodia was subjected to more than a decade of interference
and intervention; it has emerged a strong, sovereign state. Its
democracy may be imperfect, but a robust civil society keeps its
strong leadership playing by basic democratic rules.
No one in ASEAN wants to see Myanmar destabilized, but ASEAN in
concert with China must send a strong signal of concern about the
constitutional road map since it is now becoming clear that there is
no willingness to include the opposition in the process and there is
no intention to start a real dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi.
Constructive change and stability will only flow from a more inclusive
political process, and only Myanmar's regional friends and neighbors
can effectively deliver this message.
Michael Vatikiotis is regional director for Asia of the Center for
Humanitarian Dialog, based in Singapore.
***************************************************************
ASEAN to keep engaging Myanmar, sanctions won't work: George Yeo
By Dominique Loh,
Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 22 October 2007 2144 hrs
SINGAPORE: ASEAN will continue to pursue diplomatic channels in trying
to resolve the Myanmar issue, said Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo
in Parliament on Monday.
Mr Yeo said that Singapore's priority is to support the efforts of UN
special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who is playing a critical role as a
catalyst as he has gained the trust of Myanmar's military rulers and
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mr Yeo was addressing concerns of MPs who had filed 12 questions on
Myanmar at Monday's sitting.
At least 13 people were killed and more than 3,000 arrested after
Myanmar military rulers last month began a crackdown on anti-
government protests led by Buddhist monks.
The crackdown sparked global outrage after the violence was broadcast
worldwide.
Mr Yeo said that the impasse could not go on forever. There has to be
genuine dialogue between Myanmar's military rulers and those seeking
democracy.
Mr Yeo said ASEAN also believes it is not possible for Myanmar to go
back to the status quo.
He also stressed that ASEAN is not about to revoke Myanmar's
membership in the grouping. While it is a "tempting and emotionally-
justified" position to take, isolating Myanmar would not solve the
issue, said Mr Yeo.
He said: "Is that in our interest for Myanmar to be Balkanized? It
cannot be, so we've decided to bite our tongue and to keep Myanmar in
the family because that serves a long-term strategic self interest
best.
"Myanmar may well resent the fact that we have every intention in
ASEAN to discuss their domestic affairs at our meeting, they too know
it's better for them to remain in ASEAN and face the family than to be
left alone outside."
While Western nations have imposed economic sanctions against Myanmar,
Mr Yeo said such measures may make reconciliation efforts more
difficult.
Singapore also has limited economic links with Myanmar.
In 2005, direct investments totalled some S$742 million.
Myanmar is also Singapore's 50th largest trading partner, with
bilateral trade reaching some S$1 billion last year, or roughly 0.1
percent of Singapore's overall total trade.
As for military links, Singapore has few defence interactions with
Myanmar. However, Singapore does maintain defence links, mainly
through multi-lateral events.
As for arms sale to Myanmar, Mr Yeo said it is not a policy to divulge
such figures but the amount is not substantial. He assured the House
that Singapore does not sell arms that can harm civilians.
Addressing concerns about money remitted in and out of Singapore, Mr
Yeo said that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) operates on a
strict regime against money laundering, just like any other financial
centre. There are strict procedures that banks in Singapore have to
adhere to.
The Myanmar issue will also be discussed at upcoming summits, namely
the ASEAN summit in Singapore in November, the East Asian summit, as
well as one between ASEAN and European leaders on 26 November.
Mr Yeo said that while there is no quick solution in sight, a fresh
approach is needed, and everyone must be prepared for long and
complicated negotiations.
***************************************************************
Oct-23-2007 05:05
Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi: Myanmar's Saviour?
OOI Keat Gin for Salem-News.com
Myanmar's future is at the crossroads: peaceful transition to
democratic governance or autocratic rule of the military oligarchy.
Suu Kyi holds the answer.
(PENANG,Malaysia) - Undeniably the most talked about figure in
contemporary Southeast Asia, Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace
laureate continued her steadfast non-violent opposition to the
military junta government of Myanmar (the former Burma).
Recent developments in Myanmar of the repressive clamp down by the
military authorities of demonstrators led by saffron-robed Buddhist
monks and massive arrests throughout the country turned the focus on
this slim, mild mannered and soft spoken lady of steel.
Myanmar's future is at the crossroads: peaceful transition to
democratic governance or autocratic rule of the military oligarchy.
Suu Kyi holds the answer.
Her pedigreed name after her father, the martyred acclaimed national
hero of then Burma, Aung Sun (1915-47), made Suu Kyi a revered figure
upon her return to her motherland in 1988 following many years abroad.
Born on June 19th 1945, Suu Kyi left her beloved homeland whilst in
her teens to accompany her mother who was then Burma's ambassador to
India. She left New Delhi for England where she studied at Oxford
University.
After her studies she spent a working sojourn at the United Nations in
New York. In 1972 she married the Oxford scholar Michael Aris and was
blessed with two sons. Four years prior to her return to Myanmar, she
published a biography of her father simply titled Aung San (University
of Queensland Press, 1984).
Strongman General Ne Win (1911-2002), who seized power in 1962 from
civilian Prime Minister U Nu (1907-95), established a military-
dominated regime that sought to develop the country through Burmese-
style socialism.
More than a quarter of a century later it was apparent that the
general had failed in his socialist revolution when the country was
plunged into economic disaster and social disorder. Street
demonstrations and strikes broke out in 1988 that finally forced
General Ne Win to step down. A string of generals assumed power and
dutifully suppressed all opposition and dissent from the populace.
Against this background of clashes between the people and the
generals, Suu Kyi returned to Yangon (formerly Rangoon) to attend to
her ailing mother. She was drawn into the people's struggle and became
one of the founding members and secretary general of the National
League for Democracy (NLD).
The promised elections of 1990 witnessed the NLD sweeping a majority
of the votes. The military authorities intervened and forbade the NLD
to establish a government. Although denied a candidacy in the
elections owing to her non-resident status and her marriage to a
foreigner, Suu Kyi was speedily transformed into the leader and iconic
symbol of the pro-democratic elements from within the NLD and from
without.
Despite her perennial house arrest at her Yangon residence that
attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters at its gates, Suu Kyi's
influence amongst her countrymen was never dissipated. Her determined
advocacy of non-violent opposition and persistent struggle against the
military junta earned her the respect of world leaders and the
international community.
Admiration and recognition of her protracted struggle to re-establish
democratic governance to her long suffering people and country was
translated into her being a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in
1991.
The fact that the so-called 'saffron revolution' was set in motion -
anti-government demonstrations led by Buddhist monks - showed the
populace is grasping at the last straws in protesting the repressive
military regime. The saffron revolution might be the last bastion of
non-violent opposition. It apparently has failed.
The world awaits Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi's chess game with General Than
Swe, head of the military junta and his colleagues. Both sides are
talking tough, undoubtedly for public consumption to appear to be
dealing with strength. Politicians are dime a dozen; it is statesmen
that are rare.
A compromise political solution is the answer to resolving the Myanmar
situation. If Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Clarke could go beyond being
politicians and what a wonderful scenario the world had witnessed in
post-apartheid South Africa, it is now Suu Kyi's and Than Swe's turn
to show the nationalist in them and for the ultimate sake of their
motherland to take the decisive step. A Malay saying goes: 'It takes
two hands to clap', are we hearing the sound of clapping?
We sincerely hope and pray ...
***************************************************************
The International Herald Tribune
Myanmar lifts curfew and ban on assembly in Yangon
Published: October 21, 2007
YANGON, Myanmar(AP) - Myanmar has lifted a curfew and ended a ban on
assembly imposed during a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests,
the latest sign the military rulers are confident they have fully
crushed the largest demonstrations in two decades.
The relaxing of restrictions imposed Sept. 25 was announced Saturday
from government vehicles driven through the streets of Yangon,
Myanmar's largest city.
"The curfew and ban on assembly has been revoked effective today
because security and stability has improved," according to the
announcement issued from a speaker atop one of the vehicles.
It was not immediately clear if the restrictions were also lifted in
Mandalay, another major city and a focus of anti-government
demonstrations last month.
The lifting of the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew and ban on gatherings of
more than five people suggests the junta believes it has stamped out
the uprising that was sparked in August by public anger at a sharp
rise in fuel prices. Small protests quickly grew into anti-government
demonstrations tens of thousands of people strong and spearheaded by
legions of the country's respected monks.
It was the largest showing of dissent in the tightly controlled state
in nearly two decades.
The junta responded by detaining thousands of demonstrators and
shooting into the crowds, killing as many as 10, according to the
government. Diplomats and activists say the death toll is much higher.
Since the crackdown, the authorities in Myanmar have attempted to
apply a softer touch. They have cleared the streets of soldiers and
released some prominent activists.
The White House dismissed the move as "cosmetic" Saturday, a day after
President George W. Bush announced new penalties against the military-
run government.
"What we need are signs of serious intent to move toward a democratic
transition," said Dana Perino, the White House press secretary.
The junta has also been intensifying efforts to arrange talks with the
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, issuing an unusual plea in
state media Saturday for her to compromise for the sake of national
reconciliation.
The government announced earlier this month that military leader
Senior General Than Shwe was willing to meet with the Nobel Peace
laureate, but only if she meets certain conditions, including
renouncing support for foreign countries' economic sanctions targeting
the impoverished nation.
The junta has also urged Aung San Suu Kyi, detained for 12 of the last
18 years, to give up her support for "confrontation" and "utter
devastation," an apparent reference to the recent protests.
***************************************************************
The International Herald Tribune
Monks in Myanmar learn the limits of moral authority
By Choe Sang-Hun
Published: October 23, 2007
MANDALAY, Myanmar: As the lunchtime gong chimed through a tree-shaded
monastery, several hundred monks in burgundy robes lined up, all
holding alms bowls.
It is a common scene in Myanmar, where 1 out of every 100 people, many
of them still children, are monks. But the lunch line at the
Mahagandhayon Monastery here, the country's largest, used to be much
longer.
"We usually have 1,400 monks here," said a bespectacled senior monk.
"Because of the situation, parents took 1,000 of them home."
For decades, two powerful institutions have shaped Burmese life: the
500,000-member Buddhist clergy, which commands a moral authority over
the population, and Senior General Than Shwe's junta, whose 450,000-
strong military keeps the population in check with intimidation.
Their uneasy coexistence shattered last month. After scattered
protests erupted against sharp fuel price increases in August,
thousands of monks took to the streets to protest the junta's economic
mismanagement and political repression, and the military responded
with batons and bullets.
As of Oct. 6, the government said it had detained 533 monks, of whom
398 were released after sorting out what it called "real monks" from
"bogus ones." Four monks suspected of instigating the demonstrations
were still being sought. Monks and dissidents contend that a much
higher number were detained.
"To Burmese, monks are like sons of the Buddha," said the deputy head
of a monastery in Yangon, the country's largest city. "They had the
monks kneel down, with their hands on the back of their heads. Anyone
who raised his head was beaten."
He said that at Ngwe Kyayan, the largest monastery in Yangon, soldiers
took away food and donation boxes, and even beat the abbot and
vandalized images of the Buddha, as some of its 300 monks fought back.
He said the monks had been demonstrating to protest the economic
deprivation of ordinary Burmese. "It's a terrible situation," he said.
"Monks took to the streets to draw attention to this problem, pleading
for loving kindness. But our government is worse than Hitler's Nazis.
They have no respect for religion. I wonder how long it will take to
heal this wound."
When it was all over, The New Light of Myanmar, a government-run
English-language newspaper, said this month, "monks had been defrocked
during interrogation," so they could be questioned as ordinary lay
people, and then "ordained and sent back to their monasteries." In
interviews, monks denounced this process, saying the military had no
authority to defrock or ordain monks.
The junta also employed divide-and-rule tactics, by persuading the
state-sanctioned Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, which oversees the
Buddhist clergy here, to accept its donations and to order monks to
stop protesting or face punishment.
"Some of these senior monks are bribed by the regime," said an editor
at a Yangon magazine. "They have accepted so many good things in life
- cars, televisions, big houses, telephones and mobile phones - that
they simply have to listen to the regime."
At the Mahagandhayon Monastery here in Mandalay, soldiers had pulled
back after cordoning off the temple for weeks. But their trucks
continued to lurk in back alleys near the compound, as rumors
circulated that if the monks rose up again, it would probably be in
this city, the nation's second-largest. About 20,000 of its million
residents are monks, one of the highest concentrations in the country.
Young men from across the country come here to train as monks, and
they have grown increasingly passionate about the poverty and
injustice their nation has suffered under the military government.
The fear was still palpable at Mahagandhayon, where monks chanted
mantras over their last meal of the day, a late-morning lunch of
vegetable soup, eggplant, rice and a special treat from a donor -
instant noodles. But the monks were clearly still reluctant to discuss
the military's crushing of the demonstrations less than a month ago.
"They are afraid of guns," he said, making a shooting gesture, before
vanishing into the dining hall.
Long before the protests erupted, monks were keenly aware of people's
suffering. When they went out to receive alms, said the senior monk in
Yangon, they saw "no happiness in people's faces, people whose minds
are preoccupied with finding food and surviving one day at a time."
But the military's use of force against the monks has unsettled
fundamental Burmese values.
"To Burmese, monks are like sons of the Buddha," said Maung Aye, a
taxi driver, as he drove around Yangon's 2,000-year-old Sule Pagoda,
which is said to enshrine a hair of the Buddha and was a focal point
of the protests and their suppression last month.
One man, a 37-year-old shop owner in Yangon, said his 5-year-old son,
who like most Burmese children has been raised with Buddhist beliefs
in karma, had cried out: "I don't want to become a soldier. If I have
to kill a monk, the worst thing will happen to me in my next life."
At a Yangon temple, sitting before a golden Buddha figure encircled by
blinking electric lights, two middle-aged monks spoke with resignation
and anger.
"We learned a lesson from 1988," one monk said, referring to the large-
scale pro-democracy uprising that the military put down, leaving
hundreds, perhaps thousands, dead. "If it changes nothing and only
gets worse, why risk our lives? Why try, if nothing happens?"
The other monk said: "We would like to love our government. We tried
but couldn't. We want to like to go out and demonstrate again, but we
know they are out there with their guns."
The Buddhist Lent, which lasts three months, into late October, is a
time when monks focus on studying scriptures and refrain from leaving
their monasteries, except for early-morning outings to collect alms.
The fact that monks ventured out in protest during this period was
widely seen here as a sign of just how angry they were.
But now many monasteries in Yangon are deserted, after raids by the
military drove thousands of monks to flee.
In towns across Myanmar, dawn has traditionally seen the ritual of
monks filing down streets seeking alms and lay people gaining merit by
donating rice and other food. Families take pride in "adopting" monks,
providing them with food, clothing, books and other goods for a few
months or years, depending on their finances.
As poverty has worsened in Myanmar, however, the alms processions have
increasingly turned into a sad exchange of apologies for having to beg
and for being unable to give. Now, with the monks scattered, the alms
lines have dwindled in big cities like Yangon and Mandalay.
For centuries, whoever seized power in this country sought legitimacy
by lavishing money on pagodas and monasteries. When the democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for a "second struggle for national
independence" in 1988, she chose Yangon's gold-spired Shwedagon Pagoda
as the site at which to deliver her watershed speech.
Thus when monks marched in September to the home where she is kept
under house arrest, the act was a moral reproof to the government.
But the monks themselves are not immune to criticism. Although senior
clerics are elected by monks and revered by lay people, "they form a
small closed society which doesn't know anything about the community
at large," the magazine editor said. "Some of them do not know how
poor people live in a small village."
One of the many titles the government bestows on the senior monks is
Bhaddanta. Some lay people call these privileged monks "Bhaddanta
Toyota" or "Bhaddanta Toshiba."
Other lay people defended the aging clerics who have taken gifts from
the government. These monks, they said, are under moral obligation to
accept donations, and fear that confrontation could cost more lives.
Still, witnesses reported piles of rice donated by the government but
left uncollected at the gates of some monasteries, a rebuff of the
government's effort to placate the clergy.
Dissidents said many of the monks who led the protests belonged to two
unauthorized organizations: the Young Monks Union of Burma and United
Front of Monks.
At Mahagandhayon in Mandalay, the monks were going about their daily
routine. Droning sounds of scriptures being recited filled the
monastery. Stray dogs, which came to share leftover alms with child
beggars, dozed on the ground.
The senior monk said he hoped that the rest of the students would
return in a month or so. One young monk who had remained through the
events of the past month said: "Please go out and tell the world what
really has happened in this country."
He added, "I am scared just talking to you about this."
***************************************************************
Jakarta Post - October 24, 2007
RI envoy discusses change in Myanmar with generals
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
During his visit to Myanmar to attend the funeral of Myanmar's Prime
Minister Soe Win last week, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's
special envoy Lt. Gen. (ret) Agus Widjojo met with several influential
generals to discuss the situation in the troubled nation.
Agus said Myanmar's generals, including acting Prime Minister Lt. Gen.
Thein Sein and the junta's liaison officer to Aung San Suu Kyi, Maj.
Gen. Aung Kyi, briefed him and Foreign Ministry director for East
Asian and Pacific affairs Yuri Thamrin on the country and what steps
the military junta had taken to continue the democratization process.
"Beside attending the funeral, we want to assess the condition of
Myanmar so that we know what we can do next," he told The Jakarta Post
on Monday.
Asked whether Indonesia would continue offering assistance to the
junta on military reform and the transition to a civilian government,
Agus said that Indonesia was not there yet.
"It needs trust from the military junta. That's what we are trying to
build, and that's why I was sent there," he said.
Yudhoyono sent Agus, known for his role in reforming the Indonesian
Military, to Yangon last Saturday to represent him at the funeral of
Soe Win, who was believed to have been suffering from leukemia and had
been to Singapore several times for treatment.
Rumors had circulated that Agus would meet Myanmar's senior officers
to discuss how Indonesia could help the country reform its military
and make the transition to democracy.
Agus, who is the deputy chairman of the newly established Presidential
Unit for the Management of Reform Programs (UKP3R), said that he
conveyed Indonesia's general view on what happened in Myanmar.
Yudhoyono is keen to help Myanmar's military junta to transform the
country from a military-led state into a civilian-ruled country by
using Indonesia's experiences.
The fall of long-serving Indonesian president Soeharto in 1998 and
successful elections in 1999 are regarded by many as an example of a
successful transformation of a strongman-ruled country into a civilian-
led state.
Senior Indonesian officials have talked about the need for the junta
in Myanmar to be given a transition period, and about the danger of
pushing the country into democracy.
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono recently said Suu Kyi's opposition
movement was not a credible alternative to Myanmar's junta, warning a
rush to democracy could create "another Iraq" as early democracy would
prompt a power struggle between the country's ethnic minorities.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda also suggested that the
Myanmar military share power with civilian leaders for five years,
after which the country could hold a democratic vote.
During an interview with the Post, UN Special Envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim
Gambari said that Indonesia's model could be used as one alternative
for Myanmar's transformation to democracy.
***************************************************************
Protestors demand India to shun 'non-intervention' policy towards
Myanmar
Tuesday October 23, 06:25 PM
New Delhi, Oct 23 (ANI): Dozens of demonstrators thronged the streets
of New Delhi today shouting slogans against Myanmar's military junta
even as United Nations' special envoy to Yangon, Ibrahim Gambari, met
top leaders of India to discussion the situation there.
Pro-democracy activists, a mix of Indian people and Myanmarese
refugees staged demonstrations against the 'brutal repression' carried
out by military junta there.
They also called for India's intervention into the internal affairs of
Myanmar, and said that they did not appreciate the 'non-interference'
stand taken by New Delhi.
"There has been military rule in their country for 45 years now.
Whenever they have raised their voices for human rights and women's
rights, they have been fired upon or killed or just mistreated. In
1988, the entire population of the country came out onto the streets
in protest and the old military regime was replaced by a new one,"
said T.D. Singh, a demonstrator.
The protestors also demanded immediate release of Nobel laureate Aung
Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy.
Gambari, who today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External
Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is here to ask New Delhi to take a
tough stand against the military junta in Myanmar.
After India, Gambari will visit China on a regional tour meant to drum
up support for a united front against Myanmar's generals in Asia,
fearing that the situation may go out of control in that country.
On October 19, US President George W. Bush urged both China and India
to step up pressure on their neighbour. He also expanded American
sanctions against Myanmar's rulers.
Last week, Singh was quoted as saying that India needed to "cooperate"
with Myanmar.
Singh said insurgent groups from north-eastern India could take
advantage of any estrangement between the neighbours.
***************************************************************
NLD members face two years' imprisonment
Oct 23, 2007 (DVB)-Four National League for Democracy party members,
including an elected member of the people's parliament, have each been
sentenced to two years' imprisonment by their local courts.
People's parliament representative Myint Kyi and NLD's communication
department member Zaw Min, from Kathar township, Sagaing division,
were sentenced yesterday, as were NLD members Shwe Pain and Chan Aung
from Inn Daw township, also in Sagaing division.
The four were charged under section 505(b) of the penal code, for
causing public alarm or disturbing state tranquility, and imprisoned
for two years, according to NLD's spokesperson Nyan Win.
"It wasn't only NLD members who protested. In fact, there were even
some of us who did not join the protests but were arrested later
anyway," Nyan Win said.
"I think this is the government's attempt to prevent the NLD from
carrying out their activities."
***************************************************************
NLD members allege torture during interrogation
Oct 22, 2007 (DVB)-Members of the National League for Democracy in
Taungup have claimed they were tortured at an interrogation centre
before being given prison sentences, according to sources close to the
detainees' families.
U Than Pe, Vice Chairman of NLD in Taungup, and U Tun Kyi, both aged
around 50, were reportedly tortured at an interrogation centre in An,
said a person close to their families.
"While they were being interrogated in An, they were tortured by
having their faces covered with wet cloths. A health worker stood
nearby measuring their blood pressure. When the reading dropped to 90
over 60, the worker said the detainees could still take more torture
and were not about to die yet," he said.
The source said that the interrogation was carried out by members of
the army.
***************************************************************
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