BurmaNet News, June 18-20, 2005

[Editor]

June 18-20, 2005 Issue # 2743


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Prayers, calls for freedom in Myanmar on Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Xinhua: Myanmar urges increased practice of normal trade
Myanmar Times: Garment industry finds buyers in Latin America

ASEAN
AFP: Philippines would take ASEAN chair if Myanmar bows out: Malaysia
Manila Standard: ASEAN sticks to July ultimatum for Myanmar

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: A cautious Suu Kyi celebration in Malaysia
Bangkok Post: Groups: Deny Burma Asean chair
Nation: Thousands rally to call for Suu Kyi’s release
Reuters: Fear, disease grip Myanmar tsunami victims

INTERNATIONAL
New York Times: Test of wills: the Burmese captive who will not budge
LA Times: Myanmar activist's birthday marked
Irish Independent: REM gig is perfect mix of politics and pop
Sun-Sentinel (FL): Southeast Asians honor Nobel Laureate

OPINION / OTHER
International Herald Tribune: Happy birthday, Aung San Suu Kyi
International Herald Tribune: To a woman of courage
Independent: Together, we can join forces to make Burma the new South Africa

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 19, Agence France Presse
Prayers, calls for freedom in Myanmar on Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday

Yangon: Hundreds of Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters clapped and prayed for
her freedom Sunday at her party's dilapidated headquarters, as doves and
colourful balloons were released to mark her 60th birthday.

As 10 doves representing peace and 60 coloured balloons for each year of
the pro-democracy icon's life were released, her supporters chanted "Long
live Aung San Suu Kyi!" and "May Aung San Suu Kyi be free!"

One balloon carried a card with a message appealing for her freedom.
Anyone returning both items to her National League for Democracy's
headquarters would receive 10,000 kyats (11 dollars), an NLD women's
committee member said.

Some 400 people, including senior NLD figures and foreign diplomats,
gathered inside the party's ramshackle two-storey offices, but they were
outnumbered by the security forces outside who filmed the event and the
guests.

One woman, who gave her age as 70 but did not want to be identified, said
she had made the trip from her village in Magwe division in central
Myanmar.

"I wish Daw Aung Suu Kyi may be free soon," the woman, wearing longyis in
NLD's signature orange color, told AFP.

"I pray for her every Tuesday by going to the pagoda and offering flowers
and candles. I have made this wish secretly."

Women at the event wore yellow ribbons on their chests, a color Myanmar
people associate with Tuesday, the day of the week when Aung San Suu Kyi
was born.

The walls of the NLD's office were decorated with 19 pictures showing
images of Aung San Suu Kyi's handwriting, or marking Myanmar women's day,
which the party celebrates on her birthday although the junta marks the
day on July 3.

Myanmar's military rulers also tightened security around the Nobel
laureate's rambling lakeside house, where since Saturday evening they have
turned away cars that attempted to drive by.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the last 15 years under house arrest.
In past years, Buddhist monks had sometimes been allowed to join her for
religious ceremonies on her birthday, but friends and relatives said the
junta showed no sign of allowing even a telephone call.

Instead, 10 monks in flowing orange robes went to the NLD's office before
dawn to recite prayers.

A small group of elderly Myanmar politicians marked the day with a
separate service featuring five more monks reciting prayers. Her birthday
coincides with the 89th birthday of the group's leader, Thakin Thein Pe.

Some of the elderly politicians fought alongside Aung San Suu Kyi's
father, independence leader Aung San, in the 1940s.

During the Sunday event NLD members also gave gifts of stationery to
children of some of the 1,350 political prisoners which Amnesty
International estimates are behind bars.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

June 20, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar urges increased practice of normal trade

Yangon: The Myanmar government has urged importers and exporters in the
country to increase practice of normal trade rather than border trade in
their activities to boost the nation's foreign trade, said a report of the
local Myanmar Times Monday.

Other practices of exchanging, selling and buying of import and export
licenses among traders for profit should also be put to an end, warned a
recent meeting between the government and the traders.

The government would allow farmers, who grow on at least 5,000 acres
(2,025 hectares), to directly export some of the restricted crops, the
report said, adding that sesame would be allowed for so beginning the next
harvest season.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is striving to turn the border trade system with China
into a normal trade one, and a border trade zone, the first of its kind,
is being established in Muse linking China's Ruili for the normalization
of the border trade system, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Almost all of the first-class land plots in the zone have been sold out to
private entrepreneurs and the building of warehouses there by three
private developer companies will start in the end of this month, a leading
business organization said.

Besides, a banking system is also being built up to handle foreign
currency to facilitate the adoption of normal trade procedures.

According to official statistics, Myanmar's foreign trade volume reached
4.9 billion US dollars in the 2004-05 which ended in March, up 10 percent
from 2003-04 when it registered 4.5 billion US dollars.

Of the total trade volume during the year, Myanmar's exports were valued
at 2.9 billion US dollars, while its imports went to 1. 9 billion US
dollars. Export earnings were topped by value-added finished industrial
goods with 1.24 billion US dollars, followed by forestry and agricultural
products with 427.81 million US dollars and 320.79 million US dollars
respectively.

The country enjoyed a foreign trade surplus of 954.55 million US dollars
in 2004-05, 837.7 million US dollars more than that gained in 2003-04 when
it showed only 116.84 million US dollars. Such favorable balance of
foreign trade was gained by Myanmar for the first time in 2002-03 after it
had suffered deficit for the past many years.

Myanmar has set a target of 1.5 billion US dollars of bilateral trade with
China, one billion US dollars with India and 50 million US dollars with
Vietnam.

____________________________________

June 18, Myanmar Times
Garment industry finds buyers in Latin America - Ye Lwin

Workers stitch new clothes at a garment factory in Yangon

About 25 per cent of the garments produced in Myanmar are now being
exported to markets in Latin America, said industry sources in Yangon.

U Myint Soe, the chairman of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers’
Association, said some garment factories in Myanmar have started looking
to Mexico and other Latin American countries to increase orders following
declines caused by fierce competition from China.

China now has the biggest share of the global garment export market,
following the lifting of a quota system on garment and textile products by
the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on January 1.

U Zaw Min Oo, the managing director of Crocodile Trading Company Limited,
said he began finding new markets in Argentina last year, before the WTO
lifted the quota system.

“Now I am getting orders from Brazil and other Latin American countries,”
he said.

“More than 20 out of the 160 garment factories in Myanmar are now
exporting to Latin America,” he said.

Domestic garment manufacturers have also faced hardships since August
2003, when the US government imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions on
Myanmar.

Garment exports from Myanmar declined by more than 60 per cent from the
2003-2004 financial year, when they totaled US$327 million, to 2004-2005,
when they were valued at $216 million.

In fiscal 2002-2003, the peak year for garment exports from Myanmar, more
than $450 million in products were sent overseas.

U Zaw Min Oo said that the lifting of the quotas has not affected the
Myanmar garment industry as much as many people feared, and that new
orders from Latin America have made up for most of the lost business.

“The value of orders going to Latin America is not as high as those going
to Europe, but business is still fine,” he said.

“Other major garment manufacturing countries – such as China, Vietnam and
Bangladesh – now focus on the American market rather than Europe because
clothing sells at higher prices in the US than in Europe,” he said.

U Zaw Min Oo also said that some major buyers have started ordering from
China because raw materials are less expensive there and do not have to be
imported from abroad.

Some garment factories in Myanmar that opened with the help of investment
from Taiwan are operating in the black because domestically made products
can be sent to Taiwan, then exported to the US.

____________________________________
ASEAN

June 20, Agence France Presse
Philippines would take ASEAN chair if Myanmar bows out: Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur: The Philippines would lead the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2006 if Myanmar bows to pressure and stands
aside, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Monday.

"I do not think it is something very difficult or imponderable.

If Myanmar decides to forgo its chairmanship, ASEAN has always operated on
a basis of (taking turns in alphabetical order)," he told reporters.

"It is going to happen exactly in that way," he said, referring to the
Philippines' place immediately after Myanmar in the line-up of the
10-nation grouping.

However Syed Hamid said the succession would have to be approved by ASEAN,
which is currently waiting for Myanmar to advise whether it plans to
insist on taking over the rotating chair.

"I think by implication the next on the list should take it, but this
needs to be formalised and endorsed in an ASEAN meeting," he said.

Military-run Myanmar is scheduled to take over the ASEAN helm from
Malaysia at the end of 2006. But some members as well as ASEAN's western
partners oppose such a role for the outcast regime.

Holding the ASEAN chair means Myanmar will set the group's agenda and
direction as well as host a series of meetings, including a summit and a
high-level security forum involving the United States and the European
Union.

The United States and the EU have warned they will boycott ASEAN meetings
if Myanmar is allowed to chair the bloc, which also includes Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.

ASEAN's members have traditionally observed a principle of
non-interference in each other's affairs. But its secretary general Ong
Keng Yong admitted last week that some members had openly been expressing
opinions about the prospect of ASEAN being led by Myanmar.

____________________________________

June 20, Manila Standard
ASEAN sticks to July ultimatum for Myanmar - Joyce Pangco Panares

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said July is a crucial month for
Myanmar freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi, who turned 60 yesterday.

By next month, she will have been released by the ruling military junta in
Myanmar. That is, if talks between the junta members and Asian leaders in
Laos end up in her favor.

Romulo, who will represent the Philippines during the Foreign Ministers
meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Vientiane in
July, said Myanmar will give its answer to the call of Asean for the junta
to adopt the Roadmap to Democracy and let go of Suu Kyi.

"All of us are waiting for the July Vientiane meeting. On that date, that
is when we will get the response from Myanmar," the DFA chief said in a
briefing after he arrived from Doha Friday afternoon.

International pressures have been mounting for the release of the Suu Kyi,
a Nobel laureate and head of the Burmese National League for Democracy.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 20, Irrawaddy
A cautious Suu Kyi celebration in Malaysia - Hanna Ingber

Kuala Lumpur: Nearly 150 Burmese nationals and NGO staff in Malaysia
gathered at the the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall yesterday to celebrate
Aung San Suu Kyi’s 60th birthday, while 68 Burmese pro-democracy activists
remained in prison for protesting Suu Kyi’s imprisonment outside the
Burmese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on June 16.

“Our hearts and our thoughts are with them,” said Elizabeth Wong, one of
the organizers of the event and secretary-general of Malaysia’s National
Human Rights Society. “Until the day Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is free, until
the day Burma is free, people in Asean are not free. Their struggle is our
struggle.”

A Burmese man living in Malaysia who did not want to be named said he is
happy to celebrate the birthday in public. “In my country, we can’t do
things like this. In Burma, if we do something about democracy or human
rights, they have a record and watch you and try to arrest you.”

The 68 Burmese protesters face a variety of charges by the Malaysian
government. According to Latheefa Koya, a Malaysian lawyer who represents
refugees and asylum-seekers, they will be charged with unlawful assembly.
If they are undocumented, they will also be charged with immigration
violations, which can carry a sentence of up to six strokes of the cane, a
fine of 10,000 Ringgit (US$ 2,631,)  and/or a prison sentence of up to
five years.

Zaw Moe Lwin, a Burmese refugee who lives in Malaysia, was arrested on
February 17, 2004, for protesting the junta’s National Convention in front
of the Burmese embassy, and spent 10 months in a prison and detention
center. He returned to the embassy last Thursday to protest again. This
time, though, he ran away when the police arrived.

“I have fear Malaysian prisons and detention centers,” he said at the
birthday celebration. “I couldn’t face prison life again.”

Zaw Moe Lwin has been granted refugee status with the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, but this status will not necessarily protect him. Malaysia
is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, and
the country’s 50,000 refugees are therefore treated as migrants. Malaysia
has no laws to protect migrant workers.

Some Burmese in Malaysia were wary of celebrating Suu Kyi’s birthday in
public. “People wanted to come,” Lwin said. “They wanted to celebrate for
our lady—she is our last hope. But they didn’t come. They are afraid they
will be arrested by the police.” Romulo said Myanmar is aware of the
conditions Asean set before the former Burmese republic can take the Asean
chairmanship next year. The terms include freeing Suu Kyi from house
arrest.

____________________________________

June 20, Bangkok Post
Groups: Deny Burma Asean chair - Anjira Assavanonda

Lonely 60th birthday for democracy icon

Academics and civic groups yesterday demanded that Burma be denied the
right to take the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) next year.

They said this would send a strong message to the junta over its
suppression of the freedom of the Burmese people and violation of their
human rights.

The call came alongside demands from world leaders, Nobel laureates and
intellectuals who appealed for the immediate release of Burmese opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi who turned 60 yesterday, her third consecutive
birthday while under house arrest.

The Nobel peace laureate has now had her movements restricted for nine of
the last 16 years.

Speaking at a Thammasat University forum, ``Looking ahead for Burma and
Asean'', held to mark Mrs Suu Kyi's birthday, Asda Jayanama, former Thai
ambassador to the United Nations, said it was time for Asean countries to
adopt a collective stand against Burma's junta.

He said its policies on the economy, ethnic minorities and border
strategies had affected the whole of Asean.

Some member states, such as Malaysia and the Philippines, have begun a
campaign to pressure Rangoon to forego the rotating role of Asean chairman
unless it releases Mrs Suu Kyi.

``If Burma does not agree to withdraw, it is likely that we won't see
delegates from Western countries at the Asean Regional Summit, or they may
send only low-ranking representatives,'' he said.

When Asean initially considered Burma joining the grouping, one reason was
to act as a balance to China's influence in the region. It had since
become clear that Burma was using its membership simply to shield itself
from Western criticism.

It was clear that Burma had absolutely no interest in becoming a
``mainstream'' Southeast Asian nation, he said.

``What then did Asean get from Burma's entry? Actually nothing, except
problems,'' Mr Asda said. ``Burma never respects Asean's rules and even
tried to get Asean to adjust to its own needs. And Asean just let that
happen.

``If we compare Asean to a dog, and Burma as its tail, it seems that the
tail is now wagging the dog,'' Mr Asda said.

There was also sharp criticism of Bangkok's policy of appearing strongly
supportive of the Burmese junta.

Mr Asda said the government does not have a clear stance or consistent
policies on issues relating to Burma. This was due to business interests,
including satellites and communications, casinos and hotel construction by
influential figures in the world of Thai politics.

``Some leading cabinet members have often defended the junta, or even made
positive comments about them as though they were some kind of spokesman,''
Mr Asda said.

Kavi Chongkijthavorn, representing the media, said if the government's
policy towards Burma had remained firm over the past five years, three
important things could have taken place in Burma.

``Firstly, Burma could have become democratic, it could have become a good
Asean member, and it could have become a good coordinator in the world
community,'' he said.

The inconsistent policy of the Thaksin government on Burma had actually
helped Burma within Asean in some respects, despite the fact that the
country had failed to abide by the grouping's rules, he said.

Sunee Chairot, a member of the National Human Rights Commission, urged the
government to be more sympathetic towards women and children in Burma, who
had been victims of rape, or forced to work.

``Information on these victims is kept secret so it rarely reaches the
public,'' she said. ``Rape takes place daily, on purpose and
systematically, with thousands of vulnerable women and children falling
victim. It is clear the junta has used sexual violence as a weapon to
combat ethnic minorities.

`` That is unacceptable, and we need to provide full assistance to the
victims instead of helping the junta to hide the truth,'' she said.

Thammasat University yesterday awarded Mrs Suu Kyi an honorary doctorate
in political science in recognition of her ``goodness and character'',
which serves as an example to the world.

Daw San San, secretary-general of the National League for Democracy,
represented Mrs Suu Kyi at the ceremony.

``If she were here, she would say she is not receiving this honour for
herself but for the people of Burma,'' she said.

``This honorary doctorate can be seen as a message of hope from the people
of Thailand to the people of Burma.''

____________________________________

June 20, The Nation
Thousands rally to call for Suu Kyi’s release

Democracy advocates in Thailand yesterday joined activists around the
world in celebrating the 60th birthday of detained Burmese opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, calling on the junta to release her from house
arrest immediately.

Thammasat University also conferred an honorary doctorate of political
science upon the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been struggling to
bring democracy to Burma since 1988.

The university’s rector, Surapon Nitikraipot, said during the degree
conferment ceremony that Suu Kyi had been “a good example of strong
determination and dedication in her peaceful fight for democracy and the
protection of human rights for the Burmese people”.

Thammasat’s council resolved in 1991 to bestow the honorary degree upon
Suu Kyi but never followed up on it as she had spent most of her life
since then in confinement.

Almost a thousand activists gathered at the university in Bangkok to join
the celebration and express their concern over Suu Kyi’s fate and the
political situation in Burma. They also held 61 minutes of silence in
honour of the Nobel laureate, signifying the start of her 61st year. Many
artists painted pictures of Suu Kyi’s favourite flowers and portraits of
her.

Academic Chanvit Kasetsiri urged the Thai government to pressure Burma’s
ruling junta to release Suu Kyi and launch a process of national
reconciliation. He asked Asean and the United Nations to take a
constructive role in ending the political conflict in Burma.

Exiled Burmese MP San San said the release of Suu Kyi would be a crucial
factor in the process of building democracy in Burma. “Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi’s imprisonment means imprisonment of the people of Burma as well,” she
told a seminar at Thammasat.

While Suu Kyi continued to be held under house arrest at her lakeside
residence in Rangoon yesterday, several hundred members of her National
League for Democracy (NLD) and a handful of foreign diplomats gathered at
the party’s headquarters several kilometres away.

Separately, nearly a dozen NLD members wore T-shirts bearing Suu Kyi’s
photo and the slogan “Set her free” at the capital’s famed golden
Shwedagon pagoda, where they also released 61 doves. They were detained by
authorities and freed only after they removed the shirts.

Religious rites and other quiet ceremonies were held all over Burma. In
some districts, authorities warned party members not to hold birthday
celebrations.

In other countries, supporters held rallies and other activities to offer
birthday wishes and demand political change by Burma’s ruling junta.

In the Philippines, former president Corazon Aquino and pro-democracy
groups offered prayers for Suu Kyi’s release.

“I continue to pray for her, that she will finally get justice,” said
Aquino, who took power in 1986 after helping lead the struggle to oust
Philippine strongman Ferdinand Marcos. She has lobbied for Suu Kyi’s
release for many years.

In Malaysia, human-rights groups and Burmese activists also demanded her
release, and called on Malaysia’s government to release 68 Burmese
nationals who were detained on Thursday for protesting outside the Burmese
Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Thursday’s demonstrators were held for assembling
without permission.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a letter to Suu Kyi, said “your
message of non-violence and courageous support for the establishment of
democracy in Burma in the face of the junta’s brutal repression and your
continuing house arrest inspires people around the world.

“We look forward to the day when you can celebrate your birthday in a
democratic and free Burma where fundamental human rights are respected,”
Rice concluded in her letter, a copy of which was seen by The Nation.

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi sent birthday greetings praising
her “brave battle for democracy and human rights, which has been made more
noble by the high price you have paid and are still paying”.

The flurry of publicity over Suu Kyi’s birthday apparently sparked rumours
on Saturday evening in Rangoon that she would be released from house
arrest. However, there were no indications that her freedom was imminent,
or even under consideration.

“Security around Suu Kyi’s house, as well as the guard posted outside [NLD
chairman] Tin Oo’s house, remain the same, which indicates that rumours of
their freedom were not true,” a member of the NLD was quoted as saying by
Associated Press.

_____________________________________

June 20, Reuters
Fear, disease grip Myanmar tsunami victims - Nopporn Wong-Anan

Ban Nam Khem: For six months, fear of being deported from Thailand gnawed
away at a 30-year-old Myanmar tsunami victim even as gangrene gnawed away
at his foot.

When eventually the pain conquered his dread of the Thai police, he
plucked up the courage to come out of hiding and ask an aid agency to take
him to hospital.

The delay cost him his leg.

"I didn't dare come to hospital because I didn't have an ID card," the
man, who did not want to be named for fear of being deported, told Reuters
from his hospital bed after the amputation.

"I had no job or money to pay for treatment," he said, the tears rolling
down his cheeks.

The man is one of thousands of illegal Myanmar migrants still hiding in
villages or rubber plantations in southern Thailand because they are
scared police and government officials will round them up and send them
back to their army-run homeland.

With no access to government health care and largely overlooked by private
groups handing out tsunami aid, theirs has been a desperate struggle.

After months of being pushed to the back of the aid queue, the thousands
of Myanmar workers caught on the tsunami-hit Thai coast are starting to
receive attention from international as well as national charities.

Various agencies, such the Tsunami Action Group, a Thai non-governmental
organisation, and the International Organisation for Migration, have
started handing out food, clothes and legal advice.

But with so many illegal migrant workers, all with an inbuilt fear of
authority, it is an uphill struggle.

THOUSANDS UNREGISTERED

Registered migrant workers are given Thai identification cards and health
insurance, but before the tsunami this category represented the tip of the
iceberg.

Official records show 30,572 Myanmar people registered last year to work
or stay in Phang Nga, the tsunami-hit province where the devastated
fishing Ban Nam Khem village is located.

Relief groups say this probably represents only a third of the real total.

Consequently, there are no figures of how many Myanmar people might have
been killed or injured in the killer waves which swept ashore on Dec 26.
Estimates range from a few hundred to several thousand.

Many of those who survived have returned to work on fishing boats or in
rubber plantations or on construction sites as the region's hotel industry
slowly starts to rise from the rubble.

But a large number remain in hiding, avoiding any contact with state
agencies for fear of being sent back to the former Burma, a military
dictatorship with a stagnating economy and no jobs.

"From time to time, the cops even go up to people living in remote rubber
plantations and extort money from them, threatening to send them home
because they don't have registration cards," said one Thai aid worker.

"Some of them had ID papers, but corrupt officials just tore them up in
front of them," said the worker, who did not want to be named for fear of
reprisals.

In some cases, Thai employers have confiscated ID cards to prevent workers
going off in search of jobs elsewhere. One aid worker was even beaten up
by group of Thais who thought he was encouraging the migrants to go home.

"Whatever help we give to migrants, we have to deal with their employers,"
the aid worker said.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 19, The New York Times
Test of wills: the Burmese captive who will not budge - Seth Mydans

Bangkok: Seventeen years ago, as the people of Myanmar filled the streets
in mass protests against their military dictatorship, a striking,
self-possessed woman rose to address a rally at the great golden Shwedagon
Pagoda. At the time, nobody realized the price she would pay for her
outspokenness.

The woman, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was visiting from her home in England to
tend to her sick mother when pro-democracy protests swelled throughout the
country in August 1988 despite a brutal response by the military that took
thousands of lives.

In the months that followed she emerged, through a combination of charisma
and pedigree, to lead what has so far been a futile opposition to the
country's military leaders.

On Sunday, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi will mark her 60th birthday under house
arrest, where she has spent most of the intervening years, in an
increasingly dilapidated house, more cut off than ever from contacts
outside her weed-filled compound.

Her birthday has become an occasion for new international protests against
a military junta that holds the country in its grip, jailing its opponents
while ruining the country's economy and waging war against its ethnic
minorities.


>From one of the region's most refined and richly endowed nations, Myanmar

has become its most desperate and reviled.

As the daughter of the country's founding hero, U Aung San, she held a
nearly mystical appeal for people desperate to regain their freedoms and
self-respect. With her dignity, self-sacrifice and perseverance, she has
created a legend of her own.

She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and has joined the company
of Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama of Tibet as international icons of a
struggle for freedom. But in a contest between brute force and principle,
between repression and the clearly expressed will of the people of
Myanmar, it is the men with the guns who have managed so far to prevail,
and the country's moral symbol who is their prisoner.

Calls for the release of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi have come from around the
world in recent days, including statements from Washington and from
Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations.

In Norway, the chairman of the Nobel Committee, Ole D. Mjoes, issued a
rare statement about a past laureate, saying; ''We ask that she be set
free immediately. We look forward to the day that democracy again rules
her country.''

But the generals have released her twice already, most recently in May
2002, only to be shaken and shamed at her continuing, overwhelming
popularity: huge crowds that gathered wherever she appeared.

One year after her last release, her convoy was attacked by an organized
mob in what some analysts believe was an attempt to kill her, and she was
returned to house arrest after a period of harsh treatment in prison.

''She has become the only leader that the Burmese people have acknowledged
since the death of her father in 1947,'' said Josef Silverstein, an expert
on Myanmar at Rutgers University. ''I would add that she has in every way
possible emulated what her father stood for, which was for the right of
the people to govern themselves and to have a free and democratic
country.''

Shortly after her address at the Shwedagon Pagoda, she explicitly assumed
her father's mantle, saying she would dedicate her life to the people of
her country as he had done.

She made that clear in 1999 when she chose not to visit her husband,
Michael Aris, in England, when he was dying of cancer, because she feared
that the government would bar her from re-entering Myanmar. The Myanmar
authorities had refused to allow him to visit her.

The United States, the European Union and other nations have responded to
repression in Myanmar with economic penalties that have done little to
affect its leadership. Myanmar's giant neighbors, China and India, with
several other Asian nations, offer it an economic lifeline.

But opposition from the West is putting pressure on the junta now as it
prepares to take over the rotating leadership of the regional 10-member
political and economic grouping, the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, next year.

The United States and some other nations have hinted strongly in recent
weeks that they will boycott an annual meeting to which they are invited
if it is held in Myanmar. Its regional neighbors, facing potential
embarrassment, are beginning to press the junta to skip its turn as
regional leader if it does not release Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and improve
its record on human rights.

At the same time, there has been an eruption of internal turmoil among the
ruling generals, though like most things in Myanmar its details and its
causes are unclear.

In October, Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who was the head of military
intelligence and one of the country's most powerful leaders, was fired and
placed under house arrest. His trial on expected corruption charges has
either begun or is about to begin, according to conflicting reports.

Over the years, as repression has continued in Myanmar, some of Mrs. Aung
San Suu Kyi's allies abroad have complained about what they call her
stubbornness and intransigence. But it is the military leaders who have
several times switched track, ignoring her and vilifying her, opening and
closing dialogues, freeing and rearresting her.

She has also been criticized for demanding that the government recognize
the results of a parliamentary election in 1990 that was won
overwhelmingly by her party, the National League for Democracy.

The remarkably open parliamentary election was a characteristic
misjudgment by the junta, which had apparently expected to win. When Mrs.
Aung San Suu Kyi's party won more than 80 percent of the seats, the
generals refused to recognize the results and clung to power.

Many who won seats were arrested. Bit by bit over the years the junta has
whittled away at their party. Today its leaders are aging -- Mrs. Aung San
Suu Kyi is the youngest -- and its youth wing has atrophied.

More and more, the democratic opposition to military rule in Myanmar is
personified by one isolated and determined woman. ''Her stubbornness is
her strength,'' Mr. Silverstein said. ''This woman will not bend and will
not break.''

____________________________________

June 20, Los Angeles Times
Myanmar activist's birthday marked - Richard C. Paddock

Democracy advocate's supporters worldwide observe the day, urging the
junta to release her

Singapore: Supporters of Myanmar democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi
gathered in dozens of cities around the world Sunday to celebrate her 60th
birthday and call for her release from house arrest after nearly 10 years
of detention.

Organizers of the campaign said more than 150 events were held in 50
countries urging Myanmar's military regime to release Suu Kyi, the world's
only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner.

In Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, hundreds of supporters gathered outside
the headquarters of Suu Kyi's political party, the National League for
Democracy, and released 10 doves and 61 balloons marking the start of her
61st year. Dozens of police videotaped the ceremony.

At the landmark Shwedagon Pagoda, where Suu Kyi gave a speech in 1988 that
pushed her to the forefront of the democracy movement, 61 doves were
released by a dozen supporters wearing T-shirts that said "Set Her Free."
The protesters were briefly detained by authorities until they removed the
shirts.

"Religious ceremonies and other quiet ceremonies are being held all over
the country," party official Nan Khin Htwe Myint told Associated Press.
"In some districts, authorities warned party members not to hold birthday
celebrations."

President Bush and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as well as
fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama
of Tibet and former Czech President Vaclav Havel, have spoken out in her
behalf.

"I send my best wishes to Aung San Suu Kyi for her 60th birthday," Bush
said. "Her strength, courage, and personal sacrifice in standing up for
the oppressed people of Burma have inspired those who stand for freedom."

Myanmar, formerly called Burma, has been ruled by the military for most of
the last 40 years. In 1988, the army massacred thousands of pro-democracy
demonstrators. In 1990, Suu Kyi's party won 82% of the seats in a national
assembly election, but was not allowed to rule.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence leader Gen. Aung San, was first
arrested in 1989 and has been in detention for nearly 10 of the past 16
years. In its citation, the Nobel committee praised her courage and
unflagging efforts to bring about democracy in Myanmar through nonviolent
means.

She is being held at her family's house in Yangon, formerly Rangoon. Her
doctor is the only outsider allowed to see her.

Many people in Myanmar live in a state of fear, knowing they face arrest
if they speak out against the government. The Internet and e-mail are
sharply restricted and it is illegal to tune in to a radio or satellite
television news broadcast from overseas. Democracy activists say the
regime is holding more than 1,300 political prisoners, including many
leaders of Suu Kyi's party.

On Sunday, Suu Kyi's supporters offered her birthday wishes in myriad
ways. In Thailand, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in political
science at Thammasat University. In Ireland, the rock group REM played a
birthday concert for her.

Supporters hope to use the momentum to keep pressure on the regime. They
are backing efforts to deny Myanmar its turn next year as chair of the
Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations.

____________________________________

June 20, Irish Independent
REM gig is perfect mix of politics and pop - Mark Hilliard

It’s not everyday a world-famous rock band walks onstage to the familiar
tune of another band's song.

But this was how REM chose to arrive at Ardgillan Castle, near Balbriggan,
Co Dublin, last night - arriving before 23,000 people to the sound of U2's
'Walk On'.

It was the song written for and dedicated to Burmese Nobel Peace Prize
winner Aung San Suu Kyi and so was last night's electric performance.

In a perfect marriage of pop and politics, REM and thousands of Irish fans
last night waved and screamed messages of hope to the Burmese people via a
satellite linkup.

Politics aside REM remained as focused as ever on providing a memorable
concert.

Bursting on stage with a rendition of 'What's The Frequency Kenneth?', the
band played a wide range of favourites from a back catalogue that spans
more than two decades.

Sun and breathtaking scenery did the rest - Ardgillan Castle may just have
become Slane's little sister. And she's almost as pretty.

"I am so sorry about the weather, I am so sorry about the view, it was the
best that we could do," joked Stipe before launching into a stunning
evening of rock 'n' roll entertainment.

_____________________________________

June 20, Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Southeast Asians honor Nobel Laureate; pro-democracy activist is under
house arrest - Jamie Malernee

Supporters compare her passion to that of Joan of Arc, her patience to
that of Gandhi and her plight to that of formerly imprisoned Nelson
Mandela.

Many may never have heard of Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
But the pro-democracy leader, who remains under house arrest in her native
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is well known among members of the
Southeast Asian community in South Florida, who gathered Sunday to honor
her 60th birthday and to call for her release by the controlling military
government.

"Tha-du, tha-du, tha-du," chanted Buddhist monk Ashin Pannajota, blessing
all those who gathered at Plantation Heritage Park as about a dozen people
knelt on a tarp, palms pressed and heads bowed in prayer.

"We don't want the world to forget her," said Sao Mya Nwe, a member of the
Burmese National Movement Committee of Florida. "Our country is such a
mess right now. It's getting worse and worse."

Those gathered said the military government that has Suu Kyi under house
arrest also oppresses the people and squanders the country's rich natural
resources, leaving most in poverty. Dr. Nyunt Lwin, a Plantation
pediatrician, called Suu Kyi a beacon of hope, saying, "Her pursuit of
democracy through peaceful process has won her the support of the Burmese
people and the world."

Myanmar is in Southeast Asia.

Lwin said about 600 people in Broward and Miami-Dade are Burmese. About 50
turned out Sunday. After prayer and food, the afternoon was dedicated to
retelling Suu Kyi's efforts.

The daughter of a general who led her country's fight for independence
from Britain in 1948, Suu Kyi left the country for college, married and
had two children.

In 1988, she returned to visit her dying mother and became involved in a
pro-democracy movement, eventually becoming its most prominent leader.
That same year, student protests erupted in the capital, Yangon, formerly
known as Rangoon. They were put down by force.

"The streets of Rangoon ran with blood," said Jim McNalis, a Fort
Lauderdale sculptor and activist for democracy in Burma. "This happened
around the time of Tiananmen Square. CNN was in Tiananmen Square. Nobody
was in Burma, and many more people were killed."

In 1990, the pro-democracy party won national elections, but the military
junta refused to acknowledge the results. Suu Kyi and others were jailed.
In 1991, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for continuing her fight while
under house arrest. Today, she remains the only winner of the prize under
house arrest.

"She's given everything, her family, her life, to us," said May Sunda
Soenyunt, 27, of Homestead. "She's our mother. I love her."

Soenyunt, is one of many attending the celebration with personal ties to
the democracy movement in her country. Her brother was one of the students
who participated in the protests of the '80s. Shortly after, he went
missing. Soenyunt escaped to the United States in search of him, only to
learn her brother died along the Burmese border with Thailand from a
genetic illness. With no family in the United States, Soenyunt has a new
quest: to continue the legacy her brother started, a legacy she sees as
tied to that of Suu Kyi.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 18, International Herald Tribune
Happy birthday, Aung San Suu Kyi

On Sunday, Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the nonviolent democratic
movement in Myanmar, turns 60. She has been detained for nearly 10 years
by the military junta in power, who changed the country's name from Burma.
To this day, she is the only Nobel Peace Prize laureate to be deprived of
freedom.

We are now taking action as we share with Aung San Suu Kyi the privilege
of having been awarded the title of doctor honoris causa from one of the
oldest European universities, the Université Catholique de Louvain
(Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). Together with her, we form a university
community spread across Europe and the world. We find it utterly
unacceptable that one of our most eminent members should have been
deprived of her freedom for nearly 10 years. Her detention is a serious
violation of the rights of the whole university community.

In 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, or
NLD, won the only democratic election ever organized in Myanmar, gaining
more than 80 percent of the seats. However, the junta refused to accept
the election results and hand power to the democrats. It reinforced its
tyrannical regime and made Myanmar one of the worst dictatorships
worldwide, regularly condemned by the International Labor Organization and
the United Nations. More than 1,300 political prisoners are behind bars
and are submitted to all forms of torture. In the last 10 years, dozens of
elected NLD representatives have been tortured, have died in prison or
have been forced into exile. The local population is denied access to
education, health and the freedom it has been striving for.

It is impossible for us to wish Aung San Suu Kyi a happy birthday
personally. She is confined to house arrest in an isolated residence. Her
mail has not always reached her in the last few years and she has no
access to a telephone.

If "university" is a synonym of "knowledge," we, the honorary doctors of
the Catholic University of Louvain, think that being a doctor also means
acting accordingly. For years, Aung San Suu Kyi has been calling upon us
to support the nonviolent struggle of her people. "Please use your liberty
to promote ours" is her constant message. Our liberty can indeed serve
hers.

Today, calling for her release is no longer enough. But to support her, we
must now take action. For means of action do exist. Aung San Suu Kyi and
the Burmese democrats in exile have been asking us for years to take three
practical steps: economic sanctions, an intervention by the UN Security
Council, and greater vigilance from Southeast Asian countries. There is no
better way of supporting Aung San Suu Kyi's struggle than by doing
everything we can to achieve these three goals. For it should be
remembered that Aung San Suu Kyi has been the only legitimate
representative of the Burmese people since 1990.

Economic sanctions are called for by the Burmese themselves, who are in a
position to assess the country's socioeconomic situation. Sanctions would
not affect the population, mostly made up of peasants living in conditions
of extreme poverty. If sanctions were targeted at major export sectors,
such as gas, oil, timber and precious stones, their effect would
financially weaken the junta and their allies in Myanmar, who are the only
ones to make vast profits from those exports.

Myanmar allocates more than 40 percent of its budget to the military -
that is, to repression of its own people, since Myanmar is not at war with
any of its neighbors - although it ranks last but one out of 191 countries
in terms of health expenditure. Investments in Myanmar are therefore
helping to fund the repression. Desmond Tutu draws a parallel with the
South African people under apartheid: The Burmese people need the same
kind of support that gave South Africans access to democracy. The U.S.
administration has already imposed sanctions; it is now urgent that the
European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations decide
together to ban all investments in Myanmar.

Diplomatic initiatives can only be effective if accompanied by deterrents,
so it is urgent that the UN Security Council tackle the Burmese issue and
coordinate pressure on the regime. The Burmese democrats' nonviolent
struggle for freedom for their people can only be successful if it is
supported by a firm global coalition. The present measures, lacking
deterring sanctions, are insufficient.

As we celebrate the 60th birthday of a woman who has chosen to give
everything she has and patiently strive for the liberation of her people,
we call on EU leaders and the whole international community to take the
measures recommended by Aung San Suu Kyi and relayed by the Burmese
government in exile. The freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi depends on ours, and
ours on hers.


Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, Académie Française
Jean-Luc Dehaene, former prime minister of Belgium
Jean-Marie Cavada, French journalist, member of the European Parliament
André Chouraqui, writer, Israel
Jacques Delors, former president, European Commission
Miguel Angel Estrella, pianist, founder of Music and Hope, Argentina
Enrique d'Etigny Lyon, president of the National Scientific Research
Commission, Chile
Claire Gibault, conductor, member of the European Parliament
Felipe Gonzalez, former prime minister of Spain
Pierre Harmel, former prime minister of Belgium
Lionel Jospin, former prime minister of France
Carla del Ponte, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
Aamin Malouf, writer
Jorge Semprun, writer, former culture minister, Spain
Emile Shoufani, parish priest of Nazareth, Arab Christian, Israel
Michel Serres, French writer, Académie Française
Patricia Palacios de Nava, president of the International Association of
Charities, Mexico
Andrea Riccardi, founder, Community of Sant'Egidio, Rome
Jordi Savall, musician and composer, Spain
Bertrand Schwartz, philosopher
Jacques Testart, biologist, research director at the National Institute of
Health and Medical Research, France
Wim Wenders, filmmaker
Muhammad Yunus, founder, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh

(Authors are twenty three honorary doctors of the Catholic University of
Louvain).
____________________________________

June 18, International Herald Tribune
To a woman of courage

It is now two years since Aung San Suu Kyi, the great champion of
democracy in Myanmar, was last arrested. On May 30, 2003, a militia force
ambushed her convoy, killing many of her supporters. The life of Aung San
Suu Kyi has been marked by the struggle to keep alive her people's hopes
of freedom, justice and democracy. On June 19 she reaches the age of 60.

Her situation pains us deeply and is at odds with our political
principles. Her arrest is an affront to all those who believe in liberty,
in democracy, in human rights and in the sovereign right of citizens to
choose their own destiny.

The military junta that holds power in Myanmar snatched from Aung San Suu
Kyi and the National League for Democracy their victory in the election of
1990, in which the NLD won 392 of the 485 contested seats. Despite having
called the election, the military regime refused to hand over power and,
instead, began a campaign of harassment and repression against the
opposition.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a woman of courage and we know that she will not flag
in demonstrating the greatness that the world recognized in 1991 when she
was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. For our part, we would like to
reiterate our commitment to continue supporting freedom for the Burmese
people and its right to live in democracy. We urge the military regime to
begin a real process of national reconciliation and a peaceful transition
to democracy, and to release the political prisoners in Myanmar.

The defense of human rights knows no frontiers. That is why, impelled by
our ethical and political convictions, we add our voices to those who
defend and honor Aung San Suu Kyi. And that is why we also call on other
political leaders, intellectuals, artists, young people and, indeed, all
our citizens to join together on June 19 in demanding justice and freedom
for this great Burmese leader.

Ricardo Lagos, president of Chile
Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa
Goran Persson, prime minister of Sweden
Helen Clark, prime minister of New Zealand

(Ricardo Lagos, president of Chile, Thabo Mbeki, president of South
Africa, Goran Persson, prime minister of Sweden, Helen Clark, prime
minister of New Zealand)

_____________________________________

June 18, The Independent (UK)
Together, we can join forces to make Burma the new South Africa – Desmond
Tutu

In 1988, Nelson Mandela reached his 70th birthday. He was languishing in
prison, having already spent 26 years locked up by the apartheid regime in
South Africa. In Wembley Stadium some of the world's greatest entertainers
- Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Sting, Annie Lennox and George Michael
performed for a political prisoner whose face the world hadn't seen for a
quarter of a century.

The apartheid regime was left in no doubt that Mandela and the struggle he
represented were in the ascendant. At the same time, on the other side of
the planet, an uprising of epic proportions was taking place - but with no
global audience to bear witness.

In Burma millions were taking to the streets in a massive display of
defiance against a brutal military dictatorship. The regime reacted. It
killed thousands in an orgy of violence against its own people.


>From this political landscape emerged Burma's own Mandela, in the form of

the powerfully charismatic woman Aung San Suu Kyi. She will be 60
tomorrow. On that day she will have spent nine years and 238 days in
detention.

In Mandela's Rivonia trial, he said a free South Africa was "an ideal for
which I am prepared to die". Suu Kyi, a fellow Nobel Peace laureate, has
the same determination. In May 2003, during a brief period of freedom, she
toured Burma. Despite massive intimidation, thousands gathered to hear her
talk. She was arrested and has been in detention ever since.

As with the ANC in South Africa under apartheid, the NLD has called for
economic sanctions against the regime. Only the US has responded. The EU
has imposed a few symbolic measures. During the struggle against
apartheid, musicians, trade unionists, churches, teachers and students
showed what we can do here in the UK against tyranny miles away. South
Africa is now a democracy. We can make Burma the next South Africa. If
such a coalition could be mustered for Suu Kyi, the result could be as
glorious. Burma would have a leader whose commitment to her people is
unwavering. Asia and the world would have one of those rare leaders whose
integrity and vision is already proven by her courage and sacrifice.

I make a direct call here, to the friends who fought against apartheid
South Africa, to help support the people of Burma. Suu Kyi says: "I have
stopped hoping for anything for myself - but I certainly hope for a lot of
things for Burma. I hope for the kind of change that will enable our
people to realise their full potential. I hope for the sort of change that
will make Burma a truly happy and progressive place and a country that can
actively contribute towards the betterment of the world.

"My life," she says, "is the cause for democracy and I'm linked to
everyone else in that cause." I think that means you, and that means all
of us.