BurmaNet News, October 28-30, 2006

[Editor]

October 28-30, 2006 Issue # 3076


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Activists start prayer campaign
Associated Press: Report: Myanmar charter guidelines name military as
guardian of constitution
Irrawaddy: Fresh attacks drive Karen from homes
Mizzima: NLD optimistic about Gambari's second visit to Burma
Narinjara: Shwe Gas activists declare November 15 as international day of
action
Narinjara: Western diplomats visit Arakan
AP: Myanmar court sentences woman to 12 years for human trafficking

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Myanmar wants more than half of gold from privatized mine: official

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: Burma to be discussed at Asean-China summit

REGIONAL
AFP: Thailand reassures China and ASEAN that democracy will return
Xinhua: Roundup: Myanmar actively takes part in regional cooperation

OPINION / OTHER
IPS: Hints of a 'Velvet Revolution'

PRESS RELEASE
PBS: Frontline/World goes undercover to investigate one of the world’s
worst military dictatorships (airing on October 31st at 9 pm EST on PBS
stations in US)


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 30, Irrawaddy
Activists start prayer campaign - Yeni

Burma’s leading opposition group on Sunday launched a week of
multi-denominational prayer for a peaceful resolution of the country’s
political crisis, for political prisoners and for victims of the recent
floods.

The event, a “Multiple Religious Prayer” campaign, is being organized by
the 88 Generation Students group. Prayers are being offered in Buddhist
monasteries, Christian cathedrals and churches and Muslim mosques
throughout the country. Main focus of the event is the Shwedagon pagoda in
Rangoon, where about 1,000 people, wearing white and carrying lighted
candles, gathered on Sunday amid tight official security.

Security officials at first prevented activists from approaching the
landmark religious site, but then allowed them to pass.

“What we are doing nowadays is to find how people can participate
peacefully in politics,” Kyaw Min Yuu, better known by his nickname Jimmy,
and one of the organizers, told The Irrawaddy by phone on Monday.

The prayer week follows a successful petition campaign also organized by
the 88 Generation Students group. A total of 535,580 people signed the
petition, calling for democracy and the release of Burma’s more than 1,100
political prisoners, and the document will now be sent to the UN in New
York.

Meanwhile, UN Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim
Gambari is expected to pay a return visit to Burma from November 9 to 12.
Gambari visited the country nearly six months ago, meeting not only junta
leaders but also detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Gambari's visit comes after the UN Security Council heard a briefing in
late September on Burma, which is under international pressure over human
rights abuses and the slow pace of democratic reform.

Burma insists it is on the road to democracy by holding its “National
Convention” which it says will draw up a new constitution providing for
free elections at an unspecified time in the future.

State-run The New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Sunday said that basic
principles defining the role of the Tatmadaw, Burma’s military forces,
were adopted at a plenary session of the National Convention on Saturday.

The first of 14 basic guidelines to be included in the chapter on the
military’s constitutional role says that the military is mainly
responsible for safeguarding the state constitution and the preservation
of national solidarity and the country’s sovereignty.

The National Convention first convened in 1993, but Burma’s main
opposition party, the National League for Democracy, is staying away
because of the regime's refusal to free Suu Kyi and another NLD leader,
Tin Oo, and to allow reopening of NLD offices throughout the country.

____________________________________

October 29, Associated Press
Report: Myanmar charter guidelines name military as guardian of constitution

Myanmar's military would safeguard the country's constitution in addition
to defending the country, according to proposed statutes for the country's
new charter, state-run media reported Sunday.

The proposal would appear to give the military powers at least equal to
any future civilian government.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that basic principles defining the
role of the Tatmadaw, or military, were adopted Saturday at a plenary
session of the country's National Convention.

The convention is drafting guidelines for a new constitution as the first
step in a seven-stage "road map to democracy" which is supposed to
culminate in free elections at some unspecified point in the future.

Myanmar has been under military rule virtually continuously since 1962.
The current junta took power in 1988 after violently suppressing massive
pro-democracy demonstrations.

The first of 14 basic guidelines to be included in the chapter on the
military's constitutional role says: "The Tatmadaw is the sole existing
Tatmadaw which is strong and modern."

The second point says the military "is mainly responsible for safeguarding
the State Constitution," and the third that it "is mainly responsible for
safeguarding non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of
national solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty."

Since gaining its independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar has faced
rebellions by various ethnic minority groups seeking autonomy. Their
struggles, carried out in frontier areas by guerrilla armies, have long
threatened the country's stability.

In the military's view, civilian governments have proven too weak and
fractious to deal with the threat.

Critics of the military, including the National League for Democracy party
of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, have expressed reservations
about having the military play a leading political role under a new
constitution.

Delegates from ethnic minority groups attending the convention have also
complained that the military had been entrusted with too much power in the
new constitution.

Myanmar has been without a constitution since 1988 when a 1974 charter was
suspended after the pro-democracy protests were quelled.

More than 1,000 delegates are attending the National Convention at Nyaung
Hna Pin Convention Center, about 45 kilometers (20 miles) north of Yangon.

Suu Kyi's party is boycotting the meeting, contending that it is
undemocratic because the military is directing all aspects of the
proceedings.

Her party won a landslide victory in a 1990 general election but the
military refused to hand over power, claiming it had to first write a new
constitution.

____________________________________

October 30, Irrawaddy
Fresh attacks drive Karen from homes - Shah Paung

Fresh attacks by government troops have forced more villagers to flee
their homes following the breakdown of an informal ceasefire agreement
between the junta and Karen rebels.

More people are seeking safe sanctuaries from Burmese Army troops as
fighting increases in Karen State after the military government canceled a
“gentleman's agreement” with the Karen National Union.

The KNU general secretary Mahn Sha said, “The SPDC (State Peace and
Development Council) is putting more pressure on us, because they want us
to do a ceasefire like other ethnic groups.”

“The SPDC told the KNU that they have only one way to make a ceasefire
with ethnic [armed] groups, which they call 'exchange arms for peace,'” he
said.

The military government scrapped the ceasefire agreement with the KNU in
early October after a four-person KNU delegation, including Col Paw Doh
and Lt-Col Jonny, met with military government representative Maj-Gen Ye
Myint of Military Affairs Security in Rangoon. The government said it
wanted to start a new peace process.

The KNU and military government established a “gentleman's agreement” in
January 2004 in Rangoon. In the past six months, there have been an
estimated 600 clashes between government and Karen troops, according to
the KNU.

According to a Free Burma Rangers Report on October 27, more than 1,450
"internally displaced people (IDP)" have fled from a valley area in Mone
Township of Nyaunglebin District, Western Karen State.

Fighting erupted October 24 when Infantry Battalion 242, under Military
Operation Command 16, fired into Mawn Ki village, killing one villager and
wounding another, the report stated. The report said the same troops also
laid down machine-gun fire on an area occupied by IDP at Htee Na Hta on
October 26.

The attacks are part of the ongoing offensive that displaced more than
20,000 people in the area and sent several thousand to Thai-Burma border
refugee camps and other border areas. Since February, Burmese troops have
launched offensives in Karen State, including Nyaunglebin and Taungoo
District in Pegu Division.

The Thailand Burma Border Consortium 2006 Survey Report released on
October 26 estimated that during the past year, 82,000 Burmese have been
forced to leave their homes as a result of government military actions and
human right abuses.

The most significant displacement was in northern Karen State and eastern
Pegu Division, where an estimated 39 civilians were killed and 27,000
people were displaced. The report estimated that at least 500,000 Burmese
throughout the country can not return to their homes. Currently, about
287,000 Burmese reside in temporary settlements in ceasefire areas and an
estimated 95,000 civilians are in hiding from Burmese troops, the report
stated.

____________________________________

October 30, Mizzima News
NLD optimistic about Gambari's second visit to Burma - Mungpi

Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, feels
the United Nations undersecretary for political affairs, Mr. Gambari’s
trip to Burma yet again this year, is likely to yield better results as he
would directly report to the Security Council.

Nyan Win, the NLD spokesperson told Mizzima, "We believe this visit will
be more meaningful then the previous one, as Mr. Gambari would report back
to the Security Council."

Mr. Gambari, who visited Burma in May, is reportedly scheduled to visit
Burma again between November 9 to 12.

During his previous visit in May, Mr. Gambari met detained Nobel Peace
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD central executive committee members.

Mr. Gambari, during his forthcoming visit to Burma, is expected to meet
junta leaders as well as opposition groups including the NLD and Aung San
Suu Kyi, who has been detained for nearly 11 of the past 17 years she has
been in Burma.

The NLD spokesperson, however, said there has been so far no notice of a
meeting with Mr. Gambari.

Meanwhile, in Burma, activists and former students leaders yesterday
launched a new 'prayer campaign' for the release of detained student
leaders and political prisoners.

"We can see that people are actively participating [in the campaign]. This
proves the peoples' yearning for democracy and human rights in Burma,"
said Nyan Win.

____________________________________

October 30, Mizzima News
8th anniversary of ZNC celebrated in Rangoon - Muan

In the midst of secrecy, the 18th anniversary of the Zomi National
Congress was celebrated in Rangoon on October 24.

A significant number of distinguished officials, personalities and youths
took part in the celebrations of the 18th anniversary of the ZNC in an
undisclosed venue. Secrecy relating to the venue was maintained for
reasons of security.

A ZNC member in exile told Mizzima over telephone, "Identities of
participants and the location of the venue of the celebration cannot be
disclosed for security reasons. However, the names of the President and
the Secretary of the council can be made public."

The founder of ZNC, Pum Za Kap and celebrated cartoonist, Zozam were the
big names among the participants. The two distinguished personalities
graced the function and exhorted the participants to continue the struggle
for ushering in democracy.

ZNC has drawn attention to the grievances of the people of Chin state to
U. N. delegates over a 100 times, according to Gin Khan Lian in his
General Secretary’s report. ZNC played a vital role in the formation of
Veteran 88 Generation, Committee of Representative of People’s Parliament
and the United Nationalists Alliance.

Cin Sian Thang, in his Presidential address reiterated federalism as a
means to national reconciliation and restoration of democracy. He
advocated a free-market economy for future democracy in Burma.

ZNC, Burma was formed in 1988 after the 8.8.88 democracy uprising. Two
candidates of the ZNC were elected as Members of Parliament in the 1990
general elections, as a mandate political party.

____________________________________

October 28, Narinjara News
Western diplomats visit Arakan

A 17-member delegation of western diplomats arrived yesterday in Maungdaw
to visit several UNHCR projects that have been implemented throughout the
township, said a source close to an NGO.

An NGO worker confirmed that the team arrived in Maungdaw around 7 p.m.
yesterday, having traveled by car through Buthidaung, 80 miles north of
Arakan's state capital Akyab.

An official source said the team is led by the German ambassador to Burma,
and there are six Burmese officials from Rangoon accompanying them.

The team is staying at the UNHCR offices in three mile gate in Maungdaw.
They are expected to visit the UNHCR project sites today.

In Maungdaw and Buthidaung Townships, there are a number of UNHCR projects
for women and children who have returned to Burma in recent years after
living as refugees in Bangladesh for an extended period of time.

It has been learnt that the UNHCR is implementing a number of projects in
the western border areas, including training in sewing, production of
cane-products, and vocational training schools that are funded by a number
of western countries.

____________________________________

October 28, Associated Press
Myanmar court sentences woman to 12 years for human trafficking

A Myanmar court has sentenced a woman to 12 years in prison for selling
two young Myanmar women into prostitution in Malaysia, state-run media
said Saturday.

The court in Tachileik, opposite the Thai town of Mae Sai, sentenced Nang
Aye Naw, 41, on Oct. 3 under the anti-trafficking in persons law, the New
Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

The report said the woman enticed two young women with false promises of
finding a job at a restaurant in Mae Sai but instead sold them at a border
town in Malaysia for prostitution.

It did not say whether the two women were rescued or when the suspect was
arrested.

Many women from impoverished Myanmar are smuggled into Thailand and
Malaysia, mostly for prostitution, and into China for forced marriages.

Myanmar's military government, which Western nations have accused of
failing to curb human trafficking, passed an anti-human trafficking law in
September 2005 which provides a maximum penalty of death. Under the law,
victims of trafficking also are to be protected and aided.

Myanmar formed the Preventive Working Committee for Trafficking in Persons
in 2002, which the government says has taken action against more than
1,000 violators and rescued over 3,500 trafficked persons.

The U.S. State Department has placed Myanmar in its worst category for
human trafficking, saying it has not com-plied with minimum standards for
eliminating the problem. Myanmar's government rejected the U.S. charges,
saying the report failed to acknowledge the government's efforts and
lacked objectivity.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 30, Agence France Presse
Myanmar wants more than half of gold from privatized mine: official

Myanmar's military government wants to keep more than half the gold
produced from its largest mine, if a plan to privatize the operation goes
through, an official told AFP on Monday.

The government announced two weeks ago that it would privatize at least
part of its biggest Kyaukpahto gold mine in the central division of
Sagaing.

An official from the No.2 Mining Enterprise, which currently operates the
Kyaukpahto mine, told AFP on Monday that the mine could produce an average
of 19 kilograms (670 ounces) of gold per month.

"Those who are interested in investing in this gold mine have to pay about
12 kilograms per month" to the government, the official said.

If an investor can produce more than 19 kilograms a month, the government
would take 10 percent of the extra amount, he said.

The Kyaukpahto mine is the first gold mine in Myanmar to be privatized. A
2002 study by the US Geological Survey estimated the mine's production
quota at less than 25 kilograms a month.

The current junta has taken steps to liberalize the economy since it took
power after crushing a pro-democracy up-rising in 1988.

Myanmar said in late June that it would sell a 49 percent stake in 11
factories in Yangon, Mandalay and Magway, as the government tries to raise
much-needed cash.

The previous military dictatorship had spent decades following the
"Burmese way to socialism", which ruined what had been one of the most
promising economies in Southeast Asia.

Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, is one of the
world's poorest nations and is subject to US and European economic
sanctions because of human rights abuses and the house arrest of
61-year-old democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar's neighbors like China, India and Thailand have been increasing
their trade with Myanmar, mainly to tap the country's natural gas reserves
to fuel their own growing economies.

____________________________________
ASEAN

October 30, Irrawaddy
Burma to be discussed at Asean-China summit

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said before the start of a
meeting between Chinese leaders and Asean on Monday that although the
10-nation association understood Beijing’s reluctance to interfere in the
affairs of other countries it would welcome Chinese support in pressuring
Burma.

China is Burma’s closest ally and most important trading partner,
considerations dictating its apparent reluctance to support international
moves to persuade the Burmese junta to introduce democratic change.

“We understand China’s position, because they have never liked to do
anything that would interfere with the domestic or national affairs of
sovereignty of another state,” Syed Hamid told an AFP correspondent. “But
I think wherever they can exercise their influence to encourage, we would
be very happy.

Syed Hamid was speaking as Asean leaders gathered in the Chinese city of
Nanning for a two-day summit with a Beijing delegation headed by Chinese
premier Wen Jiabao, which began on Monday. Burma is represented at the
summit by Prime Minister Soe Win.

The summit is concentrating on developing closer economic, military and
political ties between Asean and Bejing and on plans to create a giant
free trade zone by 2010.

Officials told the Indonesian news agency Antara that regional issues such
as the lack of democracy in Burma and the North Korean nuclear crisis
would also be discussed.

“Ultimately Myanmar [Burma] is our problem, it’s an Asean problem,” said
Syed Hamid, who visited Burma earlier this year as a special Asean envoy.
“We have to play that primary role of influencing our Asean partner.”

A number of Asean members have previously expressed frustration over the
pace of democratic reform in Burma, while some have called on China and
India to exert pressure on the junta to reform.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 30, Agence France Presse
Thailand reassures China and ASEAN that democracy will return - Elisia Yeo

Thailand's military-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont reassured
Chinese and Southeast Asian leaders on Monday that his nation would return
to democratic rule within a year.

Newly appointed Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram said Surayud
told his counterparts during a China-ASEAN summit here that Thailand
wanted to hold parliamentary elections as soon as possible.

"We affirmed our intention fully to return to a very effective democracy,
a parliamentary democracy," Nitya told AFP after the summit.

"We're working with resolve to return to elections and things are
proceeding according to plan and that we hope that it will be done within
a certain allotted time."

Nitya said Thailand's new government wanted to make the changes in "the
shortest possible period of time, in about a year."

Surayud's arrival on Monday for the summit was his first appearance at an
international meeting since being appointed premier on October 1 following
last month's military coup.

Nitya said Surayud's assurances were greeted warmly by his regional
colleagues.

"Well, I thought it was very well received. I think all of the leaders
already have understood and they fully, I think, are convinced of our own
resolve to move towards that particular goal of the resolution of this
particular conflict," Nitya said.

Surayud, fresh from visits to a number of ASEAN countries, was to meet
with his counterparts from Singapore and Myanmar on the sidelines of the
two-day gathering, Thai officials said earlier.
Surayud met with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday
afternoon, and was set to hold talks with Myanmar Prime Minister Soe Win
on Tuesday morning.

He also has meetings scheduled with the leaders of Brunei and host China,
but analysts said it was those with Myanmar and Singapore that would
attract attention at home after he did not visit those countries during
his recent ASEAN tour.

A visit to Singapore was impossible because of that nation's role in
Thailand's political crisis, said Chayachoke Chulasiriwongs, a political
analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

The events that led to the coup began with Singapore's state-linked
Temasek Holdings's controversial takeover of Thai telecoms giant Shin Corp
from the family of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"Surayud decided not to go to Singapore because he wants to avoid
questions about Temasek," Chayachoke said.

But he predicted the problems with Singapore would be short-lived, because
the city-state's main interest in Thailand was business.

A trip to Myanmar was also out of the question because of Surayud's
actions when he was chief of the Thai army, as well as the political
sensitivities of a military-installed prime minister visiting the junta
next door, Chayachoke said.

"Surayud did many things that angered Myanmar when he was the chief of the
army, including sending Thai troops into Myanmar territory to suppress the
drug trade," he said.

"That action made Myanmar very angry, and that is the main reason Surayud
has no plans to go there."

The one-day China-ASEAN summit on Monday celebrated 15 years of dialogue
relations between the two parties and affirmed ties for the future, which
are centered around the creation of a giant free trade zone by 2010.

Although the official summit is on Monday, the leaders will remain in
Nanning on Tuesday for a business forum.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 29, Narinjara News
Shwe Gas activists declare November 15 as international day of action

Activists of the Shwe Gas Movement worldwide have earmarked November 15,
2006, as the third international day of action against Daewoo
International and the Shwe gas project in Arakan State, Burma, in a
statement.

The activists have invited Burmese people and international communities to
join them in protesting against the severe human rights and environmental
risks associated with Daewoo's gas project in Burma, as well as the
support of the Indian and South Korean governments for the project on 15
November, 2006.

They also called on people to stand in solidarity with the people of Burma
as they condemn South Korea and India's support for the military regime of
Burma -- support which entrenches military rule.

In the statement, Shwe Gas Movement activists requested people from every
corner of the globe to contact them about protesting outside South Korean
embassies in their respective countries.

According to sources, protests will be held in a number of countries,
including Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Japan, USA, Britain, the
Netherlands, and France.

The contact emails for information on the Shwe Gas Movement protests are:
global at shwe.org.

The Shwe Gas project was established off the Arakan coast in 2004 by the
South Korean Company Daewoo, in partnership with Indian gas companies. 
Daewoo International holds 60 percent of the Shwe Gas Consortium, while 10
percent is held by Korean Oil and Gas, 20 percent is held by the Indian
company ONGC, and the remaining 10 percent is held by the India Company
GAIL.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 30, Inter Press Service
Hints of a 'Velvet Revolution' - Marwaan Macan-Markar

Bangkok: When a senior U.N. official returns to Burma in mid-November for
a second visit this year, he will encounter a ruling junta feeling the
heat from a sudden burst of non-violent activity that aims to register
public discontent against decades of tyranny.

In May, during Ibrahim Gambari's first visit to Rangoon, there was hardly
a hint of the quiet resistance being guided by a group of former
university student leaders known as the ‘88-Generation' and who enjoy wide
respect for their courage in taking on the military dictatorship.

The highlight of the May visit by the U.N. under secretary-general for
political affairs was a one-hour meeting he had with Aung San Suu Kyi,
leader of the opposition National League for Democracy. Gambari, the first
outsider in over two years to meet with the Nobel peace laureate, pressed
for her release from house arrest, but the request was turned down. The
past week marked 11 years that the pro-democracy icon has spent under
house arrest over three cumulative periods.

The current burst of resistance unfolding in Burma has also thrown up
features that Gambari will find difficult to sidestep -- the detention of
five leaders of the 88-Generation in late September for alleged
‘'subversive'' activity. One of those detained, Min Ko Naing, enjoys
legendary status as an activist and was only released from prison in
November 2004 after being subject to 15 years of solitary confinement in a
Burmese jail.

Sunday marked the beginning of one initiative that appears innocuous at
first glance but, on second look, conveys a serious political tone, given
the oppressive climate in that Southeast Asian nation where the junta has
clamped down on all political activity and expression. For a week, till
Nov. 4, the 88-Generation students have urged citizens across the country
to participate in ‘'Multiple Religious Prayer.'' The silent activity to be
held in temples, churches and mosques across the predominantly Buddhist
country will also include candle light vigils.

‘'It is an attempt to test the political space in Burma,'' says Khin Omar,
chairwoman of the Network for Democracy and Development, a group made up
of Burmese political exiles active along the Thai-Burmese border. ‘'They
want more people to get involved as part of the democratisation process
because they want change to come from within the country.''

This initiative, in fact, suggests the new route the student leaders have
decided to take against the regime, she explained in an interview. ‘'They
have to be creative to establish whatever space there is in Burma for the
public to participate in.''

And those familiar with the iron grip with which the junta runs Burma,
such as Zin Linn, who was jailed for nine years for his political
activity, admit that this lead by the 88-Generation should offer a hint at
how far people will dare to face the junta - although silently. “The
people inside Burma are afraid to move and openly display support to
activity that may get them into trouble,” said Zin, a spokesman for the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, the elected
government that was forced into exile by the junta in the early 1990s.

‘'This campaign is easier for the people to participate in. It is pursuing
non-violent means,'' he added in an interview. ‘'It will help to initiate
the public into politics again. The student leaders are getting the people
to move step by step.''

The call for prayers comes on the heels of two similar turns to non-
violent means in October taken by the 88-Generation to engage with the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta is officially
known. One was the ‘'White Expression'' campaign, where people were urged
to wear white clothes as a mark of honesty and purity, and the other was a
campaign to collect signatures to back a petition calling on the junta to
release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.

The petition, which is finally destined for the U.N. garnered over 535,000
signatures and is already being viewed as a benchmark of what more the
former student leaders could achieve as the conscience of the nation.
‘'They took a huge risk in this signature campaign, and two leaders were
arrested after it began,'' says Bo Kyi, joint secretary of the Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners in Burma, a human rights group
operating along the Thai-Burmese border which campaigns for the release of
the country's political prisoners.

“They took many steps to inform the public before getting signatures,” he
told IPS. “The announcements were made by word of mouth, over telephone
and through reports that appeared in the international media. They want
the people to get involved in shaping their future by taking part; to do
something other than talking.”

The SPDC's reaction after the signature campaign ended was predictable. It
accused the student leaders of ‘'tricking'' the public into signing the
petition, according to a report in ‘The New Light of Myanmar', a newspaper
serving as the mouthpiece of the junta. Rangoon's regime, which calls the
country Myanmar, made little effort to stop the petition being circulated
at the beginning.

Such a mixed response stems from the SPDC's awareness that 88- Generation
has no political agenda and also its “own curiosity about the support the
student leaders have,” says Khin Omar. “The SPDC was also using this
moment to test the ground.”

The leaders of 88-Generation emerged during a pro-democracy uprising in
August of 1988, when tens of thousands of people, led by students, took to
the streets of many cities demanding greater political and civil liberties
from a military regime that has been in power since a 1962 coup. The junta
responded with brutality, killing hundreds of demonstrators in a hail of
gunfire, and subsequently arrested and jailing the leaders that survived.

And as current developments at the United Nations show, the world body has
grown increasingly troubled at Burma's worsening political condition, with
the junta tightening its grip to avoid a repetition of the 1988
pro-democracy uprising. Last December, Gambari made a telling argument
about the oppression in the country in a report delivered to the Security
Council.

Many of his revelations---including the torching of villages, systematic
attack on civilians, forced labour and a growing humanitarian
crisis---were recently echoed in another report released in October by the
U.N human rights envoy to the country. Together, they have pushed the SPDC
into a corner and have helped to strengthen the case for greater
involvement by the Security Council, which already regards Burma as a
country of international concern.

‘'The international community has to listen to the 88-Generation,'' says
Khin Omar, a former student leader who was on the streets of Rangoon
during the bloody showdown in 1988. ‘'They want to be able to resolve the
political crisis in the country.''

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 30, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
Frontline/World goes undercover to investigate one of the world’s worst
military dictatorships

Tuesday, October 31, 2006, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS
www.pbs.org/frontlineworld

Frontline/World returns with new “stories from a small planet”:

State of Fear

Burma: As international pressure mounts on one of the most brutal military
dictatorships in the world, Frontline/World reporter Evan Williams travels
undercover to Burma, which the regime calls Myanmar, to expose the
unprecedented violence and repression being carried out by the government
against its own people in Burma: State of Fear, airing Tuesday, October
31, 2006 at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings).

Banned from the country for reporting on the Burmese democracy movement
ten years ago, Williams treks for two weeks through the jungle with the
Free Burma Rangers, Christian medics who are part of the Karen guerrilla
movement. Karen guerrillas have fought Burma’s military regime for more
than 50 years—the longest active civil war in the world.

Dodging landmines and evading army patrols, the group reaches one village
burnt to the ground by government troops. “We saw the smoke from our
burning houses and ran to search for our children,” says one villager
through a translator. “I looked down into the ashes and saw a small hand.
It was my son’s hand—I went blind. 
 I stayed there all day, and I thought
it would be good if the Burmese army came back to the village and killed
me.”

Reaching the city of Mandalay, Williams meets two Burmese journalists who
have just been released after seven years in prison; they were jailed for
writing in support of democracy. “They oppress us greatly, they crush an
ant with a hammer,” one journalist tells Frontline/World.

Another describes being tortured for five or six days straight. “First
they put the hand cuff backward and put on the canvas bag; it is very hard
to 
 breathe,” he says. “And they beat with the pipe on my body and put
some electric shocks.”

Williams tries to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who led
the National League for
Democracy to a landslide election victory in 1990, but her house is under
armed guard and no reporters have spoken with her in years. General Than
Shwe refused to accept her party’s victory, and has held her under house
arrest for most of the past 16 years. Meanwhile, the widow of another
National League official, Aung Hlaing Win, describes how two plainclothes
intelligence officers allegedly dragged her husband from his table at a
Rangoon restaurant.

Six days later, Win was dead. “The police denied he was there,” she tells
the camera. “But 10 days later I asked again and that evening they phoned
and said he was dead. They never showed me the body; they said I had no
right to see my husband’s body.” Win is just one of the 128 activists to
die in custody from torture or ill treatment since the current junta took
power. Eleven hundred others, including Suu Kyi, remain locked away.

Major funding for Frontline/World is provided by the Skoll Foundation, The
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Press contacts
Diane Buxton (617) 300-5375
Andrew Ott (617) 300-5314