BurmaNet News, July 26, 2007

[Editor]

July 26, 2007 Issue # 3276

INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Myanmar junta arrests key activist after manhunt
DVB via BBC Monitoring: Burmese students appeal to UN to help stop arrests
AP: Burmese official defends fuel price hikes
Irrawaddy: Ethnic parties call for release of activists in Burma
DVB via BBC Monitoring: Burma opposition radio plans to name those
involved in arrests
AP: Protests no immediate threat to Burma junta, say analysts

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Thai army leader to visit Burma

PRESS RELEASE
USCB: Human rights activists call for release of Burmese democracy leaders
and UN Security Council Action against Burma's military dictators

STATEMENT
ENC: Statement on the current events in Burma and the suffering of Burmese
people
Joint statement supporting protests against the increases of fuel prices
in Burma

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 26, Reuters
Myanmar junta arrests key activist after manhunt

Myanmar's military junta arrested a key social activist and organiser of a
rare series of fuel price protests yesterday after a manhunt across Yangon
for the few dissidents to have evaded a four-day crackdown.

Htin Kyaw, who has been detained three times this year for demonstrating
against falling living standards in the former Burma, shouted anti-junta
slogans with another man for three minutes before being seized, witnesses
said.

The pair were beaten as they were dragged away by men in civilian clothes,
they added.

Police and pro-junta gangs from the feared Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA) had been stopping cars and checking bus,
railway and ferry terminals across the former capital in one of the
harshest crackdowns in years.

Passengers were ordered out of vehicles to have their papers checked
against photographs of Htin Kyaw and Htay Kywe, a still influential leader
of a 1988 student uprising who remains at large.

Tightening their grip further after a week of rare public protests, the
generals also enforced security laws requiring people to register any
guests with the authorities.

The Burmese-language services of the BBC, Radio Free Asia and Voice of
America had carried an interview with Htin Kyaw on Friday night in which
he said he was secretly organising a big demonstration and urged students
and Buddhist monks to join in.

In 1988, Yangon's universities and monasteries were the focal points for
what became a nationwide uprising against decades of military rule. After
several days of clashes, the army moved in to crush the demonstrations,
killing 3,000 people.

Despite boiling discontent this week over shock fuel price hikes, analysts
say another 1988-style uprising is unlikely, not least because
universities have been moved outside the city and civil servants are now
in a new capital far to the north.

UP TO 20 YEARS IN JAIL

In the first official word on the fate of 13 activists arrested midweek,
official papers said they had been "harming the stability of the state"
and would be charged under an internal security law that carries jail
terms of up to 20 years.

The New Light of Myanmar also accused the group, which includes 1988
student figurehead Min Ko Naing, of terrorism.

Min Ko Naing-a Burmese nom de guerre meaning "Conqueror of Kings"-is the
most influential opposition activist after detained democracy icon Aung
San Suu Kyi.

The paper did not say when or where trials would be held.

"They have made the strongest possible allegations against these
activists. Their trials must be open. These activists should be heard in
open court," Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD) said.

The arrests led to another round of international condemnation of Myanmar,
which Washington regards as an "outpost of tyranny" after 45 years of
unbroken military rule.

Relatives expressed concern about the detainees' health, saying many were
on medication after a decade or more in prison.

Official papers said 27 others, including 12 women, had been detained in
five separate incidents in Yangon by "people who do not want to see
unrest"-junta shorthand for USDA gangs.

Eyewitness reports suggested the number arrested over the week was closer
to 40, and that in some instances protesters had been slapped and beaten
as they were led away.

The world's largest rice exporter when it won independence from Britain in
1948, Myanmar is now one of Asia's poorest countries after more than four
decades of military rule.

Suu Kyi, whose NLD party won a 1990 landslide election victory only to be
denied power by the army, has spent most of the 17 years since in prison
or under house arrest.

____________________________________

August 26, Democratic Voice of Burma via BBC Monitoring
Burmese students appeals to UN to help stop arrests

The 88 Generation Students have appealed to the United Nations and the
international community to act in time to help stop the ongoing arrests in
Burma.

[Begin Htay Kywe recording] Many of us have already been arrested and it
is evident that there is no security and rule of law in Burma. It also
makes it very clear that there are political and economic hardships in
Burma.

We are endeavouring to enable the people of Burma to liberate themselves
from the life they are living now. We believe that the community of world
nations is observing these developments. Under such a situation, we wish
to extend our invitation to UN Special Envoy Mr Gambari to visit Burma.

Each and every citizen of Burma is a witness to the injustices, the acts
of oppression, and what is taking place now. The problems today are
associated not only with hikes in fuel oil prices but also with the
failure of the economic, administrative, and political systems and the
people of Burma are now showing that they want to see changes taking
place. [End recording]

That was Ko Htay Kywe of the 88 Generation Students.

He also invited the people to do their part in their given roles.

[Begin Htay Kywe recording] We, who are in the movement for democracy and
want to see a bright future, are sacrificing our life and welfare today. I
wish to invite all the people of Burma, including the ethnic
nationalities, to join our efforts. We have been promoting the rule of the
people's representatives who were elected in the 1990 elections. We are
extending our invitation to the representatives to join our efforts. [End
recording]

That was Ko Htay Kywe of the 88 Generation Students.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma website, Oslo, in Burmese 25 Aug 07

____________________________________

August 26, Associated Press
Burmese official defends fuel price hikes - Jim Gomez

A recent increase in fuel prices that sparked a series of rare protests in
Burma was triggered by spiraling global oil prices and was not a political
move, a diplomat from the impoverished Southeast Asian nation said Sunday.

Burma could no longer afford to subsidize fuel so heavily because of the
steep increases in oil prices worldwide, Thaung Tun, Burma's ambassador to
Manila, told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a regional ministers
meeting in the Philippine capital.

Burmese activists have speculated that the slashed subsidies—leading to a
doubling of prices at the gas pumps—were needed to remedy a government
cash shortage.

Some observers said the move could be a prelude to privatization, or that
it may even reflect internal conflict within the junta—a deliberate move
to provoke unrest, further stall the approval of a long-awaited
constitution and embarrass military ruler Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

But Thaung Tun said it was purely an economic issue—the number of cars and
motorists on the streets of Burma has increased in recent years,
bolstering fuel consumption and subsidy costs.

"The government has no recourse but to remove the subsidies," he said. "If
you won't do that, it'll be very costly to the government ... It's not
politics."

Fuel prices in Burma remain among the lowest in Southeast Asia, despite
the subsidy cut, Thaung Tun said.

Economic ministers from the 10-members Association of Southeast Asian
Nations declined to comment on the protests in Burma at a press conference
in Manila.

Burma's chief representative at the Manila meetings, National Planning and
Economic Development Minister Soe Tha, declined to comment when approached
directly.

The 10-member bloc, which includes Burma, has a bedrock policy of not
interfering in each other's domestic affairs, although some liberal
members have become more vocal with their criticisms over the
military-ruled nation's spotty human rights record.

Earlier this month, Burma's military junta cut state subsidies that have
kept domestic oil prices low for years. The move triggered a number of
small, peaceful protests last week, mainly in Rangoon, and police
subsequently detained at least 65 activists, including several leaders of
Burma's pro-democracy movement.

Thaung Tun said people would naturally feel bad about any price increase
but that the low turnout at the rallies indicated the public understood
the government's decision.

"I think the protests are not that widespread," he said. "People are
making a mountain out of a molehill."

"The problem is the people, they feel the pinch now because ... they did
not have to pay so much before," he said, adding Burma's military leaders
would not reverse the move.

____________________________________

August 26, Irrawaddy
Ethnic parties call for release of activists in Burma - Violet Cho

A statement issued on Saturday from representatives of 12 ethnic
opposition parties in Burma called for the immediate release of human
rights activists and protesters arrested after demonstrations against a
sharp spike in fuel and commodity prices in the country.

The statement was released by the Shan National League for Democracy and
11 other ethnic parties representing Arakan, Chin, Kachin, Karen,  Karenni
and Mon states, and the Zomi National Congress.

“We want the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] to release the
leading human rights activist Min Ko Naing and his fellow 88 Generation
Students group leaders, as well as those who have been dragged from their
homes for participating in a peaceful protest,” Fu Cin Sian Thang, the
chairman of the ZNC, told The Irrawaddy on Sunday.

He added: “The ongoing arrests and crackdown on pro-democracy supporters
will not solve the political conflict in Burma. We strongly urge the
Burmese regime to start calling for a ‘tripartite dialogue’ with the
National League for Democracy and different ethnic parties in the
country.”

Since protests over the rise in fuel and commodity prices began on August
19, Burmese authorities have arrested and detained at least 63 people.
Thirteen of those—arrested prior to the demonstrations—were leading
members of the pro-democracy opposition 88 Generation Students group.

The former student leaders, which include Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, were
arrested and interrogated for allegedly undermining stability and security
in the country and for disrupting the National Convention by “committing
terrorist acts,” according to Burma’s state-run newspaper The New Light of
Myanmar.

The report added that the former student leaders would be dealt with
according to existing laws and that each could face up to 20 years in
prison.

Meanwhile, the EU on Saturday expressed concern over the recent arrests
and condemned Burma’s military government for detaining individuals for
exercising their basic right to peaceful demonstrations.

Popular protests in the last week, many of which have been initiated by
the 88 Generation Students Group, are widely supported by the people of
Burma, according to prominent Burmese human rights activist Su Su Nway.

“Because of political and economic pressure, we understand that people are
not able to be directly involved in the protests, but they have provided
food and water, and they even applaud and cheer for those who hold the
protests,” Su Su Nway told The Irrawaddy on Sunday.

“These kinds of actions highlight the expectation of Burmese people and
clearly show that they also do not like the repressive military
government,” she added.

Residents not active in the protests have turned in increasing numbers to
radio programs broadcast by the BBC Burmese Service, Voice of America and
Radio Free Asia to keep track of details about the protests.

Outside the country, members of exile political parties and social
activists in South Korea and Thailand organized protests outside Burmese
embassies in Seoul and Bangkok on Sunday.

“We believe the massive increase in commodity and fuel prices has sent the
Burmese population further into poverty, so we are urging the regime to
lower the prices,” said Zaw Moe Aung, a committee member of the National
League for Democracy-Liberated Area (South Korea), which helped organize
the South Korea protest.

____________________________________

August 26, Democratic Voice of Burma via BBC Monitoring
Burma opposition radio plans to name those involved in arrests

According to the latest news in hand, we have learned that the person who
is closely supervising the use of force in the arrests in Rangoon is
Colonel Than Han, the same officer who was in charge of the violent attack
[on National League for Democracy members and supporters] in Depayin.

We understand that Col Than Han came up with the idea of dressing up the
riot control police personnel in civilian clothing to quell the protests.
Behind these police personnel are what are known as "the people" who
provide the protection and security and these groups are supplied by U
Aung Thaung, secretary of the Union Solidarity and Development
Association.

A police officer said former members of the ward council, ex-convicts, and
some street vendors were recruited and trained last week to form Swan Ahr
Shin (SAS) groups.

The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) has obtained the names of these Swan
Ahr Shin group members. It will investigate these people and once
confirmation is received, we wish to let you know in advance that the DVB
will be broadcasting the names of those who call themselves "the people"
and are involved in the use of force in arresting people.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma website, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 25
Aug 07

____________________________________

August 26, Associated Press
Protests no immediate threat to Burma junta, say analysts - Michael Casey

A week of protests over fuel price hikes present no immediate threat to
Burma’s military rulers because very few people joined the demonstrations
and the key organizers were swiftly detained, analysts said Sunday.

Enraged by the doubling of fuel prices earlier this month, activists
launched a series of rare street demonstrations in the country's largest
city, Rangoon, starting August 19. The military responded by detaining at
least 65 activists, including leaders of pro-democracy groups the 88
Generation Students and the Myanmar Development Committee.

Crowds cheered on the demonstrators, but few joined in. Attendance at the
marches ranged from a few dozen hardened activists to a few hundred—mainly
limited to Rangoon.

"Although the public probably is behind the relatively few demonstrators
in the streets, I do not think that now the people as a whole are ready in
any major way to risk their lives," David Steinberg, a Burma expert at
Georgetown University in Washington, DC, said in an e-mail interview with
The Associated Press.

"The chances are that small demonstrations may continue for a bit, but
major ones are unlikely," Steinberg said. "By allowing small
demonstrations, the military may be trying to fend off larger ones."

The military has arrested the key activists "who might make things worse
for them," he said.

Rangoon was quiet Sunday, with pro-junta supporters and plainclothes
police deployed throughout the city to prevent further protests.

In neighboring Thailand, about 90 people protested outside the Burmese
Embassy in Bangkok demanding the junta revoke the fuel price hike and end
the violent crackdown on activists.

Josef Silverstein, a Burma expert and retired professor of Rutgers
University in New Jersey, noted the junta's decision to clamp down on the
organizers has failed to spark anything more than a routine condemnation
from the UN and foreign governments.

"No outside country or individual outsider is coming to the aid of the
people, not the US, Asean member countries or even soldiers of fortune,"
Silverstein said in an e-mail interview.

Burma is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean,
which has a rigid policy of noninterference in members' domestic affairs.

"The Burma military has been busy winning the indifference of foreign
states to their behavior toward their own people," Silverstein said.
"Burma is willing and able to see off or give away at bargain prices the
natural resources, oil, gas, timber ... at the expense of the nation and
its people."

Since liberalizing its investment code in 1988, Burma has signed a number
of energy deals with its neighbors including China, India, South Korea and
Thailand. Desperate for energy to fuel their growing economies, these
countries have ignored Burma’s dire human rights record to secure
lucrative oil and natural gas contracts.

Activists say the fuel price increase was probably needed to remedy a cash
shortage after the government spent heavily relocating its capital 400
kilometers (250 miles) from Rangoon to Naypyidaw in 2005.

Presiding over one of the poorest countries in Asia, Burma’s military
government has exposed the public to increasing hardship in the form of
rising bus fares, and brought to mind the mass demonstrations in 1988.

Hundreds of thousands filled the streets that year to protest economic
hardship and to demand an end to the military rule that began in 1962.

The army violently subdued the protests, killing hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of people. The junta held a general election in 1990, but
refused to honor the results when the National League for Democracy—led by
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house
arrest—won in a landslide.

Analysts say events this past week pale in comparison to 1988, when
demonstrations took place nationwide, food was scarce, and support for the
protests came from within the bureaucracy and military.

"The present demonstrations are important, but nothing like the scale of
1988," Steinberg said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 26, Irrawaddy
Thai army leader to visit Burma

Thailand's army commander-in-chief Gen Sonthi Boonyratglin, the leader of
the coup that ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, will visit
Burma on Monday for a two-day official trip, according to a report on
Sunday in the Bangkok Post.

Sonthi, who is set to retire in September, will make the state visit to
bid farewell to Burma’s military leaders, including Snr-Gen Than Shwe and
other senior junta officials in the new Burmese capital Naypidaw, the
report said.

His trip comes amid growing international pressure on the Burmese junta
for its efforts to suppress protests that erupted in Rangoon and other
cities following a recent fuel price hike. The report said Sonthi will be
accompanied to Burma by a delegation of 40 officials.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

August 26, US Campaign for Burma
Human rights activists call for release of Burmese democracy leaders and
UN Security Council Action against Burma's military dictators

Chicagoland members of advocacy group US Campaign for Burma will
participate in a silent march in downtown Chicago this Sunday, August 26,
culminating in a rally in front of the Chinese consulate to demand that
China support UN Security Council Action against the military rulers of
the Southeast Asian country of Burma. Burma’s military junta recently
imprisoned a dozen prominent human rights activists and mobilized heavy
troop presence in Burma’s largest city,
Rangoon, in response to protests against fuel price increases.

Among those imprisoned is the country’s second most prominent leader, Min
Ko Naing, recipient of international awards including the Civil Courage
Prize from the Northcote Parkinson Fund. The Chinese government is the
biggest supporter of the military regime that rules Burma and arrested Min
Ko Naing and a dozen other leaders from his group, the 88 Student
Generation, this week.

The military regime in Burma, led by Senior General Than Shwe, doubled the
price of diesel and petrol and quintupled the prices of compressed natural
gas for cooking and buses last week. The dramatic sudden increase in
prices is making basic survival difficult for all except Burma's elite.
The first of a handful of protest marches against the price increase was
on Sunday, August 19. Several other marches inside Burma have followed,
despite arrests and intimidation.

Board member of the US Campaign for Burma, Cristina Moon, will lead
Chicago’s silent solidarity march, which will be a walking meditation like
that practiced in predominantly-Buddhist Burma. “Walking meditation
requires you to focus your attention on each movement and impulse that it
takes to walk. This means that you walk extremely slowly, cultivating
mindfulness in every moment,” said Moon. Moon, who met with 88 Student
Generation leaders in Burma in April, says she was most struck by her
conversations with Min Ko Naing about meditation during his sixteen years
in Burmese prison, which were mostly spent in isolation.

The walking meditation route – about three and a half miles, including
sections of Michigan Avenue – is in the shape of a figure-8, and will be
walked twice, beginning at 6 AM and ending at 3 PM. The rally will feature
speakers from Burma as well as American solidarity activists.

China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have strengthened
the hand of the UN in dealing with Burma in January 2007. US Campaign for
Burma members at Sunday’s rally will deliver a letter to the Chinese
consulate demanding China’s cooperation on passing a resolution at the
United Nations Security Council condemning Burma’s military junta.

Press Contact: Cristina Moon
202-352-0988, 773-387-1004
cristina at uscampaignforburma.org
www.88march.blogspot.com

____________________________________
STATEMENT

August 26, Ethnic Nationalities Council (Union of Burma)
Statement on the current events in Burma and the suffering of Burmese people

It is an important obligation of a good government to arrange and carry
out its plan to make public's basic physiological needs for a living and
social life to be convenient.

But without being able to make public's lives to be prosperous and
peaceful, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is ruling the
country in irrational ways and thus the citizens are suffering economics
devastation and social crisis in their daily lives. All the prices are
increasing excessively and even the government cannot resolve and
moreover, eventually the government has raised the fuel prices which they
withheld up to 500 percent.

It is the privilege of citizens to express their extreme sufferings and
their desires peacefully and freely. Hence, we, the Ethnic Nationalities
Council (Union of Burma) (ENC) demand the immediate release of the
arrested protesters, including the student leaders, Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko
Gyi without exception.

We, ENC, demand that the SPDC compromises peacefully with the winner party
of 1990 election, National League for Democracy (NLD), the representatives
of other 1990 elected parties and the delegates of the opposition ethnic
groups. And we firmly believe that it is the best way to solve the
political issues in Burma.

Contact Persons:

(1)   Dr. Lian H. Sakhong                 +46 1826 0395
(2)  Saw David Taw                       +66 (0) 81 306 4351
(3) Mahkaw Hkun Sa                     +66 (0) 84 366 4238


ENC Office
P.O Box (49)
Chiang Mai University P.O
Chiang Mai 50202
Thailand
www.encburma.org

____________________________________

August 25, Joint statement supporting protests against the increases of
fuel prices in Burma

The people of Burma (Myanmar) have been publicly protesting against the
arbitrary and dramatic increase of fuel prices since 21 August 2007. The
protests that started in Rangoon (Yangon) have been spreading to other
parts of Burma despite a brutal crackdown by the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC). The junta has arrested a considerable number
of 88 generation student leaders and youth leaders from the National
League for Democracy (NLD).

The military authorities and their militias have been violently cracking
down on unarmed civilian protesters, who have been peacefully protesting
against their desperate economic situation. More and more families are
facing starvation because the price of rice has doubled, there are no
public bus services to take people to work, and worse may follow. If the
SPDC, led by Senior General Than Shwe, continues its vicious crackdown in
reaction to the growing protests, it will drag the country and the region
into chaos.

The protests are the legitimate expression of dissatisfaction over the
widely suffered effects of the regime’s economic mismanagement and bad
governance. These peaceful protests, triggered by the junta's steep
increases in fuel prices, are the logical consequences of many years of
political repression and irresponsible administration.

It is obvious that the latest developments in Burma are part of a long
stream of problems inflicted on the people by the military regime. By
systematically violating the civil, political, economic, social and
cultural rights of the people and blocking genuine reforms, the SPDC has
established itself as the main threat to national and regional stability.
Political and economic oppression of the people does not qualify as a
roadmap to democracy.

We, supporters of democracy in Burma, condemn the violent crackdown on
pro-democracy activists and call for their immediate and unconditional
release. We, undersigned organizations, strongly urge the Burmese military
regime to address the current political and economic crises by fulfilling
the following demands of the people of Burma.

(1) Immediately revoke the fuel price increases.
(2) Stop using violence against peaceful demonstrators.
(3) Immediately release all political prisoners and cease military
hostilities against non-Burman ethnic communities.
(4) Commence dialogue with leaders of the democracy movement and ethnic
groups in Burma on the most effective way to achieve genuine political and
economic reforms that will benefit all parties.

Further, we call on the members of the UNITED NATIONS, ASEAN AND THE UN
SECURITY COUNCIL, to act immediately to discourage the SPDC from plunging
the country into further turmoil.

The following undersigned organizations stand in solidarity with the
people of Burma.
(1) Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB)
(2) The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
(3) National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB)
(4) National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB)
(5) Forum for Democracy in Burma (FDB)
(6) Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (Altsean-Burma)
(7) LUA ( Labor Union of Arakan )
(8) YCOWA - Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association (Bangkok)
(9) RPLC (Rakhaing Patriotic Literature Club )
(10) FORUM-ASIA
(11) Burma Women Union (BWU)
(12) Association of Burma Ex-Political Prisoners (ABEP)
(13) The SHWE Gas Movement
(14) The Migrant Karen Labour Union
(15) Thai Students Network

For further information, please contact:
Media Contact Person:
(1) Dr. Sann Aung-MP ; < 0897685853>
(2) U Kyaw Thaung <084 670 5727>
(3) U Myint Wai <081 357 7634>