BurmaNet News, September 6, 2007

[Editor]

September 6, 2007 Issue # 3286

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Pakokku monks release detained officials
Irrawaddy: Monks take officials hostage for hours in Upper Burma standoff
Reuters: Myanmar monks seize govt officials, burn cars
Irrawaddy: Wa army defies government by beefing up its forces

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Prominent Burmese economist opposes doubling fuel prices

DRUGS
Khonumthung News: Burmese junta into poppy cultivation on Indo-Burma border

REGIONAL
Narinjara News: General Maung Aye's Bangladesh visit postponed
AP: Study finds tsunami could hit parts of Myanmar, Bangladesh in the
event of a major earthquake

INTERNATIONAL
UN News Centre: Recent steps by Government of Myanmar are ‘setback’ to
democracy – UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari
Mizzima News: 88 generation students appeal to UN chief to act on Burma
NY Times: First Lady makes issue of Myanmar's junta
AFP: Hollywood urges UN chief to act for Myanmar's Suu Kyi

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: The world needs to act now

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Pakokku monks release detained officials

Monks from Pakokku’s Mahavithutarama monastery have released a group of
about 20 government officials held hostage since this morning,
eyewitnesses told DVB.

The government officials, including Magwe division’s religious affairs
representative and the chairman of the Magwe Peace and Development
Council, were taken hostage early this morning as the monks retaliated
against the military’s brutal crackdown on a protest march yesterday.

Eyewitnesses standing outside the monastery said that the officials were
released at about 4pm this afternoon.

“The head monk from the monastery who has hypertension asked the younger
monks to show forgiveness and release the officials. They were let out the
back door of the monastery as there was a huge crowd of people waiting out
the front,” one eyewitness said.

Four of the six cars the officials drove to the monastery in had been
destroyed by midday after being set on fire by the monks. Since early this
afternoon more than 1000 people and a military battalion have been
stationed outside the monastery, desperately trying to find out what was
going on inside.

The civilians camped outside the monastery were reportedly cheering the
monks on and one bystander told DVB he thought that it was time the
government was taught a lesson.

“Hopefully this will also teach a lesson to those Union Solidarity and
Development Association and Swan Arr Shin members not to be so harsh on
people. Some of them have already fled their homes and some are in
hiding,” the bystander said.

____________________________________

September 6, Irrawaddy
Monks take officials hostage for hours in Upper Burma standoff - Shah Paung

More than 10 high ranking officials and military officers were held
hostage for about 6 hours on Thursday by monks at a monastery in Pakokku
township in Upper Burma. The captors demanded the release of about 10
fellow monks arrested in a peaceful demonstration that was violently
broken up by the authorities on Wednesday.

An artist’s impression of the violent breakup of the Pakokku protests

The monks captured their hostages during a standoff in which four official
cars were set on fire. The hostages included the chairman of the District
Peace and Development Council in Pakokku, a regional center about 370
miles north of Rangoon with a sizable community of monks. The hostages
were freed at around 4:00 p.m. but it was unclear how the two sides solved
the standoff.

The hostages were held at the town’s Maha Visutarama Monastery, known as
Ah Le Tiak, an eyewitness told The Irrawaddy by phone. It is one of dozens
of monasteries in Pakokku, all of which also have teaching institutes for
young monks.

The monastery has about 700 monks, some several hundreds of whom
participated in Wednesday’s demonstration. The monks called for a repeal
of recent price increases and the release of protesters arrested in the
demonstrations that are continuing throughout the country.

"Three monks were tied to an electric pole and were beaten with rifle
butts and bludgeons
"

Wednesday’s demonstration by the Pakokku monks was brutally suppressed by
police, troops and pro-government paramilitary thugs. Troops fired warning
shots.

A Phaungdawoo pagoda trustee who witnessed the scene said: “Three monks
were tied to an electric pole and were beaten with rifle butts and
bludgeons
one monk, named U Sandima, sustained head injuries.” Rumor has
it that one injured monk died.

Eyewitnesses said soldiers and police were joined by members of the
pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association and the
paramilitary group Swan Arr Shin in breaking up the demonstration.

They said abbot Tay Zaw Batha, chairman of the regime-appointed
supervisory religious body Pakokku Sangha Maha Nayaka, took part in the
suppression of the protest. He had now gone into hiding, the sources said.

One senior monk in Pakokku said that tension would continue to be very
high in coming days.

Historically, monks have played a major role in political demonstrations,
notably in the 1988 popular uprising and in the 1990 anti-government
protests.

During the 1988 unrest, the military regime launched a heavy crackdown on
the demonstrators. More than 3,000 demonstrators are believed to have been
killed, including many monks and novices.

Monks across Burma refused to accept alms from military leaders following
the crackdown on monasteries. Hundreds of monks and young novices who
participated in the movement were later arrested and given lengthy prison
terms.

The demonstrations against the fuel and commodity prices rise have been
going on since August 19, led by the 88 Generation Students group and some
members of the opposition National League for Democracy. At least 120
demonstrators are reported to have been arrested so far.

____________________________________

September 6, Reuters
Myanmar monks seize govt officials, burn cars - Aung Hla Tun

Several hundred young monks in military-ruled Myanmar took a group of
government officials hostage inside their provincial monastery on Thursday
and burned four of their cars, a witness said.

The officials had gone to the monastery in the town of Pakokku, 600 km
northwest of Yangon, to apologise for soldiers firing shots over the heads
of protesting monks on Wednesday, the witness said.

They had also wanted to ask the abbot of the Mahawithutayama monastery,
the town's biggest, to stop monks taking part in the sporadic marches that
have broken out in the former Burma in the last two weeks against soaring
fuel prices, she added.

A crowd of up to 1,000 people gathered outside the gates. There was no
immediate sign of military or police.

Soldiers fired the warning shots to halt a protest march of up to 500
monks reciting Buddhist scriptures and waving banners condemning huge fuel
price increases last month.

It was the first time troops had been called in during two weeks of rare
dissent. Hitherto, the military had responded by arresting leading
dissidents and sending pro-junta gangs onto the streets of Yangon to break
up protests.

More than 100 people have been arrested in the crackdown, one of the
harshest since the army crushed a nationwide uprising of monks, students
and government workers in 1988, when around 3,000 people are thought to
have been killed.

The military has been loathe to put soldiers on the streets, perhaps
mindful of the 1988 bloodshed, a watershed moment in Myanmar's
post-independence history.

Intervening against monks in Pakokku is particularly risky for the junta
as the town is only 80 miles from the second city of Mandalay, the
religious heart of a devoutly Buddhist nation and home to 300,000 monks.

Historically, monasteries have played a major role in political uprisings,
both in 1988 and in revolts against colonial master Britain.

A resident of Mandalay said the atmosphere in the town was very tense.
News reports from dissident organisations suggest the generals who first
seized power in 1962 have been pressing the heads of Mandalay's
monasteries not to become involved.

"They seem to be more nervous. Once the monks in Mandalay start to rise,
they won't be able to control it," a Yangon-based politician said this
week.

____________________________________

September 6, Irrawaddy
Wa army defies government by beefing up its forces - Saw Yan Naing

The United Wa State Army ethnic ceasefire group has deployed more troops
and armaments to its main area near the Thai-Burmese border, defying an
earlier relocation order issued by the government, according to sources
close to the group.

The deployment follows a meeting in Naypyidaw between a UWSA senior
official and the government.

The UWSA reinforced its troops and armaments at the end of August after it
came under pressure by the junta to attack the Shan State Army-South,
which has refused to enter into any ceasefire agreement with the regime.
Failing an attack on the SSA-S, the UWSA was told it should disarm itself.

A spokesperson for the SSA-S, Sai Lao Hseng, told The Irrawaddy that the
Wa had transported troops and ammunition in 10 large trucks on August 30
from UWSA headquarters at Panghsang, on the China-Burma border, to the
main areas on the Thai-Burmese border. At least 500 soldiers had been
relocated, Sai Lao Hseng said.

Another source in the area said about four regiments of the UWSA had moved
in recent weeks from Panghsang to the main UWSA-controlled area.

In its relocation order, the government had instructed the UWSA to move
units based in the Thai-Burmese border area back to Panghsang by July 31.
The UWSA ignored the order and went ahead with reinforcing its presence in
the border area. No attack by Burmese army forces is expected, however,
according to sources.

About 4,000 Wa soldiers and up to 120,000 Wa civilians are thought to live
in the Thai-Burmese border area, where lucrative business opportunities
exist. For that reason, the Wa troops are probably unwilling to leave,
according to Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese analyst on the China-Burma border.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 6, Irrawaddy
Prominent Burmese economist opposes doubling fuel prices - Htet Aung

A prominent Burmese economist has denied accusations that he recommended
doubling fuel prices to cover higher budget expenditures by the military
government.

In a letter to foreign media, U Myint, a member of the advisory group to
the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
wrote, “The Central Executive Committee of the UMFCCI and its academic
advisory group in which I have the privilege of serving as a member have
never presented a formal proposal to the authorities that energy prices
should be doubled."

In the letter obtained by The Irrawaddy, U Myint said the paper was
originally prepared by a UMFCCI research team and distributed to the
advisory group in a meeting on April 4, 2006, asking for a review and
comments. The advisory group is composed of ten academics.

Regarding allegations that the group recommended doubling fuel prices, the
letter said, “Strongest reservations on this matter were raised by me and
my colleague, Professor Dr Tin Soe.”

U Myint said that no report of the meeting was made, but their views and
objections to the proposed fuel price increase are documented because the
proceedings were recorded digitally.

The leaked document didn’t include the title page of the research team’s
paper which indicated its authorship, the economist said.

U Myint said he disagreed with an argument that Burmese energy prices were
much less than such prices in neighboring countries and there was a need
for an increase to bring them in line with the realities of the world
market.

It is true Burmese fuel prices were lower, he said, "but it is also true
that incomes in Myanmar are among the lowest in the region.

A report by the International Monetary Fund issued in September 2006
estimated that per capita GDP in Burma in 2005 was US $170, less than half
of that in Cambodia for the same year. The figure was $400 in Laos and
$440 in Bangladesh, said U Myint.

____________________________________
DRUGS

September 6, Khonumthung News
Burmese junta into poppy cultivation on Indo-Burma border

Villagers living on the Indo-Burma border areas in northwestern Burma,
have been recently made to involve themselves in growing poppy in their
respective areas by Burmese authorities, said a source in Chin state,
Burma.

Lieutenant Colonel Tint Khine of the Light Infantry Battalion (269)
stationed in Cikha town, Chin state and village heads from Cikha headed
the poppy cultivation project on the hillside in remotes areas in
northwestern parts of Burma.

In September 2006, the Lieutenant Colonel started poppy cultivation and
villagers from the surrounding villages of Cikha were ordered to grow
poppy in one acre each in their respective areas.

The villagers into poppy cultivation project by are Thuambual, Sainam,
Anlum, Len Na Kawp, Kel Mual, Suang Hoih, Khua Mun Sersih and Lungtak
villages in Cikha, according to a source in Chin state.

"Access to places where poppy is grown is strictly prohibited by the Burma
Army. They don't allow outsiders to pass by poppy farms", said the local.

The authorities are likely to set up a factory in Khenman village near
Cikha where the poppy will be processed into raw opium, a local from Cikha
said.

Even now in Sersih and Lungtak villages the villagers are cropping the
cultivated poppy. But the quantity of poppy collected could not be
established as a lot of soldiers are guarding the areas.

Military authorities and village heads inspect poppy farms once in three
months. Soldiers from LIB (269) are deployed in the areas surrounding the
poppy farms for security.

Some people who reside in remote areas in Tonzang and Cikha have been into
small scale of poppy cultivation since Ne Win's military coup in 1962.

"Cultivating poppy is the only option for some people in those areas for
supporting their families and to educate their children. The places where
they live is not so fertile and other crops can hardly be grown," said a
local from Tonzang in exile.

"It is incredible that the government is also involved in poppy farming
activities," he added.

The ruling junta is engaged in poppy cultivation and production in Chin
state and Sagaing division while even though the SPDC announced that they
are actively involved in the world community's campaign against poppy
cultivation and production in the region.

The 2007 World Drug report of the United Nation office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) stated that poppy cultivation and production had decreased to
21,500 hectares and 337 tons in 2006 from 155,150 hectares and around
1,676 tons of opium in 1997 reflecting the efforts of the Burmese junta to
eradicate poppy cultivation and production in a decade.

Moreover, some rebel groups from Manipur, northeast India fighting the
central government from Burmese soil also are also allegedly into poppy
cultivation and production in the dense forests in Cikha, source in Burma
said.

After a military coup in 1988, wide spread poppy cultivation was resorted
to mostly in remote areas of Kalay in Sagaing division, Cikha, Tonzang and
Tedim in Chin state, Burma.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 6, Narinjara News
General Maung Aye's Bangladesh visit postponed

Dhaka: The Vice-Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council,
General Maung Aye has postponed his scheduled visit to Bangladesh slated
for September 10 to 12, said a senior Bangladesh official.

General Maung Aye, the second most powerful man in Burma's military
hierarchy, was set to arrive in Dhaka on September 10 for a three-day
visit at the invitation of Bangladesh Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed.

Maung Aye was scheduled to lead a high-profile delegation that would
include nine officials of the rank and status of cabinet minister.

"The visit has been postponed at the request of the Myanmar government,"
Acting Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain told Bangladesh news agencies.
Touhid also said Burma has requested the meeting be rescheduled for
October.

SPDC's Vice-Chairman was scheduled to have official talks with Chief
Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed and attend a state banquet on September 10.

Diplomatic sources say the postponement of the general's visit to
Bangladesh is related to the current situation in Burma, where public
protests have spread around the country after the Burmese government
increased prices of fuel by 100 percent.

____________________________________

September 6, Associated Press
Study finds tsunami could hit parts of Myanmar, Bangladesh in the event of
a major earthquake - Michael Casey

More than 1 million people in South Asia's Bay of Bengal could be swept to
their deaths by a tsunami if a giant earthquake were to hit off the coast
of Myanmar, according to a study published Thursday.

But the study's author, Phil Cummins, said he does not have enough data to
say whether such a cataclysmic event a quake projected to be from 8.5
magnitude to 9.0 magnitude is likely to hit parts of Myanmar and
Bangladesh in the next few decades or in several hundred years. Smaller
quakes in the immediate area are rare.

"I don't want to cause a panic. There is no reason anything like this
would happen soon," said Cummins, of Geoscience Australia, the federal
agency that carries out geoscientific research.

The threat of tsunamis has taken on added urgency in recent years after a
9.3-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island in December 2004
triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people and left a half
million homeless in a dozen countries. Myanmar and Bangladesh suffered
relatively minor damage from the tsunami, with 61 people and 2 people
killed, respectively.

Previous research had shown the potential for large quakes in the Bay of
Bengal area but Cummins' said his study, which appears in Thursday's issue
of the journal Nature, is the first to suggest a big quake could spawn a
tsunami "that could have pronounced impact on the Chittagong coast and the
Ganges-Bhramaputra delta at the northern tip of" the bay.

The numbers of people at risk from a tsunami, Cummins wrote, may be "over
a million," given that the region is home to Bangladesh's second largest
city of Chittagong and there are tens of millions of people living just
above sea level in the region.

Cummins has not presented his findings to the governments of Myanmar and
Bangladesh. Officials from Myanmar and Bangladesh could not immediately be
reached for comment.

The area Cummins studied is a section of the Sunda Megathrust known as the
Arakan Subduction Zone where the Indian and Southeast Asia plates meet.
The Sunda Megathrust stretches all the way from Western Australia to the
Himalayas, and ruptures along that fault line were blamed for the Sumatra
earthquake in 2004.

Examining historical records, Cummins found evidence that an earthquake
estimated at magnitude 8.5 to 9.0 struck off the western Myanmar coast in
April 1762 the most recent large quake found in the records.

He said it probably produced a tsunami, citing eyewitness accounts of
waves washing over nearby Cheduba Island, submerged coasts near Chittagong
and causing river levels as far inland as the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka
about 62 miles.

He said future quakes and tsunamis were likely, given the historical
accounts and more recent surveys of the area, which determined a magnitude
8.5 quake would hit the area every 100 years and a 9.0 every 500 years.

"I would hope this spurs further work in confirming these past events," he
said. "It should be possible to answer how big was this event, how often
do these events occur and what kind of tsunamis are generated through
further geological investigation."

He said it was difficult for local authorities to take action to prevent
the disaster, since it was not likely an immediate threat and any tsunami
would probably inundate threatened regions from within 10 minutes to two
hours.

The reaction to Cummins' findings has been mixed, with some tsunami
experts saying they shed important light on a section of Sunda Megathrust
that has received little attention in the past.

"The main value of the paper is in advertising the danger of the section
of the megathrust that no one has worried about," said California
Institute of Technology's Kerry Sieh, who has used coral records and GPS
networks to predict that a big quake and tsunami are likely to hit parts
of Sumatra Island in the coming decades.

"The effects on the west coast of Myanmar and more importantly Bangladesh
would be awful," he said.

But Costas Synolakis, director of the Tsunami Research Center at the
University of Southern California, insisted he and others presented
findings at earlier seminars showing there was a threat of a
quake-generated tsunami in the Bay of Bengal but that the worst impact
would be in Sri Lanka.

"There is nothing new here," Synolakis said in an e-mail interview.

Synolakis also said the scenario presented by Cummins "could lead to a
massive panic south of Chennai (India) and possibly a sense of reassurance
in Sri Lanka," where he said the threat of another tsunami was worse.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 5, United Nations News Centre
Recent steps by Government of Myanmar are ‘setback’ to democracy – UN
envoy Ibrahim Gambari

The recent crackdown by Myanmar’s Government after peaceful protests over
fuel prices is a setback for the country and has the effect of calling
into question the Government’s commitment to democratization, the United
Nations envoy to the country said today as he detailed plans to visit
Myanmar again as early as next month.

Speaking to reporters in New York, Special Adviser on Myanmar Ibrahim
Gambari reiterated the call of UN officials for the Government to release
all of its political detainees, including those people arrested in the
past few weeks as a result of the demonstrations over the surge in fuel
prices.

“These incidents of recent times cannot be seen in any other way than a
setback for Myanmar,” Mr. Gambari said, referring to the Government’s
response to the protests.

“They are all the more disappointing as they not only have the effect of
calling into question the stated commitment to democratization and
national reconciliation by the authorities, but also make it more
difficult to maintain support, international support, for engagement with
Myanmar at a time when we believe strongly that the country needs
international assistance in addressing the many pressing challenges, from
political and human rights issues to humanitarian and socio-economic
problems.”

Mr. Gambari also described the National Convention process, the first step
under the road map outlined by the Government for political reform, as
flawed given that it excluded opponents of the Government.

“We strongly believe that there should be opportunities in the period
ahead to improve on the outcome of the document of this Convention [which
concluded yesterday] in ways that are more inclusive, more participatory
and more transparent,” he said, adding that some provisions adopted at the
Convention “would seemingly run counter to the objectives of national
reconciliation and democratization.”

Mr. Gambari, who has held extensive consultations in capitals across Asia,
Europe and North America since assuming his post earlier this year, said
he expects his next visit to Myanmar – for which he has a standing
invitation from the Government – could took place by mid-October.

“The expectations of the UN and of the international community are very
clear and they require concrete results from Myanmar. I will continue to
carry that message.”

The Special Adviser noted that the UN is the only international actor to
maintain a face-to-face dialogue with Myanmar’s top leaders and with Aung
San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who
remains under hose arrest. For three years, there was no dialogue between
the international community and Myanmar.

He stressed that the UN is “moving very systematically to line up the
support of the international community” to ensure that all key countries
are working together to spur Myanmar to make progress, and it is making
use of the Secretary-General’s good offices to pursue peace.

Mr. Gambari also said the UN is focusing its efforts on a much broader
range of issues than before – not only the release of political prisoners,
but also questions of humanitarian access and progress towards
implementing the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), particularly in health and education.

“We feel that the broader the agenda, the higher the likelihood of finding
common ground in order to make progress where progress can be made and
demonstrated.”

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23711&Cr=myanmar&Cr1

____________________________________

September 6, Mizzima News
88 generation students appeal to UN chief to act on Burma - Mungpi

Victims of the ruthless crackdown by the military junta, for protesting
peacefully, Burma's prominent 88 generation students today urged the
United Nations' Chief to intervene and take up the matter at the UN
Security Council.

In a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the
students said the junta's violent response to peaceful protests in Burma
is an 'early warning sign' that more ruthlessness is to follow. It urged
the world body leader to take immediate action by reviving the Burma issue
at the UNSC.

"These violent responses must be seen as early warnings of more brutal
violence," said the letter signed by Htay Kywe, a prominent 88 generation
student, who is currently in hiding.

Since August 19, when the 88 generation students led over 500 people in
Rangoon in the first march of the current spate of protests, sporadic
demonstrations has spread in Rangoon and other parts of Burma over the
government's decision to double fuel prices.

The junta responded by employing hired gangs, its puppet organizations -
Union Solidarity and Development Association and Swan Arrshin – and
plainclothes officials to crush the protests.

These pro-junta thugs have used violent means to crackdown on protesters.
They dragged, arrested and detained them. More than 150 demonstrators have
been arrested and detained.

The junta on August 21 arrested 13 of the 88 generation student leaders,
who led Burma's democracy movement in 1988, which was ruthlessly crushed.

Htay Kywe, who wrote the letter from his hideout, said with pro-junta
thugs continuing to brutally crackdown on protesters, "we are gravely
concerned that it is only a matter of time when the situation would lead
to further violence by these militias and security forces against the
people who strive for justice."

"Those of us in hiding are under constant threat of arrest and unlawful
imprisonment," added Htay Kywe.

The junta in Rangoon and other parts of Burma has circulated photographs
of key activists including the rest of the 88 generation students, and
ordered their arrest.

"We have witnessed several times in the past that the military as well as
the USDA are capable of brutal oppression of people at any cost and we are
extremely worried," Htay Kywe said.

Despite of the violent crackdown and abductions by the junta,
demonstrations continued in many other parts of the country, with reports
stating that Buddhist monks in some parts are leading the protests.

The students urged the UN chief to immediately send its envoy, Mr.
Gambari, to Burma and convince the junta to stop harassment of peaceful
protesters', release all detained activists and political prisoners and
engage in meaningful dialogue with all parties about the political
situation in Burma.

"We urgently need your practical support this time to prevent the real
possibility of further violence and urge you as head of the United Nations
to take prompt action with preventive measures by taking account of these
early warning signs," the students said in the letter.

____________________________________

September 6, New York Times
First Lady makes issue of Myanmar's junta - Steven Lee Myers

When the military government in Myanmar began crushing street
demonstrations last month, the State Department protested. President Bush
later issued a statement condemning the arrests of protesters. The
administration's most forceful response, though, came from Laura Bush.

In a gesture of public policy not normally associated with first ladies,
she telephoned the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, on
Friday and called on him to denounce the junta that rules Myanmar, the
country formerly known as Burma.

''I wanted the U.N. to be on record saying, at least, that we know what's
happened in this recent crackdown,'' she said in an interview on
Wednesday.

Mrs. Bush, of course, is well known for her campaigns on literacy,
education and health, but in the autumn of her husband's presidency, she
has turned the fate of Myanmar and its jailed opposition leader, Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi, into a cause of her own.

She has met repeatedly with Mr. Ban's envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim A.
Gambari, and last year moderated a discussion at the United Nations to
draw attention to the country's repressive policies.

In May, she joined the 16 women in the Senate to appeal publicly for Mrs.
Aung San Suu Kyi's release. In June, she met in the White House with
refugees and exiles from Myanmar.

In the interview on Wednesday, she called for a new vote on a Security
Council resolution, eight months after one sponsored by the United States
was vetoed by Russia and China as meddling in Myanmar's internal affairs.

''In fact, the United States thinks that it is an issue for the Security
Council, both because of the human rights abuses that are going on in
Burma, as well as the instability of the government,'' she said. (Mrs.
Bush, like the United States government, does not recognize the military
government's decision to rename the country Myanmar and uses the country's
traditional name, Burma.)

Mrs. Bush, 60, disputed the notion that hers was an unorthodox role or one
that seemed out of character. She noted that she had traveled extensively
with -- and without -- her husband and had previously spoken out on
matters of policy and politics.

''I think this is sort of one of those myths: that I was baking cookies
and then they fell off the cookie sheet and I called Ban Ki-moon,'' she
said in the interview, held in her office in the East Wing, where the
bookshelves are filled with the trappings of her more familiar public
persona: children's books.

Still, Mrs. Bush has come late to a cause that is, for most Americans,
fairly obscure.

''As I've lived here longer, I realize I became more aware of a chance to
speak out about these issues that especially concern me,'' she said. ''And
I wanted to take advantage of that.''

It remains to be seen whether Mrs. Bush's advocacy has a meaningful
effect. A previous involvement in foreign policy earned her a dose of
criticism. In Egypt in 2005, she praised President Hosni Mubarak's ''very
bold step'' toward democracy for holding an election that was widely
denounced as a sham.

Josef Silverstein, professor emeritus at Rutgers University, said Mrs.
Bush's public positions would likely have little effect on Myanmar's
government, which has severely repressed the democratic opposition since
ignoring the results of parliamentary elections 17 years ago.

He said more than public declarations from an unelected person was necessary.

''It can't be the statement of a first lady,'' he said. ''It just doesn't
carry any weight in Burmese corridors.''

Although Myanmar's government has withstood criticism and a decade of
sanctions, Mrs. Bush argued against resignation on the issue.

''So 'why bother,' I guess, is the question people ask,'' she said. ''But
I think the answer is, 'Why not?' I mean, why not continue to put pressure
on the regime in any way we can?''

____________________________________

September 6, Agence France Presse
Hollywood urges UN chief to act for Myanmar's Suu Kyi - P. Parameswaran

Twenty-eight Hollywood celebrities have written asking UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon to personally intervene to secure the release of
military-ruled Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We urge you to take action to secure her immediate release," said the
celebrities, including movie stars Jennifer Aniston, Dustin Hoffman, Owen
Wilson, Robin Williams, and Anjelica Huston, in their letter sent
Wednesday.

The world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi,
62, has been held under house arrest in Myanmar for 11 of the past 17
years.

Her National League for Democracy won elections in 1990, but the military
rulers of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, never recognized the result.

Although she was an elected leader with her party winning 82 percent of
the seats in parliament, "the military regime cruelly locked her up along
with many members of her party," the celebrities told Ban.

They also noted that according to the UN, the military junta had burned
down or destroyed over 3,000 villages in eastern Myanmar, forcing over one
million people to flee their homes.

"This courageous, brave woman whom many call 'Burma's Nelson Mandela'
should be released and the military regime should end its attacks on
civilians," they said.

Their effort, organized by Oscar-winning actress Huston along with two
groups, the Human Rights Action Center and US Campaign for Burma, came as
pro-democracy supporters staged rare street protests against the junta in
Myanmar.

Defying a clampdown on dissent that had drawn sharp condemnation from US
President George W. Bush, the protestors have been staging a series of
demonstrations against a staggering increase in fuel prices.

The almost daily protests mark the most sustained demonstrations against
the military regime in at least nine years.

"The situation inside Burma is grave, similar to that in Darfur. The
silence of the world on Aung San Suu Kyi is unconscionable," said Jeremy
Woodrum, co-founder of the US Campaign for Burma.

Aung San Suu Kyi, among about 1,200 political prisoners in Myanmar, "is a
woman that is taking on a brutal military dictatorship with nothing more
than the truth in her heart and the support of her people," said Jack
Healey, founder of the Human Rights Action Center.

Two of the signatories, Hollywood stars Eric Szmanda from the television
show "Crime Scene Investigation" and Walter Koenig from "Star Trek,"
recently traveled to refugee camps on the Thailand-Myanmar border to press
for more UN help.

Huston became interested in Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar after learning
about the situation from Healey.

Her father, the director John Huston, led efforts against McCarthyism -- a
period of extreme anti-communist suspicion inspired by the tensions of the
Cold War -- in 1950s Hollywood.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 6, Irrawaddy
The world needs to act now

The persistent and brave protests in Burma are continuing despite the
regime’s heavy-handed crackdown and the massive manhunt for some key
activists now in hiding.

Latest reports indicate that peaceful protests are spreading throughout
the country, as they did in 1988. When students who led the uprising in
1988 faced a crackdown in Rangoon, they went underground and organized
monks, workers, villagers and farmers living in the provinces.

Thanks to that crackdown, a strong bond developed among different groups.
The movement quickly regained political momentum and was able to spread
the spirit of resistance to the Ne Win government. In 1988, millions of
Burmese took to the streets.

This time around, there is cause to believe that history may be repeating
itself. The dynamic and energy of 1988 is again in evidence.

We have seen small, sporadic but consistent protests break out in several
areas outside  the former capital, Rangoon—in Pakokku, Bokalay, Lattputta
and, most significantly, in Kyaukse, near Mandalay.

Kyaukse is Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s hometown, where the government has built,
with Chinese aid, a number of factories, producing cement, bricks,
bicycles, footwear and sewing machines. Than Shwe must indeed have been
worried by the appearance on the city’s streets of demonstrators
challenging his rule.

The appearance of Buddhist monks in demonstrations on Wednesday and
Thursday in Pakokku, 370 miles northwest of Rangoon, is a significant new
development. Until now, monks and students have been absent in large
numbers.

Monks joined in the 1988 uprising, making clear their support for a united
and free Buddhist nation. It will be interesting to see if their
participation now in anti-regime demonstrations surfaces in Rangoon,
Mandalay and other cities and towns.

The Pakokku demonstrations began as a protest against recent price
increases, but quickly turned into a display of anti-regime sentiment, and
security forces fired warning shots to break the protests up. on Thursday,
tensions rose still further when monks took about 10 local officials and
military officers hostage, demanding the release of arrested monks.

The use on Wednesday of firearms to warn demonstrators to disperse
indicates that the regime will sooner or later apply lethal force in
response to unarmed street protesters, if demonstrations occur on a larger
scale in Burma’s cities and provinces. In the face of this threat, the
Burmese who are bravely challenging the regime urgently need not only
moral backing but also practical support from outside.

US President George W Bush this week joined the international condemnation
of the regime’s crackdown, speaking out in his strongest comment yet on
current events in Burma. Bush, who was attending the APEC summit in
Sydney, accused Burmese rulers of "tyrannical" behavior in cracking down
on street protests.

Last week, his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, added her voice, phoning UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to condemn the crackdown.

Britain’s new prime minister, Gordon Brown, indicated that Burma is high
on his government’s agenda, declaring: "It is time for the UN human rights
bodies to give this alarming situation the attention it deserves." He
threw his support behind any move to bring the Burma question before the
UN Security Council and General Assembly.

Despite these outspoken displays of concern at the highest international
level, the crackdown in Burma continues. Key women opposition figures,
including HIV/AIDS activist Phyu Phyu Thin and labor rights activist Su Su
Nway, are in hiding. Su Su Nway has reportedly run out of the medication
she needs for a heart complaint.

The regime believes it can afford to ignore international demands and
condemnation. Why? The thick-skinned generals are used to hearing official
rhetoric and know these are just empty words followed by little action.

Supported by China, India and neighboring countries, the Burmese junta
knows that it has friends who will ignore the brutal suppression of its
own people as long as they can maintain lucrative trade deals and exploit
Burma’s natural resources. These friends are morally bankrupt and only
provide more ammunition to the regime’s authoritarian behavior.

China teamed up with Russia last year to shoot down a US initiative to
bring the Burma issue before the UN Security Council.  Encouraged by
Beijing’s backing, the regime stepped up its suppression of opposition by
dissidents and pro-democracy groups.

India, the world’s largest democracy, shamed its image by toadying to the
generals in the hopes of winning contracts to buy Burmese gas and to
supply the regime with armaments.

President Bush should be making stern phone calls to his counterparts in
Beijing and New Delhi.

Matters can only get worse. We cannot allow a repeat of the bloodshed of
1988 and a return of darkness to the nation. The question is how to
prevent it?

While the brave and rare protests in Burma are testing the international
community’s political will and the capability of the UN to take action,
the question is: how far and how much can they invest in the fight for
justice and peaceful change there?

The world community must finally act decisively in drawing up a proper
strategy to bring about peaceful change in Burma. This rare opportunity
won’t come twice.