BurmaNet News, September 21, 2007

[Editor]

September 21, 2007 Issue # 3297

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Public joins Monks in Myanmar protest
Mizzima News: Monks in Shwebo join protests today
Irrawaddy: Soldiers set up security in Rangoon:
New York Times: Monks in Myanmar march in protest for third day
Irrawaddy: Monks issue call for public to join demonstrations
SEAPA: Journalists prevented from taking pictures of protesting monks in
Burma
Irrawaddy: Lower ranks must split from military brass: Veteran commander
Kaladan News: Government cooperative shop in Pauktaw vandalized
SHAN: Yawdserk salutes Burma's monks
Asia Times: Burning down Myanmar's Internet firewall

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima news: India oil company to sign agreements with Burma

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Myanmar under international pressure over protests
New York Sun: At U.N., U.S. scores victory against Burma
AFP: Media watchdogs condemn Myanmar junta over protest coverage
Mizzima News: Media watchdog calls for freedom of expression in Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: The same struggle after 19 years - Saw Lwin
Christian Science Monitor: China on the wrong road in Burma - Dan Slater
Irrawaddy: 2008 Olympics could be Beijing’s Achilles heel [Editorial]
Mizzima News: Is history repeating itself in Burma? Where does India stand
now?

STATEMENT
BPF statement in support of Buddhist monks in Burma
SACC calls on South Africans to support Burma’s democracy activists

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 21, Associated Press
Public joins monks in Myanmar protest

Nearly 1,000 Buddhist monks, joined by thousands of their countrymen,
marched in Myanmar's largest city Thursday in the biggest challenge in at
least a decade to the iron-fisted junta, a show of strength rare under
military rule.

Authorities normally quick to crack down hard on dissent left the marchers
alone, apparently wary of stirring up further problems. The monks said
they would march again next week.

Processions of monks converged from various monasteries around Yangon in
the early afternoon at the golden hilltop Shwedagon pagoda, the country's
most revered shrine. They prayed there before embarking on a more than
three-hour march through Yangon in steady rain, gathering supporters as
they went.

Monks at the head of the procession carried religious flags and an
upside-down alms bowl, a symbol of protest.

Some monks are refusing alms from the military and their families a
religious boycott deeply embarrassing to the junta. In the Myanmar
language, the term for "boycott" comes from the words for holding an alms
bowl upside down.

As the monks marched calmly through the streets, some onlookers offered
refreshments while others kept the streets clean by picking up water
bottles.

The government appeared to be handling the situation gingerly, aware that
any action seen as mistreating the monks could ignite public outrage. They
are aware that restraining monks poses a dilemma, because monks are highly
respected in predominant Buddhist Myanmar, and abusing them in any manner
could cause public outrage.

A member of one of the junta's neighborhood councils said it had been
given instructions by authorities not to interfere with the protesting
monks.

"We've been instructed to be patient and to even protect the monks," said
the official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to
release information.

No uniformed security personnel were in sight, although dozens in
plainclothes stood by without interfering. Car and motorbikes carrying
junta supporters present at most previous protests were also absent.

Rumors that a state of emergency had been declared were denied by a
government spokesman.

"You can see the government handling the situation peacefully," the
Information Ministry's Ye Htut said in an e-mail.

"Anti-government groups want to see the state of emergency because their
objective is to exploit and provoke the Sangha (monks), students, workers
and innocent people," and to provoke riots and anarchy, he said. "So they
use rumors to destabilize the situation."

While many bystanders clasped their hands together in a traditional
gesture of respect as the procession passed, others joined in to march
with the monks.

Witnesses said the number of marchers swelled to as many as 5,000 by the
end, many of them linking arms in a human chain to protect the monks from
outside agitators.

It was the third straight day that monks have marched in Yangon. Their
activities have given new life to a protest movement that began a month
ago after a huge government-ordered increase in fuel prices.

The protests express long pent-up opposition to the repressive regime and
have become the most sustained challenge to the junta since a wave of
student demonstrations that were forcibly suppressed in December 1996.

The junta's crackdown on the protesters has drawn increasing criticism
from world leaders, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and
President Bush. They have called for the government to release opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been under
house arrest for more than 11 of the past 18 years.

The U.N.'s envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, focused on the protests in a
Security Council briefing Thursday.

"The developments over the last few weeks in Myanmar have raised serious
concerns in the international community and once again underscore the
urgency to step up our efforts to find solutions to the challenges facing
the country," Gambari told the council, according to a U.N. account of the
closed session.

Gambari said he was very concerned about protesters who have been detained
and expressed hope for their release.

The demonstrations had been faltering, with about 200 protesters being
detained, before the monks entered the fray.

Monks angered over being manhandled at a Sept. 5 demonstration in Pakokku
in north central Myanmar had threatened to take to the streets unless the
junta apologized. The regime remained silent, so they launched protests
around the country on Tuesday that have been steadily growing.

Monks may now be assuming the vanguard because top pro-democracy activists
were rounded up soon after the start of the demonstrations, said Debbie
Stothard of Altsean-Burma, a Bangkok, Thailand-based coalition of
non-governmental groups working for human rights and democracy in Myanmar,
also known as Burma.

"In these situations, the monks have sought to protect the civilian
population by taking sole responsibility for these protests," she said by
e-mail. "Despite this, if the monks are violently attacked en masse, it
will be inevitable that the rest of the population will weigh in."

The monks and their followers in Yangon stopped briefly in front of the
U.S. Embassy. Washington is a top critic of the junta.

Speaking to the crowd, an unidentified monk said people's lives were
getting worse because the government was "unjust and selfish."

"We will stage our marches every sabbath day," said another monk who sat
on a huge ornamental chair. The next Buddhist sabbath falls on Sept. 26.

As the monks marched, they chanted sermons, avoiding explicit
anti-government gestures. But their message of protest was unmistakable to
fellow citizens as monks normally leave their monasteries only for morning
rounds with bowls seeking alms.

Unconfirmed reports said monks staged protests in several other cities
Thursday, including Pakokku and Monywa in north central Myanmar.

Monks have historically been at the forefront of protests in the country,
first against British colonialism and later against military dictatorship.
They played a prominent part in a failed 1988 pro-democracy uprising that
sought an end to military rule, imposed since 1962.

AP writer Sarah DiLorenzo at the United Nations contributed to this report.

____________________________________

September 21, Mizzima News
Monks in Shwebo join protests today - Myogyi

At least 1,000 Buddhist monks in Shwebo town in Central Burma division of
Sagaing today joined monks across the country in their ongoing protest.

Monks from Maha Aung Myay and Bon San Monasteries began their protest
march at about 1 p.m. local time on Friday, joining monks in Rangoon,
Monywa and Daike Oo, who also took to the streets in their respective
towns.

"Monks from the Maha Aung Myay and Bon San monasteries held the protest
rally starting out from the market. They marched for about one hour," a
Shwebo resident told Mizzima.

Monks, who chanted Suttas, promoting loving kindness, as they marched into
the market place and on the streets of the town, were applauded by
onlookers. They gave the monks drinking water bottles and cold drinks.
Authorities, however, stayed away from the scene and the procession went
on with out any disturbances, said an eyewitness.

"There were a lot of civilians applauding. I think there were at least
1,000 onlookers who cheered. They handed out water bottles, cold drinks
and other things to the monks. Everything went smoothly," said another
resident, who was an eyewitness to the event.

The protest march by monks in Shwebo is the first since the Buddhist monks
alliance boycotted the ruling military junta on September 18, following
the failure of the authorities to apologize to the monks for its high
handedness during a crackdown on a procession by monks in Pakhokku in
central Burma, last month.

____________________________________

September 21, Irrawaddy
Soldiers set up security in Rangoon: - Shah Paung

The Burmese military government have set up soldiers in several locations
around Rangoon in recent days, according to sources in Rangoon.

A monk in Rangoon said that he had seen several trucks carrying uniformed
soldiers who were fully armed. The soldiers appeared only at nighttime and
occupied areas such as Shwedagon Pagoda, People’s Park and Square,
Resistance Park and the Kyaikkasan football ground, he said.

In the meantime, the military government has no plans to call a state of
emergency, Associated Press reported on Friday.

“The Myanmar [Burma] government will not declare a state of emergency. You
can see the government is handling the situation peacefully,” the
Information Ministry’s Ye Htut told AP news agency in an email response.

A local resident and witness in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Friday that
he saw several soldiers in full military uniform, carrying guns, and
assuming positions in some areas of Sanchaung Township during the day.
They had red cloths wrapped around their arms with the word “duty” written
in Burmese.

But he said that they could not see which military unit they were from
because their insignia was covered with the red cloth.

In recent days, the Light Infantry Division 77 has reportedly taken up
positions in Rangoon.

A source close to an ethnic ceasefire group and local Burmese authorities
told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the junta has secretly ordered a
state of emergency in order to authorize regional and local authorities to
control demonstrators, including an order to open fire on protesters if
necessary.

Police officials in Naypyidaw, the regime’s new capital, issued a state of
emergency order to local authorities in early September, the source said.
The order came a day after the local authorities had violently cracked
down on monks marching in a peaceful demonstration in Pakokku in Magwe
Division.

The Burmese military government is also preparing the San Pya Hospital in
Rangoon’s Thingangyun District by clearing out the patients, according to
a patient who was ordered to leave the hospital.

____________________________________

September 21, New York Times
Monks in Myanmar march in protest for third day - Seth Mydans

Hundreds of Buddhist monks marched through rain-washed streets for the
third day in Myanmar's main city yesterday, taking the lead in monthlong
protests that the military junta has so far been powerless to contain.

They prayed at the gold-spired Shwedagon Pagoda, the nation's holiest
shrine, then wound through the streets of the city, Yangon, before
disbanding in late afternoon and announcing that they would march again,
wire services reported.

The involvement of large numbers of monks has increased the challenge to
the government in a nation where the Buddhist clergy is highly revered and
is the most organized group apart from the military.

The current protests began after the government raised fuel prices on Aug.
15 without warning or explanation by as much as 500 percent.

At first, former student leaders and democracy advocates took the lead.
But most have been arrested or are in hiding, and the protests appeared to
be waning before the monks and monasteries became involved.

''The involvement of the monks is a significant escalation,'' said David
Steinberg, an expert on Myanmar at Georgetown University. ''It shows that
the frustration has increased, a political frustration as well as an
economic frustration.''

Protests by monks have been reported in a number of other cities over the
past three days. If the monks' demonstrations continue, analysts said, the
military junta will face a difficult decision over whether to crush them
by force and risk a still greater public backlash.

According to reports from the scene, nearly 1,000 monks in their rust-red
robes were joined yesterday by thousands of people who walked alongside
them in the greatest sign of public participation since the protests began
on Aug. 19.

Some onlookers offered snacks and drinks to the marchers and some bowed
their heads and raised their clasped palms in a gesture of prayer, The
Associated Press reported.

At least some monks were reportedly refusing to accept alms from members
of the military, a refusal, known as ''turning over the rice bowl,'' that
amounts to an ad-hoc gesture of excommunication. The A.P. reported that
one monk at the head of the procession held a begging bowl upside down as
he marched.

The Asian Human Rights Commission, an independent group based in Hong
Kong, released what it said was a transcript of a public statement by
monks in Yangon yesterday.

After condemning abuses of monks by the junta, the statement declares:
''The clergy boycotts the violent, mean, cruel, ruthless, pitiless kings,
the great thieves who live by stealing from the national treasury. The
clergy hereby also refuses donations and preaching.''

Mr. Steinberg said the demonstrations appeared to involve younger monks
rather than the hierarchy of the country's religious establishment.

Monks have been at the forefront of protests in Myanmar since colonial
times, before the country, then known as Burma, won independence from
Britain in 1948. They were prominent, along with students, in the
nationwide uprising of 1988 that was crushed by the military with the loss
of thousands of lives.

In 1990, in a smaller failed uprising, thousands of monks joined
demonstrations and refused to perform religious rites for soldiers or
their families. Many hundreds were reportedly detained.

This time the junta has appeared reluctant to use force. The protests come
at a time when Myanmar is trying to present itself to the world as a
democratizing nation, with the adoption early this month of new
constitutional guidelines.

The technology of rapid communication is spreading film and photographs of
the demonstrations both within and outside the country, and the junta can
no longer operate in the shadows as it did in the past. Two weeks ago,
however, soldiers reportedly manhandled a group of protesting monks in
Pakokku, near central Mandalay, and fired several shots into the air.

In response, some monks briefly kidnapped a group of officials at a
monastery and vandalized buildings belonging to members of the government.
The confrontation in Pakokku has apparently helped fuel the larger
demonstrations that have taken place this week. They began after the
government failed to offer an apology demanded by the Buddhist clergy.

Officials have mostly stood back as columns of barefoot monks paraded
quickly through the streets this week. Plainclothes police officers and
members of a government-backed vigilante force known as the Union
Solidarity and Development Association have monitored the monks, filming
and photographing them.

On Wednesday, the monks in Yangon were barred from entering the Shwedagon
Pagoda and marched instead to the Sule Pagoda in the heart of the city,
which they occupied briefly. On Tuesday, when 1,000 monks demonstrated in
several cities, security officials reportedly used tear gas and fired
warning shots to disperse monks in Sittwe, west of Yangon. According to
reports received by exile groups in Thailand, some monks were beaten and
arrested.

____________________________________

September 21, Irrawaddy
Monks issue call for public to join demonstrations - Violet Cho

Burmese Buddhist monks called on students and civilians to join hands with
them in public protests against the military regime which has ruled the
country for almost 20 years.

The Federation of All Burma Young Monks Unions issued a statement on
Thursday saying, “It is time for the Burmese people to work with monks and
courageously demonstrate their genuine aspirations.”

This was the first official call by protesting monks for the public to
take part in their demonstration marches which have spread across the
country during the past week. Previously, the monks asked the public not
to join their protests.

Students should lift their own "fighting peacock flag," a symbol of
struggle against the military regime, in the demonstrations, the statement
said.

An 88 Generation Students group leader, Tun Myint Aung, told The Irrawaddy
on Friday: “We strongly welcome this statement by the monks because it's a
very good approach calling on everyone from different parts of society to
join hands and work for the liberation of the people.”

If students and monks take the lead, together with masses of civilians,
the people can effectively express their feelings and desires, he said.

A leading Burmese poet, Aung Way, said the artist community should also
join in solidarity with the monks and people.

“It's time for all Burmese artists and poets to join together with the
monks who have taken the lead in the protests against the regime," Aung
Way said.

The statement also called on monks throughout Burma to rally together in
unity and to expand the protests throughout the country.

Monks began their protest demonstrations in Rangoon and other cities on
Tuesday after the junta failed to offer an apology for violence used
against monks in Pakkoku on September 6. Monks have marched with their
alms bowls turned upside down, a symbol of a boycott of alms from the
military regime and its supporters.

Starting on August 19, the 88 Generation Students group and other
pro-democracy activists began protest demonstrations in Rangoon and other
cities.

____________________________________

September 21, Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
Journalists prevented from taking pictures of protesting monks in Burma

As hundreds of Buddhist monks in Burma take over from civilians to march
across towns in defiance of the totalitarian military regime that has
shown little tolerance for dissent, journalists are being prevented from
taking pictures of what is essentially a slap in the face for the junta.

As hundreds of Buddhist monks in Burma take over from civilians to march
across towns in defiance of the totalitarian military regime that has
shown little tolerance for dissent, journalists are being prevented from
taking pictures of what is essentially a slap in the face for the junta.

The monks, who are deeply revered in the Buddhist-majority nation, have
taken to the streets in Rangoon and Mandalay since 18 September 2007, and
are boycotting alms from the junta and their families to protest the
recent beating of a group of monks and the violent suppression of public
demonstrations against a fivefold hike in fuel prices in the impoverished
country. More than 100 demonstrators remain in prison after they were
arrested for joining the rare mass protests that started on 19 August.

Moe Kyaw, a journalist for the weekly "The Voice", said plainclothes
police seized a US$200 memory card from him while he was covering the
march of the monks in front of the La Pyae Won Plaza, Rangoon, at about
3:15 p.m. (local time) on 18 September.

The exile-run news agency Mizzima reported that unidentified men grabbed
the camera of Kyodo News Agency journalist Myat Thu Ya and attempted to
push him into a car. He was released after he showed his identity card.
His camera, though, was taken away.

Meanwhile, the digital camera and memory card seized from TV Asahi
journalist Han Htway Aung by the Police Special Branch while he was taking
pictures of the marching monks on 18 September have been returned to him.
However, he was told to erase all pictures on the memory card.

A symbolic censure of the junta, the march of the monks that began on 18
September also coincided with the 19th anniversary of a military coup that
crushed a pro-democracy uprising against military rule, imposed since
1962.

____________________________________

September 21, Irrawaddy
Lower ranks must split from military brass: Veteran commander - Saw Yan Naing

The lower ranks of military units must defy the senior leaders who are
clinging to power during the current unrest, urged former commander,
Brig-Gen Kyaw Zaw, in a statement received by The Irrawaddy on Friday.

Former Brig-Gen Kyaw Zaw, 86, was o¬ne of the founders of the Tatmadaw
(Burmese armed forces) and o¬ne of o¬nly two surviving members of the
legendary Thirty Comrades, who formed the Burma Independence Army to fight
British colonial rule in the 1940s.

Development and peace would not prevail in Burma as long as the country
was ruled by a military government, Kyaw Zaw said in the statement, adding
that the lives of ordinary civilians in the country would deteriorate in
the near future if action was not taken.

Protests against a sharp hike in fuel prices in Burma began on August 19,
initially organized by the 88-Generation Students and later followed up
with Buddhist monks demonstrating around the country.

Meanwhile, veteran Burmese politicians and observers have stated that
unless Burma’s military government engage in dialogue to find a solution
to the current unrest, a nationwide uprising could soon follow.

Kyaw Zaw also urged lower ranking military leaders to join hands and
negotiate with the leadership of the National League for Democracy to
oppose Snr-Gen Than Shwe and the high-ranking officers.

He said that as the liberation and wealth of the lower military class was
connected to the people in Burma, they (the lower military class) should
join forces with the public to topple the junta.

Kyaw Zaw was a staunch nationalist and left-leaning commander who joined
the Communist Party of Burma in 1944, and remained with the communists
even when they were pushed back to the China-Burma border in 1976.

When the CPB faced a serious mutiny in 1989, its top leaders, including
Kyaw Zaw, were forced to quit. Kyaw Zaw has since accepted political
asylum in China.

____________________________________

September 21, Kaladan News
Government cooperative shop in Pauktaw vandalized

Pauktaw, Arakan State :  The Pauktaw Township cooperative shop was
vandalized at midnight on September 18 when Burmese monks demonstrated and
began their boycott of the Burmese military junta. Goods worth 15, 00,000
Kyats were damaged.

The cooperative shop is owned by Pauktaw Township Peace and Development
Council (TPDC) and was set up in the Pauktaw market, said a close to
victim.

The Township authorities investigated U Tha Aye Kyaw, the sales
representative and Corporal Htun Nyo, the security personnel of the
cooperative shop.

According to their statement they had seen around 10 monks doing the
rounds of the market in the evening of September 18.  They said that the
monks were new faces and they had not seen them before.

"I saw the monks were new. Maybe they were fakes," said Mohamed Alam, a
shopkeeper near the cooperative shop.

According to locals of Pauktaw, the monks who were in the market were fake
monks trying to defame real monks of Paucktaw.

When asked about this, senior monks from the monasteries said, "We don't
allow any monk or young monk to go out of the monasteries."

The vandals, who entered the cooperative shop, destroyed all the goods in
the shop. They mixed edible oil with kerosene, sugar with salt and other
goods were littered on the ground. The cooperative shop lost goods worth
15, 00,000 Kyats. But the robbers took nothing from the shop.

Local elders believe the shop was vanalised systematically by some vested
interests to divert the attention of people from the monks.

____________________________________

September 21, Shan Herald Agency for News
Yawdserk salutes Burma's monks

Col Yawdserk, leader of the anti-junta Shan State Army (SSA) South, has
voiced his support for the monks who had since 18 September declared the
patta-nukkujjana kamma (the act of overturning the bowl) to Burma's
military rulers.

"They haven't asked for anything that is unwarranted," said the 50-year
old fighter this morning in response to S.H.A.N.'s question.

The monks have called for full apology from the ruling State Peace and
Development Council for the manhandling of their colleagues in Pakokku two
weeks earlier, as well as reduction of fuel prices, release of all
political prisoners and dialogue with the "democratic forces".

"This is the culmination of the regime's decades of misrule and
belittlement of the people," he added:

- "The National Convention was nothing but a place where people wasted
their time away listening to their lengthy sermons
- Corruption today is worse off than it was during Gen Khin Nyunt's heydays
- There is development only for the military but nothing for the people
- Burma's problems can be resolved politically and peacefully, but they
keep resorting to military means
- So long have they kept the people in the dark, refusing their right of
participation in resolving Burma's problems"

As to the way out, he said, "The UN and the international community must
stop beating the bush and really get down to business. We don't want to
see them becoming the junta's accomplices."

The military situation, on the other hand, is quieter as the Burma Army
has ceased its long range patrols in conflict zones, according to him.

The current unrest began when, out of the blue, as many Burma watchers
say, the country's military rulers announced a 100-500% fuel price hike on
15 August.

____________________________________

September 21, Asia Times
Burning down Myanmar's Internet firewall - Shawn W Crispin

Yangon - Myanmar maintains some of the world's most restrictive Internet
controls, including government-administered blocks on foreign news sites
and the use of popular e-mail services. But when politically sensitive
fuel-price protests broke out last month in the old capital city Yangon,
government censors proved powerless to stop the outflow of information and
images over the Internet to the outside world.

State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) authorities have increased
their efforts to curb local and foreign media coverage of the protests and
their heavy-handed response against demonstrators. Pro-government thugs
have been deployed to harass and intimidate local journalists and
camera-carriers, some of whom have had their mobile-phone services cut.

Authorities initially ordered a blackout on all local media coverage of
the protests and have since crafted and placed articles in mouthpiece
media criticizing the protest leaders they have detained. But the
government is losing decidedly its most crucial censorship battle: over
the Internet. Despite government bans, journalists and dissidents continue
to send information and video clips of the protests over the Internet to
foreign-based news organizations.

Exile-run media have published detailed blow-by-blow accounts and explicit
video clips of government crackdowns. Popular video-sharing website
YouTube is flush with footage of the protests posted by citizen
journalists under Burmese names, including one posting by a user who
apparently uses the same name as SPDC leader General Than Shwe. The
Thailand-based, exile-run Irrawaddy - a la CNN - has called on the Myanmar
population to play the role of citizen journalists and send information to
their newsdesk.

So why have the Myanmar authorities, who had apparently deployed some of
the most restrictive cyber-controls anywhere in the world, so utterly
failed to stem the outflow of sensitive information? Myanmar's military
government deploys various software-based filtering techniques aimed at
severely limiting the content the country's citizens can access online.

Most Internet accounts in Myanmar are designed to provide access only to
the limited Myanmar intranet, and the authorities block access to popular
e-mail services such as Gmail and Hotmail. According to the OpenNet
Initiative (ONI), a joint research project on Internet censorship issues
headed by Harvard University, Myanmar's Internet-censorship regime as of
2005 was among the "most extensive" in the world.

The research noted that the Myanmar government "maintains the capability
to conduct surveillance of communication methods such as e-mail, and to
block users from viewing websites of political opposition groups and
organizations working for democratic change in Burma". An ONI-conducted
survey of websites containing material known to be sensitive to the regime
found in 2005 that 84% of the pages they tested were blocked. The regime
also maintained an 85% filtration rate of well-known e-mail service
providers, in line with, as ONI put it, the government's "well-documented
efforts to monitor communication by its citizens and to control political
dissent and opposition movements".

Myanmar's technical censorship capabilities were also reputedly bolstered
by the regime's procurement and implementation of filtering software
produced and sold by UStechnology company Fortinet. According to ONI's
research, the regime was as of 2005 continuing to seek to refine its
censorship regime, which showed no signs of lessening and could worsen as
it moves to more sophisticated software products.

Eschewing the censors
Two years later, thanks to the growing global proliferation of proxy
servers, proxy sites, encrypted e-mail accounts, http tunnels and other
creative workarounds, the cyber-reality in Myanmar is actually much less
restricted than ONI's research indicated.
To be sure, official Internet penetration rates are abysmally low in
Myanmar, because of the prohibitive cost and bureaucratic hassle,
including the provision of a signed letter from the relevant porter warden
that the applicant is not "politically dangerous", to secure a domestic
connection.

However, those low figures mask the explosion of usage at public Internet
cafes, particularly in Yangon, where a growing number are situated in
nondescript, hard-to-find locales. All of the cafes visited in recent
months by this correspondent were equipped with foreign-hosted proxy sites
or servers, which with the help of the cafe attendant allowed customers to
bypass government firewalls and connect freely to the World Wide Web -
including access to otherwise blocked critical news sources.

One particularly popular proxy site in Myanmar's cyber-cafes is
Glite.sayni.net, popularly known as Glite. According to the site's
India-based administrator, the Glite program has been downloaded by tens
of thousands of Internet surfers and resides on hundreds of private and
public servers in Myanmar, allowing its users to access Gmail accounts
that the government has tried to block.

The authorities have so far moved to block three particular Glite
versions, but the program's administrator says he has in response designed
and set up more sites, of which he estimates there are currently 11
unblocked versions, some of which are housed in support site forums in a
format that is difficult to search and block.

He says Glite is also designed not to be indexed by search sites, which
gives Myanmar's Internet cafes their own private and secure access and
makes censor search-engine results for its site seem deceptively sparse.
Although the site's administrator says he is "apolitical", he believes
Myanmar's junta is "fighting a losing battle" in trying to censor the
Internet.

Other popular proxy servers in Yangon's cafes are Your-freedom.net and
Yeehart.com, both of which similarly maintain new, updated versions to
bypass government firewalls. The same is true for various encrypted e-mail
services, including the hyper-secure Hushmail.com, which many local and
exile-based journalists have been trained to use and technology experts
say the junta lacks the expertise to crack.

The proliferation of evasive small-scale technologies, some like Glite
maintained by private individuals with a penchant for programming, have in
these restive times left Myanmar's junta with few viable censorship
options but to unplug the Internet altogether. Indeed, there have been
recent reports of rolling Internet blackouts acrossYangon's cyber-cafes,
particularly during the late afternoons, when journalists would normally
file their stories.

So far the authorities seem reluctant to make yet another policy decision,
on top of last month's hyper-inflationary fuel-price hikes, that would
impinge on national livelihoods, particularly the urban-based business
class, who judging by their numbers in Yangon's cyber-cafes have grown
increasingly reliant on the Internet for cheap communications. That, of
course, could change in the weeks ahead if the street protests mount and
the government cracks down more forcefully.

Yet the comprehensive news coverage that has leaked out of Myanmar
represents an important victory for the global forces fighting to keep the
Internet free from government censorship. And when the dust finally clears
on Myanmar's popular protests, depending on the eventual outcome, the
information-driven movement could one day be known as Myanmar's Glite
revolution.

Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia Editor. He may be
reached at swcrispin at atimes.com.

____________________________________

BUSINESS / TRADE

September 21, Mizzima news
India Oil company to sign agreements with Burma - Syed Ali Mujtaba

The foreign arm of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the ONGC
Videsh Ltd (OVL) is set to sign an agreement with Burma on Monday for
exploration of three Rakhine offshore deepwater blocks.

ONGC Videsh Managing Director R.S. Butola, is accompanying India's
Petroleum Minister, Murli Deora, who begins his official visit to Burma on
September 23.

"The agreement signing ceremony for a production sharing contract (PSC)
between the OVL and the Burmese government will take place on Monday," a
senior ONGC official said on condition of anonymity.

"The blocks off Burma's Arakan state has been offered on a nomination
basis through negotiations with the OVL," the official said.

"It's a government to government deal. The money involved is marginal. We
will be investing for seismic and exploration activities. The OVL will
have 100 percent of the three blocks" he explained.

ONGC already has a 20 percent stake in the A1 and A3 offshore blocks,
while GAIL (India) Ltd. has a 10 percent stake in both. Even though the
companies together hold 30 percent stake in the blocks, the military junta
recently decided to sell the gas to China through a pipeline.

It is widely speculated in India that the Petroleum Minister will try to
persuade the junta to reconsider its decision on A1 and A3 blocks and also
urge it to award more hydrocarbon exploration and production blocks to
India.

India procures 78 percent of its energy needs from abroad. Burma is very
important to India 's energy needs.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 21, Agence France Presse
Myanmar under international pressure over protests

Myanmar's military junta came under growing international pressure Friday
as it faces the most sustained challenge to its rule in nearly two
decades, led by Buddhist monks.

Britain and the United States said they were "appalled" at its handling of
peaceful protests which have spread across the country.

More than 1,300 monks took to the streets Thursday in Myanmar's main city
Yangon, drawing thousands of supporters in the largest anti-junta rally
there since the protests first erupted.

The rallies, which began a month ago amid anger at a huge fuel price hike,
have snowballed into the most prolonged show of dissent since a
pro-democracy uprising in 1988 was crushed by the military.

The US and British ambassadors to the United Nations on Thursday expressed
their concern about the growing turmoil, urging the junta to allow a visit
by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari "as soon as possible."

"We certainly are appalled by the steps the (Myanmar) regime has taken to
silence peaceful protest and to clamp down on dissent," British Ambassador
John Sawyers said.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the regime "poses a threat to regional
peace and stability."

Sawyers said Gambari should be allowed to meet all the nation's political
leaders, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under
house arrest for most of the past 17 years.

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won
elections in 1990, but the junta never recognized the result.

While the regime normally does not tolerate even the slightest show of
public dissent, swelling crowds of monks -- increasingly joined by
passers-by -- have marched through Yangon for the last four days.

Police have made no effort to stop the monks, who are deeply respected in
this devoutly Buddhist country formerly known as Burma, which has been
under military rule since 1962.

Some of the monks have refused to accept donations from members of the
military, seen as a severe rebuke for Buddhists who believe that giving
alms daily is an important religious duty.

"Authorities were taking a wait-and-see approach at this moment because
monks are highly respected in society," said an Asian diplomat in Yangon.

"But if they take harsh action against monks, it could trigger public
outrage against the government," said the diplomat, who declined to be
named.

While the Yangon protests ended peacefully Thursday, the junta used tear
gas and fired warning shots in the air to break up about 1,000 Buddhist
monks protesting against the regime on Wednesday in the oil town of
Sittwe.

At least three monks were arrested in Sittwe, according to the US-funded
Radio Free Asia.

Rights groups say more than 150 people have been arrested over the
protests in the past month.

Monks are important cultural standard-bearers in Myanmar and were credited
with helping rally support for the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, which
ended with soldiers firing into the crowds and killing hundreds if not
thousands of people.

The crackdown on the latest protests led US President George W. Bush
earlier this month to label the junta as "tyrannical," while the United
Nations human rights chief called for the release of all peaceful
protesters.

US and European economic sanctions have been imposed over the junta's
human rights abuses and the detention of 62-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, but
their impact has been weakened by growing trade with neighbours like
China, India and Thailand.

____________________________________

September 21, New York Sun
At U.N., U.S. scores victory against Burma - Benny Avni

America and its allies scored a small victory yesterday, as the U.N.
Security Council discussed the latest clampdown by the ruling junta in
Burma on demonstrators amid widening public dissent. No council action is
expected for some time, however. A small group of council members, led by
China, has long resisted any discussion of events in Burma. Despite
reports of mass arrests and atrocities committed by vigilante groups
there, Secretary-General Ban issued only a bland statement, and his envoy
to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, did not appear eager to push the council to
discuss the topic.

The United Nations' attitude toward the country changed somewhat two weeks
ago, when Mr. Ban got a surprise call from the White House. On the other
end of the line was first lady Laura Bush, who wanted to talk about the
latest human rights violations in Burma.

"Her message was loud and clear," the director of the Washington-based
U.S. Campaign for Burma, Aung Din, said, adding that "her message was
heard" by Mr. Ban. He said that in addition to Mrs. Bush's call, a letter
to Mr. Ban signed by Hollywood figures was also instrumental. "Our first
lady, Laura Bush, has taken personal interest," the American ambassador to
the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters yesterday. "We were
happy that her effort and the effort of other colleagues here who share
our concerns did produce this meeting" of the council.

Although he did not seem eager to do it, Mr. Gambari briefed the Security
Council. As 1,000 monks marched yesterday in Rangoon, flanked by thousands
more sympathizers who served as human shield from armed government agents,
Mr. Gambari described the situation in the Burmese capital as a setback.
He expressed concern about the arrests and said he hoped the government
would release those detained.

The council did not issue a statement or pass a resolution yesterday, as
China, Russia, and South Africa have long opposed any significant action.
Mr. Khalilzad indicated that an upcoming visit by Mr. Gambari could help
spur council action later on.

"We have urged Mr. Gambari and he plans to visit Burma as soon as
possible," Mr. Khalilzad said. "It is our expectation that when he
returns, he will re-engage in a meeting with the Security Council. The
situation in Burma poses a threat to regional peace and stability."

The latest crisis started last month as the generals who control Burma
raised the price of basic necessities in a country where the markets are
strictly regulated, spurring street protests. Buddhist monks are highly
esteemed in Burma, and when they joined students and dissidents, the
protests widened significantly. The military junta reacted by arresting
hundreds of the demonstrators. The unrest interfered with a
government-initiated process to approve via referendum a new constitution
that would enshrine the army's grip over the country. In a briefing with
reporters recently, Mr. Gambari expressed hope that the political process
would continue, although he added that it should be opened up to more
groups.

Mr. Gambari traveled to Burma earlier this year, where the junta leaders
allowed him to visit the imprisoned opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi,
and where he also met with "civil society" leaders - heads of
government-backed vigilante groups that have recently been allowed to
attack demonstrators.

"He has to walk a tightrope," a Gambari aide who asked not to be
identified said. The aide explained that Mr. Gambari avoids harsh
criticism so that he can maintain "an open line of communication" with the
Burmese government.

____________________________________

September 21, Agence France Presse
Media watchdogs condemn Myanmar junta over protest coverage

Two media watchdogs on Friday condemned Myanmar's censorship and the use
of violence aimed at preventing reporters from covering a growing campaign
of protests against the ruling junta.

"The use of violence and censorship against Burmese journalists trying to
cover the protests that began a month ago is a detestable strategy aimed
at preventing them from doing their job," Reporters Without Borders and
the Burma Media Association said in a joint statement.

The junta has also stepped up its propaganda, calling peaceful protesters
"agitators bent on fomenting violence" who have been mobilised by Aung San
Suu Kyi's opposition party and foreign governments, the groups said.

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for most
of the past 17 years.

The rallies, which began a month ago amid anger at a huge fuel price hike,
have snowballed into the most prolonged show of dissent since a
pro-democracy uprising in 1988 was crushed by the military.

The Paris-based Reporters without Borders has called Myanmar a "paradise
for censors" and listed the military-ruled nation as one of the world's
most restrictive for press freedoms.

Since the protests, the regime has cut off the mobile phones of prominent
pro-democracy supporters and of some journalists representing foreign
media, including two from Agence France-Presse.

The state media have often accused the foreign press of stirring unrest.

No foreign journalist has obtained a visa to enter Myanmar, formerly known
as Burma, since the start of the anti-junta rallies, the rights groups
said.

More than 1,300 monks took to the streets Thursday in Myanmar's main city
Yangon, drawing thousands of supporters in the largest anti-junta rally
there since the protests first erupted.

____________________________________

September 21, Mizzima News
Media watchdog calls for freedom of expression in Burma - Subhaschandra M

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is disturbed at the
escalating clampdown on the free media in Burma this year. According to
local reports, the Burmese military junta has stepped up its campaign of
tapping landlines and cutting off both landline and mobile phone lines of
journalists, activists and politicians. IFJ represents over six lakh
journalists in 114 countries across the globe.

At the receiving end of the clampdown are foreign correspondents, local
media and activists known for regular media appearances. IFJ's
Asia-Pacific director Jacqueline Park, in an e-mail statement said the
junta's crackdown appears to be an attempt to stifle the flow of
information from inside Burma to international media.

"It is cause for concern when any ruling party or government seeks to
forcibly control or stop the flow of information within and out of its
country. By depriving the people of accurate information and freedom of
expression, the military junta will only force them to look for other
alternatives," Park said.

The interference with phone lines since early September follows the ban on
hundreds of websites and blogs including CNN. Video-sharing site YouTube
has been completely blocked since September 3.The internet censorship is
believed to be an attempt to prevent the people of Burma from mobilising
for the unprecedented number of public protests the country has seen
recently.

The IFJ urges immediate action to reverse the clampdown on freedom of
expression in Burma . "The junta cannot expect to be taken seriously by
the international community when civil and human rights are denied so
blithely," Park said.

"The monitoring of phone lines must stop and the people of Burma and the
world must be free to express and access vital information as a matter of
urgency," Park added.

In another separate statement, IFJ has also expressed its displeasure at
the actions taken by the Burmese junta in restricting media coverage of
the mass protests across the country.

The media has been met with hostility from the local police force, which
is attempting to restrict coverage of the peaceful protests organised by
Burmese civilians against the oppressive military regime. Hundreds of
Buddhist monks have recently joined the protest, gaining widespread
attention from the international community, the statement added.

Footage of the protests has been hard to come by with cameras and memory
cards seized by plain-clothes policemen during media coverage of the
protests, as well as attempted arrests. IFJ Asia Pacific Director
Jacqueline Park described the police department's response as 'disgraceful
', and urged them to be wary of journalist's rights.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 21, Irrawaddy
The same struggle after 19 years - Saw Lwin

On September 19, 1988, nineteen years ago, peaceful demonstrators
protesting against the military coup in Burma were brutally suppressed. 
Many of my friends and country fellows were killed, injured or jailed. 
The smell of blood, gunpowder and sweat, the sounds of gunfire and angry
shouting and feelings of disbelief and sadness have stayed in my heart and
mind. This was the second slaughter of unarmed demonstrators by the
dictators within two months, following one in August 1988.

As a young medical doctor, I tried my best with my colleagues and friends
to save lives and limbs of wounded people both in the streets of Rangoon
as well as in the hospitals.  Tending to the needs of the injured under
threats of continuing suppression, we did not have time to count the
bodies, which was similar to the situation in August 1988.

Top military leaders ordered the shooting of unarmed people demonstrating
peacefully for democracy.  Their reason to shoot people was apparently
that the people had dared to express their desires and hopes to live
decent lives in which they would have food, shelter, clothing and be free
from fear of the ruling class.  For that reason, an estimated 3,000 people
were killed during August and September 1988.

As health workers, we tried to “fight back” with what we could.  When the
military shot to kill people, we tried to save the wounded.  When soldiers
made it difficult for people to travel to clinics and hospitals, we
established a network of free clinics in different communities.  Many
monasteries kindly granted our requests to open free clinics at their
compounds and doctors, nurses, paramedics and others volunteered their
services. People donated money, medicine and other necessary support to
keep the clinics running smoothly.  There were about 100 patients a day in
each of the 37 free clinics throughout Rangoon in 1988-89, indicating a
great need by people at that time. Of course, those clinics were just tiny
drops compared to their real needs.  Even so, the military had closed down
all the clinics by September 1989.

I stayed in Burma and continued to provide health and social services
despite implicit warnings of being arrested for my involvement in
providing health care to people during the 1988 uprisings.  However, I
came to realize that I could not do much for our country’s health and
development as a practicing clinician after experiencing and observing the
increasing atrocities and limitations of the existing health and political
systems in Burma.  Thus, I decided to leave in July 1989 to pursue
training and experience in health policy and development so one day I
would be able to bring this learning back to Burma.

After many struggles and much support abroad, I received advanced training
and degrees in public health.  My strength came from my vision of
returning home to Burma and working together with people inside to change
the health system so that people could get the health and social services
they needed and deserved.

What a dream! I believe in people inside.  So, I felt a failure when I
received messages not to return to Burma conveyed to me from my friends
and colleagues who were in jails in Burma.  They urged me to gain as much
knowledge and skills as possible abroad rather than risking a jail
sentence when returning to Burma.  With my deep respect for their
leadership and our shared love for the future of Burma, I have listened to
them and followed their advice.

I have worked at entry to senior level positions in different reputable
international institutions such as universities, international NGOs, and
United Nations agencies.  In these positions, I have tried to learn and
contribute s much as I can in different countries and regions including
Asia in the last two decades.  At the same time, I have always tried to
provide my services for the people of Burma whenever I get opportunities. 
It has been an interesting and educational journey both personally and
professionally.

The more I work and collaborate with different international agencies, the
more I have come to realize the limitations of bureaucratic structures of
international agencies that do not explore or encourage real change to
benefit people but exist to maintain or improve their agencies’ existing
statuses.  It has also been very disappointing to see some academicians
practice the opposite of what they preach on ethics and human rights in
developing countries.  It seems that their focus is more geared to
generating their own funding support and producing academic publications
rather than supporting capacity building on health and social aspects of
disadvantaged people.

Sadly, most displaced people have to accept those research and
“development” projects because they have very little choice if they want
to be “connected” to the “outside world.”  When the objectives and budgets
of some of those projects are questioned by a few concerned people on the
ground, tight networks of “donors and their friends” either ignore or give
reasons for maintaining the status quo.  Those who raised the questions
get labeled as “trouble-makers” or “from the other side.”

Blame has been put on the UN, China, India, ASEAN, and other “uncaring”
countries for the lack of progress towards democracy in Burma.  Military
dictators have been able to continue dictating the political games while
the international communities have been merely reacting ineffectively to
their maneuvers.

As time goes on, the military is growing more comfortable with a stronger
hold on power in Burma, and the opposition outside is seemingly more
comfortable with fragmented and ineffective meetings and statements. 
While complaining from the sidelines, I have put my focus on public health
issues and my professional development in Asia, with occasional
involvement with Dr. Cynthia’s steady, tireless and effective efforts to
provide health and social services to the displaced people of Burma.

Fortunately, I have been able to visit Burma a few days a year for the
last few years after not being able to do so for more than 10 years. 
Although most of my visits were to spend time with my parents, I was able
to wander around different cities, talk with people in the streets, and
meet and discuss with some of my friends and colleagues who have been
providing health and social services.  Our discussions usually centered
around the past and current situations, new and ongoing challenges,
disparity between rich and poor, the morale of people in urban and rural
areas, and the daily survival of ordinary people in Burma.

I have started to see the gap of understanding between people inside and
people outside the country (including me) on how to improve health and
social aspects of the life of ordinary people whether “in-place” or
displaced.

We need to find ways to improve health and social aspects for people while
working harder to fight the military dictatorship and to establish a
democratic government in Burma.  There is no easy answer or clear-cut
approach.  International agencies and governments have been polarized as
well as polarizing on Burma issues.

Some agencies inside want to get more funds to “help” the needs inside
whereas other organizations outside want no funds to go inside.  Whether
the funds go inside or stay outside, the main benefactors are
international agencies and their staff rather than the people inside or
displaced along the border.  The people of Burma have been colonized by
guns for more than a hundred years.  We do not want to be colonized by
grants for a hundred more years.

People inside Burma are brave, smart and strong.  They have shown those
qualities repeatedly no matter how much they have been brutally beaten
down by the military dictators and their thugs.  Whenever I returned to
Burma, I could not help but silently cry with pride and sadness on
witnessing how people are coping with the extreme hardship they have been
going through, without losing their hope and fighting spirits.

I feel ashamed and embarrassed for asking them to be brave and strong for
Burma while I live and work in safe and comfortable countries outside.  It
is I who needs to be asked to be brave and strong for Burma.  It is I who
needs to be asked to work smarter to find better approaches to help the
people of Burma.  It is I who needs to be asked to stop pointing fingers
and start working with others for the people of Burma. It is I who needs
to be asked to “walk the talk.”

Let’s pay our respects and send our metta (loving kindness) to the monks
and people inside for their courage and leadership as they marched last
month and today inside Burma in protest of the military’s continuing
brutality.

Let’s say our prayers and send our best wishes for their safety and
health.  Let’s send our metta and ask the soldiers to resist senseless
orders and to follow their hearts to bring peace and prosperity for
everyone in the country.

Let’s put our differences aside to follow our hearts and work together for
the people of Burma.

Saw Lwin,a  pseudonym, is a Burmese medical doctor

____________________________________

September 21, Christian Science Monitor
China on the wrong road in Burma - Dan Slater

Chinese embassies and consulates from New York to New Zealand have had
some unwelcome but familiar visitors on their doorsteps in recent weeks:
human-rights protesters. Only this time around, activists have not been
calling attention to authoritarian abuses in China, but in neighboring
Burma (or Myanmar, as its military rulers prefer to call it). Street
protests sparked by skyrocketing fuel prices in that impoverished
Southeast Asian land have resulted in the reimprisonment of leading
democracy activists and yet another round of military violence against
peacefully protesting university students and Buddhist monks.

If it is the junta in Burma that is cracking down, why is China a target
for protests? Because China has proven to be Burma's most stalwart backer
since the country was placed on the United Nations Security Council's
agenda 12 months ago. China wielded its veto power last January to block a
draft resolution critical of the junta, and remains the most powerful
opponent of any diplomatic effort pressing the military regime to
negotiate a political solution with Burma's democratic opposition. In
1990, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD) won free and fair elections in a landslide, but has never
been allowed to take office. Nor has it been allowed to play its rightful
leading role in Burma's ongoing facade of a constitutional convention.

One obvious reason China is protecting Burma is its economic and
geopolitical interests in the country: oil and gas reserves, mineral
deposits, and arms sales. Another reason lies in the human-rights protests
themselves. Ever since Burma violently suppressed a democracy movement in
1988 and China followed suit in 1989, the two Asian regimes have been
similarly vilified by human-rights activists. If China cedes to demands to
stop stonewalling political change in Burma, wouldn't that simply inspire
its critics to step up their pressure on China itself?

As recent protests should make clear, standing shoulder to shoulder with
Burma is proving to be a rather perverse way for China to protect itself
from opprobrium. China is not deflecting outside pressure, but inviting
it. Rather than squandering diplomatic capital by defending an
indefensible junta, Chinese leaders should be defending themselves by
drawing clear distinctions between Burma's regime and their own.

Consider how different the two countries have become since their similar
confrontations with democracy movements nearly two decades ago. Neither
regime has given up power; but they have done very different things with
the power they've kept. In China, the ruling party has presided over
aggressive economic reforms and rapid economic growth. When Chinese
leaders repeat their eternal refrain that they must sacrifice democracy to
achieve development, pro-democracy activists may be right to disagree. But
given China's economic record, they should think twice before they simply
scoff.

Yet any similar claim by Burma's military rulers that they are holding off
democracy for purposes of development would truly be laughable. Since
seizing power in 1962 in a violent coup, they have run their resource-rich
nation into the ground.

Burma's economy has been in shambles for so long that people forget that
the country was not appreciably poorer than other Southeast Asian
countries when the military first took over. Decades of brutal misrule
have left the people of Burma not only without political freedom, but
without economic hope and opportunity. The Burmese people have not been
forced to sacrifice democracy for the benefits of development, but to
sacrifice both freedom and well-being for the benefit of their military
rulers.

China does itself no favors by associating itself - and thus implicitly
equating itself - with such a regime. There is a clear difference between
the many regimes in the world that deny their citizens democracy and the
smaller number that deny their citizens everything. China belongs in the
first category, while Burma belongs in the second. Regimes such as China's
may deserve sustained criticism, but regimes such as Burma's deserve
immediate intervention.

China has already gained global plaudits and prestige by withdrawing its
blanket diplomatic support for North Korea. It is high time to do the same
with Burma. Such a move would mute external criticism, not embolden it.
(And Burma's lucrative natural resources will still be there for China to
tap into when the junta eventually falls from power.)

Until Chinese leaders start distinguishing their own relatively successful
regime from the unmitigated disaster that is Burma's, the human-rights
protesters on their doorsteps can hardly be blamed for not discerning the
difference.

* Dan Slater is assistant professor of political science at the University
of Chicago. He specializes in Southeast Asian politics.

____________________________________

September 21, Irrawaddy
2008 Olympics could be Beijing’s Achilles heel [Editorial]

This week, we have seen Burmese monks take to the streets and confront the
regime with a bold demand for an official apology for its violent
crackdown on monks in Pakokku, central Burma. The events in Rangoon and
other cities have drawn the attention of Burma interest groups around the
world. The big question remains: where will these events lead, where do
things go from here?

A violent crackdown by regime authorities and hired thugs remains a
distinct possibility, reluctant as we are to envision such a disaster. But
the regime, blind to the lessons of the past, knows it can, with impunity,
resort again to force in stamping out the democratic aspirations of the
oppressed Burmese people.

The main reason for its confidence can be summed up in one word—China.
"This [Burmese] regime has survived to this day because of Chinese
government support— ¬ financial, diplomatic and military," said Aung Din,
of the US Campaign for Burma, in Washington.

Pressure is building on China to end its support for Burma’s military
government, with many campaign groups targeting Beijing’s huge prestige
event, the 2008 Olympics. The point may indeed be reached where China has
to choose between the success of the Olympics and its relationship with
Burma’s generals.

China can expect an intensification of protests against its Burma policy
as the date of the Olympics approaches. At the same time, confident of
continuing Chinese support, the regime can be expected to step up its
suppression of all internal dissent, with the use of force if necessary.

The regime can’t afford to be too confident, however. If it continues with
its heavy-handed actions against protesting monks and activists, political
and social turmoil could result—and that wouldn’t be in China’s interests.

Ethnic cease-fire groups along the border with China and Thailand could
exploit the situation, resulting in instability spilling over Burma’s
borders with those countries.

China should also realize that its unconditional support for the regime in
Naypyidaw has tarnished its image and its ambition to take its place on
the world stage as a respected super power.

Since 1988, China’s material support for Burma has included the provision
of jet fighters, naval ships and military hardware, and help with the
construction of naval facilities and listening posts.

China and Burma have actively cooperated in many non-military areas, such
as building dams, power stations, roads, bridges, factories and
telecommunication facilities, projects which allow Chinese companies to
gain advantages in exploiting Burma’s natural resources. Since 1988, Burma
has also heavily depended on China for development assistance and loans.

Gas is the latest Burmese resource to be tapped by China. During a visit
to Beijing in June, Burma’s Secretary one and Acting Prime Minister Lt Gen
Thein Sein announced that Burma would begin exporting natural gas to its
neighbor.

China is also conducting a survey on the feasibility of using Burma’s
Yanbyai island as an oil terminal to supply a planned 1,440-kilometer
pipeline from the Bay of Bengal to Yunnan.

During Thein Sein’s June visit, it was confirmed that Burma and China are
also negotiating joint ventures in mining and hydro-electric power
projects.

Small wonder then that China was referred to as a “most trusted friend”
when then Prime Minister Li Peng visited Burma in 1994. To this day, that
characterization remains true, confirmed also in the international
political arena, where Burma can invariably reply on China’s support.

Within the UN and other, regional organizations, Burma’s “most trusted
friend” has guaranteed the survival and stability of the regime in
Naypyidaw.

Against that background, it is important that the international opposition
to China’s Burma policy continues and even intensifies. India, which also
shamelessly supports the Burmese regime, must be made to feel the weight
of international pressure, too.

Both China and India must be told in the clearest terms that support for
Burma’s malevolent regime has its price. In the case of China, that price
could include the success of the 2008 Olympics—calls for a boycott of the
event are already growing louder.

____________________________________

September 21, Mizzima News
Is history repeating itself in Burma? Where does India stand now? -
Bibhuti Bhusan Nandy

What had started off as a low-key and largely symbolic protest march in
Rangoon on 19 August by a few students against the doubling of fuel prices
has now snow-balled into a countrywide ant-military-junta movement in
Burma.

Infamous for its brutal suppression of all forms of dissent, the junta
didn't stop the protestors on 19 August. But, when a second protest march,
considered the largest in a decade, occurred on 22 August, it pressed into
service pro-regime civilian thugs of the Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA) and Swan Arrshin, who intimidated, abducted and
tortured the demonstrators. Nearly 150 student activists including 1988
veterans like Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi have been arrested and detained
on charges of "undermining the stability and security of the nation". One
died of torture during interrogation and many others have been seriously
injured and hospitalized.

The military regime has launched a massive manhunt to nab all 1988 student
leaders and, to that end, have circulated their photographs. Suspecting
involvement of NLD activists in fomenting unrest, the administration has
disconnected their telephone lines in many places. Surprisingly, despite
these harsh measures the agitation has continued unabated. Between 20
August and 9 September, the agitation spread far and wide to Labutta
(Irrawaddy Division), Buthi-daung, Taunggok and Sittwe (Arakan State),
Kyakse (Mandalay Division), Pakkhoku (Magwe Division), Hakha (Chin State)
and Myitkyina (Kachin State).

An ominous dimension of the current anti-regime movement is that Buddhist
monks in large numbers have joined, first at Sittwe and Pakkhoku on
September 6 and later at other places. At Pakkhoku they held 20 government
officials hostage in their monastery for over four hours and damaged their
vehicles. They also destroyed an electronic shop owned by a USDA activist.

Since then the monks have been leading anti-government rallies in Rangoon
and other places. On 20 September they held massive street demonstrations
in Rangoon and many other places in different regions of the country, with
thousands of civilians enthusiastically joining them everywhere. Reports
indicate that monks have been converging on Rangoon from all over the
country on the invitation of their counterparts there.

In a pre-emptive move, the jittery administration has been interfering
with train connections to Rangoon from other parts of the country. The
areas around Rangoon Public Hall and other typical places for public
demonstrations in the former capital city have been fenced off by barbed
wire; and troops have been deployed in good strength at vulnerable
locations.

Buddhist monks are the most organized and influential group in Burma after
the army. In 1988, they strongly supported and directed the pro-democracy
movement from different monasteries and pagodas in the country. On account
of their clout in the society the generals are in a dilemma about using
force against them.

The spontaneous uprising that Burma is presently witnessing does not pose
a serious threat yet to the military junta that will use every means to
crush it with brutality if it spreads deeper into the interior regions or
if it continues for some time. The situation will be volatile if and when
the military resorts to increased extrajudicial killing, arrests,
disappearances and torture.

U.S. President George Bush and the British Government have strongly
condemned the suppression of the people's peaceful protests. The European
Union Parliament has unanimously demanded a binding UN Security Council
resolution on Burma.

The international press is abuzz with reports of the on-going public
agitation against the junta, but, like our Foreign Office, the Indian
media have ignored the momentous events in Burma

Ever since the abrupt reversal in 1992 of its pro-democracy policy in
Burma and cozying up to the junta, New Delhi has totally neglected the
democratic forces in the country. Stark pusillanimity dictates the policy
of the world's largest democracy on Burma. One example suffices to drive
this point home. India had awarded its highest civilian award to Aung San
Suu Kyi, but its present leaders are scared to muster the courage for so
much as to raise the issue of her release – a demand being consistently
voiced by most democratic countries including the tin-pot ones in the
ASEAN doing business with the junta. Last year, during his state visit to
Burma, President APJ Abdul Kalam raised the question of Su Kyi's "well
being" with the military strongman General Than Shwe only at the tarmac of
the airport where the General had gone to see him off.

The sanctions slapped on Burma for its abysmal human rights record by the
European Union and the United States have been undermined by the support
given to the junta by China, Thailand and India.

Thailand, under military rule since last year, has a serious credibility
problem of its own. Its present rulers are keen to amend the constitution,
institutionalizing a major role for the armed forces in the future
governance of the country.

India's increasing largesse in terms of funds and military aid to the
Burmese junta in the hope of getting oil and launching joint
counter-insurgency operations in Northeast India and counter-balancing
China's strategic clout in Burma has come a cropper.

After holding this country on tenterhooks for the last few years, the
junta has opted to sell oil and gas to China instead. Last July ONGC lost
out to Petro-China in its bid to import gas from the A-1 and A-3 blocks
off the Arakan coast, where India's GAIL and ONGC Videsh together hold 30
percent interest.

Despite New Delhi's once strong support to the democratic movement in
Burma and China's consistent record of totally backing the military junta,
Beijing has emerged as the "key interlocutor" on Burma. In June this year,
Eric John, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State held talks with
Burma's ministers of Foreign Affairs, Culture and Information in Beijing.
On 14-15 August 2007, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political
Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, held talks with representatives of the Chinese
Foreign Ministry in Beijing. The agenda of talks included Burma. Thus,
instead of cutting into Chinese influence in Burma, which is touted as our
strategic objective, India is "left in the lurch" in international
diplomacy geared to addressing the issue of restoring democracy in that
country.

India's hope of military cooperation from the Burmese junta in tackling
insurgency in Northeast India is unwarranted. Apart from reports of
regular cooperation between the Burmese military and insurgents from
Northeast India at the local level, insurgency problems of Northeast India
are mainly homegrown and have significantly waned. Still the Indian army
went out of its way to help crush the Rakhine insurgency in Burma through
its Operation Leach in February 1998, in the process massacring leaders of
an Arakan opposition group. In perpetrating this high crime a double-agent
colonel in our army took the administration, including the Prime
Minister's Office, for a ride. Even that monumental act of treachery
against a totally India-friendly Arakanese group could not secure
effective cooperation from the junta in dismantling the residual presence
of Indian insurgent groups on the other side of the Indo-Burmese border,
let alone secure gas off the Arakan shore.

The reason why India has miserably failed to achieve any of its professed
objectives in Burma is our lackadaisical political leadership and the
incompetence of our Foreign Service mandarins in conducting multi-pronged
diplomacy in the increasingly complex modern world. In the case of Burma,
going by the number of reciprocated military visits, it is clear that our
army and not our Foreign Office has been calling the shots. That explains
the bankruptcy of our policy on Burma, which is focused on only giving and
not taking anything in return.

Amid this backdrop, a report that Petroleum Minister Murli Deora would
visit Burma next week has disturbed many in the country. If the UPA
government thinks that following his visit Burmese oil and gas will come
gushing to this country, it is living in a fool's paradise. Except for
sightseeing in that exotic country and further appeasing its military
rulers, one can confidently assert that Deora's powwow will achieve
nothing.

India must support the initiative of ASEAN for national reconciliation in
Burma. The foreign ministers of ASEAN at their summit in July 2007
expressed concern to Burma about its slow pace of change and urged it to
"show tangible progress that would lead to a peaceful transition to
democracy in the near future" and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi other
political detainees.

The time is now for opposition parties and the country's civil society to
launch a coordinated movement to force New Delhi to undertake an all-party
realistic audit of its policy toward Burma and to reorient its alignment
with our self-interests and cherished democratic values, thus signaling to
the rogue military regime in Burma that there is no free lunch in
diplomacy.

(The author is former Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat,
Government of India.)

____________________________________
STATEMENT

September 20, Buddhist Peace Fellowship
BPF statement in support of Buddhist monks in Burma

For the last week, thousands of Burmese monks have marched against the
repressive Burmese military regime in cities across that nation. This is
the largest public demonstration against the junta in nearly 20 years. As
the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks march, chant, and overturn
their almsbowls (patam nikkujjana kamma), refusing to accept donations
from members of the military regime, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship offers
our full support and solidarity.

Burma has lived under direct social and political repression for nearly 20
years, since the democracy uprisings of 1988. The army's answer to the
people's yearning for freedom in 1988 was the killing of thousands of
demonstrators. This repression has in no way abated over the years,
bringing with it ethnic cleansing of minority groups, corruption, forced
labor, and widespread poverty.

On Tuesday, September 18, 2007, monks demonstrated in cities across Burma.
In Sittwe, west of Rangoon, they faced tear gas and gunfire before
dispersing. According to reports from exile groups in Thailand, some monks
were beaten and arrested. On Wednesday, September 19, more than a 1000
monks in Rangoon marched and briefly occupied the Sule Pagoda in the
center of the city, after being barred from the famous Shwedagon Pagoda.

Day by day, we closely follow this news from Burma. These non-violent
demonstrations by Buddhist monks  are expressions of compassion at a time
when the already impoverished nation is staggering under August's
government mandated price hikes. Burma's monks have historically used
techniques on non-violence against oppression. They initiated civil
disobedience against British colonialists. They were visible and central
in the movement of 1988. In 1990, the sangha declared patam nikkujjana
kamma and the government crackdown saw more than 130 monasteries raided,
and at least 300 monks forcibly disrobed, arrested, imprisoned, and
tortured.  As truly engaged Buddhists, Burma's monks have earned the trust
and respect of their nation. Today, they are leading the way to democracy
and human rights.

Win Min, a Thai-based Burmese analyst, said the generals were cautious
about stirring a public backlash if they acted against the clergy. "It's a
dilemma for the junta. If they don't crack down on protests by monks, more
people will join protests. But if they do, it could trigger massive public
outrage against the government," he said.

We call on all our friends in the international Buddhist community support
Burma's monks as they take a stand for liberation and the end of military
rule in this suffering land. We urge Burma's leaders to meet the monks,
and all the millions yearning for freedom with open eyes and ears, and
with all weapons set aside. Then Burma will again find its rightful place
as a beacon of freedom and dhamma in the world.

Earthlyn Manuel, executive director and Rev. Hozan Alan Senauke, associate
director
on behalf of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship community

Buddhist Peace Fellowship | PO Box 3470 | Berkeley | CA | 94703

____________________________________

September 21, South African Council of Churches
SACC calls on South Africans to support Burma’s democracy activists

“We are walking with you!”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has declared 21 September as The
International Day of Prayer for Peace. This day offers faith communities
in all places to pray and act together to nurture lasting peace in the
hearts of people, their families, communities and societies.

The South African Council of Churches (SACC) today salutes the courage of
thousands of Burmese democracy activists – including growing numbers of
Buddhist monks – who have embarked on a campaign of peaceful protest in
defiance of devastating price increases imposed by the military junta in
August.

The SACC is deeply concerned about the brutal tactics used by the junta to
break up these protests. Since 21st August, 150 activists have been
arrested. Many others have been tear-gassed and beaten. It is reported
that one monk died after he and fellow-monks were attacked on 5th
September by pro-junta paramilitaries.

The detainees include prominent members of the 1988 Generation Students
movement who have already served lengthy jail terms for earlier
pro-democracy activities, and who have spent the last three years calling
for dialogue and a peaceful transition to democracy. The SACC is worried
about their safety, following eyewitness reports that at least five
detainees have been severely tortured, among them the ’88 Generation
leader, Min Ko Naing.

On 18 September protests in Burma gathered a new intensity when the
country’s Buddhist monks assumed the vanguard. Since then they have been
peacefully marching through towns and cities all over the country. As they
walk, they chant the Metta Sutta (the Buddha’s words on loving kindness).
Some carry their alms bowls upside down: to symbolise their decision to
refuse alms from the military authorities until the junta apologises for
its violence.

A similar alms boycott in 1990 provoked a heavy crackdown from the
authorities, with raids on monasteries and the arrest of hundreds of
monks.

Ordinary people have flocked to the streets to support the monks’ actions.
Onlookers have shown their support by offering drinking water, and by
forming human chains to keep the monks safe from militias used by the
authorities to incite violence.

“We appeal to the United Nations Secretary-General to take urgent action
before the situation inside Burma deteriorates further,” said SACC
President, Professor Tinyiko Maluleke. “As South Africans”, said Maluleke,
“it is time to take a stand, and to honour the request from Burmese Nobel
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who once asked us to use our liberty to promote
peace in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi’s voice has been silenced since the junta
placed her under house arrest, but her words must awaken our conscience
today.”

The SACC also notes with concern the reports of increasing intimidation of
Burmese journalists who are trying to bear witness to the ongoing
protests.

“This looks like a desperate attempt by the military authorities to
prevent news from Burma reaching the outside world,” said Maluleke, “but
history has shown us that when a country unites for peaceful change, not
even the most brutal regime can stem the tide. Today the SACC’s message to
the people of Burma is simple and clear: we are walking with you. Your
struggle is ours.”

Note for editors
For further information please contact Canon Luke Pato, the Acting General
Secretary of SACC at 083 357 3961 or

Dr Thein Win, a Burmese exile and Chairperson of the Free Burma Campaign,
South Africa. Cell phone: 072 838 6999.

Recent news reports, photographs and more background on the Burma protests
can be found at: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/crackdown.php Timeline of
the ongoing protests and crackdown in Burma.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/protests/BurmaProtests.php#2004 “Monks start
their boycott”
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=8681 “Mass uprising unless
regime enters dialogue.” http://www.seapabkk.org/ “Journalists prevented
from taking pictures of protesting monks”

Burma was renamed Myanmar by the military junta, but democracy activists
still refer to the country by its original name.

P.O. Box 62098 MARSHALLTOWN 2107
Phone: +27 11 241 7800      Fax: +27 11 492 1448
10th Floor, Khotso House, 62 Marshall Street, Johannesburg
e.mail luke at sacc.org.za ; http:www.sacc.org.za