BurmaNet News, September 23, 2007

[Editor]

September 23, 2007 Issue # 3299

INSIDE BURMA
New York Times: Challenge to Myanmar’s junta gains momentum
AFP: Emboldened Myanmar monks challenge junta rule
AP: 20,000 march against Myanmar government
Mizzima News: Burmese healthcare professions urged to stand by Sanghas and
people
AP: Burma's junta beefs up security around Suu Kyi's compound
Irrawaddy: Police bar second visit by monks to Suu Kyi’s home
KNG: Monks in Kachin state storm out of confinement to protest
AP: Myanmar's state media ignores mass protests
AFP: Five weeks of protests in military-ruled Myanmar

ASEAN
AP: ASEAN leader appeals for restraint amid Myanmar's growing
anti-government protests

REGIONAL
Message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Myanmar's junta faces rebuke at UN General Assembly

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Walking a stony path - Yeni

STATEMENT
AHRC: Burma: Protests fast accelerating towards uprising

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 23, New York Times
Challenge to Myanmar’s junta gains momentum - Seth Mydans

The most serious popular challenge to Myanmar's military junta in nearly
two decades gained momentum Sunday as thousands of onlookers cheered huge
columns of barefoot monks and shouted support for the detained
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, witnesses said.

Marching for the sixth day through rainy streets in Yangon, the
antigovernment protest swelled to a reported 10,000 monks, one day after
several hundred monks paid respects to Aung San Suu Kyi at the gate of her
home, the first time the Nobel laureate had been seen in public in four
years.

Photographs said to have been taken Sunday showed huge numbers of monks in
their dark red robes parading between cordons of civilians, who walked
along with them holding hands in protective human chains. Nuns, in robes
with their heads shaved, also joined the demonstration.

Monks were reported to be parading through the streets of a number of
other cities as well, notably the country's second city, Mandalay, where
wire services said 10,000 people, including 4,000 monks, had marched on
Saturday.

The link between the clergy and the leader of Myanmar's pro-democracy
movement, as well as calls by some monks for a wider protest, raised the
stakes for the government, which has mostly kept its hands off the monks
for fear of a public backlash.

Both the government and protesters have so far sought to avoid the kind of
confrontation that led to the deaths of thousands of people during the
last major pro-democracy uprising in the former Burma in 1988, which was
led mostly by university students.

"The monks are the highest moral authority in the Burmese culture," said
Soe Aung, a spokesman for a coalition of exile groups based in Thailand.
"If something happens to the monks, the situation will spread much faster
than what happened to the students in 1988."

This gingerly approach by authorities — and the challenges it poses — were
demonstrated on Saturday, when guards removed barriers to let about 500
monks walk down the street past the house where Aung San Suu Kyi has been
held under arrest for 12 of the past 17 years.

She met them at the iron gate outside her home. Witnesses told wire
services that she was in tears as she greeted the monks, who chanted
prayers as they faced security officers with riot shields.

On Sunday, the monks gathered in by far their greatest numbers yet, some
of them shouting "Release Suu Kyi!" according to witnesses quoted by The
Associated Press.

Uniformed police officers and soldiers have stayed in the background
throughout the month of protests. But witnesses Sunday said that
plainclothes police officers trailed the marchers and that some, armed
with shotguns, were posted along the route.

The street outside Aung San Suu Kyi's house was blocked again by uniformed
security officers and by some of the plainclothes military-backed
vigilantes who attacked and arrested demonstrators in the early stages of
the protests. On Sunday, wire services reported that the police turned
back another group of monks trying to march to her house.

Although she has been sealed off from the public and has been allowed
almost no visitors, Aung San Suu Kyi, 62, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
winner, remains a martyr and rallying symbol for the population.

"She has been out of contact with virtually everyone, but her symbolic
importance cannot be underestimated," said Basil Fernando, director of the
Asian Human Rights Commission. "Symbolically, her reintroduction into the
political life of the country at such a dire moment is of enormous
importance."

The daughter of an assassinated independence hero, Aung San, she came to
prominence when she became a leader in the pro-democracy demonstrations of
1988.

Her political party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide
victory in parliamentary elections in 1990, although the junta, fearing
her charismatic appeal, had already placed her under house arrest.

The military government annulled the results of the election and held on
to power. But it miscalculated her appeal again in 2002 when it released
her from house arrest and allowed her to tour the country, visiting party
offices.

She drew increasingly large and enthusiastic crowds until a band of
pro-government thugs attacked a convoy in which she was traveling, killing
several people.

The government seized her again and placed under even stricter house
arrest, cutting off her telephone and barring most visitors.

The latest protests began Aug. 19 in response to sharp, unannounced fuel
price increases that raised the prices of goods and transport in a country
that is already one of the poorest in Asia.

The demonstrations were led at first by former student protesters and
other activists. But most of these leaders had been arrested or were in
hiding when the monks began their own protests last Tuesday.

At first, the monks were apparently motivated by an attack on a small
demonstration near a temple, during which security officers fired shots in
the air and beat a number of monks. Since then the monks' protests have
spread quickly and have become more overtly political.

On Saturday, an organization of clergy called the All Burma Monks Alliance
called for wider protests in a statement that said, "In order to banish
the 'common enemy' evil regime from Burmese soil forever, united masses of
people need to join hands with the united clergy forces."

It went on, "We pronounce the evil military despotism, which is
impoverishing and pauperizing our people of all walks, including the
clergy, as the common enemy of all our citizens."

____________________________________

September 23, Agence France Presse
Emboldened Myanmar monks challenge junta rule

Emboldened after a march to see Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San
Suu Kyi, Buddhist monks have vowed fresh protests in the biggest challenge
to the junta's rule in nearly two decades.

Analysts in Thailand say the visit was a landmark moment for the protest
movement, but suspect the military's low-key reaction aims to take the
steam out of the marches.

In an unprecedented move, the army on Saturday allowed about 2,000 young
monks and civilians to pass a roadblock and gather by the lakeside Yangon
house which has been Aung San Suu Kyi's prison for 12 of the past 18
years.

Tears in her eyes, the woman known in Myanmar as "The Lady" waved at monks
as they recited Buddhist prayers, witnesses said, while supporters
chanted: "Long life and health for Aung San Suu Kyi, may she have freedom
soon."

The 62-year-old has become an internationally recognised symbol of
non-violent political change since her National League for Democracy won
1990 elections by a landslide -- a result never recognised by the
military.

One underground Buddhist group calling itself the All Burma Monks Alliance
called for nationwide prayer vigils starting Sunday -- the latest peaceful
action against the military rulers since an August 15 rise in fuel prices.

The group said clergy would lead a "people's alliance" that would
"struggle peacefully against the evil military dictatorship till its
complete downfall."

What began as a protest against economic hardship has now swelled, with
marches against military rule attracting thousands of monks to the streets
of Yangon and other cities, including Mandalay, since Tuesday.

Early Sunday, about 300 monks held a prayer vigil for one hour in Magway
town, about 375 kilometres (230 miles) north of the commercial hub Yangon.

The military -- which has ruled Myanmar in some form since 1962 -- now
faces a quandary, analysts say.

Launching a violent and public crackdown on deeply revered monks would
outrage people in Myanmar and the international community, but doing
nothing at all leaves the military regime vulnerable.

"If they crack down seriously on the monks it means it would also
seriously inflame the rest of the population, including members of the
military themselves for attacking the sacred and very prestigious
institution," said Debbie Stothard, of Thailand-based democracy pressure
group Altsean Burma.

"So the military regime is really in a lose-lose situation."

The junta normally does not tolerate the slightest show of public dissent,
and authorities during the past month have arrested more than 150 people.

"The junta is well aware that if it cracks down on demonstrations, it will
give the United States ammunition to attack Burma (Myanmar) at the UN
Security Council," said Aung Naing Oo, a Thailand-based Myanmar analyst.

"The military does not want to see this scenario."

Win Min, a Myanmar academic who lectures at Chiang Mai university in
Thailand, said that allowing monks to visit Aung San Suu Kyi was a sign
that the junta sought a non-violent conclusion to the protests.

"It's clear that the junta is under pressure from China to solve the
situation peacefully," he told AFP.

While pleas for democratic reform and the imposition of sanctions by the
United States and Europe appear to have little effect on the junta, key
allies China and India, which buy Myanmar's natural gas and other
resources, have more clout.

China has previously insisted it would not pressure the junta, but in a
rare move this month, Beijing's top diplomatic advisor Tang Jiaxuan gently
nudged the junta to adopt democratic changes.

"China sees Burma's junta is the only institution providing stability in
the country," said Aung Naing Oo.

"If the junta cracks down on monks, it would break that stability, and
China does not want to see that happen."

India has not taken similar steps, and its oil minister on Sunday headed
to Myanmar for the signing of exploration contracts.

Whether the junta's moves Saturday will diffuse tensions or further
galvanise monks remains to be seen, with further marches planned Sunday.

But Win Min said that people were unlikely to see a miraculous turnaround
in junta policy and Aung San Suu Kyi would likely remain prisoner at her
Yangon home.

"The junta does not want to free her yet, as it sees her as a serious
threat to its rule," said Win Min.

____________________________________

September 23, Associated Press
20,000 march against Myanmar government

About 20,000 people led by Buddhist monks demonstrated against Myanmar's
military junta Sunday, in what has quickly become the largest
anti-government demonstrations since the failed democratic uprising in
1988.

The 10,000 monks marched from Yangon's famous Shwedagon Pagoda to the
nearby Sule Pagoda before passing the U.S. Embassy, witnesses said. Monks
shouted support for detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, while the
crowd of 10,000 protected them by forming a human chain along the route.

It was the sixth straight day monks have marched in Yangon, and came a day
after they were allowed to walk past Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Suu Kyi's
compound in a symbolic gesture of support. Their activities have given new
life to a protest movement that began a month ago after the government
raised fuel prices.

A monk gave a speech Sunday calling for Suu Kyi's release and national
reconciliation before the monks set off from the Shwedagon Pagoda, the
witness said.

The protest was the largest in the latest series to erupt in Yangon.

Earlier Sunday, the government had deployed about 20 pro-junta thugs and
20 riot police on the road leading to Suu Kyi's compound, witnesses said.
A fire truck was parked nearby.

While authorities had not intervened in Sunday's march, plainclothes
police trailed behind the marchers and some with shotguns were posted at
street corners along the route.

By linking their cause to Suu Kyi's pro-democracy struggle, which has seen
her detained for about 12 of the last 18 years, the monks increased the
pressure on the junta to decide whether to crack down or compromise with
the demonstrators.

"This was a very important gesture," said David Steinberg, a Myanmar
expert at Georgetown University in Washington, who is monitoring events
from Singapore. "It's significant because the military allowed them to
pass (Suu Kyi's house). That and other images indicate the military is not
prepared, unless things get worse, to directly confront the monks in their
uniforms."

Steinberg said this was in contrast to 1990, when the military put down a
protest by hundreds of monks in Mandalay, arresting and defrocking some
and closing monasteries linked with the demonstration.

So far, the government has been handling the monks' disciplined but
defiant protests gingerly, aware that forcibly breaking them up in
predominantly Buddhist Myanmar would likely cause public outrage.

But Steinberg said the military's lack of force should not be seen as a
sign of weakness, given that it remains the largest and most powerful
institution in the country.

"Any change (in the government) will have to be approved by elements of
the military if there is to be change," he said. "They are far too
powerful to be resisted if the military acts in unison."

A U.N. official agreed, saying that while Myanmar dissident groups he had
met in Bangkok this week were optimistic about the outcome, they had
failed to take into account the military's history of brutally suppressing
uprisings in 1988, 1990 and 1996.

"They were very optimistic and expectant and seemed to believe that there
was one outcome possible which was a popular uprising that brings Suu Kyi
to the forefront," said the official, who requested anonymity, citing
protocol. "I'm not as confident that is the only outcome possible. I would
think massive repression and violence on a significant scale is not to be
discounted."

The monks on Saturday stopped briefly in front of Suu Kyi's house and said
prayers before leaving at the other end of the street, said witnesses, who
asked not to be named for fear of being harassed by the authorities.

"Today is extraordinary. We walked past lay disciple Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi's house today. We are pleased and glad to see her looking fit and
well," a 45-year old monk told about 200 people at Sule Pagoda.

"Daw" is an honorific used in referring to older women in Myanmar.

Suu Kyi, 62, is the leader of the National League for Democracy party,
which won a 1990 general election but was not allowed to take power by the
military. She has been under detention continuously since May 2003.

The latest protest movement began Aug. 19 after the government raised fuel
prices, but has its basis in long pent-up dissatisfaction with the
repressive military regime. Using arrests and intimidation, the government
had managed to keep demonstrations limited in size and impact but they
gained new life when the monks joined.

____________________________________

September 23, Mizzima News
Burmese healthcare professions urged to stand by Sanghas and people - Mungpi

A group of Burmese medical professionals today urged Burma's healthcare
professions to stand by the protesting monks and the people. They were
urged to take appropriate action to protect and care for the protesters.

The group, which could not be identified nor contacted, said there is
information and evidence that the ruling junta is preparing for a violent
crackdown on the ongoing protests and that hospitals are being alerted to
prepare for casualties.

With indications of a heavy crackdown, the group urged all Burmese
healthcare professionals to carry out their professional duties in the
interest of the people without any discrimination or bias.

The group, which calls itself the 'Concerned Myanmar Physicians and
Professionals Group', in a statement released today, said as the Sanghas
(monks) and the people of Burma have always viewed healthcare
professionals with respect and trust, healthcare professionals should
refrain from taking part in any act of violent suppression against the
protesting Sanghas and the people.

The group's warning follows monks and civilians the unabated protests for
the sixth day on Sunday in Rangoon and parts of Burma. It is the biggest
unrest in two decades in the military-ruled impoverished Southeast Asian
nation.

The group's caution comes even as critics and observers see a possible
crackdown on protesting monks and civilians in what might be a repetition
of the 1988 uprising, where the army fired into protesting crowds killing
thousands of students, monks and civilians.

While there are rumours that the ruling junta has forced doctors and
nurses to evacuate patients from hospitals in Rangoon, an eyewitness in
the city, however, told Mizzima that at least 50 percent of the Rangoon
general hospital's ground ward is still occupied with patients and there
appears no sign of any abnormality or sudden evacuation.

However, the eyewitness said, there has been a lot of security personnel
positioned outside the new Rangoon general hospital but the scenario in
other wards is not known.

The group, while calling on all Burmese medical professionals to join
hands with the protesters, also warned of the possibility of the junta
manipulating medical professionals as it did to the highly esteemed
Myanmar Red Cross Society.

Despite the nobility of the organization, "It is a sad fact that in
Myanmar, those who are in power have transformed some members of Red Cross
into enemies of the people such as Swan Arrshin," said the group.

The group urged all members of the Red Cross to refrain from taking part
in any act of suppression or violence against the protesting Sanghas and
the people or to create misunderstanding among the protesters.

"If you cannot assist, at least do no harm," the group said.

The group further called on all Burmese medical professionals to
"assiduously preserve evidentiary materials and wounds in accordance with
medico-legal principles and procedures in case of casualties and death
with a view to future legal actions and procedures."

____________________________________

September 23, Associated Press
Burma's junta beefs up security around Suu Kyi's compound

A decision by Burma's military regime to allow Buddhist monks to march
passed the home of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi should not
be seen as a sign the junta is preparing to release its iron grip on
power, analysts warned Sunday.

Suu Kyi paying respects to monks at her home

The military—struggling to deal with the most-sustained wave of
anti-government protests in two decades—could still launch a bloody
crackdown as it has in the past, an analyst and UN official warned.

On Sunday, the junta beefed up security on both ends of the road leading
to Suu Kyi's house, witnesses said, in what appeared to be an effort to
prevent a repeat of Saturday's march. About 20 pro-junta thugs and a dozen
riot police were posted on the street, the witnesses said.

Monks have been marching for the past five days in Burma's biggest city
and around the country as a month of protests against economic hardship
under the junta have ballooned into the biggest grass-roots challenge to
its rule since pro-democracy protests in 1988.

By linking their cause to Suu Kyi's activism, which has seen her detained
for about 12 of the last 18 years, the monks increased the pressure on the
junta to decide whether to crack down or to compromise with the
demonstrators.

"This was a very important gesture," said David Steinberg, a Burma expert
at Georgetown University in Washington who is monitoring events from
Singapore. "It's significant because the military allowed them to pass
(Suu Kyi's house). That and other images indicate the military is not
prepared unless things get worse to directly confront the monks in their
uniforms."

Steinberg said this was in contrast to 1990 when the military put down a
protest by hundreds of monks in Mandalay, arresting and defrocking some
and closing monasteries linked with the demonstration.

So far, the government has been handling the monks' disciplined but
defiant protests gingerly, aware that forcibly breaking them up in
predominantly Buddhist Burma would likely cause public outrage.

But Steinberg said the military's lack of force should not be seen as a
sign of weakness, given it remains the largest and most powerful
institution in the country.

"Any change (in the government) will have to be approved by elements of
the military if there is to be change," he said. "They are far too
powerful to be resisted if the military acts in unison."

A UN official agreed, saying that while dissident groups he had met in
Bangkok this week were optimistic about the outcome, they failed to take
into account the military's history of brutally suppressing uprisings in
1988, 1990 and 1996.

"They were very optimistic and expectant and seemed to believe that there
was one outcome possible which was popular uprising that brings Suu Kyi to
the forefront," said the official, who requested anonymity citing
protocol. "I'm not as confident that is the only outcome possible. I would
think massive repression and violence on a significant scale is not to be
discounted."

The monks on Saturday stopped briefly in front of Suu Kyi's house and said
prayers before leaving at the other end of the street, said witnesses, who
asked not to be named for fear of being harassed by the authorities.

Suu Kyi, 62, is the leader of the National League for Democracy party,
which won a 1990 general election but was not allowed to take power by the
military. She has been under detention continuously since May 2003.

____________________________________

September 23, Irrawaddy
Police bar second visit by monks to Suu Kyi’s home

Armed riot police backed by fire engines prevented a large crowd of monks
and demonstrators from again approaching the Rangoon home of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday.

Security forces allowed monks access to Suu Kyi’s lakeside home on
Rangoon’s University Avenue on Saturday, and she came to her gate and
talked briefly with them. It was the first time she had been seen in
public since her latest term of house arrest began four years ago.

Security forces bearing riot shields lined up in front of her gate on
Saturday but allowed a group of monks through.

When around 400 monks and pro-democracy demonstrators tried again on
Sunday to approach her home they were stopped at police barricades erected
at two ends of her street. Two monks representing the demonstrators
negotiated in vain with the police, prayed and then withdrew. The crowd
also dispersed peacefully.

Earlier on Sunday, about 20,000 monks, white-clad nuns and demonstrators,
applauded by bystanders, paraded through central Rangoon. Their route took
them from the city’s Shwedagon Pagoda, past the US Embassy to the ancient
Sule Pagoda in the city center. Bystanders joined hands in a human chain
of protection along the route.

A leaflet issued by the Alliance of All Burma Buddhist Monks, obtained by
The Irrawaddy on Sunday, called on students, workers, peasants, artists
and intellectuals to join in peaceful demonstrations. The monks’ action
represents the biggest challenge to Burma’s military government in nearly
two decades.

The leaflet said the demonstrations should press three demands—“relieve
the burden of the people’s daily lives, free political prisoners and
national reconciliation.”

Meanwhile, Burma’s Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan has reportedly
told Burmese journalists, writers, movie actors and actresses to sign a
pledge not to participate in the demonstrations.

____________________________________

September 23, Kachin News Group
Monks in Kachin state storm out of confinement to protest

In total defiance of the Burmese military junta's dictat where hundreds of
them were confined in monasteries for over a week by the authorities,
monks in Myitkyina Township and Bhamo city in Kachin State, northern Burma
 broke free and hit the streets in protest.

Monks thronged the streets in two major cities Myitkyina and Bhamo in
Kachin State for the first time since the 1988 democracy uprising.

In Myitkyina Township, capital of Kachin State, over 200 monks marched
along Ledo Road from Maymyint quarter to the Clock Tower downtown at 11
a.m. local time, eyewitnesses told KNG this afternoon.

The monks stopped for a while at the Yuzana Monastery in Yuzana Quarter.
Over 300 monks gathered at the monastery.  They started their protest
march from the Yuzana Monastery this afternoon, said a source close to the
monastery.

The silent march of the monks' is being followed by over 200 civilians on
bicycles, motorcycles and cars, said eyewitnesses.

In Bhamo city, the second largest in Kachin State, over 100 monks marched
against the ruling junta early this morning along major roads. They later
gathered at the Theindawgyi Monastery along with over 300 monks before
7:30 a.m. according to monastery sources.

Last Friday, an unidentified monk threw a packet of letters into the
entrance of the Bhamo University. The letter was taken to the principal by
a school car driver. It said:  "We are ready to demonstrate against the
junta", said sources among students.

In Kachin State, the demonstration by monks comes in the wake of
university students' poster movement against the junta early this month in
Myitkyina and last Tuesday in Bhamo.

Last week, the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) instructed all churches
under its convention to hold a special prayer programme for genuine peace
in post National Convention Burma.

For over a week, monks in Kachin State had been forcibly stopped from
going about their religious practice of food collection from devotees'
homes.  The military regime kept the monks confined to their rooms and
arranged for their food to stop them from joining the movement launched by
monks elsewhere in Burma.

Kachin state has finally caught up with the wave of protest by monks
against the junta in major cities of Burma, including Rangoon, Pakokko,
Kyaukpadaung and Mandalay.

____________________________________

September 23, Associated Press
Myanmar's state media ignores mass protests

Myanmar's military junta has refused to tell its citizens about the
country's largest anti-government demonstrations since 1988, choosing
instead to fill its state-run newspaper Sunday with reports of floods and
traffic.

The media blackout comes a day after hundreds of demonstrating Buddhist
monks marched past the tightly guarded home of detained democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, raising pressure on the junta and making clear their
protests go well beyond the original fuel price hikes.

There were no reports early Sunday of the monks' protests.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar on Sunday prominently featured a story
about junta leader Gen. Than Shwe sending greetings to Saudi Arabia on its
national day. Inside, there were stories on floods, paddy plantings and
efforts to prevent river erosion.

Monks have been marching for the past five days in Myanmar's biggest city
and around the country as a month of protests against economic hardship
under the junta have ballooned into the biggest grass-roots challenge to
its rule in two decades.

By linking their cause to Suu Kyi's activism, which has seen her detained
for about 12 of the last 18 years, the monks increased the pressure on the
junta to decide whether to crack down or to compromise with the
demonstrators.

"This was a very important gesture," said David Steinberg, a Myanmar
expert at Georgetown University in Washington who is monitoring events
from Singapore. "It's significant because the military allowed them to
pass (Suu Kyi's house). That and other images indicate the military is not
prepared unless things get worse to directly confront the monks in their
uniforms."

Steinberg said this was in contrast to 1990 when the military put down a
protest by hundreds of monks in Mandalay, arresting and defrocking some
and closing monasteries linked with the demonstration.

So far, the government has been handling the monks' disciplined but
defiant protests gingerly, aware that forcibly breaking them up in
predominantly Buddhist Myanmar would likely cause public outrage.

The monks stopped briefly in front of Suu Kyi's house and said prayers
before leaving at the other end of the street, said witnesses, who asked
not to be named for fear of being harassed by the authorities.

"Today is extraordinary. We walked past lay disciple Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi's house today. We are pleased and glad to see her looking fit and
well," a 45-year old monk told about 200 people at Sule Pagoda in downtown
Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city. "Daw" is an honorific used in referring to
older women.

Photos posted on the Web site of Mizzima News, run by Myanmar exile
journalists in India, shows a crowd gathered outside the gate of Suu Kyi's
home, with uniformed security men standing immediately in front of it.

Suu Kyi, 62, is the leader of the National League for Democracy party,
which won a 1990 general election but was not allowed to take power by the
military. She has been under detention continuously since May 2003.

The latest protest movement began Aug. 19 after the government raised fuel
prices, but has its basis in long pent-up dissatisfaction with the
repressive military regime. Using arrests and intimidation, the government
had managed to keep demonstrations limited in size and impact but they
gained new life when the monks joined.

In the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, a crowd of 10,000 people,
including at least 4,000 Buddhist monks, marched Saturday in one of the
largest demonstrations since the 1988 democracy uprising, witnesses said.

At the same time, about 1,000 monks led by one holding his begging bowl
upturned as a sign of protest marched in Yangon starting from the
Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most revered shrine and a historic center for
protest movements.

A monks' organization, the All Burma Monks Alliance, also urged the public
to join in protesting "evil military despotism" in Myanmar, also known as
Burma.Little is known of the group or its membership, but its communiques
have spread widely by word of mouth and through opposition media in exile.

____________________________________

September 23, Agence France Presse
Five weeks of protests in military-ruled Myanmar

Myanmar's military regime has faced five weeks of peaceful protests that
were sparked by a massive increase in fuel prices in August.

Over the last week, Buddhist monks have emerged at the forefront of the
protest movement, with thousands taking to the streets in the main city
Yangon and in towns across the country.

Following is a timeline of the protests, which have become the biggest
challenge to the ruling junta in nearly two decades:

August 15: Myanmar's military rulers slash fuel subsidies, sending prices
rising by as much as five-fold. Buses immediately double their fares,
leaving many unable to afford to get to their jobs.

August 19: Hundreds of people, led by former student activists who
spearheaded a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, march in Yangon against the
price hike.

August 21: Min Ko Naing, the nation's top democracy leader after Aung San
Suu Kyi, is arrested along with six other activists over the protests. At
least 150 people are arrested in the following days, according to Amnesty
International.

August 28: Hundreds of Buddhist monks stage their first march in the
western oil town of Sittwe.

September 5: Soldiers fire warning shots and pro-junta militia beat monks
who were marching through the town of Pakokku, 500 kilometres (300 miles)
north of Yangon.

September 6: Monks in Pakokku hold 20 government officials hostage for up
to six hours in anger over the beatings.

September 18: Thousands of chanting monks march in Yangon and other towns,
beginning a daily series of protests that draws thousands of supporters
into the streets despite sometimes torrential rains.

September 21: About 3,000 people, including 1,500 monks, march through
Yangon in the biggest protest yet.

September 22: Armed guards allow 2,000 people, including 1,000 monks, to
pray outside the home of Aung San Suu Kyi, who emerges from her lakeside
house to greet them in a landmark moment for the protest movement.

September 23: Monks urge the public to begin nationwide prayer vigils.

____________________________________
ASEAN

September 23, Associated Press
ASEAN leader appeals for restraint amid Myanmar's growing anti-government
protests

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations' chief urged Myanmar
authorities Sunday to avoid any «strong action» against growing
anti-government protests, in hopes of avoiding violence.
About 20,000 Buddhist monks and citizens were demonstrating against
Myanmar's military junta in the country's largest city, Yangon, with many
shouting support for detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
witnesses said.

«I hope the relevant authorities in Myanmar will not take any strong
action and turn the protests into a big confrontation,» ASEAN
Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong told The Associated Press by telephone
from Poland.

The 10-country ASEAN, which includes Myanmar, was concerned over the
protests and its foreign ministers would likely take up the issue when
they meet on Sept. 27 in New York on the sidelines of an annual United
Nations meeting, said Ong, who was to deliver a speech in Poland before
flying to New York.

«Things are becoming more serious. However, I don't know what ASEAN
foreign ministers can do at this stage,» he said.

«I just hope the demonstrations remain peaceful, and I hope the
authorities in Myanmar will find a way to handle the situation in a
peaceful manner,» he said.

ASEAN has long had a bedrock policy of not interfering in member
countries' domestic affairs, although some liberal members have become
more vocal with their criticisms of military-ruled Myanmar's dismal human
rights record.

The Philippines and Indonesia renewed criticisms of Myanmar on the
sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings in
Sydney, Australia earlier this month.

During a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Sydney,
Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo expressed ASEAN's concern over
Myanmar's failure to abide by a roadmap to democracy it agreed to follow a
decade ago, Romulo has said.

«It's now 10 or 11 years, and we are still waiting,» Romulo said he told
Rice. «There is now impatience in the ASEAN about the fact it's not
working out the way we thought it would work out.
ASEAN's members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It admitted Myanmar in
1997, despite strong opposition from Western nations.

http://www.live-pr.com/en/asean-leader-appeals-for-restraint-amid-r1048157015.htm

____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 23, Message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I extent my support and solidarity with the recent peaceful movement for
democracy in Burma. I fully support their call for freedom and democracy
and take this opportunity to appeal to freedom-loving people all over the
world to support such non-violent movements. Moreover, I wish to convey my
sincere appreciation and admiration to the large number of fellow
Buddhists monks for advocating democracy and freedom in Burma.

As a Buddhist monk, I am appealing to the members of the military regime
who believe in Buddhism to act in accordance with the sacred dharma in the
spirit of compassion and non-violence.

I pray for the success of this peaceful movement and the early release of
fellow Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 23, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's junta faces rebuke at UN General Assembly - P. Parameswaran

As protests intensify against the military generals in Myanmar, world
leaders at the United Nations General Assembly are expected to push the
ruling junta to adopt democratic reforms.

The United States and European nations are to spearhead a diplomatic blitz
at the annual gathering this week in an apparent bid to lend support to
the biggest democratic campaign in two decades in the tightly ruled
Southeast Asian state, diplomats said.

The move comes as Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, under house
arrest, appeared in public Saturday for the first time in four years,
greeting and paying respect to thousands of monks and their supporters
protesting in the commercial capital Yangon against the military junta.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said he will raise the
Myanmar issue at the UN General Assembly in New York, following a briefing
on the situation at the UN Security Council last week.

His counterparts from Europe, which has put off plans for a free trade
pact with ASEAN due to Myanmar's human rights record, will also be
highlighting the topic at the UN meeting, diplomats said.

Both the European Union (EU) and the United States have been at the
forefront of political and economic sanctions against Myanmar's junta for
years but to no avail.

US President George W. Bush, who delivers his address at the UN General
Assembly and holds a roundtable meeting on democracy with a group of about
20 leaders on Tuesday, is expected to add to the international pressure on
Myanmar's junta.

"You've got Burma, which I think, as you know, the First Lady and the
President both have spent time on, and I think it would be fair to think
that that might be mentioned," said Michael Kozak, a senior official with
the National Security Council, using Myanmar's former name.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will also highlight the Myanmar
crisis at a meeting with her counterparts of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Thursday at the sidelines of the UN talks.

She would ask them to use their influence to prod Myanmar to release Aung
San Suu Kyi and carry out other democratic reforms, officials said.

Myanmar is a member of ASEAN, which also comprises Brunei, Indonesia,
Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.

"Among other things, Secretary Rice will press for ASEAN leverage to end
the crackdown in Burma and to initiate genuine democratic reforms in
Burma," Assistant Secretary of State Kristen Silverberg told reporters.

Myanmar has been a key topic at every US-ASEAN meeting and Rice, at one
meeting at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2005, directly
lashed out at her Myanmar counterpart for political repression.

Rice may also raise the issue with her Chinese counterpart in scheduled
talks Monday.

China, among Myanmar's closest allies and biggest military suppliers, has
previously insisted it would not pressure the junta, saying it did not
wish to interfere in the internal affairs of another country.

But in a rare move this month, Beijing's top diplomatic advisor Tang
Jiaxuan gently nudged the junta to adopt democratic changes.

"China sincerely hopes that Myanmar can bring stability back to its
domestic situation ... and unswervingly strive for democratic advances
that conform with Myanmar's situation," Tang was quoted saying at a
meeting with Myanmar's visiting Foreign Minister, U Nyan Win.

His statement came as protests, which began a month ago amid anger at a
huge fuel price hike, snowballed into the most prolonged show of dissent
in Myanmar since a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 was crushed by the
military.

President Bush "needs to engage in strenuous diplomacy -- above all with
China -- to make clear that this is a US priority," the Washington Post
newspaper said in an editorial Saturday.

"And China, which has more influence in Burma than any other country has,
needs to decide whether it wants to host the 2008 Olympics as the enabler
of one of the world's nastiest regimes or as a peacemaker," it said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 23, Irrawaddy
Walking a stony path - Yeni

Spirits were high as around 500 demonstrators, led by prominent
pro-democracy activists, paraded through Rangoon on that fateful day in
September. The demonstrators were a happy, optimistic crowd, talking about
their hopes for a better life some time in the future.

For some prominent members of the 88 Generation Students group—notably Min
Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Min Zeya—it means a life in prison for the
present. But they were well prepared for it after each spending at least
15 years behind bars for their leadership role in the 1988 uprising.

Although they must have been fully aware that a return to prison awaited
them, they refused to remain quiet in the face of the regime’s latest
assault on the living standards of a downtrodden people. What they might
not have been aware of was the possibility that their protest could become
another milestone in Burma’s political history.

The regime is adept at rushing into effect swingeing price increases that
it knows will anger the public and perhaps lead to isolated protests that
it knows it can easily suppress. But this time it might have
underestimated the depth of wrath felt by people who woke up one August
morning to find fuel prices had been increased overnight by up to 500
percent. The increases had a knock-on effect on the prices of other daily
necessities, adding to the public anger.

Although some observers have suggested that Burma's military government,
the State Peace and Development Council, might introduce
neo-liberal-inspired economic reforms, the plain fact is that it is facing
a massive budget deficit caused by its own inflationary spending.

A ten-fold increase in the salaries of civil servants and the investment
of hundreds of millions of dollars in such projects as the new
administrative capital, Naypyidaw, the development of a planned cyber
city, Yadanabon, and even a nuclear research reactor were examples of the
regime’s profligacy.

It should have come as no surprise that the government had to raise taxes
and increase the price of public services to help finance its
extravagance.

The effect on the cost of living in a country where the per capita annual
income is the equivalent of just US $170 meant nothing to the
authoritarian regime.

A UN survey discloses that more than 90 percent of Burma's population
spends 60 to 70 percent of their household income on food. As a result of
the recent fuel price hike and its effect on transport costs, the cost of
a basket of essential household commodities leapt 35 percent. A typical
city worker now has to spend more than half his daily wage of less than
2,000 kyat (US $1.5) in bus fares to and from work.

Popular frustration and anger has given the pro-democracy activists
further cause to push the junta to listen to the voice of the people. The
junta, however, has reacted by raiding homes, arresting leading members
and hunting down those who flee.

It hasn’t been able to stop the wave of demonstrations from spreading
throughout the country, though. Now monks have joined in en masse, and the
regime is clearly rattled.

The people, supported by the monks, are saying: “Enough is enough.” They
are fed up with rising prices, plunging living standards, tired of power
cuts and having to use generators to make their own electricity, impatient
with inefficient public utility services. And they are tired of a
government that takes no heed at all of their grievances.

As U Myint, a Rangoon-based prominent Burmese economist, wrote in an
open-letter: "The deterioration in the quality of public utilities, such
as electricity, water, sanitation, telephone service and public transport
is a bitter pill for consumers."

Burma's ruling generals invariably complain that sanctions and the support
such international pressure receives from the opposition National League
for Democracy and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, have systematically
weakened the economy by limiting trade, investment and foreign aid.

It’s true that the lack of access to international aid has fuelled
inflation and led to macroeconomic instability. Sanctions should be
lifted, but in the meantime the Burmese regime must agree to share power
with the democratic leaders and create a business-friendly environment.

If the Burmese regime continues with its current policy, the political and
economic situation could lead to chaos and extreme poverty. Without
political and economic reforms, it may soon be too late to avoid another
1988 tragedy.

After 19 years in power, the current regime has yet to show that it can
shape Burma’s fate alone. The time has come to work for genuine national
reconciliation and to take steps towards democracy and prosperity, for the
sake of every citizen of Burma.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

September 23, Asian Human Rights Commission
Burma: Protests fast accelerating towards uprising

The protests that began in Burma during August to voice public frustration
and discontent over sharp price rises have in the last week fast
accelerated--under the guidance of the Buddhist clergy, the
Sangha--towards an uprising to end the country's military dictatorship.

The monks leading the latest events have declared the formal "overturning
of the alms bowl" boycott of the military regime successfully
completed--it must be initiated within a three days--and have called upon
the monkhood to implement the boycott in accordance with its disciplinary
code until lifted. This means a total ban on all religious activities
relating to the military government: no donations, no preaching, no
funeral rites, nothing.

Meanwhile, members of the public have come out in increasing numbers,
despite attempts by some in the Sangha to discourage them for their own
safety, to support openly the monks' demonstrations. In recent days monks
in main cities walking through flooded streets chanting verses to spread
loving kindness (metta), have been joined by human chains on either side
of the road, and elsewhere around the country by crowds of delighted
onlookers. In the ancient city of Amarapura around one thousand were met
by elderly citizens who tearfully paid their respects and called upon them
to lead them out from the poverty and misery induced by the nation's "bad
kings"--a reference to one of the five enemies against which refuge is
sought when paying religious homage.

The monks are being joined by more and more prominent persons from other
walks of life. The famous comedian Zarganar is reported as saying that the
entertainment industry should also back the protests. Important writers
have joined his call. And on September 22 hundreds marched to the front of
the house of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy leader who has been under
house arrest since 2003, where she was able to come outside the gate and
speak briefly to at least one monk. A monks' group has in a statement of
September 21 also urged all citizens, including farmers, workers, soldiers
and civil servants to join in a new phase of protest beginning from 1pm on
September 24.


For the first time since over two decades ago, the cry of "our aim!" is
being heard on the streets of Burma. Whatever happens next, the facade of
national and religious unity that the regime has sought to build up over
the past two decades, since last cracking down on protests by monks in
1990, has come crashing down. Seventeen years of reorganisation,
repression and manipulation have utterly failed. Neither it nor its
supporters and apologists can go on pretending that it has any legitimacy
upon which to take a place at the world table, or speak with any sincerity
or authority on behalf of the population that it has utterly impoverished
and degraded for so many years, and is utterly sick and tired of it.

In view of the recent dramatic developments in Burma, the Asian Human
Rights Commission again calls on the international community to recognise
the significance of what is happening there today, and lend meaningful
support-- not mealy-mouthed words--to the aspirations of its people for
real, lasting change. To do so now will be of benefit not only to the
people of Burma but also to people throughout Southeast Asia, the wider
region and indeed the entire world.

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional
non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues
in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.