BurmaNet News, October 26, 2007

[Editor]

October 26, 2007 Issue # 3329

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar frees 70 democracy protesters
AFP: Suu Kyi talks with junta no breakthrough: analysts
Irrawaddy: NLD welcomes meeting of Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi
Irrawaddy: Gloomy start to Burma’s festival of lights
Mizzima News: 'Yellow colour' worshippers in Shwedagon
DVB: Government troops clash with KNLA
DVB: 88 student Aung Naing missing
Irrawaddy: Ethnic leaders dismiss talk of Burma's collapse should junta fall

ON THE BORDER
New York Times: A monk's tale of protest and escape from Myanmar
DPA: Half a million people displaced by Myanmar army attacks
Narinjara News: Burma hands over monks to Bangladesh

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Weekly Business Roundup
Irrawaddy: Tay Za’s son ridicules US sanctions
Irrawaddy: Tay Za: A targeted sanction hits the bulls-eye
Irrawaddy: New targeted sanctions greeted with hope, caution

ASEAN
AFP: Singapore PM invites new Myanmar PM to ASEAN summit

REGIONAL
Reuters: China rejects sanctions as UN Myanmar envoy ends talks
Mizzima News: Panty Power comes into play

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Germans accuse junta of misusing them for propaganda

OPINION / OTHER
The Nation - Pavin Chachavalpongpun: Players line up to tackle Burma
Baltimore Sun: America must do more to end Myanmar misery - Jared Genser
and Meghan Barron

STATEMENT
The statement of 15th Kachin Independence Organization Central Committee
plenary meeting

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 26, Associated Press
Myanmar frees 70 democracy protesters

At least 70 people detained by the military government following protests
in Myanmar including 50 members of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
party have been released, a party spokesman said Friday.

But hundreds of armed riot police moved into position in Yangon, a sudden
show of force after several weeks of relative quiet.

The detainees were released Thursday from the infamous Insein Prison in
Yangon, said Nyan Win, the National League for Democracy party spokesman,
who said at least 250 members of the party were still being held.

The government has said it detained about 3,000 suspected dissidents after
last month's pro-democracy demonstrations, but that most were released.
There are many reports they have been mistreated in custody.

Pressure has been mounting on the junta since the crackdown to free the
detainees. The U.N. Security Council issued its first-ever statement on
Myanmar earlier this month, condemning the crackdown and calling for the
release of political prisoners.

Meanwhile, hundreds of riot police, armed with assault rifles and tear
gas, moved into position at sites in the country's largest city,
apparently trying to forestall any protests. It was the one-month
anniversary of a key day in the anti-regime uprising by Buddhist monks,
activists and ordinary citizens angry at the country's entrenched junta.

Security was especially tight at the eastern gate of the famed Shwedagon
pagoda where monks were beaten as police broke up a protest on Sept. 26.
Barbed wire was erected around the area while police and pro-junta thugs
also took up positions near the Sule Pagoda in the heart of the city and
other sites of earlier protests.

Friday also marked the end of the Lent period, an important Buddhist
holiday when monks can leave their monasteries to travel after several
months of monsoon season retreats.

There were no immediate signs that any public protests would take place,
but thousands of pilgrims thronged to the Shwedagon and other pagodas.

A Myanmar reporter who tried to take a photo of the pilgrims climbing up
the eastern gate of the Shwedagon was immediately surrounded by nearly a
dozen riot police and a police officer confiscated the flash card from the
camera.

On Thursday, Suu Kyi met with a newly appointed Myanmar government
official, part of a U.N.-brokered attempt to nudge her and the military
junta toward reconciliation.

It was the first known meeting between Suu Kyi under house arrest for 12
of the last 18 years and "minister for relations" retired major general
Aung Kyi, who was appointed to the post on Oct. 8 to hold talks with her.

"I hope this is the beginning of the (reconciliation) process," said Nyan
Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Friday.

Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. envoy trying to broker a compromise, said the
meeting was a good beginning.

"But it's only the first step, so this should lead to early resumption of
talks that will lead to tangible results," Gambari told reporters in
Japan.

But some residents and Western diplomats remained skeptical, noting that
such earlier meetings produced nothing and seemed merely aimed at easing
international pressure on the junta.

"She's very conscious of the difficulties her people are experiencing,"
Gambari told Japan's public broadcaster NHK, referring to Suu Kyi. "Her
concern is to put an end to the violence and that prisoners are released."

Suu Kyi was driven Thursday a few minutes from her home to a government
guest house, state-run television reported. Television images showed Suu
Kyi and Aung Kyi seated in high-backed chairs having a discussion, a scene
that suggested two dignitaries in a meeting rather than someone under
house arrest.

A protest movement which began Aug. 19 over the government raising fuel
prices mushroomed over several weeks into a broad-based anti-government
movement pressing for democracy.

Tens of thousands demonstrated the largest protests in nearly two decades
of brutal military rule. Troops quelled mass protests with gunfire. The
government said 10 people were killed, but dissident groups put the death
toll at up to 200 and say 6,000 people were detained, including thousands
of monks.

____________________________________

October 26, Agence France Presse
Suu Kyi talks with junta no breakthrough: analysts - Seth Meixner

The Myanmar junta's talks with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
were no more than a bid to deflect criticism of its bloody crackdown on
protesters before top UN envoys visit, analysts say.

The Nobel peace prize winner on Thursday was briefly allowed out of her
home, where she has spent 12 of the past 18 years under house arrest, to
meet with Labour Minister Aung Kyi, who was named to build ties with the
opposition.

Although no details of the hour-long talk have been released, images of
the meeting were broadcast on state television, a rarity in a country
where Aung San Suu Kyi has spent years out of the public eye.

"It was significant in a sense that at least the military and Aung San Suu
Kyi held talks," Chaichoke Chulsiriwong, an expert on Myanmar at Bangkok's
Chulalongkorn University, told AFP on Friday.

"But we have to remain cautious," he added.

The junta rarely has direct dealings with Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National
League for Democracy party won 1990 elections but was never allowed to
govern.

In appointing Aung Kyi, viewed as a moderate in the junta, the ruling
generals seemed to indicate the military was prepared for at least a
minimal level of contact.

"But we can never trust this military government. ... The ruling generals
will do everything to ease international pressure, which is very strong
after the crackdown," Chaichoke said.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 2,100 people locked up by
security forces that suppressed the September protests -- the biggest
challenge to military rule in nearly two decades -- with bullets, baton
charges and tear gas.

The junta has been widely condemned for its actions, and needs to be seen
as taking steps ahead of next week's expected visit by UN special envoy
Ibrahim Gambari, said Thailand-based Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo.

"It was very clear -- the junta had no choice but to hold talks with Aung
San Suu Kyi," he said.

"The government felt it had to do something positive in order to defuse
international pressure."

Gambari, who is making his second trip to Myanmar since the unrest began,
will be followed by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special rapporteur on
human rights.

Speaking from Japan where he met top leaders on the Myanmar issue, Gambari
said the Thursday meeting was "only the first step" in what he hoped would
be a resumed dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta.

Others, though, were not so optimistic.

"The regime has no will to make any concessions, despite pressure from the
international community," said one western diplomat with extensive
experience dealing with the junta. "There is no change in their attitude."

The meeting, however, could have been an attempt to dictate what Aung San
Suu Kyi can say to the UN envoys, whom she is likely to meet, said Debbie
Stothard of Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, a human rights group.

The regime was "trying to set limits on what she says and does," she said.

Aung San Suu Kyi has staunchly refused to drop her support for
international sanctions on the regime, a condition set by junta leader
General Than Shwe for further talks toward national reconciliation.

Knowing she is not likely to change her stance could give the generals an
excuse to abandon future talks, said Yoshihiro Nakanishi, a Myanmar expert
from Japan's Kyoto University, where detained democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi studied during the 1980s.

"If talks do not materialize, the military government can easily blame
Aung San Suu Kyi," he said.

____________________________________

October 26, Irrawaddy
NLD welcomes meeting of Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi - Wai Moe

The main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, welcomes the
talks on Thursday between its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the junta’s
Minister for Relations, ex Maj-Gen Aung Kyi, according to a spokesperson
for the NLD, Nyan Win.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy by telephone on Friday, Nyan Win said that the
meeting constituted progress and was the first in a series of dialogues.

“However, we (the NLD) do not know the result of the meeting or what they
discussed,” he said. “Before the meetings, we want our leader (Suu Kyi) to
be allowed to meet with her colleagues first. She must also be set free.”

On the Thursday evening news, the state media reported the meeting, but
only as a commentary over silent video clips.

This morning Burmese were surprised to see a large photograph of Suu Kyi
with official liaison Aung Kyi adorning the front pages of the junta’s
newspapers. It is very unusual for the military government to permit Suu
Kyi’s picture to appear in their “mouthpiece” newspapers. However, today
the state media also used her full honorific name, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Although the report was short, it was also notable that Suu Kyi’s name was
placed in front of the junta minister’s name, the first time the state
media has allowed this style of caption to appear.

Critics, however, contend that the junta has previously served up this
kind of concession in the media as a public relations exercise both at
home and abroad when they were under pressure.

State-run newspapers, such as The New Light of Myanmar, have previously
published Aung San Suu Kyi’s picture on only a couple of occasions—in May
2003, after the security forces brutally attacked Suu Kyi and her
supporters in Depayin, Sagaing Division; and once when Snr-Gen Than Shwe
met with Suu Kyi in January 2002. However, the article went on to blame
Suu Kyi for Burma’s political deadlock and economic collapse.

____________________________________

October 26, Irrawaddy
Gloomy start to Burma’s festival of lights - Yeni

Friday’s full moon over Burma signals the advent of the country’s Festival
of Lights and the end of Buddhist Lent.

Houses, public buildings, pagodas and monasteries throughout Burma are
festooned with lights, creating a colorful evening landscape. This year,
however, the festive mood is dampened by the reappearance on the streets
of Rangoon of hundreds of riot police armed with assault rifles and tear
gas.

The ominous turnout, coming one week after the regime lifted the nighttime
curfew on Rangoon, appears to be a security precaution on the one month’s
anniversary of the start of the bloody crackdown on peaceful
demonstrations led by Buddhist monks.

Rangoon residents said the eastern gate of Burma's landmark Shwedagon
Pagoda and Sule pagodas—the city's top religious shrines and the focus of
the recent protests—and some leading monasteries were tightly guarded by
police and pro-government groups.

"We need to show up ID cards to the authorities even when we go into the
monastery's compound," a businessman told The Irrawaddy.

Observers suggested the reappearance of heavy security in Rangoon is a
sign that tension remains high between the people of Burma’s former
capital and the country’s military rulers. Some sources say anti-regime
posters and graffiti are appearing on buildings in downtown Rangoon.
“Killer Than Shwe” and "Killer Tatmadaw (Armed Forces)" are two of the
most popular slogans.

Constrained by these circumstances, Burmese monks have been prevented from
carrying out their traditional practices, including their single-file
walks beyond the monasteries to collect alms from crowds of devotees.

"We are still holding patam nikkujjana kamma (a boycott of alms from
members of the military regime),” a Pakokku monk told The Irrawaddy. “We
won't accept the alms they offer until they apologize for their treatment
to the Sangha [the community of Buddhist monks].

"Sometime the authorities offer alms indirectly, but we send them back or
we donate them to poor people who hunger."

Burmese monks began their patam nikkujjana kamma in protest at the violent
way in which protesting monks were dispersed by the authorities and
pro-junta thugs in Pakokku, Upper Burma, in early September. The monks
called for a government apology, but received only violence in reply.

Asked by The Irrawaddy how the monks were surviving, one replied: "We can
survive with the alms offered by local residents."

Burma's military regime claimed this week that "bogus" monks had connived
with political activists they had previously met in prison in staging last
month's mass anti-government protests.

The allegation was made by Religious Affairs Minister Brig-Gen Thura Myint
Aung during a meeting with senior monks in Rangoon, and reported by
state-run radio and television. The state-run New Light of Myanmar also
claimed that 48 blocks of TNT were found two weeks ago after
investigations that led to the arrest of U Kovida, a 23-year-old monk at
Rangoon's Nan Oo monastery.

“They accuse us of being destructive elements,” said a Burmese monk, “In
fact, they destroy our traditional religious practice through the use of
military might.”

A senior Rangoon monk said: “We Buddhist monks make no overnight journeys
except for an important reason until October full moon day. Now they force
young monks who came from the rural areas to study Buddhist literature in
the cities to go back home. This also is an insult to the community of
monks.”

According to the Buddhist decree, monks must remain in their monasteries
for the three months between the full moons of July and October. During
this period, known as Buddhist Lent, they devote themselves to their
religious duties.

____________________________________

October 26, Mizzima News
'Yellow colour' worshippers in Shwedagon

A month after the monk-led protests' in September, several people in
yellow clothes gathered today in the Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon,
eyewitnesses said.

Local residents, who visited the shrine, said several people came in the
evening to Shwedagon, which was the central location during last month's
protests, with yellow coloured candles to pray for peace.

"People in yellow clothes with yellow candles came to the pagoda, lighted
candles and prayed. They even placed yellow coloured flowers at the
pagoda," an eyewitness told Mizzima.

While the prayer goers chose yellow clothes, candles and flowers in
commemoration of last month's "Saffron Revolution", ruthlessly crushed by
the junta, eyewitness said, there was no sign of people coming together
for another round of protests.

"They just come in pairs or even singly, they were not in groups," said
the eyewitness.

The eyewitness also said, several security personnel and soldiers, who had
disappeared from the public eye for quite sometime now, were once again
seen at the foothills and areas surrounding Shwedagon.

"There were five to six security personnel in a group and there were
several groups. I think all together there were about 60 at least. They
were all armed and had teargas with them. They conducted searches on
visitors to the shrine," he added.

A small fire engine was also seen parked near the pagoda and passersby
were reportedly searched, though not much interrogation was done, added
the eyewitness.

On September 26, the Burmese military junta opened fire on peaceful
protesters in Rangoon, killing several people including a Japanese
photojournalist Kenji Nagai.

The protests, which began as sporadic agitation over the sudden fuel price
hike in August, took a different turn in September when the Buddhist
clergy took to the streets after the junta failed to comply with their
demand to apologize for ill-treating monks.

However, the junta on September 25 midnight began raiding several
monasteries and residences in Rangoon and arrested monks and activists.
The junta then opened fire on protesters on September 26 and 27.

The junta then began intimidating protestors by continuing the crackdown
in the form of midnight raids, random searches and arrests on streets.

However, the spirit of the protests seems to remain as several people were
seen today in yellow clothes to mark one month of the brutal crackdown on
protesters.

____________________________________

October 26, Democratic Voice of Burma
Government troops clash with KNLA

Fights between the Burmese government army and ethnic rebels have been on
the increase in Karen and Karenni states as the government tries to clear
land for a road-building project.

Karen National Union spokesperson Saw Hla Ngway told DVB that fights have
been reported between Burmese troops, backed by the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Association, and the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed
wing of the KNU.

The KNLA’s Battalion 18 under Brigade 6 has clashed with the government
army as it advances into Karen rebel territory to clear land for a major
road-building project to take place between Thailand and Burma.

Saw Hla Ngway said that another skirmish took place in the Ywartanshae
area on Tuesday between KNU troops and about 400 soldiers from DKBA
Battalions 906 and 909, led by Major Chit Thu and Major Nakhanmwe. The
number of the casualties is still unknown.

"The fights are going to continue as the government is trying to clear the
land by supplying the DKBA with all the weapons and facilities they need,"
Saw Hla Ngway said.

Seven other clashes have been reported from Karenni state involving
insurgent group the Karenni National Progressive Party. The group's
secretary (2) Khoo Oo Rah claims the fights resulted in one KNPP death,
while six from the SPDC side were killed or injured.

____________________________________

October 26, Democratic Voice of Burma
88 student Aung Naing missing

88 generation student leader Aung Naing is thought to have been arrested
after not being in contact with his family and colleagues for about three
days, said his wife.

Nay Chi, Aung Naing’s wife, told DVB that the 88 generation students
leader, who has been on the run from security forces, had already been out
of telephone contact for two days when rumours started circulating
yesterday that he had been arrested at around noon on 50th street in
Rangoon.

"The mobile number he uses has been out of reach for the last two days. We
are still trying to confirm yesterday's rumour about his arrest," said Nay
Chi.

Ko Aung Naing, one of the few remaining 88 generation student leaders, has
been hiding in an unknown location for fear of arrest by the ruling
military junta.

Nay Chi also said the family's photocopying business was ordered to close
by authorities two months ago and has not yet been given permission to
reopen.

____________________________________

October 26, Irrawaddy
Ethnic leaders dismiss talk of Burma's collapse should junta fall - Saw
Yan Naing

Influential Burmese leaders contacted by The Irrawaddy have dismissed a
possible “nightmare scenario" raised by some Burma experts who say
that—should the junta fall—the country might collapse because of a lack of
civilian leaders with experience in government.

Some Western experts and one Burmese historian suggested the fall of the
military junta could bring about ethnic insurgencies, gutted institutions,
clashes among leaders with no experience in democracy and continuing
aftershocks from the junta’s ruinous economic policies in one of the
world’s poorest nations, The Associated Press reported this week.

All of the ethnic leaders, veteran politicians and scholars contacted by
The Irrawaddy disagreed.

“The perspective of those experts is groundless and their viewpoints are
totally in line with what the junta says,” Mahn Sha, the general-secretary
of the Karen National Union, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “The conflict
in Burma is not a fight among ethnicities. We are only fighting against
the military rulers, not against the army.”

The KNU is among the oldest rebel groups in Southeast Asia, and one of the
few remaining groups which have yet to sign a ceasefire agreement with the
regime.

Professor David Steinberg of Georgetown University said in the AP report
that given the deep-seated hatreds and continued warfare between the
government and some ethnic insurgents like the Karen, Karenni and Shan, a
fragmentation is possible should the Burmese military abruptly
disintegrate.

Mahn Sha disagreed, saying all people in Burma have a common ground.

“Everyone—even children— knows that a country needs a military,” Mahn Sha
said.

The secretary of the Arakan League for Democracy, Aye Thar Aung, who lives
in Rangoon, discounted the likelihood of ethnic insurgent groups breaking
away to form independent states, saying, “None of ethnic groups will
restart the insurgencies and rebellions, if they gain the rights they
fight for.”

All opposition and ethnic groups, including the main opposition National
League for Democracy, have consistently called for dialogue between the
military regime and opposition and ethnic leaders to solve the country’s
decades-old political deadlock.

A spokesman for the main ceasefire group, the Kachin Independence
Organization, said talk of the country's fragmentation is farfetched.

Tu Ja, a vice-secretary of the KIO, said, “I don’t know what they
[experts] are talking about. We all want peace, autonomy and equal rights.
If we get those, I don’t see any problem among us.”

The KIO, founded in 1961, was one among 17 ethnic armed groups which
signed a ceasefire agreement with the ruling junta in 1990s.

“Political reform and democratization is now needed in the country,” Tu Ja
told The Irrawaddy by telephone. “If democratization and a genuine federal
union prevail in the country, we will be very happy. We don’t need to
fight against a government such as that.”

A veteran politician, Thakin Chan Htun, a former ambassador to China, said
from his home in Rangoon that only the top leaders of the military need to
be removed if there is a change to a more democratic system.

Author Bertil Lintner, one of several foreign experts quoted in the AP
report, said, "Look at Indonesia. Many feared a Balkanization after the
fall of Suharto but, in the end, the transition went much more smoothly
than expected. In Indonesia, democracy actually turned out to be useful
for solving ethnic conflicts. Now, a liberally minded ex-general is
president, so why not in Burma?"

Chan Htun agreed, saying the real problem in the military is the junta's
chief, Snr-Gen Than Shwe. Even some of his aids might be willing to enter
into genuine talks with the opposition, he said.

In the AP report, a Burmese historian Thant Myint-U, the grandson of U
Thant who was a former UN general- secretary, said that it is unclear
whether members of the large, educated Burmese exile community would
return to the country if the junta fell and how effectively they might
contribute to a new government.

One Rangoon university professor told The Irrawaddy he believed many
Burmese would like to return to the country to help it rebuild.

"If Burma changed, I’ll go back and work for the people voluntarily," he
said. "For that, I don’t need a position in the government. I will serve
the country any way I possibly can.”

A Burmese scholar in Singapore, said, “It is amazing. Many people (foreign
experts) make comments on Burma, but they have never been to our country.”

A veteran Arakanese journalist inside Burma said some experts lack a deep
understanding of Burma’s affairs.

“They are just buying the regime’s propaganda," he said. "Their opinions
don’t represent ethnic people who are living inside Burma.”

He noted that even under the government of the later dictator Gen Ne Win,
several ethnic leaders held high- ranking positions. Thura Saw Phyu, an
Arakanese, was chief of staff and a minister and several other Arakanese,
Shan and Karen served in the government.

“I don’t think educated Arakanese want to have a separate state," he said.
"We want to be part of Burma.
We are proud to be a part of Burma, and we are Buddhists," he said. "We
would be better off because of democracy—what we want is greater
autonomy.”

Under the current regime, he said, there is racial discrimination against
ethnic minorities in the armed forces. By having more power sharing among
different groups in Burma, that sort of attitude could be changed, he
said.

A spokesperson of the Shan State Army-South, Sai Lao Hseng, said that if
the current government collapsed a better government would be formed, and
there are no real conflicts among ethnicities now. The SSA-South is one of
the few ethnic groups still fighting the Burmese army.

 “It is time for us to fight together to topple the military regime and
try to establish a better government in our country,” he said.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 26, New York Times
A monk's tale of protest and escape from Myanmar

A 24-year-old Buddhist monk who says he was one of the leaders of the
recent protests in Myanmar and escaped last week painted a picture on
Thursday of a bare-bones group of young monks planning and organizing what
became a nationwide uprising.

During a six-hour interview in this border town, the monk, Ashin Kovida,
said he had been elected the leader of a group of 15 of his fellows and
led daily protests in Yangon from Sept. 18 through Sept. 27, the day after
the authorities began raiding monasteries.

He said he was inspired by the popular uprisings in Yugoslavia against the
government of Slobodan Milosevic, videos of which were circulated by
dissident groups in Myanmar.

Eight members of his organizing committee are ''missing'' and six others
are hiding in Yangon, he said. He described escaping to Thailand by using
a false identification card, dyeing his hair blond and wearing a crucifix.

Many details of Mr. Kovida's account could not be independently confirmed,
but his role as an organizer was well known among nongovernmental
organizations in Myanmar, formerly Burma, and Western human rights groups.

Hlaing Moe Than, 37, a leading organizer of students in the September
demonstrations who also fled to Thailand, was shown a picture of Mr.
Kovida on Thursday and confirmed his identity.

''He is one of the famous leaders among the Buddhist monks during the
protests,'' Hlaing Moe Than said.

Mr. Kovida's group received financial help from three well-known Burmese
dissidents -- an actor, a comedian and a poet -- but it did not receive
foreign aid during the protests, he said.

One of his main preoccupations, he said, was providing food for the
thousands of monks who came to Yangon, Myanmar's main city, to join the
protests. He said he also worried about what he called ''fake monks,''
whom he suspected the military government had planted.

The spark for the demonstrations came on Sept. 5, when the police fired
warning shots at protesting monks in Pakokku, in central Myanmar, Mr.
Kovida said.

''The first time I heard the information, I was speechless,'' he said.
''It was an unbelievable thing.''

Older monks and abbots urged the monks to protest in the monasteries, but
the younger monks thought protesting in their cloistered world would do no
good, he said.

He reached out to students he had met during alms collections and began to
plan marches in Yangon.

''We realized that there was no leadership -- a train must have a
locomotive,'' he said.

He said he helped supervise the printing of hundreds of pamphlets, titled,
''The Monks Will Come Out Onto the Streets.''

''We delivered to all the monasteries.'' in Yangon, he said. ''We tried to
distribute to other regions as much as possible.''

On Sept. 18, he led the first column of monks through the streets in
Yangon, he said.

On Sept. 19, about 2,000 protesters, including 500 monks, sat on the tiled
floor in Sule Pagoda, a focal point of the protests. ''To continue
demonstrations in a peaceful way we must have leadership,'' Mr. Kovida
said he told them. ''I call on 10 monks to come join me in the front.''

Fifteen monks came forward, he said, to form what they called the Sangga
Kosahlal Apahwe, the Monks Representative Group.

''In this country at present we are facing hardships,'' he said he told
the crowd, after he was elected chairman of the group. ''People are
starving; prices are rising. Under this military government there are so
many human rights abuses. I call on people to come to join together with
us. We will continue these protests peacefully every day until we win. If
there are no human rights, there is no value of a human.''

He said that, for a week, he met with his group of organizers in the
morning and led marches at noon. He said he heard reports on the
Burmese-language service of the BBC about other monks who had organized
themselves but he had never met them.

Then, on Sept. 26, the government began a violent crackdown. Security
forces clubbed and tear-gassed protesters, blocked their path and arrested
hundreds.

''The police pulled the monks' robes and beat them,'' Mr. Kovida said.
''Nuns were stripped of their sarongs.''

He said he escaped by climbing over a brick wall.

The next day, as the crackdown intensified, he said he changed out of his
robes and fled to a village about 40 miles away where, with the help of
relatives and friends, he hid in an abandoned wooden hut.

He was so afraid of attracting the attention of neighbors that he
suppressed his coughs and never left the dark hut for two weeks, he said.
He relieved himself using a plastic bucket, he said, and friends
occasionally dropped off food.

On Oct. 12, his adoptive mother, whom he called Daw Thin Thin Khaing, was
detained, news that was immediately relayed to him. He fled into the
night, barefoot.

''I ran down a large road,'' he said. ''Whenever a car came I hid in the
bushes.''

He headed back to Yangon, he said, where he dyed his hair blond. He bought
a crucifix in a local market and, several days later, boarded a bus
heading toward the Thai border.

Using a false identity card, he passed about eight checkpoints and reached
Myawadi, a border town, on Oct. 17. The next morning, he said, he crossed
the Moei River to Thailand in a boat, bypassing the official border post.

An Oct. 18 article in The New Light of Myanmar, the state-run newspaper,
accused him of hiding ''48 yellowish high-explosive TNT cartridges'' in
his monastery.

Now, facing almost certain detention in Myanmar, Mr. Kovida said he would
request refugee status in Thailand.

''I have been in the monkhood since I was so young,'' he said. ''My whole
life, I have been studying only Buddhism and peaceful things.''

____________________________________

October 26, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Half a million people displaced by Myanmar army attacks

Attacks and destruction carried out by Myanmar's armed forces on ethnic
minority villages have displaced up to 500,000 people, Human Rights Watch
said.

'The Burmese army continues to destroy civilian villages in its
counter-insurgency operations,' the New York-based group said in a report
that cited surveys by non-governmental organizations like the Thailand
Burma Border Consortium (TBBC).

'It often uses depopulated areas for military-controlled business
concessions and infrastructure projects such as gold mines and
hydro-electric dams, three of which are planned close by on the Salween
River, near the Thai border,' the report published Thursday said.

TBBC said up to 500,000 people were displaced by attacks and destruction
of their villages in eastern Myanmar, the former Burma. The group also
surveyed displaced people in the southeastern state of Shan.

Human Rights Watch said it received reports of 'serious abuses' by the
country's armed forces in July in Karen state, which displaced tens of
thousands of people. Some of the displaced moved across the border into
Thailand to refugee camps that already house 150,000 from Myanmar.

Reports of the displaced were made before the start of popular
demonstrations in Yangon in mid-August after the government sharply
increased prices of gasoline. The protests spread to involve large mass of
population in the capital and were led by Buddhist monks until the
military crackdown in September.

____________________________________

October 26, - Narinjara News
Burma hands over monks to Bangladesh

Twelve young Bangladeshi monks were handed over by Burma's border security
force in western Burma on Wednesday to Bangladesh Rifles personnel, soon
after the monks arrived in Burma's border town Maungdaw from Rangoon, said
a Nasaka official in the town.

The monks left for Bangladesh from Rangoon last week as many monasteries
had refused to accept them after the military junta pressurised many
monasteries in the former Burmese capital not to allow any monk students
to study in residence.

"This time Nasaka authorities sent back 12 monks to Bangladesh from the
border transportation gate legally, and Nasaka authorities also wrote an
official letter to Bangladesh for the monks' safety and security," an
abbot from Maungdaw said.

An eyewitness said twelve monks arrived at Teknaf jetty opposite Maungdaw
at noon on Wednesday.

In the last couple weeks, Nasaka has not assisted monks returning to
Bangladesh, but has instead forced monks to travel to Bangladesh illegally
via row-boat across the Naff River.

Because the Burmese authorities sent the monks back to Bangladesh by legal
means, the monks did not face any problems in returning to their homes in
Bangladesh, the abbot said.

All the monks have arrived safely home in the Chittagong Hill Tract area,
said a local Bangladesh source.

About 2,000 Bangladeshi monks, mostly from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, had
been studying in monasteries across Burma. The monks from Bangladesh must
now return to their home country because they are not being allowed to
study in Burma 's monasteries.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 26, Irrawaddy
Weekly Business Roundup - William Boot

Two Western Oil Companies Face New Pressure on Burma

The intransigence of two major Western petroleum companies— France’s Total
and Chevron of the US—to protests over their continued business dealings
with Burma could ultimately backfire on them, say industry analysts.

Both companies are producing gas in offshore waters, which is a major
source of income for the Naypyidaw military regime.

Both companies have repeatedly been let off the hook in sanctions by the
US and French governments and the European Union.

But the recent violent military crackdown against unarmed protesters has
refocused attention on the long-standing activities of the two companies.

The International Trade Union Confederation says it is considering putting
worldwide union pressure on Total to persuade it to stop dealing with the
Burmese generals. The confederation says it wants to force the kind of
boycott against Total that was used in the anti-apartheid campaigns
against South Africa.

Chevron recently released a statement: “If Chevron were to sell its
interest [in the Yadana gas field] it could generate hundreds of millions
of dollars in additional revenue for the government of Myanmar and
endanger important social and economic development programs. Attempts to
isolate Myanmar further are likely to be counterproductive. Chevron
believes that social and economic developments are interrelated.
Constructive engagement, together with development programs and support,
will ultimately contribute to peace and prosperity for the people of
Myanmar.”

Total has offered a similar argument in defense of its continued
operations in Burma.

However, their positions may soon change.

“Chevron is facing increased scrutiny from the US Congress over its
business dealings in Burma following the crackdown,” said Collin Reynolds,
an energy industry consultant based in Bangkok.

“And if Gambari’s mission to persuade the junta to open up to talks with
the opposition in Burma fail, I suspect France will come under greater
pressure from the European Union to act against Total.”

Australian Sanctions Omit Oil

New Australian government sanctions against the Burmese regime block junta
generals and their families and associates from doing business or
laundering money through Australian banks, note observers—but do not
disturb the Australian petroleum business in Burma.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said the new ban affected
specific Australian financial dealings with 418 individuals who are
members of the Burmese military regime or its supporters. But under
questioning from opposition parliamentarians this week he conceded that
“no Australians with commercial dealings with regime members in the oil,
gas or publishing industries are included.”

Downer said the measures were the strongest under Australian law against
countries or individuals not subject to UN Security Council sanctions.

China Proceeding on Irrawaddy Dam without Consultation

The state-owned China Power Investment Corporation plans to go ahead with
plans to build a major hydroelectric dam project on the Irrawaddy River
despite the likelihood it would force the displacement of at least 10,000
people.

The project should achieve an electricity generating capacity of 3,600
megawatts—almost twice Burma’s current entire capacity. But observers say
most of the power will end up being pumped into China’s energy-hungry
Yunnan province.

A study by the Kachin Development Networking Group, a human rights agency,
has estimated that the area to be flooded by the planned reservoir behind
the dam would force about 10,000 people from more than 40 villages to
move.

The group says that none of the villagers have been consulted and their
protests have been ignored.

International environmental NGOs claim that China had unveiled plans for
hydroelectric dams on several major rivers in Yunnan, but many of these
are being shelved because of growing local opposition and technical
reassessments warning of serious environmental damage.

“Countries such as Burma and Laos—where people have no voice or fear
official repression—are ideal for China’s ‘no questions asked’ energy
expansion,” said an expert with a Thailand-based NGO who asked not to be
named.

Japanese, Europeans Still Buying Burmese Gems

Buyers linked with Japan and France are among the biggest spenders at
Burma’s gems sales, according to industry sources.

That’s despite recent action and the threat of sanctions by the Japanese
government and the European Union in the wake of the military crackdown.

The next gems sale, in Rangoon, is scheduled to take place in a few weeks
and state-controlled Myanmar Gems Enterprise claims it will go ahead
despite increasing apprehension among foreign businesses of dealing with
the Burmese regime.

The problem with sanctions, analysts say, is that many of the initial
buyers are China or Singapore based, but the rubies and jade in particular
find their way to other “end-user markets” via middlemen.

The Japanese government has curtailed some of its aid to Burma, while
increased sanctions planned by the EU are on hold pending the outcome of
UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s current tour of Asia.

Earlier this month, Italian luxury goods maker Bulgari declared a boycott
of gems mined in Burma. The Rome-based company says it has told its
suppliers to declare the origins of the gems used in its luxury jewellery.

However, gems processors in Bangkok said this week that this is easier
said than done.

____________________________________

October 26, Irrawaddy
Tay Za’s son ridicules US sanctions - Wai Moe

According to an email obtained by The Irrawaddy on Friday, the son of one
of the Burmese junta’s biggest cronies, Tay Za, has ridiculed the actions
of Western democracies, particularly the US sanctions targeting Burmese
military officials’ bank accounts and assets. The email, however, has not
been independently confirmed as authentic.

In the email, Htet Tay Za, 19-year-old son of Air Bagan CEO, Tay Za,
wrote: “US bans us? We're still f---ing cool in Singapore. See my photos?
We're sitting on the whole Burmese GDP. We've got timber, gems and gas to
be sold to other countries like Singapore, China, India and Russia.”

He also added that people took to the streets to protest against “a little
fuel price hike”, something he considers trivial because he flies back and
forth to Burma once a week.

“My brother is rocking on his red brand new Lamborghini Gallardo with hot
sexy western chicks,” he goes on in his email. “Come on with Bagan (Air
Bagan). It is cheaper than others, right? one US $ makes a lot differences
in Burmese currency. And I need another Ferrari to rock on!” [sic]

Htet Tay Za studies at the United World College of South East Asia, an
exclusive and expensive school in Singapore.

____________________________________

October 26, Irrawaddy
Tay Za: A targeted sanction hits the bulls-eye - Aung Zaw

The high-flying young Burmese tycoon Tay Za is grounded—at least for now.

Faced with fresh US sanctions imposed by President George W Bush, Tay Za,
43, may be in serious financial trouble, say Rangoon sources.

The new US-imposed sanctions against Burma's military government, put into
effect on October 19, froze the bank accounts of an additional 25 military
officials and 12 businessmen or business entities closely associated with
the regime.

Bush’s executive order has made life difficult for Tay Za's companies,
which are either based in Burma or linked to Singapore: Pavo Trading Pte
Ltd, Air Bagan Holdings Pte Ltd and Htoo Wood Products Pte Ltd. Pavo
Trading is a sister company of the Htoo Group of Companies run by Tay Za.

The targeted sanctions have hit at least one target where it hurts: in his
pocketbook.

This week, Air Bagan Ltd suspended flights from Rangoon to Singapore, as
of November 4, citing the effects of the economic sanctions against the
airline's owner, Tay Za.

“It is no longer profitable
 the airline has very few passengers,” a
businessman close to Tay Za told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

A letter signed by the airline's sales and marketing manager, released on
Wednesday, said "the final blow" came when the company was informed by its
Singapore bank that "they will no longer deal with us for the time being."

“Sanctions have been imposed on our airline and also our parent company in
Singapore," the letter said. "This has indeed caused us a lot of pain and
anguish, as with these sanctions we now have no access to aircraft spare
parts. We are now facing some major obstacles that need to be dealt with
in the next few months."

Gossip is swirling around Tay Za in Rangoon business circles. Rivals are
watching his new difficulties with a mixture of envy and delight.

“He planned to launch an ocean liner, and he had sent a survey team to
Singapore,” a journalist in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy. “But now, I was
told that he is in debt.”

Many businessmen in Burma resent Tay Za and his business empire,
especially his close connection to junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his
family, and Gen Thura Shwe Mann, friendships which have brought him
exclusive business opportunities and great wealth.

“There is no fairness in our open-market economy,” said a businessman who
requested anonymity. “Tay Za is always rewarded with export and import
licenses and government projects.”

Earlier, the gossip mill in Rangoon bestowed a derisive nickname on Tay
Za: "Thura," as in "Thu=He" and "Ra= Be Given." "He Be Given," because he
won all the favorable business deals.

One example: airplanes owned by Tay Za parked at the Rangoon International
Airport are not obliged to pay parking fees and last year the government
loaned ATR (Fokker) aircraft to Air Bagan. Unconfirmed reports also say
that Than Shwe’s family members have business shares in Air Bagan.

Tay Za may be knocked down a notch or two in his bank book, but the tycoon
has no shortage of friends in high places, sources say, and he has
apparently hedged his bet on the future by befriending Kyaing San Shwe,
Than Shwe’s son, as one of his circle of friends.

A few years ago, diplomatic sources say, Tay Za sealed his friendship by
buying Kyaing San Shwe an American-made Hummer, the civilian version of
the military Humvee, a status symbol in America, which now turns heads on
Rangoon streets.

Courting the children of powerful generals and placing them on the boards
of his companies appears to be one of Tay Za’s business strategies. An
important coup was his friendship with Aung Thet Mann, the son of the
junta’s No. 3 leader, Gen Thura Shwe Mann, who is tipped to take over the
leadership when Than Shwe goes.

Aung Thet Mann, a young businessman who is also on the US sanction list,
is on the board of Htoo Trading Company, and Aung Thet Mann’s company,
Ayer Shwe Wah, is now a part of Htoo trading Company.

Tay Za set up his first company after he dropped out of the Defense
Services Academy and eloped with his girlfriend, Thida Zaw.  With an
initial capital investment of US $333,333, the company exported timber and
over the years Tay Za gained timber rights over large areas of virgin
forests. Tay Za was close to former forestry minister Lt- Gen Chit Swe. A
famous story among businessmen in Burma says the young tycoon rushed to
the home of Lt-Gen Chit Swe, offering him 200 million kyat when the
minister was purged in 1997.

The Htoo Trading Company now deals in timber, transport, tourism,
construction, property development, palm oil production and military arms
deal.

Tay Za subsequently expanded his dealings with the Rangoon regime by
supplying the military with aircraft parts through his company Myanmar
Avia Export, Burma’s sole representative for Russia's Export Military
Industrial Group, known as MAPO, and of the Russian helicopter company,
Rostvertol.

Military analysts say Tay Za was instrumental in the junta’s decision to
purchase advanced MIG-29 fighter-bombers and helicopters from Russia.

Informed Rangoon sources say many Russian arms dealers who visit Rangoon
stay at one of Tay Za’s hotels, especially Espace Avenir, an executive
apartment complex.

In spite of having no direct business investments in America, Tay Za
appears to be feeling the effects of targeted sanctions, and he is paying
a price for being the No. 1 friend of the junta.

____________________________________

October 26, Irrawaddy
New targeted sanctions greeted with hope, caution - Wai Moe

As new sanctions target Burmese businessmen and junta leaders, the
regime-appointed Minister for Relations Aung Kyi met detained democracy
icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday in Rangoon, the first time in five years
she has met with a high-ranking junta official.

There was no report in the state-run media about the topics discussed in
the meeting.

One of the "demands" the military junta has placed on Suu Kyi for direct
talks between opposition groups and junta leaders is that she call for the
abandonment of economic sanctions.

The face-to-face meeting follows new targeted economic sanctions by the US
and Australia against the military regime. The EU is also considering new
sanctions.

For the past decade, opposition groups and ethnic parties inside and
outside the country have called for meetings between the junta and
opposition leaders to break the political deadlock that has existed since
1988 and to reinvigorate the moribund economy.

On September 27 and October 19, the US announced targeted sanctions
directed at 25 military officials and 12 businessmen or business entities.
The sanctions target bank accounts in third countries, such as Singapore,
Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United Arab Empire, where it's believed the
generals and their business associates do business.

Snr-Gen Than Shwe, deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye, Gen Shwe Mann and
businessmen, Tay Za, the owner of Air Bagan, and Zay Gaber Khin Shwe are
among those named in the US sanctions.

On Wednesday, Australia also imposed targeted sanctions on 418 people,
ranging from junta leaders and officials to businessmen.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the news measures are
designed to increase pressure on the regime and its supporters while
avoiding harm to the people of Burma.

The push for new, stronger sanctions followed the military’s violent
crackdown on peaceful demonstrations in September. Protesting monks, nuns
and demonstrators were gunned down, beaten and thrown in prison. Dissident
groups estimate about two hundred people were killed and 3,000 were
arrested.

Western sanctions have been debated for nearly two decades. Since the
middle 1990s, the US and EU have imposed economic sanctions on the regime.
Recently, the international community has been playing a “carrots and
sticks” tactic, analysts say.

When the US imposed targeted sanctions on September 27, Adam Szubin, the
director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said, “We are today
imposing sanctions against senior officials of the Government of Burma.
The (US) president has made clear that we will not stand by as the regime
tries to silence the voices of the Burmese people through repression and
intimidation.”

Dr Naing Aung of the Thailand-based Forum of Democracy in Burma, a Burmese
exile umbrella organization, said the sanctions are “targeted” because
they are intended to only affect members of the repressive regime.
Targeted sanctions also mean the world is standing with the suffering
people of Burma, he said.

However, an economic analyst in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy he does not see
any significant impact on democratic reform in the country.

“We did not see earlier sanctions help improve chances for reform," he
said. "But Air Bagan suspended its flights to Singapore—that's a direct
impact of targeted sanctions.”  Air Bagan announced this week it was
suspending flights from Rangoon to Singapore and cited the sanctions as
the main reason.

After the US put more junta leaders and businessmen on the targeted
sanction list, the junta has appeared to tone down its hard line
statements and take a more conciliatory tone.

A Burmese economist based in Thailand said the new sanctions make it clear
that the international community does not want to make conditions worse
for Burmese citizens.

“Sanctions are necessary," he said. "But Burma’s neighboring countries'
participation in sanctions is also important. Sanctions from three or four
countries are not enough.”

Previous sanctions by the US and Western democracies were criticized for
placing more hardships on the ordinary Burmese than the generals who run
the country.

“The generals only wake up from their dreams if their interests are hit,”
said Naing Aung.

Sanction critics recall that many workers in garment factories and other
industries were fired because of sanctions in 2003. Sanctions in 2003 were
also followed by a junta-organized attack against Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s
motorcade in Depayin in Sagaing Division, which claimed the lives of
scores of people.

The new targeted sanctions seem to be viewed favorably by many people
inside the country.

A Rangoon resident, Ko Ye, told The Irrawaddy he believed the targeted
sanctions will only effect the junta and its friends, not the people.

Yin Yin, a taxi owner in Rangoon, said by telephone: “I think controlling
their (the junta) money is the only thing that will make them (the junta)
stumble.”

____________________________________
ASEAN

October 26, Agence France Presse
Singapore PM invites new Myanmar PM to ASEAN summit

Singapore's premier has congratulated Myanmar's new premier,
Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, and invited him to attend the ASEAN bloc's
upcoming summit, the foreign ministry said Friday.

Thein Sein took over as prime minister from General Soe Win, who died on
October 12 after a long illness. Soe Win had spent about four months in a
Singapore hospital before he was flown home to spend his final days.

"Singapore and Myanmar enjoy friendly and long-standing ties," Singapore's
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a letter released by the ministry.

"With your support, I am confident that we will be able to bring our
bilateral relations to a higher level."

The prime minister in military-ruled Myanmar is thought to wield little
influence, with the real power held by junta leader Senior General Than
Shwe.

Lee also asked Thein Sein to attend the ASEAN summit in November in
Singapore during which members are expected to sign a landmark charter
that includes a provision on the protection of human rights.

Singapore, current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
has led criticisms over the Myanmar junta's crackdown on September
protests that left at least 13 people dead and more than 2,100 people
arrested.

Critics have said the city-state should take concrete steps to pressure
the junta to take more steps toward democracy, like halting business
contacts, but the government has said sanctions are unlikely to work.

ASEAN also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Myanmar was admitted in 1997.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 26, Reuters
China rejects sanctions as UN Myanmar envoy ends talks - Chris Buckley

The United Nations envoy on Myanmar concluded talks with China on
Thursday, with no indication Beijing had agreed to exert tougher pressure
on the junta that runs the troubled Southeast Asian nation.

U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari has been visiting Asia to press
neighbors -- especially India and China -- to take a tougher line against
Myanmar's military government, which harshly quelled pro-democracy
protests led by Buddhist clergy.

Earlier this month, U.S. President George W. Bush also urged Beijing and
New Delhi to step up pressure and follow Washington's example of applying
sanctions.

But China is wary of using sanctions against any country and has major
economic and strategic stakes in Myanmar, as does India. After meetings
with Gambari, Chinese diplomats gave no public sign of ramping up
pressure, instead repeating their argument that talk, not sanctions, is
the best approach.

"The Myanmar issue, after all, has to be appropriately resolved by its own
people and government through their own efforts of dialogue and
consultation," State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan told Gambari on Thursday.

"The international community should provide constructive help for that end
and should not only stick to imposing sanctions and pressure," Tang said
in remarks carried by the Web site of the Chinese Foreign Ministry
(www.fmprc.gov.cn).

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Gambari, who did not speak to
reporters in Beijing, that China would continue its efforts to help
achieve a "proper resolution" in Myanmar.

China, the closest the isolated junta has to an ally, has expressed
concern about the crackdown and helped bring about Gambari's visit to
Myanmar earlier this month.

Beijing also joined Western powers to deplore Myanmar's crushing of the
pro-democracy demonstrations in a statement by the U.N. Security Council.

But Beijing has stressed that the statement did not mean it would stomach
harsher action or legally binding U.N. resolutions against the Myanmar.

Chinese embassies across the globe were the target of protests on
Wednesday by groups claiming that Beijing coddles Myanmar's generals with
arms and investment and has failed to use its influence to ease the
crackdown.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman responded by asserting that outside
countries could not solve Myanmar's problems.

"The essence of the Myanmar issue is that it has to be resolved by the
Myanmar government and people," spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news
conference.

Before visiting China, Gambari was in India, which has also resisted
wielding economic pressure against Myanmar, a country with energy
resources coveted by both New Delhi and Beijing.

Delhi has promised to help push Myanmar towards democracy but stopped
short of committing to concrete action.

On Thursday, the Indian Foreign Minister repeated that line.

"We have shared our views and we have commonality of the approach, and let
the process which began in Myanmar for the political reforms and national
reconciliation, let it be taken to its logical conclusion," Indian Foreign
Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in the northeast Chinese city
Harbin, where he had been meeting his Chinese and Russian counterparts.

Gambari is due to travel on to Tokyo later on Thursday and to return to
Myanmar in early November.

(Additional reporting by Kitty Bu in Harbin)

____________________________________

October 26, Mizzima News
Panty Power comes into play

Women workers in Philippines today "attacked" the Burmese embassy in
Makati by hurling panties in a demonstration against the junta's brutal
crackdown on Burmese protesters in September.

The protest organized by Free Burma Coalition-Philippines and Alliance of
Progressive Labor, had over 60 women activists on Friday pelting panties
at the Burmese embassy condemning it for its brutality against its own
people.

Burmese junta officials, are known to be highly superstitious and panties
were deliberately thrown to condemn their actions, Jomar Bolo,
spokesperson of the FBC, said.

"Some junta members believe that any contact with female undergarments -
clean or dirty - will sap them of their power," Bolo told Mizzima.

Throwing panties at the Burmese Embassy is also to remind the junta of its
brutal beating, killing in the crackdown last month on tens of thousands
of peaceful protesters despite calls by the international community to
exercise utmost restraint, the FBC said in its statement released today.

Marlene Sindayen, spokesperson of the Alliance of Progressive Labor, said,
"Throwing women's underwear at the Burmese embassy is our way of telling
the junta we want democracy in Burma now. Panties also symbolize women's
liberation in Burma because the junta is also known for being the world's
number one women rights abuser."

The protest called "Panty Power" joins activists' in several countries,
including UK, Thailand, Australia and Singapore in sending panties to
Burmese embassies.

The Lanna Action for Burma, which launched the "panties for peace"
campaign, in its website encourages women to send their panties to the
Burmese embassy saying, "This is your chance to use your 'Panty Power' to
take away the power from the junta and support the people in Burma."

"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese
Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!" added the group.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 26, Irrawaddy
Germans accuse junta of misusing them for propaganda - Jim Andrews

A leading German political foundation has accused the Burmese junta of
exploiting a meeting attended by its members in Naypyidaw for the regime’s
own propaganda purposes.

The foundation, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, sent a delegation to Burma
to meet the Myanmar [Burma] Institute for Strategic and International
Studies, only days after the violent crackdown on demonstrators in Rangoon
and elsewhere.

The FES asked the regime to keep the meeting secret, but state-controlled
media gave it blanket coverage, hailing the Germans as friends of the
junta.

The FES, which has close ties to Germany’s left-leaning Social Democratic
Party, registered a strong protest with Burma’s Information Ministry,
complaining that the media coverage had “tried to instrumentalize the
visit of the delegation.”

The FES Southeast Asian representative, Dr Paul Pasch, told The Irrawaddy
in an e-mailed message from his office in Kuala Lumpur: “The [Burmese]
Ministry of Information had repeatedly assured us that they will not
report on the proceedings of our visit in agreement with the delegation’s
position that under these particularly difficult circumstances the content
of the dialogue was more important than publicity.”

The publicity given to the meeting, said Pasch, represented a “breach of
trust and confidence that we hoped to have built with great effort over
the past two years.”

Germany’s leading news weekly, Der Spiegel, said the FES had fallen into a
“propaganda trap.” Its correspondent Juergen Kremb reported from Rangoon
that the FES delegation had sat through more than three hours of
propaganda by regime officials, including Information Minister Brig-Gen
Kyaw Hsan.

“One asks oneself why Social Democrats and their guests didn’t simply get
up and leave the hall,” Kremb wrote.

Pasch confirmed that Kyaw Hsan and Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu had
given the delegation a “briefing on the conclusion of the National
Convention and the perspectives for the seven-step road map.”

Pasch maintained that in all their meetings in Burma, the FES delegation
had “made it very clear
that as a matter of principle we condemn the use
of violence as a means of solving political problems.”

Furthermore, he said, “we expressed our concern that business as usual is
at the moment not acceptable in the European capitals, and that we
consider the seven-step road map towards a new constitutional order to be
stalled.”

It seemed to be necessary now, Pasch added, for Burma’s government to
“signal to the Myanmar [Burma] people and the outside world that some kind
of a new beginning of an inclusive dialogue with all the relevant parties
is required.”

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 26, The Nation
Players line up to tackle Burma - Pavin Chachavalpongpun

As the United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari tours key countries in
Asia in order to seek their support for a solution to the Burmese
political stalemate, rumours have been rife in New York regarding his plan
to set up a new cooperative framework designed as a vehicle to push for
genuine democratic reforms in the military state.

No, it is not about the Thai-initiated six-party talks, as recently
proposed by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont. Gambari has his own version
of multi-party talks on the Burma issue, with the aim of expanding the
scope of countries involved and a set of clear requests that would be
pressed upon the military junta.

Rumours have been spreading among Western diplomats that Gambari, toward
the end of his Asian tour, will come up with his own formula for a
multi-party framework that will comprise all five permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and
China - together with India, Japan, Norway and possibly Singapore.

The choice of India and Japan is understandable considering their existing
strategic interests in Burma. Singapore is likely to partake in Gambari's
latest initiative as the chairman and representative of Asean. Norway
would be invited because the country has been busy on the international
stage in the past few years, acting as a peace broker in Sri Lanka and
Indonesia's Aceh province. It is also the birthplace of the Nobel Peace
Prize, which was granted to Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in
1991. Furthermore, Norway is willing to spend money on the peace process
in Burma.

I can understand where Gambari's idea comes from; he might be thinking
that the participation of the UN Security Council will add a stronger
sense of legitimacy and seriousness when he deals with Burma. Burma's two
important neighbours - China and India - will also be able to exercise
their influence while keeping an eye on their economic interests in the
country. And to garnish the new cooperative framework with a regional
enthusiasm and involvement, Singapore, on Asean's behalf, is the right
player for Gambari's purpose. So far, Singapore has been adamant in its
approach toward the Burmese regime.

Although Gambari's design sounds thoughtful and is replete with eagerness
to generate a breakthrough, it surely guarantees differences of opinion
and even more complications to the current situation.

First, and perhaps most significant, is the response from China. It is
certain that Beijing will reject Gambari's formula, which will be
perceived as further internationalising the Burmese problem. After all,
China wishes to see the problem handled in the regional framework, or in
other words, in its own backyard. This is because China considers itself
the main regional power. More essentially, Burma is and has always been
under China's sphere of influence. India, wrangling with the Chinese
influence in Burma, comprehends how China's jealousy might be fierce at
times.

Will China be content to allow the US, parts of the EU, or even Japan, to
poke their noses in what it sees as its protectorate? If it is not
content, its reputation would be further tainted. China has already been
criticised by the West for protecting the brutal regime in exchange for
economic benefits, access to a sea port on the Indian Ocean and the
wellbeing of Chinese migrants in Burma. Internationalising the issue would
mean questioning the legitimacy of China's role and influence in Burma.
This is the last thing Beijing needs when it wants to be concentrating on
hosting the Olympics in 2008.

The second problem Gambari must take into account is whether the Burmese
junta will approve his formula. Like China, Burma feels that its wounds
would be ripped open publicly. This fear may cause the regime to tighten
its political grasp and drive it even further into isolation. There have
been stories that the Burmese junta is wary of a possible US attack - and
this could partly explain why it abruptly moved the capital into the
jungle.

With the US as part of the new Gambari multi-party talks, Burma has every
reason to be convinced that such a long-held fear may turn to reality.
Moreover, the regime would be suspicious of US neutrality, since
Washington has never been shy of lending support to Aung San Suu Kyi, her
National League for Democracy, political dissidents and certain ethnic
minorities who have refused to conclude cease-fires with the Burmese
government.

Burma's same suspicion could be extended to include Britain and France,
members of the Security Council and representatives of the European Union,
which has maintained a hard-line policy toward the regime.

Finally, enlarging the number of parties directly involved in the Burma
issue might make Asean look silly. At the end of the day, and whether one
likes it or not, Burma is still a member of Asean. During the past month,
Asean members have expressed concern about the grave situation in Burma
and have called for genuine political reconciliation. Some elements in the
regional grouping have even condemned the regime. Never before has Asean
opted for such strong language regarding a fellow member. Singapore's
ex-diplomat, Barry Desker, even suggested a suspension of Burma's
membership until it learned to behave.

Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun is the author of "A Plastic Nation: The Curse of
Thainess in Thai-Burmese Relations".

____________________________________

October 26, Baltimore Sun
America must do more to end Myanmar misery - Jared Genser and Meghan Barron

This week, on the other side of the world, a 62-year-old woman marks 12
years of sitting alone in her home. The telephone is silent because the
line is disconnected. The doorbell never rings because visitors are
forbidden. There is no mail or news. For our client, Aung San Suu Kyi, the
democratically elected leader of Myanmar and Nobel Peace laureate, little
has changed for years - there is almost complete isolation.

It has been more than a month since the world witnessed tens of thousands
of Buddhist monks in saffron robes marching in solidarity with the Burmese
people, protesting the military junta in that country. And yet, with a
brutal crackdown, nightly curfews and a series of late-night police raids,
the junta has reclaimed control. An ominous, Orwellian calm has descended.

The crackdown triggered widespread condemnation in the international
community, notably from the U.N. Security Council. Even the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations said it was "appalled" at reports of violence
against unarmed civilians, and the United States and European Union
tightened sanctions on the military regime. But much more is needed, and
the United States should lead the way.

Despite its recent pronouncements, the international community has been
painfully slow to demand that Myanmar's junta enter into an irreversible
process of national reconciliation and democratization. Indeed, many have
forgotten that Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and its allies
won more than 80 percent of the seats in the country's parliamentary
elections. And the world has stood idly by as the military junta has
burned 3,000 villages to the ground in eastern Myanmar, creating more than
1 million refugees and 600,000 internally displaced persons.

It is our obligation to stand in solidarity with the Burmese people, to
stem the junta's abuses and help restore democracy to their country.

In response to international pressure in the wake of the crackdown, junta
leader Gen. Than Shwe allowed U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to make
an emergency visit to the country. State media quoted the general as
saying that if Ms. Suu Kyi agreed to renounce her call for sanctions and
abandoned her "confrontational" approach, he would agree to meet with her.

Regime apologists - including some academics, trade groups and
nongovernmental organizations - and those diplomats who like to hail form
over substance immediately seized on this statement as an important step
forward. But by itself, this is no breakthrough. It is the same offer that
has been on the table for years: If Ms. Suu Kyi and her allies
unilaterally surrender, thereby giving up any leverage that they have, the
junta will be willing to meet with her. And this message was delivered as
Ms. Suu Kyi and virtually every other political leader with whom
negotiations would need to take place is dead, in exile or imprisoned in
Myanmar.

We cannot speak on our client's behalf because she is held incommunicado
and we do not know her views. But it seems to us that any dialogue must be
held without conditions. To achieve this goal, the U.N. Security Council
needs to adopt a binding resolution calling for the junta to work with the
United Nations on a plan for national reconciliation in the country,
urging open access to the country for the provision of humanitarian
relief, and demanding the release of all political prisoners. Despite the
fact that such a resolution would be nonpunitive, it would be a tall order
for the Security Council, where China and Russia vetoed a similar
resolution in January. But the situation has changed, and Myanmar's allies
are on the defensive.

It is up to the United States and others to publicly explain how the
oppression of the Burmese people continues and why the junta's defenders
are culpable for its behavior. Only then will China and Russia be
persuaded to stand aside. Without the pressure generated by a united
international community, General Than Shwe has little reason to take any
meaningful action. Ms. Suu Kyi's meeting today outside her home with junta
liaison minister U Aung Kyi suggests the government believes it is
important to be seen to engage in dialogue. But as Mr. Gambari recently
remarked: "We want time-bound, concrete and serious results."

No doubt, that is the goal. But how long will the Burmese people have to
wait?

Jared Genser (jgenser at freedom-now.org) and Meghan Barron
(mbarron at freedom-now.org) are volunteer lawyers with Freedom Now in
Washington who represent Aung San Suu Kyi.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

October 25, Central Committee, Kachin Independence Organization
The statement of 15th Kachin Independence Organization Central Committee
plenary meeting

1. Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has successfully held its 15th
Plenary Meeting from 15th to 20th October 2007.

2. National Convention has completed on 3rd September 2007 and ‘Commission
for Drafting State Constitution’ has been formed on 18th October 2007. The
Commission badly needs to include the needs and demands made by the ethnic
nationalities in its Constitution drafting.

3. We welcome the UN’s advice, urge and efforts to resolve the political
crises of Burma through dialogue.

4. The People Republic of China’s advice to resolve the crises gently and
smoothly for national reconciliation and to restore peace and stability in
Burma is appropriate and proper.

5. KIO always insists on establishing genuine federalism with
self-determination and full ethnic rights in ethnic nationalities’
constituent States.

6. KIO will consult and discuss with Kachin People Consultant Organization
and Kachin people to change its title ‘KIO” to appropriate title in
accordance with the federalism in its efforts to establish genuine Federal
Union.

Central Committee
Kachin Independence Organization