BurmaNet News, January 5-7, 2008

[Editor]

January 5-7, 2008 Issue # 3374

INSIDE BURMA
Los Angeles Times: A digitally enhanced Myanmar opposition
Irrawaddy: New opposition bulletin published in Rangoon
Irrawaddy: Burmese army senior officer accused of killing two soldiers
DVB: Increased monitoring of internet users in Rangoon
DVB: Junta continues to arrest activists
DVB: 7000 sign petition for jailed Arakan NLD leaders
KNG: Thousand acres of resident's plantations confiscated
Mizzima News: Junta further tightens scholarship procedures
Mizzima News: Sat TV fees drastically drop back in Burma
BBC Burmese Service: Imprisoned SNLD leaders' health deteriorate

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: Two Burmese army defectors arrives Thailand
Los Angeles Times: Scrounging for the generals' scraps

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar to auction off national library
Earthtimes.org: Singaporeans hiring more maids from Thailand, India and
Myanmar

DRUGS
IMNA: Karen boy sentenced to 25 years for "carrying" drugs - Lawiweng

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: Burma presents Asean’s new chief with a challenge

REGIONAL
Narinjara: Burma to attend bimstec meeting on poverty alleviation
Narinjara: Bangladeshi Monks united for saffron revolution in Burma

INTERNATIONAL
The Chronicle Journal: Karen community grateful for escaping violence,
dictatorship
Swissinfo.ch: Asylum seeker from Myanmar returns to Switzerland

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Who lost the most in the 2007 uprising?
Irrawaddy: 2747—Will it be a happy New Year for the Karen?
Bangkok Post: What is there to celebrate in Burma?

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 7, Los Angeles Times
A digitally enhanced Myanmar opposition – Paul Watson

Protesters had difficulty communicating until they landed in jail, where
they traded e-mail addresses and cellphone numbers. Many are out again,
building a network for what they call a new revolution.

During 45 years of military rule, Myanmar's generals drilled fear and
suspicion so deeply into the minds of their people that when their
opponents tried to harness the rage seething on the streets last fall, no
one knew whom to trust.

The generals quickly took advantage, crushing the pro-democracy
demonstrations, killing at least 15 people and jailing thousands. It was a
brutally simple strategy that had worked before.

But this time may be different. An information revolution has come slowly
to this poor, isolated country, and the military government may have
inadvertently handed its enemies the keys to organizing a more effective
underground movement.

Opposition activists and exiled leaders had tried before to tap into the
growing discontent, but constant surveillance kept them off balance and on
the run.

There seemed little chance of getting organized until more than 2,000
protesters, arrested and jammed into crowded jail cells, met one another
and overcame their distrust. Now, most of them are on the streets again,
carefully building a network for what they call a new revolution.

Their digital tools are e-mail and text messages, which are more powerful
than a megaphone, and cellphone cameras that are so common that thousands
of people are potential journalists.

The country's current turmoil is rooted in the military rulers'
mismanagement, which has reduced a country rich in natural resources to an
economic basket case surrounded by neighbors enjoying rapid growth.

Even as the generals and their cronies enriched themselves on oil and
natural gas exports, they ended subsidies for their people in August,
sharply increasing fuel prices overnight and compounding inflation. Anger
rose with prices, and what began as small, isolated protests exploded into
a full-blown crisis in September.

Many who joined the protests were ordinary people moved by the courage of
marching Buddhist monks to take their own stand against the government.
The peaceful demonstrators were easy targets for the military.

The government acknowledged killing 15 protesters; the United Nations says
at least 31 died. Many others found themselves behind bars, where they
could either try to sleep on the crowded concrete floor or get to know
other protesters.

Most spent only a few days in jail, long enough to overcome distrust, make
new contacts with the underground, and organize more cells that now
communicate through coded messages, Internet drop boxes and old-fashioned
couriers.

"Nobody knew what they were doing in the revolution. There was no
organization," said a small businessman who joined the street protests out
of frustration with mismanagement of the economy.

"But when people were in jail, they got to meet each other. They could
exchange e-mail addresses, cellphone numbers and make plans," added the
entrepreneur, who spoke on condition of anonymity because police are still
arresting and torturing dissidents.

They walked out of jail with a new determination to tap into the growing
sense that the generals are losing their grip, pro-democracy activists and
their leaders inside and outside Myanmar said in interviews.

In the aftermath of the September protests, the businessman said, he took
charge of a cell of young pro-democracy activists who are trying to keep
information on the movement flowing to the outside world.

During the uprising, video, photographs and blog reports posted on the
Internet played a key role in breaking the wall of silence surrounding
Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

The government has restored Internet links that it severed in the fall,
and though access to some popular e-mail services is still blocked, many
people here are savvy enough to breach the Web barricades, using proxy
servers and other devices.

Secret couriers, who already run messages between exiled opposition
leaders and supporters in Myanmar, could smuggle video and photos into
Thailand to be sent across the Internet from there.

Despite the chinks in the government's defenses, it still has a vast army
of spies and routinely taps telephones. Speaking at dinner on the edge of
a quiet, dark restaurant, the activist businessman frequently looked over
his shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

A Western diplomat said the generals hobbled their own intelligence
operations by turning against former prime minister and intelligence chief
Gen. Khin Nyunt, who is now under house arrest.

He was sentenced in 2005 to 44 years in prison for corruption in what was
widely seen here as a power play by the government's leader, Senior Gen.
Than Shwe.

Meantime, the military leaders have staked their future on a well-tested
strategy: While attacking protesters, they tried to appease international
outrage with promises to talk with the opposition. When world attention
quickly shifted to new crises, the generals tightened their grip again.

A government minister named to lead talks with detained opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi hasn't met with her since Nov. 19 and has not scheduled
any further meetings with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, according to
Western diplomats.

"There was great hope when the first meeting took place, and people
welcomed this," said U.S. Charge d'Affaires Shari Villarosa, the top
American diplomat here. "But where's the follow-through?

"Everybody keeps saying it's a process, but 'a process' means something is
going on. Here, it's stopped."

Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, is due back
soon. But he has won few concessions from the generals on previous visits,
so people here have little faith that he can persuade the military to
start serious negotiations with Suu Kyi.

The government is still holding more than 800 political prisoners after
releasing about 1,400 rounded up after the September protests, Western
diplomats estimated. It is still hunting for people it accuses of
undermining stability and security.

The diplomats said the jailed activists include Buddhist monks and leaders
of the 88 Generation Students group, named after a 1988 uprising in which
troops killed thousands of protesters.

"People have not given up," said Soe Aung, a spokesman for a coalition of
opposition groups in exile based in the Thai border city of Mae Sot. "They
are just backing off because of the junta's strong onslaught. But if the
junta's security slackens, then they will come out on the streets again."

Activists and diplomats say the government has become more like a greedy
mafia than an all-powerful military regime. And it appears increasingly
shaky.

"Living in any authoritarian country, while you're in the midst of it,
it's hard to see that they'll ever cede power or go away -- or anything,"
Villarosa said. "But actually, they cause their own destruction. And their
foundations are rotting.

"It's going to happen here," she added. "It's a question of time. None of
these [regimes] go on forever. It is going to collapse. The foundations
are getting weaker and weaker."

Some activists suggest the 20th anniversary of the March-to-September
uprising in 1988 would be an ideal time for a final push to bring the
generals down. Activists say the timing is still being debated, but they
hope to strike when they have a chance to sustain large protests across
the country.

The economy could be the government's Achilles' heel.

The current crisis grew out of protests against an overnight fuel price
hike of 66%. As the generals and their allies raked in higher profits from
exports of oil and natural gas, they rationed fuel supplies for everyone
else.

Under strict government quotas, private vehicles are allowed 2 gallons a
day in the country's principal city, Yangon, while those in Mandalay, the
second-largest city, receive half that amount.

Drivers who can afford to are turning to the black market. There they can
buy as much as they need, at just over $2 a gallon, 75% above the
government-set price. Sharply higher fuel costs are driving up inflation,
which is the highest in Asia at more than 35%, according to the
International Monetary Fund.

Tourism, which the United Nations says is an increasingly important source
of jobs and foreign currency for Myanmar, has been hit hard by images seen
around the world of soldiers beating and shooting protesters.

Suu Kyi has asked tourists to avoid her country until democracy prevails.

It is high season for tourism in Myanmar, yet most hotels in popular
spots, such as those surrounding the ancient Buddhist temples of Bagan,
are virtually empty. That's hurting laid-off cooks and chambermaids as
well as curio hawkers, tour companies and craft industries.

About 150,000 tourists visited the country in 2007, half the number who
came in 2006, a record year for tourism in Myanmar.

There is hope here that Suu Kyi's example will inspire ordinary people to
take bigger risks for freedom. But the few people who take the chance to
talk to strangers about politics have another dream as well.

Those brave enough to broach the subject with a foreigner often ask the
same question: "When is the U.S. going to bomb our military?"

That, they say, would topple the generals in an instant. News of
airstrikes and invasions toppling tyrants has fed a fantasy here that
Myanmar might be freed the same way. Diplomats are unusually blunt in
discouraging that kind of thinking.

"There are too many people here who would like to see us do more," the
Western diplomat said. "And I say, 'It's not going to happen. What you can
count on from us are words.'

" 'We will speak out in support of your desires for freedom and democracy.
We will criticize human rights abuses. But don't expect more.' "

____________________________________

January 7, Irrawaddy
New opposition bulletin published in Rangoon – Saw Yan Naing

A new opposition bulletin, Ah-yoan-thit, or “Dawn,” was published and
distributed by youth members of the National League for Democracy on
January 4, the anniversary of Burma’s independence.

It is the first in-country bulletin reporting on anti-regime issues and
events since the closure of an earlier NLD bulletin 18 years ago.

The earlier bulletin shut down in 1990 on orders from the military
government.

Ah-yoan-thit will reportedly be published bi-monthly. The NLD could not be
reached for comment.

In the first issue, the bulletin carried articles about the September
crackdown on peaceful protestors the closure of Maggin Monastery by the
junta, detained NLD members, the distribution of VCDs critical of the
junta and other events.

The bulletin reported that Ko Ko Win, who was involved in the Buddhist
monk-led September protests, was killed after he was brutally beaten by
security forces and riot policemen. Thet Pai Soe, who marched in the front
of protesters, died from head wounds after he was shot by Burmese forces
on September 26, the bulletin reported.

Meanwhile, among five members of the 88 Generation Students group who were
arrested on December 19, two of them—Khin Moe Aye and Kyaw Kyaw Soe—are
still being detained in Rangoon’s Insein prison. The other three members
are missing, the bulletin added.

The bulletin said the hunt for activists is still going on.
Prominent women activists such as Nilar Thein and Phyu Phyu Thin are still
in hiding while Mie Mie and Su Su Nway are still detained by authorities,
following their involvement in the September protests.

____________________________________

January 7, Irrawaddy
Burmese army senior officer accused of killing two soldiers – Min Lwin

The commanding officer of the Burmese Army’s Light Infantry Battalion 606,
based in Badadchaung, Naypyidaw, and his intelligence officer have been
arrested and charged with killing a corporal and a private, according to a
source close to Naypyidaw Military Command.

The source identified the arrested CO as Lt-Col Zaw Lwin. His intelligence
officer, a second lieutenant, was not named.

The two are reportedly charged with torturing the corporal and the private
because they failed to pay bribes expected from enlisted men. Their
victims’ bodies were found buried after the families of the two men
reported them missing.

Burmese army soldiers commonly augment their low pay by running sideline
businesses, paying bribes to their commanding officers. The two victims
had reportedly been dealing in timber and owed their commanding officer
500,000 kyat (US $384).

A private in the Burmese Army earns around 21,000 kyat ($16) a month and a
warrant officer first-class about 50,000 kyat ($40). Apart from their
regular duty hours, unmarried men are required to perform housekeeping
work for officers and their families.

Discipline is tough, and soldiers complain frequently that they are beaten
by their superior officers.

In 2005, the adjutant of 376 Light Infantry Battalion 376 in Kyaktaw,
Arankan State was allegedly killed by his commanding officer, Lt-Col Aung
Zaw Myo, for failing to pay bribes.

____________________________________

January 7, Democratic Voice of Burma
Increased monitoring of internet users in Rangoon – Maung Too

Owners of internet cafés in Rangoon say that authorities have imposed
tighter restrictions on internet usage since the September protests and
are monitoring users more closely.

Cyber business owners in Rangoon told DVB that the Special Police have
instructed them to burn the data of internet usage weekly onto CDs and
send it to them.

"The Special Police information department told us to install software to
monitor internet usage by our customers and give them the data on CD every
week," said an internet café owner.

"Other internet cafés have been asked to do the same thing as well. We
think they are aware of the spread of information via the internet after
the September events."

He said that owners of internet cafés are being asked to give the Special
Police copies of their documentation and to confirm they have licences and
registrations for their businesses.

"The licence fee is 500,000 kyat a year with an additional 50,000 kyat
monthly, which you have to give to the Myanmar Info-Tech Corporation," the
café owner said.

Despite the high fees paid for the licences, business owners have
complained that the internet service provided by MITC is very poor.

____________________________________

January 7, Democratic Voice of Burma
Junta continues to arrest activists – Maung Too

More than 10 political activists, including one monk, have been arrested
since 1 January in Rangoon alone, according to sources from the
pro-democracy movement.

National League for Democracy spokesperson U Nyan Win, said that three NLD
youth members, Htet Htet Aung, Ko Kyaw Kyaw and Kyaw Zin Win, were
arrested on 4 January.

On 3 January, one monk and four civilians were arrested at the Sate Taing
Kya teashop on Lewis Road.

Ko Ko Maung and Ko Min Han, both former political prisoners and 88
generation members, were also arrested in a separate incident, 88
generation leader Ko Soe Tun said.

All-Burmese Federation of Student Unions leader Kyaw Ko Ko narrowly
escaped arrest when the house where he was staying was raided by the
authorities.

NLD members from Yay Nan Chaung who were detained around independence day,
purportedly to disrupt NLD celebrations to be held on the day, have all
since been released.

Arrests have continued in Rangoon and elsewhere in Burma since the public
demonstrations in September 2007, despite the regime’s promise that no
further detentions were taking place and in defiance of repeated appeals
from the international community.

____________________________________

January 7, Democratic Voice of Burma
7000 sign petition for jailed Arakan NLD leaders – Aye Nai

About 7000 people in Arakan state have signed in a petition calling on the
government to release two members of the National League for Democracy.

The NLD party in Taunggok township started the petition to campaign for
the release of the township's NLD secretary U Khin Hla and deputy
secretary Ko Min Aung, who were arrested after the September 2007
protests.

Ko Moe Naing Soe, a member of the Taunggok NLD communication committee,
said that about 7000 local villagers in the Arakan state have so far added
their signatures to the petition.

"The petition will be sent to senior general Than Shwe within the next few
days,” said Ko Moe Naing Soe.

U Khin Hla was sentenced to four years and three months in prison after
his sister brought charges against him in November, and is now being held
in Sandoway prison.

His sister later tried to withdraw the charges before he was sentenced,
but was told by officials that it was too late.

Ko Min Aung, who is also being held in Sandoway prison, was sentenced to
nine and a half years’ imprisonment for his involvement in the September
demonstrations, thought this was later reduced to two and a half years.

____________________________________

January 7, Kachin News Group
Thousand acres of resident's plantations confiscated

Over 1,000 acres of crop plantations belonging to the people were
confiscated in Kachin State, Northern Burma by the Burmese ruling junta
two weeks ago, farmers said.

The seizure occurred in areas about 18 miles south of Myitkyina Township,
capital of Kachin State between the Myitkyina-Mandalay highway and the
railway. The plots are owned by farmers between Mali Hka village, where a
small train station is located, and Myitkyina, said land owners.

The farmers were told by the government staff by the Township Land
Ownership Office and Administrative Office (Ma-Ya-Ka) at a special meeting
in Mali Hka village that the land confiscation without compensation was in
keeping with the government's plan.

Of the land confiscated, over 200 acres are active paddy fields and the
rest are different seasonal fruit plantations. The seized land includes
over seven acres of paddy fields in Mali Hka belonging to the Baptist
pastor, actor, director and comedian Rev. Jawnshaw Yaw Ying, the villagers
told KNG.

Of the seized land, the farmers in Mali Hka grew fruit trees like
Djenkol-bean tree, edible leafy trees and land paddy mainly on highland
areas, villagers said.

The farmers said they mainly depended on the plantations for both their
daily income and survival. They are in a hopeless situation and are facing
big trouble without any idea about where to appeal regarding the matter.

According to rumors from Burmese military bases and government personnel,
the land was seized by Kyaw Thura, the eldest son of Maj-Gen Ohn Myint,
military commander of Kachin State.

The ruling junta has confiscated civilians' land in Putao District,
Hukawng Valley, Myitkyina District and Bhamo District for military bases.
The seized land would be used for building Buddhist monasteries and
implementing government programmes like planting rubber and castor oil
trees, the locals said.

____________________________________

January 7, Mizzima News
Junta further tightens scholarship procedures - Mungpi

Burma's ruling junta has further tightened the procedure for selection of
scholars going abroad for further studies after reforming the selection
committee.

Junta officials, during a meeting on December 27, 2007, reform the
selection committee of scholarship programme by filling in more officials,
with the level of directors, from several government ministries and
departments.

According to the meeting Memo, scholars who are currently doing courses
abroad would require returning home upon completing their courses and
would only be allowed to resume further studies after the completion of
serving the government for 3 years.

A Burmese student who is currently studying abroad under the scholarship
programme said the move is a big blow for student who wish to continue
further studies, as students would cross the age limits to continue their
studies.

"By taking a break for three years in service most students would be
overage to continue further studies. As most Burmese students going for
scholarship are nearly overage," the student, who wish to remain anonymous
for fear of reprisal told Mizzima.

According to the Memo, a copy of which is send to Mizzima by a source
close to the military establishment, all students going for the programme
will have to be guaranteed by their spouses or their family members, who
will require to pay the sum of 5 million kyat (USD 3846) incase the
student fail to return home after the programme.

"This is a kind of ransom. The government is making the students' family
to sign and would not allow any family members to leave the country as a
ransom against the student from staying in the host countries," the
student said.

The memo, signed by secretary of the Military Government's cabinet Col
Thant Shin, also imposed restrictions on women scholars to go for further
studies alone but said, "at least two women should be send together for a
scholarship programme."

The Memo also said that the previous selection committee formed in 1988,
shall no longer be effective but recognizes the reformed committee with
its new sets of criteria.

"This is only shows that the government does not care for the education of
its people but are only concern for their power," the student said.

According the student, most scholarship programmes for Burmese students
are funded or offered by the host countries or non-governmental
organizations.

"Except for Russia and China, the government does not spend a penny on the
students to go for scholarship programmes. But for Russia and China, they
[the junta] sponsors military officers to go for training," added the
student.

However, another student, who is preparing for the scholarship programme
in Rangoon told mizzima, "rules and regulations are merely set, there are
no officials from any department who is abiding strictly. Rules and
regulation could be reflex if we can bribe them."

____________________________________

January 7, Mizzima News
Sat TV fees drastically drop back in Burma - Phanida

Rumors are doing round in Burma's former capital city of Rangoon that the
increased Satellite Television license fees would be drastically drop back
from Kyat 10 million (US$800) to Kyat 50,000 (US $ 38).

In early January, Satellite Dish users in Rangoon, who went to pay the
annual license fees, complaint when they find out the increased in the fee
to Kyat 10 million from 6000 Kyat.

Just as several people in Rangoon as well as other parts of the country
are ready to stop using Satellite Dishes due to the sudden hike in the
license fee, on January 4, a rumor spread that the fee has dropped back to
50,000 kyat, which is 8 fold increased.

"There are two information spreading now, some said from 6000 Kyat it [the
license fee] will increase to 50,000 Kyat. But no body knows the exact
information as yet. The telecommunication office said they have not
receive any direction on this regard and refuse to accept any license
fees," a local resident of Rangoon, who went to the Mayangone
telecommunication office to pay the annual fee for Satellite dish.

Another local resident of Rangoon's Bahan Township said, "Today I heard
people were saying that the fees will be 50,000."

An official at the Yankin Telecommunication office, when contacted by
Mizzima, refuse to answer, stating that there has been no official
notification or direction on the matter.

However, a Burmese blog site named 'Dr. Lwun Swe' confirmed the
information and said several Rangoon residents have re-install their
Satellite Dishes, which they have it down last week.

The information, however, could not be independently confirmed.

____________________________________

January 7, BBC Burmese Service
Imprisoned SNLD leaders' health deteriorate

A spokes person of one of the largest ethnic political party, Shan
National League for Democracy, told the BBC that there was a need of
urgent medical attention to their incarcerated leaders who have been sent
to the prisons in remote areas of the country.

SNLD member U Sai Hla Aung who is in Kyauk Pyu prison is suffering from
high blood pressure and diabetes and needs to be seen and treated by the
specialist doctors, said U Sai Leik.

He has not been seen by the doctor for about three years and his family is
asking the authorities to have permission to be treated by the physicians
since two weeks ago but they have not heard anything yet, U Sai Leik
added.

He also stated that Shan leader U Khun Tun Oo's prostate problems become
worsened since end of December.

The families of Shan leaders are feeling so worried and want the ICRC to
go to prisons and help them.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 7, Mizzima News
Two Burmese army defectors arrives Thailand - Than Htike Oo

Two Burmese Army Sergeants, who allegedly deserted their camp in fear of
reprisal after refusing to attend junta organize riot control training,
has arrive the Maela refugee camp along the Thai-Burmese border.

The two soldiers, Myo Chit and Sa Myo Win said they fled their based at
Mingalardon Health battalion in Rangoon for fear of reprisal for refusing
to attend the riot training, aimed to equipped the soldiers with skills to
handle any possible future uprising. The two arrive the Maela refugee camp
in Thailand's Tak province, opposite Burma's Myawaddy town, on December
31.

Myo Chit, a Chin ethnic, who talked to Mizzima over telephone said, "In
their [the junta] riot control training programme, most of the names
listed are ethnic groups. This training will equipped the soldiers with
skills to handle any uprising. It is a preparation and if we are included
in the training, we will be their hardcore members, so we refuse to
attend."

According to the deserters, they fled Rangoon in end December and arrived
Mae Sot in Thailand from Myawaddy and after enquiring entered into the
Maela camp.

Sa Mya Win, a Karen ethnic, said, "I don't want to involve myself with
violence. I just want to remain in peace and serve the Lord. I am no more
interested in all these, I just want to serve the Lord with my remaining
live."

____________________________________

January 6, Los Angeles Times
Scrounging for the generals' scraps – Paul Watson

Squatting along rocky banks of the Nmai Hka River, villagers labour dawn
till dusk over large wooden pans, scrounging for crumbs from the junta's
table.

Children barely big enough to swirl the heavy silt toil beside adults,
doing backbreaking work that exposes them to toxic mercury.

Every few minutes, they pause and tilt their dripping pans to catch the
sunlight, hoping for the glint from a few golden flecks not scooped up
with the rest of Burma's vast mineral wealth by the ruling generals and
their cronies.

On a recent day by the river, Ja Bu, 46, strained to shovel loads of silt
as a 10-year-old boy, ankle-deep in cold, muddy water, worked a pan big
enough for him to bathe in.

About 95 kilometres west, Ja Bu's younger brother searched for jade in the
drainage ditch of a mine exhausted years ago by the junta. The few dollars
Ja Bu and her brother scratch together each day from the generals'
leavings buys food, clothes and shelter for 10 people.

During 45 years of military rule, the generals have steadily consolidated
control over the country's most lucrative mining areas. They have amassed
enormous wealth from gems, minerals, timber and other vast natural
resources, and left most Burmese people poor.

The junta tightly controls access to large gem and jade mines, including
those of Mogok, 300 kilometres south of Kharbar. But this remote outpost
offers a glimpse of a struggling people's helpless, yet strengthening,
rage against misrule.

Travelling north to the rough roads and fast-moving rivers around Kharbar,
you find two fed by Himalayan glaciers that converge to give birth to the
Irrawaddy River, Burma's broad backbone.

Long canoes with ear-splitting motors are the only way into the most
promising gold panning sites, where small-scale miners still legally eke
out a living. It's also home to some of the world's best jade but the
junta shut the biggest operations down two years ago, moving the jade
trade south to Mandalay.

The junta's violent crackdown against street protests in September, the
largest in two decades, sparked new calls for an international boycott of
the regime's biggest money-makers, including rubies, sapphires, oil and
natural gas.

U.S. first lady Laura Bush has urged jewellers not to buy gems from Burma,
also known as Myanmar, the name imposed by the generals in 1989.

Such big names as Cartier, Bulgari and Tiffany say they will no longer
sell blood-tainted Burmese treasures.

The trade in gemstones, the country's third-largest source of revenue, is
dominated by Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd., a consortium
co-owned by military officers who hold the bulk of shares.

The U.S. Senate passed legislation last month to tighten sanctions against
the junta by banning imports of rubies and high-quality jade that the
House of Representatives is expected to approve.

But as Western shoppers shun Burmese jewels, Asian buyers rush in to scoop
up the gold and jade prized by a growing middle class and by the
fabulously wealthy, eager to flaunt new wealth.

It's a reason why the junta is still strong despite sanctions: When
Western states tighten the economic noose, neighbours led by China, India
and Thailand loosen the knot by increasing trade.

Government officials say jade replaced rubies as the main attraction at a
recent state auction in Rangoon, the capital, that raised about $125
million in foreign currency.

But the junta doesn't let much trickle down to places like Kharbar near
the Himalayan foothills.

It's a spectacularly beautiful, unforgiving place. Villagers live in huts
with walls woven from bamboo as thin as cardboard, flimsy shelter from
frigid winter winds. And as food and fuel costs rise, so does villagers'
resentment, which roils like the Nmai Hka rapids that taunt them with tiny
gifts of gold.

Dong Shi, a wiry man, has worked the brown slough and bamboo sluices here
for three years. On a good day, he finds $8 worth of gold flakes, the
biggest about the size of a pinhead. Like other miners, he pays $250, more
than half an average person's annual income here, to the landowner for
permission to pan one square metre of riverbank.

After Dong Shi pays his stake's owner, his share of the diesel to run a
generator and sluice pumps, school fees for his four kids and other
expenses, he has little left.

"We eat all that I earn ... Tomorrow, I go back to work on the river, just
to have some more food."

It is gruelling, risky work. To separate gold from silt, drops of mercury
are squeezed from strips of cloth soaked in quicksilver, exposing miners
and the river fish they eat to the toxic heavy metal.

For all the prospectors' pain and risk, most pans come up bust. So they
dig deeper, push the limits harder.

Desperate to hit pay dirt, dreaming of finding a rare nugget instead of
just flecks, some villagers rig up hand pumps onshore to homemade
breathing hoses, and wade into the middle of the river.

Access to places like Mogok is more limited. Once synonymous with
sparkling gems, they now earn a darker reputation as hotbeds of political
dissent.

Some of the earliest protests against rising fuel prices were in Mogok
last summer before they spread to the capital and grabbed world attention.
In November, more than 50 Buddhist monks defied the junta's crackdown and
marched peacefully through Mogok.

Anger has boiled there for years as the junta pushed out more small-scale
miners, explained Soe Myint, an exiled activist in detained opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

"Most of the gems are mined by government firms or those affiliated with
the junta, the generals' relatives and cronies," said Myint, who was
elected to parliament in 1990, then jailed for 14 years when the military
rejected Suu Kyi's victory at the polls.

"Jade, rubies or sapphires, locals cannot mine them any more," Myint said.
"That's why Mogok is at the forefront of the demonstrations. The local
people have nothing else to do because all the land has been confiscated
by the government."

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 7, Xinhua
Myanmar to auction off national library

Myanmar will auction off the building of National Library in the first
week of February as part of the country's privatization program, local
Voice journal reported on Monday.

The government's Privatization Commission has set a deadline date for Feb.
7 for the bidding of the library building, the commission was quoted as
saying.

The move constitutes part of the government's plan to privatize some
state-owned buildings left behind after the move of the administrative
capital to Nay Pyi Taw from Yangon in late 2005.

In June 2007, the government formed a committee, chaired by the minister
of National Planning and Economic Development, for auctioning some
state-owned buildings remained in the former capital.

The auction also covers some housing project buildings being implemented
under government supervision and related land plots, while some are set to
be retained.

Myanmar is privatizing more and more state-owned enterprises for effective
operation and has put 17 more such enterprises under the Ministry of
Livestock Breeding and Fisheries and the Ministry of Commerce's
Agricultural Produce Trading to be sold out through competitive bidding
since last December. They included one ice factory, 10 rice mills and six
brand oil mills respectively located in the country's Yangon, Ayeyawaddy
and Bago divisions.

Invitation of applications for the auction was extended to national
private individuals and organizations with a deadline date set for Jan. 17
this year, the commission said.

According to statistics, a total of 237 state-owned enterprises out of 288
proposed from 10 ministries have been privatized in Myanmar as of November
last year since the country began implementation of a plan of
privatization in 1995.

The privatization plan covering those enterprises nationalized in the
1960s was introduced in a bid to systematically turn them into more
effective enterprises, according to the commission.

The plan is carried out by auctioning and leasing or establishing joint
ventures with local and foreign investors. These enterprises covered by
the plan also include textile factories, saw mills, cinemas and hotels.

____________________________________

January 6, Earthtimes.org
Singaporeans hiring more maids from Thailand, India and Myanmar

Singapore - Increasing numbers of maids are being hired from Thailand,
India and Myanmar by Singaporean employers claiming their temperaments are
sweeter and they are better behaved than Filipinos and Indonesians, a
newspaper reported on Sunday. Those from Thailand, India and Myanmar
account for 6 per cent of the 170,000 domestic workers in the city-state.
Agencies said the numbers are rising.

Mae Yap, owner of a manpower service specializing in North Indian
Christian maids, told The Sunday Times that the women from her agency
speak fluent English and read it at well.

While she started bringing them in for Indian employers, non-Indian
families now request them as well.

Rabir Muir, a trainer in the retail industry, said her Thai maid picks up
English from her two children.

The Myanmarese have become particularly popular. "From employer feedback,
the problems of Myanmarese maids are less complicated," Kwang Fend Fang,
owner of United Channel Employment Agency, was quoted as saying.

Those who are university graduates can read and understand English even if
they do not speak it well, agencies said.

With the recent political upheavals in Myanmar, 23-year-old Nang Kham
Kyein said she welcomes the opportunity to work overseas. Her employer has
a household of six.

Agencies said the average monthly salary for maids is 300 Singapore
dollars (208 US dollars).

As for cultural differences, agencies say it is only a matter of both
sides adapting to each other.

Transient Workers Count Too, an organization concerned with the welfare of
migrants, told the newspaper that maids from non-traditional sources are
more vulnerable to being exploited.

____________________________________
DRUGS

January 7, Independent Mon News Agency
Karen boy sentenced to 25 years for "carrying" drugs - Lawiweng

"I came for work in Thailand now I am living in prison," said a Karen boy,
Than Soe, who was sentenced to 25 years in jail after the Thai police
found 1,800 amphetamine tablets in his jacket.

Than Soe was sentenced last October in the Thong Pha Phum's court, in
Kanchanaburi. He and seven other people were arrested while they were
traveling illegally by truck in Thailand in Jai Oil village, where Thai
multi army check point is based on the way from Sangkalaburi and
Kanchanaburi.

It was his first trip for work in Thailand and he can't even speak the
Thai language. He was accused of smuggling drugs into Thailand by the Thai
police.

Eight people left from Three Pagoda Pass at about 3 am and walked for one
and half hours until they reached the motor road where two Thai truck
owners were waiting for them. All of them got on the truck and their back
packs were kept in the front of the truck with the driver, he explained.

"When the army stopped us at the check point, they asked if the jacket was
mine and I said yes. The truck driver may have hidden the tablets in my
jacket, because if the tablets were mine, I wouldn't have said it was my
jacket when the police asked me," he explained to the court.  Also in
court, they had a medical test to check whether Than Soe used drugs in his
past and they found the test negative.

He attended the court seven times, and he was thinking of whether he would
plead innocent or guilty on his final day. He can't speak Thai, he only
can speak Karen and a little bit of Burmese. He was worried that if he
does not admit his guilt they would investigate him more rigoursly, and if
they still find him guilty, he will have to serve a double sentence of 50
years.

He doesn't have relatives or his own lawyer. After he said he was guilty,
the court provided him a lawyer, and gave him one month to think his
decision over. After one month, Than Soe still said he was guilty, because
he was afraid of the double sentence.

The court sentenced him to 25 years and he cried for two nights. According
to sources in prison, this is how the Thai agents who bring illegal
migrants into Thailand carry out drug smuggling. They smuggle migrants
with drugs and then the migrant, not the agent, gets blamed for carrying
drugs.

Apit, a 32 year old Thai worker agent who was a prisoner at Thong Pha Phum
told of his experience. He used to bring amphetamines, about 4,000
tablets, and he would throw them into the bush, while the police arrested
migrant workers that he brought on his trucks.

The two Thai agent workers who were arrested with Than Soe persuaded him
to admit his guilt and promised him they would pay 20,000 baht if he
admitted to being guilty. But, the two people didn't offer him money after
he pleaded guilty.

Than Soe is only 17 years old but the police wrote he was 19 years old. He
has a child and wife who live in Karen State . His real name is Maung
Taung. He is from Ma Yen Taung village, in Kyainnseikyi Township . His
family didn't know until today he was arrested. "I lost my family and my
life. My wife doesn't know that I have been sentenced for 25 years. His
majesty sentenced me 25 years, like it was a sentence for 25 days, but for
me this is a long time, my entire life" he rued.

____________________________________
ASEAN

January 7, Irrawaddy
Burma presents Asean’s new chief with a challenge – Wai Moe

Asean wrote a new page in its history on Monday as Thailand’s Surin
Pitsuwan assumed the leadership of the 10-nation organization. But will
his five-year term of office bring any help for Burma?

Newly appointed secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations Surin Pitsuwan addresses a press conference after a ceremony in
Jakarta [Photo: AFP]
“In the integrated and globalized world, we can no longer separate or
isolate internal matters from internal concerns,” he told a news
conference on Sunday, urging Asean members to do more help solve the
crisis in Burma.

Debbie Stothard, of Alt-ASEAN, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that Surin
could help alleviate the Burma problem. “We hope that he will be able to
help move forward a solution,” she said.

Surin’s first assignment as Asean secretary-general will be to attend
Asean’s third meeting of ministers responsible for culture and art, in the
Burmese capital  Naypyidaw on January 12-13. Analysts say the Naypyidaw
visit could be a challenge for Surin because of the junta’s opposition to
Asean involvement in Burmese affairs.

Surin, Thailand’s foreign minister from 1997 to 2001, is the first former
foreign minister to become Asean secretary-general, and his appointment
could inject more energy into the organization in resolving the region’s
problems.

During Surin’s time as foreign minister he tried to advance a policy of
“constructive engagement” with Burma, arguing that such an approach was
better than marginalizing the regime.

In an address to Asean in the Philippines in July 1998, Surin urged its
members to be more open with each other and to hold frank discussions on
domestic issues which had implications for other members and the destiny
of the organization.

However, political scientist Pavin Chachavalongpun said in an article
printed by The Irrawaddy in August 2007 that the “flexible engagement”
policy had failed because it was thought to have breached “Asean’s
fundamental principle of non-interference in a country’s internal
affairs.”

In a speech last December after his election to succeed Asean
Secretary-General ong Keng Youn of Singapore, Surin said the organization
should not remain aloof and disconnected from the people of its member
nations.

“The people must demand that their governments and government agencies be
accountable for progress and the lack of it in their respective
countries,” he said. He also hoped that there would be a “wider space” for
citizens to raise their concerns under Asean’s new charter.

Critics say Asean is not prepared to step up pressure on the junta,
however, and point out that UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s scheduled
briefing on Burma to Asean leaders in November was cancelled at the last
minute after strong opposition from the junta’s Prime Minister, Lt-Gen
Thein Sein.

Meanwhile, the European Union’s special envoy for Burma, Piero Fassino,
said on Friday that efforts to promote democracy in Burma must remain a
priority for the international community. "We want to keep Myanmar [Burma]
at the top of the international community’s agenda,” he said. “Our common
goal is unblocking a situation which today appears stalled.”

After talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Gambari, Fassino
said they found common ground, particularly on the need to enlist the
support of all key Asian countries for diplomatic pressure to secure a
political dialogue between the Burmese regime and the country’s
opposition.

“I think that Asean ties with the west, the EU and the US over the Burma
issue will improve under Surin’s leadership,” said San Aung of the
National Coalition Government Union of Burma, Burma’s government in exile.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 5, Narinjara News
Burma to attend bimstec meeting on poverty alleviation

Dhaka: Burmese ministerial level delegates will attend a meeting in Dhaka
of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation, or Bimstec, on poverty alleviation in the region, on 10
January 2008, according to an official report.
Burma's senior officials will arrive in Dhaka on 8 January to prepare the
agenda for the ministerial meeting that will be held on Thursday. There
are no reports of which ministers from Burma will be in attendance.

The Bimstec meeting on poverty alleviation is being held after the 9th
Bimstec ministerial meeting convened in New Delhi on August 9, 2006.

At the New Delhi meeting, delegates approved Dhaka's proposal to host the
first meeting on poverty alleviation in the wake of Bangladesh's vast
experience with poverty alleviation initiatives such as the micro-credit.

An official from the Bangladesh foreign ministry said that the forthcoming
ministerial meeting on poverty alleviation would adopt a comprehensive
plan of action on poverty alleviation, in keeping with the Millennium
Development Goals.

He also said that poverty alleviation is one of the 13 priority areas of
the grouping that includes countries from South and Southeast Asia.

The other priority areas are: trade and investment, technology, energy,
transport and communications, tourism, fisheries, agriculture, culture,
terrorism and transnational crimes, environment and disaster management,
public health and people-to-people contact.

Bimstec was formed on June 6, 1997 in Bangkok, Thailand, by member
countries Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Burma, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and
Thailand, for the purposes of regional cooperation

____________________________________

January 5, Narinjara News
Bangladeshi Monks united for saffron revolution in Burma

Dhaka: A leading monk organization working on Burmese monk affairs was
formed by five monks' organizations in Bangladesh on Friday at a monastery
in the Chittagong Hill Tract area in Bangladesh, said U Thiha, the
spokesperson of the new organization.

He said, "All monk organizations agreed in a meeting to form an umbrella
monk organization to lead Bangladeshi monks in cooperating with Burmese
monks for carrying out their religious purpose in Burma."

The meeting was held at Mazi Para monastery in Rangamati District of
Bangladesh, with 42 monk delegates from five organizations in attendance.

The delegates discussed several religious issues and looked for ways to
cooperate with Burmese monks to prevent their oppression by the Burmese
military government.

"The relations of Bangladesh and Burmese have been very good for a long
period, and we have been working together with Burmese monks for Buddhist
religious affairs for many years. Now the continued existence of the
monkhood in Burma is threatened. So how can we stay silent?" said U Thiha.

Many monks in Bangladesh want to work enthusiastically for Burmese monks,
so the monk's delegates formed the umbrella organization under the name of
United Thinga Alliance in Bangladesh, U Thiha added.

During the meeting the delegates adopted five objectives and future plans
for the formation of the alliance in order to achieve their goals.

The five member organizations in the new monk alliance are the Rakhine
Thinga Association, Nyinyutye and Lonsawye Committee, Chittagong Hill
Tract Thinga Council (North), Thinga Union for Buddhists, and the Thinga
Nugaha Association, said spokesperson U Thiha.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 6, The Chronicle Journal
Karen community grateful for escaping violence, dictatorship – Sarah
Elizabeth Brown

Saw Winning discusses the Karen culture Sunday afternoon at Thunder Bay‘s
First Presbyterian Church.

For the 120 members of an ethnic minority from Burma living in Thunder
Bay, a New Year‘s celebration is not just a time to dance, sing and share
a meal.

It‘s also a chance to share their story as an immigrant community that has
escaped violence and harsh dictatorship.

That, and explain to visitors why they‘re celebrating the year 2747.

Originally, the Karen people came from Mongolia. The second phase of the
group crossed into Burma – called Myanmar by the country‘s current
military rulers – and arrived in 739 BC, explained Saw Winning, who came
to Canada in 1995, the same year the Burmese army launched a major
offensive against the Karen National Union.

Karen count that arrival in the Burma and Thailand area 2,747 years ago as
the beginning of their calendar.

New Year‘s Day is the first day of the Burmese month of Pyathoe, which
falls in December and January.

They only started celebrating the Karen New Year in the late 1930s.

Originally, the ethnic minority pushed the then-ruling colonial British
for a Karen national day, but were granted a New Year‘s Day instead.

That doesn‘t stop the Karen from flying their flag and singing the Karen
national anthem alongside their new Canadian flag and anthem.

As well, the guest list for the Thunder Bay New Year‘s party includes
leaders from the Sleeping Giant Refugee Sponsorship Group, the Thunder Bay
Multicultural Association and the Canadian Council for Refugees, along
with the reverend of First Presbyterian Church where the celebration was
held Sunday – and the church that helped sponsor so many Karen here.

His people have all the qualities of a nation, said Winning in his
overview of the Karen for the guests, from their own history, language and
culture to their own economic system of life.

People around the globe were horrified at the news of Burmese citizens and
Buddhist monks being beaten in Rangoon‘s streets, but far worse happens in
the rural villages out of the world‘s sight, Winning said.

The Karen New Year is a chance to draw attention to the ethnic cleansing
and genocide against the Karen that continues to this day, he said.

Elizabeth McWeeny, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, noted
Canada agreed in February 2007 to take in 2,000 more Karen refugees of the
140,000 Burmese living in Thai refugee camps, in addition to 810 this
country agreed to resettle here in 2006.

The challenge will be to keep the Canadian government aware that the tough
situation for the Karen people doesn‘t end when the two-year resettlement
project is over, she said.
It‘s not all serious politics though. In his home country, New Year‘s
events can go on for two or three days, said Winning. Traditional dancing,
singing and kickboxing competitions are standard fare.

In the capital of Rangoon, celebrating the new year can take a week.

____________________________________

January 5, Swissinfo.ch
Asylum seeker from Myanmar returns to Switzerland

A man from Myanmar who was denied asylum by the Swiss authorities nearly
four years ago has joined his family in Switzerland.
The foreign ministry had repeatedly called for his release from prison. He
had been sentenced to 19 years in jail by the military rulers in Myanmar
apparently for threatening the security and peace of the country.

Stanley Van Tha was sent back to Myanmar after he failed to convince the
Swiss asylum authorities that he was the victim of political persecution.

His arrest in Yangon prompted an outcry in Switzerland and the justice
ministry described his repatriation as a mistake. Van Tha was the first
asylum seeker from Myanmar to be sent back since 1996.

His wife and his child have been living in Switzerland for some time,
according to the Federal Migration Office.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 7, Irrawaddy
Who lost the most in the 2007 uprising?

Who were the true winners and losers in the uprising now widely known as
the “Saffron Revolution”? The truth is everyone involved lost—the Burmese
people, the military junta and the international community.

Most Burmese people lost faith in a better future, their dreams again
destroyed by the dark reality of oppression and ruthlessness.

The generals lost their chance to show the world they wished to move
towards a legitimate government and gain the world’s recognition as
leaders who guided Burma to true democracy. The generals might have gone
down in history as men of vision, but because they stayed true to their
past they will be remembered only as unenlightened villains who have the
people’s blood on their hands.

The international community lost in its efforts to effect peaceful change
and is now searching for new ways to move the regime toward national
reconciliation—which seems farther away than ever. Asean, especially, lost
its chance to turn a new page, on which it could show it understands its
responsibilities within the world community.

After the brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks and peaceful protesters in
Burma, it seems that virtually the entire world stands together in a
perhaps unprecedented show of solidarity and sympathy.

The UN calls for the ruling generals to move towards a real dialogue with
opposition groups as part of an inclusive national reconciliation process,
including the establishment of a broad-based poverty alleviation
commission.

The US and EU recently tightened sanctions on the military government in
one more attempt to force the generals to see reason.

However, confident in the tacit support it receives from its closest
neighbors, China, India and its partners in Asean, the junta has yet to
show real movement in the direction of a reconciliation process. In all
likelihood, even the pretences it makes towards that end will soon be
scrapped and buried in the graveyard of dashed hopes.

The Burmese people are painfully conscious of how their country has lagged
behind the rest of the world. Sixty years after gaining its independence,
the country has failed to take its place in the world community of
established nations.

The roots of Burma’s crisis lie in the generals’ ignorance and
mismanagement, which have led the country into political and economic
instability.

A recent example: the leader of the junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, declared in
December that the government would achieve rice sufficiency for a
projected population of 100 million.

The absurd statement shows how far Than Shwe is out of touch with reality.
In October, the World Food Programme said some 5 million people in Burma
did not have enough to eat. The WFP blamed severe distortions in the
economy, such as the junta’s restrictions on travel and trade, for causing
widespread hunger in a potential food-surplus country. About one million
Burmese struggle to survive as migrant workers—whether documented or
undocumented—in neighboring countries.

Than Shwe has rejected the concerns voiced by the Burmese people and the
international community, including the UN. Instead, he relies on—and may
even believe—the reports fed to him by Minister of Industry-1 Aung Thaung
and Minister of National Planning Soe Tha, who claim annual GDP is
skyrocketing into double digits.

He no doubt agrees with Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, who charged the
international media with exaggerating the September uprising and harming
Burma’s image. The demonstrations were “trivial,” he said—a sentiment that
fell in line with the junta’s post-uprising statement: “We are in
control.”

The Burmese people continue to endure the oppressive military regime led
by Than Shwe, who is attempting to establish a monarchy-style rule which
could lead the country into an even darker age as a failed state.

Sadly, but unavoidably, that knowledge will drive more of Burma’s
suffering people to sacrifice their lives—killed, imprisoned or forced to
flee the country—in the hope of creating a democratic, free and prosperous
nation.

It’s the people who have lost the most, by far.

____________________________________

January 7, Irrawaddy
2747—Will it be a happy New Year for the Karen? – Shah Paung

Karen people around the world will tomorrow celebrate Karen New Year with
festivities, traditional songs, dancing in colorful Karen costumes and, of
course, the sounding of the horn and drum that marks the first day of the
month of Pyathoe.

For Karens worldwide—from Malaysia to Minnesota—the year 2747 will begin
tomorrow, the year that historically recognizes the first Karen migration
to the Kawthoolei State of eastern Burma.

Will the year 2747 bring peace and prosperity to the Karen people? For
most, the simple dream of going home would be fortune enough. Others might
entertain a New Year’s wish that Karen people will finally stop killing
each other this year.

However, if the previous years’ conflict and the current situation are
anything to go by, the collective hopes and aspirations of the Karen
people will surely be no more than a pipe dream.

While many along the Thai-Burmese border will celebrate New Year once
again in refugee camps, two communities inside Karen State are planning
major festivals, both in Kawkareik Township —one in Kawkareik town, the
other in the village of Toh Kaw Koe.

The choice of Toh Kaw Koe as a venue for New Year celebrations is a
controversial one, not least because it is the site where Ba U Gyi, the
Karen resistance hero, was martyred by Burmese troops on August 12, 1950;
but also due to the fact that Toh Kaw Koe is the headquarters of the
latest Karen splinter group, the so-called “KNU/KNLA Peace Council” led by
Maj-Gen Htain Maung, a former Brig-Gen of the 7 Brigade of the Karen
National Union.

Mahn Bala Sein, from the Burmese Migrant Workers’ Education Committee, who
regularly organizes Karen New Year’s celebrations in his community, said,
“It is not appropriate to celebrate Karen New Year or any important event
in an historical area led by breakaway groups.”

The Toh Kaw Koe event is due to host members of the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army, including Battalion 999, known as the special forces of the
DKBA, a group that usually celebrates Karen New Year at its headquarters
based in Shwe Kokko Village, near Myawaddy.

The chairman of the KNU, Ba Thin Sein, also took an optimistic line.

In a statement released for Karen New Year 2747, he said, “All Karens have
the responsibility of coming together in patience and understanding.”

He also called on the Karen people to unify and “escape from the enemy’s
trap.” He added that they should not be discouraged that the revolution
was taking such a long time. As an armed group, the KNU has been fighting
the Burmese army for more than 50 years.

“We must get away from the things that divide our people,” Ba Thin Sein
concluded. “Unity is the thing that will lead us to freedom and
liberation.”

However, tensions are still running high after troops from the Karen
National Liberation Army—the military wing of the KNU—attacked a bus in
December 2007 carrying DKBA soldiers, killing eight people and injuring
six.

The sabotage of the bus followed a dry season offensive in which the DKBA
reportedly attacked Karen civilians in 6th Brigade, apparently at the
behest of the Burmese military authorities and their continued policy of
using the DKBA to undertake offensives against civilians in Karen State
and Pegu Division.

The two attacks intensified relations between the two Karen camps and
appeared to underline that the DKBA was bound by the military regime to
resist the KNU, which was once its mother organization.

Mahn Kyaw Win, a researcher of Karen history, conceded: “I don’t know how
to write Karen history when I look at the recent actions [between the DKBA
and KNU], but I have to tell the truth.”

On this the eve of their 2747th New Year, the Karen people must start
working toward that unity; otherwise the freedom and peace they are
wishing for will remain as far away as the stars.

____________________________________

January 7, Bangkok Post
What is there to celebrate in Burma? – Kyaw Zwa Moe

Sixty years of 'freedom' finds a war-ravaged land, a weary people _ and a
buoyant energy sector, thanks to complicit neighbours

''Let us rejoice at the independence which has come to us today, the
result of sacrifices undergone by us and those who preceded us in the
years that have passed.'' Those are the words of Burma's first president,
Sao Shwe Thaike, in his independence message on Jan 4, 1948 when the
country gained its independence after nearly 100 years of British rule.

What has the 60th anniversary of Burma's independence brought in 2008? Did
it bring freedom, prosperity and happiness?

Sadly, little of that can be found in the country today. Instead, we find
more oppression, poverty and misery.

On Independence Day, the then-prime minister U Nu also said: ''There is no
room for disunity or discord _ racial, communal, political or personal _
and I now call upon all citizens of the Burma Union to unite and to labour
without regard to self and in the interest of the country to which we all
belong.''

In contrast, a few months after the country gained independence, civil war
broke out between the government and communist and ethnic rebel groups.
Since then, civil war has continued to rage across the country.

About 10 years after independence, a coup occurred that, in effect, cut
off any real chance for freedom and prosperity.


>From then on, the military has had a firm grip on the reins of power.


In the past 60 years, Burma had opportunities to create a democracy with a
good economy, but failed. Instead, the country has devoted its energy to
in-fighting and disagreement, based on differing political ideologies.

We have to speak honestly. Burma today has few things we Burmese can be
proud of.

Politics is a disgrace. Economics is a tragedy. Society itself is
exhausted. Seemingly, everyone in the world knows something about Burma,
but it's mostly negative.

What will 2008 bring? Sadly again, the future looks like the past.

Politically, the current military regime won't soften its political stand
against opposition groups. The detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi will likely celebrate her 63rd birthday party on June 19 alone in
custody in her home in Rangoon. Under house arrest for 12 of the past 18
years, she will continue to be recognised as the only Nobel laureate in
detention.

The junta will blindly continue down its self-created, seven-step road map
to what it calls ''democracy'', with its hand-picked delegates. No
astrologer can prophesise when this charade will end. The ''first step''
National Convention just concluded and took 14 years.

The junta's notorious prisons will continue to be the home of many of the
finest people in the country. Currently more than 1,000 people are
unjustly held as political prisoners. Dissidents who fled the country long
ago will continue to be denied the right to return home.

The simmering fire in the heart of the Burmese people against the military
government won't be extinguished and is likely to flare up again in
another uprising like that led by monks in September 2007.

Internationally, more political pressure and targeted economic sanctions
are likely to be imposed by the US and the EU. But don't expect the
pressure to change the stubborn mindset of the generals, to jump start a
genuine political reconciliation for the sake of the people.

Likewise, China and the Asean countries can be expected to hold fast to
their infamous non-interference stance, in effect offering the generals
protection.

We can expect UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to make more trips to Burma
in his role as mediator between the junta and Mrs Suu Kyi. His trips,
however, will sometimes be turned down or postponed by the junta. He is
unlikely to return with any tangible results. But he might leave Burma
with upbeat comments like ''we are turning a new page''.

Economically, where is Burma heading? An assessment for 2008 by the
London-based influential think tank, the Economist Intelligence Unit
(EIU), said the country's policymaking will ''remain erratic'', but the
energy sector will be fairly buoyant next year.

Certainly, Burma will never face a shortage of customers for its natural
resources. Countries like China, Thailand and India will continue to
ignore internal humanitarian issues while doing business with the junta.

Burma's natural gas exports will keep Burma's current account in surplus
for the next two years, but import costs will rise, partly driven by the
rising cost of importing petroleum products, said the EIU.

''But the outlook for the rest of the economy is poor,'' the EIU said.
''Inflation will remain high, and the free-market exchange rate will
continue to be subject to downward pressure.''

Actually, Burmese society is chronically ill. Twenty years ago, Mrs Suu
Kyi described the 1988 nationwide pro-democracy uprising as a ''second
struggle for national independence''.

The second independence struggle is still struggling to keep its momentum
against the all-powerful military government.

U Nu, Burma's first prime minister, said on Jan 4, 1948: ''No one will
blame us for being jubilant on such an occasion, on such a day, but
nevertheless for most of us it is a day for solemn thought. Burma is again
free, but we must be fit to maintain that freedom, and we must be ready at
all costs to keep Burma free and to make her great.''

Today after 60 years of independence, little _ if any _ jubilation can be
found in Burma. It has slowly evaporated over the course of our
independence, gained 60 years ago.