BurmaNet News, February 20, 2008

[Editor]

February 20, 2008 Issue # 3406


INSIDE BURMA
Washington Post via Reuters: Myanmar to bar Suu Kyi from 2010 polls: report
Associated Press: 4 small bombs explode at hotel in Burma
Irrawaddy: Ethnic Chins celebrate Chin National Day
Mizzima News: Completed constitution should be open for revision: NLD
Mizzima News: No to referendum and election: NMSP
DVB: Water project destroys farmlands
DVB: U Gambira faces new charges

ON THE BORDER
Shan Herald Agency for News: Karen leadership takes junta to task for killing

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Indian company to explore gas in Myanmar inland block
Irrawaddy: Burmese exiles to petition congress on Chevron
Asia Times: Smart sanctions target Myanmar tycoon

ASEAN
VOA: ASEAN expresses concern over Burma's election ban against Aung San
Suu Kyi

INTERNATIONAL
UN Observer: Group of Nobel Peace prize winners wields moral weight in
Burma/Myanmar
Seattle Post Intelligencer: Myanmar refugee focuses on rights abuses

OPINION / OTHER
The Nation: Burmese junta's win-win formula
Asian Tribune: Burma's Media completely under military dictatorship
DVB: Junta deserves a universal arms embargo

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 20, Washington Post via Reuters
Myanmar to bar Suu Kyi from 2010 polls: report – Saheed Azhar

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to take
part in elections proposed by the country's military leaders in 2010
because she had been married to a foreigner, the Straits Times reported on
Wednesday.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said his Myanmar counterpart told a
regional meeting on Tuesday that the new constitution barred Suu Kyi from
the polls because of her marriage to Briton Michael Aris, who died in
1999, and because their children held foreign passports, the newspaper
said.

Yeo said foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) told Myanmar's representative, Nyan Win, that the move was "not in
keeping with the times."

"He was quite clear that in the new constitution, a Myanmar citizen who
has a foreign husband or who has children not citizens of Myanmar will be
disqualified, as it was in the 1974 constitution," Yeo said, according to
the paper.

Earlier this month, Myanmar's ruling generals announced a referendum in
May on a new constitution, to be followed by an election in 2010.

The generals last held elections in 1990, but ignored them when Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy won a landslide.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent more than 12 of the past 18 years
under some form of detention.

____________________________________

February 20, Associated Press
4 small bombs explode at hotel in Burma

Four small bombs exploded at a casino in northeastern Burma, causing minor
damage but no injuries, state-controlled media and a casino employee said
Tuesday, the latest in a series of blasts in the military-ruled country.

The attack happened early Monday at the Golden Triangle Paradise Resort
Hotel in Tachilek, near the border with Thailand, the New Light of Myanmar
newspaper reported. There were no immediate claims of responsibility, it
said.

A hotel employee contacted by phone from Bangkok, Thailand, confirmed that
four small blasts occurred around 3am near the employees' quarters at the
hotel, which also houses a casino.

The employee, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to
speak to the media, said the blasts did not appear to be dangerous but
were rather meant to scare guests and employees. About 70 Thai guests
checked out after the explosions, he said.

Tachilek, opposite the Thai city of Mae Sai, is about 550 kilometers (340
miles) northeast of Rangoon, Burma's largest city. As a border town, it is
notorious for smuggling, especially of heroin and methamphetamine, and has
a history of violent incidents.
It is in an area vulnerable to attack by ethnic Shan rebels who oppose
Burma's military government.

The bombing occurred after warnings from the junta in the press Saturday
that internal and external groups had sent trained "destructionists" to
explode bombs in busy places in the country to cause panic.

Three bombs exploded last month at railway stations at the new capital and
in Rangoon and at a circus show, killing two people and injuring five
others.

Terrorism is rare but not unknown in Burma, which has been under military
rule almost continuously since 1962.

In September, the government crushed nonviolent pro-democracy
demonstrations, detaining thousands and killing at least 31 people,
according to a United Nations investigator.

____________________________________

February 20, Irrawaddy
Ethnic Chins celebrate Chin National Day – Saw Yan Naing

Influential Chin leaders have called on all Chin people to work together
with other ethnicities in Burma in the struggle for freedom, democracy and
self-determination.  The call came on the 60th anniversary ceremony of
Chin National Day, which is being celebrated both in Chin State and around
the world by ethnic Chins.

Rangoon-based Cin Sian Thang, chairman of Zomi National Congress, told The
Irrawaddy on Wednesday: “I want to urge all nationalities in Burma to
cooperate peacefully in reestablishing a federal union.”

Chin National Day is a day of historical importance, emerging through the
course of the Chin’s struggle for self-determination. In February 1948,
instead of the traditional hereditary system of chieftainship, Chin
representatives were elected at a conference in Falam town near the
Mizoram border. The final day of the conference, February 20, was
thereafter recognized as Chin National Day.

The Chins were among the ethnic groups represented at the signing of the
Panglong Agreement in 1947, an agreement to create unity in the country
before Burma gained independence from Britain a year later. Since then,
Chin nationals have consistently joined the other ethnic nationalities to
build a union.

Cin Sian Thang said that a low-key ceremony would take place in Rangoon
today to celebrate Chin National Day, despite the Burmese authorities’
restrictions. He added that similar events would be held around Chin State
on Wednesday.

Exiled Chin leader, Suikhar, the joint general secretary of the Chin
National Front, said: “Based on the belief in the Panglong Agreement, the
cooperation among our ethnic people is to establish democracy,
self-determination and a federal union in Burma.”

He also urged ethnic Chin people to uphold Chin culture and traditions, as
well as cooperating toward the development of Chin State in Burma.

Chin National Day was celebrated by ethnic Chin people on Wednesday in
countries such as Germany, Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia
and Thailand.

Over the last six decades, thousands of Chin people have moved abroad due
to systematic human rights abuses such as forced labor, forced relocations
and land confiscation at the hands of the Burmese junta. Many Chin people
are currently resettling in third countries to seek better jobs or as
refugees.

Many ethnic Chins are migrant workers in India, Malaysia, the Philippines,
the United States, Canada, Australia and some EU countries.

____________________________________

February 20, Mizzima News
Completed constitution should be open for revision: NLD

Burma's main opposition party - National League for Democracy - today said
the ruling junta should make its draft constitution available for public
review as a step toward conducting a free and fair referendum.

The ruling junta on late Tuesday announced that its 54 member committee
has completed drafting the constitution, which will be put to a referendum
in May. Earlier, on February 9, the junta announced that it will hold a
referendum in May and a general election in 2010.

Nyan Win, spokesperson for the NLD said, "If the referendum is to be free
and fair, the draft constitution should be made public for review.
Besides, the authorities should explain the essence of the constitution to
the people."

"For the forthcoming referendum in May it is important that the
authorities should provide briefings on the constitution so the people
will know about the draft. Without having knowledge about the constitution
it is meaningless," Nyan Win added.

Burma's state-owned newspaper, New Light of Myanmar, today said the
constitution drafting committee included "those who are well-experienced
persons who went through the previous two constitutions of Myanmar, and
some members who are well-versed in local and international law."

However critics, including the NLD, said the 54 member committee was
handpicked by the junta, just as it had handpicked over 1,000 delegates
for its 14-year long National Convention, where it established the
guidelines for the draft constitution.

According to the 104 basic principles of the constitution, at least 25
percent of the seats in all government bodies are to be reserved for the
military. Critics argue it is to legitimize the role of the military in
the constitution.

Meanwhile the junta's Foreign Minister, Nyan Win, on Tuesday told leaders
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a
member, that detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
will not be allowed to contest elections in 2010.

Nyan Win said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from standing for election as
she lost her essence of nationality after marrying British Professor
Michael Aris.

But her party spokesperson, Nyan Win, said, "There is so far no law that
bars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the election as there is so far no election
commission."

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma's Independence father General Aung
San, returned to Burma in 1988 and catapulted to become the peoples'
leader after being involved in the 1988 student-led uprising.

Since then she has been kept under house arrest for 12 of the past 18
years, solely for leading the opposition movement.

____________________________________

February 20, Mizzima News
No to referendum and election: NMSP – Nay Thwin

The New Mon State Party (NMSP), one of the ceasefire groups has made it
clear that the junta's roadmap of referendum and elections cannot resolve
the political crisis in Burma.

NMSP became the first ceasefire group which said 'No' to the Burmese
regime's announcements February 9. The party spokesman Nai Aung Magne
said, "This is not our political objective."

"Both the Announcement 1/2008 and 2/2008 are not our political objectives.
Our political objective is to resolve the country's political problems
through tripartite dialogue. We don't oppose and condemn their
announcements and we have nothing to do with these announcements. But we
cannot support these announcements," he said.

The junta's announcements say the new constitution will be approved by the
referendum to be held in May 2008 and the new election in accordance with
this new constitution will be held in 2010.

Though the opposition forces criticized these two statements as incomplete
and vague, the UN Special Envoy Mr. Gambari welcomed the announcements as
a positive step.

Mr. Gambari who is currently on a tour of China before his trip to Burma
said, "This is the first step taken by the regime which has first clearly
expressed a timeframe in its roadmap."

But the United Nations General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon warned on February
11 that the forthcoming referendum must represent all views and must
reflect the true will and desire of the people.

"The solution they are finding is different from ours. We want tripartite
dialogue to resolve all these crises. We can't see other solutions except
it. We can't trust other solutions and means. Anyway we will follow our
political objective without any deviation from it," Nai Aung Mange from
NMSP said.

He also said that the forthcoming referendum and new constitution are not
solutions to establishing a federal union and democracy in the country.

NMSP started its armed struggle in 1958 and reached a ceasefire agreement
with the junta in August 1995. It attended the National Convention (NC) in
2004 but walked out from the NC in 2005 after differences with the junta
on NC's meeting procedural code. They then attended the NC in 2005 as
observers.

In the meantime, the Foreign Minister of the ruling SPDC told reporters in
Singapore that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be barred from contesting the new
election.

____________________________________

February 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Water project destroys farmlands – Naw Say Phaw

Around 70 acres of farmland have been destroyed by heavy machinery used in
a sluice project run by Ye Nwe hydropower department in eastern Bago
division, locals said.

Bean farms located east of Nyaung Lay Pin township were damaged when heavy
construction vehicles were driven over the land to get to the project
site.

A Nyaung Lay Pin resident said that farmers have been badly hit by the
destruction of their land.

“An acre of farmland can produce up to 20 or 30 tin [80 to 120 litres] of
beans, and each tin can fetch about 20,000 kyat, so the destruction cost
farmers around 400,000 to 600,000 kyat,” the resident said.

“Some farmers own more than 10 acres of farmland, and I heard that one of
them got hysterical because he had invested at least 150,000 kyat on each
acre and it has all been destroyed.”

The resident said the damage was caused because the construction vehicles
took a shortcut across the farmlands rather than driving round them.

“Local farmers asked the drivers why they were cutting across the
farmlands, and they said they didn’t want to waste a lot of fuel,” he
said.

Work began on the sluice project last week, but local residents were given
no advance warning.

When the locals complained to the authorities and asked for the project to
be stopped, they were threatened with arrest for harassing public
officials on duty.

They have not taken the case any further.

___________________________________

February 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
U Gambira faces new charges – Aye Nai

U Gambira, the leader of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance who was detained
in November for his role in public demonstrations last year, has been
charged with at least one new offence.

U Gambira had already been charged with violating section 17/1 of the
Unlawful Associations Act, and will now also be charged under section 13/1
of the Burma Immigration (Emergency Provisions) Act for illegal movement
across borders.

U Gambira’s brother U Aung Kyaw Kyaw has also been charged with both
offences, as well as article 5(j) of the Emergency Provisions Act.

Ma Khin Thu Htay, U Gambira’s sister, said that the full charges against
the monk were not yet clear.

“There have been rumours that they are going to charge them both under
section 5(j), but we won’t know for sure until Monday,” she said.

U Gambira and U Aung Kyaw Kyaw were charged by Alone township court and
also had their remand extended.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 20, Shan Herald Agency for News
Karen leadership takes junta to task for killing

Saying 22-more of the top and mid level leaders are on the list of the
assassins, the beleaguered Karen National Union (KNU) has pointed an
accusing finger at the country’s ruling junta for the Valentine’s Day
assassination of its secretary general.

According to a radio conversation intercepted by the KNU, Soe Myint aka
San Byoke, a former KNU member, had reported to Col Myat Tun Oo, Burma
Army, at 18:37, one and a half hours following the killing of Mahn Sha
Laphan, that “the mission” had been “accomplished” and two of his members
were now back in Myawaddy, opposite Maesod where the shooting took place.

Two men had taken advantage of the slack in security and shot Mahn Sha to
death at his rented house. The two then escaped in a black Toyota truck.
It was later discovered by the police at the bank of the Moei that bisects
the two countries not far from the Thai-Burma Friendship bridge.

22-more, including himself, are on the hit list, according to Brig-Gen Saw
Hsar Gay, a KNU Central Committee member, who was interviewed by SHAN on
18 February during the funeral service.

San Byoke had served as a police major at the KNU’s 7th Brigade until 2003
when he defected to the pro-junta Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA),
he added. He is currently an adviser to the group’s 999th Battalion.

The slain leader’s responsibilities are now shared between his two
deputies, Tu Tu Lay, 61, and David Tarkabaw, 73, in accordance with the
decisions reached at the ad hoc meeting held by the KNU leadership
following his killing.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 20, Xinhua
Indian company to explore gas in Myanmar inland block – Bi Mingxin

Indian oil company, the Essar, will start drilling test well to explore
natural gas at an inland block in Myanmar's western coastal Rakhine state
during this year under a production sharing contract with Myanmar
initiated more than two years ago, the leading local weekly Yangon Times
reported Wednesday.

The drilling will be undertaken at Block-L in Sittway of the state.

Block-L stands one of the two blocks which the Indian company is to
explore gas under the contract signed with the state-run Myanmar Oil and
Gas Enterprise in May 2005. The gas exploration on another block A-2 lying
off the Rakhine coast will follow later, the report said.

The Essar is another Indian company engaged in oil and gas exploration in
Myanmar after the ONGC Videsh Ltd of India and the Gas Authority of India
Ltd (GAIL), both of which are being involved in similar activities since
2000 at Block A-1 and A-3 in the same offshore area in partnership with
South Korea's Daewoo International Corporation and South Korea Gas
Corporation. The consortium is led by Daewoo.

In September last year, the ONGC signed separate production sharing
contracts with Myanmar to explore natural gas in three deep-sea blocks of
AD-2, AD-3 and AD-9 in the Rakhine offshore areas, according to earlier
official report.

Myanmar has abundance of natural gas resources especially in the offshore
areas. With three main large offshore oil and gas fields and 19 onshore
ones, Myanmar has proven recoverable reserve of 18.012 trillion cubic-feet
(TCF) or 510 billion cubic-meters (BCM) out of 89.722 TCF or 2.54 trillion
cubic-meters (TCM)'s estimated reserve of offshore and onshore gas,
experts said, adding that the country is also estimated to have 3.2
billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserve.

According to the Central Statistical Organization, in the fiscal year
2006-07, Myanmar produced 7.707 million barrels of crude oil and 13.039
BCM of gas. Gas export during the year went to 13.028 BCM, gaining 2.03
billion U.S. dollars.

The latest figures indicate that in the first half (April-September) of
2007-08, the country's crude oil production amounted to 3.857 million
barrels, while its gas output 6.74 BCM. Gas export was registered at 9.17
BCM during the period, obtaining 1.531 billion dollars.

More statistics reveal that foreign investment in Myanmar's oil and gas
sector had reached 3.243 billion dollars in 85 projects as of the end of
2007 since the country opened to such investment in late 1988, standing
the second in the country's foreign investment in this sector after
electricity industry.

Currently, 13 foreign oil companies, mainly from Australia, Britain,
Canada, China, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and
Russia, are involved in oil and gas projects in Myanmar, according to
official sources.

____________________________________

February 20, Irrawaddy
Burmese exiles to petition congress on Chevron – Lalit K Jha

The Burmese exiled community in the United States is collecting signatures
on a petition urging the US Congress to pass legislation asking the
multinational company Chevron to end its investment in Burma.

“There is an overwhelming response from the people, both Burmese and
friends of Burma,” said Moe Chan, one of the organizers of the campaign,
which was launched at the initiative of the National Council of the Union
of Burma. Moe Chan is executive director of the Committee for
International Movement of Burma Point.

Two draft bills relating to investment in Burma are presently before the
US Congress. One of them, being considered by the House of
Representatives, would pressure Chevron to ends its investment in Burma.

Chevron has a 28 percent stake in the Yadana gas pipeline, the country’s
largest. Total of France has the major stake (31 percent), while
Thailand’s PTTP has 25 percent and
Burma Oil and Gas Exploration about 15 percent.


____________________________________


February 20, Asia Times
Smart sanctions target Myanmar tycoon – Brian McCartan

The United States Treasury Department announced earlier this month that it
will expand the personal and business sanctions it imposed on individual
family members of Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) last year. Those included among the newly blacklisted were members
and individuals associated with businessman Tay Za's state-linked
commercial empire.

The recent sanctions are part of Washington's new so-called "smart
sanctions" regime, designed to target specific generals and their
associated business interests rather than the entire population. Before
this month's announcement, the US had imposed sanctions on 30 individuals
and seven businesses connected to the junta.

Designed in response to the junta's continued human rights abuses and
political repression, including last year’s brutal crackdown on
anti-government street protests, the sanctions in effect freeze any assets
of targeted individuals or companies which might have parked them in US
financial institutions and prohibits any financial or commercial
transactions between American individuals and Myanmar firms named in the
sanctions order. The persons named are also barred from entering the US .

The latest set of sanctions specifically target Tay Za's Htoo Trading
Company Limited, also known as the Htoo Group of Companies. Tay Za was
described by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as
"an arms dealer and financial henchman of Burma's [Myanmar’s] repressive
regime". In announcing the latest sanctions, White House press secretary
Dana Perino said on February 4 that "the actions of [junta leader] Than
Shwe and his associates remain unacceptable to all those who value
freedom."

Tay Za, his wife, Thida Zaw, his eldest son Pye Phyo Za and five of his
companies were previously named in the US sanction order of October 18,
2007. The new sanctions add Tay Za partners Aung Thet Mann, Thiha and U
Kyaw Thein, as well as the Htoo Group of Companies, which includes Ayer
Shwe Wah Company Ltd, Myanmar Avia Export Company Ltd and Pavo Aircraft
Leasing Company Ltd, to the list.

Aung That Mann, the son of General Thura Shwe Mann who is the Joint Chief
of Staff of the Myanmar armed forces and the third-ranking member of the
SPDC, is also a director of Ayer Shwe Wah Co Ltd and Htoo Trading Company
Ltd. Thiha, meanwhile, is Tay Za's brother and business partner, as well
as a director of the Htoo Group of Companies and Htoo Trading Co Ltd.

U Kyaw Thein is a Singapore resident and known to manage Tay Za's business
offices there. He currently serves as a director for Air Bagan Holdings
Company Ltd, Htoo Wood Products Company Ltd, Pavo Aircraft Leasing Co Ltd
and Pavo Trading Co Ltd. Also named in the new sanctions order were Khin
Lay Thet, wife of General Thura Shwe Mann, Myint Myint Ko, wife of
Construction Minister Mon Saw Tun, Tin Lin Myint, wife of Lieutenant
General Ye Myint, the head of Military Affairs Security, and Myint Myint
Soe, wife of Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

Junta's helping hand
Tay Za and his business empire have long been in the US's sights, due to
the tycoon's extraordinary wealth and perceived influence with Myanmar's
ruling Senior General Than Shwe and General Thura Shwe Mann, as well as
other high-ranking members of the military regime. Born in 1964, the
43-year-old Tay Za originally aimed at a career in the military, for which
he attended the Defense Services Academy .

He dropped out before completing his studies in 1987 to elope with his
girlfriend, Thida Zaw, and subsequently took over her family's rice
milling business. He eventually set up his own company in 1990 to export
timber with an initial capital investment of US$333,333. By cultivating
connections with senior generals and government officials, some of whom he
met during his time at the academy, Tay Za gained logging rights to vast
swathes of virgin hardwood forest, including areas of the Karen State,
Pegu Division and Tenasserim Division which previously were under the
control of the rebel Karen National Union (KNU).

According to opposition groups, Tay Za reportedly maintains most of his
wealth in Singapore bank accounts. He is known to own several luxury
apartments in the city-state, where his sons, Pye Phyo Za and Htet Tay Za,
both live and attend elite private schools. Htet Tay Za attends the United
World College of South East Asia, one of Singapore's most expensive.

The 19-year-old Htet Tay Za caused a stir in the aftermath of last year's
pro-democracy protests in Myanmar and the brutal crackdown that ensued
when an e-mail attributed to him and reviewed by Asia Times Online
announced, "US bans us, we're still fucking cool in Singapore. We're
sitting on the whole Burma GDP. We've got timber, gems and gas to be sold
to other countries like Singapore, China, India and Russia."

The eldest of Tay Za’s privileged sons is apparently "rocking" in his "red
brand-new Lamborghini with hot sexy Western chicks" while the younger one
needs "another Ferrari to rock on", according to the e-mail, which has
been posted widely on blogs and referred to in exile media reports. Tay Za
himself lives in a large neo-classical mansion in the old capital of
Yangon on the corner of Inya Road and University Avenue, where he parks
his Bentley, Ferrari, Mercedes and Lexus, all of which he has had shipped
in from Singapore.

Apart from expensive tastes, Tay Za is also possessed by keen business
acumen. The businessman has greatly diversified his business empire since
his initial investment in timber exports. Through the Htoo Trading Company
Ltd, his first company and the group's flagship, his business interests
now encompass property development, construction, palm oil production,
arms dealing and aviation.

He is also now bidding to move into telecommunications and banking. Htoo
Trading is currently Myanmar's fifth largest exporter, with official
earnings of US$65.1 million in the 2006-2007 fiscal year. The Ministry of
Commerce's website lists the company as the second largest in export
earnings of the top 20 import-export companies in Myanmar in 2006-2007.

Htoo Trading was one of two main companies granted contracts for the
construction of Naypyidaw, the new capital city where in late 2005 the
junta abruptly moved all government offices from the old capital of
Yangon. Another controversial Htoo Trading construction project was the
60-meter-high tower and nearby 150-room hotel in Bagan, the site of a
famous temple complex and renowned international tourist attraction. The
tower came under harsh international criticism by UNESCO and others for
damaging the aesthetics of the site.

The company's timber business has also been criticized for causing the
large-scale destruction of Myanmar's forests. A 2002 report by
environmental watchdog Global Witness stated that the Htoo Trading
Company's logging operations were largely responsible for much of the
environmental degradation in the country. The company has also been known
to provide heavy machinery to smaller logging operations, which in turn
sell their logs to Htoo Trading for exports. (The company also has one of
the few government-granted export licenses for raw timber.)

Since 2006, Htoo Trading has become increasingly involved in jade mining
in the Hpakant area of the northern Kachin State. The move has been done
on the quiet with the company gaining mining blocks through cooperative
agreements with other smaller mining companies. In a move similar to his
logging business deals, Htoo Trading provides the smaller operators with
heavy machinery in exchange for stones. In what may be designed to show a
degree of corporate social responsibility, according to the Kachin News
Agency, Tay Za has provided each family displaced by the mining operation
one million kyat (US$755) in compensation.

More recently, Htoo Trading has negotiated a concession from Alcatel
Shanghai Bell to cooperate on projects in the new Yadanabon cyber-city,
currently under construction in the vicinity of the new capital. The
company has submitted a proposal to acquire four acres of land for GSM
telecom services and recently submitted a proposal with Russia's CBOSS to
acquire an "incubation center for prepaid software", also in Yadanabon.

The company was recently granted a license to import fuel directly as a
part of the SPDC's efforts to privatize the fuel industry. In pursuit of
that plan, the junta rolled back fuel subsidies last August, which set in
motion the mass anti-government protests the junta cracked down on with
brutal force.

Another of Tay Za's business concession gems is Air Bagan, Myanmar's first
privately invested airline and currently the country's third largest after
Air Mandalay and Yangon Airways. The budget airline initially flew only
domestically; it added international flights in 2007, first in May to
Bangkok, then in September to Singapore. Since then it has added routes to
China, Cambodia, and South Korea and has announced interest in
establishing routes to Osaka, Dhaka and Chennai.

Tay Za has several businesses in Singapore. Htoo Wood Products sells
furniture and other wood products. Pavo Trading is involved in the selling
of wholesale cut timber and plywood products and is involved in the frozen
seafood business, which one business listing site claims has annual sales
in the US$10 million to US$50 million range and is seeking distributors in
China.

In Myanmar, Tay Za's other companies include Htoo Transportation Services,
which specializes in heavy duty land and marine transport, and he has
built the high-class Myanmar Shopping Center in Yangon, which sells top
international brands to Myanmar's military elite. Together with a French
businessman, Tay Za opened the Le Moliere French restaurant in Yangon in
October 2004.

Controversial dealings
Tay Za has over the years endeavored to put a friendly face on many of his
business activities. He has claimed publicly that his companies have over
the past decade donated US$6 million to various social causes, including
outlays for schools, hospitals and pagodas. Funds have also gone to the
sponsorship of athletics and sports competitions and to scholarships for
students to study overseas. Air Bagan reportedly puts aside US$1 from each
international ticket and 500 kyat from each domestic ticket to fund future
social projects.

On the other hand, several of his businesses have also propped the
military government which continues to enrich itself at the population's
expense. In particular his Yangon-based Myanmar Avia Export Company Ltd
has come under scrutiny and criticism. Tay Za apparently began the company
in 1993 in order to supply spare parts to the military for their aircraft.
The US Treasury, along with many independent Myanmar analysts, claim that
Tay Za has since used the company to buy aircraft and helicopters for the
Myanmar Armed Forces.

Through Myanmar Avia Export Co Ltd, Tay Za is Myanmar's representative for
Russia's major state-owned military aircraft manufacturer MAPO, of which
MiG is a subsidiary, and for Russian helicopter company Rostvertol, which
in 2006 merged with Mil and Kamov to become Oboronprom Corporation.
Opposition groups and military analysts say Tay Za’s position at Avia
Export made him instrumental in the military's purchase in 2001 of 10 MiG
29 jet fighters valued at US$130 million. Tay Za was also included in a
delegation headed by SPDC number two and head of the army, General Maung
Aye, when he visited Russia to reportedly discuss arms purchases in 2006.
Tay Za, for his part, has consistently denied having any role as an arms
broker for the SPDC.

Tay Za is known to have especially close ties to junta leader General Than
Shwe and has more recently cultivated a personal relationship with SPDC No
3 and Joint Chief of Staff, General Thura Shwe Mann. General Shwe Mann is
widely seen as being groomed as Than Shwe's eventual successor and he
currently holds a position on the board of directors of Htoo Trading, as
does his son, Aung Thet Mann. Aung Thet Mann's company, Ayer Shwe Wah,
came under the wing of Htoo Trading in 1997 and the commercial
relationship has been profitable for both parties.

Tay Za's rise to prominence, however, has not come without controversy.
Many Myanmar businessmen are known to resent his close relations to senior
junta members - especially Generals Than Shwe and Shwe Mann - and the
exclusive business opportunities he has allegedly cornered in various
sectors through those personal ties. At the same time, he also has a
potentially formidable foe in General Maung Aye, the SPDC’s second-ranking
official.

In 2006, Maung Aye used his position as chairman of the Trade Policy
Council to instruct the Minister of Finance and Revenue to raise taxes on
several businesses owned by Tay Za. A move to examine the accounts of Tay
Za's companies by state auditors, however, was apparently blocked by
friends in high places. Prior to this, in 2005, Tay Za's offices were
searched, though no wrongdoing was uncovered. It's unclear how his
businesses might be affected if Maung Aye rather than Shwe Mann takes
power after the ailing Than Shwe fades from the scene.

The US hopes that by targeting Tay Za's businesses it will - by
association - financially hit the SPDC. So far, the biggest impact the new
sanctions imposed last October have had is on Air Bagan, which was
informed at the time by its Singapore bank that it will no longer deal
with the company. Although Singaporean banks are not legally obliged to
support US financial sanctions, they apparently preferred not to risk
their international reputation to maintain relations with Tay Za.

The banking cut-off made it difficult for the airline to purchase spare
parts and pay staff, according to news reports. Those troubles were
compounded by falling bookings in the wake of the September crackdown in
Myanmar and on November 4 the airline was forced to cancel its Singapore
flights. Singapore Airlines, which had provided engineers to the airline,
recalled them in November.

Tay Za, at the time condemned the sanctions as "wrongful". At a gathering
for the third anniversary of Air Bagan, he claimed that they would hurt
only working people and would have little effect on the government they
targeted. He conceded that the sanctions had caused "myriad problems" at
Air Bagan, but stated the government owned no shares in the airline. He
further said Air Bagan's capital was in no way related to drug
trafficking, arms sales or money laundering and went on to promise to
"tackle sanctions by fair and rightful means".

Strong words, but Tay Za is on a European Union list of individuals
blocked from entry or transit through the EU. His Htoo Trading was
targeted by enhanced EU sanctions imposed against Myanmar in December
2007. His wife, brother and oldest son are also on the list. In addition,
he and his family members are also named in a December 2007 Canadian
Special Economic Measures Regulations announcement that sanctioned imports
and exports from Myanmar, including investment, transfer of technical data
and provisions for the freezing of assets.

Whether these will be enough to upend Myanmar's top businessman and hit
the ruling junta's finances is yet to be seen. Following a June 2007
meeting between Myanmar's Minister of Transportation Major General Then
Swe and top business leaders, Tay Za secured a US$10 million loan from the
SPDC to buy a used freighter and a tanker to start Myanmar's first private
international shipping line. He recently reportedly traveled to Pusan,
South Korea, to purchase the ships. Things are even looking up again for
Air Bagan, which began a new route to South Korea in December and has
since announced that it will resume its cancelled Singapore route in
September.

Brian McCartan is a Thailand-based freelance journalist. He may be
contacted through brianpm at comcast.net.

____________________________________
ASEAN

February 20, Voice of America
ASEAN expresses concern over Burma's election ban against Aung San Suu Kyi
– Naomi Martig

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is expressing concern over
Burma's decision to exclude pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from
future elections. The statement from ASEAN follows the completion of
Burma's draft constitution. But the regional bloc still says it will not
interfere in Burma's domestic affairs. Naomi Martig reports from VOA's
Asia News Center in Hong Kong.

Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo says Burma's decision to bar Aung
San Suu Kyi from participating in elections is odd and out of date.
Singapore currently holds ASEAN's rotating leadership. Yeo spoke late
Tuesday in Singapore, where foreign ministers from the 10-member
organization are holding meetings.

But, in keeping with ASEAN's history of non-interference in member states'
affairs, Yeo also said the group could do little about Burma's decision.

On Tuesday, Burma's state-run radio said a 54-member commission had
approved the draft constitution. It prohibits Aung San Suu Kyi from
participating in elections because she was married to a foreigner. The
democracy leader was married to a British national, who died of cancer in
1999.

Roshan Jason is executive director of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary
Myanmar Caucus in Malaysia. He said ASEAN's statement on Burma was weak,
especially since it recently signed a charter that calls on member states
to protect human rights in the region.

"I think ASEAN has failed in its first attempt to uphold its promises to
make sure the region consists of countries which respect human rights,"
said Jason.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the last 18 years under detention, and is
currently under house arrest in Rangoon. Her party won a landslide
election in 1990, but the military government refused to recognize the
results. Since then, it has prevented the party from taking office.

Jason said he does not expect ASEAN to take a stronger stance anytime
soon, because addressing human rights in Burma could force other member
states to acknowledge their own shortcomings.

"You have countries in the region as well, member states of ASEAN, who
have, who are in their own way, levels, committing human rights abuses,"
noted Jason. "You've got draconian laws in various countries; you've got
arbitrary arrests; you've got former military dictatorships taking the
form of civil, political groups."

Jason also says the bloc is choosing money over the basic rights of
Burma's people, as many ASEAN members have strong business interests in
Burma. ASEAN has argued that trade will help bring about reform in Burma,
one of the poorest countries in the region.

Burma says it will hold a national referendum in May to approve the new
draft constitution. The international community has criticized the
document because Aung San Suu Kyi and independent political parties were
barred from the drafting process. Burma's military government says general
elections will be held in 2010.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 20, UN Observer
Group of Nobel Peace prize winners wields moral weight in Burma/Myanmar –
Elisa Burchett

Nine icons of peace have signed a statement calling for the U.N. Security
Council to place an arms embargo and banking sanctions targeting those
banks connected to arms trade in Burma/Myanmar. The agreement, signed by a
veritable Who's Who of Peace - Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, His Holiness
the Dalai Lama, Shirin Ebadi, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Mairead Maguire,
Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Professor Elie Wiesel, Betty Williams and Jody
Williams - lends moral weight to a heretofore ineffective political action
in the effort to protect the human and civil rights of the people of
Burma.

Many of the arms used by Burma's military regime - and used to repress the
civil rights of the people - have been obtained through foreign
governments and the group of Nobel Peace Prize winners is saying this is
unacceptable, on the grounds that no nation should sell arms to a regime
that uses weapons exclusively against its own people.

They have gone, now, to the U.N. Security Council to appeal to the
international community to take quick action to create measures to stop
the sale of arms to the Burmese military, including a ban on banking
transactions, targeting top Burmese leaders, state, and private entities
that support the government's weapons trade.

What is equally impressive is the nine Nobel Peace Prize winners' unified
statement in support of fellow Nobel Prize Peace winner, Aung San Suu Kyi,
calling yet again for her release, along with that of Buddhist monks and
all political prisoners in Burma.

"We can not, and will not, forget the events of the Saffron Revolution and
the courage of the Burmese people in asserting their right to live in
peace and freedom. Despite decades of repression and in a world wracked by
violence, their peaceful demonstrations represent a model for the proper
and rightful expression of political dissent of which they are entitled",
the prize winners affirmed.

Not long ago, in 2006, Burma was voted onto the permanent U.N. Security
Council Agenda for the first time in history and by the end of 2007, the
Security Council issued its first-ever Presidential Statement on Burma,
calling on Burma's military regime to create the necessary conditions for
an inclusive national reconciliation i.e., talks with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and all ethnic groups and the United Nations offered direct support to
that end. Since then, Burma's military regime has failed to release
political prisoners and blatantly ignored calls for open and inclusive
participation in the political process by going ahead with a vote on a new
constitution written by delegates of the military regime.

A comparison was made between Burma's military regime and Apartheid South
Africa’s Sharpeville Massacre and Soweto Uprising. The Nobel Peace
advocates reminded the international community of the U.N. Security
Council's imposition of an arms embargo in that case.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, "Now it is time for the U.N. and individual
countries to immediately impose arms embargoes and targeted banking
sanctions on Burma following the Saffron Massacre. The election promised
by the military regime of Burma is a complete sham."

Demands from within Burma for change (a rejection of the referendum of the
military regime and calls for an arms embargo and bank sanctions) comes
from the Democracy movement in Burma, the 88 generation Students and the
All Burma Monks Alliance.

The arms sales monitoring organization, The Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, reports China as the leading supplier of arms to
Burma's military regime along with the Ukraine, Poland, India and Russia.
Unless and until action is taken to bring Burma's military regime face to
face with the implications of its denial of the rights of the people of
Burma, innocent people will remain imprisoned physically and spiritually.

____________________________________

February 20, Seattle Post Intelligencer
Myanmar refugee focuses on rights abuses – Mary Swift

FEDERAL WAY'S Steve Dun makes his living at a boat-repair business in
Ballard.

It's his job, but Dun will tell you it's not his most important work. His
priority is focusing attention on human rights abuses against ethnic
minorities in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

The country has been ruled by a military regime for decades. Minority
ethnic groups have found themselves under attack. Protests by students,
monks and other groups are met with swift, often bloody, reprisals. Terror
is common.

Dun knows that from experience.

Born in Rangoon, the 44-year-old Dun is the son of a marine engineer
father and a schoolteacher mother. He was 10 when the country's military
regime forced his family to flee to a remote village on the border of
Thailand.

"Both my parents' papers were confiscated by the military regime," he
says, "because both my parents were educated Karen (one of the country's
minority ethnic groups that has opposed the military regime)."

It was in that village "in the middle of nowhere" that Dun grew up. Then,
in 1994, came a moment that would alter Dun's life. He was traveling up
the Moei River, the boundary between Thailand and Myanmar, in a
diesel-powered "long-tail boat" when it collided with one coming the other
way.

"We crashed," he says, his tone unemotional. "I got caught in the middle
-- jammed between the two boats -- and injured my spinal cord."

Left a paraplegic and forced to use a wheelchair, Dun knew he couldn't
return to his parents' village. It lacked resources he needed, and
mobility would have been impossible.

He stayed with a friend living in a city in Thailand and found a new focus
for his energy. He helped "set up electronic news -- Burmanet. It's the
work of a whole bunch of people all over the world trying to shine a light
on what is happening in Burma."

Eventually, he says, friends in the United States suggested he emigrate.

"Nice idea," thought Dun, who arrived in 1997 intending to attend Indiana
University. "But I came in the middle of the quarter and couldn't get into
any program, so I moved to California, took a course in data networking at
UCLA and spent a year and a half getting a certificate."

He moved to Seattle in 1999 when he was offered a job.

His accident and the resulting injury have done nothing to quiet his voice
or erode his resolve.

"Right now, the military regime has been making a push to get people out
of areas they would like to see developed or invested in," he says.

"In the Karen state, there's a lot of teak, so they're pushing people out
in order to harvest the teak."

Since 2007, the Seattle area has been receiving Myanmar refugees, he says.

Dun, whose parents now live in Texas, has testified before Congress on
several occasions about conditions in Myanmar. In June, he was part of a
coalition of ethnic leaders who made the rounds in Washington, D.C.

"I got to meet with Laura Bush, a sharp lady, very interested in
children's education and health care," he says.

He also has been involved in World Aid Inc. of Seattle, a small,
volunteer-run organization that provides medical supplies, food, blankets,
plastic tarps and other items for Myanmar refugees in Thailand and
internally displaced people inside Myanmar. The U.S. has been "on the
forefront of sanctions" against Myanmar, he says.

"Sanctions are just words. But for the people of Burma, there's a lot of
hope thinking that people in the U.S. are standing with us."

He says that "in the midst of all the bad stuff -- the attacks, the
stepping on mines, the burning of villages, is that the human element in
Burma is very loving and very caring. I really miss it."

Not, he says, that he is likely to see his native country again any time
soon.

"Because of my activities, my name has come up as an enemy of the state,"
he says matter-of-factly.

"We just want the world to know the situation there. Citizens need to keep
the light on Burma and not let it be forgotten."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 20, The Nation
Burmese junta's win-win formula – EDITORIAL

It should surprise nobody that one of the world's pariah states has showed
its true colours again. At the Singapore meeting of Asean foreign
ministers, Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win shamelessly told his Asean
counterparts that the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, would not be
allowed to take part in the election scheduled for 2010 because she had a
foreign husband. This is a sham indeed. But then again, one is dealing
with the Burmese junta. The international community should have learned
the lesson that when dealing with this ruthless gang, it has to be tough,
consistent and unwavering. The junta senses the cracks in the Western
coalition.

The generals announced a referendum on the new constitution for May, but
they don't care how the world reacts. What they care about is their own
plan at their own pace. They know the system well, playing one power
against another. Burma happens to play realpolitik much better than any
other developing country. Now that the US is amid its presidential
primaries, the world's most powerful nation is powerless to take action
and has no new initiatives.

UN chief, Ban Ki-moon has yet to prove that Burma is on his priority list.
He has yet to make a commitment to visit Burma as a sign that he is
serious about the situation in the country. Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari
is useless because he is playing to Burma's game plan to buy time.
Moreover, key Burma supporters such as China and India remain steadfast in
their support of the regime. Although India has done much to stop selling
small arms and ammunition, China has yet to demonstrate its international
responsibility by engaging Burma and Asean. But there are increased
efforts to link the Olympics and the Burmese crisis, and Beijing has to be
careful.

Although the controversy surrounding Burma is not on the scale of the
human calamity in Darfur, Sudan, pressure to highlight the plight of the
Burmese people and the apathy from China affects the latter's reputation.

Asean has to act. Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo hasn't said
much, except that Burma's position "is not in keeping with the times". As
chair of Asean, he could do more to use peer pressure against Burma.

However, this is easier said than done because the newer members of Asean
like Vietnam and Laos, and to a certain degree, Cambodia, have become
backers of Burma, especially since Rangoon came out with its election time
frame. The conventional wisdom is that the junta should work things out
without pressure from Asean and abroad.

Asean still values decision making that relies on consensus and
non-interference. That explains why the new members were influential in
drafting the Asean Charter and in maintaining the policy status quo. It is
now the tail that wags the dog. The Asean core members are caught in a
dilemma. Indonesia and the Philippines, despite their strong voices and
advocacy of democracy and human rights, cannot push Burma too far because
of the absence of support from other members.

The new Thai government is even worse, as it will back the Burmese junta.
Thailand will be the new Asean chair from July, and with the revival of
Thaksin's Burmese policy, it means a real nightmare for freedom fighters
in Burma. It means that the Burmese junta has does its homework and is
confident that in the next three years, it will prevail and continue to
suppress its people.

The opposition party, the National League for Democracy, may be
annihilated because the international community will not be able to carry
out a policy of joint action for long; other more urgent international
issues will divert its attention elsewhere.

Asean, China and India must help to ensure that all voices in Burma are
heard and taken into consideration. The UN must also increase its
pressure, otherwise the generals' strategy will continue to work in their
favour, as it has done so far. If that remains the case, it will be a long
time before we witness a new Burma that is not totally under the
dictators' boots. The only difference with their election promise is that
they will get the legitimacy they seek because nobody wants to rock the
boat.

____________________________________

February 20, Asian Tribune
Burma's Media completely under military dictatorship – Zinn Linn

The press is the fourth pillar of democracy after parliament, the
legislature and the judiciary. Not so in Burma, where parliament has been
silenced by the military. As a result, the legislature and the judiciary
are automatically defunct under the military autocracy. As a necessary
outcome of the iron rule, the fourth estate also comes under the grip of
military-dictatorship.

The Burmese military junta has enforced stringent censorship rules and
regulations the world has ever known on the media. Every piece of text has
to be scrutinized by military's PSRD before being published. Burma
achieved certain notoriety as predator of the press. No information is
allowed to flow or be published/ broadcast without the junta's prior
approval.

The latest repressive attacks against the media took place on February 15,
2008. According to Burma Media Association (BMA), military intelligence
officers carried out a four-hour search of the offices of the Myanmar
Nation Journal and confiscated many documents, including a copy of Human
Rights Report on Burma by Prof. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, videos of last
anti-government protests in September, and hand-written poems. Police
arrested editor, Thet Zin and manager, Sein Win Maung. The two journalists
were taken to the Thin-gan-gyun township police station.

It was unknown why they were arrested. The police searched the premises of
the Myanmar Nation for a second time on 18 February, confiscating more
documents. The offices continue to be closed by the police, who have said
the arrests of the two journalists are linked to their activities.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA)
condemn the arrest of Myanmar Nation editor Thet Zin and his office
manager, Sein Win Maung.

The Honolulu Community-Media Council (HCMC), which was established in 1970
and is the oldest of the 5 volunteer media councils that exist in the
United States, has also joined the Burma Media Association, international
journalist and human rights organizations in condemning the continued
crack down on the Burmese media by the military regime. HCMC President,
Chris Conybeare says: “We urge all who value human rights to join us in
condemning these latest attacks and to demand the immediate release of all
political prisoners of the despotic regime of General Than Shwe”.

Besides, Nobel Aye, a female freelance writer and journalist, has been
arrested since 23 August 2007. In fact, she was mistakenly arrested by
military for having similar pseudonym as one female student leader who was
later arrested in September 2007. Nobel Aye also worked with Baby’s World
Journal. Although it was a mistake, the military pay no heed to release
her.

In addition, Lay Lay Mon (Teen Magazine), Min Han (poet), Nay Htet Naing
(poet), Ko Ko Maung aka Zaw Lu Sein (poet) were also arrested on 2 January
2008 and thrown into Insein Prison without trials.

It is sad that the junta is abusing the media as its tool to provide false
news and ideas even in time of Global Information Age. The Junta controls
every media access now. In these days, because of the experiences of the
2007 September Saffron Revolution, all news media in Burma is strictly
censored and tightly controlled by the military junta. All daily
newspapers, radio and television stations are under the regime’s
supervision. In fact, it is in vain for the junta to stop the foreign
broadcastings, such as BBC, VOA, RFA and DVB.

During last September Saffron Revolution, people from former capital
Rangoon and all other provincial cities received the up-to-date news
footages through Aljazeera, BBC, CNN and the DVB TVs. Afterward, some IT
activists put those dissenting footages into compact discs and delivered
to people who could not have access to satellite dishes and Internet. Such
activities allow many Burmese citizens to see news footages of the recent
mass anti-government demonstrations, and the brutal crackdown that ensued.

The military regime has constantly maltreated the journalists since 27
September. On that day Japanese video journalist Kenji Nagai was killed by
a soldier in downtown Rangoon, at the height of the 'Saffron Revolution'
last September. Japanese officials have constantly said Nagai, 50, was
evidently shot at close range, not hit by stray bullets as the SPDC
officials had previously explained, and demanded the return of the
journalist's video camera and tapes believed to have captured the
shooting, and the Japanese government is investigating his death.

After September protests, the military censorship branch, known as the
Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), is harassing editors to
bring out issues of their journals and magazines containing propaganda
articles produced by the junta. Scores of writers and journalists
suspected of sympathizing with the Saffron Revolution have been banned
from contributing in the publications.

Members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a
junta-backed militia, keep on attacking towards journalists. Especially,
photographers were beaten by the USDA thugs while taking photos during
monks' protests. Numerous civilians holding camera or mobile-phone were
temporarily arrested and tortured. All in all, more than a dozen
journalists were beaten or treated badly during the demonstrations. In
addition, several young amateur-journalists or civilian journalists were
also detained and their cameras and mobile-phones were confiscated by the
militia.

Burma's military exercises tight controls over the Internet, banning
access to news websites such as Yahoo or Hotmail. The regime was
frustrated by bloggers and the civilian journalists during anti-junta
protests in September, as they provided detailed consecutive accounts of
the bloodshed and helped spread the news. The junta disconnected the
nation's Internet links at the height of the violence to cut off the
information flows about the crackdown.

Recently, a popular Myanmar blogger Nay Phone Latt was arrested on 29
January. Nay Phone Latt's blog was written in Burmese and in the style of
creative writing. He used it as a forum discussing the difficulties of
daily life, such as the electricity shortage and the swelling cost of
living.

Burma was at the forefront of press freedom in Southeast Asia before 1962
military coup. The country enjoyed free press without censorship. As many
as three dozen newspapers, including English and Chinese dailies, existed
between 1948 and 1962 under civilian government. Even the prime minister’s
office never closed for the journalists in those days. There were also
free to set up relation with international press agencies.

The situation changed in 1962, when the military seized power. All
newspapers were nationalized by the junta led by Gen. Ne Win. It
established a Press Scrutiny Board (PSB) to enforce strict censorship on
all forms of printed matter including advertisements and obituaries. Since
then, military junta's censorship and self-censorship are commonplace in
Burma and these have severely restricted political rights and civil
liberties.

Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) is a major oppressive tool
of the incumbent military regime. Not surprisingly, Burma stands
downgraded from a free state to a prison state. All news media in Burma is
strictly censored and tightly controlled by the military -- all daily
newspapers, radio and television stations are under supervision of the
junta. Whatever some privately-owned journals and magazines are there,
they are strictly under the PSRD scanner. No printed matter can bring out
without PSRD permission.

Moreover, the junta also dominates the media industries through alternate
publication companies owned by generals and their cronies. Photos,
cassette tapes, movies and video footage also need the censor's stamp
before reaching the people. At the same time, the military concentrates to
stop the flow of uncensored radio news in Burmese version available from
international broadcasting stations.

The radio, television and other media outlets are monopolized for
propaganda warfare by the military regime and opposition views are never
allowed. The regime even does not allow the religious discourse. The media
is special tool for the military regime and no space for the opposition
party. The political debates are always inhibited even at the National
Convention. That's why the National Convention lost its credibility and
regarded as a sham.

The foreign periodicals have not been seen in news-stands since October as
the junta has been blocking reports on Burma. The owners of the Internet
Cafes have forced to sign an agreement to follow restrictions by the
authorities and dare not allowing users to get out of the regime's
filters. Moreover, the owners have to inform the details of their
customers to the military intelligence. Currently, freedom of press
situation in Burma is getting worse and worse. Media related people are
feeling defenseless. Voices of peoples are constantly blocked.

Unless the junta recognized the essential value of human rights – such as,
freedom of expression and freedom of association – its under-preparation
referendum for a new constitution will be pointless at all.

Press as the fourth pillar of a state is accepted around the globe. The
lifeblood of democracy is free flow of information. Burma needs regional
cooperation for Press Freedom. Journalists in Burma are looking forward to
have more assistance, morally and practically, from the international
media groups.

Without press freedom a nation cannot enjoy democracy.

____________________________________

February 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Junta deserves a universal arms embargo – Naing Ko Ko

As the Burmese military continues to use foreign-made weapons against its
own people, it is time for the international community to adopt a
comprehensive ban on military trade with the regime.

Thanks to information technology, to DVB, CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera, and
especially to some brave people in Burma, the Burmese people and the
international community were able to witness many aspects of the Saffron
Revolution in September 2007.

Thousands of Burmese soldiers poured onto the streets of Rangoon and
Mandalay in trucks made in China to shoot into crowds of peaceful monks,
nuns and civilians.

Respected and peaceful monks became corpses, killed by ammunition produced
in China. The Rangoon sky was coloured black and gray by tear-gas grenades
that also came from China.

Burmese soldiers have used not only Chinese-made military equipment such
as helmets, uniforms, boots and bayonets, but also munitions, tanks, small
arms, artillery, surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, jet
fighters, naval vessels, and even a nuclear reactor from its allies China
and Russia.

No one knows exactly how many Chinese-made strategic, conventional and
non-conventional munitions have been deployed in Burma, as the military
junta never releases authentic statistics on defence sector expenditure.

However, international strategy and security watchers, such as Jane's
Intelligence Review, the CIA, the International Institute for Strategic
Studies and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, observe
that the junta's army has been using Chinese-made ammunitions to upgrade
its modern Tatmadaw [armed forces].

Weapons of oppression

Most of the military junta's press conferences claim that the Tatmadaw now
has links with 17 ethnic insurgent ceasefire groups.

But on the ground, thousands of ethic people in the border areas, mainly
unarmed civilians, have been slaughtered by Chinese-made munitions.
Landmines have injured or killed thousands of people each year.

Landmine Monitors of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines estimate
a landmine casualty rate of 1,500 people per year in Burma.

However, China has not stopped selling arms to the Burmese army for its
war against innocent civilians. China and Russia have been Burma’s
guardians, protecting the regime in the sphere of international relations
and diplomacy.

Although the forced conscription of children into its army is prohibited
by law, the issue of child soldiers in Burma has reached the table of
United Nations Security Council. Burmese Army personnel have been
violating international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of
child soldiers since 1988.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has documented how children as young
as 10 are recruited by force into Burma's army. At recruitment centres,
officers falsify documents to register new recruits as being aged 18, even
if they are clearly underage.

HRW considers that 70,000 or more of the Burmese Army's estimated 350,000
soldiers may be children.

Military trade continues

According to the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute, the key arms exporters to Burma in 2005-2006 were China, India
and Serbia and Montenegro.

China was the biggest arms exporter with a value with 2.5 billion US
dollars. The US government's CIA World Fact Book stated in the same year
of 2005 that the Burmese junta spent 2.10 percent of gross domestic
product on military expenditure.

The military junta has not ratified the Mine Ban Treaty, and according to
Jane's Intelligence Review (Vol. 12, No. 10, October 2000) has imported
antipersonnel landmines from China including Chinese Types-58, -59, -69
and -72A; Russian-made POMZ-2, POMZ-2M, PMN and PMD-6; US-made M-14,
M-16A1 and M-18, and Indian/British LTM-73, LTM-76.

Despite the regime signing the Chemical Weapons Convention on 13 January
1993, to date it has not yet ratified the agreement. Some military
strategists believe the regime is trying to obtain such WMD and nuclear
reactors from China and Russia, while some others have said firmly that
Russia has already provided such a reactor to military generals.

The Burmese army has denied using of weapons of mass destruction, but
there is a no independent monitoring system in Burma.

While there are no crucial and strategic security threats from either
internal or external enemies or actors, the Burmese army has doubled in
size since 1988 and continues to expand, with active forces estimated at
428,250, ranking it 12th in the world, and a total force of 500,250,
ranking it 26th in the world.

“Failed state”

As the army has expanded, almost every other institution and most of civil
society has been totally destroyed.

Recently, on 23 January 2008, UNICEF claimed that hundreds of children
under the age of 5 die from preventable diseases each day in Burma, the
second-worst mortality rate for children in Asia after Afghanistan. Dr
Osamu Kunii, UNICEF’s nutrition expert in Burma, said that there were
between 100,000 to 150,000 child deaths per year in the country; equal to
between 270 and 400 daily.

Almost every policy is formulated by unskilled military generals who run
the state economy as their own private business. The result is that almost
every policy of the military junta has failed through lack of
professionalism, human resources and follow-through.

Sadly, this resource-rich and beautiful South East Asian country, in the
hands of the generals, has turned into a failed state. There is an exodus
of millions of Burmese to neighbouring countries to hunt for any job, no
matter how dirty or unskilled, while others have migrated to the first
world countries to avoid suffering the oppression and tyranny of their
army.

In order to stop this modern tragedy, the international community needs to
adopt multilateral and bilateral binding resolutions and arms embargos
instead of turning to “megaphone diplomacy” and issuing condemnatory
statements which fall on the deaf ears of the military generals.

As long as the army generals can sustain their power using arms and
munitions from more developed countries, they will never sit down for real
dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and their own people.

Before footage of another mass killing appears on the TV screens, it is
time to adopt a universal arms embargo against the Burmese military
generals.

Naing Ko Ko is a postgraduate scholarship student in the Department of
Political Studies at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He is a
former political prisoner.