BurmaNet News, March 14, 2008

[Editor]

March 14, 2008 Issue # 3422

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: NLD calls for constitution to be made public
Irrawaddy: Dissidents fear security reinforcements
Mizzima News: Thailand's Premier meets Burmese junta supremo
Reuters: Myanmar’s courts stretch laws
Kaowao: Disappearance of Army Chief of the New Mon State Party
KNG: Junta-back militia group employs locals without wages
AFP: Nine killed, 49 hurt in Myanmar truck crash: state media

ON THE BORDER
DVB: NCUB urges people to vote No in referendum
Irrawaddy: Ban the Dam, say activists

BUSINESS / TRADE
Reuters: Crackdown fallout hits Myanmar tourism hard
SHAN: Junta forces villagers to plant teak

GUNS
UPI Energy: China arms Myanmar military

REGIONAL
Bangkok Post: Noppadon rejects sanctions, Burmese to 'vote no'

INTERNATIONAL
Sydney Morning Herald: Burmese monk's mission to tell world how it is
Bangkok Post: Outgoing UN rights expert on Myanmar says government has
OK'd visit

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Don’t blame Gambari! - Nehginpao Kipgen
The Japan Times: Burma sanctions don't work - Brahma Chellaney

STATEMENT/PRESS RELEASE
The 88 Generation Students: The 88 Generation Students in Burma say "VOTE NO"
European Union: Office of the European Union Special Envoy for Burma/Myanmar

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 14, Irrawaddy
NLD calls for constitution to be made public - Wai Moe

Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD),
released a statement on Friday criticizing the junta’s tactic of
announcing a referendum on a draft Constitution while withholding details
from the public, according to an NLD official.

Nyan Win, a spokesperson for the NLD, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that
the statement, known as “3/03/08,” was released to criticize the junta for
scheduling a referendum for May while the draft Constitution is
unavailable to the public.

“The statement also says that the junta has issued two referendum laws as
mandates for holding the referendum. But we have not seen any technical
law that specifically outlines the referendum,” said Nyan Win. “Therefore,
the NLD calls on the junta to follow the steps in statement 3/03/08.”

He added that citizens must be able to read the draft of the Constitution
in advance of the referendum—then people would know more about the
Constitution and could decide which way to vote.

The NLD released its “special statement” during a visit to Burma by the
new Thai Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravej and Foreign Minister Noppadon
Pattama, who met junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Prime Minister Gen
Thein Sein.

Before leaving for Burma, the Thai foreign minister told reporters that
Thailand opposes Western sanctions on neighboring Burma and is ready to
help the military-run country hold a referendum on a new Constitution in
May.

"Thailand disagrees with sanctions," he said. "If Myanmar [Burma] wants
assistance from Thailand, we are ready to offer help as a friendly
country."

Commenting on Samak’s one-day visit to Burma, Nyan Win said that Thailand
should not only focus on trade, because foreign relations not only depend
on trade.

____________________________________

March 14, Irrawaddy
Dissidents fear security reinforcements - Saw Yan Naing

Burmese activists face increased prospects of arrest since the Burmese
authorities beefed up security around Rangoon this week, according to
dissident sources in the former capital.

On March 12, nine members of activist group Generation Wave were arrested
by the authorities and are currently being detained in Rangoon’s Bahan
police station, according to a source close to the group.

Rangoon authorities also raided the house of one of the group’s leaders,
Kyaw Kyaw, said the source, adding that since March 6 about 18 members of
this group have been arrested.

An anonymous police officer at Bahan Police Station told The Irrawaddy on
Friday that an “unidentified security organization” arrested the nine
members of Generation Wave.

However, activist sources said that Military Affairs Security personnel
arrested the nine dissidents.

Generation Wave is made up of students and young activists, and was
founded in late 2007 in the wake of the military crackdown on
pro-democracy demonstrations.

Meanwhile, sources said that Burmese soldiers and army trucks were
patrolling the downtown area of Rangoon while riot police and plain
clothes security guards were deployed at major junctions and busy areas,
such as Yuzana, Tamwe and Sule Pagoda, as well as around schools and
markets in the former capital.

Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Friday, Soe Htun, a member of the 88
Generation Students group who is currently in hiding, said that he and his
colleagues are now very careful about safety following the security
reinforcements.

He said, “Since the Burmese authorities tightened security, we are now
very worried about our safety. We don’t know why they did this, but it
could be a way to threaten people.”

A well-informed source in Rangoon said that the authorities have beefed up
security forces for fear of a repeat of the protests led by monks in
September last year.

Meanwhile, a statement released on Friday by the 88 Generation Students
group urged civilians not to support the national referendum and vote “No”
to the regime-written draft Constitution.

Soe Htun said, “We are urging civilians to be brave and vote “No” in the
referendum by rejecting the one-sided Constitution because the referendum
can’t guarantee safety and peace for civilians.”

The Burmese military regime officially announced on February 9 that a
national referendum would be held in May and multi-party elections in
2010.

Soe Htun also said that the referendum won’t be free and fair due to the
lack of participation by opposition groups, members of 1990-elected
parliament and ethnic leaders.

Recently, the junta also rejected a proposal by UN Special Envoy to Burma
Ibrahim Gambari that an international observer’s team would assure the
referendum process is free and fair.

Meanwhile, authorities ordered the Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA) to form a sub-commission of six members to oversee the
referendum, said USDA sources.

The junta recently ordered local authorities in Rangoon to persuade
residents to support the national referendum in May, according to informed
sources.

Local authorities in Rangoon, such as the Township Peace and Development
Council and the Ward Peace and Development Council, were officially asked
earlier this week by the chairman of Rangoon Division Peace and
Development Council, Brig-Gen Hla Htay Win, and Home Minister Maung Oo to
lobby local residents to vote “Yes” at the national referendum, said the
sources.

____________________________________

March 14, Mizzima News
Thailand's Premier meets Burmese junta supremo

Thailand's newly elected Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej arrived in
Burma's new jungle capital Nay Pyi Taw on Friday on a one-day 'good will'
visit He is reportedly meeting Burmese military junta supremo Snr. Gen
Than.

Samak, who assumed office as Prime Minister of Thailand after leading the
Peoples' Power Party to victory in the elections in December last year,
said his visit to Burma is aimed at promoting bilateral relations and
cooperation.

According to Xihua, besides meeting the Burmese military leader Than Shwe,
Samak will also meet his Burmese counterpart Prime Minister Thein Sein and
discuss investments and economic cooperation.

The Thai Foreign Ministry said that Samak, during his visit to Nay Pyi
Taw, will witness the signing of an 'Investment Protection Agreement'
between the two countries.

However, Thailand government's spokesperson Lieutenant General
Wichienchote Suchoterat said, Samak will not raise the issues of human
rights nor conflicts with minority groups and will remain silent on
Burma's internal affairs.

Samak is accompanied by Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Anupong Paochinda,
National Security Council Secretary-General Lt Gen Siripong Boonphat and
Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama, and is scheduled to return later in the
evening.

____________________________________

March 14, Reuters
Myanmar’s courts stretch laws - Ed Cropley

Not many people know that the law in military-ruled Myanmar enshrines the
individual’s right to criticise the government.

The only problem is, mention Section 124A of the penal code in your
defence in court and you are likely to be arrested, lawyers who have
suffered that very fate say.

It is just one of the many absurdities in the former Burma’s court system
being taken up by a small but growing number of activist lawyers in the
wake of last September’s monk-led pro-democracy protests.

“The monks have played their role, the actors and celebrities have played
their role, and now we’re playing ours,” said one of the lawyers in
Yangon.

By their own admission, the role of defence attorney is limited in a
country that has been under military rule for 46 years and which held
1,100 political prisoners, according to the United Nations, even before
last year’s mass arrests.

In another contravention of rights accorded to ordinary criminal suspects,
lawyers for political prisoners cannot plead guilt or innocence before the
court and cannot challenge any issue of law, the lawyers said.

Judgements are often handed down the same day by civilian magistrates who
are “just following orders”, another of the lawyers said, of a junta which
appears to have inherited an obsession with rules and regulations from
British colonial times.

Lawyers are also denied access to their clients in prison, meaning the
only time they can see them is in the courtroom itself during a hearing.

____________________________________

March 14, Kaowao News Group
Disappearance of Army Chief of the New Mon State Party

General Nai Aung Naing, the army chief of the New Mon State Party (NMSP),
has disappeared after recently leaving for medical treatment in Rangoon,
say Mon sources.

In December 2006, Gen. Nai Aung Naing received permission from the NMSP in
to obtain long-term treatment in Rangoon. But he disappeared after he
checked in for medical care at Pang Hlaing health center in Rangoon, the
former capital of Burma, said a source in the city.

"Nai Aung Naing left from Three Pagodas Pass (Border Town) on the fourth
of last month, and then from Than Phyu Zayat to Rangoon on February sixth.
The party gave for him a pension of long-term health care first class. He
disappeared after February sixth. We are still trying but cannot confirm
where he is," Nai Ong Mangye, the NMSP spokesman, told Kaowao. A pension
of first class health care is the highest available pension and gives Nai
Aung Naing the chance to receive all expenditures for health care.

Pamphlets opposing the upcoming referendum are being spread throughout Mon
state, and now say that Nai Aung Naing was arrested by the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC). The pamphlets ask for his release, in Mon and
Burmese, and their publisher is unknown.

Mon political analysts, however, mostly believe Nai Aung Naing is in
willing contact with the SPDC, and may be negotiating disarmament.

At the 6th Central Committee meeting held in at 2005, Gen. Nai Aung Naing
became the army chief of the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the
NMSP' military wing. While he is seventy-six years old, he is renowned for
his service as an excellent fighter who was wounded twice, once in the hip
and once in the abdomen. He currently suffers from diabetes and a pain in
the stomach.

A rumor from Mergue (Myeik),Tennasserim, southern Burma, holds that Nai
Ong Naing disappeared because he is attempting to contact the Monland
Restoration Party, an armed Mon rebel group which does not currently
recognize the 1995 NMSP-SPDC ceasefire.

To clarify the NMSP position on the referendum, last month the Bureau of
Special Operation from the SPDC met with NMSP officers at Three Pagodas
Pass. On March ninth the NMSP released a statement opposing the referendum
because of problems with the constitution and the fact that it was not
drafted with input from a tripartite dialogue.

____________________________________

March 14, Kachin News Group
Junta-back militia group employs locals without wages

Local people are being used in road construction work without wages by a
Kachin militia group, the Rebellion Resistance Force (RRF) backed by
Burma's ruling junta in Kachin State in Northern Burma, local sources
said.

Although, hundreds of local people were employed with the promise of
reasonable wages in a new horse-road construction project between the
military bases of the militia group in Hkawnglang Hpu and near Gi Gi Pass
on the Sino-Burma border, most workers were not paid, a resident told KNG
today.

The Hkawnglang Hpu is one of the junta's under implementation development
projects in Kachin State and the junta's high ranking officials often
visit the area every year.

According to a resident near the Hkawnglang Hpu, the road construction is
a joint project of the RRF and it was started late last year. They had
asked local workers to work on the promise of payment of Kyat 800,000
(est. US $ 727) per mile or Kyat 100,000 (est. US $ 91) per one-eighth of
a mile as construction wages.

The construction of the road is mainly aimed at transporting a kind of
timber known as the Hong-htu-shar in Chinese name which can be produced
the precious oil for medicinal purposes from Hkawnglang areas to China,
locals said.

"The construction of the road is very difficult and dangerous because the
area is very mountainous. Now, the local workers have gone back home
because they did not get any wages as promised," the resident added.

The workers are not only from the areas near the Hkawnglang Hpu but also
Nawmung Township, Putao Township and Machyangbaw Township, according to
local sources.

The RRF is used to demanding and looting rice from villagers in Laja Ga,
Nau Ra Yang and Hkanghti Dum villages near the RRF military headquarters
whenever they face shortage of rations, said the sources close to the
those villages.

The RRF was formed by a businessman and owner of Myitkyina-based Mali Hka
Recording Ah Dang and the group was established with the direct support of
the ruling junta with rations, finance and arms in early 2006.

Last year, before the Buddhist monk led Saffron Revolution across the
county, over 200 men from RRF were urgently transported to Naypyidaw, the
new capital of Burma.

They have not returned to their controlled areas in Putao District,
according to local sources close to the RRF.

____________________________________

March 14, Agence France Presse
Nine killed, 49 hurt in Myanmar truck crash: state media

Nine people were killed and 49 others injured when a truck flipped over on
a highway in central Myanmar as it was taking passengers to a religious
festival, state media said Friday.

The truck, crammed with 72 people, was heading to a festival at the
Shwesettaw Pagoda in Magway division, 430 kilometres (270 miles) north of
the economic hub Yangon, the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

The accident was blamed on faulty brakes, the paper said, without
providing further details.

Myanmar, one of the world's poorest countries, depends on old cars and
buses for transport as the military government has restricted vehicle
imports from abroad. Safety standards are often poor.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 14, Democratic Voice of Burma
NCUB urges people to vote No in referendum

The National Council of the Union of Burma, an umbrella organisation of
exiled opposition groups, has called on the people of Burma to vote No in
the constitutional referendum.

The Burmese military regime plans to hold a referendum on its proposed
constitution in May this year.

Khun Myint Tun, a member of the NCUB secretariat, said pushing for a No
vote was part of a strategy to oppose the regime’s seven-step roadmap at
every stage.

"The NCUB's policy is to oppose the whole roadmap system of the SPDC
government,” he said.

“We have to oppose it at every stage and this is the basis of our decision."

Khun Myint Tun said that voting against the constitution would deny
legitimacy to the government’s efforts to push through their own agenda.

"The SPDC is going to force the outcome they want from the referendum and
they are going to accomplish that using various methods of deception,” he
said.

“We are urging people to tackle them so that they cannot use loopholes to
escape."

Khun Myint Tun also called on members of the Union Solidarity and
Development Association to vote against the constitution.

"Among the USDA members, there are teachers, government employees, and
many of them don’t accept the government's referendum,” he said.

“They are certainly not in a position where they can refuse to vote in the
national referendum. We would like to tell them to vote, no matter what -
but vote No."

Using a football analogy, Khun Myint Tun said it was the people inside
Burma who could make a difference.

"The [opposition] leaders inside the country are the strikers of the game.
It is their decisions which are important," he said.

____________________________________

March 14, Irrawaddy
Ban the Dam, say activists - Violet Cho

Ethnic Karen people living along Burma’s Salween River gathered today in
colorful traditional dress to pray to the spirits of the river and the
land around it for protection against the planned construction of a dam
which threatens to devastate the area’s fragile ecosystem.

Over 250 villagers from 18 villages in the area affected by the planned
Hut Gyi Dam took part in the ceremony, which was organized to show respect
for the river and to express opposition to the project.

They were joined by Burmese opposition politicians, environmentalists and
student activists, who also called on Indian, Thai and Chinese companies
to end their join-venture projects with Burma’s military regime to
construct dams on every major river in the country.

Thay Law, coordinator of the Burma River Network (BRN), told The Irrawaddy
on Friday that Burma’s neighboring countries should stop investing in
dam-building projects in the country. “International companies should not
build dams there because the Burmese government does not have effective
environment impact assessment, public participation in decision-making or
equitable benefit sharing,” he said.

Several organizations campaigning against dams in Burma held events today
to mark the International Day of Action for Rivers (also called “Anti-Dams
Day”). They used the occasion to point out the various impacts and
consequences of dams.

According to a joint statement released by BRN and the Kuki Students
Democratic Front (KSDF), dam projects are causing large-scale
displacement, militarization, human rights abuses and irreversible
environmental damage affecting the livelihoods and food security of
millions of people.

The statement also pointed to negative consequences for “the rich
biodiversity and ecological balance in the region due to the dramatic
changes in riverbeds.”

Chinese companies have been involved in the construction of 25 massive
dams on the Irrawaddy, Salween, and Sittaung Rivers and their tributaries.
The dams will produce an estimated capacity of 30,000 megawatts and cost a
total of more than $30 billion to construct.

The Karenni Development Research Group (KDRG), based in Mae Hong Song, has
urged China to reconsider its investments, which the group says create
problems for Burmese people.

In a statement issued today, the group claimed that since Chinese
investors started construction on Karenni State’s third power plant, there
have been cases of forced labor in affected areas, including cases
involving eight Karenni villagers who were injured by landmines when they
were clearing land around the two Lawpita hydropower plants near Loikaw.

“The Lawpita hydropower projects have turned our farms into minefields. On
this International Day of Action for Rivers, we urge China to consider the
human costs of investing in such projects,” said Moe Moe Aung of KDRG.

Burma’s military regime has shown a strong interest in nationwide
dam-building projects, as most of the electricity generated by the dam
projects can be exported to neighboring countries, providing the junta
with a long-term source of income.

Chinese and Thai companies are planning to build five dams along the
Salween River in Burma, which will be permanently change Southeast Asia’s
longest un-dammed river and impact indigenous communities, including the
Karen, Karenni and Mon people.

However, BRN’s Thay Law expressed his deepest concerns over dams on the
Irrawaddy River. “Based on the loss of sediment, sudden water releases and
salt water intrusion, millions of people living along the Irrawaddy River,
especially in the delta regions, will be badly affected by dams,” he said.

Burma’s military regime has plans to build seven hydropower projects on
the Irrawaddy River. The largest, the Myitsone mega-project, would produce
more than 3,600 MW, according to the state-run newspaper, The New Light of
Myanmar.

The fifth most heavily silted river in the world, the Irrawaddy River
flows through the country’s heartland, passing the country’s second
largest city, Mandalay. It has been Burma’s most important commercial
waterway throughout the country’s history.

The delta of the Irrawaddy consists of a large and fertile plain which
provides nearly 60 percent of Burma’s total rice production and supports
more than three million people, according to a report by the All Kachin
Student and Youth Union.

There are many issues tied together, making it difficult to predict the
exact impacts of damming the Irrawaddy River, but environmentalists say
there are plausible models which can give some idea of the consequences of
building the dams.

One worst-case scenario would be an earthquake in a highly seismically
active area in Kachin State or on the edge of the Shan Plateau. If this
occurred, it could destroy a dam, unleashing devastation all the way down
to the delta, according to Steve Green, a Thailand-based environmentalist.

Another, less dramatic, scenario could be equally damaging, said Green.

Once a dam is built, nutrient-rich sediment carried down from the forest
will become trapped, leaving land that is flooded with nutrient-poor water
unstable and infertile. Because of the lack of nutrients, people will be
forced to depend more on chemical fertilizers, which is a big problem for
people who depend on farming for their living.

If the flow of fresh water decreases, it could lead to a rise in sea
level, which would in turn result in climate change, he added.

The Irrawaddy originates at a confluence of two rivers in Kachin State,
both of which start in the southeastern Himalayas.

The Irrawaddy is one of a the world’s thirty high-priority rivers,
supporting a high biodiversity and high vulnerability to future pressures,
according to the United Nations Environment Program’s World Conservation
Monitoring Centre. The river is a dwelling place to 79 known fish species
and several endemic bird areas in the basin.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

March 14, Reuters
Crackdown fallout hits Myanmar tourism hard - Ed Cropley

Bagan, Myanmar - It may be awash with cultural splendors, topped off by
the 1,000-year-old temples of Bagan, but a reviled military government has
ensured Myanmar has never been flooded with foreign tourists.

Six months after September's bloody crackdown on monk-led protests, that
trickle of visitors -- 350,000 in 2006 compared to 13 million in
neighboring Thailand -- has all but dried up.

The former Burma's rigidly controlled domestic newspapers admit tourism
almost halved in the three months after the crackdown, in which the United
Nations says at least 31 people were killed.

But in Bagan, a mystical plain studded with more than 4,000 temples and
stupas on the banks of the mighty Irrawaddy River, hotel and restaurant
operators say occupancy rates and takings are just 20-30 percent of the
same time last year.

Given that the unrest, and the shocking images of soldiers attacking monks
and unarmed demonstrators, fell on the eve of the "cool season" -- the
traditional peak time for tourism -- the decline is threatening many with
ruin.

"There are so few visitors at the moment," said tour guide Aung Myint with
a shake of the head. "Many people are wondering how they will support
their families during the low season. Now is when we're meant to be making
all our money."

Although it only took a few days for the junta to crush the biggest
democracy protests in 19 years, pictures, including the shooting of a
Japanese journalist, reinforced the image of the former British colony as
an unstable, hostile place.

Besides a growing number of Russian tour groups, the only visitors who
appear to have shrugged off scruples or the perception of risk are German.

"I don't know why but most of the tourists now are Germans," said Aung
Thein Myint, owner of a swish open-air restaurant on the banks of the
Irrawaddy, where takings in October and November were down by 80 percent.

"They seem to think that until they start shooting Germans, it's still
safe to visit," he said.

BLAME IT ON THE MEDIA

In typically uncompromising tone, the junta -- the latest face of 46 years
of unbroken military rule -- blames the decline on the foreign media and
dissidents who smuggled out pictures and reports of atrocities on the
Internet.

"Some foreigners attempted to tarnish the image of Myanmar by posting in
the Web sites the photos of the protest walks," Deputy Tourism Minister
Aye Myint Kyu, a brigadier-general, wrote in state-run papers in January
under a widely known pseudonym.

However, in one sense he is right: coverage of the crisis put the
oft-forgotten southeast Asian nation firmly in the world spotlight and
bolstered the cries of many anti-government organizations telling
potential visitors to stay away.

Under the slogan "The cost of a holiday could be someone's life", groups
such as the Burma Campaign UK argue that every tourist dollar props up a
regime that uses forced labor, child soldiers and systematic rape of
ethnic minority women -- allegations the junta denies.

Boycott campaigners also say that the jobs of people working in tourism
are an unfortunate but unavoidable consequence of the wider effort to
overthrow the generals.

"The tourism industry in Burma is tiny. The vast majority of people will
never see a tourist in their life," said Anna Roberts of the Burma
Campaign UK.

SHOULD I STAY, SHOULD I GO?

Even though the call for a boycott came from detained Nobel peace laureate
and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, it is not without its critics.

In particular, detractors argue it is an empty gesture since the cash
gleaned directly and indirectly from tourism is a tiny fraction of that
from gems and natural gas, which made the generals more than $2 billion in
sales to Thailand alone in 2007.

They also say it pushes them further into the isolation on which they
appear to thrive.

"The boycott is totally pointless," said Ton Schoonderwoerd, an
independent Dutch tourist watching the sun rise above Bagan's temples, the
product of 230 years of building by Buddhist kings that came to an abrupt
end with a Mongol invasion in 1287.

"It may seem good to politicians in the U.S. and Europe, but out here it
just means that people struggle even more to make ends meet," he said.

Rather than coming down on either side of what is a passionate debate,
backpacker bible Lonely Planet chooses simply to outline the pros and cons
of visiting, and urges those who do to avoid government-run hotels and
airlines.

(Editing by Michael Battye and Megan Goldin)

____________________________________

March 14, Shan Herald Agency for News
Junta forces villagers to plant teak - Lieng Lern

Villagers are being forced by military authorities of Burmese junta to
plant teak in Mong Pieng Township, eastern Shan State according to local
sources.

On 23 February 2008, Maj. Khin Tun, together with 36 soldiers from
Infantry Battalion (IB) 43, based at Yang Kham village, went to the
villages in the township and instructed villagers to plant teak. Every
household was required to plant 150 teak saplings. Each family had to pay
Kyat 100,000 ($80) to the battalion if they did not want to plant teak,
said a villager of Yang Kham.

"They ordered us to plant teak beside the road between linking villages of
Wan Na Kaw, Wan Maikawngka, Nam La and Ho Yang, across the villagers' tea
plantations," said the source.

The tea growers reportedly went to Maj. Khin Tun and said they could not
plant teak on their farms. Each villager was than fined Kyat 50,000 ($40)
for refusal and told that it was their [battalion’s] land and they could
do teak plantation wherever they wanted to.

There are seven Shan villages, three Palaung villages and two Lahu
villages in Mong Kien village tract, Mong Pieng Township, which is 65
miles west of Kengtung, eastern Shan State capital.

Timber export is one of Burma's main sources for foreign currency. Illegal
loggings, especially along the border areas, have much depleted the
country's forests. In many cases, the regime's ban on logging of hardwood
is flouted by its own officials, according to environmental activists.

____________________________________
GUNS

March 14, UPI Energy
China arms Myanmar military - Andrei Chang

China has exported two 16 PA6 shipborne diesel engines to Myanmar to be
fitted on its navy's indigenous patrol ships, a representative of the
German MAN Diesel Co., which designed the original engines, has confirmed.

The PLA navy's 054A missile frigate uses four 16 PA6 engines, produced by
China under license from MAN Diesel. MAN Diesel was originally the SEMT
Pielstick Co., under French ownership, but changed its name following
restructuring last year.

China's export of these engines will help Myanmar upgrade its patrol
vessels. Since 1998, Myanmar has built three Sinmalaik-class patrol
vessels, with help from China in the design and construction of the vessel
hulls.

The Sinmalaik-class patrol vessel has a full-load displacement of 1,000
tons and is not fitted with ship-to-ship missiles. The Myanmar navy
apparently has plans to develop its own light-duty offshore patrol vessels
with China's assistance, and China's provision of the 16 PA6 engines is
likely related to this plan.

Most of the major surface combatants of the Myanmar navy were supplied by
China, so the navy resembles the PLA navy in many respects. It has
acquired Chinese 40-kilometer-range C-801 ship-to-ship missiles along with
037-G high-speed missile patrol boats. The Myanmar navy altogether has
four 037-G fast missile boats, which were all delivered between 1995 and
1997.

China officially issued an export license for its new C-802A ship-to-ship
missiles six months ago, intending to promote sales to South and Southeast
Asian countries. The C-802A has a range of 180 kilometers and is a
replacement for the earlier C-801 and C-802 SSMs.

Not only the Myanmar navy but also its army and air force are equipped
with massive Chinese military equipment. For the past 10 years, China has
been the largest supplier of arms to the country. Japanese television news
broadcast during last September's military crackdown on Buddhist monks
showed Myanmar soldiers using Chinese-made Dongfeng trucks and even
wearing Chinese helmets.

The army has been equipped with more than 100 Chinese T-69-II main battle
tanks and 55 new T-90 armored personnel carriers. A Google Earth satellite
photo shows that at least two Chinese A5M attackers have been deployed in
the northern city of Mandalay, which can be used for assaults on rebels in
the northern part of the country.

China sold more than 22 A5M attackers and at least 50 F-7 fighters to the
Myanmar air force in 1991 and 1993. Satellite photos have also shown two
Chinese-made Y-8 transporters at the Yangon airport. Also, 12 Chinese Lang
Chang K-8 jet trainer aircraft have been sold to the country in the past
seven years, the same type sold to the Sudanese air force.

For its part, China is actively pursuing access to Myanmar's natural
resources, especially its oil and natural gas. Last year China won a bid
to extract natural gas from Myanmar's biggest offshore field, believed to
hold as much as 7.7 trillion cubic feet of gas. The gas is to be delivered
by a pipeline, yet to be constructed, via Mandalay to China's southern
province of Yunnan.

(Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly,
registered in Toronto.)

____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 14, Bangkok Post
Noppadon rejects sanctions, Burmese to 'vote no'

Thailand opposes the western sanctions on neighbouring Burma and will help
to prop the Burmese military junta's planned constitutional referendum in
May, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said on Friday.

"Thailand disagrees with sanctions," said Mr Noppadon before he took off
with Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej for a quick, official visit to Burma.

Mr Noppadon's statement put the Thai government firmly against Burmese
activists who announced a "Vote No" campaign for the referendum.

"This constitution is designed to protect and promote the interests,
wealth and security of generals and their cronies," said a statement
issued by The 88 Generation Students. "This constitution will allow the
military dictatorship to perpetuate in Burma."

The US and Europe have put heavy sanctions on Burma, and tightened them
after the junta killed at least 31 people and tortured monks to suppress a
peaceful pro-democracy protest last September.

Mr Noppadon said Thailand wanted negotiations instead of sanctions. He
claimed without a shred of evidence that talks with the dictators "could
lead to positive developments in the country," where the military has
ruled since 1962.

"If Myanmar wants assistance from Thailand (for the referendum), we are
ready to offer help as a friendly country," Noppadon said, using the
junta's official name for Burma.

However, the generals are likely to slap down any Thai offer to help. Last
week, the generals brusquely refused UN technical assistance and foreign
observers, saying Burma doesn't need any foreigners to help.

The best-known political leader in the country, Nobel Prize winner Aung
San Suu Kyi, is barred from all political activity because she was once
married to a foreigner, the late Briton Michael Aris.

The military-appointed national convention set up by the regime to draft
the constitution - a process that took 14 years - has been judged a "sham"
by many international observers.

It is widely believed that the referendum will be similarly shambolic, as
the regime can control a large portion of the population through threats
and rewards.

"There is no clear indication of what the junta will do if the majority of
the voters reject the constitution. The junta is apparently planning to
win anyhow," noted The 88 Generation Students statement.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 10, Sydney Morning Herald
Burmese monk's mission to tell world how it is - Connie Levett

The Burmese junta mobilised a powerful new adversary when it brutally
suppressed the monks' uprising in September, igniting monks worldwide to
campaign to force a change of government.

The monk Pannya Vamsa, co-founder of the International Burmese Monks
Organisation, has called on Australia to support sanctions, co-ordinate
with other governments for a unified response and use its influence on
China, Burma's most important backer and arms supplier, to improve civil
rights and allow democratic progress.

Pannya Vamsa, 79, in Australia on a two-week speaking tour, has had a
working relationship with the regime in the past. For 50 years he has
promoted Buddhism internationally and received honours from the regime in
1994 and 1998. He set up a monks' educational training centre in Rangoon
in the 1990s and built 15 temples in the United States, East Asia, Europe
and Australasia.

Now he is campaigning to overthrow the military government. In 2002 the
Government took over his Rangoon training centre because "they were afraid
of it", Pannya Vamsa said. "They [the regime] liked me; I never liked
them," he said of his previous co-operation. "When governments ask what to
do, I say you have to choose between good and evil.

"The Burmese Government is wrong in every field - religiously, socially
and commercially. They cannot handle the [country], there is not enough to
eat, and they make divisions."

The International Burmese Monks Association was formed on October 27 last
year after the arrest and detention of thousands of monks by the army in
the wake of the peaceful uprising.

"In Burma, the present situation, the monks say, 'We cannot do anything.
The military government is torturing and killing, and we cannot live
peacefully. Help us tell the world leaders, political and religious, what
is happening,"' he said.

There are an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 monks and nuns in Burma, the
same as the number of soldiers. "We think about 100 monks were killed and
thousands of monks and nuns were arrested [last September]," Pannya Vamsa
said.

After the uprising the regime closed the monasteries in and around
Rangoon, detained senior monks and sent the novices back to their
villages. "In Rangoon now about 10 per cent of the monks are left," Pannya
Vamsa said.

"In Mandalay [the second largest city] there are about 40 per cent." Monks
who tried to return were investigated, their faces checked against the
photographs of the marches to see if they were involved in the protests,
he said.

Pannya Vamsa dismissed the junta's referendum in May to approve a new
constitution as "probably a trick" and predicted there would be another
uprising. "They torture so much, people cannot stand it. There is no
limitation; they nearly explode. They have tolerated it for so many years.
It is not just wishful thinking. Feelings first, actions later."

He said the uprising in September had resulted in one big change: people
worldwide were once again aware of and cared about what was happening in
Burma.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/03/09/1204998283716.html

____________________________________

March 14, Bangkok Post
Outgoing UN rights expert on Myanmar says government has OK'd visit

The U.N. human rights investigator on Myanmar has been permitted to visit
the Asian country, saying he was considering boarding a flight to Yangon
on Saturday.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro had been denied a visa for several months.

Pinheiro's mandate on Myanmar is due to end soon with the appointment of a
successor by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

But the Brazilian professor told journalists Friday in Geneva upon hearing
the news of his visa that "If this means I am welcome, I will go of
course."

Pinheiro has strongly criticized Myanmar's military government for last
year's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

In a report last December, he challenged the government's account of how
many people were killed when troops fired on protesters, saying the death
toll was at least 31 and likely higher.

Pinheiro said Friday that Yangon's assurances it is paving the way for
free elections contrast with the reality on the ground.

"There is a contradiction between what the government of Myanmar says it
is doing, and what is really happening," he said, adding that the
government is barring "excessive" numbers of people from taking part in
planned elections, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

"If you believe in gnomes, in trolls, in elves, you can believe in this
process of democracy in Myanmar," Pinheiro said.

He added that the U.N. rights council, in particular, and the
international community, in general, risk damage to their credibility
because Myanmar is ignoring external pressure to reform.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

March 14, Irrawaddy
Don’t blame Gambari! - Nehginpao Kipgen

Ibrahim Gambari, a seasoned Nigerian diplomat who has been tasked with
coordinating the United Nations’ efforts to end the political impasse in
Burma, wrapped up his latest visit to the country on March 10. The outcome
of his mission, which ended without any improvement in the situation, was
about as good as could be expected.

In the absence of a mandate from the UN Security Council, there was little
chance that the special envoy could achieve anything concrete. When the
Security Council refused to pass a resolution on Burma on January 12, it
effectively ensured that Gambari’s efforts would become an exercise in
futility.

Prior to his visit to Burma, the UN special envoy headed to neighboring
countries to build some sort of consensus. As anticipated by many,
including Burmese opposition groups and members of the United Nations,
nothing has come of Gambari’s travels around the region.

Gambari was reportedly encouraged when the countries he visited paid lip
service to the need for real improvement in Burma. But in the end, all he
received were words without concrete commitments. China remains as
determined as ever to expand its influence in the country for its own
purposes, while India is still primarily concerned with countering
Beijing’s growing clout.

The game being played by China and India is not about national security or
ideology; they are not interested in spreading communism or democracy. The
driving force behind the Burma policies of the two countries is economic
interest.

Despite the shortcomings of UN efforts to date, however, we should
acknowledge, with reservations, the good offices of Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon in his efforts to bring about some resolution of Burma’s
longstanding conflicts. Although substantive results have yet to be borne,
the first meeting of the 14-nation “Group of Friends of the
Secretary-General on Myanmar” was convened on December 19, 2007.

There are two possible ways to end Burma’s current situation: through
international intervention or by a popular uprising (supported by
disgruntled military personnel). Although it may be naïve to even consider
it, the swiftest way to bring change would be by military intervention,
either by the United States or by the United Nations.

So far, the regime has easily withstood pressure from the international
community, which has yet to make a truly concerted effort to address the
situation in Burma. Change from within the country is also unlikely to
emerge without the support of elements within the military that has run
the country since 1962.

Meanwhile, the regime continues to push a constitution that is deeply
flawed and clearly undemocratic. Under the military-drafted constitution,
25% seats will be reserved for the military, which will also reserve the
right to declare “emergency rule” at will.

Gambari has become more of a negotiator than a mediator. A suggestion he
put forward during his latest visit—allowing independent observers to
monitor and provide technical assistance during the May referendum on the
constitution—was rejected outright by the regime. This indicates that the
military is not prepared to accept the role of the United Nations.

The generals in Burma may one day regret that they did not listen to
Gambari when they had a chance. If the regime had accepted his proposal,
it would have muted criticism of the referendum and given greater
legitimacy to the entire road map process.

On the other hand, international acceptance of the regime’s political
process would lead to the marginalization of opposition groups. The result
of the 1990 general elections would be officially nullified, and the
military’s draft constitution would be accepted as legitimate.

But if a free and fair countrywide referendum were held in Burma today, it
would in no uncertain terms reject the constitution. If the regime does
succeed in forcing its constitution on an unwilling public, it will only
mean that the country will be destined to repeat its unhappy history.

Gambari gave it his best shot, but he was never given any bullets. Even if
the UN secretary-general himself personally visited Burma, as many
observers have said he should, it would not likely make a significant
difference. The Burmese military has guns and resources, but Gambari and
Ban Ki-moon only have rhetoric and no enforcement power from the UN
Security Council to back it up.

Don’t blame Gambari for not achieving much. Blame China and Russia for
exercising their veto powers to block a resolution on Burma!

Nehginpao Kipgen is the general secretary of the US-based Kuki
International Forum and a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in
modern Burma (1947-2004). He is also the editor of Kuki International
Forum.

____________________________________

March 14, The Japan Times
Burma sanctions don't work - Brahma Chellaney

Burma today ranks as one of the world's most isolated and sanctioned
nations — a situation unlikely to be changed by its ruling junta
scheduling a May referendum on a draft constitution and facilitating U.N.
special envoy Ibrahim Gambari's third visit in six months.

The referendum and planned 2010 national elections are part of a touted
road map to democracy. But the iconic opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi,
may not be able to contest because the still-undisclosed, military-drawn
constitution — in the making for 15 years — is likely to bar anyone who
married a foreigner.

Burma is an important state. This is not a Bhutan or a Brunei but
Southeast Asia's largest country. It is a resource-rich nation that can
become an economic powerhouse if it can remedy its poisoned politics and
ethnic divides and dispel international sanctions. And it is a land bridge
between South and Southeast Asia. Such is its vantage location that Burma
forms the strategic nucleus for India, China and Southeast Asia.

The military has run Burma, once the world's leading rice exporter, for 46
long years. Indeed, Burma's present problems and impoverishment can be
tracked back to the defining events of 1962, when General Ne Win deposed
elected Prime Minister U Nu, one of the founders of the nonaligned
movement.

The callous Ne Win, a devotee of Marx and Stalin, virtually sealed off
Burma, banning most external trade and investment, nationalizing
companies, halting foreign projects and tourism, and kicking out the
Indian business community.

It was not until nearly three decades later that a new generation of
military leaders, motivated by Deng Xiaoping's modernization program in
China, attempted to ease Burma's international isolation through tentative
economic reforms without loosening political controls. Such attempts came
much after the military's brutal suppression of the 1988 student-led
protests that left several thousand dead or injured — a bloodbath that
coincided with the numerology-devoted Ne Win's announcement of retirement
on the "most auspicious" day of Aug. 8, 1988 (8.8.88).

While Western aid cutoffs and other penal actions began no sooner than the
Burmese junta refused to honor the outcome of the 1990 elections, won by
the detained Suu Kyi's party, Burma became a key target of U.S. sanctions
policy only in the Bush years.

The new missionary zeal in the U.S. approach, reflected in the 2003 Burma
Freedom and Democracy Act banning all imports from that country and
several subsequent punitive executive orders, has occurred because of the
White House president's wife. Laura Bush's Burma fixation has put the
policy establishment in a bind: The more the United States seeks to punish
the regime, the more it undercuts its ability to promote political reforms
in Burma, and the more its actions threaten to disrupt the lives of
ordinary Burmese.

As then Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Daley told Congress in
late 2003, many garment workers made jobless by U.S. sanctions "have
entered the flourishing illegal sex and entertainment industries" in Burma
or neighboring states.

While prohibiting new investment by American citizens or entities,
Washington has protected the business interests of Chevron Corp., which
acquired a stake in the Yadana natural-gas export project in Burma when it
bought Unocal Corp. in 2005. Because Unocal's investment in the project,
in which France's Total SA holds the biggest stake, predated the
imposition of U.S. sanctions, Chevron has used a grandfather clause to
stay put in Burma — one of the few large Western companies left there.

The junta, through its remarkable shortsightedness, has only aided Laura
Bush's activism. Its crackdown last September on monk-led protests —
which, according to a U.N. special rapporteur's report, left at least 31
dead — invited a new round of U.S.-inspired international sanctions. The
regime not only continues to detain Suu Kyi, now 62, but also has isolated
itself from the public by moving the national capital to remote Nay Pyi
Taw, located between Rangoon and Mandalay.

The big losers have been Burma's 58 million people, bearing the brunt of
the sanctions, while the only winner is China, a friend of every pariah
regime.

Democracy offers the only path to bringing enduring stability to diverse
Burma. Genuine participatory processes are necessary to promote ethnic
reconciliation in a country that has been at war with itself since its
1948 independence. While the ethnic Burmans, of Tibetan stock, constitute
the majority, the non-Burman nationalities (including the Shan and the
largely Christian Karen, the first to take up arms) make up one-third of
the population.

The oversize Burmese military fancies itself as the builder of a united
Burma. Given that ethnic warfare began no sooner than Japanese-trained
General Aung San (Suu Kyi's father) persuaded the smaller nationalities to
join the union, the military has used the threat of Balkanization to
justify its hold on politics.

It trumpets its successes between the late 1980s and early 1990s in
crushing a four-decade-long communist insurgency and concluding ceasefire
agreements with other underground groups, with just a few outfits left in
active resistance. The period since has been viewed by the military as a
time to begin state-building, while to the opposition it has been an
unending phase of political repression.

Given Burma's potent mix of ethnicity, religion and culture, democracy can
serve as a unifying and integrating force, as in India. After all, Burma
cannot be indefinitely held together through brute might. But make no
mistake: The seeds of democracy will not take root in a stunted economy,
battered by widening Western sanctions.

The junta restored the traditional name Myanmar for nationalistic reasons
as a break from the colonial past. But Myanmar, meaning the Burman land,
carries an ethnic connotation, and Suu Kyi's party continues to use the
name Burma. A name change ought to have the imprimatur of an elected
government citing a national consensus in favor.

Sanctions have sent Burmese society into a downward spiral of poverty and
discontent while strengthening the military's political grip. Today, under
the cumulative weight of sanctions, Burma has come full circle: Its
74-year-old senior general, the ailing and delusional Than Shwe, an
astrology aficionado, has amassed powers to run a virtual one-man
dictatorship in Ne Win-style.

Burma illustrates that sanctions can hurt those they are supposed to
protect, especially when they are enforced for long and shut out
engagement.

Such is Laura Bush's ability not only to influence U.S. policy but also to
orchestrate an international campaign in which she announced Dec. 10 that
"India, one of Burma's closest trading partners, has stopped selling arms
to the junta."

New Delhi has neither confirmed or denied that. Who can contradict a first
lady whose fury on Burma reputedly flows from a meeting with a Karen rape
victim and information from a relative with an erstwhile connection to
that country?

If the Burmese are to win political freedoms, they need to be first freed
from sanctions that rob them of jobs, cripple their economic well-being
and retard civil-society development. It is a growing civil society that
usually sounds the death knell of a dictatorship.

Years of sanctions have left Burma bereft of an entrepreneurial class but
saddled with the military as the only functioning institution — to the
extent that the spokesperson for Suu Kyi's party admits the military will
have an important role to play in any future government.

To avert looming humanitarian catastrophes, the same international
standard applicable to autocratic, no-less-ruthless regimes in next-door
China, Bangladesh and Laos should apply to Burma — engage, don't isolate.
Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi-based
Center for Policy Research, is the author, most recently, of "Asian
Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan."

____________________________________
STATEMENT/PRESS RELEASE

March 14, The 88 Generation Students
The 88 Generation Students in Burma say "VOTE NO"

Let’s not be Slaves of the Military
Vote “No” to the Sham Constitution
An Appeal of “the 88 Generation Students” to the People of Burma

All our revered Monks, students and the people of Burma,

(1) We call for the people of Burma to reject the state constitution,
written by the Burmese military junta, in the upcoming referendum
decisively, because;
(a) The peoples’ representatives elected from the 1990 general elections
were not allowed to participate in the constitution writing process.
(b) This constitution is not based on real federal system and does not
grantee the equality, self-determination and minority rights for all
ethnic nationalities.
(c) This constitution does not intend to build a democratic society and
does not protect the interest and security of the people.

(2) The Referendum is expected to be a sham and the junta’s plan is to
steal and abuse the real desire of the people. Here is how the junta has
acted in writing the constitution and planning to approve it.
(a) According to the announcement 1/90, the junta claimed that elected
representatives are solely responsible for writing the constitution.
However, in violation of their own law, the junta did not allow the
elected representatives to participate in writing the constitution.
(b) The basic and fundamental principles were illegally adopted by the
junta-sponsored mass rallies, in which all the attendees were forced to
participate.
(c) The national convention was just for show to approve these principles
written in advance by the junta. Submissions by ethnic cease-fire groups
were ignored.
(d) The junta’s order 5/96 threatens to punish with 20 years imprisonment
the people who criticize the national convention and the constitution.
(e) Freedom of expression and media are severely restricted.
(f) The Commission for Holding Referendum was formed with the junta’s
handpicked persons and those whom people can trust are not included. The
Referendum Law, issued on Feb 28, 2008, is also not in line with
international and ASEAN standards. There is no clear indication of what
the junta will do if the majority of the voters reject the constitution.
The junta is apparently planning to win anyhow.
(g) Thousands of democracy activists, including Buddhist Monks, Nuns,
students, ethnic youths and our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, are still
incarcerated.
(3) This constitution is designed to protect and promote the interests,
wealth and security of Generals and their cronies. Ordinary soldiers, who
are actually sons and daughter of the people, would become an elite class,
and will have more privileges than ordinary citizens, who are the root of
them. This constitution will allow the military dictatorship to perpetuate
in Burma.

(4) What will happen if this constitution is approved?
The people of Burma will be abused and oppressed more by the Generals,
their families and their cronies. They will also monopolize the state
economy and they will have a “License to Oppress”.
The people of Burma will become slaves of the military for generations.

(5) Let us transform the junta’s sham national referendum into the
“National Show of Peoples’ Desire”. We will prevent the country from
falling into the depths with the junta’s one-sided roadmap. “People Power”
will prevail.

(6) How will the people vote?
People, who are eligible to vote, should go to polling stations and put
“No” votes in the ballot boxes. You do not need to be afraid. The
authorities have no right to arrest you for voting “AGAINST” this
constitution. You are entitled to use your vote freely. By voting
“AGAINST” this constitution, let us show the enormous power of the people.
If you fail to do so, you will be afraid of the military for the rest of
your life and of your next generations.

(7) If the junta tries to claim that this constitution is approved,
despite a majority of voters voting against it, we will continue our fight
with various levels of peaceful acts. After the previous dictator Ne Win
approved the one-party system constitution in 1974, there were mass
protests in 1974, 1975 and 1976. In 1988, under the deluge of mass
demonstration in August, the 1974 constitution was abolished. The history
of our country has already proved that any constitution, which does not
reflect the desire of the people, would not last long and is no more than
a piece of paper.

(8) Let us be responsible for what we, each and every one of us, need to
do. Our united action will frighten the Generals. They will come to
realize that we are not puppets, which they can crush as they wish. This
will be a way for us to be free from all the crises we face.

We will pave the way to freedom by ourselves.
All the people have the right to draw the roadmap for the people.
With our “No” votes, we will clean the blood and dirt stained on the
bodies of our revered Monks by the soldiers.

The 88 Generation Students
Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma)
88gstudent at gmail.com
Statement 5/2008 (88)

____________________________________

March 12, European Union
Office of the European Union Special Envoy for Burma/Myanmar

Burma:  EU concerned by junta's uncooperative stance. We seek democratic
guarantees on the referendum process, and the release of political
prisoners, says Piero Fassino

“The European Union is concerned by the Myanmar authorities' rejection of
the UN envoy's proposals and will continue to support the UN
Secretary-General and his envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, in any fresh efforts to
promote genuine dialogue and democratic transition in Burma, involving all
sectors of Burmese society,” said Piero Fassino, EU Special Envoy for
Burma/Myanmar at the close of two days' consultations in Brussels during
which he met Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for the common
foreign and security policy.

“The Myanmar authorities' decision to hold a referendum on the new
constitution in May," Fassino went on, "requires a counterpart in
essential democratic guarantees of free and fair process.  Against that
background and today's call by Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, UN Special
Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, the European Union again urges the
Myanmar authorities to release all political prisoners and Aung San Suu
Kyi so that they can take part in the referendum campaign."

In Brussels Piero Fassino attended meetings of the Political and Security
Committee (PSC) and the Asia-Oceania Working Party (COASI), briefing
representatives of the 27 Member States on recent developments in the
crisis in Burma and on measures taken by the EU.  He also had a working
lunch with the Asian countries' ambassadors and met a delegation of NGOs
active in Burma.