BurmaNet News, July 9, 2008

[Editor]

July 9, 2008 Issue #3507


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: 88 generation student leaders still in poor health
DVB: Censor and editor give evidence at poet’s trial
Mizzima News: DG denies reports of new paper from Naypyidaw
Chinland Guardian: Severe food shortage looms over Burma's Chin State
IMNA: Uphill task in rebuilding lives in Nga Pu Taw
Kaladan: Incessant rain destroys paddy, vegetables, bridges and roads in
Arakan
SHAN: Famous Shan abbot passes away

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Thousands of Karenni IDPs hide in jungle

BUSINESS / TRADE
DVB: World Bank will not support junta, says NLD
Xinhua: Indian company to start drilling gas in Myanmar

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Regime asks UN to stop press conferences in Bangkok

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Report slams Beijing’s Burma policy
AFP: Red Cross hikes appeal for Myanmar to 72.5 million dollars
Mizzima News: WFP faces fund shortage, awaits international pledging
Mizzima News: Prince Charles meets Burmese students

OPINION / OTHER
The New Republic: Triumph of the witless – Joshua Kurlantzick
Asia Times: Asia's angry monk syndrome
Irrawaddy: Failing health, regime cruelty can’t break Win Tin – Yeni




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
88 generation student leaders still in poor health – Khin Hnin Htet

Families of 88 generation student leaders currently being held in Insein
prison are growing increasingly concerned about the deteriorating health
of their relatives in detention.

Ko Myo Yan Naung Thein, one of the leaders of the 88 generation students
group, was brought onto Insein prison court yesterday for a hearing on a
stretcher, according to a member of his family.

Another prominent leaders of the group, Ko Ko Gyi, has been suffering from
a weak digestive system, and has only been able to eat boiled rice for the
past three months, his younger brother Ko Aung Htun told DVB.

"He can only eat boiled rice or other very soft things such as noodles and
bread," said Aung Htun.

"His liver is also getting weak again."

Ko Ko Gyi has previously suffered from liver stones and hepatitis B, but
recent tests by Insein prison doctors showed that his hepatitis infection
had not recurred.

"But they assumed his digestive problem was due to his weak liver and they
gave him some medicine for it," Aung Htun said.

"He has been very careful with his own health and diet because he has not
been provided with adequate medical attention."

____________________________________

July 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
Censor and editor give evidence at poet’s trial – Naw Say Phaw

Poet Saw Wai appeared at Insein prison court yesterday for the third time
defending himself against accusations of violating section 505(b) of the
penal code, according to his wife Ma Nan San San Aye.

Saw Wai was arrested on 22 January after his poem, “February 14th”, which
was published in the weekly Achit Journal, was found to have a hidden
anti-government message.

He is now being charged with distributing information that could cause
public alarm or incite offences against the public tranquility.

Nan San San Aye said a state censor and the journal’s editor gave evidence
at the hearing yesterday.

"An official from the censor board testified in the court hearing that the
original poem was 12 lines long and it was turned down by the board. When
it appeared later in the weekly journal it was only 8 lines," Nan San San
Aye said.

"The journal's editor Myat Khin testified that the censor board had only
notified their office of the rejection of the poem by phone and that he
forgot to let other people in the office know about it," she went on.

"When the judge asked him what sort of action was taken in the journal
office after the incident, he replied that the journal had suspended
publication for one week."

The chief editor of the journal also had to sign an agreement promising
not to let this kind of incident happen again.

Nan San San Aye has previously reported claims by Saw Wai that Myat Khin
was aware that the censor board had turned down the poem but decided to
publish it anyway to increased sales of the journal.

Nan San San Aye said Saw Wai, who has been suffering from a hernia, has
already been in the prison hospital several times.

An appeal letter has been sent on the poet’s behalf to prison authorities
requesting proper medical attention.

____________________________________

July 9, Mizzima News
DG denies reports of new paper from Naypyidaw – Nem Davies

The State Peace and Development Council's Information Ministry today
denied reports circulating among Rangoon based journalists that a new
government newspaper will be published from the new capital city of
'Naypyidaw'.

The Director General of Information and Public Relations Department in 
Naypyidaw denied reports that the government will publish a new fourth 
paper besides the current 'New Light of Myanmar' (English and Burmese) and
'Mirror'.

"So far we don't know anything regarding this. Our office has no knowledge
about it. Everyone says we know about it but that's not true,"Chit Naing,
DG, told Mizzima.

But a Rangoon based journal editor said that the new paper will be
different from the present crop.

"They will start publishing the new newspaper from next week. The new
paper is christened 'Naypyidaw' and will be different from the ones being
published. It is believed that the new paper will enjoy more freedom of
expression in terms of news reporting," he said.

"It seems they will stop publishing the new paper if it does not succeed.
So that they are reluctant to talk about it," he said commenting on the
denial by the DG.

____________________________________

July 9, Chinland Guardian
Severe food shortage looms over Burma's Chin State – Van Biak Thang

An increasing food shortage is gripping Chin State, Burma amid fears that
as many as 200 severely affected villages are facing starvation and in 'a
critical point', Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) warned today.

The situation which is due to the cyclical flowering and dying of bamboos
leading to the massive influx of crop-destroying rats in the areas has
been worsened by the continuation of severe human rights violations and
repressive economic policies by Burma’s military regime.

Salai Bawi Lian Mang, Executive Director of CHRO said: “This is just
another example of the regime’s extreme disregard for the people of Burma.
The regime has done nothing to provide assistance to communities in
immediate need of food aid. Rather, they are obstructing relief supplies
and hindering humanitarian efforts in western Burma.”

“The situation is at a critical point. The people of Chin State are on the
brink of starvation. Action must be taken now to respond to this crisis,”
added Salai Bawi Lian Mang.

Fears are mounting that the ongoing food crisis could immediately lead an
estimated 100,000 people or 20 percent of the entire population of Chin
State to high rates of starvation, malnutrition and rapid deterioration of
people's health. The report also claimed that more than 600 people have
fled across the Indian-Burma border to Mizoram State in search of food
security.

Last month, a trio of Chin delegation and a British photographer, Benny
Manser who slipped across the India-Burma border into the affected areas
in Chin State visited the UK, raising the awareness of food crisis and
other issues affecting the Chin people such as forced labour, refugees,
child soldiers and rape victims. The team also called on the British
government and international organisations for immediate actions.

A website, voluntarily designed and created by Benny Manser, focusing on
the ongoing food crisis in Chin State will be launched officially soon.

CHRO makes recommendations for immediate action to the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), the governments of India and Mizoram, and the
international community.

____________________________________

July 9, Independent Mon News Agency
Uphill task in rebuilding lives in Nga Pu Taw

Victims of Cyclone Nargis in a village in Nga Pu Taw Township are facing
an uphill task in rebuilding their lives. The trail of destruction left
many dead and swept away belongings, said an aid worker who went there.

Shwe Tauk village was founded 45 years ago with salt and prawn industry
being set up. But after the May 3 cyclone all the farms were destroyed and
a majority of workers killed.

The village had eight large salt farms, six prawn units with at least 90
workers in each salt farms and 60 in the prawn farms.

"The villagers have been unable to restart work," said the aid worker who
distributed rice to 88 families in the village.

"The Investors moved to other villages and many villagers did not return
to the village after they moved to town to access aid,'' he added.

Now villagers are rebuilding their homes and struggling to survive.
Villagers took out salt water from the wells for reuse, the aid worker was
told.

A majority of the victims were farm workers living on low land, according
to a villager. About 70 workers died in the U Maun Win salt farm, 54 died
in U Khin Shwe and 47 in U Mae Lon.

Only one home was left standing after the cyclone hit. Currently about
1000 people live in the village. They have are sheltered in two primary
schools one of which has to be rebuilt.

According to the aid worker a majority of villages nearby face a similar
situation. They face enormous difficulty in restarting work in the salt
and prawn farms.

____________________________________

July 9, Kaladan News
Incessant rain destroys paddy, vegetables, bridges and roads in northern
Arakan

Incessant heavy rain last two weeks in northern Arakan inundated most
areas and destroyed paddy fields, vegetables, shrimp and prawn projects,
roads, and bridges, said a village elder.

In Maungdaw Township , a bridge connecting Bawli Bazar and Loung Don
village tracts was destroyed by heavy rain and floods on July 3. The
bridge was 100 feet long made of wood and bamboo by local villagers. Some
small bridges were also destroyed on the Maungdaw-Buthidaung Highway ,
said a trader in Maungdaw Town .

The Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) Chairman of Loung Don
village tract along with colleagues arranged to ferry villagers in
row-boats  and collected Kyat 100 per head for ferrying once.  Villagers
appealed to the authorities to take less money from the passengers, but no
one paid heed.

The water levels of different rivers were rising due to heavy rain and
here was a rush of water from upstream. Rising waters have inundated many
low-lying areas and is causing massive erosion throughout Mayu River in
Butihidaung north.

The authorities have to provide funds to implement projects to stop
erosion, otherwise the situation will go out of control, said a villager.

In Maungdaw Township , two-thirds of shrimp and prawn projects have been
washed away during heavy rain, said a shrimp farm owner in Maungdaw town.

Vast areas of paddy and vegetable fields, in Buthidaung and Maungdaw
Townships have gone under water.

____________________________________

July 9, Shan Herald Agency for News
Famous Shan abbot passes away

Most Venerable Bhaddanta Aggamahapantita Nyanasambhara, 84, of Wat Pitaka
at the historic town of Panglong, passed away last evening at 07:13 (Burma
Standard Time) at the Taunggyi hospital.

His remains are being taken today to Panglong where the details of his
funeral will be discussed.

A native of Langkher, Sao Nyanasambhara, as he was known, was born on 14
October 1924. He was known for his several translations of Pali texts into
Shan.

Three other Shan monks well-known and revered both inside and outside
Burma are Khrubar Boonchoom Nyanasangvaro of Mongphong, Dr Khammai
Dhammasami of Oxford Vihara and Venerable Sukhaminda of Muse.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 9, Irrawaddy
Thousands of Karenni IDPs hide in jungle – Saw Yan Naing

An estimated 4,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are currently
hiding in the jungle near Hpasawng Township, about 94 kilometers south of
the Karenni State capital Loikaw, according to a Karenni relief group.

Daniel, a coordinator for the Karenni Social Welfare and Development
Center (KSWDC), which provides aid to Karenni IDPs, told The Irrawaddy on
Wednesday that the villagers had fled their homes fearing attacks by the
Burmese army.

“More than 4,000 Karenni IDPs are now hiding in Hpasawng Township,” said
Daniel, who uses only one name. “It will be very difficult for them if
they have to stay in the jungle for a long time.”

The Burmese army’s Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 427, 428 and 337 patrol
the area around Hpasawng and have clashed with Karenni rebels in the area
six times so far this year, according to local sources.

Some of the Karenni IDPs want to move to the Thai-Burmese border, but they
fear possible attacks by Burmese troops along the way, said Daniel.

Poe Byar Shay Reh, chairman of the Karenni Refugee Committee, said that
more than 160 IDPs have arrived at Karenni refugee camps in Thailand’s Mae
Hong Son Province since the beginning of 2008.

He said, however, that so far, none of the IDPs currently hiding in the
jungle have reached the refugee camps.

“None of them have arrived at the refugee camps, but we don’t know if
they’ll start coming later,” said Poe Byar Shay Reh.

He added that some of the Karenni IDPs now sheltering in the refugee camps
had fled their villages after being accused by the Burmese army and the
ceasefire Karenni Nationalities People’s Liberation Front of supporting
the anti-government Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP).

The KNPP signed a ceasefire agreement with Burma’s ruling junta in 1995,
but the truce broke down after just three months when Burmese troops
deployed on KNPP territory.

There have been several failed attempts since then to restart talks, most
recently in late 2004. However, the junta suspended all contact with the
group following the ouster of Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt, who had
masterminded a number of ceasefire agreements with ethnic rebel groups.

Burmese military operations forced around 6,000 Karenni villagers to
become IDPs in 2007, according to a survey conducted by KSWDC.

More than 20,000 Karenni refugees are staying in two camps in Mae Hong Son
Province, according to the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium and the
Karenni Refugee Committee.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
World Bank will not support junta, says NLD – Khin Hnin Htet

The World Bank does not have any plans to provide the military regime in
Burma with financial assistance, according to Dr Win Naing, a member of
the National League for Democracy Information Committee.

Dr Win Naing told DVB that a delegation from the World Bank met with five
leaders from the pro-democracy party in Rangoon on Friday last week to
explain about the financial institution’s current policy on Burma.

“They said they still stood firm on their policy of not giving any
financial loans to the regime,” said Dr Win Naing.

“They also told us that they had been involved in the cyclone assessment
process together with UN agencies.”

DVB has learned that the World Bank will submit their findings from the
assessment to interested donors to inform their decisions on aid
provision.

“They said that based on their findings donors could calculate how to
provide relief supplies to cyclone survivors,” said Dr Win Naing.

“They stressed that donors would not channel their support to the victims
through the regime, but would instead provide aid through selected NGOs or
agencies.”

In May this year, the World Bank’s executive director Juan Jose Daboub
told journalists that it currently did not have any plans to give
financial support to Burma, which had lost USD 10 billion since Cyclone
Nargis hit the country, because the junta had not paid off the previous
debts it owed to the institution.

According to AFP, Burma’s military regime has not repaid loans borrowed
from the World Bank since 1988.

____________________________________

July 9, Xinhua
Indian company to start drilling gas in Myanmar

An Indian oil company, the Essar, will start drilling test well at an
inland block in Myanmar's western coastal Rakhine state to explore natural
gas in the coming open season later this year, news journal 7-Day reported
on Wednesday.

The drilling will take place at block-L covering Sittway and Maungtaw
regions of the state.

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

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 510 billion cubic-meters
out of 2.54 trillion cubic-meters'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.

Statistics revealed 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 sectorally after electric
power.

In 2007, foreign investment in the oil and gas sector more than tripled to
474.3 million U.S. dollars compared with 2006, accounting for 90 percent
of the total during the year which stood 504.8 million, according to the
Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development. More statistics
show that natural gas topped Myanmar's exports in 2007-08 with 2.594
billion dollars, up 27.7 percent from 2006- 07's 2.03 billion dollars,
representing 42.9 percent of the total exports during the year.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 9, Irrawaddy
Regime asks UN to stop press conferences in Bangkok – Violet Cho

Burma’s military government has asked the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other UN agencies not to
hold press conferences in Bangkok but in Rangoon, according to sources in
the former Burmese capital.

Since Cyclone Nargis slammed Burma on May 2-3, the Bangkok-based Foreign
Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) has hosted several press
conferences by UN agencies. The FCCT confirmed that the UN suddenly
canceled its planned weekly press briefings on Wednesday last week without
giving any reason.

The UN’s decision to suspend its regular press conferences in Bangkok
reportedly came after Burma’s military rulers indicated that they
preferred Rangoon as the venue for future briefings.

Burmese authorities rarely allow accredited journalists to enter the
country, except to cover carefully orchestrated events that highlight the
regime’s accomplishments. Local journalists are also prevented by
draconian press laws from covering sensitive issues.

Recently, Burmese journalists faced hurdles reporting on international
relief efforts after they were told they could not attend a press
conference by Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a member of the Tripartite Core Group
which is coordinating the relief effort. The group consists of the
regional grouping plus the UN and the Burmese junta.

Earlier this week, a spokesperson for a UN agency praised the regime for
its contribution to the humanitarian mission in cyclone-hit areas. “The
government has allocated a lot of money to relief and recovery,” said
UNICEF spokesperson Zafrin Chowdhury, speaking in Rangoon on Monday.

In May, the regime was widely condemned for refusing to issue visas to
foreign relief workers. On May 23, after a meeting with UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the junta finally agreed to allow an
international relief effort, although it continued to impose restraints on
the movements of foreign aid workers.

The Irrawaddy contacted OCHA spokeswoman Amanda Pitt and UN spokesman
Richard Horsey about the suspension of press conferences in Bangkok, but
they declined to comment on the reason for the move. OCHA representatives
Rangoon also had nothing to say about the change.

Critics of the relief effort say that it is still moving far too slowly.
Until recently, OCHA situation reports stated that the aid mission had
reached 1.3 million out of an estimated 2.4 million affected people—a
figure that remained unchanged through the entire month of June.

In its latest report, released on July 7, OCHA omits the number of people
who have so far received aid.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 9, Irrawaddy
Report slams Beijing’s Burma policy – Wai Moe

A US-based rights group called “8-8-08 for Burma” has released a report
condemning the Chinese government for its support of the Burmese military
junta just one month ahead of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony.

Released on July 2, the five-page report, titled “Sinking: China’s Soft
Diplomacy on Burma,” details the pitfalls of Chinese foreign policy toward
Burma in recent years and slams Beijing for its response to the cyclone
disaster in the Irrawaddy delta.

A man pushing a bicycle past a huge 2008 Olympic poster in Beijing. A
US-based rights group has condemned the Chinese government for its support
of the Burmese junta just one month ahead of the Beijing Olympics’ opening
ceremony. (Photo: AFP)
The report says the Chinese government has advocated a “soft approach of
consultations” with the Burmese military junta, and has voiced support for
the regime’s so-called “seven step roadmap to democracy,” a policy
criticized by Burmese opposition groups and international observers as a
sham.

The report noted that that although Beijing says there is no “special
relationship” between China and the Burmese military regime, China is
nonetheless Burma’s largest trading partner and is expected to sign a US
$1 billion deal in 2008 for an oil and natural gas pipeline through Burma
into western China.

China has also sold a $2-3 billion package of weapons and military
equipment to the Burmese junta while at the same time defending the junta
at the United Nations, says the report.

In response to the Chinese foreign policy that “pressure would not serve
any purpose” in Burma, the report said that the Burmese regime has
demonstrated that it does not respond to soft measures, except with
“superficial developments meant to curb international pressure and
continue repression, abuses and atrocities.”

The 8-8-08 for Burma report also notes that although Chinese officials
have pledged support for the [United Nations] secretary-general’s good
offices, as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean’s)
leading role in the Burmese issue, the reality is that the Beijing
government has consistently undermined the ability of the UN and Asean to
effectively address the Burma issue.

The report alleges that while thwarting attempts by the UN to address the
Burmese junta’s abuses and atrocities, the Chinese government is
constantly looking at increasing trade with Burma.

The report said, “China’s goals as the Olympic host are in direct conflict
with Beijing’s Burma policy, promoting repression and atrocities instead
of the fundamental principles of the Olympics—human dignity, peace and
brotherhood.”

In the aftermath of the May 2-3 cyclone disaster, the Chinese government
appealed to the international community not to “politicize” the crisis.

However, the report concluded that “in contrast to its timely and
appropriate reaction to its own May 12 earthquake, China facilitated the
denial of life-saving aid to the 2.4 million people affected by Cyclone
Nargis in Burma.”

The rights group’s report called for China to take immediate action to
help end Burma’s crisis before August 8—the 20th anniversary of the 1988
democracy uprising in Burma, and a date that also marks the commencement
last year of demonstrations led by monks.

“August 8, 2008, can be a day to celebrate human achievement and
perseverance—in China, in Burma, everywhere. But only if China takes
action now,” the report said.

The 8-8-08 for Burma campaign is a project of Res Publica, a community of
public sector professionals in the United States who say they are
dedicated to promoting good governance, civic virtue and deliberative
democracy.

____________________________________

July 9, Agence France Presse
Red Cross hikes appeal for Myanmar to 72.5 million dollars

The Red Cross on Wednesday said it was increasing its appeal for Myanmar
to 72.5 million dollars (45.9 million euros) to help victims recover from
the destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis.

The programme covered by the revised appeal would last three years and
would include longer-term disaster reduction plans, the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said.

These would involve activities such as mapping out most vulnerable
regions, preparing emergency evacuation routes as well as helping
communities with emergency evacuation drills, IFRC spokesman Zach Abraham
said.

In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone which left over 138,000 dead or
missing, the IFRC had sought 50 million dollars for immediate aid action.

The aid agency's head of the Asia Pacific zone Alistair Henley said:
"Hundreds of thousands of poor people lived precarious lives long before
the cyclone hit them."

With the cyclone having "left them weaker and more vulnerable than ever",
Henley said: "We must ensure not only that they regain what they lost but
have improved and safer lives in the future."

As of July 8, the group had delivered short-term aid to over 500,000 people.

Red Cross teams are also producing and delivering clean water to the
communities, and helping them clean up polluted water sources such as
wells and ponds, said the IFRC.

____________________________________

July 9, Mizzima News
WFP faces fund shortage, awaits international pledging – Solomon

Faced with an acute shortage of funds, the United Nations World Food
Programme is hoping an international appeal would help it continue its
operations in providing succour to cyclone survivors in Burma.

"Right now we still need about 28 million dollars for continuing emergency
operations to provide food to 750,000 affected people for over six
months," said Paul Risley, spokesperson of WFP in Bangkok.

WFP said it requires a total of US$ 69.5 million to provide emergency
support to victims of Cyclone Nargis that lashed Burma's southwest coastal
regions two months ago, leaving more than 138,000 dead and missing.

Risley said the UN is planning to launch an international appeal next week
both in Geneva and New York, asking for more funds from donor countries to
assist in both emergency relief and reconstruction work.

"That (international appeal) is expected to attract more contributions and
donations from donor governments to the Programme," Risley told Mizzima,
adding that the current donations received for emergency relief and
reconstruction work is below the target.

Burma's military rulers in May appealed for US $ 11 billion for emergency
relief and reconstruction but according to the UN an overall donation of
just over US $ 200 million has been received so far.

As part of an international response to Cyclone Nargis that left more than
2.4 million people devastated, the Tripartite Core Group, consisting of
members of Southeast Asian Nations, Burmese government representatives and
representatives of the UN, on June 20, concluded an initial assessment.

"That assessment probably will be very helpful in determining how long
food should be provided both by WFP, the government or other NGOs," said
Risley.

While the TCG released an initial report, the full report of the
assessment is yet to be submitted.

Meanwhile, the UN food agency said it has received permission from the
Burmese government to import rice from neighbouring Thailand.

An insider close to the Burmese military establishment earlier told
Mizzima that the junta had restricted the WFP from buying rice locally as
they fear that UN food agency's rice purchase might result in shortage of
food in the local market.

"Since WFP is purchasing huge quantities, the government fears that rice
may run short in local markets and that it might lead to a rice price
hike," the source said.

The source said the junta feared that a price hike might anger the common
people, who are reeling under an unprecedented natural disaster, and
eventually ignite a political upheaval, in the backdrop of palpable
political tension.

However, Risley denied that the government had imposed any such
restriction on the WFP and said it has allowed buying rice locally.

"We have received permission to purchase rice [locally] and we have done
it. It will arrive soon from Thailand and will be apart of our food
distribution," said the WFP spokesman.

"There is rice available in Yangon [Rangoon]," said Paul Risley. However
it has started purchasing rice from Thailand.

____________________________________

July 9, Mizzima News
Prince Charles meets Burmese students

For the first time, Britain's Prince Charles on Wednesday met students,
alumni and staff from Prospect Burma, an educational trust that funds the
education of young Burmese students.

Prince Charles, next in line for the British throne and future king of the
United Kingdom met about 20 Burmese students and staff members of Prospect
Burma at Clarence House in London.

Zoya Phan, a former student who attended the meeting, said, "The meeting
was significant, Prince Charles showed a lot of interest about Burma."

The Burmese students were able to explain the current political, social,
arts and cultural situation of Burma to the Prince, Zoya Phan said.

"During our meeting, Charles said he will raise the Burma issue in every
way that he can," Zoya Phan told Mizzima.

Burma's Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, now under house arrest
in Rangoon, supports Prospect Burma with the award money she received from
the Nobel Prize.

UK has maintained a critical stand against Burma's military rulers and had
supported the United States' call for a UN Security Council Resolution, in
January 2007. The proposed UNSC resolution includes the demand for the
immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and respect for human rights.

But the proposed resolution was turned down by veto wielding China and
Russia.


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 9, The New Republic
Triumph of the witless – Joshua Kurlantzick

If the Burmese junta is so "unsophisticated" in the ways of diplomacy, why
has it been able to hold onto power for so long?

Burma's ruling junta, holed up in a bunker capital built in the remote
center of the country and led by the thuggish, unworldly, and
slow-speaking Than Shwe, gets little respect from the outside world. In
private conversations, Western diplomats have snidely remarked to me about
Than Shwe's lack of education--he reputedly never made it out of primary
school--while officials from Burma's powerful neighbors talk about the
Burmese leaders as if they were unsophisticated, wayward children. "What
can you do about them?" one Southeast Asian diplomat asked me. "Who has
any idea what they think?" He then launched into a diatribe about how
ignorant and insane the generals are.

But while they may not be intellectual dynamos, the generals have clearly
mastered a survival strategy with regard to the outside world. It's no
coincidence that despite Western and Asian pressure on them to change, the
Burmese regime has remained in power since 1962--and it has only
strengthened its hold on power in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Indeed,
as much as the junta has lasted partly by crushing and co-opting its own
people, its longevity must also be attributed to its playing the
international community for fools, over and over again.

The lesson the junta clings to most tightly today was learned in 1990.
That year, they allowed a free election, thinking they would win. They
didn't. And when they refused to cede power, they lost nearly all
international support--but only for a time. Turns out that Burma's
resources, including some of the largest untapped gas fields in Southeast
Asia, were too important to ignore. The international community stopped
protesting the junta, and the generals learned that it never had to make a
major concession again; their resources would provide them with immunity.

They've since used this insight to great effect. In the mid-1990s,
countries like Thailand and India started putting pressure on the junta to
reform. India's then-defense minister George Fernandes even hosted Burmese
opposition activists in his private compound. So, in response, the Burmese
generals began aggressively courting China--an historical enemy due to
China's past support for communist rebel groups inside Burma. Yet Beijing,
oil-hungry as ever, slowly built closer economic and trade links to Burma,
and completely stopped its support for the communist insurgents. The junta
then used its Chinese support as leverage against India, Thailand, and
other neighbors. And it worked. India has since reversed its hard-nosed
stance on Burma entirely.

Another favored tactic of the regime is to promise potentially bothersome
outsiders--whether they be human-rights organizations or concerned
governments--just enough reform to placate them. Problem is, the reform
rarely takes place. In the mid-1990s, for example, the Burmese leaders
seemed willing to engage in a political dialogue with opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won that 1990 election. By demonstrating its
apparent willingness to deal, the junta gained enough international
respectability to win admission into the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), the region's most important security and economic
organization. When the Burmese generals tossed Suu Kyi back under house
arrest several years later, it was already too late for ASEAN to throw the
junta out of the organization, since doing so would prove that the group
had made an enormous mistake.

At the same time as it misled ASEAN, by allowing the United Nations'
special rapporteur on human rights, as well as several special envoys
(even providing them with visits to Suu Kyi), the generals sparked
optimism among Burmese democracy advocates that the U.N. would be able to
broker reform. This, too, of course, came to nothing.

Though India, China, the United States, and the U.N. may have different
views on the pace or scope of political reform in Asia--the U.N. cares
more about Burmese human rights than either China or India, and the U.S.
takes the hardest line of all--they all must realize that, as long as they
keep haggling over details, no one entity will get what it really wants.
For India's leadership, supporting the generals will never succeed, since,
unlike the Chinese, the Indian government actually has to be responsive to
voters and the media. For the United Nations, simply grasping at every
straw from the Burmese regime, without assessing the reality of the offer,
will only prove self-defeating. For the U.S. and other Western countries,
trying to pressure the Burmese regime without taking into consideration
Burma's relationship with China, which provides it much immunity from
pressure, will also prove counterproductive. Even for China it's not a
good play to back the regime: On many issues, from drug control to
economic reform, the junta has refused to take China's advice, and,
ultimately, the kind of instability the junta fosters, with its opaque,
almost incomprehensive leadership, will not comfort Chinese firms seeking
to make investments in Burma either.

The "unsophisticated" generals' diplomatic success has gone on for far too
long--and the Burmese people are in pain. The economy is in shambles, a
political opposition movement hardly exists, and the HIV/AIDS rate is
among the worst in Southeast Asia. Until China, the United States, the
U.N., India--everyone--realizes that collective action on Burma is
necessary, the suffering will only continue.

Joshua Kurlantzick is a special correspondent for The New Republic and a
visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's China
Program.

____________________________________

July 9, Asia Times
Asia's angry monk syndrome – Megawati Wijaya


>From Sri Lanka to South Korea, from Tibet to Myanmar, Asia's Buddhist

clergy are in unprecedented numbers exerting their moral authority onto
politics, abandoning their detachment from worldly events and giving rise
to what at least one academic has referred to as a region-wide "angry monk
syndrome".

Agitated ascetics made global headlines last year during Myanmar's
"Saffron Revolution", where in their thousands they took to the streets to
protest against the military government's policies and perceived
mistreatment of clergy members. At the height of the unrest, monks dropped
the symbolic gauntlet by overturning their alms bowls and refused to
accept donations from government officials and their family members.

This year, over 300 Tibetan monks marched in protest in Lhasa in
commemoration of the 49th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule
and to air more modern complaints and grievances, including calls for the
release of monks detained last year after the Dalai Lama was awarded a
congressional medal of honor by the United States, for the withdrawal of
all troops and security personnel from their monasteries and the
re-instatement of monks expelled from monasteries for their failure of
"patriotic education" exams that required them to denounce the Dalai Lama.

And over the weekend, thousands of Buddhist monks joined South Korean
citizens in candlelight rallies in front of Seoul's city hall to protest
the government's controversial decision in April to resume imports of beef
from the United States, which protestors believe could be tainted with mad
cow disease. The usually apolitical monks' involvement in the rallies
exerted additional pressure on the government to review the unpopular
decision.

While each monk protest is unique in its demands and character, Buddhist
clergymen are making their political voices heard in unprecedented ways
and increasing numbers across the region. In the process they are often
bringing the Sangha out of detached isolation and directly into the
cut-and-thrust of everyday politics. The growing images of Buddhist monks
leading political protests cuts a sharp contrast to the cliched calm and
serene robe-wearing ascetic meditating in the pursuit of otherworldly
enlightenment.

John Whalen-Bridge, co-editor of a series of books on Buddhism, refers to
the growing phenomenon as "angry monk syndrome", a flip way of referring
to the clergy's departure from the pursuit of equanimity and raised-fist
involvement in the call for political change and economic justice.
Politically active monks are not an entirely new phenomenon. Western
observers will likely recall the images of Vietnamese monk Thich Quang
Duc, who, in protest against the corruption and repression of the South
Vietnamese government, self-immolated himself in June 1963.

Lesser known is the violent role aggrieved ascetics played during the
Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945), when Chinese monks abandoned their
commitment to non-violence for reasons of patriotism. Certain monks at the
time even cited Buddhist scriptures to justify killing their Japanese
enemies. On the other side of the battlefield, Zen priests were similarly
conspicuous as aggressive and visible defenders of imperial Japan and its
nationalistic policies.

Monks were also in the forefront of protests in colonial Burma before the
country now known as Myanmar won independence from Britain in 1948. After
independence, monks were actively involved in the nationwide uprisings
against the military junta-led government in 1988, which were eventually
crushed by soldiers. There are accounts of monks sharpening bicycle tire
spokes and launching them at soldiers during that violent melee.

The recent surge in monk-led political ferment, usually towards the aim of
giving voice to the often silent majority, seems to signal a political
reawakening of Asia's Buddhist clergy. Well-organized and in most
instances peacefully executed, the protests have provided a resounding
reaffirmation to the Sangha's social relevance in modern times. It is also
a potentially profound political trend, in that monks tend to speak out on
behalf of the politically oppressed and economically downtrodden.

That's the majority of the population in many authoritarian-run countries
with substantial Buddhist populations. In Myanmar and Vietnam, for
instance, monks have led the moral charge against their respective abusive
and repressive governments. In more economically advanced Thailand and
South Korea, politicized monks are highlighting the gross inequalities and
rampant corruption that has accompanied rapid economic growth.

Middle-way protests
What do these scattered protests say about the Sangha's contemporary
mindset? Pattana Kitiarsa, an associate professor in the department of
Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, believes
the Sangha's role has frequently been misunderstood in historical and
modern context.

"Buddhism and Buddhist monks are often stereotyped as peace-loving,
world-rejecting, calm, serene and poised," he said. "However, when monks
become or choose to become worldly-engaged actors, they have put
themselves in a familiar position of expressing, communicating, acting, or
dealing with the mundane world."

To be sure, individual monks have stood out for their political and social
postures. Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh has long promoted so-called
"socially engaged Buddhism", which advocates the application of Buddhist
principles towards resolving social, environmental and political problems.
His grassroots relief organization helped to rebuild bombed villages,
re-establish schools and medical centers, resettle homeless villagers, and
organize agricultural co-operatives during the Vietnam War, but he was
later exiled due to his non-violent anti-war activities.

The jet-setting Dalai Lama, head of Tibet's government-in-exile and winner
of the Nobel Peace prize for his non-violent approach to political
struggle, is an individual monk of that same socially-engaged mold. As is
Taiwan's Buddhist nun, teacher and philanthropist, Cheng Yen, whose
Tzu-Chi Foundation is one of the island-state's largest charity
organizations with offices in over 30 countries around the world,
undertaking activities as wide-ranging as disaster relief, environmental
protection and bone marrow donations

While globally recognized Buddhist leaders have helped to spawn a
worldwide movement of engaged Buddhism, recent developments show that the
movement is transcending mere individuals and taking on mass proportions.
Internationalized and well-informed monks are joining forces in ever
larger numbers to launch mass protests against their respective
governments and perceived unjust economic actors.

But does this growing, often political, mass movement contradict the
Buddha's teaching to eschew worldly matters and abide in equanimity?

Geshe Jangchup Choeden, a Tibetan Buddhist monk-teacher from the Gaden
Shartse monastery in India, says that according to ancient scriptures the
"ideal" monk is disciplined and refrains from all actions which might
bring him into conflict with the clergy's devotees. But, he asks, "Is it
possible to have an ideal monk in the modern world? How essential is the
ideal monk in times or at places when and where they are needed to take
actions against injustice or for the well-being of the people?"

Whether Myanmar's protesting monks, who mobilized en masse last year
against a military regime notorious for its human rights abuses and
entrenched corruption, lived up to this ideal is definitely debatable. The
government accused many of the robed demonstration leaders as "fake" monks
and assaulted and jailed many of them and their followers. Other monks
were confined by security forces to their monasteries.

In Sri Lanka, Buddhist monks are clearly taking sides amid the country's
deeply polarized and increasingly violent ethnic- and religion-based
politics. There they have their own political parties, sit in parliament,
and are the strongest supporter of the Sinhalese Buddhist government's
campaign to militarily obliterate the mostly Hindu Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatist group.

Academic Kitiarsa points to the diverse upbringings, educational
backgrounds and monastic practices for varied monk responses. "In reality,
there has never been one singular monk. Only Buddha himself is considered
a model monk," he said. "Monks in the 21st century could be militants,
activists, magicians, forest-dwelling world renouncers. All these monks
wish to have their voices heard in their own ways."

That was clearly the case when Tibetan monks wept and cried out "Tibet is
not free! Tibet is not free!" when Western media members visited Jokhang
Temple, one of Tibet's holiest shrines, during a government-managed press
tour in March. These extraordinary scenes helped to keep the government's
recent security crackdown and continued occupation of Tibet in
international headlines ahead of Beijing's hosting of the Summer Olympic
Games in August.

There are concurrent worldly risks that the socially engaged movement is
in certain instances being manipulated for narrow political purposes. In
South Korea, for instance, where monks have been on the vanguard of the
street protests against US beef imports, the demonstrations are now
increasingly being driven by liberal opponents of President Lee
Myung-bak's new conservative government.

But in countries like Myanmar or places like Tibet, where the moral
argument against the prevailing political order is more obvious, monks are
in increasing numbers straying from the past middle path of loving
kindness towards what some see as a more socially-engaged path towards
enlightenment. "There is nothing wrong or undesirable with the Sangha
protesting out of their compassion for humanity," said Choeden. "But once
their aims are achieved, they should get back as soon as possible to their
purpose and avoid drifting into the ways of the world."

Megawati Wijaya is a Singapore-based freelance journalist. She may be
contacted at megawati.wijaya at gmail.com.
____________________________________

July 9, Irrawaddy
Failing health, regime cruelty can’t break Win Tin – Yeni

Among the more than 1,000 political prisoners in Burma, one merits
particular attention.

Win Tin, the country’s longest-serving prisoner of conscience, wins
international respect, support and sympathy because of his exemplary
courage and refusal to bow before his oppressors.

Although in failing health, 78-year-old Win Tin has reportedly spurned
regime offers to free him in exchange for his disavowal of all he has ever
fought for. Unbroken by nearly 19 years incarceration, this distinguished
journalist continues to write in his cell despite all official attempts to
block his efforts. Denied writing material and even books, he writes with
a strip of bamboo as a pen and powdered brick as ink.

Win Tin was a prominent opposition politician before his imprisonment in
1989—a key member of the Central Executive Committee of the National
League for Democracy (NLD) led by detained Noble laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi.

He championed academic, artistic and press freedom and earned the title
Saya (mentor) from young followers.

Win Tin was born in 1930. In 1953, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree
in English Literature, Modern History and Political Science from Rangoon
University. From 1950 until 1954, he worked as an assistant editor of the
government-run Sarpay Beikman (Burma Translation Society).

He worked in the Netherlands for the Djambartan publishing company as a
consultant until 1957 and then returned to Rangoon to take up the post of
executive editor of the city’s best-selling daily newspaper Kyemon daily.

>From 1969 to 1978, he was chief editor of the Mandalay-based daily

Hanthawaddy, one of the most influential newspapers in the history of the
Burmese press.

In 1978, a paper critical of the regime of the then dictator Gen Ne Win
regime was read at the "Saturday Reading Circle," in which Win Tin was a
leading member. Consequently, he was dismissed from his job and the
newspaper was shut down. But he continued to write articles and books.

The nationwide uprising in 1988 changed his life for ever. Win Tin joined
the opposition NLD and became one of the secretaries of the executive
committee. He was arrested, accused of belonging to the banned Communist
Party of Burma and, in October 1989, sentenced to prison.

Even then he continued to write, and in 1995 he contributed a report to
the UN, entitled

“The testimonials of prisoners of conscience from Insein Prison who have
been unjustly imprisoned, demands and requests regarding human rights
violations in Burma,” in which he described torture and lack of medical
treatment in prison.

While the authorities investigated, he was confined in a cell designed for
military dogs, without bedding. He was deprived of food and water, and was
refused family visits, for long periods.

In recognition of his courage, Win Tin was awarded UNESCO’s Guillermo Cano
World Press Freedom Prize in 2000. The following year, he was awarded the
World Association of Newspapers’ Golden Pen of Freedom.

Last week, reports emerged suggesting that Win Thin’s health is declining
and that he’s in urgent need of proper medical attention. He suffers from
severe asthma, lung problems, heart disease and spondylitis (inflammation
of the joints of the spine).

The London-based rights advocacy group Amnesty International said: "Win
Tin’s health has suffered because of the poor conditions in which he has
been held. He has had difficulties breathing and eating during the recent
worsening of his health."

Win Tin is probably resigned to dying in prison, but that thought doesn’t
seem to daunt this courageous man. "Will death be my release?” he has
asked. “As long as democracy and human rights are not within reach, I
decline my release. I am prepared to stay [in prison]."