BurmaNet News, August 9-11, 2008

[Editor]

August 9-11, 2008 Issue #3531


INSIDE BURMA
CNN International: Aung San Suu Kyi detention extended
Irrawaddy: Suu Kyi discusses detention with her lawyer
DVB: Rights activist U Myint Aye arrested
Narinjara News: Police raid two monasteries in Sittwe
AP: Devastation in Burma is far starker than portrayed
AP: Myanmar anniversary demonstrators freed

ON THE BORDER
Bangkok Post: Floods force residents off disputed islet

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar to export more marine products to Middle East

HEALTH / AIDS
Xinhua: Japanese-aided animal disease control project underway in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Danish Minster slams Burma boycott, sanctions

OPINION / OTHER
Malaysia Star: Same old, same old – A. Asohan
Irish Times: Burmese must be supported – Michael Martin
FEER: Reflections on Burma's Uprising – Min Zin



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 11, CNN International
Aung San Suu Kyi detention extended

Myanmar's military rulers have extended the house arrest of pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi for another year, a source who spoke to a member
of her political party told CNN on Monday.

The junta's decision will keep Aung San Suu Kyi under detention for more
time than the county's law allows. She has already been under house arrest
for four and a half years, and the maximum limit is five years without
charges being filed.

The pro-democracy leader met with her attorney Sunday to discuss legal
issues, the source told CNN.

Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She has become the
face of the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar and the focus of a global
campaign to free her.

The junta has confined Aung San Suu Kyi in her home for 12 of the last 18
years. Her latest house arrest began in 2003 and has been periodically
renewed.

The country last held multiparty elections in 1990, but the regime ignored
the results, which showed Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
party posting a landslide victory.

Last year, the government came under intense international pressure after
using force to suppress a pro-democracy movement. In late May, Myanmar
state media said voters had overwhelmingly approved a draft constitution
that strengthens the junta's rule.

At the time, New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had received
indications that the referendum was conducted "in an atmosphere of
official coercion and vote tampering."

The military government refused international or independent referendum
monitors and UN assistance in conducting the voting, the group said.

And the balloting was conducted amid a humanitarian crisis in the
Irrawaddy Delta and other regions devastated when Cyclone Nargis made
landfall in Myanmar in early May.

About 130,000 people either died or are missing, according to the United
Nations. And more than 2 million have been rendered homeless.

The draft constitution makes way for general elections in 2010, but it has
been met with skepticism from pro-democracy opposition leaders. The
changes grant 25 percent of parliamentary seats to the military. It also
states that the president can cede power to the military during a state of
emergency.

____________________________________

August 11, Irrawaddy
Suu Kyi discusses detention with her lawyer – Violet Cho

Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has had a rare meeting with
her lawyer to discuss her continuing house arrest, a National League for
Democracy (NLD) spokesman reported on Monday.

The meeting between Suu Kyi, head of the NLD, and lawyer Kyi Win was held
on Friday at the Nobel laureate’s Rangoon home, where she has been
confined for most of the past 19 years.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win said the two-hour meeting was the first between Suu
Kyi and her lawyer since 2004.

“Aung San Suu Kyi has a full right to meet with any lawyer due to the
recent one-year extension of her house arrest,” Nyan Win said.

The two discussed what further legal action should be taken in light of
the extension of her house arrest, which was contrary to Burmese law, he
said.

The NLD has lodged an appeal against the extension of Suu Kyi’s house
arrest, but has heard nothing from the authorities.

Aung Htoo, General Secretary of the Thailand-based Burma Lawyers Council,
said the meeting was a positive sign, but emphasized that international
legal assistance was still needed in the fight to secure Suu Kyi’s
release. Burmese domestic laws alone were insufficient.

“Burma’s military junta obviously breaks Burma’s domestic laws by
continuing illegally to detain Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said.

Aung Htoo said the continued detention of Suu Kyi detention should be
brought before the International Criminal Court, which had legal
mechanisms to deal with the case.

While the junta allowed Suu Kyi’s lawyer to meet her on Friday, Burmese
authorities arrested 48 activists in Taunggok, Arakan State, as they
marched around town to mark the 20-year anniversary of the 1988 uprising.
Five protestors were still being held on Monday.

Human rights activist Myint Aye was also arrested on Friday—one day after
the departure of the new UN human rights envoy for Burma, Tomas Ojea
Quintana.

Quintana was unable to meet Suu Kyi but had talks with NLD party members
and the government’s Labour Minister Aung Kyi, who was assigned to
coordinate the junta's contacts with the democracy leader after the bloody
crackdown on anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks last
September.

Quintana said he had received "good signs" that the ruling junta accepted
the need for his mandate to investigate widespread claims of human rights
abuses in the country.

____________________________________

August 11, Democratic Voice of Burma
Rights activist U Myint Aye arrested – Yee May Aung

U Myint Aye, a prominent member of the Human Rights Defenders and
Promoters network, was arrested at his house in Kyi Myint Taing township
on 8 August, according to his family.

U Myint Aye's wife Ma Leh Leh said township police chief U Myat Linn and
divisional investigation police deputy chief U Kyaw Htin, accompanied by
ward authorities, arrived at the house at around 4pm on Friday, the 20th
anniversary of the 1988 national uprising in Burma.

"They searched the house until around 6.30pm and then they took him away,"
said Ma Leh Leh.

"There was heavy rain that day and our house was yet not fully sheltered
from it due to damage to the roof – but they thoroughly searched the whole
house."

Leh Leh said the officials seized several items and documents belonging to
U Myint Aye.

"They seized some appeal letters for donations sent to us by Cyclone
Nargis victims – they usually send us these so that we know what they
need," she said.

This was the eighth time U Myint Aye has been arrested and his whereabouts
are still unknown, his wife said.

"They never let us know where he's been taken, for what reason or how long
will it be, even when we ask – I've got used to this and so I didn't
bother to ask them this time," Ma Leh Leh said.

She said Kyi Myint Taing police chief U Aung Ngwe Soe and the ward
authorities came to their house again the next day and took some of U
Myint Aye's clothes.

____________________________________

August 9, Narinjara News
Police raid two monasteries in Sittwe

Police raided two monasteries in Sittwe yesterday night in search of monks
who are wanted by authorities, said an abbot from Sittwe.

The abbot said, "A police force led by the Inspector Soe Win from police
station number 2 with the help of some Rayaka ward authorities raided Kyin
Thi Nat Kong monastery and Say Gri monastery last night."

Kyin The Nat Kong monastery is located in Ta Rar Thi Su Ward and Say Gri
monastery is located in Bauk Thi Su Ward in Sittwe.

"I heard the police were searching for some monk leaders who prepared to
stage a demonstration yesterday in Sittwe on the occasion of the historic
8-8-88 uprising," the abbot said. The police rummaged through all the
rooms as well as the boxes of monks at the monasteries, but no one was
arrested during the raids.

According to a source from Sittwe, security has been tight in Sittwe
recently and many armed forces have been deployed at key places in the
city.

Meanwhile, information is being spread among the people that monks in
Sittwe are preparing to stage another demonstration today.

____________________________________

August 10, Associated Press
Devastation in Burma is far starker than portrayed

A rare bird's-eye look at Burma's Irrawaddy delta shows the devastation
still left from Cyclone Nargis - broken levies, flooded farm roads, the
shattered remains of bamboo huts, and trees strewn like matchsticks along
the coast.

Conditions are far starker than reflected in assessments from Burma's
government and in the optimism of some UN officials, the Associated Press
has concluded from a review of data, a private flight over the delta, and
interviews with victims and aid workers.

Three months after a disaster that claimed nearly 140,000 lives, thousands
of villagers are still getting little or nothing from their government or
foreign aid groups.

"We lost everything - our house, our rice, our clothes. We were given just
a little rice by a private aid group from Rangoon. I don't know where the
government or foreign organizations are helping people, but not here,"
said Khin Maung Kyi, 60, a farmer who lost six children to the storm.

Some areas have received help in the delta, Burma's rice bowl set amid a
lacework of waterways. During a flyover, brand new metal roofs atop
reconstructed homes glittered in the tropical sunlight, farmers in
cone-shaped hats worked in green rice paddies, and gangs of workers
struggled to remove debris from canals and repair broken embankments.

But progress is slow and behind where it should be.

"The situation in Myanmar remains dire," said Chris Kaye, who heads relief
operations for the UN World Food Program in Burma, which the military
junta refers to as Myanmar. "The vast majority of families simply don't
have enough to eat."

Some grim recent statistics from foreign aid agencies working in the delta:

A survey of families in 291 villages indicated that 55 percent had less
than one day of food left and no stocks to fall back on. About 924,000
people will need food assistance until the November rice harvest, while
about 300,000 will need relief until April 2009.

The fishing industry, the delta's second most important source of income
and food, remains devastated. More than 40 percent of fishing boats and 70
percent of fishing gear were destroyed and very little has been replaced.

More than 360,000 children will not be able to go to elementary school in
coming months because at least 2,000 schools were so badly damaged they
cannot reopen soon.

"The vast majority of people have received some assistance. But very few
people have received enough assistance to get them through the next three
months, and almost no one has received enough assistance to enable them to
rebuild their lives," said Andrew Kirkwood, who heads the aid agency Save
the Children in Burma.

Kirkwood said three months after such a disaster, aid agencies would
normally be rebuilding schools, health clinics, and other facilities. But
in Burma, he said, the first phase of emergency distribution of food and
basics is likely to continue for another three months.

More upbeat assessments have come from other quarters. Some have noted
that a second wave of death from disease and starvation anticipated by
some relief agencies never occurred.

"It has gone much better than anyone expected," said Ashley Clements, a
spokesman for World Vision, an international Christian relief and
development agency, citing the resilience of the victims and the speed of
the aid response.

"The message I want the world to know is that the government, UN agencies,
and other organizations . . . are making good progress," said Ramesh
Shrestha, a UN representative in Rangoon.

Almost at the same time the UN humanitarian news service, IRIN, published
a report about conditions in the delta titled "Life is totally bleak."
Chronicling the plight of several families, it noted that many people lack
food and shelter. Some foreign aid workers caution that their agencies
refrain from exposing problems for fear the government will curb or halt
their access to victims.

"Our operations are contingent on having a positive relationship with the
government," Kaye said. "So we have to work out a fine balance, so that
the difficult issues are dealt with, but in a spirit of cooperation."

____________________________________

August 10, Associated Press
Myanmar anniversary demonstrators freed

Myanmar authorities have released 43 demonstrators who held one of the
country's few protests marking the anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy
uprising, an opposition party official said Saturday.

No significant protests were reported in Yangon, the country's biggest
city, where security personnel were brought out in large numbers to stave
off any trouble. Activists there performed small gestures, such as laying
flower baskets with slogans by a roadside.

A group of 48 young protesters marched peacefully on Friday in Rakhine
State, a western province, which is one of the military-ruled country's
more active areas for anti-government protests.

The marchers, some wearing white T-shirts with the number 8-8-88 to mark
the occasion, complied with a police request to surrender, said Thein
Naing, joint secretary of the Rakhine State organizing committee of the
National League for Democracy party.

He said 43 of the marchers were released Friday night.

"I hope those remaining five will also be released as they had not done
anything to harm the peace," said Thein Naing. "They did it in memory of
those who were killed in 1988 and I hope the authorities who have declared
plans to establish democracy in the country will treat those youths
leniently and release them quickly."

Taunggok and other parts of Rakhine saw militant protests during large
pro-democracy demonstrations in September, which were violently suppressed
by the military. Some of the bigger pro-democracy protests held since that
time have also been in the area, while most of Myanmar remains subdued.

Overseas supporters of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement also held small
demonstrations marking the anniversary, including gatherings in
neighboring Thailand and the Philippines.

The August 8, 1988 protests were the high-point of a series of
demonstrations against military rule that began in 1962, spurred by the
government's demonetization of the currency that wiped out many people's
savings.

The protests brought down longtime dictator Ne Win, but a new group of
generals replaced him and brutally crushed the protests in September,
killing an estimated 3,000 people.

The 1988 protests propelled Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Myanmar
independence hero Aung San, into the political limelight, and led to the
founding of her National League for Democracy party to challenge army
rule.

Elections were held in 1990, but the military refused to recognize the
landslide victory of Suu Kyi's party. Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel
Peace Prize, has spent more than 12 of the past 19 years in detention and
is currently under house arrest in Yangon.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 11, Bangkok Post
Floods force residents off disputed islet – Assawin Pinijwong

More than 300 Burmese residents have fled their homes after floods hit a
disputed islet in the Moei river along the Thai-Burmese border.

Rising water levels, caused by persistent rain in the past week, caused
the flooding on the islet, which sits beneath the Thai-Burmese Friendship
Bridge linking Mae Sot district to Myawaddy district in Burma.

The islet's residents were seen packing up as the water level rose. Most
returned to Burma, but some fled to the Thai side of the border.

The 10-rai islet has been the subject of tensions between authorities in
Mae Sot and Myawaddy, as it lies in a river which forms a natural border.

Its residents had set up vending stalls on the island, selling contraband
items such as untaxed liquor and cigarettes.

Flooding was also reported in many parts of Mae Sot as heavy rain
continued to pound Tak yesterday, raising water levels in canals and
rivers.

The Mineral Resources Department yesterday issued flood and mudslide
warnings to people living on the hills and near the rivers along the
Thai-Burmese border areas.

A similar warning was also issued for much of Tak, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong
Son and Kanchanaburi provinces.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 10, Xinhua
Myanmar to export more marine products to Middle East

Myanmar is making increased efforts to penetrate the Middle East market
with its marine products by making use of Kuwait as a transit point, the
local Flower News reported Sunday.

To boost its marine product exports to the region, Myanmar has coordinated
with a Kuwaiti economic delegation, who accompanied Prime Minister Sheik
Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in the latter's recent visit
to Myanmar.

On that occasion, the two countries signed three accords including two
agreements on encouragement and reciprocal investment protection, and
economic and technical cooperation, and a memorandum of understanding on
establishing consultation between the two foreign ministries.

Myanmar has been exporting the marine products to Arab countries in the
Middle East transiting through Kuwait as well as exporting them to other
countries in the region such as Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirate
directly.

According to the report, Myanmar exported 43,640 tons of such products to
the Middle East in 2007-08 which ended in March, gaining 50.99 million
U.S. dollars.

The figures was up from 26,409 tons in 2004-05 when it earned 29.5 million
dollars.

Of the marine product exports to the Middle East, Kuwait accounted for
27,895 tons alone with 30.63 million dollars' proceeds.

Official statistics show that in 2007-08, Myanmar exported 352, 652 tons
of marine products, gaining 561 million U.S. dollars, up from 2006-07's
234 million dollars.

The fishery authorities have projected to raise the export earning to 850
million dollars in the present fiscal year of 2008-09.

China topped Myanmar's marine export countries, followed by Thailand,
Japan and Singapore.

Myanmar's fishery sector stood the fourth largest contributor to the gross
domestic product and also the fourth largest source of foreign exchange
earning in the past five years.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is cooperating with a regional organization of the
Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) in conducting survey
of marine resources in the country's waters, focusing species with
commercial potential.

With a long coastline of over 2,800 kilometers and a total area of 500,000
hectares of swamps along the coast, the country has an estimated
sustainable yield of marine products at over 1 million tons a year.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

August 10, Xinhua
Japanese-aided animal disease control project underway in Myanmar

A Japanese-aided animal disease control project targeting two townships in
Myanmar's northern Mandalay division is underway, the Livestock Breeding
and Veterinary Department (LBVD) said on Sunday.

With the aid worth of 102 million Japanese yens (about 829,000 U.S.
dollars) provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),
the three-year project (2008-2010), which covers the townships of Pin Oo
Lwin and Amarapura, is aimed at fighting five animal diseases, including
avian influenza, by setting up laboratories, exchanging information and
conducting refresher courses for the diseases control.

The agreement on the project was signed in December last year between the
LBVD and the JICA, which is Japanese government's overseas aid agency.

Myanmar has been placing emphasis on control of trans-border animal
diseases, introducing animal quarantine laboratories in border trading
areas with neighboring countries.

According to an earlier agreement reached between the LBVD and the
Agriculture Department of China's Yunnan Province in January 2006, two
labs are being built in Kachin state's Myitgyina and Shan state's Lashio,
where border trade activities are carried out.

The two labs will help transfer information speedily and test the safety
of live animals and animal byproducts intended for export and import
through border trade, the LBVD said.

In late 2003, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia signed a trilateral
memorandum of understanding to help Myanmar fight foot and mouth diseases
by setting up five free zones of the diseases in order to boost trade in
hoofed animals and their products between Myanmar and the two countries.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 11, Irrawaddy
Danish Minster slams Burma boycott, sanctions – Wai Moe

Denmark's minister for development cooperation said in a recent interview
with a Danish newspaper that economic sanctions on Burma and a tourism
boycott of the country are counterproductive.

According to a report in Politiken on Saturday, one of Denmark’s leading
newspapers, minister Ulla Tørnæs of the ruling Liberal Party said Burma
would benefit from more tourists and trade with the world.

Meanwhile, there have been unconfirmed reports among nongovernmental
workers and diplomats that the European Union developmental agency might
be in the process of undergoing a reevaluation of its views on economic
sanctions on Burma.

Ulla Tørnæs said she planned to raise the issue with the EU and ask it to
reconsider its position on Burma.

Some analysts said the Danish minister’s views are a sign of a potential
EU policy shift in the near future.

“I think it is fine to consider a new strategy and to re-think the
sanctions,” said Mikael Graver, a Burma expert at Aarhus University in
Denmark in an e-mail to The Irrawaddy. “But a sudden change looks like a
surrender and letting down the opposition. A new strategy must be
formulated before the sanctions are lifted.”

Tourism and trade are positive for the country’s development, said
minister Ulla Tørnæs. She said economic sanctions may have a place in some
situations, if they can be shown to achieve their desired effect, but,
“Burma is isolated and closed.”

Change is more likely to come in Burma from internal pressure on the
military government, she said.

She said Aung San Suu Kyi probably understands that nothing has changed in
a positive way. She also disagreed with Suu Kyi over sanctions.

In 1996, Suu Kyi called for economic sanctions on the Burmese junta and a
tourism boycott, saying they only put more money into the hands of the
junta and funded human rights violations. The US and some EU countries are
the strongest proponents of sanctions against the regime. They are not
favored by Asian countries.

Christian Friis Bach, an international officer of the relief mission of
the Danish Church, said the junta’s strategy is to isolate the people and
Western sanctions help to isolate the people as well.

“Therefore I agree that it is a good idea to encourage people to go to
Burma,” he was quoted as saying in Politiken.

The EU has passed annual sanctions against the Burmese junta for years.
Recently, the EU adopted tighter sanctions, including an embargo on the
import of gemstones, timber and metal, and a wider visa ban against
members of the Burmese military government following the suppression of
pro-democracy protests in September 2007.

Some Danish activists expressed surprise at the minister’s comments in
Politiken because Denmark is a supporter of EU policy on Burma and
officially supports sanctions against the junta.

The Danish Burma Committee told Politiken the minister was out of touch
with Danish interests.

“She is quite careless about people,” said Anton Johannsen, the chairman
of the Danish Burma Committee. He said economic sanctions are effective in
weakening the junta.

Thomas Petersen, a Denmark trade union activist who has worked on the
Burma issue for years, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that Ulla Tørnæs
comments were a “big surprise.”

“It’s strange she says things like that when the official policy at the
ministry of foreign affairs is different,” he said.

“It is not important what I think about sanctions or no sanctions. I am
working on Burma for the Burmese people and as long as the Burmese people
are calling for sanctions, so will I,” he said. “We are not here to tell
the Burmese what to think.”

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 10, Malaysia Star
Same old, same old – A. Asohan

Myanmar’s ruling junta is hoping that its on-going human rights violations
will become a non-issue, but let’s keep flogging this dead horse.

TWENTY years and two days ago, student activists in a little-known
South-East Asian country stood up for democracy against their oppressive,
tyrannical government.

People from all walks of life — civil servants, professionals, monks and
plain old ordinary folk — all demanding democratic reform, soon joined
them.

The military stepped in, and according to most news reports, gunned down
thousands of these peaceful marchers.

The people stood firm however, and finally got their way. Two years later,
the country held its first general election in decades, and a
pro-reformation party won it hands-down. A new era beckoned.

Except that it didn’t. The military rulers declared the election null and
void, slapped cuffs on the democratic leaders, and carried on their merry,
violent way.

And the world looked on. Twenty years and two days later, the world is
still looking on.

Oh sure, governments may issue a few verbal slaps on the wrists once in a
while as a salve to their conscience — some even going so far as rapping
knuckles — but they’re still only looking on.

Two days ago, while large parts of Asia celebrated the auspicious
triple-fatt (08-08-08) or anticipated Olympic glory, people in cities
across the world — as far away as San Francisco and London, and right here
at home in Kuala Lumpur — marched peacefully in remembrance of the
quadruple eight or “8888 Uprising” of Aug 8, 1988.

Coordinating their efforts via websites, alternative news portals, blogs
and social media networks such as Facebook, many people across the world
are still trying to keep Myanmar (or Burma) on the table of public
discourse.

“Actually, for a problem like Burma, which seems so complex, the solution
can be surprisingly simple — if only governments and the United Nations
stopped talking so much and started doing more,” says K.P. Lee, a
Malaysian journalist who has spent much of his working life as an
activist.

Governments could turn the situation around right now, if they really wanted.

“What we are seeing in Burma today is a totally avoidable, man-made
disaster caused by a particularly nasty regime, but this regime survives
only because it is propped up by Asean’s impotence, China’s money and
India’s weapons.

“That’s the great tragedy, and a huge frustration,” says the 42-year-old.

The United States and Britain saw fit to invade a sovereign country to
save its millions from the tyranny of one dictator, going against
international rule of law and the United Nations to do so. (Yes, I know,
they first said it was because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and
was a hotbed of Al-Qaeda activity; they only changed their tune after
their leaders’ lies were exposed.)

Nobody would dispute that the belligerent Saddam Hussein had committed
horrific crimes against humanity. But his repressive government had also
provided some basic amenities and infrastructure (most of which were
destroyed by the invading forces) to the people.

Compare that with the abominations going on in Myanmar, where most of the
population are under the poverty line, where government troops carry out
state-sanctioned mass murders and gang rapes (against children too), and
Iraq under Saddam seems like a model state.

Myanmar’s military junta is financing its genocide of tribes like the
Karen with money made from trade. Governments allowing this to happen are
still peddling the fantasy that some of the proceeds trickle down to the
masses, despite all evidence to the contrary.

If I hear anyone say “constructive engagement” again, I’ll puke.

That was Asean’s excuse for getting involved with Myanmar’s repressive
regime. Let economic prosperity open the door to democratic reform.

In 2005, there was a movement to deny Myanmar the Asean chair. The
movement was led by ordinary citizens, activists, NGOs and even some
politicians, all of whom had acknowledged that Asean’s “constructive
engagement” gambit had failed miserably.

The movement found expression with tributes across the world on the 60th
birthday of Myanmar’s “Lady Liberty” herself, the Nobel Peace Prize winner
Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy that won the
1990 election, and is therefore the country’s rightful Prime Minister.

In a column I wrote then, I quoted Kraisak Choonhavan, a senator who had
been leading this movement in Thailand: “When you see villages marked for
relocation, state-sanctioned mass murder, gang rapes, disappearances and
torture, you have a moral obligation not to engage that government in
business.”

It’s now three years later, and Suu Kyi just celebrated her 63rd birthday
still under house arrest.

Governments are still pussyfooting around the issue, declaring as
victories the fact that the Myanmar regime allowed some international aid
— and only some, mind you — to go through to the victims of the
devastating Cyclone Nargis earlier this year.

Asean officials even praised the regime’s efforts, despite on-the-ground
reports from international relief workers condemning the ruling junta’s
slow response.

Earlier this year, at a meeting in Singapore, Myanmar finally ratified the
Asean charter that will see it subject to certain rules, including those
on human rights.

Given that it had promised democratic reforms when it first joined the
regional grouping all those years ago, then never bothered keeping those
promises, it will be interesting to see what would happen now if it
breaches the terms of the charter.

Will Asean finally summon the cojones to act?

Or perhaps we should just stop expecting governments to do, you know,
government-ish stuff like that.

While what’s going on in Myanmar is frustrating and heart-breaking,
journalist Lee sees hope in what he calls a “quiet revolution.”

“Many Burmese groups, working ‘underground’ and under dangerous
conditions, are changing the way people think. They are teaching people
about their rights, what to expect from a government, about democracy,
economics, security ... they are working to empower them.

“Many very brave people, including youths and women, are learning and then
sharing this information in towns and remote areas all around the country.

“That’s a key part to changing Burma, I feel. Ultimately it has to come
from within. I feel hopeful for Burma because when — and not if —
democracy comes, the people will be ready,” he says.

A. Asohan, New Media Editor at The Star, is too riled up to say anything
whimsical in this footnote.

____________________________________

August 9, Irish Times
Burmese must be supported – Michael Martin

TWENTY YEARS ago, in a remarkable display of "people power", hundreds of
thousands of Burmese citizens took to the streets of their country in
peaceful demonstrations to demand democracy, justice and economic security
in their troubled land, a struggle that they have been engaged in ever
since.

It was in these post-8-8-88 (August 8th, 1988) weeks that a small, quiet,
middle-aged woman emerged on to the national stage. The daughter of the
hero of Burma's struggle for independence, Gen Aung San, who had been
assassinated when she was two, and of a mother who was a distinguished
Burmese ambassador, Aung San Suu Kyi had spent much of her life outside
her native land but she had returned to Burma in March 1988 to nurse her
terminally-ill mother.

Known little beyond being the daughter of her hero father and with no
track record as a practising politician, Aung San Suu Kyi became involved
almost immediately on her return in the pro-democracy wave sweeping the
country. Exactly one week after the Burmese people took to the streets on
August 8th, Aung San Suu Kyi issued an open letter to the regime,
proposing the appointment of an independent People's Consultative
Committee to lead the country into multi-party elections, and also
stressing to the people of Burma the vital importance of discipline and
non-violence in their search for justice and change.

On August 26th, Aung San Suu Kyi made the first major public appearance of
her career at a political rally in Rangoon, addressing a rapturous crowd
of around half a million, and presenting a political programme based on
human rights, democracy and non-violence.

But on September 18th, the 8-8-88 popular and peaceful uprising and the
weeks of hope and elation that followed were brought to a rapid end when
the army chief-of-staff staged a military coup to regain control of the
government. Martial law was immediately imposed and control of the country
was transferred to a State Law and Order Restoration Council. Along with
this, the army launched a merciless counteroffensive against the
demonstrators, unleashing the full might of the military on unarmed
civilians - men, women and children. At a minimum, 3,000 died or
disappeared without trace, but some would claim that the number could have
been as high as 10,000.

Undeterred by the crackdown, Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the
opposition founded a political party on September 24th - the National
League for Democracy, or NLD, and she became its general secretary. By
then, Aung San Suu Kyi, in defiance of bans on public meetings and in the
face of serious threats to her personal safety, had already begun to
organise a series of more than a hundred political rallies around the
country, attended by growing crowds of supporters.

In April 1989 while campaigning in the Irrawaddy Delta, Aung San Suu Kyi -
in one of the most iconic scenes of her career - marched calmly through an
army unit with rifles trained on her. However, in July, increasingly
alarmed by her growing influence and popularity, the regime placed Aung
San Suu Kyi under house arrest in Rangoon where she has remained for most
of the years since then.

But despite her house arrest and heavy restrictions on her, Aung San Suu
Kyi and the NLD scored a resounding victory in elections in May 1990, with
her party securing 82 per cent of the seats. The military junta refuses to
recognise the results of the election and have continued to rule the
country ever since, changing its name to Myanmar. It is a ruthless
military regime that has distinguished itself primarily for its brutal
repression of the people of Burma, military campaigns against ethnic
minorities and the generation of vast numbers of refugees and
internally-displaced people. It is the same regime that last September
brutally crushed the peaceful protests of unarmed monks and civilians
demonstrating peacefully.

It is a regime which, in the wake of the tragedy engendered by Cyclone
Nargis in May, proceeded with an already flawed and discredited referendum
and did virtually nothing to help the survivors, until forced into action
by the international community.

Unfortunately the international response to the situation in Burma has
been inadequate, though to their credit the European Union, the United
States and some other countries have imposed political and economic
sanctions on the regime in the wake of their rejection of the results of
the 1990 election; these were tightened further following the events of
last September. Although sanctions have not resulted in any change of
heart on the part of the regime, they serve as an important symbol of our
rejection of that brutal regime and all that it stands for.

The Burmese generals have also resisted any effective role by the UN and
international human rights bodies, though the personal intervention of the
UN secretary general in the post-cyclone situation and visits by other key
UN representatives provide some grounds for optimism for a more proactive
UN role. I would, of course, very much welcome this.

Ireland, along with our EU partners, has long worked hard to maintain the
issue of Burma high on the international agenda. The Government works
closely with like-minded international partners seeking ways to generate
more effective global action in support of the Burmese people. We hope
that their role in the post-Nargis relief and reconstruction effort can be
developed into more proactive political engagement.

Over the years, the Government and the Irish people have provided
assistance to the Burmese people and their acknowledged representatives,
including responding quickly and generously to the recent humanitarian
crisis. Likewise, we work closely with the Burmese community and friends
of Burma in Ireland, including supporting the excellent work of Burma
Action Ireland. We also maintain close working relations with the National
Coalition Government of the Union of Burma - Burma's government in exile.

Today, we remember the heroic actions of the people of Burma in 1988. We
recognise in particular that, despite all that they have suffered, the
spirit of 8-8-88 lives on in the hearts and minds of the people of Burma,
at home and in exile. In paying tribute today to those brave men and
women, and especially to their leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, the Government
will continue to do all that is possible in support of their unwavering
desire for freedom, justice and democracy.

• Micheál Martin is Minister for Foreign Affairs

____________________________________

August 9, Far Eastern Economic Review
Reflections on Burma's Uprising – Min Zin

Twenty years have now passed since Burma started its struggle for
democracy in what is famously known as the “8-8-88 Movement.” It was a
nationwide uprising calling for the removal of the military dictatorship
and a restoration of the democratic government.

Back in 1988, I was a 14-year-old high school student. Two of my older
siblings had been arrested and tortured for their involvement in the
initial student protests and another brother was expelled from school. 
This shocked our whole family.

It was then that my political activism began. We distributed pamphlets and
leaflets in our schools, staged hit-and-run protests in neighborhoods
afterwards, and contacted other high schools and went together to
universities to join their protests. Later on I became one of the founding
leaders of the nation-wide high school student union in Burma, a place
where unions are illegal and just being a member of one could result in
long-term imprisonment.

It was these student-led protests that eventually snowballed into a
nationwide popular uprising on August 8, 1988 (8-8-88).

However, the military staged a coup on September 18 and responded with
bullets. When the troops started firing on protesters that night, I was
with hundreds of fellow high-school students in Rangoon, participating in
a hunger strike. In the following days, I found myself in the thick of the
shootings and saw students killed before my very eyes. According to
independent estimates, at least 10,000 people were killed in the August
and September of 1988.

Even in the aftermath of the crackdown, I still felt awed and shocked. I
reflected hard on what had happened. We had stood for principles of truth
and justice and the whole population had supported us. So why hadn’t we
succeeded? It was a question that took me a while to answer.

After the military coup, I continued to engage in clandestine political
activities for reform with other political leaders, including Aung San Suu
Kyi, who has become an icon of the Burmese democracy movement. Because of
my activities, the military intelligence arrived at my house to arrest me
on July 18, 1989.  Since I was not at home, they arrested my father
instead.

Despite being hunted by the military and threatened with the imprisonment,
death and harassment of my family, I decided not to give up and went
underground. This is where, despite moving from place to place, I remained
for more than eight years.

As time passed, especially during my time on the run, evading arrest, I
came to resolve my confusion and realize that though it is important to
stand up for one's principles in politics, principle alone cannot
guarantee political victory. Political activists need to understand what
distinguishes the principled who succeed from the principled who fail. The
common complacency about being on the ‘right’ side actually accomplishes
little unless coupled with a sound strategy for achieving concrete goals.
Our idealism even runs the risk of blinding activists from what is
actually happening, and, when push comes to shove, may leave them stranded
in irrelevance.

In this way, the central reason for the failure of 1988 uprising was that
the opposition did not provide the leadership to “close the deal.” When
the street protests reached their highest peak in late August through
September 18, the government had become defunct. The opposition
leadership, however, would fail to take advantage of the emerging power
vacuum. Neither did they  unify themselves to push for regime change, nor
did they negotiate a transition of power.

After I fled to the Thai border in late 1997, I decided that journalism
was the best way for me to support Burma’s pro-democracy movement, since
it allowed me to reach people inside Burma as well a growing international
audience which follows Burma's affairs. In time, my perspective has also
broadened and I have been more and more convinced that the Burmese
opposition has no “end game” strategy. They have often confused the
means—mass movements—with the ends—victory itself—and in doing so failed
to achieve the intended result when protests actually reached their peak.
This lack of planning was shown again in last September’s demonstrations.

The fact that we are still unable to translate principle into victory is
more than frustrating for me, since it always comes with unspeakable
costs. More than ten thousand peaceful protesters have been killed since
the 1988 uprising and about two thousand political prisoners, including my
brother, remain in jail. Moreover, the plight of the ethnic minorities
under the military's oppression has been immeasurable in its cruelty.

But, despite all this, a specific memory keeps me going, something from
the 8-8-88 uprising. When we were marching during the 1988 democracy
movement, most of us had nothing to eat. Yet some in the crowd would make
rice bags for us so that we could keep marching. When we collected those
rice bags, we would promise them, "you will get democracy one day".

Yet I have not kept my promise.

Whenever I feel dejected by the lack of progress, I tell myself that I
must fulfill the promise that I gave to my people—I owe them for the rice
bags I ate. This is a very simple thing, but it has kept those feelings of
responsibility for all these years. The rice bags I received 20 years ago
still give me power and energy to keep going on.

Min Zin is a Burmese journalist in exile.