BurmaNet News, September 3, 2008

[Editor]

September 3, 2008 Issue # 3548

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Suu Kyi’s lawyer denies she won’t meet regime minister
Irrawaddy: 88 Generation Students go on trial
AT: More than 39 activists arrested, 21 imprisoned in August 08
SHAN: Ceasefire groups to surrender in 09: Shan commander
Mizzima: Police prosecutes 'Flower News' journal reporter
RW: Cyclone survivors wish for return of private donors
FT: Burma’s junta ‘gave best help in cyclone’

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Legal group calls for an end to forcible disrobing of monks

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Thai-Burmese border trade suffering

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Burmese media silent on Thai turmoil

INTERNATIONAL
BBC News: City freedom ceremony for Suu Kyi

OPINION / OTHER
The Guardian: Locked in Burma – Simon Tisdall
Canada Free Press: Keeping the flame of Saffron Revolution alive - Ahmedur
Rahman Farooq

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 3, Irrawaddy
Suu Kyi’s lawyer denies she won’t meet regime minister - Violet Cho

Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has denied a report
in the regime’s official newspaper that the party’s leader, Aung San Suu
Kyi, is refusing to meet the minister charged with liaising between her
and the government.

The government mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on Wednesday
that Suu Kyi had declined a scheduled meeting with Labor Minister Aung Kyi
on Tuesday. The meeting had been arranged at the request of the United
Nations following the latest, unsuccessful mission to Burma by special
envoy Ibrahim Gambari at the end of August, the newspaper said.

The New Light of Myanmar reported that Suu Kyi had told her lawyer, Kyi
Win, that she didn’t want to meet Aung Kyi. She also declined a visit by
her doctor, the newspaper said.

Suu Kyi also declined a meeting with Gambari.

“For the time being, she wants to meet no one, except advocate U Kyi Win,”
said The New Light of Myanmar.

Kyi Win said that when he met Suu Kyi on Monday she had said she was
prepared to meet Aung Kyi but had added: “However, there are problems to
be solved.”

Kyi Win said: “She also said that she felt weak and tired, and asked me to
appeal for understanding.” The lawyer said she had lost weight but
otherwise appeared to be well.
The NLD says Suu Kyi has told it not to deliver any more food or supplies
to her home, but has denied she is on a hunger strike.

Suu Kyi has been allowed to meet Kyi Win three times in the past month.
The lawyer said that at their Monday meeting they had discussed an appeal
against the regime’s latest detention order. The Nobel laureate has been
under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years, and is now in the sixth
year of continuous detention.

Another city has, meanwhile, honored Suu Kyi by making her an honorary
citizen.
Dundee in Scotland has given her the “freedom of the city,” a rare honor
reserved for outstanding personalities.

Anna Roberts, Director of the Burma Campaign-UK, who will collect the
award on Suu Kyi’s behalf, said such prestigious honors “are really
important for raising awareness of the situation of Aung San Suu Kyi
herself, but also more widely about all of the people in Burma.

"It's a great occasion to be able to raise the profile of Burma and also
to let people know inside Burma that the world has not forgotten and that
they are campaigning to help bring freedom and democracy to Burma.

"Aung San Suu Kyi herself will probably hear about this award and people
inside Burma certainly do take great courage and they feel very supported
by acts like this.

"She remains a powerful source of hope and inspiration for the people of
Burma and it's important that we never forget and we never stop
campaigning for her release and [the release of] all political prisoners
in Burma."

____________________________________

September 3, Irrawaddy
88 Generation Students go on trial - Min Lwin

Thirty-five members of the 88 Generation Students group appeared in court
on Tuesday. However, the case was adjourned because of the late hour after
the activists had delayed proceedings by arguing against being handcuffed
and calling for a public trial.

The activists, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Min Zaya, were
arrested for participating in the monk-led demonstrations last year and
have since been detained in Insein prison in Rangoon.

Aung Tun, the brother of Ko Ko Gyi, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that
the activists—seven women and 28 men—appeared in Insein prison court at
4:30 in the afternoon the day before, by which time court proceedings had
concluded for the day.

“Ko Ko Gyi told me the trial was delayed because the activists had tried
to negotiate with the prison authorities not to be handcuffed,” said Aung
Tun. “He said that they were political prisoners and, as such, demanded a
public trial.

“I am not sure whether they will reappear for trial on Thursday,” Ko Aung
added.

However, one of the group’s lawyers, Aung Thein—who said that he has not
been allowed to meet his clients—told The Irrawaddy that if they refuse to
appear in court on Thursday they would most likely be sentenced to six
months in prison and be fined in accordance with Burmese law.

Meanwhile, the US Campaign for Burma released a statement on Tuesday
accusing the Burmese military government of hauling dozens of detained
pro-democracy activists to court just days after two UN envoys traveled to
Burma seeking democratic change and improvements in human rights.

“By forcing Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and the 88 Generation students into a
sham trial instead of releasing them, the Burmese [authorities] have
refused to cooperate with the UN Security Council,” said Aung Din,
executive director of the US Campaign for Burma.

“If the Security Council wants to have any credibility at all, it must
take strong action immediately, such as banning all weapons sales to the
military regime,” he added in a press statement.

He said that Burma’s judiciary is widely seen as a kangaroo court system
in which judges sentence human rights activists based on orders from the
military regime in closed-door trials.

At least 2,092 political prisoners are currently being held in detention
across the country, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association
for Political Prisoners (Burma), or AAPP.

The imprisoned activists are suffering “prolonged and unlawful detention,
no access to proper legal counsel, no free or fair trials,” AAPP said.

____________________________________

September 3, Asian Tribune
More than 39 activists arrested, and 21 imprisoned during August 2008

The politically motivated arrests and imprisonments have dramatically
increased in Burma.

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) has pointed out
that this alarming increase in the arrests and incarceration has been
recorded during the first six months of 2008, despite the Special Advisor
of the Secretary- General of the United Nations, and the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma to the United
Nations, were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to visit Burma in
order to try to help improve the Burmese political and human rights
situation.

The report further reveals that the military regime of Burma arrested at
least 39 activists in August 2008, and 21 activists were imprisoned.

The detainees are members of the National League for Democracy (NLD),
Human Rights Defenders and Protestors (HRDP) and Student Unions. Some of
them were arrested, not because of current activities, but because of
their activities in August and September 2007.

Ko Tate Naing, the secretary of the AAPP, said that even though UN high
level representatives visited Burma to try to solve the problems of human
rights violations, the regime continues to arrest and imprison democracy
activists with impunity. This means that the regime is not cooperating
with the United Nations or the International Community. Due to these facts
we need to reconsider the process of UN involvement in Burma.

During 2008, at least 286 activists have been arrested so far, how many
more will it take for the United Nations organization and member states to
understand that the rule of law does not exist in Burma and that the
people they recognize, refer to and negotiate with as the government of
Burma are nothing more than an illegal and brutal dictatorship?

____________________________________

September 3, Shan Herald Agency for News
All ceasefire groups to surrender in 2009: Shan State commander

Gen. Yar Pyay, the Shan State military commander has said that ceasefire
groups and local militia groups have to surrender in 2009 before the 2010
elections. He  said this at a meeting with government servants in Ho
Mueng. The meeting was held in the middle of August, said a border news
source from Mae Hong Song.

"All ceasefire groups and militia groups must surrender in 2009. If the
groups don't want to surrender, they can emerge with Shan State Army-
South of Col. Yward Serk," said a Ho Mueng local.

The commander visited Ho Mueng region for reviewing the Thai-Burma border
situation on August 18. He said this at the meeting with government staff
on August 20 at the Sung Mauk (Park) meeting hall which was owned by the
former MTA leader Khun Sa. Maha Jar, the SSS company chairman and Ho Mueng
regional defence army leader, accompanied Gen. Yar Pyay on the tour. Maha
Jar himself can not do anything about the matter of surrender, said Ho
Mueng locals.

"Maha Jar doesn't live in Ho Mueng. He mostly lives in Nam Zang. He has a
house in Taung Gyi. His son, Khun Nu, has controlled the Ho Mueng defence
army for 3 to 4 years. He seemed to be accompanied by the Gen. Yar Pyay
because the SPDC commander would go to inspect hill no. 19 and 20 of his
the army which is based opposite WNA (Wa National Army) headquarter at Loi
Wahayt near the Thai border. The SPDC commander said that (Maha Jar)
defence army at hill no. 19 and 20 would be replaced with the Burmese Army
soon. Maha Jar would face difficulties, said a local driver.

Replacing 200 strong Maha Jar's defence militias with the Burmese Army in
this region  was because the SPDC commander seemed to have doubts about  
secret connections between Maha Jar's defence militias and WNA and SSA-s,
said a  Ho Mueng news source.

The Ho Mueng militias based on hill no. 19-20 was a battle filed where
fighting between Loi Maw (SUA-Shan United Army) and Koumintang army (KMT)
took place in 1985-86. Although government staff has worked in the Ho
Mueng region after Khun Sa surrendered in 1996, Maha Jar's militias group
(under the name of local development army) had strong influence in the
region. Ho Mueng became a sub township of Larn Khur district.

Gen. Yar Pyay, the middle Shan State commander, and his companies left for
Taung Gyi on August 20.

Likewise, Gen. Aung Than Htut, the north eastern military commander,
called representatives from Mahtu Naw led Kachin Democratic Army (KDA)
based in Kaung Khar, Kut Khaing township, Lt. Moon led Want Pang militias
(about 700-800 men) based in Tang Yang township and Law Mar led Mueng Ha
militias (about 300-400 men) based in Mueng Rel township to Lasho and
talked to them on August 24.

He explained to the representatives that if SSA-S (Shan State Army-South)
penetrates to northern Shan State, those groups must be together with the
Burmese Army. Therefore those groups should prepare and take training to
be ready to fight and go to the front lines.

Gen. Kyaw Phyo, the commander of Triangle based in Keng Tung, visited the
U Sai Linn led special 4 region (National Democracy Alliance Army - NDAA)
headquarter in Mueng Lar. He told him about the transition of armed forces
in 2009. The triangle commander said it was the order of the armed forces
general headquarters from capital. "Gen. Kyaw Phyo who personally talked
about his financial difficulty to leaders of Mueng Lar. Therefore leaders
from Mueng Lar gave him 40-50 thousand Yuan as  pocket money", said a
young Keng Tong who is close to the special 4 regional organization.

Gen. Kyaw Phyo said in a meeting that Col. Yard Serk's SSA is the fence of
Thailand when he toured Mueng Tong border region from August 16-18, 2008.

The triangle commander said that government officials and staff must not
take bribes from smugglers and drug traffickers. If evidence is found
those who take bribes will be removed. Although he said it, he himself
took Kyat 38 lakh as bribe from UWSA's 171 bridge. The UWSA bribed the
commander in exchange of not to building an artillery camp in their rubber
plantations. Local Wa leaders bribed o him on the day the new primary
school was opened on August 18.

____________________________________

September 3, Mizzima News
Police prosecutes 'Flower News' journal reporter - Nam Davies

Chief Reporter Saw Myint Than of the 'Flower News' journal was prosecuted
by the Kyauktada Township police for reporting the double murder case.

The Rangoon Division Police Department Chief Win Maung lodged a first
information report (FIR) against him in the Kyauktada Police station under
the 'Unlawful Associations Act' and the 'Electronic Communication Law'.

He faces up to one year in prison for each case if found guilty, a Home
Ministry source said.

The Kyauktada Township police station declined to provide further details.
The township police stations in Rangoon Division have been barred recently
from giving out news and information on crimes committed.

The Rangoon Division Police office summoned Saw Myint Than and gave him a
dressing down for reporting the double murder which was published in last
week's issue of the 'Flower News' journal.

The source from the Home Ministry said the police accused him later of
defaming the police department by despatching the news to a news agency in
exile.

Earlier, the township police stations could give out information on crime
to domestic reporters but now the Home Ministry has issued a circular
authorizing only the Rangoon Division Police headquarters to release news
of crime to the media.

Incidentally, the news of the double murder which appeared in this journal
had been passed by the 'Press Scrutiny Board' (Censor Board) under the
Ministry of Information.

____________________________________

September 3, Relief Web
Myanmar: Cyclone survivors wish for return of private donors


>From her makeshift hut along the highway between Pyanpon and Bogale

townships in the Ayeyarwady Delta, Yee Yee looks to the motorway.
"Whenever I hear the sound of a car, I think it might be someone coming to
help," the 56-year-old said.

But four months since Cyclone Nargis pummelled the area, leaving nearly
140,000 people dead or missing, with another 2.4 million people badly
affected, that sound has largely disappeared.

"I simply don't understand it," Yee Yee, who lost her husband in the
cyclone, said. "But I wish they [the private donors] would come back."

Many cyclone survivors are struggling to rebuild their lives and worry
whether promises of further assistance from the government and
international organisations will materialise.

News of the storm's impact on the delta resulted in an outpouring of
generosity from the country's 50 million-plus population, with scores of
private donors travelling to the delta from all over the country with
supplies.

In the first days after the cyclone, the two main motorways to the delta -
the Yangon-Pathein highway and the
Yangon-Hlaingtharyar-Twuntay-Kunchangone-Daedayal-Pyapon-Bogale highway -
were bumper to bumper with private donors struggling to reach survivors.

"Every weekend those motorways were full of donor convoys," recalled one
resident, distributing rice, clothes, medicine, potable water and kitchen
utensils.

Civil society role praised

Praising their contribution, John Holmes, the UN Under-Secretary-General
for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, cited the role
of civil society in the relief operation during his second visit to
Myanmar in late July.

"The worst affected are being helped by those less affected. That's been a
very important factor in the speed of recovery efforts," Holmes told IRIN
in Yangon, the former Burmese capital.

At the end of July, the New Light of Myanmar, a government weekly,
reported that more than half the rice distributed between the first week
of May and 14 July came from private donors.

At the same time, private donors donated 1,057 power tillers, while the
international community donated 316, it added.

The farmers also received 6,473 power tillers from the government, to be
paid back in installments.

However, there is a limit to how much private donors can provide and many
are themselves struggling to cover their basic needs. In addition,
checkpoints and widespread deployment of security forces served as a
deterrent, sources said.

"Private donors have done as much as they possibly can [in the period of
emergency]," said one local resident.

"They cannot be expected to help in terms of development. It's the job of
the government and international community," he said.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/AMMF-7J5FMN?OpenDocument

____________________________________

September 3, Financial Times
Burma’s junta ‘gave best help in cyclone’ - Andrew Jack

The Burmese authorities were by far the greatest providers of medical
assistance to its population after cyclone Nargis despite the widespread
international criticism of a poor response by the military junta,
according to an analysis released on Wednesday.

A report summarised in the latest issue of the World Health Organisation’s
Bulletin says government doctors, nurses and midwives were far more active
in offering treatment and medicines to cyclone survivors than
non-governmental organisations and individual volunteers.

The findings partially contradict perceptions based on the reluctance of
the Burmese authorities to reveal the extent of the crisis and its
slowness in allowing foreign official and private charitable assistance to
help with relief operations.

While there were widespread unmet medical needs after the cyclone in May,
Richard Garfield from the WHO’s health and nutrition tracking service, who
co-ordinated the study, said: “We discovered to our surprise because of
such bad PR that there was large-scale mobilisation by government around
the country.”

Although the study was conducted on behalf of the Burmese authorities, the
UN and Asean, Mr Garfield insisted that the findings were objective.

The study, which covered nearly 3,000 households most affected by Nargis
in south-west Burma, also identified that among the survivors, diarrhoea
and the common cold were by far the most widespread problems, rather than
trauma, wounds and more serious infectious diseases such as cholera, as
some experts had warned.

Of the 85,000 estimated killed and a further 54,000 missing after the
cyclone last May, there were twice as many women who died as men. That
confirms for the first time anecdotal evidence never previously quantified
from other natural disasters, including the 2004 Asian tsunami which
claimed more than 200,00 lives.

Mr Garfield said the reasons included the fact that many women in the
region had never learned to swim, were killed while trying to save their
children, or were too weak to hold on to trees and other objects to keep
them safe over long periods until water levels dropped.

He said one set of lessons from Nargis should be the introduction of
swimming lessons for women, and family evacuation training designed to
encourage men to look after older children – which requires greater
strength – while women should care for babies.

The study also found that the most effective assistance came from
countries near Burma. “It was more culturally appropriate and got there in
time,” he said.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0036148e-79d3-11dd-bb93-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 3, Democratic Voice of Burma
Legal group calls for an end to forcible disrobing of monks

The Burma Lawyers’ Council has demanded that the junta abolish state law
20/90 on religious organisations and stop the practice of forcibly
disrobing monks and trying them at civil courts.

The BLC’s U Myo said the practice of handcuffing monks and not allowing
them to wear their robes in court contravene prison regulations and should
be stopped immediately.

The BLC’s demand was prompted by the regime’s treatment of monks in
detention, including high profile monk leader U Gambira, U Myo said.

“In the case of Sayadaw Ashin Gambira, he will not attend court tomorrow
[3 September] because the trial of a disrobed monk damages the dignity of
the monks and the Sasana [Buddhist congregation],” he said.

U Myo pointed out that U Gambira, one of the leaders of the 2007 Saffron
Revolution, had been prevented from observing his religious duties such as
wearing robes when he appeared in court recently.

“According to the prison handbook, try monks in this way, disrobed, is not
allowed. Articles 64, 65 and 66 of the prison handbook state that the
prison must issue robes.

“Now they are not only being prevented from donning robes, they are also
being forced to disrobe,” he said.

“They have no law that says you can turn someone from a genuine monk into
a civilian. You are not allowed to do that, it is an insult to the
Sasana.”

U Myo criticised the law for making monks accountable to the government
instead of to religious authorities.

“As monks are not allowed to handle the affairs of monks and they are
still under the mechanism of [state] power, monks are being oppressed,” U
Myo said.

“That’s why we are demanding the abolition of this law.”

U Gambira has also raised the issue of the forcible disrobing of monks in
a meeting with United Nations special rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana in
August.

More than 700 monks have been arrested and imprisoned since 1988, 19 of
whom have died in prisons and hard labour camps, according to a statement
issued by the BLC today.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 3, Irrawaddy
Thai-Burmese border trade suffering - Violet Cho

Trade at the Thai-Burmese border has recently been hit by a series of
setbacks—the devaluation of the Burmese currency, a landslide on the main
highway from Myawaddy, and a tightening of trade restrictions by the
Burmese authorities.

“Last week, one baht was worth 35 Burmese kyat. Now we have to pay about
38.5 kyat per baht,” said a trader in Myawaddy on Wednesday.

Farther north, in Shan State, a currency dealer confirmed on Wednesday
that one baht was trading in the border towns of Tachilek and Mae Sai for
37 kyat.

In mid-August, torrential rains blocked roads around the Thai-Burmese
border. On the Myawaddy—Pa-an highway, the major route to Rangoon, a
landslide prevented goods getting through, disrupting trade in Myawaddy.

However, according to a report in Rangoon weekly Newsweek on Tuesday,
Burma’s Ministry of Livestock Breeding and Fisheries has confirmed that
the road has now been cleared and trade has resumed.

The ministry announced that a trade volume as high as US$ 8.22 million had
been recorded since the resumption of transportation last week.

Local traders were not so optimistic, however.

“Of course, there are private vans loaded with goods crossing the border
every day from Thailand,” said the trader in Myawaddy. “However, most
traders have been unable to regenerate their businesses since the
landslide.

“The devaluation of the Burmese currency has also had a big impact on
trade,” he added.

Meanwhile, local traders face more hardship as Burmese military
authorities have recently imposed strict limits on the volume of goods
that can be imported by road from Mae Sot in Thailand.

“We were allowed to bring in as much as we could two months ago,” said a
motorbike dealer in Myawaddy. “But now we can’t.”

____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 3, Irrawaddy
Burmese media silent on Thai turmoil - Saw Yan Naing

As the international media continues to follow the tense situation in
Thailand closely, the censors in neighboring Burma have imposed a blackout
on coverage of massive anti-government protest in Bangkok, according to
journalists in Rangoon.

An editor from a Rangoon-based journal told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that
the authorities were not allowing reports of the current unrest in
Thailand to be published or broadcast by the country’s tightly controlled
media.

A Thai demonstrator waves a flag as she and others occupy the Government
House.  Anti-government protests in Thailand have captured headlines
around the world, but in neighboring Burma, censors have blocked coverage
of the unrest. (Photo: AP)
“We can’t report it in our magazine,” said the editor. “They have censored
reports about the protests in both the broadcast and print media.”

Another journalist in Rangoon confirmed that the protests, which are
directed against the government of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej,
have received no media attention inside Burma.

“I haven’t seen any news about the turmoil in Thailand so far,” the
journalist said.

The blackout on news about the unrest in Thailand extends to the
international news network CNN, which is available through Family
Entertainment, a 19-channel satellite television service created by
Burma’s Ministry of Information and the privately owned Forever Group in
2005.

“We can only see the headlines about the protest,” said one journalist.
“None of [CNN’s] in-depth coverage of the protests is shown.”

According to the journalist, the only source of information on the
situation in Thailand is the Norway-based Burmese news organization, the
Democratic Voice of Burma, which some people can watch secretly using
satellite dishes.

The anti-government protests in Bangkok are led by the People’s Alliance
for Democracy (PAD), which occupied the prime minister’s office compound
on August 26 and vowed not to budge until Samak steps down.

On Tuesday, Samak declared a state of emergency in Bangkok after one
protester died in a clash between anti-government and pro-government
groups that broke out on Tuesday morning.

It was not clear why the Burmese authorities had blocked coverage of the
unrest in neighboring Thailand, although it is not unusual for Burma’s
censors to screen out sensitive information or images that could incite
domestic unrest.

In September 2007, the censors shut down the news networks on the Family
Entertainment satellite service to prevent access to international
coverage of the ruling regime’s brutal crackdown on monk-led
demonstrations. Internet access was also temporarily suspended at the
height of the conflict.

Thakin Chan Htun, a veteran politician and former ambassador to China,
told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the Burmese regime’s decision to
prevent the media from reporting on the current situation in Thailand
showed that its claims to be moving towards democratic reforms were
meaningless.

“If they really want to form a democratic country, they should allow local
journals and magazines to independently report news that the people should
know,” he said.

Aye Thar Aung, the Rangoon-based secretary of the Arakan League for
Democracy, said that the authorities were intent on controlling not only
the media, but also the will of people.

“In Thailand, the King, the military and the government all respect the
basic principles of democracy,” said Aye Thar Aung. “They are serious
about the will of the people. But in Burma, we can’t imagine this. It is
like a dream.”

Despite the lack of news coverage of the current unrest in Thailand, many
Burmese have taken a strong interest in the situation there, partly
because Samak, the target of the Thai protests, has in the past made a
number of controversial comments about Burma’s political impasse.

Samak recently described Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as
a “political tool” of the West, and suggested that international efforts
to engage the Burmese junta would be more productive if Suu Kyi were kept
off the agenda.

Samak made the remark during a meeting with Ibrahim Gambari, the United
Nations’ special envoy to Burma, when the two met in Bangkok soon after
the Nigerian diplomat ended his latest trip to Burma.

Burmese opposition leaders reacted angrily to the Thai premier’s comments.
And now that Samak’s political future is in question, many Burmese say
they hope to see him out of power soon.

“They are happy that protesters are demanding Samak’s resignation. They
said it is good that he is facing the current unrest,” said one Rangoon
resident, describing the sentiment expressed by many Burmese who are
following the situation in Thailand.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 3, BBC News
City freedom ceremony for Suu Kyi

A ceremony to grant the Freedom of Dundee to Aung San Suu Kyi is set to
take place in the city.

Burma's pro-democracy leader will not be able to attend because she has
been under house arrest since 2003.

In total, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent about 13 of the past 18
years in detention.

The honour from Dundee will be accepted on Ms Suu Kyi's behalf by Anna
Roberts, who is the director of the Burma Campaign UK.

The idea of awarding Ms Suu Kyi, 63, the Freedom of Dundee was proposed by
the Lord Provost John Letford.

'Great courage'

The city council wanted to recognise her achievements in promoting
democracy and show its support for her immediate release.

Ms Roberts said: "These prestigious awards are really important for
raising awareness of the situation of Aung San Suu Kyi herself, but also
more widely about all of the people in Burma.

"It's a great occasion to be able to raise the profile of Burma and also
to let people know inside Burma that the world has not forgotten and that
they are campaigning to help bring freedom and democracy to Burma.

"Aung San Suu Kyi herself will probably hear about this award and people
inside Burma certainly do take great courage and they feel very supported
by acts like this.

"She remains a powerful source of hope and inspiration for the people of
Burma and it's important that we never forget and we never stop
campaigning for her release and all political prisoners in Burma."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 2, The Guardian
Locked in Burma – Simon Tisdall

After 13 years of detention, Aung San Suu Kyi perfectly represents the
suffering of the Burmese people, effectively trapped in the world's
biggest prison. Pressure is building on the UN to act

It is hard to imagine what life must be like for Aung San Suu Kyi, locked
up inside her Rangoon home, separated from her children, denied visitors,
her phone line cut, her mail intercepted. Burma's opposition leader, whose
1990 election victory was annulled by the military, is now in her 13th
year of detention. She has been held continually since 2003. In June she
spent her 63rd birthday alone.

Unconfirmed reports suggest Suu Kyi, who has suffered health problems in
the past, is unwell again. Her lawyer, Kyi Win, who was allowed to see her
last month, quoted her as saying: "I am tired and I need some rest."
Following her refusal of a food delivery, there is also speculation the
pro-democracy campaigner and Nobel peace prizewinner has begun a hunger
strike. Her lawyer said her weight had fallen below the 7st she was known
to weigh in 2003.

While uncertainty surrounds Suu Kyi's plight, there is nothing at all
ambiguous about Burma's political, social and human rights situation one
year after the junta brutally suppressed the Buddhist-monk-led "saffron
revolution". By almost any measure, it is distinctly worse. Last May's
Cyclone Nargis disaster played its part. But most of the deterioration is
man-made.

Despite last autumn's storm of international condemnation and impassioned
calls for action, the junta continues to hold more than 2,000 political
prisoners, including leaders of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD) such as U Win Tin, in jail since 1989. UN attempts to foster
political reform have got nowhere. And trade sanctions imposed by the US
and EU are being undermined by the generals' energy deals with China,
Thailand and India. Oil and gas sales topped $3.3bn (£1.85bn) last year.

According to Benjamin Zawacki of Amnesty International, half a million
people are internally displaced. He said the army is continuing
"systematic" rights violations against Karen and other ethnic minorities
including "extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances,
arbitrary arrests, forced labour, crop destruction [and] restrictions of
movement".

Amid some of the worst poverty, health problems and corruption in the
world, many people now have only one wish: escape. Even long-suffering
Zimbabweans have an option to flee to neighbouring countries. But the
Burmese are locked in, held down by their rulers and not wanted in India,
China or Thailand. With an estimated population of more than 50 million,
Burma has become the world's biggest prison camp.

"The UN mission has been a complete failure," said Mark Farmaner, director
of Burma Campaign UK. Since Ibrahim Gambari, a former Nigerian foreign
minister, was appointed special envoy in May 2006, the number of political
prisoners had doubled, ethnic cleansing in eastern Burma had intensified,
and humanitarian aid for Cyclone Nargis victims was blocked, he said.

"There has been a massive deterioration in the human rights situation. But
during Gambari's last two visits no senior member of the regime bothered
to see him," Farmaner said. "He is seen as biased towards the regime and
we think he should resign. He no longer has the respect or confidence of
either side."

Criticism of Gambari was also voiced by the NLD. It said his visits, the
last of which ended on August 23, had produced "no positive developments".
The party said the UN envoy's offer to help the junta organise elections
in 2010 under a new constitution that the opposition rejects had
undermined his independence. For her part, ill or not, Suu Kyi twice
refused to meet Gambari, reportedly leaving him standing on her doorstep.

Farmaner said the time had come for Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general,
to take personal charge before the country exploded again. He is due to
visit Burma in December following talks with Asian leaders. "There have
been 37 UN visits in 20 years but things just get worse. Now they need to
set timelines and benchmarks which the junta must meet. The first
benchmark should be the release of all political prisoners," he said. It
was also essential the UN security council fully back the process, and be
ready to pass a punitive resolution if the generals did not comply.

Farmaner praised Gordon Brown who he said was personally committed to
ending the impasse and actively raised Burma at the UN and in other
forums. But other western leaders, and countries with real leverage such
as China, were less concerned now the media spotlight illuminated by last
autumn's revolt had shifted elsewhere.

"There is an increasing sense of desperation," Farmaner said. "People were
very depressed after the uprising, very frightened. But there was hope
that Gambari would do something. Now that hope has gone and there is even
more repression than before. At the moment, the fear is stronger than the
anger. But that could change."

____________________________________

September 3, Canada Free Press
Keeping the flame of Saffron Revolution alive - Ahmedur Rahman Farooq

The violent crackdown of the Saffron Revolution in September 2007 has
added a deep notch in the scale of atrocities of the Burmese military
rulers. It is true that the Saffron Revolution could not remove the regime
from the power, but it has so badly wounded the regime that they will
never be able to heal the scar. Earlier, people witnessed the brutalities
of the military regime mostly on the unarmed civilians, but the crackdown
of the Saffron Revolution has demonstrated to the people how brutally they
can kill, torture and suppress the monks whom the people of Burma hold in
the highest regards and reverence. It has seriously attacked the senses of
the common people and caused a permanent disgust among them against the
regime. Every year September will come to remind them the scale of
brutalities of the military regime on the monks. The brutal oppression of
the regime and the bloods of the monks spilled in the streets has opened
the eyes of the people to see the true identity of the regime and woke
them up once again from psychological derailment tactics of the junta.

The immediate cause of the Saffron Revolution was mainly the sudden
removal of the fuel subsidies. On August 15, 2007 the government removed
subsidies on fuel causing a rapid and unannounced increase in prices. The
government, which has a monopoly on fuel sales and is sold only by a
state-owned fuel company – Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, raised prices
from about $1.40 to $2.80 a gallon, and boosted the price of natural gas
by about 500%. This increase in fuel prices led to an increase in food
prices and brought a disastrous situation for the common people in
maintaining their livelihoods. The price of rice had jumped 10 percent,
meat 15 percent, and a standard plate of noodles at a food stall had
tripled. By the end of September, the price of a kilogram of rice had
increased from around 300 kyat to 500 kyat, while a dozen eggs had doubled
in price from 600 kyat to 1,200 kyat. People could no longer afford to buy
rice and started to eat rice soup. And those who could not even afford to
eat rice soup, they just started to eat corn.

The United Nations ranked Burma among the 20 poorest countries of the
world and for the economic distress of the country, many including the UN
blamed the military regime and the proportion of national income spent on
the armed forces. In late 2006, the cost of basic commodities began rising
sharply in Burma with rice, eggs, and cooking oil increasing by 30-40%.
According to the UN, one in three children is chronically malnourished,
government spending on health and education is among the lowest anywhere
in the world, and the average income is below $300 a year. Amidst this
precarious condition of the common people, the luxurious life style of the
army personnel came up as one of the most talked about issues of the
country.

The plight of the common people seriously attacked the sense of the monks
and finally they took to the streets and the protest became known as
Saffron Revolution. The Saffron Revolution was a series of anti-government
protest which started on August 15, 2007 and continued up to October 2007.
Initially, being led by students and opposition political activists, the
protest demonstrations were at first dealt with quickly and harshly by the
junta, with dozens of protesters arrested and detained. Later, thousands
of Buddhist monks took to the streets to protest the despotic rule which
has generated a desperate situation in the country forcing millions of
people to live in grinding poverty with half naked body full of hunger and
grief. Carrying the Buddhist flag, the protesting monks marched through
the streets of Rangoon and in all other major cities of the country and
chanted the “Metta Sutta” (the Buddha’s words on loving kindness)

It was a stunning show of defiance against the military regime and it was
the largest anti-government protest in twenty years since 1988. In many
places the columns of the protesting monks stretched up to 1 kilometer
where the civilians – men and women were seen marching the streets forming
a human shield around the monks keeping the monks in the middle and the
ordinary people either side as if they were ready to receive the shower of
bullets first before it can hit the revered monks.

The government moved to silence the protest through all brutal means.
Thousands of troops converged on foot and trucks in different areas of
Rangoon , Mandalay , Sittwe etc to crack down on the demonstration.
According to UN estimates, more than 3,000 protesters were arrested and at
least 31 people were killed in the crackdown. Monasteries became the
target of the daily raid of the army. They imprisoned many highly
respected senior monks as the instigator of the protest. Many of the
imprisoned monks were high ranking abbots of monasteries who spent even 30
to 40 years in teaching the Buddha Śãsana - the teachings of the
Buddha. In the prisons, their robes were taken off and were forced to wear
prison uniforms. In fact, for a monk it is the most painful event of life
to take off his robes that he has worn to dedicate his life on the path of
Buddha. It is true that the junta could take off their robes, but they
could not strip of their spiritual monkhood. Despite being forced to wear
prison uniforms and being officially stripped of their membership of the
Sangha, they continued to practice their faith and meditation. There were
many monks who have been sent to the prison labor camps to be chained and
shackled from where the chances of return are very low because of malaria
like that of the Devil’s Island. Mentionably, it is the concrete floors
where the prisoners have to lie without any beds where the gusty winds
pass through. The food that they are given to eat are so bad that a pig
would shake his head and refuse to eat when he sees that coming – even
though pigs are known to have the habit of eating anything.

Monks are the Dharma sons of Buddha. They pass their life beneath the
veneer of serenity and religious devotion. They live quietly in
monasteries studying Dhamma. They keep teaching the tenets of Buddha for
the peace of the whole mankind of the world. The fundamental goal of
Buddhism is peace. It teaches that peace or war is our decision and it is
not out of our hands. The Buddha taught that the first step on the path to
peace is understanding the causality of peace and to direct the efforts to
remove the causes which hinder the peace just like removing a boiling
water pot from fire to make it cool. If we do not first address the
fundamental issues, all other actions will come to naught.

Burma is a nation of 57.6 million people with a land area of 678,500
sq.km. Around 90 percent of the population are Buddhist and the rest are
Muslims, Christians, Hindus or animists. There are 500,000 Buddhist monks,
novices and nuns in Burma . Monkhood is the highest moral authority in
Burma . In line with the Buddhist philosophy of removal from earthly
desire, everything a monk owns or consumes is supposed to be donated by
the lay community. Every morning the monks go out to collect alms with
bowl – mostly food – from near their monasteries and people struggle to
give them enough food to eat in lean times and in return the monks bestow
on the donor the “merit” that will eventually help him or her achieve
nirvana – or release from the cycle of birth.

However, the monks are supposed to stay out of the temporal affairs such
as politics. But when they see people suffering, they come forward to
remove the causes which effect the sufferings as per the doctrine of
Karma. According to the Vinaya- Buddhist rules for the monastic community,
the only way a monk should get involved in political matters is if the
government starts hurting people or suppress the monkhood. In 1919, there
was a violence in Mandalay when the monks tried to expel a group of
shoe-wearing British officials from a pagoda and they started a campaign
against the British rule which has originated from this event of refusing
of the British officials to remove their footwear while entering the
temples which was a sign of a grave disrespect to the Buddhist holy sites
and the campaign is known as “Shoe Question”. Similarly, in 1889, Bo
Ottama, a rebel monk who led 3,000 rebels in the Salin area a year after
the invasion of Mandalay was captured and hanged by the British in 1889.
Another martyr, Saya San, who was an ex-monk, led a peasant uprising in
Tharrawaddy opposing the tax system imposed by the British. Burma ‘s
colonial masters sent 10,000 troops to quell the rebellion, capturing Saya
San and sending him, too, to the gallows. One of Burma ‘s independence
heroes is U Wisara who was a highly respected senior monk. He was
imprisoned several times for his public speech against British colonial
rule and died in jail in 1929 after 166 days of hunger strike. And
similarly another independence hero U Ottama was a highly respected monk
from Arakan State who spent many years in prison for opposing British
colonialism.

In fact, in the history of Independent Burma it is the democratic
government of U Nu who has sincerely shown highest respect to the monks
and in 1961 U Nu also tried to legalize Buddhism as the state religion of
Burma . But soon after the military takeover in 1962, General Ne Win
regarded the monks as a potential opposition and schemed a strategy to
control them. He subjected many senior monks who refused to cooperate with
the regime to derogatory treatment like Mahasi Sayadaw who was Burma ‘s
top Buddhist scholar and an internationally respected monk. Of course, Ne
Win did not pretend to be a devout Buddhist and unlike the current
military generals he was rarely seen in the religious ceremonies and with
the monks.

However, crushing the Saffron Revolution, the military regime has drawn
themselves in the midst of a fierce struggle involving blood and fire, a
life and death struggle with the monastic society of Burma and it will let
them understand how deep, how arduous, how complex and how long-term the
nature of the struggle is. The military regime has blocked all the avenues
of peaceful protests of the common people and finally they have turned to
the monastic community to take up the leadership for the cause of
restoration of peace and democracy in the country. September will remain
forever as a month of paying tribute to the souls of the monks and
everyone else murdered openly in the streets or in the darkness of nights.
The ideals of courage in the face of military brutalities and their
readiness to sacrifice themselves on the altar of peace for the helpless
commoners will be remembered by the people of Burma generations after
generations with deep respect and also with deep sadness.The glory of the
memorial structures which have been constructed in the hearts of the
people will never fade. It will continue to shine forever and will inspire
them to rise again and again to tear the shackles of tyranny and hoist the
flag of peace for the distressed humanity.