BurmaNet News, September 24, 2008

[Editor]

September 24, 2008 Issue # 3563


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Burmese monks, dissidents targeted by junta
AFP: Freed Myanmar dissident calls for more releases
AFP: Myanmar opposition vows to continue fight for Aung San Suu Kyi
DVB: U Win Htein re-arrested after release
DVB: Freed political prisoner tells of prison abuses

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: India's support for Burmese junta pays off

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: Prominent authors, journalists, rights experts honour
Burmese writers
Reuters: Laura Bush presses Myanmar's neighbors over rights

OPINION / OTHER
VOA: A year after protests, Burma's military remains firmly in control –
Ron Corben
Mizzima News: A spirit no bars could conquer – Andrew Buncombe
UPI: Aung San Suu Kyi's brave solo challenge – Zin Linn
The Nation (Thailand): Saffron revolution: A year on, no change – Editorial

STATEMENT
Nobel Peace Laureates: Commemorating the One Year Anniversary of the
Saffron Revolution



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 24, Irrawaddy
Burmese monks, dissidents targeted by junta – Saw Yan Naing

Several active youth members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in
Rangoon have gone into hiding in fear of arrest by Burmese security forces
while Buddhist monks traveling in Sittwe have reported that they have been
targeted for interrogation by the authorities, according to sources.

An NLD youth member in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that
certain other NLD youth members are now too afraid to stay at home and
have gone into hiding to avoid the military authorities.

Dissident sources have said that security has been tightened over the last
few weeks, especially in the areas that were scenes of last year’s
demonstrations, including Rangoon, Pegu, Sittwe Township in Arakan State
and Pakokku Township in Magwe Division.

Meanwhile, a Buddhist monk in Sittwe who spoke to The Irrawaddy on
condition of anonymity said that monks who travel outside their
monasteries face intense questioning by the Burmese authorities.

“Monks are being stopped and questioned by the authorities,” he said.

Security guards have been deployed in downtown Sittwe and at major places
such as pagodas and public areas, said the monk.

The security measures come ahead of the anniversary of the September 26-
27 crackdown on peaceful protesters in Rangoon last year.

Fourteen Burmese activists in Rangoon and Meiktila in Mandalay Division
have been arrested since September 9, according to the Thailand-based
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP).

Meanwhile, eight Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Desmond Tutu and
the Dalai Lama, released a joint-statement on Tuesday marking the
anniversary of the “Saffron Revolution” by urging the people of Burma to
“maintain nonviolence, determination and vigilance—despite the odds.”

The Nobel laureates said they were observing a “dark anniversary” because
the Burmese regime has resisted change and continues a daily repression of
activists, monks and members of the opposition political parties.

In the statement, the Nobel Prize winners also urged the Burmese regime to
create a genuine process of national reconciliation which includes all
stakeholders and leads toward true democracy, as well as calling for the
release of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other
political prisoners.

“We will not be silent while Burma suffers 
 We stand with all our Burmese
sisters and brothers. They are ever in our hearts and minds,” the
laureates said.

The Nobel Prize winners also criticized the Burmese authorities for
neglecting responsibility in helping people recover from the cyclone which
killed more than 130,000 people in May, and for conducting a “sham
referendum” to advance their seven-step “road map” agenda despite the
disaster.

The laureates also said the Burmese generals and their cronies had
“greedily lined their pockets, manipulating currency exchanges with
international organizations mandated to bring in disaster relief.”

In London, Burmese dissidents plan to commemorate the first anniversary of
the crackdown by holding a demonstration on September 26 calling for the
release of all political prisoners in Burma.

According to Burma Campaign UK, as Thailand holds the current chair of the
Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), protesters will also hold
a demonstration outside the Thai embassy in London calling for Asean to
use their influence to push for the release of Burmese political
prisoners.

____________________________________

September 24, Agence France Presse
Freed Myanmar dissident calls for more releases

Freed Myanmar dissident Win Tin said Wednesday two decades of torture and
isolation in jail had not dented his determination to fight on for the
political prisoners held by his country's military regime.

"It's not enough, this release of political prisoners, because there are
some 2,000 prisoners," the 79-year-old journalist and activist said, in an
interview with Radio France International one day after his release.

Until Tuesday, when the military junta released more than 9,000 prisoners
from its jails in an amnesty ahead of elections promised for 2010, Win Tin
had been the longest serving political prisoner in Myanmar.

Campaigners say few of those released were political prisoners, and
Amnesty International shares Win Tin's estimate of 2,000 imprisoned
dissidents.

Speaking with good humour and in fluent English, Win Tin described his
harsh treatment and his plans to resume a political career cut short in
1989 when he was arrested for advising opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Asked how he was feeling, he said: "Not too bad altogether, 19 years and
three months. See, I'm now 79 and that's rather old for a Burmese. So I
try to be healthy, I try to be normal.

"I tried to survive by keeping some political convictions. That is: the
release of political prisoners, the convention of parliament and political
dialogue between us and the government," he said.

"There were many tortures and mistreatments in the prison," he said.

"I was interrogated for five days at a stretch. Sleep deprivation, that
was very hard. I was hooded and I was interrogated and somebody hit me. I
was beaten many, many times.

"And of course from 1996 until now I was kept in solitary confinement, but
it wasn't too bad," he added, explaining that he had no contact with other
prisoners but could see his family for 15 minutes per fortnight.

Asked whether he thought Myanmar was ready for democratic reform, he said
he would attempt to play a role, but warned: "I'm rather pessimistic
because the army is so big in every structure of Burmese life."

____________________________________

September 24, Agence France Presse
Myanmar opposition vows to continue fight for Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar's pro-democracy party on Wednesday vowed to continue pushing for
their leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release after several of her close
confidants were freed from prison by the ruling junta.

Seven dissidents from the Nobel peace laureate's party were among the
9,002 prisoners freed Tuesday in an amnesty that state media said was
ordered so they could take part in elections promised by the ruling
generals for 2010.

The most prominent was 79-year-old journalist and activist Win Tin,
Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner, who spent nearly two decades
behind the bars of Yangon's feared Insein prison.

National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win said that although
they welcomed the amnesty, they would continue to fight for the freedom of
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 19 years under house
arrest.

"We will send an appeal for her release from detention this week to the
cabinet in Naypyidaw," Nyan Win told AFP, referring to the nation's
capital.

"We are always hoping for her release. There are still many long-serving
political prisoners ... All should also be released," he added.

The release of Win Tin and the six other NLD members was immediately
hailed by the United Nations, the United States and rights groups around
the world.

"We worked together to defend Win Tin's innocence and we are immensely
relieved that he has finally been freed," press freedom organisations
Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association said in a joint
statement.

"We hope other journalists and prisoners of conscience will also be freed
and that Win Tin will be able to resume his peaceful struggle for press
freedom and democracy in Burma," they added, using Myanmar's former name.

Win Tin was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment on July 4, 1989 for acting
as an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi and writing letters to the then-United
Nations envoy to Myanmar.

Upon his release Tuesday, Win Tin, still dressed in a blue prison-issue
outfit but looking strong and healthy, vowed to journalists that he would
continue to fight the ruling generals.

Human rights groups estimate that about 2,000 political prisoners are
locked away in Myanmar.

Aung Naing Oo, a Myanmar analyst based in Thailand, welcomed the release
of Win Tin and other colleagues of Aung San Suu Kyi but said the move
showed the junta believed its hold on power was secure.

"I think the military is more confident now than before by releasing some
key prisoners, including the longest-serving prisoner," Aung Naing Oo told
AFP in Bangkok.

"Maybe they think he's no longer relevant or can no longer muster
support," he added.

Myanmar's military government has said it will hold multi-party elections
in 2010 but critics say the polls are just a way for the generals to
solidify and legitimise their power.

Other dissidents confirmed released Tuesday were Aye Thein, Khin Maung
Swe, Win Htein, Than Nyein, Aung Soe Myint and May Win Myint.

All are senior NLD members arrested for political activities and many were
elected to Myanmar's legislature in 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a sweeping election victory in 1990 but
the junta never allowed her to take office, instead keeping her locked
away in her Yangon lakeside home.

____________________________________

September 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
U Win Htein re-arrested after release – Naw Say Phaw

National League for Democracy member U Win Htein, who was released from
Katha prison yesterday as part of a government amnesty, has been
re-arrested, according to sources close to his family.

Win Htein was arrested this morning and sent back to Katha prison.

His family was informed of his arrest and told to come to Katha from
Mandalay, where they had hoped to meet him.

An unnamed official from Katha prison confirmed that Win Htein was back in
the prison, but did not give a reason for his arrest.

Win Htein, 67, a former captain in the army, was sentenced to 14 years’
imprisonment on 21 May 1996 and was released yesterday.

He had previously been imprisoned from 1989 to 1995.

During his two prison terms, he spent more than a year in Katha prison,
another year in Mandalay and nine years in Myingyan.

____________________________________

September 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
Freed political prisoner tells of prison abuses – Khin Maung Soe Min

National League for Democracy member U Aye Thein, who was released at noon
yesterday from Kalaymyo prison, has spoken out about the mistreatment of
prisoners he witnessed while in detention.

U Aye Thein, 38, the Thabeikkyeen township NLD organising committee
secretary, was one of a small number of political prisoners among the 9002
inmates released as part of a government amnesty.

Although Aye Thein was arrested on criminal charges, he was placed among
political prisoners in the jail and said he suffered mistreatment by the
authorities.

He said that he and other prisoners were kept in isolation in dark cells
up until the time of his release.

Pakokku township MP-elect U Hlaing Aye, who was transferred to Kalaymyo
jail on 22 September, was also sent directly to an isolation cell.

Aye Thein said he had also witnessed harsh treatment of other prisoners
during his time behind bars.

U Michael Win Kyaw from Kalaymyo, who was imprisoned for his role in the
Saffron Revolution, was beaten up by prisoners serving criminal sentences
on the orders of the prison authorities, Aye Thein said.

On 5 September, Maung Win Cho from Kalaymyo township's Kokeko village, who
had been imprisoned for two months on drug charges, was beaten to death in
front of inmates to set an example, drawing protest from political
prisoners.

Aye Thein said he intended to report the incidents he had witnessed in
prison to the authorities, NLD headquarters and the International
Committee of the Red Cross.

Several political prisoners including solo protester U Ohn Than, U Sai
Nyunt Lwin of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, Ko Aye Aung, U
Nyo Mya, U Aye Ko of Pyawbwe, U Kyaw Swe of Madaya and U Min Aung from
Arakan State, U Ba Min and U Ba Thin from Kalaymyo are currently
languishing in Kalaymyo prison.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 24, Irrawaddy
India's support for Burmese junta pays off – William Boot

The Indian government believes its "strategic victory" in winning
agreement to build two large hydropower dams on the Chindwin River is only
the first of many such projects in Burma.

"The Chindwin holds huge hydropower potential and we intend to further
strengthen this relationship by going in for other such projects in
Myanmar," Jairam Ramesh, India's minister of state for power and commerce,
declared in the Hindu News newspaper.

The Indian state-owned company National Hydroelectric Power Corporation
(NHPC) secured the rights to build a massive 1,200-megawatt hydrodam at
Tamanthi, and a smaller 600-megawatt capacity system at Shwzaya in
northwestern Chin State bordering India.

These developments match in size and cost the biggest hydrodam projects
planned by Thai and Chinese firms on the Salween River on Burma's eastern
border region.

Despite Burma's chronic electricity shortages, which lie at the heart of
the country's underdevelopment, virtually all the electricity to be
generated by these projects will be pumped abroad to India,  Thailand and
China.

It has been estimated by some officials with Western human rights NGOs
that the Tamanthi project alone would flood the town of Khamti on the
border with India and force its 30,000 residents to move. An additional
unknown number of people in more than 30 villages in the dam's flood area
of about 7,000 hectares will also be forced to move, according to the
German environmental group Urgewald.

NHPC was described earlier this year by Urgewald's researcher Heffa
Schcking as India's "ugliest dam builder" whose operations at home and
abroad "have left a trail of ruined livelihoods and misery in its wake."

Even within India the company had used terror tactics with armed staff to
intimidate residents to leave dam development areas, say NGO officials.

The Tamanthi hydrodam alone will generate more electricity than the rest
of Burma currently can produce.

Apart from the human displacement it is also likely to endanger Hukaung
Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, home to rare animals such as leopards and
tigers.

India's Ramesh sees it differently: "This is a major strategic victory for
us," he said, according to the Hindu News.

The Chindwin projects agreement follows a flurry of high-ranking visits
between India and Burma in the last few months, which analysts say shows a
warming of relations initiated by India in a bid to counter what the
Indian government saw as a threat from China's growing economic and
political influence with the Burmese junta.

"This is the latest move closer to the ruling junta by India, flipping its
previous pro-democracy anti-junta stance," said a European embassy
political attaché in Bangkok speaking on condition of anonymity. "Europe
had hoped for more support from New Delhi in international efforts to
pressure the regime to change."

The Chindwin deals overshadow the commercial coup New Delhi achieved in
April when Burma's second in command, Vice Snr-Gen Mauang Aye, visited the
Indian capital. That visit resulted in a US $120 million deal for India to
modernize Burma's dilapidated west coast port of Sittwe and improve
connecting river and road links to the port from India's adjoining Mizoram
state.

Before the Chindwin dams agreement was finalized last week, New Delhi
had given Burma's government more than $80 million in loans and credits,
and approval was given for an Indian company to build an aluminum factory
in Burma.

"Indian companies should be aware of their potential complicity in human
rights abuses connected to these projects, and that they'll eventually be
held accountable," Matthew F. Smith of EarthRights International's Burma
Project told The Irrawaddy, commenting on the Chindwin hydrodams.

"The government of India could do more for its country's long-term
development and long-term regional interests by protecting rather than
violating human rights abroad," Smith said.

Indian state media have quoted NHPC officials as saying the Chindwin
projects are estimated to cost about $3 billion. India will also build
power transmission lines to carry the electricity generated over the
border into its northeastern Manipur State.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 24, Mizzima News
Prominent authors, journalists, rights experts honour Burmese writers –
Solomon

The first anniversary of the monk-led protests in Burma in 2007 was marked
with prominent authors, journalists and human rights experts hailing
Burmese writers at a ceremony held in New York on Tuesday.

Nobel Literature prize winner Orhan Pamuk, Booker prize winners Salman
Rushdie and Kiran Desai, human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro,
Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Lelyveld and others joined Burmese monks in
New York in the ceremony called 'Reading Burma'.

U Sandaw Batha Sara, representative of the International Buddhist Monks
Organisation, said, the event is to honour Burmese writers whose work has
been suppressed by the military regime and to support victims of the
recent devastating cyclone. It included readings of the works of Burmese
writers.

In addition to the works of Burmese writers, Joseph Lelyveld the 1986
Pulitzer Prize winner, Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie and Kiran Desai
who have written stories on Burmese monks spoke at the anniversary.

"The event is to talk about the situation of Burma and the history of
military oppression on the people of the country," U Sandaw Batha Sara
said.

With the military ruling in Burma since 1962, human rights violations and
repressions have been wide spread. Despite standing up against the junta,
the people including Buddhist monks have been brutally repressed by the
regime.

The junta further revealed its ugly face to the international community,
when in May it restricted international aid to flow into the country, when
it was devastated by Cyclone Nargis which killed at least 80,000 and left
more than 50,000 missing.

At the Tuesday ceremony well-known authors and human rights experts
discussed the subjects of the banned and controversial Burmese writings in
honour of Burmese writers, monks and civilians who stood up to the regime
and expressed their solidarity with victims of the cyclone.

____________________________________

September 24, Reuters
Laura Bush presses Myanmar's neighbors over rights – Jeremy Pelofsky

With the Statue of Liberty in the background, U.S. first lady Laura Bush
urged China and India on Tuesday to press Myanmar's military junta to
begin respecting the rights of its citizens.

About a year after the Myanmar government squashed pro-democracy protests
in a violent crackdown, the first lady and President George W. Bush met
over lunch with dissidents from a range of countries including Myanmar,
Cuba and North Korea.

Myanmar, previously known as Burma, has been high on the first lady's
agenda over the past two years and last month she visited a refugee camp
in Thailand a few miles from the border with Myanmar to push her cause.

"I want to urge all the neighbors of Burma -- China and India and other
neighbors -- to continue trying to talk to the Burmese general Than Shwe
to see if he can't do what all the world ... wants him to do, and that is
start respecting the rights of the people of Burma," she told reporters on
Tuesday.

She called on the military junta, which has been in power for more than
four decades, to begin a "real dialogue for a transition to democracy" and
speak with opposition leaders.

Myanmar's military junta has refused to accept losing a 1990 election and
has cracked down numerous times on pro-democracy demonstrators, killing
thousands.

The United States has taken in thousands of refugees who have fled Myanmar
over the past few years. Washington has also imposed sanctions on
Myanmar's state-owned companies in an attempt to pressure its leaders to
adopt democratic reforms.

U Kovida, a dissident who fled after the protests last year and attended
the luncheon with the president and Laura Bush, told reporters afterward
that he hoped "we can shame the government" of Myanmar with peaceful
protest.

Earlier on Tuesday, Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner,
journalist Win Tin, was freed after 19 years in jail. However, earlier
this month a prominent democracy activist who had been in hiding for a
year was arrested.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by David Alexander and Eric Walsh)

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 24, Voice of America
A year after protests, Burma's military remains firmly in control – Ron
Corben

A year after Burma's military crushed protests led by Buddhist monks,
human rights groups accuse the government of continuing to harass of the
clergy. As Ron Corben reports from Bangkok, experts on Burma see little
sign of change in the country, despite the recent release of thousands of
prisoners.

A year ago this week thousands of Buddhist monks left their temples in
Burma and led massive demonstrations against the military's mismanagement
of the economy.

This monk, at a demonstration last year, calls for a countrywide protest,
and urges people go to the revered Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon.

The protests began after the military dramatically raised fuel prices,
which hit people hard in one of the world's poorest nations.

They culminated with up to 100,000 people marching through Rangoon on
September 24.

Protesters call on the government to end the hardships the people face and
to release political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, who is under house detention.

But the military swiftly moved against the protesters. Many Burmese using
mobile phones and cameras captured images of the military moving against
the crowds and beating protestors. The images were soon sent to the
outside world.

Soldiers broke into monasteries and arrested hundreds of monks. Thousands
of other people were arrested. The United Nations says at least 30 people
were killed in the crackdown. The military government says 10 died. The
protests were the largest seen in Rangoon since the military killed
hundreds of protesters calling for democracy in 1988.

Debbie Stothardt, spokeswoman for the rights group, the Alternative ASEAN
Network, says last year's protests showed the bravery of the people.

"It was a very inspiring situation because most people in the
international community assumed that people in Burma where too afraid or
too intimidated to stand up against the regime," she said.

The world reacted with condemnation and calls for Burma to release all
political prisoners. But efforts to impose tougher sanctions against the
government died in the United Nations Security Council.

And while most Western countries ban trade with Burma, its giant
neighbors, India and China, continue to pay the military for Burma's
natural gas, timber and gems.

Burma's government says it has a "road map to democracy," including
elections in 2010. But human rights groups and Burmese exiles say the
election process and the new constitution are flawed because the military
retains vast powers.

Carl Thayer, a security analyst and Burma expert at Australian National
University, says he sees little prospect for change.

"They're pursuing their roadmap to democracy as they see it," he said.
"There will be elections and they have a variety of political parties that
are in a constellation backing the military regime with the regime mass
organizations that will dominate the elections. But I think they can wait
out international pressure."

In some ways, life has gotten harder in Burma. In May, Cyclone Nargis
killed more than 130,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
For weeks, Burma's government blocked international relief efforts. In
desperation, people turned to the monasteries and private donors for
shelter and food, only, in many cases, to be forced away by soldiers.

This week, the government released more than 9,000 prisoners in what it
called a goodwill gesture. Among them were at least seven political
prisoners, including 78-year-old U Win Tin, who had been jailed since
1989. He declares he will continue to press for democracy.

Rights advocates say Burma still holds as many as 1,900 political
prisoners, an increase of more than 65 percent since July 2007.

Some experts on Burma, however, do think last year's crackdown may have
fired up public anger, which ultimately could erupt.

Thayer at Australian National University says the bloody crackdown shocked
him. And, he says, it may have shaken average soldiers in the devoutly
Buddhist country.

"Of course I don't think the average conscript inside the Myanmar military
would be happy at how the monks were treated, to see the monks defrocked,
to see some killed, others in prison - must be disheartening to them,"
said Thayer.

Saw Steve is with the Committee for the Karen People, an advocacy group
for ethnic Karen refugees from Burma. He says the crackdown hardened
attitudes against the military.

"It should not be like that. For us it is very sad. It doesn't show like
the way to democracy," he said. "It is not the peaceful means. It's very
terrorizing so it doesn't show the way to the peace and that will create
more hostility."

The military has ruled Burma for nearly 50 years, and the current
government has been in power since 1988. It ignored the May 1990 election
that gave a landslide victory to Aung San Suu Kyu and her National League
for Democracy. Instead, it jailed, killed or forced into exile thousands
of NLD supporters.

____________________________________

September 24, Mizzima News
A spirit no bars could conquer – Andrew Buncombe

For almost 20 years he was held in solitary confinement, subjected to
harsh beatings and exhausting interrogations. Now Win Tin has been freed
and he is thinking not only of Burma's future but of those prisoners still
held inside Insein Jail.

"I am free but I would like to say that I feel very sorry for my
colleagues who have died in the prison. Many, many of my friends are dead.
I saw them die," he said, speaking by telephone from Rangoon. "And there
are many people left inside, the leaders of the 88 Generation Students
group are all still there. I feel very sorry for them."

The 78-year-old was among 9,002 prisoners that the Burmese junta on Monday
said were to be set free as part of an amnesty. However, campaigners say
more than 2,000 other political prisoners still remain behind bars. Frail
but remarkably alert after spending 19 years and three months in solitary
confinement, Win Tin vowed to continue his struggle against the regime
that jailed him.

Win Tin was arrested in July 1989, a year after huge pro-democracy
demonstrations were crushed with a death toll of at least 3,000 people. He
was arrested because of his seniority in the National League for Democracy
(NLD), where he was a senior strategist, and because of his closeness to
Aung Sung Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.

"The first three or so years were horrid, like hell," said Win Tin, who
for a long time was kept in a cell originally designed as a kennel and
refused bedding. "I was tortured. I was interrogated and asked about my
activities in [the 1988 democracy demonstrations]. They asked me many
questions. On one occasion they questioned me for five days and five
nights non-stop. I was not allowed to sleep or eat, just to have a small
cup of water."

On other occasions during Rangoon's misty winters he was handcuffed and
left overnight outside in the prison yard. "I was there from 7pm to 3am
and then I would be interrogated early in the morning
.Sometimes I was
hooded and I could not see who was interrogating me. Then they would beat
me. I complained to the officers but they denied it and said I must have
been hallucinating, yet I said that I had been hit on the ears. Not just
once but many times."

The release of Win Tin and six other "prisoners of conscience" comes
exactly a year after the Saffron Revolution in which more than 100,000
Buddhist monks and ordinary citizens took to the streets of Rangoon in the
largest pro-democracy demonstrations since the protests of 1988. The
regime said it was releasing the prisoners so that they could take part in
a general election scheduled to be held in 2010. The six others released
yesterday were Dr. May Win Myint, Dr. Than Nyein, Win Htein, Aung Soe
Myint Oo, Khin Maung Swe and Than Naing. However, Win Htein was this
morning taken back to Katha Prison in remote northern Burma – no reason
yet being given by the authorities for their actions.

Campaigners have welcomed the release of Win Tin but have called for the
remaining political prisoners to also be set free. Among those still
jailed are the leaders of the 88 Generation Students group, whose protests
early last summer preceded the monk-led September uprising. Benjamin
Zawacki of Amnesty International, said: "While the release of Win Tin and
his fellow prisoners is certainly the best news to come out of Burma for a
long time, unfortunately they don't even represent one percent of the
political prisoners there."

He added: "These seven people should never have been imprisoned in the
first place, and there are many, many more who should also be released.
The release of these seven political prisoners is most welcome. But this
is not – and cannot be seen as – an end in itself, only the beginning."

The former journalist, whose original sentence was increased in 1996 after
he wrote a letter to the UN revealing the wretched, brutal conditions
inside the prison and penned poems and stories for other prisoners, said
he spent all his time in solitary confinement. Younger inmates would
secretly sneak to his cell door to talk with him and he was allowed a 15
minute visit every fortnight. By this means he managed to keep up with
news of what was happening outside the prison walls, such as last year's
demonstrations and this spring's devastating strike by Cyclone Nargis,
which killed perhaps more than 130,000 people in Burma's Irrawaddy Delta.

He kept mentally strong, he said, by concentrating on the work that needed
to be done to transform his country. "I don't know how I kept my sanity
but I knew I had to work," he added. When the regime said it would release
him early if he signed a document with a series of conditions he refused
their offer. "I refused to sign it. I said no," he said

Now a free man, Win Tin said freedom for Burma's people still had to be
won. "The future of Burma does not look good but we hope that there is
some good for the future," he said. "If there is an effort, if we
struggle, we can make it good. If we stay passive there is no hope for the
future. This is why we are going to continue to struggle."

(The author is the Asia Correspondent of the UK-based Independent newspaper)

____________________________________

September 24, United Press International
Aung San Suu Kyi's brave solo challenge – Zin Linn

One year after Burma's horrific crackdown on the September “Saffron
Revolution” led by Buddhist monks, the world remains at odds on how to
pressure the military regime, leaving Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
without help in opposing the generals.
With the United Nations toothless to compel improvement from the regime,
the 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has to bring into play silent
protests as a measure of breaking the political stalemate.

The military junta of Burma showed no indication of cooperation with the
international community in the midst of worldwide pressure for political
change even following the bloody crackdown on the Saffron Revolution in
September 2007.

Then what of U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari? It is obvious that
Gambari's latest six-day mission, from Aug. 18-23, to resolve the
political impasse between the military junta and detained opposition
leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi came to a complete standstill. His efforts to
facilitate conciliatory talks between the junta and the opposition fell
apart.

The truth was, Gambari failed to have any meetings with Senior General
Than Shwe, which means he obtained no significant message from the junta.
The Nobel laureate was to meet with him on Aug. 20, but she did not “show
up,” because she did not want to give false hope to the nation. The junta
supervised the agenda of the U.N. envoy, exploiting the occasion.
Obviously, the lady did not want Gambari to be able to overstate his
mission as a success. It was a strong protest against the junta and a
clear signal to the people.

After declining to meet Gambari, Aung San Suu Kyi also refused to meet her
doctor and Liaison Minister Aung Kyi, who is in charge of mediating with
her. She has refused to see anyone except her lawyer, U Kyi Win. Moreover,
she has refused food supplies since Aug. 15. She has not accepted food
delivered to her home for four weeks. But no one can confirm whether she
is on a hunger strike, a question that has remained unanswered.

The lawyer, U Kyi Win, has denied that she is on a hunger strike, saying
Aung San Suu Kyi is demonstrating her dissent by living on less food. She
is also asking for greater “freedom of movement” for the two women who
assist her in domestic work. She has been demanding better conditions for
her house arrest, including access to information, deliveries of private
mail and monthly visits by her physician.

Her party spokesperson, U Nyan Win, said that she had even asked for
permission to have Internet access, but it was undisclosed whether the
authorities considered her request. Her requests came in the midst of rare
meetings with U Kyi Win to discuss a proper legal course against her
unjust confinement.

Some analysts assume there may be some mutual understanding between the
authorities and the opposition leader. It seems that the Nobel laureate’s
latest protest is being kept as a low-key affair.

The current concern about the limitless incarceration of Aung San Suu Kyi
and the unlawful arrests of more than 2,100 dissidents in Burma is not
merely a question of law and order, but rather one that is challenging the
political aspirations of the Burmese people, who are overwhelmingly in
favor of change.

Summing up the situation, the lady seems unhappy about not receiving any
reply from the regime in response to her suggestions for the
reconciliation process that were given to the junta’s liaison officer,
Aung Kyi, in previous meetings. She is also protesting to be allowed to
enjoy her fundamental legal rights. The Nobel peace prize winner has spent
over a decade under house arrest at her dreary, lakeside home in Rangoon,
allowed little contact with the outside world. At present, she remains
unlawfully detained under Burma’s State Protection Law.

In fact, the junta should terminate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's detention right
away because the junta is violating its own law. The law says that the
duration of such restriction shall be kept to a minimum and only the most
necessary restrictions on fundamental rights shall be implemented. The
whole world is concerned about Suu Kyi's detention and has called on the
junta to bring the situation back to normal.

In brief, the lady is spotlighting the lack of law and order in the
country. Looking back into the recent past, one can see many crimes
committed by the military authorities. The most atrocious chapter of
contemporary Burmese history is the assassination attempt by the Burmese
military junta of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the
National League for Democracy, and her entourage at Dapeyin in northern
Burma on May 30, 2003.

The violence committed by the Burmese regime at Dapeyin caused
repercussions among the top generals of the junta. According to anonymous
military sources, the plot was directly handled by Senior General Than
Shwe without prior knowledge of Intelligence Chief General Khin Nyunt or
the second-in-command, General Maung Aye. Then, there was also an argument
about the incident between Khin Nyunt and Than Shwe. But Than Shwe played
the game easily by demoting Khin Nyunt to the post of prime minister.

Eventually, Khin Nyunt was sacked just over a year after he announced the
junta's seven-step ''road map to democracy.'' According to some analysts,
Khin Nyunt was no democrat, but he was behind the junta's abandoned policy
of reconciliation with Aung San Suu Kyi and her party. It was visible
evidence that there was a rising division within Burma’s military
superiors on how to tackle the question of Aung San Suu Kyi and how to
defend the army’s political role in the future Burma.

There has been a rift between the pragmatists, who understand the need for
political and economic reform, and the hardliners, who want to hang on to
power regardless of the pressure for change from inside and outside of the
country. While people believe that Aung San Suu Kyi plays a major role in
Burma’s national reconciliation process, the military chief Than Shwe has
disregarded the reality.

The lady knows that time is running out. So, her refusal to meet with the
U.N. special envoy and the rejection of food supplies may not be a vague
message. As she once told others to hope for the best and prepare for the
worst, her current lone protest against the junta is a brave call – to
stand up against the worst – to the whole nation, including the men in
uniform who believe in a pragmatic approach to rebuild the ruined nation.

--

(Zin Linn is a freelance Burmese journalist living in exile. He is the
information director at the National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma-East Office and vice president of Burma Media Association, which is
affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers. He can be
contacted at uzinlinn at gmail.com. ©Copyright Zin Linn)

______________________________

September 24, The Nation (Thailand)
Saffron revolution: A year on, no change – Editorial

The Burmese junta will continue to mock the world unless we start to take
action now

Looking back one year ago, it was hard to hold back tears at what the
Burmese military junta did to its own people. It was this week last year
that thousands of monks, nuns, students and ordinary people poured to the
streets of Rangoon and braved the security forces and their brutality. The
army and police opened fire on peaceful demonstrators, killing dozens.
There was outrage all over the world. And, yet, the Rangoon regime stood
firm and carried on doing what it does best: intensifying the suppression
of the Burmese people. The generals, hiding in their upcountry bunkers,
knew full well that the fate of the demonstrators would not occupy the
evening news for too long. The international community has too many of its
own problems to ponder. It only responds to immediate issues at hand, and
its span of attention is also very brief.

Then, Cyclone Nargis became a blessing in disguise for the regime. It gave
the generals all the necessary time they needed to regain their posture,
as the UN agencies and all other international organisations, humanitarian
or not, had to beg to be allowed inside the devastated areas in the
Irrawaddy Delta. They have all been willing to accommodate the regime's
wishes and decrees. That has been the fault-line that nobody wants to
raise.

Of course, the nearly 3 million Burmese victims of the storm have
continued to suffer because they have to depend entirely on the junta's
helping hand. Whoever the recipients are of such assistance, they will
have a high price to pay in the future. Whatever they do today and in the
future will be closely monitored.

The junta has successfully used stringent rules to screen international
workers and journalists who want to gain entry into the country.
Complicated foreign exchange regimes have also enriched the junta's
coffers. Obviously, no official from any international organisation would
have the courage to give a frank assessment of money lost through the
Burmese foreign exchanges. They would simply say it was for a good cause,
to relieve the suffering of victims. Suffice to say, the junta is richer
today than ever before, even though the economic malaise that plagued the
country before the massive demonstrations last year continues unabated,
with inflation as high as 50 per cent.

This helps to explain why the junta leaders are more confident than before
in suppressing their own people and carrying out their specially designed
"roadmaps". Just recently, the Burmese authorities arrested Nilar Thien, a
leader of the 1988 student group. More and more students activists have
been were arrested without making newspaper headlines. The regime has
completely ignored the international community's appeal for the release of
Aung San Suu Kyi and nearly 2,000 political prisoners. It knows deep in
its heart that nobody outside the country can do anything about it.

If the junta leaders steer clear of internal discord, they can carry on
and stay put. Just look at Asean and its current attitude towards Burma.
After its strong statements expressing revulsion at the regime for using
violence against its own people last September, the grouping is now
claiming success in leading the humanitarian effort inside Burma. Since
its admission to Asean in 1997, Burma has been pulling the regional
grouping down and causing rifts among its members. So far, Rangoon has
been calling all the shots, using ratification of the grouping's
much-cherished first charter as a bargaining chip.

The regime has set up a nationwide poll which will rubberstamp its
heartless governance. Like May's national referendum on the poll, the
rigged outcome of the planned 2010 election will be used to legitimise the
junta. The Burmese generals know they will get away scot-free because no
country will pay close attention for very long. Unless we prove them
wrong. To do that, we have to start acting now.

________________________________
STATEMENT

September 24, Nobel Peace Laureates
Commemorating the One Year Anniversary of the Saffron Revolution

One year ago, the monks, nuns, and citizens of Burma marched peacefully in
a nationwide protest exemplifying one of the most principled and
courageous nonviolent actions of our time, the “Saffron Revolution.”

Chanting verses of loving-kindness they called on Burma’s notorious
military regime to take the path of democracy, human rights, and economic
justice. Nobel Laureates, in solidarity with fellow laureate Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, under house arrest in Rangoon, firmly expressed support for  our
Burmese sisters and brothers. We hoped that the Saffron Revolution would
mark a positive turning point to Burma’s longstanding political stalemate.
 Instead, the junta unleashed a brutal, bloody repression. The fate of
thousands of participants remains unknown; we know that monasteries were
emptied, prisons were filled, and scores killed.

One year later we observe a dark anniversary: On every front, Burma’s
generals have resisted change. The repression continues daily with
activists, monks, and members of opposition political parties arrested and
tortured. There are more than 2000 political prisoners, including heroic
figures like leaders Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Su Su Nway, Nilar Thein,
Khun Htun Oo, Zarganar and our sister laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.  U
Gambira, a monk leader of the Saffron Revolution, is imprisoned, awaiting
his sentence.
Burma endured further suffering this year, as Cyclone Nargis killed over
130,000 people, destroying thousands of homes and villages, displacing
millions. Burma’s junta shamefully neglected their people’s recovery from
this tragedy.  The generals and their “cronies” have greedily lined their
pockets, manipulating currency exchanges with international organizations
mandated to bring disaster relief. In the cyclone’s aftermath, the regime
conducted a sham referendum to advance their “roadmap” process. Junta
leader Than Shwe claims he won over 90% of this vote. He has used this
sham victory to urge the international community to support a Burmese
national election in 2010, based on a “constitution” that deliberately
disallows Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in her country’s political
process.

We celebrate the courageous leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s
Sangha, and peoples of all faiths — Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian —
yearning for freedom in a nation that has itself become a prison. We will
not be silent while Burma suffers. We call for the release of our sister
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners. We call for a
genuine process of national reconciliation which includes all stakeholders
and leads towards true democracy. We stand with all our Burmese sisters
and brothers. They are ever in our hearts and minds. We shall not give up;
we urge those in Burma to maintain nonviolence, determination, and
vigilance — despite the odds. Their cause is just, their leader exemplary,
and their aspirations will be fulfilled.


Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M. Tutu (Nobel Peace Laureate 1984)
Betty Williams (Nobel Peace Laureate 1977)
Adolfo Perez Esquivel (Nobel Peace Laureate 1980)
His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Nobel Peace Laureat 1989)
Rigobefta Menchu Tum (Nobel Peace Laureate 1992)
Jody Williams (Nobel Peace Laureat 1997)
Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Laureate  2OO3)
Wangari Maathai (Nobel Peace Laureate 2OO4)