BurmaNet News, October 25-27, 2008

[Editor]

October 25-27, 2008, Issue # 3585

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“I cannot find proper words to express the brutality and wickedness of the
ruling junta which claims themselves as devout and venerated devotees of
the Buddhist Sasana.... I wish them to stop such atrocities otherwise they
will be thrown into the dustbin of history.” – U Pyinyarthiri, a Rangoon
monk who participated in the Saffron Uprising and recently escaped from
Lend Tlann hard labor camp in Chin State.

INSIDE BURMA
DPA: Junta removes barricades from Suu Kyi home
Mizzima News: Four NLD prisoners moved to Insein 'dog cell'
Mizzima News: Junta fine-tunes logistics of censorship

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar state bank sets ultimatum for deposit reclaim from closed
private bank
Mizzima News: Burma's mining industry in doldrums

REGIONAL
AP: Burma, N. Korean foreign ministers meet

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Asia, Europe join calls for freedom in Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
New Statesman (UK): Burma's bloody trade – Rajeshree Sisodia
IPS: No mercy for women political activists – Marwaan Macan-Markar
Washington Post: On Burma, a phony realism – Fred Hiatt

PRESS RELEASE
NCGUB: Burma's opposition calls for firmer commitments to democracy

INTERVIEW
Mizzima News: Labor camp escapee tells of harrowing tale


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 27, Deutsche Presse Agentur
Junta removes barricades from Suu Kyi home

The Burmese military junta has removed barricades from around the home of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, witnesses reported Sunday.

The 63-year-old Nobel peace laureate has spent 13 of the past 19 years
under house arrest.

Police started clearing the street outside the house for normal traffic
between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm, the witnesses said.

There was no explanation for the move, and there was no indication of a
rapprochement between the regime and the opposition.

In Mandalay, six opposition politicians were recently sentenced to between
two and 13 years in prison for disturbance of the peace and incitement of
the population, a group of Burmese exiles reported in Thailand on
Saturday.

The six, who are members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, were
arrested one year ago after the junta savagely put down a revolt by
Burmese Buddhist monks.

Suu Kyi won elections in Burma in 1990, but the military regime did not
recognize the outcome.

Her current period of house arrest began in 2003. She is rarely allowed to
leave her residence, and then only with an escort to meet UN
representatives or members of the regime.

She is not expected to be released from house arrest any time soon.

University Avenue Road, on which Suu Kyi's family compound is located, was
largely sealed off before Sunday's move and was only open to residents.

The German embassy residence was recently relocated to the same road.
Her National League for Democracy party won the 1990 general election by a
landslide but the junta refused to honour the results.

____________________________________

October 27, Mizzima News
Four NLD prisoners moved to Insein 'dog cell' – Phanida

Prison authorities have kept four National League for Democracy (NLD)
party members in a dog cell in Insein prison since last Sunday following a
quarrel with business tycoon Maung Weik and his men, who are being held on
drug trafficking charges.

Aung Tun, Yan Naing Tun and Pho Toke from the NLD, who are being held in
Insein prison for protesting against the detention of NLD leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, were placed in a dog cell after a row with Maung Weik's men over
the use of a water supply pipe for bathing.

"Maung Weik's men quarreled with the prisoners of conscience. They
monopolized the bathing tank and beat the political prisoners after having
a quarrel with them. After that, they were sent to their new place of
confinement," their defense lawyer told Mizzima.

These three NLD party members quarreled with business tycoon Maung Weik
and his men, namely Aung Min, Nay Tun Lwin, Kyaw Phone Naing, Kyaw Hlaing,
and Ohn Thee (a.k.a. Kyaw Win), all from Rangoon and being held for drug
offenses.

Drug traffickers can enjoy privileges in prison as elite prisoners by
bribing prison authorities popularly known in Burmese prison jargon as
'Parcel', 'Ah Htoke' and 'Ut Hte', a political prisoner who was recently
released from prison explained.

Besides these three NLD party members, another NLD party member, Thet Wei,
Chairman of the Sanchaung Township NLD and being held in Insein prison for
lodging a complaint on a child soldier case with the International Labor
Organisation (ILO), was also sent to the Special Ward, or dog cell, for
his involvement in the prison yard altercation, a family member said.

"The drug trafficker Maung Weik and his three men used the water supply
pipe while bathing without refilling the tank. After that, political
prisoners had a quarrel with them. But the jailor didn't take any action
against the problem makers. Instead he sent Ko Aung Tun and his colleagues
to a dog cell. U Thet Wei was also sent to the Special Ward," he added.

Thet Wei was sentenced to two years imprisonment last month.

The family members of these prisoners are concerned over their fate and
have no idea how long they will be kept in solitary confinement, lawyer
Pho Phyu said.

"Enjoying privileged rights in prison is contrary to the law and also
demonstrates the high-handedness of these elite criminal prisoners over
other prisoners," he went on to say.

Maung Weik (35), Managing Director of Maung Weik and Family Co., is
charged with possession and trafficking of narcotic and psychotropic
drugs, such as ecstasy, methamphetamine and ketamine. He is facing life
imprisonment if found guilty.

____________________________________

October 27, Mizzima News
Junta fine-tunes logistics of censorship

Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw San has notified all government
departments to inform him in advance if there is any information that they
wish to withhold, so that his ministry can cooperate with the department
concerned in controlling such information.

The circular, sent by the Information Ministry to all ministries and
government departments and received by Mizzima, says, "The Information
Ministry can control the flow of information by appropriate means if the
department concerned sends prior notice to this ministry on the
information that would like to be withheld, censored and not to be
released".

In the circular, dated 15th October and with a subject line of 'To
establish a coordinated news release system and news coordination system
among all ministries for press scrutiny purposes', the Information
Ministry states it is facing difficulty in setting norms for terminology
and subject matter to be used in the functioning of the Press Scrutiny
Board (Censor Board), as there is no coordination of the information
exchanged among the ministries.

"Especially, there are frequent controversial disputes found to be taking
place between the department concerned and the media," the circular says.

In a recent study of press freedom conducted by the France-based Reporters
Sans Frontier (RSF), Burma ranks 170th out of 173 countries, just above
Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.

The RSF study says, "Journalists and intellectuals, even foreign ones,
have for years been viewed as enemies by the regime."

Maj. Gen. Kyaw San's circular urged the ministries to release their news
by press committee.

"Instead of today's denial and withholding of information, the pre-emptive
action of releasing news tactfully and preparing in advance is better,"
the circular added.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 27, Xinhua
Myanmar state bank sets ultimatum for deposit reclaim from closed private
bank

The state-run Myanmar Economic Bank(MEB) has set March 31, 2009 as a
deadline date for the public to claim for the refund of deposits in the
former Myanmar Universal Bank (MUB), one of the three major private banks
closed by the government more than three years ago, the local weekly Voice
reported Sunday.

The unclaimed deposits will be confiscated as the state fund after the
deadline date, an announcement of the MEB warned.

The MEB has taken over the administration of the MUB since Oct.1 this
year, the statement said.

The MUB was sealed by the government in August 2005 and its owner, U Tin
Sein, was charged under the country's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Law and the Control of Money Laundering law.

The MUB started operation in January 1995.

Meanwhile, two other private banks -- Myanmar Mayflower Bank (MMB) and
Asia Wealth Bank (AWB) were also closed earlier in March 2005 for
allegedly linking with narcotics and money laundering and the banks'
administration was then handed over to the MEB under the Finance and
Revenue Ministry.

The MMB and the AWB, established in 1994 and 1995 respectively, was first
investigated by an eight-member government-formed investigation body in
December 2003. Despite 15 months' probe into the matters, no firm evidence
was found to prove the offense, according to earlier reports.

In June 2002, Myanmar promulgated a law to control money laundering, and
financial institutions such as banks were set to report to the Central
Control Board (CCB) their clients' fiscal activities and report any cashes
exceeding 100 million kyats (100,000 U.S. dollars) and any other
suspicious account activities.

Meanwhile, the state-run Myanmar Economic Bank has rejected to offer bank
services to deposits suspected as money laundering.

Private banks were nationalized in Myanmar in 1963 during the previous
government but after the country started to adopt the market-oriented
economic system in late 1988, private banks were allowed to operate again
since 1992, and since then there had been20 such banks across Myanmar with
a total of 350 branches.

With the take-over of the three banks by the government and the merger of
three other cooperative banks to become a public-listed bank in recent
years, there remained 15 of such banks in operation so far.

____________________________________

October 27, Mizzima News
Burma's mining industry in doldrums – Htet Win

The mining industry in Burma is desperately trying to keep its head above
water given the mounting taxes and fuel costs at the black market, sources
in the mining industry said.

Talking about the ground situation in tin mining, an official belonging to
one of Burma's biggest tin mine companies said recently that high costs
and taxes are preventing the sector from flourishing. Rather there is a
downslide, despite the fact that tin price in the world market is rising.

The official who requested anonymity said tin mining companies need to pay
30 per cent of their production -- 10 percent as export tax and pay tax to
the internal revenue department.

"The government takes 48 percent as tax, so we have to make do with only
half of what we produce," he said. Add to this the high cost of fuel and
dynamite that is used in the mines.

Given the escalating taxes and skyrocketing costs, the number of tin
mining companies has been significantly reduced to 45 from some hundred in
the last three years to seven this year, he said.

The Bernama news agency quoted a dealer on October 25 as saying the price
of tin in the Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) is expected to see range
bound trading next week between US$11,000 and US$12,000.

A couple of mining companies that produce tin-tungsten mineral in
Tanintharyi Division also agreed and said higher taxes not only create
difficulties for the local companies but also prevent foreign direct
investment in the sector, which needs high technology and huge capital.

The companies said miners requested the government to reduce the taxes for
the development of the industry despite myriad challenges such as fears
and uncertainties in world metal markets.

"But there was no response from the government," the companies said in
separate interviews. In the same tune, it added that the military
government's abject failure to encourage locally-run industries was to
blame.

Meanwhile, a senior government official compared the situation with ASEAN
countries where the governments taxes four percent for mineral production
plus profit tax, a policy that is quite dissimilar to the Burmese one.

However, local mines had enjoyed supply of government fuel and dynamite,
export and other tax exemption in the past.

The state granted tax exemptions for the mines when it signed production
sharing contracts with the Ministry of Mines.

"But, the tax exemption was annulled five years ago and we could not buy
fuel and dynamite with government subsidy," he said.

A Rangoon-based business writer said there would be some negative impact
on Burma's export sector as global demand has slowed down. The mining
sector would also face problems as entire minerals are exported, totally
relying on China and other neighbouring counties, which are scrambling to
organise a unified defense system -- a multi-billion dollars fund.

Citing official statistics, the writer said Burma earned about US$ 8
million in the fiscal year 2007-08 from exporting concentrate and/or raw
minerals including tin-tungsten and copper.

"The earning could be tripled or more if and when Burma refined and
produced finished commodities," the writer said.

"That can be translated to the fact that Burma continues to miss better
trade opportunities with those metal importing countries that are in need
of different kinds of metals for their infrastructure development, he
said.

Meanwhile, a mining geologist cited antimony mineral as an example,
calling for miners in Burma to refine antimony before exporting to the
world market as the pure mineral fetches better prices then selling just
raw mineral.

Burma's mineral especially antimony, mainly used as a flame-retardant in
plastics and textiles, is very strong and demand continues to grow. It is
under valued when they export to the world market as all the antimony
mineral is raw.

"If we can produce refined antimony, we will definitely get a higher price
than the Chinese offer," the geologist said on condition of anonymity.

He described antimony as one of the common export minerals of Burma.

Even though Burma is not among the principal producing countries like
China, France, Algeria, Mexico and Austria-Hungary, it has reserves that
are considerable and production can be achieved at high levels.

The career-business geologist said Burmese miners need to try to build
refineries to export pure antimony to the world market, where demand is
higher for antimony.

Antimony mineral are exported to China, which is refined and resold to the
world market at a higher price.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 27, Associated Press
Burma, N. Korean foreign ministers meet

Burma's foreign minister arrived in Pyongyang on Monday and met his North
Korean counterpart, more than one year after two of the world's most
repressive governments resumed diplomatic ties.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win met his North Korean counterpart, Pak Ui Chun,
at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang after his arrival at the North
Korean capital earlier Monday, the North's official Korean News Agency
said in a brief dispatch.

The KCNA did not provide details.

It was the first official visit by a foreign minister from military-ruled
Burma to North Korea in 25 years. Burma also is known as Myanmar.

Burma's top diplomat traveled to Pyongyang after attending the Asia-Europe
Meeting — known as ASEM — in Beijing, a Burma official said on condition
of anonymity, saying he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Burma severed relations with North Korea in 1983 following a bombing in
Burma's largest city, Rangoon, by North Korean secret agents targeting
South Korea's then President Chun Doo-hwan. He was unhurt, but 21 people
were killed, including four South Korean Cabinet ministers.

The two countries have been quietly working to normalize relations for the
past few years, and agreed to resume diplomatic ties in April 2007.

Burma, which faces an arms embargo by the United States and European Union
countries, has also reportedly bought weapons from North Korea.

Officials from the two countries have made some diplomatic visits since
ties were restored. Burma's sports minister, Brig. Gen. Thura Aye Myint,
recently traveled to North Korea. A military delegation led by senior
military officers also visited the North earlier this year.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 25, Agence France Presse
Asia, Europe join calls for freedom in Myanmar

Asian and European leaders urged Myanmar's ruling junta on Saturday to
release detained opposition members and implement democracy in the
poverty-stricken Southeast Asian nation.

The appeal followed heavy lobbying for the Asia-Europe Meeting here,
chaired by Myanmar's ally China and attended by leaders from more than 40
countries, to come out strongly in support of democratic freedoms in the
country.

"(Leaders) encouraged the Myanmar government to engage all stakeholders in
an inclusive political process in order to achieve national reconciliation
and economic and social development," they said in a joint statement.

"In this regard, they called for the lifting of restrictions placed on
political parties and early further release of those under detention."

The call marked the latest pressure applied to the junta, which has ruled
the country since 1962 and crushed large-scale democracy protests led by
Buddhist monks in September last year.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told AFP in an interview
the mention of Myanmar in the joint statement showed progress on the
issue.

"It's important to note, there is a clear reference for the need to
release political prisoners, which was accepted by the Asian side," he
said.

The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution calling on the
summit to jointly appeal to the junta to release political prisoners.

The resolution, adopted unanimously, denounced "the arbitrary charges
behind the arrests of many dissidents and the harsh conditions of
detention," including widespread use of torture and hard labour."

Myanmar's National League of Democracy, led by opposition figure and Nobel
peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said on Saturday that six of its members
had been given long prison terms for their part in last year's
demonstrations.

About 200 NLD members were detained during and after last year's "Saffron
Revolution," so called for the colour of the monks' robes.

The protests began sporadically in August last year over a hike in fuel
prices, but quickly escalated with 100,000 people eventually taking to the
streets in the biggest uprising since 1988.

Myanmar's military regime launched a crackdown on September 26, killing 31
people, according to the United Nations, including a Japanese journalist.

The European MPs, meeting in Strasbourg, condemned "the fact that the
number of political prisoners has increased from 1,300 to 2,000 in the
aftermath" of the demonstrations."

They also criticised the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and
called for her immediate release.

Led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD won a landslide victory in the last
elections in 1990 but the junta never allowed them to take office. She has
spent most of the intervening years under house arrest.

The European Union's Special Envoy for Myanmar, Piero Fassino of Italy, on
Friday also urged the junta to release the democracy icon.

Her freedom "would pave the way for the opening of a dialogue between the
military junta, the democratic opposition and the ethnic minorities," he
said in a statement in Rome.

He said that was the only way to achieve "national reconciliation in
Myanmar and a real democratic transition."

The ruling generals extended her house arrest by one year in May,
provoking an international outcry. Myanmar is under US and European
economic sanctions over its failure to move towards democracy.

The junta introduced a new constitution after a much-criticised referendum
was held in May in the wake of a deadly cyclone that swept across the
country.

The constitution paves the way for multi-party elections to be held in
2010 but bars Aung San Suu Kyi from standing.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 27, New Statesman (UK)
Burma's bloody trade – Rajeshree Sisodia

Imperial green jade is unique to Burma - and jewellery made from it can
sell for millions of dollars on the international market.  But the
country’s mining industry is built on suffering: forced and child labour,
land confiscation, drug abuse, sexual exploitation and environmental
damage - all of which, according to pro-democracy campaigners, have
scarred the trade.

More than 20,000 people migrate, or are forced to work for mine companies
which are either partly or completely owned by the nation’s military
leaders and its business partners.


>From mining, to cutting, polishing, trading and selling, the regime’s

generals control the gem industry with a vice-like grip. Profits from the
lucrative trade filter down only as far as the junta, which spends around
US$330million a year on arms - roughly twice the amount it invests in
health and education combined. This in a nation ranked among Asia’s
poorest; the average person earns less than US$1 a day.

Arun Htin (not his real name), is 30. He is a jade stealer, who sifts by
hand through dregs of soil dumped over ground by legal mine workers, for
slivers of jade they may have overlooked.

"Our lives are very miserable and difficult," he says. "I use many kinds
of drugs; heroin, alcohol,” says Arun. “I smoke heroin which I get from
drug-selling shops in Hpakant. The government soldiers do nothing to close
the shops. The drug-sellers just give money to the authority leaders; they
bribe them and sell it freely.” The drugs help Arun dull memories of
seeing his young friend Moe crushed to death while stealing jade last
December. “I started to take heroin to feel happy, because my life is
hard.”
In the mines themselves, human rights violations are rampant, according to
a report issued by the New York-based advocacy group 8-8-08 for Burma. It
details “an environment of impunity and violence,” created by the regime
and its partners, in which locals who collect stones from the cast-off are
regularly beaten, and even killed.

The report goes on to allege that company bosses and local authorities are
complicit in both the sex and drug trades, which has in turn led spawned
an HIV/AIDS epidmemic.

UNAIDS estimates 240,000 people in Burma were living with HIV last year.

Growing demand for jade in China has also worried human rights
campaigners. Beijing continues to sell arms to Burma and there are some 69
Chinese multinational companies working with the junta. Government
regulations mean that foreign corporations are not allowed to own mines
but can either form a partnership with an established Burmese company or
with the junta.

China is also keen to tap into Burma’s natural resources, in order to feed
its growing energy needs.

“If you really want to understand China’s approach to Myanmar, you can
look at what’s happening on the ground. Demand in China is leading it's
multi-national companies to increase their involvement in Myanmar’s
natural resources sector,” says Matthew Smith, project co-coordinator of
the Burma Project at EarthRights International.

“That in turn is contradictory to China’s foreign policy of peaceful
co-existence and has a demonstrative impact on the ground in terms of
human rights abuses.”

While activists have urged Beijing to do more in order to force the
Burmese regime to improve its human rights track record, analysts have
warned that China will not apply overt political pressure, for fear of
creating instability in the region. However, informal lobbying is thought
to take place, based on concerns for Burma's growing ethnic Chinese
population and for Chinese business interests.

“I doubt China has the intention to bring about progress because both they
and India have a notion of stability in Burma - and that stability is
provided by the military,” says Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst
based in Thailand. “If the military disappears, they think the sea of
stability will disappear and Burma will disintegrate into ethnic
conflicts.”

He notes, however, that the Chinese government has begun speaking with
Burmese opposition groups, to gauge the current situation. And he adds
that political dialogue with the military, rather than a continuation of
policies that isolate the junta, could potentially act as a springboard to
implement gradual reform.

Arun Htin and others affected by the policies of this particularly brutal
regime can only hope they live to see the end of the human rights abuses
that have so brutally characterised the long rule of the Burmese junta.

____________________________________

October 27, Inter Press Service
No mercy for women political activists – Marwaan Macan-Markar

When it comes to throwing pro-democracy activists in jail, Burma’s
military regime does not discriminate between the sexes. The junta treats
women and men with equal measure of abuse.

The latest to be condemned to a long term in prison is Win Mya Mya, a
woman in her 50s who served as a committee member of the opposition party,
the National League for Democracy (NLD), in the central region of
Mandalay. She was given a 12-year jail sentence on Friday for her role in
the September 2007 anti-government protests led by thousands of Buddhist
monks.

Five other leading NLD members from the same area -- all men -- were
punished likewise, with jail terms ranging from eight to 13 years. They
were accused of violating the laws 505 (B) and 153 (A), which makes it an
offence to write, rumour or report ‘’by words, either spoken or written,
or by signs’’ material that may ‘’cause fear or alarm to the public,’’
induce acts ‘’against the state or against the public tranquility,’’ or
''promotes hatred between different classes (of persons).’’

‘’Their trials were held in a court inside the Mandalay prison,’’ says Bo
Kyi, a co-founder of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
(AAPP), a group championing the rights of Burmese political prisoners
based along the Thai-Burma border. ‘’The verdicts were also given inside
that prison compound.’’

It was a secret trial aimed to reduce public scrutiny, he added during a
telephone interview. ‘’The families of the accused were not permitted in
the court when the verdict was given. The authorities didn’t want the
public inside the court.’’

The date of this verdict could not have been more revealing. It confirmed
how little the junta cares about international pressure against the harsh
measures directed at political activists in Burma. Oct. 24 marked 13 years
that the country’s pro-democracy leader and head of the NLD, Aung San Suu
Kyi, has been detained.

There were multiple calls from governments in Europe and the United States
and many regional and international human rights groups for the junta to
free Suu Kyi, the country’s most well-known political prisoner. The Nobel
Peace laureate’s current stretch of house arrest in the former capital of
Rangoon began at the end of May 2003.

‘’As of Oct. 24, 2008, Aung San Suu Kyi has spent a total of 13 years
under house arrest. We again call upon the Burmese regime to immediately
and unconditionally release her and the more than 2,000 political
prisoners it holds,’’ said the U.S. State Department in a statement.

Suu Kyi and new political prisoners like Win Mya Mya are among the victims
a U.N. human rights envoy for Burma had in mind when he told the U.N.
General Assembly that the South-east Asian nation has a system in dire
need of reforms before the planned 2010 elections.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, an Argentine lawyer, called for changes in the system
that has crippled political and civil liberties in Burma for decades.
‘’These include revision of domestic laws to ensure their compliance with
human rights; progressive release of all prisoners of conscience and
reform of the military and independent judiciary,’’ reports ‘The
Irrawaddy’, a current affairs magazine published by Burmese journalists
living in exile in Thailand.

Quintana’s report to the General Assembly on Thursday was shaped by the
information he gathered during his first visit to Burma in August. ‘’The
government didn’t know me ... it was difficult to go into prison,’’ he is
reported as having said according to The Irrawaddy.

But he did succeed in having three hours of ‘’private meetings with
detainees,’’ adds the journal. ‘’The prisoners were very open with me. It
gave me a lot of sense of what was going on in the country,’’ he said.

Burmese jails now hold 178 women prisoners of conscience, a three-fold
increase from the 53 imprisoned female political activists in August 2006.

‘’During the [September 2007 anti-government street protests] more than
157 women, including 10 nuns were detained. Nineteen women disappeared,’’
reveals ALTSEAN, a regional human rights body, in a note released this
week. ‘’Daw Ponnami, an 80-year-old nun at Thitsatharaphu Monastery,
partially paralysed by a stroke, was arrested and defrocked, accused of
‘causing offence to the Buddhist religion’, and remains incarcerated.’’

The other nuns who have been defrocked and jailed in this predominantly
Buddhist country include 70-year-old Htay Yi and 64-year-old Pyinyar
Theingi. The jails also hold such women as Su Su Nway, a 37-year-old
labour rights activist, Nilar Thein, a 35-year-old university student
leader, and Ein Khine Oo, a 24-year-old journalist.

Teenagers have not been spared either. In early August, the regime
arrested Ni Ni May Myint, a 19-year-old member of the NLD, and had her
shackled. She and 50 others had gathered on a street in a town in the
Arakan state, in western Burma, to pray for the students who had died
during a brutal crackdown of the pro-democracy uprising in August 1988.

‘’I am worried about Ni Ni May Myint. The [prison] authorities will treat
her harshly the way they treat other female activists in jail,’’ says Khin
Cho Myint, a 36-year-old former student of Rangoon University and a former
political prisoner. ‘’Women face a lot of verbal abuse and mental torture
and it can be very frightening.’’

‘’There were times when women were kept in isolation and not given things
they wanted for their health and sanitary needs,’’ she added in an
interview. ‘’I faced this during the five years and nine months I was in
prison. I was penalised for being a student activist.’’

But some female prisoners of conscience have faced worse, ALTSEAN reveals.
‘’In August 2006, Nyunt Yin died in Insein Prison at the age of 60. She
had served 16 years of a life sentence because of her involvement in the
1988 uprising. She was denied medical treatment for a heart condition.’’

____________________________________

October 26, Washington Post
On Burma, a phony realism – Fred Hiatt

Almost a year ago, a Buddhist monk on the run from authorities published
an op-ed in The Post advocating democracy for his Southeast Asian nation
of Burma.

"It matters little if my life or the lives of colleagues should be
sacrificed on this journey," U Gambira wrote, describing the nonviolent
campaign for freedom. "Others will fill our sandals, and more will join
and follow."

As he wrote, the regime already had arrested his father and brother,
holding them as hostages to flush him out. It found and arrested him on
the same day -- Nov. 4 -- that his article appeared.

Since then, U Gambira (a pseudonym; his real name is U Sandawbartha) has
been forcibly deprived of his monastic robes and tortured in Burma's
notorious Insein Prison. A half-dozen other members of his family have
been arrested or forced into internal exile. At age 29, he has been
charged with "crimes" that could bring years in prison.

I thought of U Gambira's case as I read a report published last week by
the International Crisis Group that is part of a swelling campaign urging
the United States and other nations to engage with Burma's government, end
many sanctions against the country and ratchet up humanitarian aid.

"Rather than shunning the authorities, the best way to help the people is
to involve government officials at all levels and enlist their cooperation
and support," the report suggests.

ICG is a nonprofit "working to prevent conflict worldwide," led by
heavyweight former diplomats and government officials, and its latest
report on Burma makes many good points. It argues that current policy has
brought neither democracy nor prosperity to Burma's 50 million people, and
so it should be rethought. It praises the regime for allowing
international aid to flow, admittedly after some delay, to victims of last
spring's Cyclone Nargis.

What's curious, though, for a report advocating the supposedly pragmatic,
realistic view, is how bloodless and detached from reality it is -- as if
Burma were just another ineptly governed Third World nation. "Government
restrictions and intrusiveness" are a problem, it says, "as in many
developing countries."

You could read it, in other words, and not know that during this past year
of supposed progress, the number of political prisoners has doubled, to
more than 2,100 (including 21 in prison for attempting to help cyclone
victims without government permission). Or that while permitting some aid
to flow to the Irrawaddy Delta in one part of the country, the Burmese
army has been waging a war in eastern Burma so directly targeted at
civilians that in June Amnesty International accused it of crimes against
humanity. Or that Reporters Without Borders, in its just-released index of
media freedom, found Burma to be the world's fourth-worst (better only
than Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea). The significance of that is
not just the danger to Burmese journalists of honest reporting but the
difficulty for the rest of us of knowing how bad conditions really are.

And you might not realize that organizations have curtailed aid in the
past, not just because of politics in the West but because they couldn't
prevent the regime and its pervasive network of secret police and front
organizations from stealing money or using aid to further its political
goals.

There's nothing new in the dispute between human rights and pro-democracy
organizations, on the one hand, and aid-giving groups and foreign policy
experts, on the other. When it comes to Burma, President Bush has
identified with the democracy camp -- the ICG report lambastes Laura Bush
and others for "megaphone diplomacy" -- and so has Sen. John McCain. Sen.
Barack Obama's record is shorter, and the "realists" may think they have a
chance with him.

But how realistic is that hope? Just last June, on the birthday of Burma's
confined democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Obama promised to honor her
"the way she would want it done: by honoring the people of Burma, and
keeping faith with them in their struggle for freedom, justice and
democracy."

The ICG report offers many recommendations to the United Nations, donors
and the West. But it has only three for Burma, none of which -- though the
report acknowledges that "human rights abuses are a major contributor to
poverty" -- has anything to do with easing repression. Meanwhile, it calls
on grass-roots groups in the West to "cease ongoing consumer boycotts."

A policy rethink may be in order. But the idea that voters in Western
democracies would support buckets of aid to a loathsome regime, delivered
without political conditions and with a willing suspension of grass-roots
pressure -- how realistic is that? You might almost say it's naive.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 27, National Coalition Government Union of Burma
Burma's opposition calls for firmer commitments to democracy

The Burmese government in exile has called for a goal-oriented and
time-bound process to help bring democratic reform to Burma and has
suggested that the credibility of major regional and global bodies is on
the line as long as Burma remains a failed state. In doing so, it has
proposed a new initiative to help recover democracy in Burma.

The calls come in the wake of the Asean-Europe (ASEM) conference at the
weekend where more support was recorded, but were devoid of details or a
firm timeframe. In a statement the ASEM chairman was supportive of a range
of measures to encourage democracy in Burma, including the role of the
United Nations and the release of political prisoners.

"But," says the NCGUB's Representative for UN Affairs, Dr Thaung Htun,
"whereas the statements carried good words, they lacked in actual intent."

"Forums such as this often run the risk of mistaking circular motion for
forward progress, mere movement for momentum"

Dr. Thaung Htun challenged regional and global leaders to "pump some blood
into the rhetoric" by gaining the immediate release of the country's
2000-plus political prisoners, including democracy movement leader Aung
San Suu Kyi.

"As long as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, one of our generation's most revered
figures, remains locked up by an unaccountable and irresponsible regime,
the international community is forced to admit it is failing in Burma and
has failed for some 20 years."

"For instance, we have these statements coming from ASEM, but at the same
time governments in China, India and Thailand, attendees at ASEM, are
actively trading with the military, investing in infrastructure to aid the
survival of the junta and ignoring the rights and suffering of ordinary
Burmese. Either such engagement must be done more prudently and
sustainably, or it should be stopped. It is a clear contradiction of the
spirit of ASEM's pro-democracy statements."

While the NCGUB points out they are broadly supportive of the positive
work of ASEM, as well as of other institutions such as ASEAN, the EU and
the UN, it is becoming frustrated with the lack of more detailed
commitments or a firmer agenda to solve Burma's long-standing problems.

"All must understand that a democratic and prosperous Burma is in
everyone's interests. A smooth transition to democracy is clearly win-win.
What we need is some firm targets, mechanisms and deadlines to help us get
there."

To this end, the NCGUB has called for the establishment of a moving round
of conferences of the UN's Friends of Burma Group in the region so as to
formulate benchmarks and establish time-frames.

"It is time to put some crosses on the calendar and to get to work on
ensuring democracy in Burma is not denied for another generation."

Note for Editors:

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) is a
government-in-exile constituted by members of parliament elected in 1990,
Burma's last free and fair national elections in which the National League
for Democracy won over 80% of the vote. Since 1991, it has served as a
representative government in exile and is headquartered in Washington,
D.C.

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

October 27, Mizzima News
Labor camp escapee tells of harrowing tale – Myint Maung and Haui Pi

After suffering various atrocities, including torture, and working at the
hard labor Lend Tlann prison camp in Tiddim Township, Chin State, U
Pyinyarthiri – a Rangoon monk originally from Pyigyitagun Township,
Mandalay Division – escaped to the Indian state of Mizoram on the 18th of
last month.

He took part in the monk-led Saffron Revolution last September and was
arrested in Monywa by authorities on the 18th of October 2007 for his
participation in the uprising, subsequently being sentenced to three years
imprisonment. After spending about seven months in Monywa prison he was
sent to the Lend Tlann prison labour camp in Chin State in late May 2008.

Mizzima interviewed him on his life in prison, the inhumane torture he
suffered and on how he escaped.

Q: What was your role in the Saffron Revolution?

A: I took part in the Saffron Revolution by joining hands with All Burma
Monks Alliance (ABMA) leading monk U Awbartha.

Q: How were you arrested?

A: All the leading monks, including myself, were on the run when the junta
issued arrest warrants after the Saffron Revolution. Military Affairs
Security (MAS), Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA)
members and police came to my monastery and searched for me three times
while I was on the run. Fortunately, I was out when they arrived. After
that, I decided to flee to Monywa.

I was arrested on the 18th of October 2007 at about 7 p.m. at the Soft
Link internet café. I think the café owner called police while I was
checking my mail. As soon as I left the internet café the police arrived
and arrested me.

Q: Who arrested you and where you were taken?

A: About 25-30 riot police and soldiers arrested me. They just said they
had something to ask me and then I was taken to the police station. I
replied to them, "You can ask me here if you want. What do you want to ask
me?" But they said, "Answer at the police station, you will be questioned
there." Then I was taken to the No. 1 Monywa police station.

Q: How did they interrogate you?

A: They were not pleased with my answers, I did not tell them what they
wanted to hear. The worst persons during torture were MAS officials Ko Ko
Aung and U San Win. They kicked my chest with their combat boots and
stomped on my face with my hands handcuffed behind me. Every question was
accompanied by kicks and punches to my head and body. I was almost
unconscious. I fell on the table in front of me when they kicked me from
the back. At last I could not endure anymore such torture. They twisted my
arms and tried to break them, which affected the nervous system in my
hand.

They pressed between my rib bones. They slapped me on my temple and pulled
my earlobes violently. They stepped on my shins which left me with severe
pain until I was sentenced to prison term. I could not walk well. They
interrogated me by all means available to them. My little toes were
swollen. When I could not endure anymore torture, I head-butted the table
in front of me, trying to knock myself unconscious. Police officer U Aung
Win, sitting beside me, held me and said, "Please don't do like that, my
reverend. We are acting under the command of higher authority."

After that, they eased their torture and harsh treatment directed at me. I
was interrogated all day and night from the 18th to 24th of October,
without even being allowed to drink water. When their higher officers
came, they took me to another room for interrogation. These higher
officials said to my interrogators, "Interrogate him until he breaks and
get the required result." They once even threatened me by saying, "We will
light candles on your body during interrogation".

They asked me if I knew 88 generation students, had any contact with them
or with NLD party members. I replied, "I don't know anyone you have asked
about and have no contact with them." But they said, "We already have all
the facts. Are you a member of the ABFSU (Student Union) or CPB (communist
party)? They accused me of things like that."

Finding a library card of from the American Center in my wallet worsened
the situation. They asked me if I attended political trainings conducted
at the center. "What are the materials of these trainings? We will use
harsher interrogation methods against you if you don't cooperate with us."

"You are in our hands now and we can do anything at our will. If you don't
answer and cooperate with us, we shall kill you without leaving any word
or clue as to your fate, even at the expense of our designation and
occupation, we don't mind. We know many methods to kill you."

Then they framed many counts of charges against me, such as 'disaffection
towards the state and government', 'joining an unlawful association',
'holding foreign currency illegally'. At last, they sentenced me to three
years imprisonment under the Foreign Currency Regulation Act to maintain
the myth that there are no political prisoners in Burma. Then I was sent
to Monywa prison on the 24th of October.

Q: Please tell us about your prison life in Monywa?

A: There were many informers following me inside the prison. They watched
me and eavesdropped on me when I talked with someone. I would then be
called to the prison office and told, "What did you say to him? Our men
are everywhere watching you. Don't do anything wrongful, otherwise we
shall defrock you".

MAS officer U San Win and two Special Branch (SB) police personnel, along
with head monk U Zawtika from Shweku Monastery in Monywa, later visited
Monywa prison to defrock me at least three or four times.

U Zawtika told me, "If you are defrocked you cannot be ordained again even
when you are released, as your monkshood registration card has been seized
and cancelled. However, if you agree to be defrocked now, you might be
allowed to be ordained again later."

Similarly, the assistant jailor frequently tried to persuade me to be
defrocked. He asked me many questions about the Buddhist disciplinary code
of conduct, about the ABMA and about the monks who joined the Saffron
Revolution – things like that. Later I found out this jailor was an
informer of MAS officer U San Win.

Q: How many of the political prisoners in Monywa prison were Buddhist monks?

A: Yes, there are many political prisoners in Monywa prison, including six
Buddhist monks. There are about ten political prisoners in total. I
noticed an old political prisoner named U Saw Htun from Myitkyina, who was
in a solitary confinement in cell.

Q: Was there any persecution and ill-treatment against you in prison?

A: Yes, they persecuted me in prison too. They came and interrogated me
again when U Gambira was arrested. They asked me, "Where are the other
leading monks of ABMA? Where does U Awbartha live? Whom do you know of the
leading abbots who protested in the Saffron Revolution?" I replied that I
didn't join the Saffron Revolution. But they didn't accept my answer.

Q: After being sentenced to prison on January 18th, where were you sent?

A: I was transferred to Kale prison on the 21st of May 2008. After
spending about one week in Kale prison, I was sent to the Lend Tlann
prison labour camp in Tiddim Township, Chin State, at the end of May.

Q: What work did you do in the labor camp?

A: We had to start hard labor by carrying heavy logs for firewood while
fettered. In hilly Chin State, as you know, there are many ravines and
steep hills. We had to carry these heavy logs from the bottom of the
ravines to the hilltops, including Sundays, without holidays. When
carrying logs, the man in back must keep pace with the front man,
otherwise the security guards would beat him up. When someone fell to the
ground from exhaustion after a long workday, a security guard would come
and kick him in the chest. We had such ill-treatment and persecution in
this labor camp.

Q: How about your health while in the labor camp?

A: We had our meals rationed, the notorious so-called 'Briyani' (Danbauk)
meal. It was a mixture of small stones, un-husked paddy and even some mice
feces. The work was so hard but we were poorly fed. Within two to three
weeks, the prisoners became pale and lost weight due to malnutrition. Some
fell ill and others got bruises and abscesses due to our fetters. Some got
boils. I myself got a boil three or four times. A monk from Myitkyina died
of the harsh prison environment on the last full moon day of Waso.

Q: Did you get any wage for your labor in the camp?

A: Every prisoner in the camp earned 2,000 kyat per day (less than two
dollars), which went to the prison authority. If we had no work to do in
the camp, we had to work outside. If we could earn over 2,000 kyat per
day, the extra money would be ours and we could buy some food and snacks
with this little money.

Q: Why did you flee to India?

A: Two SB (police intelligence) came to Lend Tlann prison labor camp and
interrogated me again. They interrogated me continuously on the 15th of
September from 9 to 6 p.m., asking, "Do you know the leading monks of
ABMA?" I did not have a meal on that day. They kicked and punched me when
I could not answer their questions. They asked me, "You are a member of
ABMA, aren't you? Where are the leading members of ABMA now?" And then I
realized that they would take me again to Kale prison and put me on trial
again with new charges. After that, I decided to try and escape from the
camp on that night.

Q: How did you escape from Lend Tlann labor camp?

A: It has a double fence. The first one is a 10 foot high barbed wire one
wound with logs. I had to scale over this perimeter, which hurt me much
and left me with many injuries. But I had to scale over another 15 foot
high barbed wire perimeter fence also. I was bloodied all over my body
that night. After crossing the two barriers, I could heave sigh of relief.
And then I walked all the night only with the light of a gas lighter. I
ran and ran all the night without knowing my proper direction. I had to
carefully go down some ravines in this hilly region for over four to five
hours.

I crossed some heavy bushes on my hands and knees. I could not care about
the danger of beasts but had to cover as much distance as I could. I ate
only eastern gooseberries found in the wilderness when I was hungry and
thirsty. I spent two days and two nights in this fashion in the
wilderness.

Fortunately I found an ethnic Chin youth in the forest. He gave me his
lunch box and water. I ate and drank everything with uncontrollable
hunger. Then he gave me three cucumbers. I ate them all to quench my
thirst. I asked him to show me the way to the Indian border. He showed me
the correct way to go. I gave him 2,000 kyat as a thank you, all the money
I had. At last, I reached Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram in India.

Q: Were you kept on fetters when you escaped from the camp?

A: They removed the fetters after I gave 50,000 kyat to the prison
authority in mid-August, which made it easy to escape from the camp.

Q: What would you like to say concerning the junta's arbitrary arrest of
monks?

A: Even in the brutal and wicked Anglo and Japanese occupations of Burma,
these war mongers and imperialists didn't persecute the monks as the junta
is doing now. I cannot find proper words to express the brutality and
wickedness of the ruling junta which claims themselves as devout and
venerated devotees of the Buddhist Sasana (teachings).

I wish them to stop such atrocities otherwise they will be thrown into the
dustbin of history. Nowadays the strongmen and dictators around the world
are falling one after another. The world can scarcely see the ruling junta
in Burma. They have time to correct their erroneous views. The hatred and
prejudice pierced into their hearts will create suffering for themselves
and also for the entire people. As soon as they can see the truth, this
hatred and prejudice can be converted then and there. Otherwise, the
suffering of the people will be exacerbated. I would like to urge them to
correct themselves as soon as possible.

Q: What is your future plan?

A: Though the Saffron Revolution movement was suppressed by the violent
and brutal crackdown unleashed by the junta, and followed by arbitrary
arrest, torture and persecution, there are still nearly 300,000-400,000
monks with ABMA leading abbot U Awbartha. I am determined to continue my
struggle against this evil regime by non-violent means, along with my
fellow monks and lay people, until my death.

The current situation is like the elephant taking a step backwards to
deliver a heavy blow with its tusk soon after. Many brave fighters were
born out of this Saffron Revolution. They are like the soccer stars. We
only need teamwork with perfect and accurate passing, precise shots on
goal and conviction and determination for victory. We are rebuilding these
things now.

The most important thing is not to be selfish when the ball is at your
feet. Every pro-democracy and democracy loving organization needs to
practice democratic principles and values themselves.

Democracy cannot be given by others, it must be practiced by the self.
There is no democracy in the junta's hands, so we cannot ask for democracy
from them. It is wasting time. The people must be in unity with strong
conviction and determination to achieve total victory. They must join
hands with monks and students. I myself, with strong commitment, am
determined to join hands with them in this struggle.