BurmaNet News, November 8-10, 2008

[Editor]

November 8 – 10, 2008, Issue # 3595


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Court sentenced blogger for over 20 years, poet for two years
DVB: Two more activists sentenced by Burmese court
Kachin News Group: Burmese Army raids KIO-run sugar mill, detain three
Khonumthung: People from Chin state are forced into labour by the local
authorities in the western part of Myanmar
Irrawaddy: Mon language axed from state schools in Thaton

ON THE BORDER
AFP: Myanmar removes rig from disputed waters: Bangladesh
Irrawaddy: Troops line up along Burma-Bangladesh border

BUSINESS/TRADE
Xinhua: Burma to hold culture festival in ancient city

HEALTH / AIDS
Mizzima News: 'Melamine free' ads banned in journals

REGIONAL
Mizzima News: Singapore cut jobs of migrants

INTERNATIONAL
AP: EU: Burma vote illegitimate unless Suu Kyi freed
Irrawaddy: Burma resolution introduced in the UN
AFP: US condemns Myanmar for prosecuting defense lawyers
The Press Association: Junta leader congratulates Obama

OPINION / OTHER
UPI: Life on the edge in eastern Burma – Awzar Thi



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 10, Mizzima News
Court sentenced blogger for over 20 years, poet for two years – Than Htike Oo

A court in Rangoon's notorious Insein prison on Monday has sentenced a
popular Blogger Nay Phone Latt to over 20 years in prison.

Nay Phone Latt, who was arrested on 29 January, on Monday was sentenced by
the Insein prison court on three counts including charges under section
505 (b) of the Penal Code - crime against public tranquillity.

The Blogger's mother Aye Aye Than, told Mizzima that her son was sentenced
to two years under section 505(b) of the Penal Code, three and half years
under sections 32(b)/36 of the Video Law and 15 years under section
33(a)/38 of the Electronic Law.

"We were waiting outside during the court proceedings and after the court
session we asked the judge about the quantum of punishment. The judge and
prosecutor informed us regarding the judgement," she said.

The 28-years-old, Nay Phone Latt, a famous blogger, is also a youth member
of Burma's main opposition party - National League for Democracy. He runs
internet cafés in several townships in Rangoon including "The Explorer" in
Pabedan Township, and "Heaven" in Thingangyun Township.

His mother Aye Aye Than said that she had no idea why they had sentenced
her son to such a long term in prison.

"He is the first ever blogger to be arrested in Burma. I have no idea why
they punished my son with such a harsh judgement. Blogging is perhaps a
very serious crime in the opinion of the authorities," his mother said.

Meanwhile, Nay Phone Latt's defense counsel, Aung Thein, was also
sentenced to four months prison-term in absentia on November 7, for a
charge of contempt of the court.

Similarly, poet Saw Wei was also sentenced to two years in prison on
Monday with charges of 'inducing crime against public tranquillity'.

He was arrested in February, after his poem entitled 'February 14' was
published in the Weekly 'Ah Chit' (love) Journal. In his Burmese poem,
putting together of the first words of all the lines spells out 'Power
Crazy Snr. Gen.Than Shwe', which provokes the authorities and he was
immediately arrested.

"I am worried about his health. I want to arrange proper medical treatment
outside the prison for him, where X-ray facility would be available in
order to diagnose his back and waist pain. Currently, he cannot get these
treatments inside the prison. He has to cover his body with a towel all
the time. This morning too at the court, he could not sit for a long time
and had to stand up frequently to ease his pain when speaking," Saw Wai's
wife told Mizzima.

Soe Maung, the defense counsel of Saw Wai said, despite of the court's
verdict, he will continue filing appeals for revision, as he thinks the
trial were not free and fair enough.

"We will file an appeal against this judgment at all levels of the courts
including an appeal for a revision case. We intend to do as much as the
law and judicial proceedings permit us to, within the legal framework,
until we reach the last stage. I am preparing for an appeal on my client's
instruction," Soe Maung said.

Meanwhile, media watchdogs the Reporters Without Frontiers (RSF) and Burma
Media Association (BMA) has slam the junta for its unfair trials on the
two writers – Nay Phone Latt and Saw Wai – and the verdict to sentenced
them.

The two organisations said, they are appalled by the combined sentence of
20 years and six months in prison that a special court in Insein prison
passed on Nay Phone Latt and two years to poet Saw Wai.

"This shocking sentence is meant to terrify those who go online in an
attempt to elude the dictatorship's ubiquitous control of news and
information, and we call for his immediate release. Saw Wai, for his part,
is being made to pay for his impertinence and courage as a committed
poet," the two organisations said in a press statement.

The two media watchdogs also call on all bloggers and poets around the
world to show their solidarity towards Nay Phone Latt and Saw Wai.

"There is an urgent need now for bloggers all over the world to
demonstrate their solidarity with Nay Phone Latt by posing his photo on
their blogs and by writing to Burmese embassies worldwide to request his
release. Similarly, we call on poets to defend their fellow-poet, Saw Wai,
who has been jailed just because of one poem," said the two organisations.

____________________________________

November 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
Two more activists sentenced by Burmese court – Yee May Aung

A Burmese court has ordered two more activists to serve a 19 year
jail-term each in connection with 2007 September protests, without hearing
their counter arguments, according to their families.

Reverend U Thattama of Garna Puli monastery in Rangoon Twante and Htun
Htun Naing, a resident of nearby Insein, were sentenced last Friday by
judge Sein Hla Oo of Eastern Rangoon Province court inside Insein prison.

Than Than Aye, sister of U Thattama said she found out about the sentence
from a friend and visited him at the prison on Saturday but not allowed to
see him.

"Officials at the prison refused to let me in as the prison was not opened
for visits on that day," said Than Than Aye.

"It would be more difficult for us to see him after he is transferred to
another prison."

Aye Thandar, wife of Htun Htun Naing said she wasn't aware of her
husband's situation until she visited him at the prison on Saturday as the
original date given for the verdict was 10 November.

"When I arrived there, I was told he has been sentenced to 19 years'
imprisonment," said Aye Thandar.

"Apparently my husband told them (officials) at the court they were not
supposed to hear the verdict until Monday but they told him they had to
follow order from Naypyidaw."

She added her husband claimed the charges against them were unfair and
demanded the right to lodge appeal to higher courts but the family was
unable to assist him as their lawyers, U Khin Maung Shein and U Aung Thein
were recently thrown into jail for four months each for 'contempt of
court' by Burma's supreme court.

____________________________________

November 8, Kachin News Group
Burmese Army raids KIO-run sugar mill, detain three

Burmese Army troops raided the Namti Sugar Mill in Burma's northern Kachin
State and detained three security personnel on October 8 at 6:30 p.m.
local time, said mill sources. The sugar mill is operated by Buga Company
under the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) which signed a ceasefire
agreement with Burma's ruling junta in 1994.

The sugar mill in Namti city on Myitkyina-Mandalay railway was surrounded
by over 40 Burmese soldiers from Mogaung-based No. 3 Military Operation
Command Headquarters (MOC-3 or Sa Ka Kha-3) led by Brig-Gen Myint Hein,
KIO sources said.

During the crackdown, the Burmese Army detained three security personnel
of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) with two shot guns which are
authorized by the junta to be used in the sugar mill, KIO officials added.

Ten days after the raid, the three KIA captives were released and two shot
guns were returned to the KIO.  But before that the three KIA security
personnel were interrogated and tortured by Burmese soldiers in MOC No. 3
headquarters in Mogaung and were then sent to Northern Command (Ma Pa Ka)
headquarters in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, said a KIA
officer.

At the same time, a KIO/A liaison office in Tapataung village near Sinbo
city on the Irrawaddy River (Mali Hka) under the KIA's Battalion No. 11
controlled area was also raided by Burmese soldiers from the Sinbo-based
Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 141, a KIA officer in Battalion No. 11 told
KNG today.

During the raid by the Burmese soldiers on the KIO/A's Tapataung liaison
office where about 10 KIO/A personnel lived, there was no big problem,
added the KIA officer from Battalion No. 11.

According to KIA sources, the two consecutive crackdowns by the Burmese
Army came as a response to rumors of fresh recruitment of KIA soldiers
around Namti areas.

Regarding the fresh recruitment, Dr. Lahkyen La Ja, general secretary of
KIO/A told KNG last week that "the current military recruitment for KIA is
regular winter season activity".

The KIO/A has been demanding autonomy for Kachin State and for a genuine
federal union of Burma from Burma's ruling junta during the 14 year long
National Convention (NC) on a new Burmese constitution which ended on
September 3, 2007. However the junta neglected the demand, said KIO/A
leaders.

The KIO/A gad been armed insurgency against successive Burmese governments
for an independent state from 1961 but its policy later changed to
autonomy for Kachin State.

____________________________________

November 8, Khonumthung News
People from Chin state are forced into labour by the local authorities in
the western part of Myanmar

In the second capital of Chin state Matupi, the Town Peace and Development
Council (TPDC) force civilians to clean up tea plantation areas every day.

In the month of October, the authorities had forced the people from Matupi
Township to clean up the state-owned 70 acres of tea plantations, block by
block. There are a total of four blocks and those who cannot work in the
plantations had to pay money as a fine.

"People from each block had to work three days in a week. If they did not
they had to pay Kyat. 3000, as a fine," sources said.

People in the four blocks--- Lawngvan, Ngala, Khoboi and Cangbawng of
Matupi township work for the state-owned tea plantations everyday.

The authorities in Chin state did not force people into hard labour before
the May 10 Referendum. But after the Referendum was through, they started
forcing the civilians to work.

"The people are very discouraged, if they do not work they have to find
money for the fine so they are going every day to work," a local said.

The TPDC authorities are also forcing people to work for them in other
parts of Chin state.

____________________________________

November 10, Irrawaddy
Mon language axed from state schools in Thaton – Lawi Seng

State-run schools in Thaton District in Mon State will no longer conduct
Mon language classes, according to the Mon National Education Department.

The decision will directly affect some 3,000 primary and secondary school
students at 30 schools in Thaton District.

A senior member of the Mon National Education Department, which is under
the control of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), told The Irrawaddy on
Monday: “Most students were not interested in attending classes when they
had to attend outside the regular school times. That was why we decided to
stop running this curriculum.”

The Mon language curriculum—which was taught to Mon students between 7 and
8 a.m. On school days—was ceased in June due to a lack of participants,
said the official.

“The reason students did not attend the classes was because the schools’
authorities introduced extracurricular tuition, making the students too
busy to attend other classes,” the source said.

“We asked the school authorities many times to allow us to run our Mon
curriculum,” she said. “However, they said that the decision was passed
down from higher authorities.”

Mi Hong Sar, a teacher in Thanbyuzayaut Township near the Mon capital
Moulmein, said that many Mon teachers were worried that other schools
would be ordered to cut Mon classes.

According to statistics from the Mon National Education Department, there
are currently 157 schools teaching in Mon language in Mon State, while 114
schools offer a mixed curriculum of Burmese and Mon-language lessons.

Since the NMSP signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese junta in
1995, an informal understanding between all parties has allowed for Mon
language to be taught in state-run schools in Mon State, said the source
at the Mon National Education Department.

In 2002, Mon classes became an integral part of school curricula in Mon
State, a move seen by many Mon people as a benefit of the ceasefire
agreement.

However, relations soured in 2003 when the NMSP attended a national
constitutional convention held by the regime, but left after a proposal to
federalize Burma was rejected. Later the party simply sent observers to
the convention.

The NMSP released a statement rejecting the junta’s referendum in early
March 2008, citing fears that the process would strengthen the regime by
giving it the veneer of democracy without resulting in any actual changes.

In April, The Irrawaddy reported that Mon cultural activities were being
banned or deliberately assimilated by Burmese and Thai policies. In Burma,
the name of the Mon National Museum was changed to the “National Museum,”
and members of the Mon Literature and Culture Association were replaced by
junta associates.

In February, organizers of Mon National Day in Thailand were told not to
play Mon songs or encourage traditional Mon dancing at the one-day
festival. Officials also urged the Thai public not to support the event.

Nai Santhorn, the chairman of the Mon Unity League, told The Irrawaddy on
Monday he believed the Burmese authorities were not genuine. “What they
say and what they do are different things,” he said. “They parade ethnic
people on TV saying they are promoting ethnic culture and literature.
Indeed, what they are doing is dominating our literature and culture.”

"The language policy applied by successive [Burmese] military regimes has
been to ‘Burmanize’ at the expense of the language and culture of
indigenous nationalities," said Dr Thein Lwin, a Burmese education
scholar.

Derived from ancient Indian Brahmin script, Mon is one of the oldest and
most influential languages in the region, its alphabet forming the
foundation for Burmese, Thai, Khmer and Laotian scripts. However, there
are now estimated to be less than 750,000 Mon speakers in Thailand and
Burma.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 9, Agence France Presse
Myanmar removes rig from disputed waters: Bangladesh

Myanmar removed a rig from a gas-rich stretch of the Bay of Bengal on
Sunday after Bangladesh sent warships to protest against exploration in
the disputed waters, Dhaka's foreign minister said.

Bangladesh deployed four ships and put its navy and armed forces on high
alert after a South Korean company escorted by Myanmar ships began work in
the area.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told reporters that
Myanmar was removing the exploration equipment.

"What I have heard from the ground is that Daewoo is slowly removing its
rig. As I talk to you, it is leaving Bangladeshi territory," Chowdhury
said.

"We hope that they will not conduct any further exploration in this area
until we can demarcate our maritime boundary through talks," he added.

Bangladesh's armed forces issued a statement saying Myanmar had been
forced to withdraw from the disputed waters.

"Navy personnel talked to the foreign technical crews who were involved in
the drilling rig and made them understand our resolve," it said.

Bangladesh faces an acute energy shortage and has invited bids from
foreign companies to explore gas reserves in its part of the Bay of
Bengal.

Navy and army officials told AFP that Bangladesh had readied missile-laden
boats and two elite army units as Myanmar boosted its troop presence along
the 220-kilometre (170-mile) land border.

Officials of the two countries held talks in the new Myanmar capital
Naypyidaw earlier this week but apparently failed to resolve the dispute.

Myanmar, which has discovered huge reserves of natural gas in the bay,
insists its exploration work is legal.

More talks between the two nations are due to be held in Dhaka on November
16 and 17.

____________________________________

November 10, Irrawaddy
Troops line up along Burma-Bangladesh border – Min Lwin

The Bangladesh armed forces have been placed on high alert along the
Burma-Bangladesh border, as a result of a dispute with Burma on maritime
boundaries in the Bay of Bengal. Burmese troops have been reinforced.

Bangladeshi officials were quoted as saying that while troops are on alert
along the border, it has pulled back naval vessels from the Bay of Bengal
after Rangoon stopped ships from exploring for oil and gas in the disputed
waters, according to Reuters news agency.

A Burmese Army source said elements of No. 9 Military Operation Command
based in Kyauk Taw Township in Arakan State were reinforced along the
220-kilometre (170 mile) Bangladesh-Burma border on Saturday.

Tension between the two countries escalated after Burma sent naval vessels
to escort a Korean company ship that was exploring for oil and gas some 50
kilometers (30 miles) south of Bangladesh's Saint Martin Island.

Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain, who earlier led a diplomatic
delegation to Rangoon, said Burma had in fact stopped exploration in the
disputed waters and removed equipment, Reuters reported on Monday.

More talks between Burma and Bangladesh will be held in Dhaka on November
16 and 17.

Over the weekend, the Burmese government rejected the Bangladesh
government’s demand to stop exploration immediately, the state-run New
Light of Myanmar reported on Friday.

The paper said on Sunday that Burma completed exploratory drilling in one
area of block AD-3 and drilling equipment was moved to another area in
block A-3.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 10, Xinhua
Burma to hold culture festival in ancient city

Myanmar [Burma] will hold a culture festival in its famous ancient city of
Bagan in the last three days of this month to promote tourism market, the
local Weekly Eleven News reported Monday.

Myanmar's traditional culture and arts will feature the Culture Festival
Bagan 2008 which will run from Nov. 28 to 30 at Bagan's Sunset Garden, the
report said quoting the Myanmar Marketing Committee.

Aimed at attracting world tourists, the event will put on sale such
handicrafts from the Bagan region as well as souvenirs, and sponsor
contests of bullock cart, traditional dance and beauty, it said, adding
that a special candle-lit dinner activity will also be staged with
performances by noted vocalists.

Meanwhile, in January this year, Myanmar reopened a re-built ancient
palace of its first empire King Anawratha in Bagan, which is Thiri Zeya
Bumi Bagan Golden Palace, to attract international tourists in a bid to
promote the development of the sector.

There are four hotel zones in Bagan with 80 hotels, motels and inns and
nearly 2,000 rooms have been upgraded to serve visitors.

Bagan, which stood as an ancient capital from 11th to 13th centuries and
Buddhist centre with about 10,000 pagodas and religious structures
spreading more than 80 square-kilometres, now remains with over 2,000
ruins, according to the culture ministry.

Myanmar is striving for the revival of tourism industry through hard
working to re-draw attention of foreign tourists after cyclone.

The authorities have stressed the need to take measures for providing
tourists with better accommodation, international-level services and
smooth transport not only to Bagan, the archaeological hub of the country,
but also to Mandalay, Inlay region, natural gardens and the regions where
new year day commemorative festivals of various national races are held.

Myanmar is known as a repository of archaeological regions, ancient
edifices and artistic handicrafts. It has a variety of tourist attractions
such as natural areas of impressive geographical features, protected
natural areas, snow-capped mountain and beach resorts.

Rich in natural resources including wildlife and rare species of flora and
fauna that attracts tourists, Myanmar is also encouraging entrepreneurs to
promote eco-tourism industry at the environmental conservation regions to
earn income for the state.

According to official statistics, tourist arrivals in Myanmar in the
fiscal year 2007-08 which ended in March totalled 288,776, of whom 131,784
came by air, while 154,500 arrived by land across border.

In the first quarter of 2008-09, 51,872 tourist arrivals were registered.

Meanwhile, contracted foreign investment in the sector of hotels and
tourism has so far amounted to 1.06 billion US dollars since Myanmar
started to open to such investment in late 1988, accounting for 7.1 per
cent of the country's total foreign investment.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

November 10, Mizzima News
'Melamine free' ads banned in journals

The Burmese censor board has abruptly censored 'melamine free'
advertisements for food items in weekly journals. As such the journals had
to ink over the printed ads in this week's issues.

After the melamine scandal rocked China where some children died in
September this year, foodstuff companies advertised their products as
'melamine free' in the domestic weekly journals. But the censor board
stopped these ads from being published at short notice this week.

"We found the censorship in Sunday and today's issues too. The 'melamine
free' texts were inked over. In the 'Flower News' journal a full page ad
was found inked over, "a reader told Mizzima.

But readers could manage to read the text that was inked as the censorship
had to be done hurriedly, he said.

"The censor board had passed these ads so that the journals could print
them. Then the board reverted its previous decision and ordered the
publishers to ink the ads," a magazine editor who is close to the media
fraternity said.

A condensed milk marketing executive expressed his concern over the loss
of customer confidence on their products because of the censorship.

"We are relying on the customers' confidence on our products. Since the
melamine scandal, the market has been sluggish. Then we have to acquire
melamine free' recommendation from 'Food and Drug Administration' and use
them as ads in the media at a huge cost. With the censored ads, the market
will be affected more as customers' will lose their confidence on our
products," he elaborated.

An ad manager from a weekly journal said, 'We had an uncalled for quarrel
with our customers. Some journals published early carrying the ads and we
had to ink them over after receiving orders from the censor board. Our
customers didn't know the situation and we had to explain to them".

Another journal editor talked about the inconsistencies of the censor
board's policies and guidelines and their flip-flop.

"The policy and regulation of the censor board is inconsistent. They
passed these ads in previous issues even in daily newspapers. Then they
changed their mind and censored these ads this week. This is what the
censor board policy is like. They change their mind easily and frequently
at short notice", he said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 10, Mizzima News
Singapore cut jobs of migrants – The The & Myint Maung

With at least 10 Burmese workers in Singapore getting laid off in the past
two weeks, workers in Singapore worries that more will follow in the
coming days as Singapore harbours itself from the impacts of global
financial meltdown.

"I was on this job for two months. My job is to supervise about 100
workers under me. They fired me on the ground of inefficiency," a Burmese
worker who was sacked from 'Engmech' Construction Company in Singapore
told Mizzima.

While Engmech refuse to comment on the firing, the Burmese worker said he
felt it could be due to the global financial crisis.

"Firing me from the job coincided with the fall in stock prices. I don't
think they have any more projects to employ us. There might be further job
cuts," he said.

Another worker, who was dismissed from 'Sheng Wong' Construction Company
said, "They fired me on account of lack of language proficiency. They said
that I could not understand their language well and neither could I do the
jobs assigned to me well enough."

Apart from Burmese workers, over 180 foreign workers from Philippines,
Bangladesh, India and China have been fired so far from their jobs at
'Enmech' Construction Company," a Burmese worker who was sacked from the
company said.

According to him, most of them recently fired from their jobs have poor
educational background and little experience. Some of them have been here
for only a few months with work permits.

However, the company that fires the employees says the workers are sacked
basically because of their poor performance and not as an impact of the
global financial crisis.

Meanwhile, an official from Singapore's Ministry of Manpower, speaking on
condition of anonymity, confirmed the job cuts saying, "Yes, jobs of
foreign workers are being cut".

But the official declined to give details on why workers were being fired
and how many have been dismissed from their jobs so far.

When contacted, most of the companies, said that they were not cutting
jobs because of the global economic crisis. But Xinhua news agency quoting
the Minister of Trade and Industry reported on October 20 that Singapore
was affected by the international financial crisis. The report quoted the
Minister Lim Hing Kiang said that the global economic slowdown has
affected the Singapore economy and domestic companies.

A few days after that, Singapore companies resorted to wage cuts of
foreign workers working in their companies, some Burmese workers said.

A Burmese worker, employed in a computer parts manufacturing company said,
"Our Company has not cut jobs yet but they are going to resort to wage
cuts. We have heard that those earning under US$ 3,000 will face 6 per
cent cuts in their wages and those earning over US$ 3,000 will have to
bear 20 per cent cuts."

"The newcomers are facing many more difficulties here. The old ones are
suffering only wage cuts," he added.

About 50,000 to 60,000 Burmese workers earn a livelihood in Singapore.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 10, Associated Press
EU: Burma vote illegitimate unless Suu Kyi freed

Multiparty elections scheduled for 2010 in Burma will be seen as
illegitimate unless the ruling military junta frees all political
prisoners — particularly Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the European
Union said Monday.

The remarks by EU foreign ministers came after opposition groups said
Burma's military rulers have stepped up suppression of its political
opponents and jailed a number of members of Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy.

"Elections in 2010 will not have any credibility unless the authorities
... unconditionally release all political prisoners, notably Aung San Suu
Kyi," the ministers said in a statement.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been under house arrest for
more than 12 of the past 19 years.

EU foreign ministers also urged the military government to start talking
with all opposition parties and minority ethnic groups ahead of the vote.

The junta has announced general elections in 2010 as part of its "roadmap
to democracy." It follows a national referendum in May that approved a set
of constitutional amendments.

Critics say these cement the power of the military in government affairs.
But the government insists the changes are a major step forward in
restoring civilian rule.

The junta came to power in 1988 in Burma — formerly known as Burma — after
crushing a nationwide pro-democracy uprising, killing as many as 3,000
people. It organized multiparty elections in 1990 but refused to honor the
results after Suu Kyi's party won overwhelmingly.

____________________________________

November 10, Irrawaddy
Burma resolution introduced in the UN – Lalit K Jha

Forty-three nations voted to send a resolution highly critical of the
Burmese government to the UN General Assembly for a vote, probably in
December.

Among the countries sponsoring the resolution were Australia, Canada,
Germany, Israel, Italy, Norway, South Korea, Britain and the US.

The resolution, which will be debated in committee before it is taken up
in the general assembly, urged the governing junta to ensure full respect
for human rights and to take steps for the restoration of democracy
through a free and fair election.

In addition, it called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the
pro-democracy leader who has been under house arrest for the past 13
years, and urged the release of all political prisoners, including leaders
from the National League for Democracy, 88 Generation Students and ethnic
groups.

The resolution called on the junta to fully implement previous
recommendations of the UN special rapporteur on Burma, the General
Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council, Commission on Human Rights and the
International Labor Organization.

The resolution also called for the Burmese government to lift all
restraints on peaceful political activities and to ensure unhindered
access to media information.

Expressing its support for the good offices role of the UN
secretary-general and his special envoy on Burma, the resolution urged the
resumption of a dialogue with political opposition groups, including the
National League for Democracy and representatives of ethnic nationalities.
It also urged that arrest of political opposition group members be halted
immediately.

____________________________________

November 8, Agence France Presse
US condemns Myanmar for prosecuting defense lawyers

The US State Department on Friday condemned Myanmar for taking legal
action against several lawyers defending student activists.

"These actions represent a blatant attempt by the regime to intimidate
these lawyers and demonstrate its contempt for the rule of law," State
Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said in statement.

Aung Thein told AFP on Wednesday that he and Khin Maung Shein were both
charged with contempt of court. The pair have represented student
activists from Myanmar's pro-democracy party, the National League of
Democracy (NLD).

The party's spokesman Nyan Win said Nyi Nyi Htwe, another lawyer who has
also represented political activists, had been sentenced to six months in
prison last week for disturbing court procedure.

Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein had represented nine detained student
activists whose sentences were extended by six months at the end of
October for disturbing court procedure.

The nine were among about 200 NLD members and activists arrested after
leading a rally last year against steep rises in fuel prices that preceded
a larger monk-led uprising.

Wood demanded that Myanmar release Nyi Nyi Htwe as well as stop
prosecuting Aung Thein, Khin Maun Shein and another lawyer, Saw Kyaw Kyaw
Min, who also faces possible prison time for contempt of court.

"We call on the regime to release immediately Nyi Nyi Htwe and drop all
charges pending against U Aung Thein, U Khin Maun Shein and Saw Kyaw Kyaw
Min," Wood said.

"We further reiterate our call for the regime to cease harassing and
arresting citizens for peacefully exercising their internationally
recognized human rights," he said.

Washington also urges the regime "to release all political prisoners
immediately, and to begin a genuine dialogue with democratic and ethnic
minority groups on a transition to a civilian, democratic government in"
Myanmar, Wood said.

The NLD party, led by detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won a
landslide victory in 1990 elections but Myanmar's junta never allowed them
to take office.

She has spent most of the intervening years under house arrest in the
country, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

____________________________________

November 8, The Press Association
Junta leader congratulates Obama

Burma's military leader has sent US President-elect Barack Obama a
congratulatory message on his election victory.

The official Myanmar Ahlin daily newspaper reported that the country's
leader, General Than Shwe sent a congratulatory message to Mr Obama.

The newspaper also claims Burma's second highest-ranking military leader,
Vice Senior General Maung Aye, has sent a congratulatory message to Vice
President-elect Joe Biden.

The United States is Burma's strongest critic and has imposed economic and
political sanctions against the junta because of its poor human rights
record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected
government.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 8, United Press International
Life on the edge in eastern Burma – Awzar Thi

Over half-a-million people in eastern Burma are living in temporary
dwellings, forced out of their villages as a result of fighting,
insecurity and the whims of local army commanders. Around 100,000 are
hiding in jungles, valleys and hills.

That is the latest assessment of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium,
which brings international and local donors together in a common effort to
support and work with people in some of the most militarized areas of
Burma.

The consortium once concentrated its efforts on refugee camps and
makeshift settlements immediately opposite Thailand. However, since 2002,
it has increasingly studied and documented the movements of people
throughout areas deeper inside Burma, in order to get a better picture of
who is moving, where they go, and why.

The picture is disturbing. According to the consortium’s new report, army
orders, insecurity and related factors forced people in 142 villages and
hideouts across the frontier areas to move in the past year alone. This is
on top of the roughly 3,200 sites abandoned since 1996.

There has been little if any improvement for people in areas where civil
war has stopped. While some 66,000 in the last year fled their homes
because of conflict or human rights abuses, tens of thousands more left
because of arbitrary taxes or demands for unpaid work on government
projects. Coal and gold mines, dams and biodiesel farms are among the
schemes to which they are told to contribute money or labor, or for which
they are obliged to surrender their lands.

In some areas, costs of food and other basics have skyrocketed since last
August, when the government ramped up official fuel prices. In southern
Shan State, a small bag of salt reportedly costs eight times more than it
did six months ago, and even desperately poor people there have been
ordered to donate money, ostensibly for victims of Cyclone Nargis.

The consortium does not make any of the glib recommendations that are
popular among humanitarian and rights groups these days, but it does frame
its report in terms of the global debate around crimes against humanity
and the international duty to protect civilians where a national
government is a predator rather than a patron.

Perhaps one reason for its reluctance to recommend anything is that while
there is a case to be made for crimes against humanity in eastern Burma,
it’s hard to see anyone wanting to do anything about it. There are
numerous examples in recent times to prove the point that powerful
countries and bodies today act, as they have always done, only where their
own interests are advanced or threatened.

This could be cause for despair if international law and diplomacy were
the only games in town. But they’re not.

There are, to begin with, groups like the consortium that practice an
evolved and informed sort of relief work that is not constrained by
borders and treats recipients of rice and cooking oil as partners rather
than mouths to feed.

This is not a starry-eyed approach to quaint rural dwellers. It is
hard-nosed and practical, acknowledging that the affected people are not
passive victims but tenacious survivors who can teach aid agency
professionals more than a thing or two about how to deal with a protracted
crisis.

For years many of the people whose villages count among the statistics in
the consortium’s report have found ways to accommodate, undermine or avoid
the demands of military officers, and carry on with lives that are as far
removed from those in Rangoon or Mandalay as they are from others in
Bangkok or Beijing.

Many have moved and adapted so many times that they’ve lost count. For
them, clearing a new hillside and building a house away from the place
that a local army command set aside for them is just an unwelcome fact of
life.

The problem is not that they haven’t figured out how to organize
themselves and resist duress, but that the rest of us haven’t figured out
how they’re doing it. As their techniques don’t fit into the typologies of
experts and theorists, they don’t count.

In a recent article, Kevin Malseed describes the confused looks on the
faces of a group of academics and activists at a big conference on
agrarian movements after he asked if their overt formal struggles had
policies to engage with people whose struggles are covert and informal.

“When the time for answers came, my question was nowhere in sight, dropped
in favor of firing more broadsides at the WTO, World Bank and others,” he
writes.

Malseed, who has worked with villagers on the border of Thailand for over
a decade, is convinced that there are ways for engagement. But that his
question was alien to the experiences and thinking of the conference
participants shows how far international debate has to go to catch up with
people living on the edge in eastern Burma.

In the meantime, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium and groups like it
deserve continued strong support, even as the opportunities for similar
work from inside Burma, rather than from across the border, increase.
Their delivery of assistance remains vital; their detailed accounting of
displacement, unique, and their lessons learned, irreplaceable.