BurmaNet News, November 21, 2008

[Editor]

November 21, 2008 Issue # 3604


INSIDE BURMA
New York Times: Myanmar junta jails comedian for 45 years
Mizzima News: U Gambira to serve total of 68 years in prison
Mizzima News: Army frames charges against ILO complainants
Khonumthung News: Starving Chin people in need of food
Irrawaddy: Seniors on the streets

ON THE BORDER
Khonumthung News: Indo-Burma border road will be closed till December

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: FEC slumps in Burma

HEALTH
Irrawaddy: HIV/AIDS risk high among political prisoners
Kantarawaddy Times: Fake Ampicillin medicines found in Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Asian Tribune: The U.S. should move beyond sanctions – Nehginpao Kipgen
Irrawaddy: UN, Asean must speak up – Editorial
Irrawaddy: Burma’s National Day fading from memory – Min Lwin



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 21, New York Times
Myanmar junta jails comedian for 45 years – Sharon Otterman

A secret court run by Myanmar’s military leadership sentenced a prominent
Burmese comedian and activist to 45 years in prison on Friday, continuing
a recent crackdown on regime dissidents.

The comedian, U Maung Thura, 47, better known by his stage name Zarganar,
or The Tweezers, was detained last June after he organized a private
assistance effort to help victims of the May cyclone that killed over
130,000 Burmese. Along with international aid organizations and Western
governments, he criticized the government’s handling of the disaster.

Mr. Maung Thura’s conviction was handed down by a court in Yangon’s Insein
prison, where many of the nation’s political prisoners are held. He was
found guilty of violating a number of statutes, including the Electronic
Act, which regulates all forms of electronic communication in the country.
The act has increasingly been used by the ruling junta to justify long
prison sentences against pro-democracy and other activists in the country,
political observers said.

His prison term may be further lengthened when the court considers
additional charges against him on Monday.

“He got 45 years for only three charges. More sentences will be passed on
four remaining charges on Monday,” his sister-in-law, Ma Nyein, told
Reuters.

In a government raid last June, authorities seized his computer and CDs
containing footage the military government would prefer the world not see:
images of the devastation wrought by the May 3 cyclone, as well as the
opulent wedding of the youngest daughter of the junta’s leader, Senior
Gen. Than Shwe.

Following the cyclone, he coordinated an effort to deliver thousands of
dollars in aid to remote villages in the Irrawaddy River delta. In an
interview on May 19, Mr. Maung Thura said he would continue his work
despite government threats.

“These are my people,” he said. “I want to save my own people. But the
government doesn’t like our work. It is not interested in helping people.
It just wants to tell the world and the rest of the country that
everything is under control and that it has already saved its people,” he
said.

Mr. Maung Thura has been jailed at least three times in the past two
decades for his outspokenness and anti-regime satire, but for limited
terms. His stage name refers to a Burmese call to audacity made popular
during the nation’s anti-colonial struggle: “If you have hairs that stand
up at times of fear, pull them out with the tweezers.”

Some 150 anti-regime activists have received prison sentences of from 2 to
65 years in the past three weeks. On Thursday alone, 35 regime critics
were sentenced to long prison terms, including Ashin Gambira, a Buddhist
monk and one of the leaders of the September 2007 anti-government
protests, who was sentenced to a total of 68 years, the Web site Irrawaddy
reported.

Those sentenced have included some 70 members of the opposition National
League for Democracy, the party of the detained Nobel laureate, Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi. Some of the most severe sentences were handed out to 23
members of the 88 Generation Students group, veteran activists who have
been spearheading nonviolent protests for the past several years.

Bloggers, musicians and poets have also been sent to prison.

On Thursday, a well-known hip-hop singer, Zeyar Thaw, was jailed for six
years, and 14 members of Ms. Suu Kyi’s party got two and a half years each
for calling for her release on her birthday in June, said a party
spokesman, Nyan Win, The Associated Press reported.

Choe Sang-hun contributed reporting.

____________________________________

November 21, Mizzima News
U Gambira to serve total of 68 years in prison – Than Htike Oo

The Burmese military junta's vendetta against monks came to the fore with
U Gambira, a monk leader being sentenced to another 56 years in prison,
totaling 68 years, by a Special Court sitting in session inside Insein
prison today.

A person close to the family of the monk, who rattled the Burmese military
junta during the saffron revolution, said that he was sentenced today by
Kamayut Township court on nine counts and by another four counts by Ahlone
Township court.

Earlier, Kemmendine trial court which held proceedings inside Insein
prison sentenced U Gambira on November 19 to 12 ½ years in prison on three
counts including under section 295(a) and 505(b) of Penal Code (insulting
religion and inducing crime against public tranquility).

U Gambira was 29, when he headed the monk-led protest, popularly known as
saffron revolution in 2007 September, while he was pursuing Buddhist
studies – the 'Dhamasaryiya Course'. The monk who stirred the conscience
of the anti-regime masses by his political activity became the leading
Sayadaw of 'All Burma Monks Alliance' (ABMA) which spearheaded the
movement.

After the saffron revolution was brutally crushed by the junta, he went
into hiding. But he was arrested in Singai Township, Mandalay Division on
November 4, 2007.

Similarly another leading monk U Kaylartha from ABMA (Mandalay Division)
who has already been sentenced to 35 years in prison with charges under
the Unlawful Association Act, was given an additional four years in jail
again today by a court inside Mandalay prison on two counts. His total
prison term adds up to 39 years.

The monk-led protests spread like wildfire in the entire nation after the
local security forces tied the protesting monks to lampposts and beat them
up in public when they staged demonstrations in Pakokku, Magwe Division on
September 5, 2007 against rising fuel and essential commodity prices.

The 'National League for Democracy' (NLD) issued a statement yesterday
which urged the junta to review and reconsider the harsh prison sentences
being handed out to political activists and political dissidents in recent
times in accordance with the existing laws, regulations and by-laws.

____________________________________

November 21, Mizzima News
Army frames charges against ILO complainants – Myint Maung

Burma's Army has framed charges, under the Electronic Act, against farmers
from Natmauk Township who lodged a complaint with the International Labour
Organization (ILO) against the seizure of their farmland.

The farmers, from five village tracts in Natmauk Township, Magwe Division,
lodged their complaint against the local Central Ordnance Depot, objecting
to the seizure of their farmlands by the Army.

Subsequently, Captain Phyo Wei Lin of the Central Ordnance Depot has
prosecuted three farmers, held to be the leaders of the ILO filing, at a
township trial court.

"We are in trouble now and we are on the run," U Tint, one of the
villagers whose name appears on the ILO complaint and is listed in the
prosecution's case against the farmers, told Mizzima.

Forty-nine villagers in all, from five villages, including Ngeyekan,
Ywathit and Nyaung Pauk, lodged a complaint with the ILO on August 3rd
against the Central Ordnance Depot for seizing about 5,000 acres of
farmland situated along the Natmauk-Magwe railroad.

"We don't know about this Electronic Law and also don't know about the
Video Law, as we cannot see movies regularly in our rural area," U Tint
commented.

The Electronic Law is a common tool used by the junta against political
dissidents who allegedly use the Internet to disseminate news held to be
critical of or damaging to military authorities.

Captain Phyo Wei Lin accused the defendants of sending news and facts to
the foreign media.

In a well known case, blogger Nay Phone Latt was sentenced to 20 years
imprisonment on November 10th for violating the same law.

The Natmauk Police arrested Ngayekan villagers Ko Hla Soe, Ko Nay Lin and
Ko Sein Sten on October 20th – later prosecuting them under the Electronic
Law. Nine days after their arrests, another villager, Ko Zaw Htay, was
also detained.

At first, Captain Phyo Wei Lin registered a case against the initial three
detainees under section 31(a) of the Official Secrets Act and section
51(a) (making a photograph of an Army establishment), but the prosecution
changed the charge against them to a violation of the Electronic Law.

In their complaint, the villagers said that the Central Ordnance Depot
seized about 5,000 acres of farmland from them in 2005 for the purpose of
growing physic nut – viewed by the state as being essential in addressing
the country's energy shortfall.
____________________________________

November 21, Khonumthung News
Starving Chin people in need of food

Because of the Burmese military junta's ignorance Chin people are still
under famine like conditions and struggling for survival, said Mr. Manglai
of Chin Public Affairs Committee (CPAC). Though they are receiving some
aid from Chin people abroad, they still need help, he added.

"We cannot provide enough help for them as we are also facing financial
problems. We had supported them with some bags of rice for some villages
and they got only 20 kilograms per family, but after one week they began
starving again," he added.

"It is better to give one bag of rice per family if possible for one
month. Because they will do some work if they have stocked up on some food
at home and continue with farming. Now they cannot give much time to
cultivation as they are struggling to find food.

A source said that Paletwa, Thantlang and Matupi townships in Chin state
are in a worse situation than other townships.

Although the villagers are into cultivation, production is much less
compared to other years. And now they cannot give much time for
cultivation because they have to look for food. Therefore, many Chin
people are shifting and doing manual labour in Mizoram state.

Though the farming season is approaching, the villagers are disappointed.

In most areas Chin people are suffering from famine. The situation of the
people depends on the villages or families. While some have food most do
not. They are really in need of help, said Mr. Manglai.

Mr. Chan Thawng Ling, Chairman of the Chin Famine Emergency Relief
Committee (CFERC) said, "The villagers are becoming hungrier by the day as
their cultivated rice and vegetable were totally destroyed by rats. They
need help. Now we are providing 180 bags of rice for nine villages in
Paletwa Township and 110 bags of rice for five villages in ThanTlang
Township."


>From late 2006 bamboo began flowering and were eaten by rats which

multiplied with their fertility rate going up from eating the flowers. The
increasing number of rats attacked plants and rice godowns, leading to
starvation from a famine like situation. Bamboo flowers every 50 years
when its life cycle comes to an end.

Most of famine victims are helped by Mizoram based organizations like the
Public Affair Committee of Chin Land (PAC), Chin Humanitarian & Relief
Committee (CHRC),Chin Famine Emergency Relief Committee (CFERC) and other
religious organizations inside Myanmar.

____________________________________

November 21, Irrawaddy
Seniors on the streets – Aung Thet Wine

On busy Maha Bandoola Street in Rangoon, an old lady trembles as she walks
slowly along the potholed sidewalk. Old rags hang from her frail body as
if from a coat hanger. She holds a worn-out bamboo basket in her bony hand
and mutters to herself as she passes by anonymously.

Daw Ohn Myint is 78 and comes from Sin Phone village in Shwe Pauk Kan
Township, a suburb of Rangoon. If anyone took the time to listen to her
muttering, they would realize she was not talking to herself.

“My sons and daughters, please help me,” she whispers. “Please be kind and
help me buy food.”

A few 10 and 20 kyat notes lie untidily in her basket.

"My home was destroyed in the cyclone and I can’t afford to repair it,”
she told The Irrawaddy. “I used to sell stuff at the market, but nowadays
I am too old.

“I live alone,” she added softly.

In Burmese tradition, when the parents and grandparents are no longer able
to work, their children take care of them. If they have no relatives, the
community looks after them. Burmese people have always been proud of this
generous custom—the Burmese welfare system, so to speak.

However, the tradition of magnanimity is gradually disappearing in Burma.
In the age of military rule, economic hardship, rising crime and high
unemployment, most people are only concerned for themselves.

And more and more elderly people, like Ohn Myint, have to resort to
begging in the streets to make ends meet.

On a repressively hot afternoon at Rangoon's Aung Minglar bus station, an
elderly couple sits idly on a bench. They seem malnourished and skinny. On
the ground in front of them lies a brown towel. They wait patiently for a
passerby to drop a note on it—perhaps enough to buy a piece of fruit.

“Both our sons are dead,” explained 70-year-old Daw Mya Sein. “One died as
a soldier, the other in an accident in a factory.”

Mya Sein indicated her husband beside her. He is paralyzed and unable to
move or speak, she said. Now she has to beg and take care of him at the
same time.

“I notice more and more old people begging,” said a well-known Burmese
author who now works for an NGO. “Many are disabled, some are blind. When
I ask them, they say economic hardship has driven them into the street.
Many of them are alone in the world. Some have sons or daughters, but
often they too are so poor they cannot afford to feed their parents.”

The Burmese government’s social welfare office—the Resettlement and
Rehabilitation Ministry—estimated that there are currently 4.7 million
people in the country above the age of 60.

According to data published by the Department of Labour in 2004, the life
expectancy for Burmese men is 61.5 years. For women in Burma, life
expectancy is 64.4 years, with rural women averaging 63.8 years and urban
women living to 66.

"I see a lot of old people selling vegetables in the markets and
collecting garbage for a living,” a journalist in Rangoon said, adding
that he believes the military government has failed in its responsibility
to provide for senior citizens.

Even government employees complain of being discarded once they retire.

"I worked all my life at state-owned textile factory, a 70-year-old
grandfather said. “I retired with a pension in 1992. Nowadays I collect
just 768 kyat (US $0.60) a month for my pension.”

He said he now works as a night security guard in Hlaing Thar Yar
industrial zone.

A 63-year-old ex-warrant officer in the air force told a similar story. He
said most low-ranking public servants cannot retire peacefully after a
lifetime’s work. “Most have to find new jobs to make a living,” he said.

A retired army warrant officer, who had served more than 60 years in the
defense services, told The Irrawaddy he receives a pension of only 7,000
kyat ($5.55) a month. “It’s absolutely nothing,” he grumbled.

Although the Burmese authorities have failed to deliver on a policy to
protect elderly people, they are quick to pay lip service to the
proposals.

Aung Tun Khine, the deputy general director of Burma’s Social Welfare
Ministry promised his department would—in cooperation with the UN—take
care of elderly people whose homes had been destroyed by the cyclone.

"We will give preference to poor senior citizens who live alone, and to
those without regular incomes," he told a weekly journal, adding that
there are currently 59 shelters for senior citizens in the country,
providing protection for some 2,000 people.

However, a local journalist scoffed at the junta’s efforts. He called on
all levels of society in Burma to work together to fill the gap the regime
had created.

“In the sunset of their lives, many of our senior people are in hopeless
positions. Some end up in the streets,” he said. “Where the government has
failed to do anything, we must step in. All people in Burma are obliged to
help take care of our senior citizens.”

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 21, Khonumthung News
Indo-Burma border road will be closed till December

The road that links Manipur state in northeast India and Chin state's
Tonzang Township in Burma on the border will be closed by the Indian Army
till the end of this year.

There was a gunfight in the areas between Indian Arm forces and Meitei
insurgency group on 31 October 2008. Therefore, Indian Army closed the
road from the first week of November, said Mr. Minthang of Zomi Chin Human
Rights Foundation group.

The Meitei group attacked Indian Army soldiers from the other side of
Tonzang Township, Chin state. Travel on the road was immediately
restricted and the road closed.

However villagers of Tonzang Township are facing many problems as the main
border road is closed.

"The villagers are totally dependant on Manipur state for their daily
needs and food. Closing road affects them severely," he added.

He added that when the gunfight was taking place three bullets fired by
the Indian soldiers hit Khenman and Vanglai villages of Tonzang Township.
Although no one was hurt, the people were scared and wanted to shift from
their village.

Tonzang Township is also facing famine among other villages in Chin state.
At the same time, in the areas of Tonzang Township Meitei underground
group and the junta has joined hands and they have more than 200 acres of
opium under cultivation in plantations, a source said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 21, Mizzima News
FEC slumps in Burma – Phanida

The price of Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) slumped sharply by Kyat
40 in Rangoon.

During last month's trading, one unit of FEC could fetch Kyat 1,230 in
Burma's black market. Today it fell to Kyat 1,190.

Economist U Khin Maung Nyo said the people prefer to buy international
hard currency the USD rather than the FEC which can be used only in the
Burmese market. It also has limited demand in the domestic market.

"Currently there is no demand for FEC in the market. There is no
significant trading of FEC by the government either. It can be used only
in limited cases such as buying fuel. Even though a price of the USD is
falling in the global market, the people prefer to retain the
international hard currency," he said.

In official exchange rates, one unit of FEC is equivalent to 1 US dollar.
But in the black market, the FEC price is usually lower than the US
dollar. At the moment the difference in prices of these two currencies is
widening significantly.

A foreign exchange trader in Rangoon said that traders in the market
suspended the buying of FEC for fear of further fall of its price.

"The price of the USD rose and the FEC fell. The difference of USD and FEC
was just between Kyat 5 and 10 last month and now it has risen to Kyat 50.
So we suspended buying FEC for the time being, fearing a further fall.
Some said it will rise again," he said.

The junta has started a new scheme of selling fuel at the rate of four FEC
units per gallon at government-run filling stations since August 22. But
the fuel price is falling in the black market in Burma and only few people
are buying fuel with FEC, the staff at government petrol shops said.

In the black market in Burma, diesel price fell to Kyat 3,300 per gallon
from the earlier 4,000 and petrol price fell from Kyat 3,700 to Kyat
3,100.

____________________________________
HEALTH

November 21, Irrawaddy
HIV/AIDS risk high among political prisoners – Min Lwin

Political prisoners in Burma run a high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS
because of unhygienic medical treatment, according to reports from inside
several of the country’s prisons.

One report, by Reporters without Borders, said an imprisoned member of the
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung Than, probably
contracted the disease after being forcibly injected during treatment in
Insein Prison for a prostate condition.

Aung Than was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment in 2006 for writing and
distributing a collection of poems called “Daung Man” (“The Force of the
Fighting Peacock.”)

Another NLD member, Hla Than, who was elected to represent Coco Island
Township in the 1990 election, named five political prisoners he knew had
died of HIV/AIDS—Khin Sein, Mya Shwe, Naing Aung Lun, Bo Ni Aung and Thuta
Aung.

One former political prisoner, Aung Kyaw Oo, who served 14 years in Insein
and Tharawaddy Prisons, said detainees were forbidden to possess
hypodermic syringes and injections were carried out with shared needles,
usually by ill-trained medics drawn from the prisoners themselves.

“If prisoners refuse to be injected with used needles they are punished,”
said
Tin Aye, a former political prisoner, who served 15 years and nine months.

“Insein prison is a center of the HIV virus,” he said. “Prison conditions
favor the spread of HIV.”

Aung Kyaw Oo said most of the medics in prison hospitals were drawn from
convicts with little medical background or knowledge, including drug
offenders.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win said the standard of medical treatment in Burma’s
prisons had worsened since inspectors of the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) stopped their routine visits.

The Geneva-based ICRC suspended its routine visits to Burmese prisons in
December 2005 when the junta-affiliated Union Solidarity and Development
Association insisted on accompanying ICRC aid workers. The ICRC pointed
out that its protocols required that prison visits be independent and
unsupervised.

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), 137 political prisoners have died in Burma’s
prisons since 1988. The AAAP says the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, malaria,
tuberculosis and other deadly transmitted diseases is high among
prisoners.

____________________________________

November 21, Kantarawaddy Times
Fake Ampicillin medicines found in Burma

The Burmese Ministry of Health has released a statement that fake
Ampicillins - antibiotic medicines, have been found at a medicine market
in Burma after Interpol launched an operation against fake medicines in
Southeast Asia.

The statement was released yesterday on junta run Kyaymon (the Mirror)
newspaper. It didn't mention the name of the company which has
manufactured the product.

"According to the statement, KAV Ampicillin BP 250 mg capsules are sold in
the market. It doesn't have the company name but only mentions 'Media in
R.P.C. The KAV Ampicillin BP 250 mg capsules' are not registered with the
pharmaceutical department in Burma. The medicine box (pack) is not good
enough."

Interpol and WHO (World Health Organization) launched an operation, called
'Storm Operation', in Southeast Asia for five months. During the
operation, many fake medicines were seized.

The operation took place in Cambodia, China, Laos, Singapore, Thailand,
Vietnam and Burma. During the operation, about 200 raids were made and
fake medicines worth US$ 6.6 million were confiscated. About 27 brokers
were arrested.

Interpol said that antibiotic, HIV, malaria, TB medicines were among the
seizure. Interpol targeted fake medicines producers including individuals
and groups. This operation will help check crimes, which cause danger to
public health, everywhere in the world.

According to the chemical experiment report, there is no medicinal
substance found in the fake Ampicillin, said the statement.

By having fake medicines, patients not only lose money but also suffer
from its effects.

The Ministry of health has already announced that it has banned the sale
of fake medicines, unregistered medicines and non-standard medicines in
Burma. If fake medicines are sold, the individual or groups will be
charged under the national medicine laws.

____________________________________
OPINION/OTHER

November 21, Asian Tribune
The U.S. should move beyond sanctions – Nehginpao Kipgen

In an apparent shift from the policy of traditional sanctions, the U.S.
Congress created a post for policy chief for Burma to increase pressure on
the military junta.

In response to this unprecedented action, the White House announced the
nomination of Michael Green for the post on November 10. Whether this
maneuver brings vigor to the Burmese democratic movement is a question
remains to be seen.

Green, who has served as a senior director for Asian Affairs under the
Bush administration, should have noticed the quandary over the Burmese
political imbroglio, especially the futility of conflicting approaches by
the international community.

According to this legislation, the policy chief will consult with the
governments of China, India, Thailand and Japan, members of Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the European Union to coordinate
international strategy.

Years of sanctions after sanctions, this is a new birth in the American
policy toward Burma. Sanctions, however, still remain the popular way of
punishing the rogue regimes and governments around the world.

When it comes to Burma, sanctions have little impact on the military
regime due to engagements by neighboring countries, notably China, India
and members of ASEAN.

A solution to Burma’s problems greatly lies in two possible ways: Popular
Uprising and Intervention. Popular uprising have been tasted twice in 1988
and in 2007. Both events were brutally crushed by the military with force.

The word intervention can be engagement or sanction. There is no doubt
about the U.S. sanctions hurting the military generals and also the
general public. Had there been a coordinated international approach, Burma
could have been different today.

It must be difficult for the U.S. government to abandon its traditional
policy of isolating the Burmese generals and start engaging with them. But
they have to realize that sanction alone is not effective in resolving
Burma’s crisis when there is engagement on the other end.

While sanctions are in place, the new envoy can start initiating a ‘carrot
and stick’ policy by working together with key international players. The
one similar to the North Korean six-party talk model should be given
emphasis on Burma.

The six-party talks involving the United States, European Union, ASEAN,
China, India, and Burma should be initiated. In the beginning, the
military generals and some other countries might resist the proposal, but
we need to remember that the North Korean talk was also initially not
supported by all parties.

The hard work of the U.S. in North Korea is now paid off with North Korea
being removed from the State Department’s list of terrorists, and in
return, North Korea promised to shut down and dismantle its nuclear
facilities.

It was not only the sticks that worked but also the carrots. The U.S.
offered energy and food assistances to the North Korean leadership. A
similar initiative could convince Burma’s military generals to come to the
negotiating table.

Now that the U.N. Secretary General is heavily involved in the process,
the U.S. can garner stronger support from the international community.
Without such move from the U.S., Ban Ki-moon’s 'Group of Friends of the
Secretary General on Myanmar' will yield little.

The most effective U.N. intervention would happen when the Security
Council decides to take action. This scenario is bleak with China and
Russia vetoing the move, and likely to do again if Burma issue comes up in
the Council’s agenda.

The creation of U.S. special envoy and policy chief for Burma is a widely
welcome move. With this new position coming into place, the U.S. should
start moving beyond imposing sanctions.

Nehginpao Kipgen is the General Secretary of US-based Kuki International
Forum (www.kukiforum.com) and a researcher on the rise of political
conflicts in modern Burma (1947-2004).

____________________________________

November 21, Irrawaddy
UN, Asean must speak up – Editorial

Twice in little more than a year, Burma’s rulers have earned international
opprobrium for crimes they have committed against innocent people.

Last September, the world was horrified to witness the regime’s ruthless
crackdown on peacefully protesting monks. Then, in May of this year, the
junta demonstrated its callous disregard for human life in another way—by
refusing for several weeks to allow foreign aid workers to assist hundreds
of thousands of people whose lives were torn apart by Cyclone Nargis.

Compared to these outrages, the generals’ latest display of contempt for
fundamental human rights seems to pale into insignificance. But the recent
spate of lengthy prison sentences imposed on detained activists by
kangaroo courts at Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison deserves a much
stronger response than we have seen so far.

Since late last week, there has been a steady and depressing stream of
news about court decisions against some of Burma’s bravest and most
capable dissident leaders. Some have been given 65-year prison sentences,
signaling that the junta remains as indifferent to world opinion now as it
was during the outcry over the Saffron Revolution and Cyclone Nargis.

That should not be too surprising. The junta has learned that it can ride
out any storm of international criticism as long as it has the backing of
powerful supporters in the United Nations Security Council and a buffer of
non-confrontational neighbors who see its atrocities as little more than
occasional sources of embarrassment.

But this latest development threatens to further undermine the credibility
of international efforts to hold the Burmese generals accountable, at a
time when both the UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) are still trying to portray the regime as a serious “partner” in
the Nargis relief effort.

It may be one of the greatest ironies of the Nargis tragedy that it has
bestowed upon the junta the very air of legitimacy that the generals have
long sought. Simply by ceasing to be as obstructive as they were during
the first month after the disaster, they have suddenly been elevated to
the status of responsible players on the world stage.

And now, as a further, and even more perverse, irony, it seems that the
generals have been emboldened by this “partnership” to believe that it
entitles them to treat their opponents any way they please.

After all, the generals may reason, would the world body and a major
regional grouping be willing to stand side by side in a humanitarian
endeavor with a rogue regime? If the junta can’t be trusted to dispense
justice to its critics, why would some of the world’s most respected
organizations be so willing to embrace it on equal terms?

Of course, it is impossible to know what is going through the minds of
Snr-Gen Than Shwe and other senior members of the ruling junta. But it
should not be necessary to wonder what UN and Asean leaders think about
the current situation and how it impacts on their relationship with the
regime.

So far, however, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has issued a single pro
forma statement expressing “deep concern” about the latest round of
assaults on the dignity of Burma’s pro-democracy activists, while his
Asean counterpart, Surin Pitsuwan, has had nothing to say about the gross
miscarriages of justice being committed in Burma.

There have also been the usual obligatory statements from human rights
experts attached to the UN, calling for free and fair trials, but as we
have seen time and again, these carry precious little weight with the
Burmese authorities.

Like it or not, it is now up to Ban and Pitsuwan to put more of the
prestige of their offices on the line, or risk sending the Burmese regime
the message that it has carte blanche to continue with its criminal
behavior.

____________________________________

November 21, Irrawaddy
Burma’s National Day fading from memory – Min Lwin

Tomorrow is Burma’s National Day, commemorating the start of the
resistance movement that eventually led to the country’s independence from
British rule. But don’t expect any outpouring of national pride—the
occasion is barely remembered by today’s Burmese youth.

Eighty-eight years ago, on the tenth day after the full-moon day of
Tazaungmone on the Burmese lunar calendar—November 22 on this year’s
Western calendar—hundreds of students from Rangoon College and the
Baptist-affiliated Judson College began protests against the British
colonial administration’s Rangoon University Act of 1920.

The Rangoon University Act was intended to restrict access to higher
education to only the wealthiest families, but the student boycott led to
revision in the act.

“National Day and the students’ movement cannot be distinguished,” said a
Rangoon- based writer. “After the first Burmese students’ demonstrations
in 1920, patriotic youths stepped up nationalist activities and progressed
to the struggle for national independence.”

Soon after the boycott began, student leaders founded a “national college”
and “national schools” around the country. The college did not last long,
because of financial and other difficulties, but the schools enjoyed
widespread support and succeeded in educating a generation of
independence-minded young people.

The schools emphasized Burmese culture, history and language, but also
provided education in English. Students were proficient in both English
and Burmese.

Some of the country’s greatest national heroes, including U Razak, Thakin
Mya and Aung San, father of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, graduated
from the schools.

Burmese National Day became a symbol of the strong link between political
and educational rights and highlighted the important role that students
have played in Burmese politics.

“Students were the first to nonviolently demonstrate against the British
ruling government,” said a student majoring in Burmese at Rangoon’s
Western University.

However, some university students contacted by The Irrawaddy for comment
seemed to show little interest in the anniversary.

“I didn’t even remember it,” said one student of English at Dagon
University in Rangoon. “But I can remember learning about it in primary
school.”

Many students pointed out that although National Day is commemorated in
state schools as an important day for students, the authorities have
downplayed its political significance.

It’s not difficult to understand why. Eighty-eight years after students
first led the movement against British rule, the country’s current rulers
are busy sentencing student activists to long terms in prison for
continuing the struggle for freedom in Burma.