BurmaNet News, November 22-24, 2008

[Editor]

November 22-24, 2008, Issue #3605


INSIDE BURMA
DPA: Opposition calls for amnesty on national day
Irrawaddy: Eighteen more political prisoners transferred
AP: Sole Myanmar protester demands activists' release
AFP: Myanmar calls for 'duty' to democracy after jailing 150 protesters
Narinjara News: Four arrested for human trafficking
IMNA: Rebels ransom 100 villagers in Ye Township; SPDC responds with
interrogations, torture and travel restrictions

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Top Wa leader visits Thai border

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar, India to cement economic and trade ties

DRUGS
DPA: Myanmar tycoon gets 15 years for drug trafficking

REGIONAL
AFP: Myanmar on US agenda

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: General Assembly approves Burma resolution, debate intensifies

OPINION / OTHER
New Yorker Magazine: Burma eats its young – George Packer
Washington Post: The freedom challenge – Editorial
Jakarta Post: ASEAN members should stop deceiving themselves – Rizal Sukma

STATEMENT
WLB: Statement on International Day for the Elimination of Violence
against Women


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 22, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Opposition calls for amnesty on national day

Burma's opposition party Saturday called for the immediate release of
thousands of political prisoners to mark Myanmar's 88th National Day,
while the ruling junta called for unity in moving towards democracy with
"flourishing discipline." The National League for Democracy, main
opposition group, demanded the release all political prisoners including
Aung San Suu Kyi and student activists during celebrations at their
headquarters in Rangoon.

The party also demanded authorities allow all political parties which were
dissolved in 1990 to re-register to contest the upcoming 2010 polls.

Hundreds of NLD supporters gathered in front of headquarters while
plain-clothed state security agents monitored their movements from other
side of the road.

Min Thein, a supporter joined with others by holding a white paper writing
"release all political prisoners including Min Ko Naing," an activist who
was recently sentenced to 65 years in jail.

The NLD also urged the junta to allow the reopening of its provincial
branches which were shut down by authorities since the bloody 2003 Depeyin
crackdown, which led to Suu Kyi's latest arrest and detention.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, has been under house arrest for the past
five and a half years.

Burma's National Day marks the start of the country's indepdence movement,
when students from Rangoon University boycotted studies to protest the
British government's university law in 1920.

The country won independence from Britian in 1948, and has been under
military rule since 1962, when General Ne Win overthrew the first
post-independence elected prime minister U Nu, and launched the country
along his disastrous "Burmese Way to Socialism."

At the military's capital of Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Rangoon,
supreme leader Senior General Than Shwe marked the day with anti-colonial
rhetoric and calls for unity to strive for democracy with "flourishing
discipline" under military rule.

"Today, certain world powers are attempting to dominate other countries in
various sectors by interfering in their internal affairs through the
practice of neocolonialism," the junta leader said in a speech.

"So, I would like to warn that you remain constantly vigilant against such
threats in order to protect our country based on national awareness."

Noting that 92.48 per cent of voters had endorsed the new constitution in
national referendum of May, the general urged people to help "build a
peaceful, modern and developed new democratic nation with flourishing
discipline."

The May referendum was dubbed a travesty by international observers, who
said it was cynically pushed through by Than Shwe when millions of people
where trying to recover from the devastation of Cyclone Nargis.

The storm smashed into Irrawaddy delta on May 2-3, causing widespread
devastation and killing as many as 140,000 people.

____________________________________

November 24, Irrawaddy
Eighteen more political prisoners transferred – Lawi Weng

Another 18 political prisoners were transferred from Rangoon’s Insein
Prison to remote prisons around Burma on Monday, and family members are
struggling to confirm their loved ones’ whereabouts.

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners (Burma), 18 political prisoners were transferred to various
prisons including Thaton Prison, Moulmein Prison, Kale Prison, Meiktila
Prison, Myingyan Prison, Bamaw Prison, Taungyi Prison, Lashio Prison,
Tavoy Prison, Paungte Prison and Tharawaddy prison.

Beginning last Sunday, many prominent political prisoners, including
Buddhist monks, leading activists from 88 Generation Students, lawyers, a
blogger and a poet, were transferred from Rangoon's Insein Prison.

Many family members say they still can’t locate where their loved ones
have been transferred during the past week.

Aung Tun, the younger brother of leading activist Ko Ko Gyi, said his
brother was no longer in Kengtung Prison in Shan State and his location is
unknown.

Also human rights activist Su Su Nway is now in Kale Prison in Sagaing
Division, according to Nyan Win, a spokesperson of National League for
Democracy, even though Insein Prison authorities said she was transferred
to Mandalay Prison last week.

Many families say the remote locations are causing added difficulties in
visiting their loved ones.

Aung Thein, a lawyer who defended members of the 88 Generation Students
was given four months in prison for contempt of court, is currently
detained in a prison in Bassein, the capital of Irrawaddy Division.

His wife said, "I spent 10,000 kyat (US $8) to visit his prison last week.
They told me they couldn’t allow me to see him due to National Day. I had
stayed for two days but I didn't see my husband."

Meanwhile, the Burma Fund, a policy think tank of the exiled government,
the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, has released a
report, "The Findings  in the Open Heart Letter Campaign,” which is based
on data compiled by the 88 Generation Student group before many of its
members were arrested. The group initiated a campaign on January 4, 2007,
calling on Burmese citizens to write letters describing their feelings
about the social and political situation in the country.

Dr. Thaung Htun of the Burma Fund told The Irrawaddy: "By releasing this
report, we hope the international community—and especially Asean—will give
more attention to the situation in Burma because it is getting worse."

____________________________________

November 22, Associated Press
Sole Myanmar protester demands activists' release

A lone demonstrator staged a silent protest in front of detained
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party headquarters Saturday
demanding the military government free all student activists as the
country celebrated its National Day.

The holiday commemorates a boycott by Yangon University students 88 years
ago in defiance of British colonial rule, a protest that inspired
Myanmar's independence movement.

Although the government does not hold any public events to mark the day,
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy regularly celebrates with a party.

Before the celebration, party member Min Thein walked into the middle of
the street in front of the party headquarters and stood silently with a
placard reading, "Release Min Ko Naing and other political prisoners."

Min Ko Naing is a member of the 88 Generation Students group, which
participated in a brutally suppressed 1988 democratic uprising. Along with
many of his fellow former students he was sentenced to 65 years in prison
this month for taking part in an Aug. 21, 2007, street protest against a
massive fuel price hike by the government.

Plainclothes police took videos and photos of Min Thein's lone protest but
did not arrest him during the minutes he stood silently.

"I am expressing my feelings and I am ready to face all consequences," Min
Thein told reporters after the protest.

The party marked the anniversary by calling for the release of all
political prisoners, including student activists and Buddhist monks who
were arrested during anti-government demonstrations in September last
year.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi has spent more than 13 of the past 19
years under house arrest.

____________________________________

November 22, Agence France Presse
Myanmar calls for 'duty' to democracy after jailing 150 protesters

The head of Myanmar's military junta called Saturday for all citizens to
back a controversial "road map" to democracy, a day after the regime
sentenced the country's top comedian to 45 years in jail.

Writing in an article on the front page of the state-run New Light of
Myanmar newspaper, Senior General Than Shwe said it was every citizen's
national duty to support the political process.

"The state's seven-step road map is being implemented to build a peaceful,
modern and developed new democratic nation with flourishing discipline,"
Than Shwe wrote on the eve of the country's national day.

"The entire population are duty-bound to actively participate with united
spirit and national fervour in the drive to see the seven-step road map,"
the paper quoted him as saying.

The announcement came in a month when more than 150 activists have been
given long jail terms by the military regime, according to opposition
sources, in the wake of protests led by the nation's revered Buddhist
monks last year.

At least 31 people were killed and 74 went missing in the brutal crackdown
that followed the demonstrations, according to the United Nations.

On Friday, Myanmar's most famous comedian Zarganar was sentenced to 45
years for contravening the country's Electronic Act, which regulates
electronic communications. The charges, however, were not tied to last
year's protests.

A sports writer named Zaw Thet Htwe, was on the same day handed a 15-year
jail term while Gambira, a Buddhist monk who led the protests against the
regime in 2007, was given 68 years -- the longest sentence handed down so
far.

They join 23 student activists, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay
Kywe, handed terms of 65 years for their part in last year's protests
which began sporadically against fuel-price hikes in August last year, but
subsequently involved tens of thousands of people led by the monks.

Under the government's "road map" to democracy, Myanmar has adopted a new
constitution after a widely criticised referendum held days after a
cyclone ravaged large swathes of the country in early May, leaving 138,000
people dead or missing.

Authorities said the referendum, carried out without independent
monitoring, had received support from 92.48 percent of voters.

The road map paves the way for elections in 2010 in a country that has
been ruled by the military since 1962.

But the US, the EU and the United Nations have dismissed the lengthy
proceedings as a sham due to the absence of detained pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta did not
allow them to take office.

The NLD said Friday the recent jailings decimated a new generation of
political leaders.

About 150 NLD party members held a ceremony Saturday to mark the country's
national day at its headquarters in Yangon amid tight security.

Plain clothes policemen and local militia surrounded the building, while
the road to Aung San Suu Kyi's house had been closed with barbed wire
since the morning, with increased numbers of police around her house,
witnesses said.

Rights groups have accused the junta of trying to curb dissent ahead of
the 2010 elections.

New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) Saturday joined UN experts
and the United States in condemning the sentences.

Brad Adams, the group's Asia director, using the former name of the
country, said the jailing of the comedian Zarganar was "a cruel joke on
the Burmese people".

"But it's a bigger joke on those abroad who still think ignoring
repression in Burma will bring positive change," he said.

____________________________________

November 23, Narinjara News
Four arrested for human trafficking

Four people were arrested by police in Kyaukpru, Arakan State, on charges
of human trafficking, said a resident of the town.

He said, "They are from Thain Ban Chaung Ward in Kyaukpru and they have
been detained at the Kyaukpru police station."

The four arrestees include two Muslims and two Buddhists.

A Muslim couple, Ma Khin Hla, who is a nurse, and her husband Maung Ni,
were arrested by police first. After their arrest, Maung Maung Tin and Pho
Than were also arrested for alleged connections to trafficking.

The police alleged that they were sending Muslim people to Rangoon and
Malaysia in exchange for large payments. A local source said one
individual would have to pay between 300,000 and 500,000 kyat for travel
to Rangoon, and 1 million kyat for passage to Malaysia.

In Arakan State, the Burmese military does not allow Muslims to travel to
Rangoon and other parts of Burma freely. Because of these restrictions,
many Muslims in Arakan are paying trafficking agents money for passage to
Rangoon and other parts of Burma.

____________________________________

November 24, Independent Mon News Agency
Rebels ransom 100 villagers in Ye Township; SPDC responds with
interrogations, torture and travel restrictions – Sein Myint and Tala Nai

A Mon rebel group has detained and ransomed over 100 people from five
villages in southern Ye Township, Mon State. Severe travel restrictions
have subsequently been put in place by the Burmese army, which also
interrogated at least thirteen people, of whom two were tortured.

On the morning of November 21st, Mon rebels locally known as the “Chan
Dein group” arrested 102 villagers while they traveled to their rubber and
betel nut plantations. Those arrested included 62 plantation owners and 40
workers from Singu, Toe Thet Ywar Thit, Yin ye, Yin Dein and Kabya
villages.

According to an arrested plantation owner from Yin ye village, the
detained villagers were released so that they could return home to
retrieve their ransom. The same source said that plantation owners were
ordered to pay 300,000 kyat while workers were ordered to pay 30,000.

According to a villager, all those ransomed from Yin ye' made their
payment. Many residents from the other four villages had not made their
payments as of November 24th.

Many villagers from Yin ye reportedly had to pay with gold and jewelry
because they had insufficient cash on hand. Notably, the plantation owner
said that he and other owners were allowed to pay only 200,000 kyat after
negotiating with the rebels.

At midnight the same day, troops from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No.
31 led by Lieutenant Han Win Kyaw entered Yin ye village and arrested 6
people. Those arrested were interrogated and asked about how and where
they made contact to pay the rebels. According to residents from Yin ye,
troops held a burning torch under the arms and legs of one of the arrested
men and burned him until he gave them information. The six men were
released later that night after they gave the troops consistent answers.

The next day, Lieutenant Commander Myo Swe returned to Yin ye and arrested
7 more people, including 3 women. One of those arrested was beaten by
soldiers after he stuttered when responding to their questions.

Also on November 22nd, the village headman in Yin ye announced that
residents were prohibited from visiting their plantations. “This time the
way to the farms will be closed longer in previous times because the Nai
Chan Dein group is collecting extortion,” a villager quoted the headman as
saying.

A plantation owner affected by the restriction said that it is causing a
crisis for betel nut farmers. “Most of the farm owners are facing a crisis
because at the moment they have picked their betel nuts,” said the source.
“But they left they nuts in piles and have not brought them back to the
village yet. If we leave the nuts very long they will become spoiled.”

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 24, Shan Herald Agency for News
Top Wa leader visits Thai border

Wa supreme leader Bao Youxiang's elder brother Bao Youri paid a four-day
visit to Mongton Township, located opposite Chiangmai, last week,
according to border sources

On his arrival on November 16, he was welcomed in the village of Hwe Aw, a
few miles north of the Thai border, by thousands of Wa migrants, who had
moved into the township in 1999.

"He urged us to have more children," said one of the villagers. "He said
couples, who gave birth to 10 sons each would be awarded one house and one
automobile and taken care of for the rest of their lives," the villager
added.

Bao reportedly held a closed door meeting with local Wa commanders the
next day, where he reiterated the United Wa State Army (UWSA)'s standing
policy of not giving up their arms, until its demand for autonomy was met.
"He also said Naypyitaw's call for the Wa to contest the 2010 elections
would be considered," according to the locals.  One of the UWSA's main
allies, the Mongla Group, had also voiced the same idea earlier.

Since 1989, the Wa has established the United Wa State Party (UWSP) headed
by Zhao Yilai, whose health, like Bao Youxiang, has been failing.

Due to the fact that the UWSP is the undisputed party in all the townships
in the Wa Self-Administered Division, except for Markmang alias Metman,
which is under the Burmese Army's control, any elections held there are
expected to be plain sailing for its candidates.

Bao Youri left Mongton after a whirlwind tour of Wa bases along the
Thai-Burma border.

Earlier, Burma's military regime announced holding of general elections in
2010 on February 9. A Constitutional Referendum was held in May when 92.7%
of the people, according to Naypyitaw, had voted in favour of its draft
constitution. The electoral law, however, is yet to be published.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 24, Xinhua
Myanmar, India to cement economic and trade ties – Feng Yingqiu

Myanmar and India held its 9th round of consultations between foreign
offices of the two countries here Sunday, agreeing to cooperate in a wide
range of areas of mutual interest and promptly implement the bilateral
agreements inked during the April visit to India by Myanmar leader Vice
Senior-General Maung Aye.

The Myanmar-India foreign office consultations took place between
delegations respectively represented by deputy minister or foreign
secretary of the two countries U Kyaw Thu and Shivshankar Menon, according
to Monday's official newspaper New Light of Myanmar.

Shivshankar arrived here Saturday for the meeting over 7 months after the
visit to New Delhi by Maung Aye, vice chairman of the State Peace and
Development Council.

During Maung Aye's trip, three key documents were signed -- a framework
agreement on the construction and operation of a multi-modal transit and
transport facility on the Kaladan River connecting the Sittway Port in
Myanmar with the Indian state of Mizoram; a memorandum of understanding on
intelligence exchange to combat transitional crime including terrorism;
and an agreement on avoidance of double taxation for investors from the
two countries and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on
income.

The framework agreement includes upgrading of Sittway Port of Myanmar,
improvement tasks for running of vessels along the route of Kaladan from
Sittway Port to Sitpyitpyin and construction of roads from Sitpyitpyin to
the border region.

Later in June this year, Myanmar and India reached four more economic
cooperation agreements during a visit to Myanmar by Indian Minister of
State for Commerce and Power Shri Jairam Ramesh.

These agreements, signed in Nay Pyi Taw, are on bilateral investment
promotion, a 20-million-US-dollar credit line between the Exim Bank of
India and the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) for financing the
establishment of an aluminum conductor steel reinforced wire manufacturing
facility, another 64-million-dollar credit line between the two banks for
financing three 230-kilovolttransmission lines in Myanmar and the one for
providing banking arrangement between the MFTB, Myanmar Investment and
Trade Bank and the United Bank of India.

Ramesh made a study trip to Sittway, coastal city of western Rakhine
state, and looked into a project site of a planned multi-purpose transport
on the Kaladan River.

Relations between Myanmar and India, which share a border of over 1,600
kilometers, have been growing during the past few years with cooperation
in all sectors, particularly in those of trade and economy.

Myanmar official statistics show that Myanmar-India bilateral trade
reached 995 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2007-08 with Myanmar's
exports to India accounting for 810 million U.S. dollars and its imports
from India 185 million dollars.

India stands as Myanmar's 4th largest trading partner after Thailand,
China and Singapore and also Myanmar's second largest export market after
Thailand, absorbing 25 percent of its total exports.

The Myanmar compiled figures also show that India's contracted investment
in Myanmar reached 219.57 million U.S. dollars as of January 2008, of
which 137 million were drawn into the oil and gas sector in September last
year.

In the latest development, Myanmar and India are deliberating to upgrade
its border trade carried out at Reedkhoda (India) and Tamu-Moye (Myanmar)
to normal trade.

It was touched upon at the 3rd meeting of Myanmar-India Joint Trade
Committee held in Myanmar's second largest city of Mandalay during Indian
Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh's second visit to
Myanmar in October this year.

The meeting also covered bilateral cooperation in banking services,
extension of export items and promotion of trade between the two countries
and bilateral cooperation in electric and energy sectors

Also during Ramesh's October visit, an India-Myanmar information
technology (IT) center was opened in the former capital of Yangon which
was described as an excellent one among many of the bilateral cooperation
projects between the two countries.

With the help of the Indian government, the India-Myanmar Center for
Enhancement of IT Skill will serve as a bridge to link the universities of
computer studies and industries where technology is being employed
practically and will train about 500 Myanmar experts twice a year in the
field of ICT, applying modern technology in the sectors of education,
health, and science and technology, the report said, adding that the
project covers Yangonand Mandalay as the core and 10 other towns as
branches.

The center would also have the capability to be utilized by the government
of Myanmar as the center for disaster management and as the data center
for making the data for various departmental functions such as census,
taxation, birth and death registration, passport and national identity
cards.

Through frequent exchange of visits at high level and efforts of the two
countries, the economic and trade cooperation between Myanmar and India
would be further enhanced, observers here said.

____________________________________
DRUGS

November 22, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar tycoon gets 15 years for drug trafficking

Prominent business tycoon Maung Weik - known to be close to the head of
Myanmar's junta - was sentenced to 15 years in prison on drug trafficking
charges in a Yangon court last week, legal sources said Monday. Weik, 35,
who owns Mg Weik and Family Company - one of the country's largest real
estate and trading firms - was arrested last May during a charity trip to
the Irrawaddy Delta to help victims of cyclone Nargis.

Weik is known to have close ties to Senior General Than Shwe, who heads
Myanmar's ruling junta.

He was charged with involvement in trading methamphetamine tablets, called
"ice" on the local market, with other six people including a Malaysian.

According to charges brought by the government in July, Weik had been
buying ice tablets from Peter Too Huat Haw, a Malaysian, since 2003.

He consumed them himself and distributed them to others in his company at
annual functions and birthday parties. His trial began on 10 June in a
Yangon court.

Weik became a popular figure after donating 270 million kyat (about 40,000
dollars) to the Shwedagon Pagoda restoration work.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 22, Agence France Presse
Myanmar on US agenda

A SENIOR US diplomat will discuss human rights concerns in Myanmar during
visits to Japan and Singapore in early December, State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack said on Friday.

Mr Scot Marciel, the deputy assistant secretary for the East Asia and
Pacific Bureau, will 'travel to Tokyo to consult with Japanese officials
regarding human rights, democracy and other concerns in Burma', Mr
McCormack told reporters.

The United States refers to Myanmar as Burma, the name used before it was
changed by the military junta. Mr Marciel's visit to Japan will take place
on Dec 1-2, Mr McCormack said.

Mr Marciel, who is also US ambassador for the Association of South-east
Asian Nations (Asean) Affairs, will also visit Singapore from Dec 3-6 to
discuss Myanmar and US-Asean cooperation with Asean member countries, he
said.

The 10-member bloc includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 24, Mizzima News
General Assembly approves Burma resolution, debate intensifies

The United Nations General Assembly's Third Committee on Friday approved a
draft resolution on the human rights situation inside Burma, amid a
lengthy debate that illustrated the divide over Burma, the rights of
member states and the workings of the international body.

The UN's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee passed the
resolution, critical of the human rights condition in Burma and the
authorities inaction or unwillingness in combating rights violations, by a
vote of 89 in favor and 29 against, with 63 abstentions.

All 27 members of the European Union offered their support for the
resolution, in addition to the United States, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand, among others.

In contrast, only seven Asian countries approved of the draft, including
none of Burma's immediate neighbors and no member of ASEAN. Bangladesh,
Brunei, China, India, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam all voted against, while
Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand abstained (Cambodia was
absent).

The abstention on the part of the Philippines came just days before U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this weekend rained praise on the
Philippines as being the one country in Asia supportive of the United
States' position on Burma.

In addition to Japan, Mongolia, South Korea and Kazakhstan, the other
three Asian countries to support the item have all recently witnessed
significant external intervention, led by either the United States or
Australia – Afghanistan, Iraq and Timor-Leste.

Burma's delegate to the Committee reserved strong language for those who
supported the motion, letting it be known that Burma would feel under no
obligation to be bound by the vote.

"If left unchallenged, [the motion] will set a dangerous precedent for all
developing countries", he warned, as the resolution was an attempt to
infringe on national sovereignty while a case of direct interference in
the domestic affairs of a member state.

Subsequently, a no-action motion put forth by the Burmese representative
was defeated by a vote of 90 against to 54 in favor, with 34 abstentions.

Those that opted not to support the draft commonly sighted the
politicization of human rights, inattention to the domestic progress made
by Burmese authorities and the inappropriateness of the venue for country
specific resolutions – the Human Rights Council felt to be the rightful
forum in which to raise such concerns.

France, who took the lead in tabling the action on behalf of the European
Union, said the text was designed to raise awareness among the
international community as to the continuing rights violations in the
Southeast Asian country and "in an effort to mobilize action on all
sides."

The French representative called on Burma's ruling military to engage in
dialogue and to cooperate fully with United Nations mechanisms in the area
of human rights. He proceeded to say the new constitution, approved in
May, fails to address the assurance of basic rights inside the country and
that, "No attempt had been made to prosecute those guilty of repressing
the acts of peaceful protest from a year ago."

India's representative, explaining his country's vote, first noted that
the country has always recognized the importance of human rights. However,
it was forced to vote against the resolution as it was not
"forward-looking" and confrontational in approach. ndia also wished that
the Committee would recognize the positive steps of the Burmese government
over the past year – a sentiment similarly voiced by Indonesia and Japan,
despite the latter weighing in in support of the draft.

Further commenting on the ideological, development and interest divide at
the international level, Friday also witnessed the tabling of a resolution
critical of human rights as a unilateral coercive measure "implemented in
contravention of international law and the United Nations Charter, and
with negative consequences to economic development."

The resolution passed, garnering 124 votes in favor to 52 against. All
ASEAN countries, China, India and Russia supported the motion; while the
European Union, United States, Canada, Australia and Japan were among
those who voted against the action.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 21, New Yorker Magazine
Burma eats its young – George Packer

In a just world, the names Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi would be as well
known as Steve Biko and Adam Michnik. These two leaders of Burma’s 88
Generation students, now in their forties, have spent almost their entire
adult lives in prison for organizing pro-democracy demonstrations. After a
short period of freedom, between 2005 and 2007, they and their colleagues
were jailed again for staging a long walk around Rangoon, in August of
2007, in protest of soaring transportation prices—a gesture that sparked
the so-called Saffron Revolution, the largest demonstrations in Burma
since 1988, both times put down in blood.

After Aung San Suu Kyi, these two men are the leaders of Burma’s democracy
movement, and a source of intense admiration and inspiration among the
young Burmese I met on two trips there earlier this year. Ko Ko Gyi is the
political strategist of the movement; Min Ko Naing is its charismatic
soul. A friend who met Min Ko Naing after his release in 2005 told me how
the former prisoner shed tears as he described the death of his only
cellmate, a cat. Other Burmese and Americans speak of Min Ko Naing as
having a special glow that raises him above the ordinary run of humanity.
But because of Burma’s obscurity, the rest of the world has never heard of
them.

On November 11th, Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, and other democracy activists
were sentenced to sixty-five years in remote prisons scattered across
Burma, where contact with their families and friends will be extremely
difficult. The trial took place in a closed court in the Irrawaddy Delta,
without defense counsel. The defendants still face up to twenty other
charges—all because of the walk, staged fifteen months ago, on behalf of
their hard-pressed countrymen. Meanwhile, the Burmese regime continues to
prepare for “elections” in 2010 as part of its self-appointed transition
to “democracy.”

These sentences are the regime’s response to the United Nations, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the governments of India and
China, the International Crisis Group, and every other group or individual
that is trying, in good faith or not, to end Burma’s isolation and enable
the regime to reform. What Joseph Lelyveld, in his great book “Move Your
Shadow,” wrote of a South African government that had imprisoned and
tortured one of Biko’s comrades, is equally true of a Burmese government
that has decided to destroy its very best young people: “A system that
could make the confession about itself that was implicit in the attempt to
humiliate and break a young man like this, I thought, showed that it was
fundamentally resigned to its own moral rancidness.”

____________________________________

November 24, Washington Post
The freedom challenge – Editorial

BARBARITY IN Burma last week served as a reminder that, with or without
President-elect Barack Obama, the global struggle for liberty will rage on
long after George W. Bush takes his "freedom agenda" home to Texas.

Some of Mr. Obama's foreign policy advisers are nearly as impatient to
deep-six that policy as they are to bid farewell to its author. They
believe that Mr. Bush's extravagant rhetoric overpromised and
underperformed. Dissidents were encouraged and then abandoned. Abu Ghraib
and Guantanamo Bay mocked Washington's pretensions to lead or lecture.

The critics are right on all counts. If Mr. Obama intends to govern with
more humility, caution and realism, we say, bring it on. U.S. foreign
policy could use a healthy dose of all three.

But abandoning the promotion and support of democracy as core American
goals would be a terrible mistake. Mr. Bush was right to see freedom as
integral to all other foreign policy objectives. The stifling of
democratic alternatives in Arab countries fuels terrorism. China's succor
of dictators in Africa impedes healthy development in poor countries.
Democracies are more likely, over time, to cooperate honestly with each
other on global challenges such as climate change and disease control. And
the United States can regain and retain the stature to lead in the world,
on any issue, only if it is using its power on behalf of universal ideals.

No doubt these principles will feature somewhere in the new
administration's rhetoric. But because other, seemingly more hardheaded
considerations will always compete, the rhetoric will not mean much unless
democracy promotion is baked into the administration's structure, budget
and personnel.

The need is especially urgent when global recession could undermine
democracy and stoke bellicose nationalism. It's urgent, too, because in
the past decade, dictators and authoritarian ruling parties have learned
to fight back. When Vladimir Putin seeks to extend Russia's influence, he
doesn't just want more people watching Russian movies or buying Russian
MiGs. He wants to replicate among his neighbors the kind of one-party rule
he has imposed on his own country. His efforts will continue whether or
not the Obama administration chooses to push back on behalf of the budding
democracies Mr. Putin would target.

The spasm of repression in Burma last week similarly is not just about one
country. In secret trials hidden away in fetid prisons, the ruling junta
of that Southeast Asian nation of 50 million people sentenced more than
150 activists, Buddhist monks, bloggers, students and others to decades
and decades in prison.

U Maung Thura, a comedian better known by his stage name of Zarganar, was
sentenced to 45 years, with several charges still pending. His crime:
attempting to deliver aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis last spring, when
the regime did not want reminders of its own failure to help.

U Gambira, a monk who helped lead peaceful demonstrations against the
regime 14 months ago, was sentenced to 68 years. A journalist was
sentenced to 14 years for taking photographs during a sham referendum last
spring. Lawyers have been sentenced for seeking to defend these activists
and for resigning from cases when they were not permitted to mount serious
defenses.

As news of these sentences spread from anguished relatives to supporters
across the border and so around the world, another development was more
openly announced: China's plans to proceed with a $2.5 billion pipeline to
bring Burma's oil and gas to its Yunnan province. For China's Communist
Party, repression in Burma is not an obstacle but a convenience, enabling
the exploitation of natural resources with a minimum of well-targeted
corruption.

The regime's ferocity last week, unexpected even by its dismal standards,
came as something of an embarrassment to Western humanitarian groups,
which have been revving up a campaign to convince the Obama administration
that Burma's regime is moderating and that engagement, rather than
isolation, is the right policy. Supporters of engagement argue that it
helps neither the United States nor the long-suffering people of Burma to
leave the field to the Chinese.

This may be true. But public opinion and, we trust, a sense of
self-respect will never permit the United States to outbid China for the
junta's affections. And in Burma, unlike in many dictatorships, there is a
clear alternative authority: the National League for Democracy, which
overwhelmingly won an election two decades ago. The regime negated the
results, and the league's leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under
house arrest for most of the time since. Like Nelson Mandela in his long
years of imprisonment, she remains the legitimate leader of her people.
Like South Africans, Burmese will remember who sided with her during their
years of oppression and who sided with the oppressor. And as the world
watched and measured America's shifting stance on apartheid, so it will
measure the next administration's commitment to democracy in Burma and
beyond.

____________________________________

November 24, Jakarta Post
ASEAN members should stop deceiving themselves – Rizal Sukma

Despite clear and loud evidence to the contrary, officials from ASEAN
continue to engage in the habit of deceiving themselves by believing that
the ASEAN Charter -- now fully ratified by all 10 member states -- will
create a new ASEAN.

A long-serving assistant to ASEAN Secretary-General Termsak
Chalermpalanupap maintained that once the charter goes into force next
month, ASEAN will soon turn into a new organization. He believes the
charter will turn ASEAN into a rules-based and people-oriented
organization. He is also convinced that with the charter, ASEAN is "now
changing into a new mode, into community building". (The Jakarta Post,
Nov. 20, 2008).

Such views clearly reflect the mainstream thinking among officials of
member states as well. Indeed, ASEAN governments have taken up a new habit
of emulating the normative and vague language of the ASEAN Charter in
their daily discourse. Blending the normative world and reality could be
dangerously misleading for the future of ASEAN. Once again, ASEAN needs to
do a reality check before such upbeat discourse creates another set of
excessive and irrational expectations about the association.

For example, the expectation that ASEAN will become more people-oriented
does not correspond with the reality. One does not have to look at the
entire Southeast Asian region to understand this point. Just look at
Myanmar, one of the most recalcitrant members of ASEAN. While ASEAN
officials are busy celebrating the ratification of the charter by all its
members, and stepping up the campaign promoting the document, people are
being rounded up, sent to the junta's own version of gulags in remote
areas, and the nationwide oppression continues unabated.

More than 70 rights activists arrested during anti-junta protests last
year were sent to prison, and at least 14 of them were given 65 years
behind bars! The junta clearly has no intention of respecting the wishes
of its own people, despite the fact that the charter -- which was also
signed by the junta -- clearly stipulates the need for member states to
promote and protect human rights. When a member state does not respect the
wishes of the people and even treats them harshly, it is absurd to expect
ASEAN will ever become a people-centered organization.

Worse, ASEAN's silence on the sad developments in Myanmar is deafening. No
one seems concerned about the fate of those detained by the junta, let
alone raises the issue with the Myanmar government. Instead, ASEAN
officials continue to assert, in a triumphant mood that "we will be
celebrating a new ASEAN".

Surely with the charter will come some changes, such as the need to create
additional units within the ASEAN Secretariat, the appointment of
permanent representatives to ASEAN, and the establishment of an ASEAN
human rights body. Yet it is not immediately clear how such changes will
really turn ASEAN into a new mode; a mode of regional community-building.
As I argued before, a regional community requires a common identity, and
Southeast Asia is still far from fulfilling that requirement, if such a
requirement is ever possible within ASEAN.

Therefore one should not raise expectations unnecessarily. ASEAN after the
charter will not be too different from ASEAN before the charter. It is
still a diplomatic association, a loosely organized club of states,
seeking to cooperate with each other, primarily in the interest of
maintaining good multilateral relations. ASEAN will continue to function
as it has been functioning over the last 40 years.

The only difference, if any, is that post-charter ASEAN will now function
by pretending it has become a legally binding entity, despite the fact
that rules and principles embodied in the charter cannot be enforced, and
noncompliance by member states will continue to go unpunished.

Of course there's nothing wrong with such an ASEAN. But the association
needs to stop deceiving itself. It is better to admit there is a limit to
what ASEAN can accomplish. By being realistic, ASEAN would be better off.

For Indonesia, despite its decision to ratify the charter, we need to
start thinking seriously beyond ASEAN. We will waste our potential if we
continue to treat ASEAN as the cornerstone of our foreign policy. For
that, we need new and fresh thinking about our appropriate place in the
wider Asia Pacific.

The writer is the deputy executive director of the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies in Jakarta.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

November 24, Women’s League of Burma
Statement on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Burma’s military Constitution condemns women to a continuing cycle of
violence.  The CEDAW Committee confirmed the systematic use of rape
against the women of Burma, particularly ethnic women, by the Burma Army
in their Concluding Observations to the review of the country report
submitted by the Burmese military regime on the 3rd of November 2008.

The regime is continuing to refuse to solve Burma’s problems by political
means, and is using their army to oppress the people of Burma and retain
their grip on power. This has caused systematic state violence against the
women of Burma. The regime’s treatment of women political activists, nuns,
monks and other peaceful demonstrators, has been completely unjust, and
the recent long prison sentences meted out to these innocent people are an
outrageous parody of justice.

WLB denounces the Burmese military regime’s refusal to release Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi, ethnic national leaders, and all political prisoners, which
is urgently needed as a first step for national reconciliation and the
building of a peaceful and flourishing democratic system in Burma. The
regime’s recently approved constitutional provisions have not considered
the representation of women within the state executive, legislative and
judicial branches, and have failed to promote gender equality; women will
thereby be condemned to a continued cycle of violence. Therefore, on this
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we wish
to state our strong opposition to the upcoming 2010 election of the
military regime.

WLB would like to call on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
Violence against Women to carry out an investigation into the
state-sanctioned sexual violence against the women of Burma. Moreover, WLB
will work cooperatively with international judicial bodies, legal
organizations and other supporters around the world and the pro-democracy
movement to refer General Than Shwe and other top leaders of the regime to
the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the war crimes and crimes
against humanity for which they are accountable, in order to bring justice
for the women of Burma.

WLB also urges ASEAN governments to recognize that the Burmese military
regime will continue its violations against the women of Burma as long as
they continue with their policy of 'Non-interference' toward the regime.
We would therefore like to request the ASEAN governments to review their
policy towards the SPDC and to seriously listen to the requests of all the
women of Burma in accordance with the ASEAN Declaration on Elimination of
Violence against Women in ASEAN regions.


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