BurmaNet News, May 15, 2009

[Editor]

May 15, 2009, Issue #3711


INSIDE BURMA
BBC News: Suu Kyi insists she is innocent
Irrawaddy: Security increased around Insein Prison
Irrawaddy: Rangoon media silent on Suu Kyi
Financial Times: Democracy party faces poll dilemma

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: Bangladesh military exercise near border

ASEAN
DVB: ASEAN member urges governments not to fall for Burma 'fallacy'

REGIONAL
Mizzima News: Thailand hopes for transparency in Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: West rebukes Myanmar on "trumped-up" Suu Kyi case
AFP: Top US senators warn Myanmar over Aung San Suu Kyi
AP: Nobel committee blasts Aung San Suu Kyi treatment

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: The Lady, a “fool” and a crazy dictator – Aung Zaw
The Times of London: Barbarous Burma
Reuters UK: Stop tip-toeing around and save Suu Kyi – Zoya Phan

STATEMENTS
The Elders: The Elders call for release of fellow Elder Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs and Ministry of State Responsible
for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights: Arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi – Bernard
Kouchner and Rama Yade
Not On Our Watch: Free Aung San Suu Kyi

PRESS RELEASE
Burma Campaign UK: Actors, writers, and designers call for release of Aung
San Suu Kyi




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 15, BBC News
Suu Kyi insists she is innocent

Burma's jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has insisted she is
not guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest, her lawyer said.

He said Ms Suu Kyi was being held in a "guest room" at the top security
Insein jail in Rangoon, but seemed physically well and was "mentally
strong".

Western governments were quick to condemn the new charges against Ms Suu
Kyi and call for her immediate release.

She faces trial on Monday over an apparently uninvited visit by a US man.

"Suu Kyi said that she believes that she will be found 'not guilty' over
her connection with the American intruder," her lawyer Kyi Win told the
Thailand-based independent Burmese publication, Irrawaddy.

Reports say Ms Suu Kyi was charged under the country's Law Safeguarding
the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements.

The charges carry a maximum jail term of five years, which would stretch
her detention past its supposed expiry date on 27 May and beyond the 2010
elections.

World leaders and human rights groups have denounced the move as a pretext
for Burma's military regime to silence its chief opponent ahead of next
year's election.

'Uninvited guest'

The charges follow an incident in which an American man swam across a lake
to her home and stayed there secretly for two days. His motives remain
unclear.

Ms Suu Kyi's lawyer said the American, John Yettaw, had not been invited
and that she had tried to send him away.

He is expected to be tried on immigration and security offences, although
the charges are yet to be confirmed by the government.

The Burmese authorities have described the American as a 53-year-old
Vietnam war veteran and resident of the state of Missouri.

Ms Suu Kyi was detained after her party's victory in a general election in
1990 and has been under house arrest for much of the past 19 years.

'Tenuous pretext'

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
have demanded her immediate release.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier said that if "the 2010
elections are to have any semblance of credibility, she and all political
prisoners must be freed to participate".

Jose Ramos Horta, the East Timorese president and Nobel Peace Prize
winner, said he would call on the International Criminal Court to
investigate Burma's military rulers if they did not Ms Suu Kyi.

Thailand's prime minister also expressed concern on behalf of the
Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), one of the few groups
that allow Burma as a member.

Singapore and Indonesia joined the condemnation of the arrest. There has
been no comment so far from China - now Burma's most important trading
partner.

Ms Su Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a
landslide election victory in 1990 only to be denied power by the
military, "strongly condemned" the charges, which come two weeks before
her latest detention was due to expire.

____________________________________

May 15, Irrawaddy
Security increased around Insein Prison – Min Lwin

Increased security forces, including firefighters, members of the Union
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and Swan Arr Shin, have been
stationed around Rangoon’s infamous Insein prison, following the
imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday.

An estimated two dozen people gathered at the prison on Friday morning
seeking information about Suu Kyi. They were ordered to leave the area by
security guards.

“Since yesterday morning, the security troops have deployed heavily in
northern Rangoon and Insein Township,” said a source close to Insein
Prison.

After the Burmese military government brought Aung San Suu Kyi from her
lakeside house to Insein Prison, she was charged with violating the
conditions of her house arrest.

A US citizen, John William Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Missouri, swam across
Inya Lake to Aung San Suu Kyi’s lakeside resident where he stayed two
nights last week, according to authorities.  It is against the law in
Burma for nationals to allow foreigners to stay overnight without approval
from authorities.

According to sources in Insein Township, located in the northwest
outskirts of Rangoon, additional security forces are posted around
government buildings and monasteries near the prison, which houses many
pro-democracy activists.

“Police, soldiers, firefighters and uniformed Swan-Arr-Shin have been
stationed at Eight mile Junction and Thamine Junction and on the outskirts
of the city,” said a Rangoon resident said.

“They [USDA and Swan-Arr-Shin] are stationed along the streets in Insein
wards,” she said. “They stop taxis, cars and passersby, and they inspect
them carefully.”

She said that plainclothes police and USDA members are going around check
on the overnight guests’ list in various wards.

Sources in Rangoon said that people are flocking to Internet shops to try
to get more news and information about Suu Kyi’s trial from exiled media
Web sites. The trial may get underway on Monday, according to sources. Suu
Kyi, her doctor, two caretakers and Yettaw are all charged with violating
state security laws.

“The government is making people angry, and most people don’t believe that
Daw Suu is guilty,” said a Rangoon-based reporter. “The government is
manipulating the events again to put her in jail.”

“Many people, even when they go for walk, have a radio and listen for
information about Daw Suu,” he said. “I saw trishaw drivers in a circle
listening for news.”

Meanwhile, Internet service has been unreliable in Burma recently, with
connections going on and off.

“Normally, Internet users go to chat rooms and talk, but now they read
quietly about Daw Suu,” said one Internet user in downtown Rangoon.

____________________________________

May 15, Irrawaddy
Rangoon media silent on Suu Kyi – Saw Yan Naing

Burmese journalists from Rangoon-based publications have complained that
they cannot report freely about pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s
transfer to Insein Prison due to heavy restrictions on press freedom.

While the Burmese public is eager to hear news surrounding Suu Kyi’s
arrest and the incident at her home involving an American intruder, they
are forced to turn to the international press and Burmese news agencies in
exile, because local media is largely silent on the issue.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, an editor working with a leading
journal in Rangoon said, “Of course we want to report this news, but we
cannot. The censorship board will definitely reject it.”

Another Rangoon-based editor said, “We can publish reports about this news
in similar terms to those of the state-run newspapers. I’m sure that we
cannot report any more than that. Otherwise, our lives will be in danger.”

A Burmese journalist in Rangoon who is working with a foreign news agency
said that he is constantly confronted with difficulties when confirming
details deemed “sensitive matters” by the Burmese authorities.

Sources in Rangoon said that “everyone” in the former capital—from
reporters to rickshaw drivers—listens to the radio every morning and
evening to find out what is happening with Suu Kyi.

Several sources indicated that the public reaction to Suu Kyi’s arrest and
her subsequent detention in a guest house within the compound of Insein
Prison ranges from anger toward the junta to feelings of pity for the
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and fears for her safety.

A resident in Rangoon said that the news about Suu Kyi and the “Inya Lake
Swimmer” is the talk of the town and that many people are constantly
calling each other sharing the latest rumors.

“Some are saying that the incident [with the American intruder at Suu
Kyi’s house] has been fabricated by the Burmese authorities,” he said.

On Thursday, pro-junta newspapers The New Light of Myanmar and The Mirror
published details about the “US citizen who secretly entered the house of
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.” The report included a photograph and full biography
of 53-year-old psychology student John William Yettaw.

However, neither newspaper ran a report mentioning Suu Kyi’s arrest. Some
local journals, including Rangoon-based The Voice, also reported on the
arrest of Yettaw, but only quoted from the “official” report in The New
Light of Myanmar.

The New Light of Myanmar said that the US citizen was arrested on May 6.
According to the report, the man arrived in Rangoon on May 2, swam across
Inya Lake on the night of May 3 and secretly entered Suu Kyi’s house.

Several pro-junta publications and blogs have criticized the reporting by
Burmese news agencies and radio stations in exile, such as BBC Burmese,
Voice of America, and Radio Free Asia, saying that their coverage shows a
lack of ethics and is influenced by the Western community.

____________________________________

May 15, Financial Times
Democracy party faces poll dilemma – Amy Kazmin and Tim Johnston

In Burma’s business capital, Rangoon, a city rapidly acquiring a
surprising veneer of affluence, the headquarters of the National League
for Democracy remains dilapidated and frozen in time. Above the ramshackle
two-storey building, three faded party flags flutter forlornly in the
breeze. Taxi drivers are reluctant to stop just in front of the building,
dropping passengers a safe distance away.


>From a tea-shop across the street of the office, plainclothes military

intelligence agents snap photos of those coming and going from the party
office, especially foreigners, writing notations in a large log book.
Burma’s state run media regularly publish articles noting how many
foreigners visit the office.

Inside a dark hall decorated with posters of Aung San Suu Kyi, earnest
looking Burmese in traditional dress loitered yesterday in a small hall
around long tables. Upstairs, the party’s elderly leadership anxiously
tried to come to terms with the latest crisis – Ms Suu Kyi’s transfer to
Insein prison to face serious charges of violating the conditions of her
six-year house arrest.

Led by Ms Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, the country’s revered
independence leader, the NLD won a landslide victory in parliamentary
elections in 1990, the first genuinely democratic elections since a 1962
military takeover. The party was blocked from taking power as the ruling
military junta, shocked by a defeat it never expected, said Burma first
had to adopt a new constitution.

The country did so in a controversial referendum held soon after last
year’s cyclone Nargis, which killed 148,000 people. But the NLD is as far
from power as ever, and Ms Suu Kyi, the living symbol of the hopes of many
Burmese for an end to military rule, now faces the possibility of up to
five years in prison if convicted of the charges laid against her
yesterday.

After years of failed international efforts to encourage direct talks
between Ms Suu Kyi and Senior General Than Shwe, the junta’s supreme
commander, the military rulers are gearing up to hold fresh elections
under the new charter, which guarantees them influence over every aspect
of Burma’s public life.

The dilemma now for the NLD, which has held the moral high ground and
enjoyed the backing of western policymakers, is whether to take part in a
process that will fall short of creating the fully fledged democracy of
which they had dreamed.

The party has been torn between principles and pragmatism. “We are in the
‘maybe’ position,” a senior party leader told the Financial Times in
Rangoon, though he refused to comment on the charges laid against Ms Suu
Kyi yesterday. Analysts said any deterioration in Ms Suu Kyi’s conditions
of detention as a result of the new case could harden the party’s position
on participating in the polls while undermining the vote’s credibility.

“If she is locked up for anything more than a year, I think it would make
it almost impossible for the NLD to make the compromises that would be
necessary for them to take part in the elections,” said one Bangkok-based
analyst.

After a recent conclave of about 150 of its members, the NLD declared its
willingness to participate in the election if Ms Suu Kyi were freed, the
constitution was amended and the vote was free and fair.

Though still seen as representing the aspirations of Burma’s people, the
NLD has struggled to remain relevant without its charismatic leader and
under the regime’s ceaseless persecution.

Aside from Ms Suu Kyi, the party’s leaders are extremely elderly while the
younger generation, aspiring to reinvigorate the organisation, has been
held in check by the leaders’ caution.

A Bangkok-based Burma analyst said: “The people heading the NLD are in
their late 80s and they are certainly not the future of the country.”

Many Rangoon elites resent the party leaders’ staunch backing for
sanctions, which have contributed to the country’s economic woes. But the
party remains inexorably linked with Ms Suu Kyi, who continues to inspire
admiration and loyalty for her principled resistance to military rule and
her personal sacrifices.

“She is the single iconic democratic figure in Burma and that is why the
party remains important,” the analyst said.

In the immediate future, the reverberations of the case against Ms Suu Kyi
might be felt less in Rangoon than in Washington, where the Obama
administration has been undertaking a strategic review of its policy
towards the regime, following an admission by Hillary Clinton, secretary
of state, that years of sanctions had failed to yield tangible results.

Mrs Clinton said yesterday she was “deeply troubled” by the “baseless”
charges against Ms Suu Kyi and called for her immediate release.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 15, Mizzima News
Bangladesh military exercise near border – Nyein Chan

Closely monitored by the Burmese Army, the Bangladeshi armed forces
comprising of the army, navy and air force are conducting a joint military
exercise in the Bay of Bengal, near the maritime boundary of the two
contiguous countries.

Two military exercises, including one in Cox's Bazaar, about 80 kms from
the Bangladesh-Burma border, were conducted on May 8th  and 13th
respectively.

"About 500 personnel from the army, navy and air force units took part in
the exercises," a Bangladeshi intelligence source told Mizzima.

Burma, Rakhine State, Ann based Western Command instructed over 1,000
soldiers stationed in Maungdaw to build the border fence, Nasaka (border
authority) personnel and the Township Police Force to suspend all their
routine work and put them on alert.

"We received orders from the Western Command on May 9. They instructed us
not to leave our units and be on stand by. I do not know until which date
the order will be in place," a security agency source told Mizzima.

It has been reported that Burmese naval boats and land forces are on stand
by mode and are closely watching the situation.

"Sittwe Yechanpyin-based 4 naval boats are patrolling the maritime
boundary round the clock," a naval source said.

Moreover the naval vessels from Danyawadi naval base in Yaychanpyin,
Sittwe have been patrolling along the maritime boundary between both
countries since May 13, a schooner owner, who is currently in Shinmaphyu
Island, Teknaf Township, Bangladesh, on a business tour said.

Although Bangladesh did not disclose the intention behind their military
exercise, it coincided with the building of the border fence, along the
border by Burma.

According to the international law, the border fence must be built 300
yards from the zero line on the border. However, Burma is building its
border fence within 50 yards from this international border.

Bangladesh Border Defence Regiment (BDR) Chief Col. Minul Hossion warned
on May 4, saying, "If the international law is violated, we will not be
mute spectators waiting with folded arms," through the Bangladeshi media
after returning from his visit to the Burma-Bangladesh border.

A daily paper from Cox's Bazaar reported that the Burmese Nasaka (border
security force) responded to the presentation submitted to them by
Bangladesh officials, insisting on erecting border fencing beyond 300
yards limit of the border, by saying, "It should be communicated through
government-to-government channel and we cannot do anything in this
regard," at the joint meeting between Burmese and Bangladeshi border
authorities held on April 24.

____________________________________
ASEAN

May 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
ASEAN member urges governments not to fall for Burma 'fallacy' – Francis Wade

The head of the Burma caucus of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
has said that the charges to be faced by Burma oppositon leader are "just
ridiculous", and urged fellow ASEAN governments not to fall for the
"fallacy" of elections next year.

Speaking at a press conference in Bangkok today, orgainsed by the Foreign
Correspondents' Club of Thailand, Kraisak Choonhavan, President of ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, said he was "very upset" by the
situation.

On Wednesday, the National League for Democracy leader and her two
caretakers were brought to Rangoon's Insein prison to face charges related
to the visit to Suu Kyi's compound, where she is kept under house arrest,
by US citizen John William Yettaw.

"How can they be guilty of this American man coming to their house?" said
Kraisak Choonhavan.

"How they they be charged when she already told him to leave? This is just
getting ridiculous I think."

The conference, originally organised to discuss the broader issue of
political prisoners in Burma, was of course given added significance
following Wednesday's announcement.

Speaking to DVB, the secretary of the Foreign Affairs Department of
National League for Democracy (Liberated Areas), Moe Zaw Oo, said that a
fair trial was highly unlikely.

"There is no rule of law in our country at all," he said.

"The junta will themselves decide on the judge, and the trial will be held
in a makeshift court inside Insein prison. I would say that the judge
cannot be called a real judge."

If convicted, Suu Kyi could face up to fives year in prison. She has
already spent 13 of the last 19 years under house arrest, and is nearing
the end of the sixth year of her current internment.

"It is inconceivable to see a womean remain in a prison where many people
have been tortured, and many have even died," said Choonhavan, speaking of
Insein prison where hundreds of political prisoners are held.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 15, Mizzima News
Thailand hopes for transparency in Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial – Usa Pichai

Thai Foreign Minister, Kasit Piromya, has said Thailand would not
pressurize Burma on Aung San Suu Kyi’s case, but hoped Burma would conduct
the court trial with transparency.

The Thai Foreign Minister said in a press conference on Friday that
Thailand was concerned about Burma’s recent political confusion and Aung
San Suu Kyi’s illness.

“The facts are still unclear on the US citizen case, and we also want the
Burmese government to declare how he could swim to her house, which is
under tight security by the Burmese authorities and what is his objective
for this action. However, the court trial on May 18 should be conducted
with transparency and Thailand is ready to send representatives to the
court if the Burmese government allows us to,” Piromya said.

Suu Kyi was charged on Thursday of allowing an unauthorized US national to
visit her in Rangoon. She was brought to Rangoon's Insein Prison to hear
charges against herself, two party members, who live-in with her and her
personal doctor for allowing an unauthorized visit.

“We hoped that the Burmese government would release Aung San Suu Kyi after
her house-arrest of 6 years, which would follow the ASEAN statement
(released at the ASEAN Summit 14th March 2009) which hopes that Burma will
follow their roadmap to democracy, which included the release of political
prisoners,” Piromya said.

ASEAN has not yet released an official joint opinion on the case, but the
Thai Foreign Minister said that the ASEAN countries may hold a side
meeting on the Burma issue at the ASEAN high level officials meeting on
May 19, 2009.

He also added that the US embassy in Bangkok had contacted the Thai
Foreign Ministry on the case and reported that Hillary Clinton, US
Secretary of State would contact Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN General-Secretary
or may contact Thailand, which is the current ASEAN bloc’s president for
discussions on the situation in Burma.

US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, has urged the government of
Burma to immediately release democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi, calling
the latest charges against her "baseless."

The minister said that he had appointed a Thai ambassador in Rangoon to
discuss with ASEAN member countries in Rangoon, regarding the case.

He also said regarding the discussion with ethnic minorities, which are
anti-government armed groups, that Thailand had discussed matters with the
Karen National Union and had got a document from the group in reply, but
could not yet reveal the contents.

In addition, Thailand is also trying to discuss with others ethnic groups
such as Shan and Mon on the possibility of joining the Burmese junta’s
national reconciliation process. “If they want peace, then armed fighting
is not the solution,” he concluded.

Earlier, Piromya mentioned during his visit to Burma in March, that the
Thai government had agreed to hold talks with the Karen National Union to
join the national reconciliation program towards Burma’s general elections
in 2010, following a call by the ruling Burmese military junta.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 15, Reuters
West rebukes Myanmar on "trumped-up" Suu Kyi case – Aung Hla Tun

Western critics slammed Myanmar's ruling generals on Friday for pressing
"trumped-up" new charges against detained opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, but the move drew only a mild rebuke from Asian neighbours.

The United States, Britain, the European Union, the United Nations and
human rights groups condemned the trial that Suu Kyi faces from Monday on
charges she broke the terms of her house arrest after an American intruder
stayed in her home.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the "regime is clearly intent on
finding any pretext, no matter how tenuous, to extend her unlawful
detention".

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was deeply
troubled by the "baseless" new charges against Suu Kyi and would raise the
issue with China and Southeast Asian countries.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement that
"instead of being arrested she should have been released from house
arrest, which was a clear violation of international law as determined by
the United Nations".

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the charges
should be dropped and told Myanmar to "release her immediately from her
existing detention which is illegal, even under Myanmar's own laws".

"Myanmar authorities might claim Aung San Suu Kyi has breached the
conditions of her detention, but they have broken both their own laws and
their international human rights obligations," Pillay said in a statement
issued in Geneva.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also expressed "grave concerns" and
said Suu Kyi "is an essential partner for dialogue in Myanmar's national
reconciliation".

But their widespread calls to free the ailing 63-year-old, whose latest
six-year detention is due to expire on May 27, were expected to fall on
deaf ears in Yangon.

Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS, said the international
outcry was predictable, but "few doubted that the junta would come up with
some reason to keep her imprisoned".

The charges stem from an incident this month involving American John
William Yettaw, who is alleged to have swum across Inya Lake using
home-made flippers and spent two days in her home.

Yettaw, described by state media as a 53-year-old psychology student and a
resident of Missouri, was charged on Thursday with "illegal swimming",
immigration offences and encouraging others to break the law.

SPECULATION RIFE

Yettaw did not explain his actions to U.S. diplomats during a brief
meeting this week, but speculation about his role was rife on the streets
of Yangon on Friday.

"I think the regime must be behind this incident one way or another. They
do not want to free Daw Suu," said a retired politician, using the Burmese
honorific for older women.

Others were angry at what they called a "publicity stunt" by a troubled man.

"Whatever motive he had, he's made the mess in our country more
complicated. We just can't stand the sight of his picture," said Mie Mie,
a newspaper seller.

Lawyers insist Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years
under some form of detention, did not invite Yettaw and is innocent of the
charges.

In Bangkok, Burmese exiles said the charges, which carry a jail sentence
of up to five years, were aimed at keeping Suu Kyi sidelined ahead of
promised multi-party elections in 2010.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide election
victory in 1990 only to be denied power by the military. Critics say the
polls next year are a sham aimed at entrenching the military's rule.

Activists say China, India and the 10-member Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Myanmar, could use their economic
influence to exert pressure, but reaction in the region has been muted.

"We are questioning whether this trial is proportional or not, in relation
to an American who went into her house," said Teuku Faizasyah, spokesman
for Indonesia's Foreign Ministry.

ASEAN's policy of engagement with the junta has failed to produce
meaningful political reforms, but tough economic sanctions imposed by the
West have not achieved much, either.

Clinton acknowledged that fact during a visit to the region in February,
when she said the Obama administration was looking for new ways to
influence Myanmar's military rulers.

"That a new policy is needed is beyond dispute," Cossa said. "What that
policy should or will be is far from clear." (Additional reporting by
Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Darren Schuettler and Alex
Richardson; Editing by Paul Tait)

____________________________________

May 15, Agence France Presse
Top US senators warn Myanmar over Aung San Suu Kyi

Two top US senators urged Myanmar to free pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi and urged "reform-minded" members of its ruling junta to step forward
to help forge new ties with the United States.

"Now is the time for reform-minded leaders within the military junta to
step forward and be heard," said Democratic Senator John Kerry and
Republican Senator Richard Lugar, the top Senate Foreign Relations
Committee members.

"Releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners would signal the
start of a constructive dialogue with the United States," they said in a
joint statement.

Myanmar's military rulers were facing intense international pressure to
reverse course after the Nobel Peace laureate, 63, was imprisoned ahead of
a new trial next week for breaching the terms of her house arrest.

"The Obama Administration and Congress are reviewing America?s policy
toward Burma. At this critical time, some in the junta are trying to
leverage the recent alleged unauthorized entry into Aung San Suu Kyi?s
compound to extend her detention," said Kerry and Lugar.

The ruling military junta took Aung San Suu Kyi from her home on Thursday
to Yangon's notorious Insein prison, where she was charged over a bizarre
incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside residence.

There was no comment from Myanmar's secretive regime, which has kept the
frail opposition leader in detention for most of the last 19 years and now
looks set to do so past controversial elections that are due next year.

"This action sends precisely the wrong message to the citizens of Burma,
the people of Southeast Asia, and all those in the global community who
seek for the Burmese people the opportunity to live in a country where
universal human rights are respected, not trampled," said Kerry and Lugar.

____________________________________

May 15, Associated Press
Nobel committee blasts Aung San Suu Kyi treatment

The Nobel Peace Prize awards committee issued a rare public statement
Friday to condemn the imprisonment of 1991 peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
and to demand her immediate release.

The 63-year-old opposition leader was jailed on Thursday on charges of
violating her house arrest. She has spent 13 of the past 19 years in
detention without trial for her nonviolent promotion of democracy.

The secretive Nobel committee traditionally does not comment on past
laureates. However, its non-voting secretary Geir Lundestad said they are
deeply concerned about Suu Kyi and had made earlier appeals on her behalf.

"We sent this because it is a matter of the life and health of a
laureate," Lundestad told The Associated Press.

The five-member committee said in the statement that it "protests strongly
against the way in which the government of Myanmar (Burma) has treated
Aung San Suu Kyi. Her recent detention in prison is totally unacceptable.
She has done nothing wrong."

Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy won national elections in
1990, but the military junta refused to relinquish power. She was not able
to attend her Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony because she was under
house arrest, so her son Alexander Aris accepted the prize for her in
1991.

"The unacceptable treatment of her has to come to an immediate end. Recent
reports about Aung San Suu Kyi's health are of great concern. We demand
that she be given the necessary medical assistance without delay," said
the Nobel committee.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 15, Irrawaddy
The Lady, a “fool” and a crazy dictator – Aung Zaw

Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Kyi Win, is an angry man. His client is now in
jail as a result of a madcap escapade by the American intruder John
William Yettaw.

“Everyone is very angry with this wretched American,” said Kyi Win. “He is
the cause of all these problems. He's a fool.”

While creating serious problems for Suu Kyi and her National League for
Democracy (NLD), the American swimmer was a blessing in disguise for the
regime leaders in Naypyidaw. They now have an excuse to extend Suu Kyi’s
current six-year term of detention, which was to have ended this month.

The bizarre affair pits an eccentric American against a man who probably
is really insane—the junta’s cunning leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Indications of the state of Than Shwe’s unsound mind first surfaced in the
early 2000s, when he and his family were reported to be behaving like
royalty.

In 2005, Than Shwe relocated Burma’s capital to Naypyidaw after secretly
constructing a new power center in the rural depths of Burma, at an
estimated cost running into billions of dollars.

Than Shwe then bought a 10-megawatt nuclear reactor from Russia and
declared to a doubting world that the secrecy-shrouded investment was for
peaceful purposes. He reportedly confided to his subordinates that he
planned to make Burma a nuclear nation.

He is said to be a devout Buddhist and recently participated with family
members in the consecration of a replica of Rangoon’s famous Shwedagon
Pagoda.

For all his devout piety, however, family sources suggest that Than Shwe
and his wife are superstitious and often consult astrologers, even when
making major policy decisions.

Among these decisions were moves to steer Burma into an even darker corner
of the world—by restoring formal diplomatic ties, for instance, with North
Korea.

Relations between the two countries were broken off in 1983 after a
Rangoon bomb attack by North Korean terrorists on a visiting South Korean
delegation headed by then-President Chun Doo-hwan.

Burma has sent secret missions to North Korea, and although little news
emerges about these visits it is known that the regime is buying arms,
including short-range missiles, from the hermit state.

In May 2003, Than Shwe and his hard-line ministers launched an attack on a
Suu Kyi motorcade in the heartland of Burma.

The thuggish attack on Suu Kyi and her supporters sparked outrage within
the international community. Than Shwe and his regime responded by placing
her under house arrest.

Despite the treatment she received at the hands of the regime, Suu Kyi
made clear she bore no grudge and extended an olive branch to Than Shwe,
seeking political dialogue and national reconciliation.

Than Shwe, however, made clear for his part that he had no interest in
meeting Suu Kyi. Instead, he introduced the country to a “road map”
leading to what he promised would be “disciplined democracy.”

A new constitution was drawn up and put to the country in 2008 in a
national referendum which not even Cyclone Nargis could delay.

The regime made the preposterous claim that the rigged referendum had been
approved by more than 90 percent of the electorate. The document provided
for a general election to be held in 2010, although no precise date has
yet been announced—and even an election law is still awaited.

Suu Kyi’s NLD—outright winner of the 1990 election—recently took a bold
step and said it would participate in the 2010 election if the regime met
a series of demands, including the release of all political prisoners,
including Suu Kyi, changes to the constitution and for international
observers to be allowed to monitor the poll.

Interestingly, the NLD did not call on the regime to honor the outcome of
the 1990 election. Analysts greeted the moderate stance.

Than Shwe had other things on his mind and rejected an appeal by Suu Kyi’s
lawyers to free her. He was clearly looking for a reason to justify an
extension of her detention.

He was also eager to build the regime’s image and inform the public about
“progress” in his country.

Two weeks ago, while not bothering to commemorate the one-year anniversary
of Cyclone Nargis, Than Shwe arrogantly claimed at a top brass meeting
that his country had almost tripled its rice production over the past two
decades. He claimed a food surplus existed, despite the destruction in the
delta and reports of famine in Chin State.

“There is no need to worry about food even when the nation's population
reaches 100 million,” Than Shwe boasted.

His message appeared to be that since Burma has enough rice all its
problems are solved. He enjoys living in this world of his own.

The xenophobic regime supremo shuns visiting UN envoys and doesn’t like
meeting ambassadors who raise the issue of Suu Kyi’s detention. He is said
to take refuge in pre-emptive action when meeting foreign dignitaries who
dare to raise the issue.

With Yettaw and Suu Kyi in prison, Than Shwe may have thought that he has
more justification to lecture his foreign guests on the reasons for
keeping the Lady behind bars.

If any foreign officials are ready to accept such an explanation, Than
Shwe will not need to seek psychiatric treatment.

____________________________________

May 15, The Times of London
Barbarous Burma

The junta's threat to jail Aung San Suu Kyi is a cynical attempt to
silence her before next year's election. Though lacking leverage, the West
must not compromise.

Stalin is the model. Burma's generals are following the Soviet dictator's
sadistic approach to justice: rearresting political prisoners just as
their term comes to an end, introducing spurious new charges and
sentencing them to a further long term in prison or a labour camp. Aung
San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who has spent 13 of the past 19 years
under close house arrest, was due, under Burmese law, to be released in
two weeks' time. Yesterday, however, she was taken from the house where
she has been isolated for the past five years to a notoriously harsh
prison, accused of breaking the terms of her house arrest and threatened
with a further five years in jail. It is the despicable, cowardly act of a
junta that fears the moral authority of a Nobel Peace prizewinner and is
determined to break her spirit as well as her health (see page 4).

The pretext is absurd. Ms Suu Kyi is accused of allowing a 53-year-old
American psychology student to pay her an unauthorised visit and stay two
days in her compound. John Yettaw swam across a lake to reach her,
apparently unnoticed by the guards and unhindered by the security presence
around Ms Suu Kyi's house. His motives remain unclear, although he made a
similar attempt last year. Whatever the explanation, the generals have
found in this modern Leander a pretext to keep the leader of the National
League for Democracy in prison until after next year's promised multiparty
elections - a clear indication that, even now, the junta is planning how
to rig the vote to remain in power.

Ms Suu Kyi is a woman of great courage. Time and again she has stood up,
frail and isolated, against the junta's attempts to silence, bribe or
exile her. She refused the one-way ticket out of Burma to visit her
British husband when he was dying of cancer in 1999. She has never
compromised on the principle of a free vote, despite attempts to enlist
her in a sham deal that could be presented to her supporters as a
political concession. Even while held incommunicado, she has exuded the
powerful moral authority that inspired many Burmese to support the doomed
attempt by Buddhist monks to demand basic freedoms and human rights in
2007.

Whatever the outrage at her brutal treatment, however, the truth is that
the West has little leverage. The two countries that matter most to Burma
are China and India, and neither yet is ready to assume the
responsibilities that must surely come with power. China sees Burma as a
strategic ally, offering oil, raw materials and a deep-water port for the
Chinese Navy. India also has no interest in confrontation: Burma abuts
India's small, isolated and unstable states in the northeast that are
plagued with rebellion and separatism. India needs stability on the
borders and co-operation in halting arms smuggling.

The Obama Administration has begun a review of policy on the junta,
concluding that neither engagement nor punishment has worked.

That does not presage any softening: senators Obama, Biden and Clinton all
voted for renewed sanctions last year after Rangoon's refusal to accept
foreign help after the cyclone. But even if sanctions continue, change
will probably come only if the junta sees the need for development and an
end to Burma's pariah status.

Its proposed "road map to democracy" poses a dilemma to the opposition.
Should it boycott the election, knowing that intimidation will deliver the
vote to the generals? If it does, it loses all influence and makes it
easier for timid neighbours to argue that the junta has done enough to
restore democracy. If it takes part, it may win a few seats but will
compromise its principles.

The key remains Ms Suu Kyi. The junta is taking no risk that her voice
will be heard. She will not compromise. Neither should the West.
____________________________________

May 15, Reuters UK
Stop tip-toeing around and save Suu Kyi – Zoya Phan

If statements of concern were enough to influence the brutal dictatorship
ruling my country, then opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the people
of Burma would have been freed many years ago. It is impossible to count
the number of statements from world leaders condemning the dictatorship,
whether it be for imprisoning Aung San Suu Kyi, crushing democracy
uprisings, or blocking aid after Cyclone Nargis last year.

But while these statements are welcome, they are clearly not enough. Burma
is not run by politicians or diplomats. The generals ruling my country are
brutal killers. They spent years in the jungles of Burma engaged in a
campaign of ethnic cleansing against ethnic people. They use rape as a
weapon of war, torture and shoot on sight. Babies are snatched from the
arms of their mothers and thrown into the burning homes of innocent
villagers. Landmines are laid in church doorways, deliberately aimed at
those going to pray. Why do the United Nations and so many other countries
think that statements and soft diplomacy is the way to influence people
who are involved in such horrors?

Now, once again, Aung San Suu Kyi has been taken to the notorious Insein
Jail. Once again there is an international outcry. So far, once again, the
generals are ignoring it. How many times will we have to go over the same
old ground before the international community wakes up to the nature of
the generals they are dealing with? These generals are not immune to
pressure. They depend on international trade and investment for their
survival. It funds their luxury lifestyles and pays for the guns they use
to keep their grip on power. They crave international acceptance and
legitimacy, which is why they are pushing ahead with sham elections next
year. They are vulnerable to real pressure, but it has never been properly
applied.

It is time to hold Burma’s generals to account. The United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma has said that the dictatorship is
breaking the Geneva Conventions by deliberately targeting civilians in
Eastern Burma. That makes them war criminals. Why aren’t they in an
international court? The International Labour Organisation has said the
dictatorship is committing a crime against humanity for its use of forced
labour. Why aren’t they facing a case at the International Court of
Justice? The United Nations has also said that Aung San Suu Kyi’s
detention is illegal under international law. Why has no action been
taken?

It is time to stop tip-toeing around the generals, and treat them like the
criminals they are.

In most countries if someone commits a serious crime they are hunted down,
tried and imprisoned. Imagine if someone committed a murder in London, and
the response of the police was just to issue a statement saying they are
deeply concerned by the murder, and asks the murderer not to do it again,
or they’ll issue another statement.

Burma’s generals belong in jail. Until they face a real threat of being
held accountable for their criminal behaviour, they will keep on jailing
Aung San Suu Kyi, keep slaughtering ethnic civilians, and keep ignoring
the international community.

- Zoya Phan is international coordinator at The Burma Campaign UK. Her
autobiography, Little Daughter, was published by Simon and Schuster in
April. The opinions expressed are her own. -

____________________________________
STATEMENTS

May 15, The Elders
The Elders call for release of fellow Elder Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

On Monday 18 May the Burmese political leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is to be
put on trial. Along with her two housekeepers and US citizen John Yettaw,
she has been charged with violating the terms of her house arrest. All
those charged, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are currently being held in
Insein maximum security prison outside Yangon where numerous other
political prisoners are also detained. The trial will be held inside the
prison.

The Elders, of whom Aung San Suu Kyi is an honorary member, urge world
leaders not to tolerate this latest attempt by the military regime in
Burma/Myanmar to extend her detention, which has been found to be illegal
by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s latest period of house arrest began in 2003 and is due
to expire on 27 May 2009. Her Burmese lawyer U Kyi Win says the latest
charges carry a penalty of up to 5 years in prison.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chair of the Elders said: “This so-called trial
is absurd. It is an excuse by the junta to extend her incarceration yet
again. Our sister must be released immediately!”

President Jimmy Carter said: “The regime is clearly seeking reasons not to
release her. We stand by Aung San Suu Kyi, our fellow Elder, and urge the
United Nations and ASEAN to dispatch envoys to Burma to demand her
immediate release.”

Mary Robinson said: “Aung San Suu Kyi has been illegally detained for 13
years. This trial is just as illegal. It is not credible for the
government to persist with this strategy in order to extend her
imprisonment. She should be freed immediately. ”

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained alone in her home in Yangon for 13 of
the past 19 years by the military junta of Burma/Myanmar.

Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel, who co-founded The Elders, invited Aung
San Suu Kyi to join the group when it was formally convened in 2007.
Because of her ongoing house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi has been unable to
join her fellow Elders, who nevertheless always keep an empty chair for
her at their meetings.

Desmond Tutu: Release our sister now! Absurd ‘trial’ is an excuse to
extend her incarceration.

Jimmy Carter: We stand by Aung San Suu Kyi and call on world leaders to
demand her immediate release.

Mary Robinson: Aung San Suu Kyi has been illegally imprisoned for 13 years
– this trial is also illegal.

About The Elders

The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders brought
together by Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel, who offer their collective
influence and experience to help resolve conflicts, address major causes
of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.

The Elders are Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Brundtland,
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Graça Machel, Mary Robinson,
Desmond Tutu (Chair) and Muhammad Yunus. Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu
Kyi are honorary Elders.

____________________________________

May 14, Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs and Ministry of State
Responsible for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights
Arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi – Bernard Kouchner and Rama Yade

France utterly condemns the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and her transfer to
Insein prison.

This decision is even more unacceptable in that the Nobel Peace
Prizewinner’s health has deteriorated over the past several days. We
reiterate our condemnation of her doctor’s arrest last week.

France holds the Burmese authorities responsible for the conditions under
which Aung San Suu Kyi is being detained and for any further deterioration
in her state of health. Her release is becoming more urgent than ever.

France again condemns the Burmese authorities’ repeated human rights
violations. She calls on the Burmese government to release unconditionally
Aung San Suu Kyi and the leaders of the Burmese opposition and begin a
necessary dialogue with them, the only way to confer on the elections
scheduled in 2010 a legitimacy and credibility which, in the current
circumstances, they totally lack.

We are keen to discuss the political and human rights situation in Burma
with our European Union partners at Monday’s General Affairs and External
Relations Council meeting.
____________________________________

May 15, Not On Our Watch
Free Aung San Suu Kyi

Nineteen years ago, the Burmese people chose Aung San Suu Kyi to be their
next leader. And for most of those 19 years she has been kept under house
arrest by the military junta that now runs the country. She is the world’s
only incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Yesterday Suu Kyi was taken to Burma’s Insein prison to face criminal
charges as part of a concerted plan to deny her freedom.

We must not stand by as she is silenced once again. Now is the time for
the United Nations and the entire international community to speak
clearly, and with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi.

In support,

George Clooney, Sec. Madeleine Albright, Wes Anderson, Bono, Matthew
Broderick, Sandra Bullock, James Carville, Michael Chabon, Anderson
Cooper, Daniel Craig, John Cusack, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Jake
Gyllenhaal, Václav Havel, Helen Hunt, Anjelica Huston, Scarlett Johansson,
Nicole Kidman, Ashton Kutcher, Norman Lear, Madonna, Mary Matalin, Sen.
John & Cindy McCain, Rose McGowan, Orhan Pamuk, Sarah Jessica Parker,
Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro,
Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Robert Rodriguez, Salman Rushdie, Meg Ryan,
George Soros, Steven Spielberg, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Prof. Elie
Wiesel, Owen Wilson

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 15, Burma Campaign UK
Actors, writers, and designers call for release of Aung San Suu Kyi

Some of Britain’s most distinguished actors and writers have added their
names to a global petition for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all
Burma’s political prisoners. The petition calls on United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to make securing the release of the
prisoners a top priority.

Yesterday, Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was imprisoned in
Burma’s notorious Insein jail. She will face a trial on Friday for
breaking the terms of her house arrest, after an American entered her home
and refused to leave.

Ben Kingsley, Joanna Lumley, Diane Rigg, Zoe Wanamaker, Juliet Stevenson,
Tony Robinson, Phillip Pullman, Monica Ali and Joanna Trollope are among
30 famous people to back the Free Burma’s Political Prisoners Now!
campaign. The campaign is being organised by former political prisoners

“The world is horrified by the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and more than
2,000 other political prisoners,” said Zoya Phan, International
Coordinator at Burma Campaign UK. “Ban Ki Moon must take action, not just
sit behind a desk in New York issuing statements of concern.”

More than three-hundred thousand people have signed the petition calling
for UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to secure the release of Burma’s
political prisoners.

A new report – Silent Killing Fields - published this week by the
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, has exposed the systematic
denial of medical care for political prisoners. Last week Aung San Suu
Kyi, who is ill and under house arrest, was denied medical care after her
doctor was arrested. Although her doctor’s assistant has now been allowed
to visit her, her doctor remains in jail, with no explanation from the
dictatorship as to why he has been arrested.

The petition can be signed online at:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/fbppn.htm

Full list of those supporting the campaign:

Ben Kingsley, Joanna Lumley, Ian McKellan, Jo Brand, Zoe Wanamaker,
Victoria Wood, Diana Rigg, Tony Robinson, Juliet Stevenson, Tom Stoppard,
Monica Ali, Iain Banks, Charles Dance,
Terry Gilliam, Ben Fogle, Sandy Gall, David Hare, Nicholas Hytner, Miriam
Karlin, John O'Farrell,
Philip Pullman, Rose Tremain, Joanna Trollope, Sarah Waters, Selina Scott,
Sharon Davies, Nicole Farhi, Tim Sebastian, Jane Asher, Maureen Lipman

For more information contact Zoya Phan on 44 (0)7738630139