BurmaNet News, June 17, 2009

[Editor]

June 17, 2009, Issue #3736


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar court allows Suu Kyi final witness appeal
DVB: Over 700,000 stateless persons in Burma
Kachin News Group: Junta to resettle 200,000 Burmans in Hukawng Valley

ON THE BORDER
AP: Myanmar said to overrun 3 Karen rebel positions
DPA: Bangladesh to go to UN in maritime row with India and Myanmar

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: Junta out of step with Asean economic ambition

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: China adds ‘democracy,’ ‘economic growth’ to Burma policy
Asia Pulse: 150,000 Myanmar working in Malaysia

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: U.N.'s Ban urged to help free Myanmar prisoners
AP: Diplomats: Myanmar ready to host visit by UN chief

OPINION / OTHER
Telegraph (UK): It's not too late to rescue Burma from further tragedy –
Benedict Rogers
WSJ: Asean's Burma burden – Eva Kusuma Sundari
Nation (Thailand): India's stance on Burma long overdue for change –
Editorial
Huffington Post (US): Iran uprising: Historic parallels to today's
protests – Stuart Whatley




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 17, Associated Press
Myanmar court allows Suu Kyi final witness appeal

Myanmar's highest court said Wednesday it will allow a final appeal by
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's defense lawyers for the reinstatement
of two key witnesses at her trial, her lawyer said.

Defense lawyer Nyan Win called the ruling ''good news'' and said the High
Court was expected to set a date for the appeal on Friday.

Four truckloads of armed riot police circled the court, and two trucks
mounted with machine guns and filled with riot police were parked outside.
Tight security is standard during hearings in the trial.

Suu Kyi is charged with having violated the terms of her house arrest when
an uninvited American man swam secretly to her closely guarded lakeside
home last month and stayed two days.

The trial has drawn outrage from the international community and from Suu
Kyi's local supporters, who say the military government is using the
bizarre incident as an excuse to keep the Nobel Peace Prize laureate
detained through next year's elections.

Suu Kyi's trial, which started May 18, has been delayed to allow appeals
for more defense witnesses. Nyan Win said the High Court appeal would
cause further delays to the trial, which was scheduled to resume June 26.

The District Court trying Suu Kyi initially allowed only one of four
defense witnesses to take the stand. On appeal, the Yangon Divisional
Court ruled last week that a second witness could be heard. Two senior
members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party -- Tin Oo and Win
Tin -- remain barred from giving testimony.

It is widely expected that Suu Kyi will be found guilty. Courts in Myanmar
are known for handing out harsh sentences to political dissidents.

If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.

Suu Kyi, who has been detained for more than 13 of the last 19 years, will
spend her 64th birthday Friday in Yangon's Insein prison, where was
transferred from house arrest on May 14.

____________________________________

June 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Over 700,000 stateless persons in Burma – Francis Wade

Burma has the world’s third largest population of stateless persons
according to the UN refugee agency, while at the same time Burmese
refugees were last year the main beneficiaries of UN resettlement
programmes.

The issue of stateless persons in Burma was thrown into the spotlight
earlier this year when around 1000 ethnic Muslim Rohingya refugees from
western Burma washed up on Thailand’s shores, only to be towed back out to
sea and set adrift by Thai authorities.

The incident shed light of the plight of the Rohingya, who are not
recognized by the Burmese government and suffer frequent discrimination
due to their lack of legal status.

In total, around 723,571 people are considered to be stateless in Burma,
according to an annual Global Trends report released yesterday by the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The report warned however that figures do not “capture the full magnitude
of the phenomenon of statelessness - a significant number of stateless
people have not been identified and statistical data on statelessness is
not yet available in many cases”.

Alongside the Rohingya, other ethnic groups such as Burmese Chinese,
Burmese Indian and Panthay are not recognized by the government.

Burma is also home to over 500,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs),
the majority of which are in eastern Karen state, who have been forced out
of their homes largely by fighting between the Burmese army and the Karen
National Union.

No data was available for the total number of Burmese refugees living
abroad, although Burma is thought to contribute the majority of the total
3.5 million stateless persons living in neighbouring Thailand.

That situation has been compounded by the exodus of around 4000 civilians
from eastern Karen state in recent weeks who are fleeing a government
offensive against the Karen National Union.

Furthermore, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(UNOCHA) on Monday warned that even children with migrant status in
Thailand were struggling to access education.

However around 23,200 Burmese benefited from UNHCR-facilitated
resettlement programmes last year, the majority of these departing from
Thailand. This, according to the report, was the world’s highest
proportion.

Globally, however, the situation last year for refugees was bleak, with a
total of 42 million people had been uprooted by conflict.

The UNHCR found that numbers of IDPs in the world was at an historical
high of more than 28 million, catalysed latterly by the intensification in
recent months of conflict in Pakistan’s Swat valley, which had forced some
2 million to leave their homes, and in Sri Lanka where 300,000 were held
in intenrment camps following government offensives against the Tamil
Tigers.

____________________________________

June 17, Kachin News Group
Junta to resettle 200,000 Burmans in Hukawng Valley

The Burmese military junta plans to resettle 200,000 Burman people in
ethnic Kachin's Hukawng Valley (also called Hugawng in Kachin)  in the
country's northern Kachin State before 2010, said regime insiders.

The new Burman settlers, who make up the majority of the country’s
population, will be mainly settled in areas close to three Kachin villages
known as Nawng Mi, Sahtu Zup and Wara Zup on the Ledo or Stilwell Road
also called Burma Road during WW II, added insiders.

In the guise of Rangoon-based Yuzana Company's crop plantation in the
Valley, only Burman people from different areas of lower Burma have been
resettled in the Valley since late 2006, said native Kachins from the
Valley.

U Htay Myint a Chinese-Burman from Kutkai town in northeast Shan State
chairs the company, which bought over 200,000 acres of land in Hukawng
Valley from the junta.  The purchase was politically motivated, said
company sources.

The company is now continuously transporting Burman workers into its crop
plantation area in the Valley. However, many workers are leaving the job
and fleeing because of very low salaries, said sources among workers.

All runaway workers not only do not return homes from the Valley but the
company also does not have a programme of bringing them back, added
company sources.

The company has already constructed over 1500 houses for the workers in
identical styles in two separate places. Two Thai-styled big factories are
also being constructed in two different places near the labour quarters,
said eyewitnesses.

The company is now mainly growing Cassava Plants and Sugar Cane in the
newly ploughed fields, said eyewitnesses.  The glue and curry-sweet powder
are being produced for export from next year, according to company
sources.

Till now, the junta has already resettled over 40,000 Burman people from
lower Burma in the Valley. They were systematically transported by both
Yuzana Company and local Burmese Army battalions, said native Kachin
community leaders.

There are an estimated 20,000 native Kachin in villages in the Hukawng
Valley along the Ledo Road starting from Namti to Shingbwi Yang. The
entire Valley has been separately ruled by 12 Kachin Duwas (rulers) in
Kachin history until the Britishers gave Burma Independence on January 4,
1948.

At the same time, Htoo Company owned by the Burman tycoon U Te Za (also
spelled Tay Za), son-in-law of the junta supremo Senior General Than Shwe
is taking out at least 50 trucks of hardwood per day from the Valley to
Mogaung train station for export under the banner of Yuzana Company, said
company sources.

Besides, U Te Za's Htoo Company is also practically supporting the Yuzana
Company with essential finance and construction machinery, according to
company insiders.

Recently, the junta's Northern Command (Ma Pa Kha) commander Brig-Gen Soe
Win landed in a helicopter at the helipad in No. 1 Yuzana Village of
Yuzana Company in the Valley. He proudly spoke to the local people that
the crop plantation can be done by every one because peace has been
restored in the Valley, said local people.

The Hukawng Valley was named as the world largest Tiger Reserve by the
US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in 2004. However, the Yunaza
Company is destroying the reserve by heavy logging and converting forests
into crop fields, said locals.

Locals and eyewitnesses told KNG, the Yuzana Company has already occupied
and destroyed the No. 1 Tiger Conservation Camp near Nawng Mi village for
crop plantation.

The Burman-dominated junta’s response to people or organizations who
oppose the crop plantation of Yuzana Company by saying, "Man is more
important than the Tiger", said company sources.

Kachin people in Burma feels that the junta is deeply is into ethnic
cleansing and huge land confiscation in Hukawng Valley by using the Yuzana
Company and local Burmese Army bases.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 17, Associated Press
Myanmar said to overrun 3 Karen rebel positions –Caroline Stauffer

Myanmar government forces have overrun three Karen rebel positions in an
offensive that has forced thousands of refugees across the Thai border, an
aid group said Wednesday, even as the rebels claimed to have killed or
wounded scores of government soldiers.

Myanmar troops and their allies in the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a
local militia, launched an offensive against Karen National Union
strongholds in early June, shelling their camps and sending more than
4,000 civilians fleeing into Thailand.

The KNU says Ler Per Her camp in Myanmar, which sheltered internal
refugees, was abandoned last week _ prompting one of the largest refugee
movements into Thailand in recent years _ and that government forces were
trying to overrun five Karen positions in the area of the camp.

The Free Burma Rangers, which helps displaced people in eastern Myanmar,
said Wednesday that government troops had overrun three of those
positions.

KNU spokesman David Thaw maintained that the guerrillas have largely
repelled the offensive and "killed or wounded 148 soldiers" in recent
weeks. Only five Karen have been killed in the fighting, he said.

A spokesman for Myanmar's military government did not respond to a request
for comment, and it was impossible to independently verify the claims
because reporters cannot access the area.

The KNU has been fighting for more than 60 years for greater autonomy from
Myanmar's central government, but its strength has dwindled over the past
decade due to army offensives and divisions within its ranks.

Some 100,000 mostly Karen refugees already shelter in camps in Thailand
after fleeing counterinsurgency operations in the past two decades, while
aid agencies say nearly half a million others are internally displaced
inside eastern Myanmar.

The latest refugees were taking shelter about 60 miles (100 kilometers)
north of Mae Sot, a border town that is 240 miles (380 kilometers)
northwest of the Thai capital, Bangkok.

Human rights groups as well as the United Nations have long accused the
Myanmar government of torture, killings and rape of Karen civilians in
their attempts to stamp out the insurgency. The military regime denies
such allegations.

____________________________________

June 17, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Bangladesh to go to UN in maritime row with India and Myanmar

Bangladesh will formally complain to the United Nations against claims of
India and Myanmar in a row over maritime waters in the Bay of Bengal, the
country's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed said Wednesday.

The dispute centres on the extended continental shelf in the bay which
Bangladesh shares with its neighbours - over 22000 square with India and
22,000 nautical miles with Myanmar.

"A diplomatic protest note will be sent to the United Nations against the
(maritime) claims of India and Myanmar," the premier told parliament while
responding to questions during her weekly question time in the House.

The Bangladesh permanent mission at the United Nations was preparing the
note in consultation with local and international experts. It will be
submitted to the United Nations at the earliest opportunity, she added.

"The government is also trying to resolve the disputes with India and
Myanmar through bilateral diplomatic channels," Hasina said referring to
meetings with Myanmar in the last couple of years for demarcation of their
territorial waters.

The deadline for officially registering for Bangladesh's claim for its
maritime boundary is July 27, 2011, Hasina said adding her government
would do the same well ahead of the timeline.

Myanmar and India had made their submissions to the UN for their extended
continental shelf on December 16, 2008, and May 11, 2009, respectively.

____________________________________
ASEAN

June 17, Irrawaddy
Junta out of step with Asean economic ambition – William Boot

Singapore’s “no new investment without reform” message to the Burmese
generals is more than just a tough response to the widely condemned trial
of Aung San Suu Kyi, say regional analysts.

It signals an end to the old indulgence of the junta for commercial
reasons, and the beginning of a new collective more responsible attitude
in with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Singapore has been one of Burma’s biggest investors over the last 15 years
and has been a de facto banking house for the regime. But the global
financial crisis has changed that, possibly forever.

“The current financial crisis, and Singapore's grave exposure to it, makes
[Singapore Senior Minister] Goh Chok Tong’s gesture more meaningful than
it would be in more tranquil and prosperous times,” said Burma economy
expert Prof Sean Turnell.

The cost of associating with the Burmese junta are “rather more than
Singapore seems willing to pay” in its worst financial crisis in more than
40 years, said Turnell, who produces the Burma Economic Watch for
Macquarie University in Australia.

For a long time, Singapore was Burma’s second-largest investor, spending
heavily in tourism developments such as hotels and other areas.

China’s increasing importance to the junta had already pushed Singapore
into investment third place.

Singapore banks have traditionally been a haven for money from both the
junta chiefs and the leading Burmese companies that do business with them.

Singapore’s state-controlled Channel News Asia reported that Goh advised
junta leader Than Shwe during a visit to Naypyidaw earlier this month that
Singapore investors would likely stay away until “the picture is clear,
before this move to democracy is seen to produce results.”

He was referring to the trial of Suu Kyi and the junta’s promised national
elections in 2010.

Significantly, Goh is also chairman of the city state’s central bank, the
Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Turnell said that while Singapore’s economy was booming it was easy for
the city state to indulge Burma’s excesses and ignore international
opinion and Western-led sanctions.

“In straightened times the tolerance to one's indigent and grasping
relatives in the Asean family might just stretch affections,” he told The
Irrawaddy.

In prosperous times, the economic “cushion” allows countries such as
Singapore to “ignore the reputational damage of indulging Burma's military
leaders.”

“Now such a cushion is threadbare indeed, and the costs of associating
with Burma's dysfunctional state apparatus are rather more than Singapore
seems willing to pay.”

Singapore’s blunt economic message to Than Shwe and his cohorts comes as
more member countries of Asean begin to openly criticize the junta and
especially its trumped up trial of Suu Kyi on spurious allegations widely
perceived as being intended to stop her participation in next year’s
promised elections.

“Aung San Suu Kyi may be behind bars, but the junta is in the hot seat,”
said the chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs,
Simon Tay.

 “In the present circumstances, it is not only Western democracies and
activists who protest what is being done. The telling evidence of the
weight of opinion comes from looking across members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.”

And the reason, again, is economic.

Asean finally seems to have lost patience with its former tolerance and
indulgence of the Burmese junta’s excesses, said the analysts.

“As Asean moves more determinedly toward a European Union style of
economic community, with free trade, free movement of people and respect
for human rights which lie at the core of the EU’s purpose, it can no
longer continue to ignore a festering sore,” said the economic attaché of
a European embassy in Bangkok, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to
the still sensitive nature of the issue.

“The political and economic landscape of this region is changing forever
and the Burmese generals have yet to realize they are not only out of step
but out of time,” he said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 17, Irrawaddy
China adds ‘democracy,’ ‘economic growth’ to Burma policy – Wai Moe

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has told the Burma’s No 2 leader, Vice Snr-Gen
Maung Aye, on Tuesday in Beijing that China hopes the military junta will
promote democracy in Burma.

According to a Chinese language news website, www.news.qq.com, Wen said in
order to achieve Burma’s national reconciliation, safeguard national
stability and economic development, Beijing hoped the military government
would promote democracy.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Burma’s No 2 leader, Vice Snr-Gen Maung
Aye, greet each other in Beijing on Tuesday.
Apart from the political situation in Burma, Wen also spoke of the nearly
six decade long diplomatic ties between the neighboring countries as well
as sustained bilateral relations.

The Chinese media reported that Maung Aye said during his meeting with Wen
on Tuesday that “Paukphaw,” or deep friendship relation between Burma and
China, have been deepen even more. He thanked the Chinese government for
its aid for economic and social development in Burma.

Maung Aye also said Burma supported the one-China policy when he met with
Premier Wen, the Chinese media reported.

Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese analyst based on the Sino-Burmese border, said it
was a positive step for Bejing to add democracy, national reconciliation
and economic development to its old policy of “stability” in Burma.

“Wen Jiabao’s words of national reconciliation, stability and economic
development to Gen Maung Aye reflected China’s current Burma policy,” he
said.

However, other Burma observers are still skeptical about China’s policy on
Burma, saying Beijing only focuses on its own economic and military
interests in regard to Burma.

“I do not expect much out of this visit and certainly not Chinese pressure
on Naypyidaw to adopt reforms,” Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian
Studies at Temple University’s Japan campus, told The Irrawaddy.

 “China wants stability on its border and even if it has some reservations
about the SPDC's methods and capabilities, it shows no inclination to
gamble on democracy or condemn human rights abuses.”

He noted that Burma’s powerful neighbors, China and India, are its largest
trading partners and their dependence on natural resources and desire for
a stable Burma trump their interests in a free and democratic Burma.

“The development of Burma is for their own interests,” he said.

During his China visit, Muang Aye was accompanied by ministers and seniors
officials of Burma’s Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, Ministry of
Commerce, Ministry of Energy as well as representatives from Burmese
businesses.

According to Aung Kyaw Zaw, www.news.qq.com also recently republished an
article by Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner on North Korea’s involvement
in tunnel and underground facility construction in Burma.

Observers say Beijing is observing the relationship between Burma and
North Korea, and does not want North Korea to help the Burmese generals
achieve nuclear or missile capabilities, such as in Iran and Syria.

“Definitely, China will not want two more nuclear power countries on its
northeast and southwest border,” Aung Kyaw Zaw said.

In last year, officials of Burma and North Korea exchanged a number of
visits. Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win visited North Korea in October
2008. In November 2008, North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Young Il
stopped in Burma before he flew to Iran. The junta’s No 3 leader, General
Shwe Mann, reportedly visited Pyongyang in April 2008.

During Maung Aye visit to China, Kim Jong Un, 26, the favored youngest son
of the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il, also made a secret trip from
Pyongyang to Beijing last week.

“It is interesting that Maung Aye's visit follows that by a delegation
from North Korea, two pariah regimes that owe much to Beijing's
support—economic, diplomatic and military,” said Kingston.

____________________________________

June 17, Asia Pulse
150,000 Myanmar working in Malaysia

About 3.5 million Myanmars have fled the country and are now living in
refugee camps or have sought employment abroad, including an estimated
150,000 in Malaysia, the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) said Tuesday.

Its researcher, Stephen Hull, said that among the three milion people who
were now in Thailand, about 135,000 were cramped in 10 refugee camps along
the Thai-Myanmar border, with the Karen ethnic group being the single
largest group.

He said between 50,000 and 60,000 were in Singapore, up to 100,000 ethnic
Chin from western Myanmar lived in the north-eastern Indian state of
Mizoram while about 200,000 Rohingya, also from the western side, had
settled in eastern Bangladesh.

"Most of the people fled the country because of poverty or torture and
forced labour carried out by Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC)," he said at the launch of the KHRG's report on "Abuse,
Poverty and Migration: Investigating migrants' motivations to leave home
in Burma." here Tuesday.

He said the number of Karens fleeing the country was expected to rise,
citing the 3,000 villagers who crossed into Thailand early this month from
Dta Greh Township, following the joint SPDC and Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army forces attack on a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) camp, as
well as those fleeing forced recruitment as porters to carry supplies for
the troops.

The KHRG said this was the largest refugee exodus from Karen state on a
single occasion since 1997.

The report said many of the Myanmars were seen as economic migrants,
approximately 135,000 individuals in refugee camps in Thailand, about
1,500 UNHCR-recognised refugees in India and 26,000 Rohingya residing
within two officially recognised refugee camps in Bangladesh are
acknowledged as forced migrants entitled to host-government or UN
assistance.

Jackie Pollock from the MAP Foundation (Thailand) said that despite the
Karen people fleeing the country to escape the attack and torture, many
receiving countries, including Thailand, regarded them as a threat to the
national security.

She said statistics compiled by several international agencies showed that
there were 200,000 migrant children in Thailand while more than 200,000
aged between 15 to 18 years had registered to work in the kingdom.

Asked how the workers send back money to support their families, she said
many of them used brokers who charged small amounts of commission or
through friends returning home.

Pollock said that while many of the Asean countries continued to address
the migrant issues, the regional grouping had set up a committee to
implement a non-binding declaration on the migrant workers.

On claims that many of the Myanmars were going to refugee camps to get
resettled in a third country, she said about 30,000 had been resettled in
other countries and added that Thailand's new law allowed children of
stateless people to be given citizenship.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 17, Reuters
U.N.'s Ban urged to help free Myanmar prisoners – Louis Charbonneau

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his envoy to Myanmar have received
a petition from over 670,000 people worldwide urging them to press
Myanmar's military junta to release all political prisoners.

The petition calls on Ban and his special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim
Gambari, to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the
democratic opposition in the country formerly known as Burma, and other
political prisoners.

Suu Kyi is currently on trial for allegedly violating the terms of her
imprisonment.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas confirmed on Tuesday that Gambari had
received the petition.

"The release of all political prisoners is the first and most important
step toward freedom and democracy in Burma," the petition says. "We, the
undersigned, call upon U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to make it his
personal priority to secure the release of all of Burma's political
prisoners."

More than 670,000 signatures were collected in some 220 countries and
territories, said the petition organizers, who include former political
prisoners and human rights activists.

Among the Burmese activists behind the petition are Khin Ohmar, vice
chairwoman of the Burmese Women's Union, and former political prisoners
Tate Naing and Aung Din.

Myanmar is holding 2,100 political prisoners and since October more than
350 prisoners have been given jail sentences of up to 104 years, according
to a statement issued by the Czech Republic, which has helped publicize
the petition.

Among the world figures who signed the petition is former Czech President
Vaclav Havel, who spent many years in prison due to his activities as an
anti-communist dissident.

The trial of Suu Kyi and of American John Yettaw, whose uninvited visit to
her home last month was deemed a breach of her house arrest, is set to
resume on June 26. Suu Kyi faces up to five years in prison if found
guilty.

Ban is considering a visit to Myanmar next month to personally urge the
junta generals to keep their promises to democratize.

(Editing by Eric Beech)

____________________________________

June 17, Associated Press
Diplomats: Myanmar ready to host visit by UN chief

Military-ruled Myanmar is ready to host a visit by United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon next month, foreign diplomats said
Wednesday.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of
protocol, said the junta has agreed to receive Ban in early July. An Asian
diplomat, who also asked not to be identified by name, confirmed that the
government was ready to host Ban early in the month for a very brief
visit.

The secretary-general's special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, is
expected to visit ahead of his boss, the Western diplomat said.

In New York, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas would not confirm any plans
for a trip by Ban.
The U.N. has called repeatedly for political reconciliation in Myanmar,
including the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from
detention. The country has been under military rule since 1962, and
refused to recognize the results of 1990 general elections won by Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

Ban's visit would be politically delicate because Suu Kyi is currently
being tried on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest when an
uninvited American man swam to her closely guarded lakeside home last
month and stayed two days.

The trial has drawn outrage from the international community and from Suu
Kyi's local supporters, who say the military government is using the
incident as an excuse to keep the Nobel Peace Prize laureate detained
through elections scheduled for next year.
If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison. She has spent more
than 13 of the past 19 years in detention without trial, mostly under
house arrest.
Ban visited Myanmar after last year's devastating Cyclone Nargis, and was
instrumental in getting its isolationist government to allow more foreign
relief workers into the country.

Last month the U.N. Security Council called for the release of all
political prisoners in Myanmar, including Suu Kyi, and expressed concern
over the «political impact» of her trial.

A statement approved by all 15 council members reiterated the need for
Myanmar's military leaders «to create the necessary conditions for a
genuine dialogue» with Suu Kyi and other opposition and minority groups
«to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation.

Associated Press writers John Heilprin and Edith M. Lederer at the United
Nations contributed to this report.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 17, Telegraph (UK)
It's not too late to rescue Burma from further tragedy – Benedict Rogers

It is time to treat Than Shwe as the war criminal that he is, and hold a
commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity, writes Benedict
Rogers.

Within the past month, two new shocking chapters of misery have opened up
in Burma’s decades-long tragedy.

The first is the trial, on ludicrously fabricated charges, of democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who marks her 64th birthday this coming Friday.
Now in the notorious Insein Prison, after over 13 years of house arrest,
her trial is a blatant attempt by the regime to keep her locked up. Her
continued detention is illegal under both international and Burmese law,
according to the UN – which is why the regime has gone to such absurd
lengths to find fresh charges.

The second is the attacks within the past week on Ler Per Hur , a camp for
internally displaced people (IDPs) in Karen State, Burma. Situated on the
banks of the Moie river, opposite Thailand, Ler Per Hur has been home to
more than 1,200 Karen IDPs who had fled the Burma Army’s attacks on their
villages deeper inside Burma. Although it has twice been attacked before,
it has for the past seven years provided a place of sanctuary and relative
peace for those escaping the junta’s policies of forced labour, rape,
torture, destruction of villages, crops and livestock, extrajudicial
killings and conscription of villagers as human minesweepers.

I know Ler Per Hur well. I have visited many times. The people there are
my friends. I have ridden in their boats, walked through their vegetable
patches, played with their children and talked with new arrivals. I have
brought British and Irish politicians, including John Bercow , perhaps the
next Speaker of the House of Commons, there. My mother has visited, and my
sister , a professional musician, has played her violin there. Now, the
inhabitants of Ler Per Hur and the surrounding area have had to flee for
their lives.

Over 5,000 Karen civilians are now encamped on the Thai side of the river,
in urgent need of food, medicine and shelter, surrounded by the sound of
mortars and RPGs. As Rainbow, a school teacher and a friend of mine, told
the BBC : “Last week government troops attacked our camp. They were
shelling every day 
 We can't go back because the military has taken over
our camp. But we can't stay here for long either. We are illegal here 
 We
can only hope that we'll be able to go home soon.”

That hope, that they and the several million other Burmese refugees around
the world will be able to go home soon, requires the international
community to wake up. In recent years, abundant evidence has been provided
of the extraordinary inhumanity of Burma’s ruling military dictator,
Senior General Than Shwe. In 2007, his military beat, arrested, imprisoned
and killed Buddhist monks and civilians participating in peaceful
protests. Last year, he rammed through a rigged referendum on a new
constitution, while denying humanitarian aid to the victims of Cyclone
Nargis.

Yet rather than jolting the international community into serious action,
these events appear to have increased muddled thinking among some. There
are those in academia, diplomacy and major aid agencies who, in the face
of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, argue that the regime shows
signs of reasonableness and that all we need to do is lift sanctions and
engage unconditionally. Perhaps, in some of their minds, a round of golf
with the Generals would do the trick. It is as if the wind and rain of
Cyclone Nargis swept through their brains – not removing the cobwebs that
previously existed, but instead leaving a soggy mess behind. It gives a
whole new meaning to the concept of ‘water on the brain’.

The farcical trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, combined with the intensification
of the offensive against Karen civilians, must surely be a wake-up call
for those who have not previously heard the sirens ring. Than Shwe is not
a man with whom we can simply have a nice chat. Significant pressure, far
from being a cause of his intransigence, is the only language he
understands. Sanctions, rather than being lifted, need to be tightened and
more carefully targeted, to hit Than Shwe and his cronies. The United
Nations Security Council must impose a universal arms embargo, and the
European Union – which has at last issued a statement condemning the
offensives in eastern Burma – should lead the charge. UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon should make the release of political prisoners in Burma his
personal priority, as called for in a petition signed by almost 700,000
people . And it is time to treat Than Shwe as the war criminal that he is,
and hold a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity , as called
for by two previous UN special rapporteurs. Such steps should be given the
sense of urgency the situation deserves, by invoking the UN’s
‘Responsibility to Protect’ mechanism. That would be the most appropriate
way of marking Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday.

Moreover, humanitarian aid – both within the country and especially to the
IDPs on the run in the border areas – must be increased. Those who
criticize pressure accuse campaigners of opposing aid. It is time to nail
that lie once and for all. I know of no Burma activist who has opposed
humanitarian aid, provided it is properly channeled and reaches those who
need it most, without benefiting the regime. Indeed, the Burma Campaign UK
and Christian Solidarity Worldwide fought hard to get the British
government to increase aid to Burma in 2007, a battle we won in the face
of stiff opposition from some civil servants. So while we can debate the
merits of other policies, I urge those who perpetuate the lie about aid to
put away their childish games and accept that on the humanitarian issue,
at least, there is significant common ground. Furthermore, if they really
do care about the humanitarian crisis in Burma, I hope they will join me
in calling for significant emergency aid to the IDPs and refugees newly
displaced as a result of the current eastern Burma crisis.

It is of course clear that Burma’s regional neighbours, notably China,
India, Japan and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), have
a crucial role to play. Thailand in particular must see the offensives on
its border, which may amount to attempted genocide, as the last straw.
China should recognize that its reputation is seriously at risk if it
continues to provide economic and diplomatic support for Than Shwe’s
barbaric regime. They must join the US and the EU in urging UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to increase his efforts to bring change to
Burma, and supporting initiatives at the Security Council. Burma’s
political and humanitarian crisis surely ranks in the same category as
North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe, and as such it must receive the attention
it deserves and has for so long been denied. It is not too late to rescue
Burma from further tragedy, nor is the international community’s already
much-tarnished moral record irredeemable – but both hang in the balance.

Benedict Rogers is a human rights activist working for Christian
Solidarity Worldwide , which recently launched the Change for Burma!
campaign. He is the author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide
of Burma’s Karen people (Monarch Books, 2004). He has travelled almost 30
times to Burma and its borderlands, and is currently writing a biography
of Senior General Than Shwe.

____________________________________

June 17, Wall Street Journal
Asean's Burma burden – Eva Kusuma Sundari

According to the new charter of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, member states are required to act in accordance with certain
principles: the rule of law, good governance, democracy, constitutional
government, respect for fundamental freedoms, protection of human rights
and the promotion of social justice.

By anyone's measure, the military government of Burma, which has been a
member of Asean since 1997, has failed in these responsibilities. The
farcical trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is only the latest
incident in a long history of violence, corruption, ineptitude and
complete disregard for the lives and rights of Burma's citizens.

Asean member states, especially Indonesia, must assume a leadership role
in putting pressure on the Burma regime with strict and targeted
sanctions. Asean members are in a prime position to cut the junta's
financial lifeline. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam
are among the junta's top trading partners. Thailand alone purchases more
than 44% of Burma's exports each year. Sanctions by Asean member states
would deprive Burma's generals of a large portion of the more than $11
billion they earn from foreign trade annually.

Ms. Suu Kyi and members of Burma's democracy movement have repeatedly
called for international sanctions on the junta. If the people of Burma,
who suffer daily under the junta, are asking us to do so to help them, why
are we not listening? The United States and the European Union have
extensive sanctions in place, but their effectiveness is limited because
neither the U.S. nor the EU ranks among Burma's top trading partners.

Some Asean members argue that sanctions would only hurt the Burmese
people, who are already among the poorest in Southeast Asia. But that is
not the case: Export revenues, particularly from natural gas, have created
enormous budget surpluses over the last five years. But much of this goes
toward the personal enrichment of the generals and their cronies, or
toward ill-conceived large-scale projects. The construction in 2005 of a
brand new administrative capital in Naypyidaw is but one example of the
junta's incompetent and erratic use of state funds.

While the generals relish life in their new capital, the rest of Burma's
citizens languish in poverty. The junta spends just 1.4% of GDP on health
and education. The public education system in the country has decayed so
badly that many parents rely on free, local monastic schools for their
children's education. Infectious diseases, including AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis are rampant. How much longer is Asean willing to be dictated
to by Burma's human-rights violators?

Strong leadership is necessary to bring about a change, especially because
Asean insists on working with its "consensus and collectiveness" approach
to resolving regional issues. Trade with Burma's regime is a clear sign of
a lack of seriousness in wanting to resolve the country's human-rights
problems and it contradicts commitments of enforcing principles found in
the Asean Charter.

Asean states will forever have to assume blame for Burma's crisis if they
continue to contribute to the regime's political and economic strength.
There is no time like the present for Asean to take action and spur the
junta into starting the process of national reconciliation.

Ms. Sundari is a member of the Indonesian parliament and a committee
member of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, an independent
organization of Asean parliamentarians.

____________________________________

June 17, Nation (Thailand)
India's stance on Burma long overdue for change – Editorial

New Delhi's shocking silence on developments in its neighbour,
particularly the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, could come back to haunt it.

It is amazing how India can be so blind towards developments in its
western neighbour, Burma, and the ongoing political oppression there. The
world's largest democracy is doing a big disservice with its silence.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a man of virtue when it comes to Burma.
He sounds like an accomplice with the Burmese military junta. It is beyond
the regional and international community's understanding why India keeps
defending Burma - even though the junta leaders are thugs.

The conventional wisdom is that New Delhi is protecting its turf inside
Burma, which has been won through drastic changes of its position 15 years
ago. Lest we |forget, India used to be one of the biggest supporters of
Burmese pro-democratic movements and students in exile. Then, the Indian
leaders saw China's southward influence kept expanding and spreading.
Instead of helping to accelerate positive changes inside Burma, they
decided to play the trade-off game plan devised by Burma.

Today, India believes that it has struck a deal with Burma along with an
energy plan and the use of sea ports inside Burma. It is an open secret
that India wants to counter China's growing economic clout in the Bay of
Bengal. But it will be a wasteful exercise. Just look at how wrong Asean
was when Burma was admitted into the group as a way to balance the Chinese
influence. Look at what has transpired in the past decade. China's
presence inside Burma, not to mention the rest of Southeast Asia, has
increased rapidly and permeated the social fabric there. The best way is
to manage the relations with China and play on Beijing's growing
international responsibility. Joint statements from the UN Security
Council and the ministerial conference of Asia-Europe Meeting in Hanoi
last month on Burma and the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi showed the
adroitness of Beijing's diplomacy and the international sentiment.

It is sad that India remains the only country - among those who matter on
Burma - which still keeps quiet. More than a 100 Indian politicians have
called on their government to intervene and help to free the opposition
party leader and bring democracy there. Indeed, their demands were a bit
too far-fetched. What India can do best is to behave like China - respond
to the outcries and international sentiment. Certainly, India behaves
uniquely in global affairs. But on this particular issue, the newly
established government must take heed of what is going on with the
farcical trial and the plight of other political prisoners. Furthermore,
international solidarity is needed if there are going to be changes in
Burma.

Burma has been able to get away scot-free playing one power against the
other, using its rich energy and natural resources as baits. India, China
as well as other countries are subjected to manipulation by Burma's energy
diplomacy. Somehow all of them, except India, do come out and express
their outrage over the latest developments. But it is a shame that India
continues its silence.

The time has come for India to change its soft approach to Burma. Indeed,
several countries are reviewing their foreign policy towards Burma in view
of the current situation. India will be a loser in the future if it
continues to entertain the idea that silence is golden at this junction.
New Delhi is wrong to think that it will be rewarded for its continued
inaction. Like it or not, India's international image and reputation has
been tarnished greatly.

Apparently, India has not learned from its bitter history with Southeast
Asia. Back in 1979, India was the only Asian odd ball that recognised the
Vietnam-backed Heng-Samrin regime in Phnom Penh, much to the chagrin of
Asean. Bilateral ties with the region were downgraded and took over a
decade for India to catch up with Asean. When India became flexible and
pragmatic, it produced great results. Look at Asean-India relations now,
they have progressed tremendously.

At the moment, the very least India can do is to break its silence and
support Asean's position and the chair's statement on Suu Kyi and call for
inclusive election next year that is free and fair. Failure to do so would
be a huge sham.

______________________________________

June 17, Huffington Post (US)
Iran uprising: Historic parallels to today's protests – Stuart Whatley

The massive socio-political movement in Iran, following the highly
controversial announcement Saturday declaring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the
victor of that state's presidential election, is reminiscent of a number
of other such uprisings during the past few decades -- with some being
notably more violent than others. However, it should be noted, the
situation in Iran is by no means a "revolution" at this junction, and
experts and pundits aplenty agree that such an appellation would be both
premature and inappropriate. Nevertheless, a look back is merited, given
the situational picture painted by images, video and reports that have
made their way out of Iran thus far.

An especially violent historical parallel is Rhodesia's (now Zimbabwe)
Second Chimurenga, that began in 1964 and lasted until 1979, which began
as a civil disobedience movement, but escalated into civil war against the
minority white colonial ruling faction. The eventual result was Zimbabwean
independence, with Robert Mugabe taking power over the new Republic of
Zimbabwe in 1980.






8888 Uprising

Another uprising in Burma came in September 2007, when tens of thousands
of monks marched through the streets of all major cities to demand
political change and better living conditions. The movement, called the
Saffron Revolution because of the monks' red robes, grew to include
Burma's former student leaders called the '88 generation as well as a new
generation of dissidents. The protesters used new media tools like cell
phones and Google Chat to send information on their uprising to the
international community. However, like in 1988, the army quickly sent in
troops, killing dozens if not hundreds of protesters and arresting
thousands.



.

For more, visit
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/16/iran-uprising-historical_n_216436.html