BurmaNet News, August 21, 2009

[Editor]

August 21, 2009 Issue #3781


INSIDE BURMA
SHAN: Stop junta’s killing spree before more refugees flock to Thailand:
Shan leader
Mizzima News: Domestic journals can quote NLD spokesman

ON THE BORDER
New Statesman (UK): The long wait
Bangkok Post: Rohingya 'won't be deported'

ASEAN
DPA: ASEAN officials agree on joint appeal for Suu Kyi's release

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: USDA leader in Japan

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US monitoring Myanmar on NKorea sanctions: envoy

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Webb’s tangled message – Editorial
New Light of Myanmar: Have positive attitude to things – Ko Toe

INTERVIEW
Newsweek: Same old song and dance




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 21, Shan Herald Agency for News
Stop junta’s killing spree before more refugees flock to Thailand: Shan
leader

Sao Yawdserk, the leader of the Shan State (SSA) South, at war with
Burma’s military rulers, has warned Thailand of more asylum seekers unless
the regional grouping ASEAN gives a down-to-earth interpretation of its
cardinal policy of non-interference.

He was speaking in connection with the Burma Army’s 5-day scorched earth
campaign, July  27 to August 1, that left in its wake more than 10,000
people homeless in southern Shan State, according to a statement by Shan
Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) and Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) on
August  13.

His own statement issued today also put the loss of the villagers at K 936
($ 850,000).

“The RCSS (Restoration Council of Shan State, the political arm of the
SSA) calls on ASEAN, in spite of its policy of non interference in the
internal affairs of a member state, and the UN to investigate and help
resolve the problems of the Union of Burma,” he said. “We beg of you not
to allow the Burmese military regime to continue killing its own people
and engaging in ethnic cleansing. Otherwise more and more refugees will be
flocking to Thailand.”

The SSA leader also accused the regime of instigating a racial war. “We
have never killed ordinary Burmese civilians because we regarded them as
human beings,” he said. “What the Burma Army is doing is tantamount to
inciting an inter-racial conflict".

Sai La, son of Long Kham and Pa Sway, Mongkeung, for instance, was shot
while he was begging the soldiers not to burn his house and his body
thrown into a latrine pit, reads the statement.

Even Lahu villagers, whom the Burmese Army is using as anti-insurgency
militias, are not spared, it says. Many of them in Mong Leum village,
Mongnawng sub-township, Kehsi Township, were reportedly detained and
tortured during the campaign.

According to the latest information, the Burmese Army has allowed the
villagers, who were forcibly relocated to Laikha, Namlan and Mongnawng to
return to their villages, many of which were razed to the ground. “They
are also checking and stopping the people from fleeing to Thailand and
telling the international media of what’s happening back home,” said a
young Shan activist to SHAN.

____________________________________

August 21, Mizzima News
Domestic journals can quote NLD spokesman – Nem Davies

New Delhi – Burma’s Censor Board has relaxed its stringent rules and
allowed two Rangoon based weekly journals to quote the spokesman of the
main opposition party the 'National League for Democracy' (NLD).

The latest issues of 'The Voice' and '7 Days' could cover the news of
Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who is serving a suspended one
and-a-half year prison sentence at her home by quoting party spokesman
Nyan Win.

"Previously leave alone quoting him, we could not mention even his name in
our publications. It is significant to see the censor board allowing us to
cover news by quoting the NLD spokesman," an editor of a weekly journal
told Mizzima.

The '7 Days' weekly journal in its latest issue carried an interview by
her lawyer and party spokesman Nyan Win after he visited her house a day
after the special court pronounced the verdict on her trial.

"I bought and gave two journal copies to her. We could give them to her
now. She can also receive guests. So we talked with her today for about an
hour, Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said," the journal reported.

Similarly 'The Voice' covered the same news with the headline 'Despite of
arriving back at her home, ongoing house renovation allowed' by quoting
Nyan Win.

The inside pages had news of the verdict, news of the renovation of her
house, action taken against security personnel deployed at her residence
for security lapses and Suu Kyi's release by 2011.

The junta allowed the journalists to visit the court and allowed them to
cover the trial but did not allow it to be printed in their publications.
One of the censored news, '75-minutes long court pronouncement of
judgment' has been published in 'The Voice' now.

But journalists do not view this leniency as the beginning of a free press
in Burma just because the Censor Board has allowed the journals to print
news by quoting Suu Kyi’s lawyer Nyan Win.

"Sometimes they permit some to be printed. And then they tighten the screw
again. So we can't say this is the beginning of press freedom in our
country. It's very difficult to comprehend the Censor Board," a reporter
from Burma told Mizzima.

The junta has put the Burmese media on a leash and banned mention of the
names of pro-democracy activists, politicians and their movements.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 21, New Statesman (UK)
The long wait – Giles Duley

Persecuted and oppressed in Burma, Rohingya Muslims are fleeing across the
border into Bangladesh. Starving and stateless, they live in squalid
makeshift camps. And yet, as Cyrus Shahrad discovers, they have not lost
hope.

It is dawn at the Kutupalong refugee camp and men, women and children are
filing into a hastily erected bamboo structure resembling a covered cattle
market. On all sides are tables manned by volunteer doctors armed with
polio drops and measles injections; once treated, children are handed
vaccination cards and have their ears blackened with marker pens. At the
exit, entrepreneurial refu­gees wait with ice-cream bikes rented for the
occasion, selling coloured ice lollies to those with spare change.

Not all who join the queue know what they are lining up for, but they are
reassured when they see the Médecins Sans Frontières workers in sunhats
and stained T-shirts. The Muslim Rohingya people have fled a culture of
oppression in Burma to find themselves starving and stateless in
Bangla­desh, and the kindness of strangers isn't something they are in a
position to turn down.

The discrimination and violence against the Rohingyas began in Burma's
western Rakhine State following the 1962 coup, when the military junta
that still reigns first seized power. Marriages became subject to costly
and time-consuming applications for licences; similar permissions were
required for travel, so that many Rohingyas never left their villages
until the day they fled their country. Land rights were revoked, leaving
farmers helpless as government officials occupied fields and repossessed
livestock. Boys and men were routinely rounded up and forced to work on
government projects from construction to jungle clearing; many of the
mothers, wives and daughters they left behind were raped by soldiers.
Those who refused to work were sent to prison, where they were beaten or
tortured.

Many thousands of Rohingyas fled to Bangla­desh over the decades, but in
1991 the trickle of Burmese Muslims crossing the Naf River swelled and
flooded a pencil-thin peninsula with more than 250,000 refugees. The
Bangladeshi government registered newcomers at 20 camps in the hills
surrounding Cox's Bazar - a Dubai-style pleasure palace teeming with
five-star hotels and upmarket beach cafés - where they remained while the
two nations wrestled over the fine print of a repatriation agreement.
Between 1992 and 1997, 236,000 refugees were sent back to Burma, the vast
majority against their will. Of the 20 camps, Kutupalong is one of only
two that remain, both operated by the UNHCR. Between them, they hold
26,000 Rohingyas who are registered as residing in Bangladesh.

The unofficial number of refugees is, however, far higher thanks to a
second wave of border crossings in the past two years. It is hard to put
even a rough figure on the scale of the influx: Bangladesh's refusal to
accede to the 1951 Refugee Convention gives it no legal obligation to
guarantee the status or safety of refugees, and no Rohingya has been
formally registered since 1992. Moreover, the similarities between the
Rohin­gyas and the Chittagonian-speaking natives of Cox's Bazar make it
hard to distinguish asylum-seekers from local people. But the numbers are
growing. The official Kutupalong camp is now surrounded by a nebulous
shanty town, whose mud and thatch homes make the original wicker and
galvanised steel houses look luxurious by comparison. The 200 refugees
arriving at the camp in 2007 were followed by 2,000 more in 2008; by March
2009, more than 20,000 unofficial settlers were ranged around Kutupalong,
and hundreds more are turning up every week.

Conservative estimates now put the total number of Rohingyas in Bangladesh
back at around 250,000. This is a grave problem for the world's eighth
most densely populated country, in which roughly a quarter of the people
live in extreme poverty. In May, the Bangladeshi foreign minister
travelled to Burma to begin rewording a repatriation deal proposed by the
military government in late 2008, but failed to secure formal assurances
that those resettled would be treated any better than before.

Meanwhile, the squalor at Kutupalong deepens. The open doorways of the
low-slung mud huts offer glimpses of emaciated old men collapsed
corpse-like in corners, or women rocking wailing babies in makeshift
hammocks. An elderly man approaches with his young son. The boy is
weeping: his arm is badly swollen, his lip bloodied, and one eyebrow is
opened in an angry cut peppered with grit. "He was out collecting firewood
this morning when a group of men from the village attacked him," the
father says. "Others just watched."

Sarah, an MSF worker from Somerset, confirms that mobs of locals are now
frequently attacking refugees. "It's not hard to see why: these people are
living on government land, creating cultural tensions and draining
resources in an already poor community. They are rejected by Burma and
ignored by Bangladesh, and every time they stand up for themselves they
get pushed back down."

Every day refugees arrive with severe disabilities that have gone
untreated for years. Eleven-year-old Mahabieh rarely leaves her father's
hut due to a tumour that has swollen one side of her face to the size of a
football. Thirty-year-old Fir Ahamad is so incapacitated by a
muscle-wasting disease that his elder brother Noor carries him slung over
his shoulder like a sack. "In Burma I worked as a forced labourer," he
says, "and every time I fell down they beat me."

For the MSF doctors, working in collaboration with Unicef, such individual
ailments must take a back seat to the wider threat of humanitarian
disaster. Space is now so short at Kutupalong that newcomers are being
forced to erect flimsy shacks on what is essentially floodplain. Even more
worrying is the water supply; the unofficial refugees are drinking from 12
hand-drawn bucket wells in which the water was milky with stagnation and
chronically high in bacteria long before the monsoon began to wash human
waste down the hill. "Right now the clinic is dealing mainly with
malnutrition, skin diseases and respiratory infections," says Sarah, "but
if the water supplies are contaminated we're likely to see a huge surge in
sickness and mortality that we're going to struggle to cope with."

The Bangladeshi government constantly monitors those working to help the
Rohingya people, determined to prevent too rosy a picture of refugee life
being painted, lest it encourage others to cross the border. Yet many are
ready to risk death to escape living under the Burmese regime. "In Burma
we were less than animals," says Juhura Begum. "We were like ghosts,
living lives that had already ended. At least here we can act like human
beings and go about our business with a small measure of freedom."

Kamal Hussein, 35, is forced to hobble around on a wooden crutch, one leg
shattered in a beating and trailing uselessly in the dust, but he says
that life here is a "paradise" thanks to his new-found freedom to pray at
a handful of improvised mosques.

Hossein Hag, who watched his business collapse due to travel restrictions
inside Burma, feels a similar sense of hope. "I used to dream of escaping
poverty by making a success of my business," he says. "Now I know there
are worse things than poverty, and more important things than financial
success. In Burma we lived constantly in the shadow of death. Bangladesh
feels like a place where life can begin again."

____________________________________

August 21, Bangkok Post
Rohingya 'won't be deported' – Achara Ashayahachat

The Immigration Bureau has allowed visitors rare access to Rohingya
immigrants transferred from Ranong.

Chalida Thacharoensak, of People’s Empowerment, a human rights group,
greets Rohingya immigrants during her visit to a detention centre at the
Immigration Bureau in Bangkok yesterday. The migrants have been relocated
to the capital from Ranong following the deaths while in custody of two
Rohingya people in the southern province. KOSOL NAKACHOL

The department also assured the immigrants they would not be thrown out of
Thailand.

Immigration Bureau commissioner Chatchawal Suksomjit yesterday said the
Rohingya would not be deported from Thailand, although the solution to the
problem of illegal immigration rested with the governments of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Pol Lt Gen Chatchawal said a committee had been set up to investigate the
deaths of two Rohingya during their detention in Ranong.

Doctors previously said they had died of natural causes.

More than 30 Rohingya people stood flabbergasted on the concrete grounds
at the detention centre at Suan Phlu yesterday while photographers took
their pictures and senior immigration police officers and media tried to
talk to them.

Another group of Rohingya sat wearily in a nearby room waiting for a nurse
to take care of them.

Chalida Thacharoensak, of the People's Empowerment group, and activists
and Rohingya representatives from the Burmese Rohingya Association in
Thailand were also given a chance to meet them after they were moved from
the southern province on Tuesday.

Vachareeya Thanya-ananphol, a Jesuit Refugee Service nurse who tended to
all the immigrants at the centre, said about 10 Rohingya needed food and
medicine.

"They feel very tired. Their legs are powerless and they feel itchy," Ms
Vachareeya said.

Deputy Immigration Bureau chief Phitak Jarusombuti said the bureau would
not reveal how long the Rohingya would be detained. He said they would get
good care.

"The NGOs and the Rohingya from outside will also provide some
humanitarian support," Pol Maj Gen Phitak said.

Seventy-eight Rohingya landed off Thailand's shores in January.

The centre now has 93 Rohingya, including nine who were arrested in
February in Bangkok.

____________________________________
ASEAN

August 21, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
ASEAN officials agree on joint appeal for Suu Kyi's release

Jakarta – Senior South-East Asian officials recommended Friday that their
foreign ministers issue a joint appeal to Myanmar's military rulers for
the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an Indonesian
official said.

Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years under detention and last week
received an additional 18 months of house arrest for violating the
country's security laws after an uninvited US man swam to her lakeside
home.

Officials from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of
which Myanmar is a member, met Thursday and Friday to debate a proposal
for a common regional stance on Suu Kyi's continued detention by Myanmar's
military regime.

“The officials agreed that such a joint appeal is a good idea ,and they
recommended the foreign ministers to take follow-up action," Indonesian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.

He declined to elaborate on details of the recommendation, saying that
Thailand, which now holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, would make a
statement on the matter.

Earlier, Faizasyah said that amnesty for Suu Kyi was among the issues
discussed by the officials.

The spokesman said Indonesia had urged Myanmar to review the sentence for
Suu Kyi and allow her to decide whether she would take part in an election
scheduled for next year.

Rights activists have said that the sentence was aimed at preventing Suu
Kyi from taking part in the election.

Ten-member ASEAN has been criticized from some quarters for being unable
to pressure Myanmar's military regime to release Suu Kyi.

The opposition National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, won the
country's 1990 elections in a landslide, but the junta refused to
recognize its victory.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia,
Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 21, Irrawaddy
USDA leader in Japan – Wai Moe

A key leader of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA),
the junta-backed mass organization, Maj-Gen Htay Oo, who is also the
minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, is on an official visit to Japan,
the first Burmese senior official to visit the East Asia nation in four
years.

Akamatsu Takeshi, a press secretary of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, told The Irrawaddy that Htay Oo arrived on Thursday at the
invitation of the Japanese government.

“We are talking about possible cooperation with Burma’s agriculture and
irrigation sector—that is the main reason for his visit,” the Japanese
press official said.

Htay Oo was accompanied by senior officials from the ministry of
Agriculture and Irrigation.

Japanese government officials said they will raise issues affecting Burma
during Htay Oo’s one week visit.

“Of course, we are talking about the situation in Myanmar [Burma] because
he is a part of the Myanmarese [Burmese] Government,” he said.

“I can say that we are hoping for the genuine democratization of Myanmar,
and we are taking about it to Mr Htay Oo as well,” he said.

Yuki Akimoto, a Japanese researcher on Burma, said, “The Japanese Ministry
of Foreign Affairs may have wanted to communicate to the SPDC that even
though Japan expressed concern about the trial and verdict [against Aung
San Suu Kyi], Japan is still very much a friend of the SPDC.”


>From the Japanese side, the last visit to Burma was by Deputy Foreign

Minister Mitoji Yamuna following Japanese the death of journalist Kenji
Nagai, who was killed during the junta’s crackdown on the monk-led mass
protests in September 2007. The last Burmese official to visit Japan was
in 2005 when Foreign Minister Nyan Win met with Japanese officials.

Burmese and Japanese foreign ministers recently met during the Asean
Regional Forum in Phuket, Thailand, in July. Hirofumi Nakasone briefed his
counterpart Nyan Win on Burmese politics, including the detention of Suu
Kyi and planned 2010 elections.

After the Suu Kyi verdict, the Japanese foreign minister said in statement
that Japan was deeply disappointed and called for the release of Suu Kyi
and other political prisoners.

Japan is one of Burma’s main donor nations. Japan provided Burma with more
than US $2.96 billion from 1999 to 2006 in Official Development Assistance
(ODA), according to Japan officials.

After Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai was killed, Japan temporarily
stopped its ODA to Burma.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 21, Agence France Presse
US monitoring Myanmar on NKorea sanctions: envoy

A top US diplomat said Friday Washington was monitoring Myanmar's stated
commitment to enforcing UN sanctions on North Korea, after reports of
possible nuclear cooperation between the Asian nations.

Last month US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed a pledge by
military-ruled Myanmar to abide by a UN resolution on the sanctions,
following a rare meeting between US and Myanmar officials at an Asian
summit.

But reports in recent weeks have said that Pyongyang is helping Myanmar to
build a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction plant, and to
build an atomic bomb within five years, causing regional concerns.

"The Burmese government did make a commitment during the course of the ARF
(Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum) meetings in Phuket
to implement the resolution," Ambassador Philip Goldberg, the US
coordinator for the implementation of recent UN sanctions on Pyongang,
said in Bangkok.

"We hope and expect that that will be the case but it is something that
will require further discussion," he told reporters. US officials refer to
Myanmar by its former name, Burma.

Goldberg was in Bangkok as part of an Asian trip aimed at strengthening
support for the UN Security Council resolution passed in July in response
to North Korea's May 25 underground nuclear test and subsequent missile
firings.

The expanded sanctions include tougher inspections of cargo suspected of
containing banned missile and nuclear-related items, a tighter arms
embargo and new targeted financial curbs to choke off revenue for
Pyongyang's nuclear and missile sectors.

Goldberg said Myanmar also had an obligation to adhere to the sanctions
resolution because it was a member of the United Nations.

"We will continue to verify that everybody has been abiding by that
obligation," Goldberg said.

Suspicions about Myanmar and North Korea escalated in June after a US Navy
destroyer began tracking a suspect North Korean ship reportedly heading
for Myanmar. The ship eventually turned back to North Korea.

Goldberg also reiterated comments made in Singapore urging Southeast Asian
financial institutions to remain vigilant in monitoring transactions that
could boost North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missiles programmes.

He is later due to head to South Korea and Japan. He has already travelled
to Malaysia, China, Russia and the United Nations to coordinate global
efforts to implement the sanctions.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 20, Irrawaddy
Webb’s tangled message – Editorial

When former US President Bill Clinton traveled to North Korea earlier this
month to win the release of two imprisoned American journalists, he
probably didn’t realize that he was setting a trend. But less than two
weeks after his high-profile visit to Pyongyang, another US politician had
embarked on a similar—but even more ambitious—mission.

Unlike Clinton, Senator Jim Webb was not acting as an official emissary of
the Obama administration when he went to Burma last week. This meant that
he was free to set his own agenda, which went far beyond extracting an
American citizen from a foreign prison. Although the release of John
Yettaw enabled him to declare his visit a “success,” it was, in fact, only
incidental to his mission, the real purpose of which was to set the stage
for US engagement with Burma’s pariah regime.

Webb, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian
and Pacific Affairs, is a prominent critic of US sanctions on Burma who
has long argued that they are counterproductive to political progress in
the country and not conducive to American interests. It came as no
surprise, then, that the Burmese junta welcomed him with open arms.

Although Webb’s objective was clear, the message sent by his visit was
not. Coming soon after a junta-controlled court sentenced Yettaw to seven
years imprisonment for illegally entering the home of democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, Webb’s visit blurred the line between “engaging” the
regime and rewarding it for egregious behavior.

Certainly, the regime came away from this as the big winner. Webb’s visit
and Yettaw’s subsequent release gave the junta an undeserved opportunity
to crow about its respect for “the rule of law, as well as humanitarianism
and human rights,” at a time when its crackdown on opposition groups
continues unabated. It also provided a convenient way to dispose of a pawn
that had served its purpose—to prevent Suu Kyi’s participation in next
year’s elections.

However, the real danger of Webb’s mixed message is not that it provides
fodder for the regime’s propaganda machine, but that the generals
themselves may actually see his visit as a vindication of their perverse
notions of justice. Since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested in
July that the US might be ready to relax sanctions in exchange for Suu
Kyi’s release, the generals have been carefully gauging US reactions to
their behavior to see how much, or how little, they will have to concede
to improve bilateral relations. At this stage, they probably believe that
it will take very little to make Washington happy.

It also doesn’t help that Webb, who was allowed a rare meeting with Suu
Kyi, got her message wrong, too. Although he claimed that she agreed with
him that Burma needed to “interact” more with the West, her lawyer said
that her real emphasis was on the need for interaction among Burmese—in
other words, she reiterated her longstanding call for dialogue between the
opposition and the regime.

If Webb wants to help Burma, he needs to send an unequivocal message to
the regime that Washington will not be satisfied with anything less than
the release of the country’s 2,100 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
If he’s not prepared to make that demand, he should congratulate himself
on the “success” of his mission, and leave it at that.

____________________________________

August 21, New Light of Myanmar
Have positive attitude to things – Ko Toe

Every country has their internal issues, many or few, to be addressed
politically. Maybe a developed country with strong economy has only few
such internal issues, but there is no country that does not have such
issues. A developing country with racial issues and border incidents has a
large number of internal issues to address. It is usual for a country to
do so, and this concept remains true.

In this regard, every country has to cope with their domestic issues
according to the objective situations. So, different nations have
different ways to work out their internal issues, and they cannot ignore
their problems. They try to serve the interest of their people with own
ways, figuring out their local issues. Myanmar is one of such countries.
Myanmar has risen from a variety of adversities it faced in last 20 years,
restored stability and peace and ensured development to the present
degree. Now, the country is putting huge efforts into the democratic
process, as aspired by the people.

Today is Global Age, so any countries, large or small, cannot stand alone.
Every country has to deal with the countries with which they share their
borders, regional countries, international organizations and other
countries. That is to say, international relations is of great importance.
Here, the ways world countries deal with each other are different from one
another, and the volumes of friendship and contacts between one country
and another are various. I mean all countries ought to honour mutual
respect for equality and international rules and regulations promulgated
for international- relations, but they should not disregard social affairs
and due consideration.

Other countries give advice on means and ways to address the issue being
faced by a country, which is very welcoming. And the country should take
the advice. Here, the advice must be based on positive attitude. Instead
if the advice is associated with orders, pressures, coercion and
punishments, it is not true international relations.

Today, certain powerful countries are doing the same, in viewing the
issues Myanmar is facing. Some countries show their goodwill and stand on
the right side, whereas some are putting blame on and denouncing Myanmar,
voicing objections and imposing economic sanctions against the country
with the intention of making things go as they wish. Myanmar has to
welcome any forms of positive advice given with goodwill, respecting the
law of the country. I do not think it is wise if several countries
cooperating as a coalition punish and impose economic sanctions against a
particular country in their interest. That is a means of oppressing a
targeted country with force. And it is an unjust way and one-sided
relations without equality.

During and after the trial against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Mr Yettaw, our
country came under pressure put and attacks launched by elements inside
and outside the country, which is common knowledge.

They claimed that the accused were charged, put on trial and punished
according to the expired constitution, so the government took unjust
action. In reality, the laws remain in force so long as the ruling
government revokes and dissolves them and their provisions are not
contrary to the present constitution. I do not want to make further
clarification to that. Prison terms were sentenced to the accused as the
legal proceedings are in conformity with the law and they were found
guilty.

It is very welcoming that the Head of State commuted the terms with
consideration. I would say it is positive attitude showed looking forward
to positive results. All the four accused were somewhat privileged. The
order carries other privileges they can enjoy if they abide by the
restrictions put on them. Halves of the sentences are commuted, the other
halves are suspended, and they can live in their home. Moreover, they can
enjoy amnesty if they honour the rules. That is very encouraging for all.

However, certain elements are not complacent about the highest
compliances, but the countries that understand the objective conditions of
our country and compliances show their optimism about the issue and
recognize the conditions. Whether the government can comply with the
unfair demands or not rests on the law. Making demands for unconditional
release of them ignoring that point is a way of opposing the law. They
should understand that.

Another issue is Mr Yettaw's case. In fact, he has to serve his terms in
our country. But, at the request of US Senator Mr Jim Webb, the government
commuted the sentence to him by half and deported him to his mother
country. In that way, Myanmar showed her humanitarian attitude, respect to
international relations and forbearance. So, that should be recognized as
a respect showed to human rights without animosity but with genuine
goodwill.

The release of Mr Yettaw reflects the government's understanding and
forgive and forget attitude based on personal affairs. And it also can be
said that the government did what should be done within the framework of
the law.

Although our country is acting in accordance with the law with
constructive attitude, the West Bloc and certain countries are voicing
that they will impose more economic sanctions and tighten economic
sanctions. A country disclosed that it would launch one more Myanmar
programme to help Myanmar people get involved in democracy movements,
apart from present economic sanctions. I notice that they are imposing
some more economic sanctions against Myanmar. Actually, that is not a
positive approach to the Myanmar issue. All what they plan to do in that
regard will harm no one except the country and the people. What is
important is to take the public interest into consideration. Suppose they
are really generous to our country, why are they trying to harm the public
interest and development momentum of the nation? Only with necessary aid
and relations with positive attitude, will it be possible for them to
contribute to national development.

Anyhow, Myanmar will keep on working steadfastly according to the steps
adopted to achieve the goal of democracy. The follow-up plans will also be
implemented according to the law and procedures. Every citizen who is
eligible according to the law and bye-laws will be able to participate in
the proceedings. The nation will go on the foundations laid in accordance
with the constitution.

Myanmar will consider and accept all the positive participations in
pursuance of the national goal. However, we will have to ward off any
forms of disruptions to national interest. Today, Myanmar is trying its
best for its all-round development, so those with negative attitude should
wake up and smell the coffee, withdrawing their grudge towards the nation.

Translation: MS

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

August 21, Newsweek
Same old song and dance – Ginanne Brownell

Burma's exiled prime minister explains how Aung San Suu Kyi is dealing
with her sentence—and argues that, as long as the junta is around, Burma
has no hope.

The guilty verdict handed down last week came as no surprise to those
following the bizarre case brought against Burmese opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi by the country's military government. The junta—in power since
1962—claimed that the Nobel Peace Prize winner broke the rules of her
house arrest when she allowed American John Yettaw into her house after he
swam across a lake to see her last May. Her original sentence was three
years' hard labor, but in a PR play, Gen. Than Shwe, the junta leader,
commuted it to 18 months' house arrest.

Suu Kyi, who was elected prime minister in 1990 when her National League
for Democracy party won the elections, has been under house arrest for 14
of the past 20 years. Her first cousin Sein Win—who in January was
re-elected prime minister of the exiled Burmese government—was in
Indonesia last week to launch the Movement for Democracy and Rights for
Ethnic Nationalities, a coalition of major Burmese ethnic and
pro-democracy parties, both exiled and within Burma. Returning back to his
home base in suburban Maryland this week, Win spoke by telephone with
NEWSWEEK's Ginanne Brownell about the verdict, the upcoming elections, and
how his cousin is handling her latest sentence.

BROWNELL: What was your reaction when you heard the verdict—were you
surprised or did you expect it?
WIN: Not really surprised, no. From the very beginning we took this to be
as a political plot. And of course we all are looking to whether she could
be included in the 2010 elections. By this act, she is definitely
excluded.

Why do you think Gen. Than Shwe commuted her sentence?
They have to be careful about internal outrage within Burma. She is the
daughter of Aung San, who was the founder of the Burmese Army; this kind
of sentence, if people hear about it, it will cause outrage. And their
main objective is not the sentence—their main objective is to exclude her
from the political process.

John Yettaw's wife suggested that her husband's arrest actually was a
positive thing, because it raised awareness of her plight. What do you
think of that?
That is going too far. Suu Kyi already has international attention. It's
not fair.

Are you mad at him?
If he did this a few years ago, we would have been mad at him. But the
timing is so coincidental that even if he didn't do it, the military would
have found an excuse to detain her further. But he should really keep away
from these politics.

There were some rumors that the junta purposely let him in, egged him on
to go.
As far as we know, she asked him to get out. As you know, he is a crazy
guy, so she did not have the heart to push him out.

Do you wish that Sen. Jim Webb, who was able to get Yettaw released from
his sentence, had tried to get Suu Kyi released as well?
We knew that Senator Webb could not negotiate for her release. Of course
they will not release her because Webb made one visit. And his statement
that was very vague. [It's a good thing] that Gen. Than Shwe spoke to
Senator Webb, [but it would be even better] if Than Shwe were talking to
Aung San Suu Kyi in order to solve our problems.

Are you in touch with your cousin? Do you know how she feels about last
week's verdict?
No, we study things from her statements, from her lawyers' statements. But
I do not have direct communication with her.

Burma seems to have the support of China and Russia on the Security
Council to block things like an arms embargo. Have you tried to lobby
these governments to change their minds about their relationship with the
military regime?
We send our opinion directly when it is possible. China is our big
neighbor. We say to China, "What you want in Burma is stability and
development, and this military regime will not and could deliver."

Why is the junta planning elections that will obviously not be free or fair?
They are thinking, "The international community will receive us if we go
about in this way." They are the elected government, they think, so what
is the use of putting sanctions on Burma?

So the elections are just for show?
They will not change anything. The winning party and the Parliament itself
are very weak. So the system will remain the same.