BurmaNet News, November 7 - 9, 2009

[Editor]

November 7 – 9, 2009 Issue #3836


INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Myanmar's Suu Kyi optimistic after U.S. visit
Mizzima News: Land confiscation begins with pipeline project

HEALTH
Xinhua: Traditional medicine practitioners in Myanmar urged to take part
in heath promotion plan

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: Low expectations

REGIONAL
Guardian (UK): Burma claims it will release Aung San Suu Kyi
VOA: Japan pledges more aid to Burma if political prisoners are released

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Obama to meet with Prime Minister of Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
The Australian: Confusing messages on human rights – Michael J. Green
Washington Post: Listen to the dissidents – Jim Hoagland
Financial Times: Talking to Burma – Editorial
The Nation (Thailand): US will only help if Burma shows results – Editorial

PRESS RELEASE
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma): Political Prisoner
Ma Ni Mo Hlaing in critical condition




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 9, Reuters
Myanmar's Suu Kyi optimistic after U.S. visit – Aung Hla Tun

Yangon - Myanmar's detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, expressed
hope on Monday that U.S. engagement with the county's military rulers
could spur democratic reforms, her lawyer said.

In rare praise for the regime that has kept her in detention for 14 of the
last 20 years, Suu Kyi thanked the junta for allowing her to see Kurt
Campbell, the top U.S. official for East Asia.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner was allowed to meet for almost three hours on
Monday with her lawyers, who agreed to submit an appeal with the Supreme
Court against her conviction in August for a security breach while under
house arrest.

"She told us she was quite satisfied with Mr. Campbell's visit ... She
said he's the sort of person we can work with," lawyer Nyan Win told
reporters.

"She also expressed her thanks to the regime for their assistance during
Campbell's visit."

The two-day visit by the U.S. delegation was the first of its kind in 14
years and came as part of Washington's new policy of direct engagement
with the generals.

Campbell, deputy secretary of state, met Suu Kyi and senior government
ministers during his two-day visit but was snubbed by Senior General Than
Shwe, the junta supremo.

On his return from Myanmar on Thursday, Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot
Marciel said the main aim of the visit had been to encourage dialogue
within Myanmar, between the junta, ethnic groups and opposition parties.

He made few comments about next year's widely dismissed elections but said
it would be "very hard" for the polls to be credible without the
involvement of Suu Kyi.

Analysts said the policy shift was as much about U.S. fears over China's
influence in the region as the democratic process in Myanmar.

Suu Kyi, who was sentenced to a further 18 months in detention for
allowing an American intruder to stay at her Yangon home for two days, was
allowed by the junta to meet Westerm envoys last month to discuss
sanctions on the country.

Marciel said it was neither "appropriate nor wise" to lift sanctions at
this point even though they had failed, but said the embargoes would be
reviewed if the country showed progress in initiating democratic reform.

The former British colony has been ruled by various military juntas since
a 1962 coup. The result of an election in 1990, won by Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy party, was ignored by the generals, who jailed
hundreds of opponents and tightened their grip on power.

Critics say the military has learned from the 1990 polls and has no plans
to relinquish power. They say the junta wants to make the process appear
legitimate and credible and has drafted a constitution that will ensure it
still calls the shots.

(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Alan Raybould)

____________________________________

November 9, Mizzima News
Land confiscation begins with pipeline project

New Delhi – Local residents in Kyuakphyu Township of Arakan State in
Western Burma have alleged that authorities have not paid compensation,
despite assurances, for the 150 acres of farmland that have been seized in
May.

A local resident of Malakyun village in Kyuakphyu Township told Mizzima
that their farm lands were seized by authorities on the pretext of setting
up Gas Turbines. They were promised handsome compensation for their land.

“They [authorities] made us sign an agreement paper. The paper mentioned
details of the compensation that we would receive but so far there is no
sign of any compensation,” a local villager of Malakyun told Mizzima.

According to the resident of Kyaukphyu town, authorities have begun laying
the foundation for a gas turbine in the farmlands, where local villagers
have been using them for coconut plantation.

“For some villagers, the land means everything, as they have no other land
to cultivate,” said the local, adding that so far there are no signs of
any compensation.

While the villagers and local townsfolk might see the confiscation of the
land as another normal practice of Burma’s ruling military junta, the
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on November 3 announced that
it has begun work on constructing dual gas and petroleum pipelines in the
area.

According to the Thailand-based Arakan Oil Watch, an activists group
monitoring the junta’s gas exploration and oil drilling in Arakan state,
the CNPC is to construct a gas terminal and an oil terminal in Kyuakphyu
Township.

The proposed dual pipeline will be connected to the terminals. While the
gas pipeline will transport gas from the Shwe Gas field, located in
offshore gas fields in Arakan state, the oil pipeline will transport oil
brought from Middle East and African countries to China’s Southwestern
Yunnan province.

“Many people are desperate about their land being confiscated but some are
hoping that the gas turbines could provide us some electricity once
completed,” a government employee told Mizzima.

However, the Shwe Gas Campaign group, another activists group monitoring
the gas exploration and sales, said CNPC has obtained the sole right to
purchase the gas produced from the Shwe Gas Fields, belying the hopes of
villagers.

Stakes in the Shwe Gas fields is held by Korea’s Daewoo, Korea Gas
Corporation (KOGAS), India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and
India’s Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and the Myanmar Oil and Gas
Enterprise (MOGE).

Currently, Kyaukphyu Township receives electricity only from 6 p.m. till 9
p.m. for six consecutive days. On the seventh day there is no supply.

Campaigners said the gas terminals and pipeline constructions are not
going to help the villagers, as the Burmese government had agreed to sell
the gas to China for 30 years that will provide up to US $ 30 billion to
the ruling junta.

Won Aung, a member of the Arakan Oil Watch, said, “This project is not
going to benefit the locals as it will not even create proper employment. 
Despite various abuses, other companies such as garment factories can
provide employment but this gas pipeline project will not provide any such
opportunity.”

He added that the proposed pipeline, which is estimated to be about 900
kilometers within Burma, will further create severe human rights
violations along its route.

“There will be more land confiscations, forced labour, and many other
severe human rights violations as the junta clears the path for the
pipeline,” Won Aung said.

Envisaging such terrible rights violations, Won Aung’s group along with
several other environmental organizations including the Shwe Gas Movement
last month submitted an appeal to Chinese President Hu Jintao to halt the
project.

Reporting Khaing Suu, Writing and editing Mungpi

____________________________________
HEALTH

November 8, Xinhua
Traditional medicine practitioners in Myanmar urged to take part in heath
promotion plan

Yangon – Myanmar official media Monday urged traditional medicine
practitioners in the country to take part in the national health promotion
plan, designed to give better healthcare to the people with traditional
medicine.

The New Light of Myanmar also urged in its editorial the medicine
practitioners to work hard in the drive for Myanmar traditional medicine
to earn good reputation at the global level as a perfect traditional
medicine by reviving and improving Myanmar traditional medicine with
advance methods.

Myanmar's national health policy -- "To encourage improving Myanmar
traditional medicine and doing medical research at the international level
and to participate in community, healthcare" is in the process of
execution, the editorial said.

Myanmar people had a long life span due to potent traditional medicine
compounded of herbal plants from tubers and bulbs, animal products and
marine and land resources that are abundant in the nation, the editorial
noted, saying that Myanmars were globally recognized as a people with high
physical and mental prowess.

Myanmar traditional medicine is part of the national integrity because it
is a well-established medicine reflecting Myanmar's geographical features,
climate patterns, cultural heritage, customs and traditions, the editorial
added.

Meanwhile, the 10th Annual Myanmar Traditional Medicine Practitioners'
Conference was held in Nay Pyi Taw last weekend, attended by First
Secretary of the State Peace and Development Council General Thiha Thura
Tin Aung Myint Oo.

The conference of its kind has been held yearly since 2000 with the
objectives of improving Myanmar traditional medicine and raising the role
of the medicine practitioners.

____________________________________
ASEAN

November 9, Irrawaddy
Low expectations – Saw Yan Naing

Burmese activists are urging US President Barack Obama to put pressure on
Burma during the US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit
in Singapore on Sunday, where he is expected to meet Burmese Premier Gen
Thein Sein.

Dissidents have little hope for a meaningful US-Burma breakthrough at the
summit, but hope is high that Obama will discuss the Burma issue in light
of the new US-Burma policy and recent face-to-face diplomatic meetings.

In Singapore, Obama will hold a first-ever meeting with Asean leaders
including Thein Sein, most likely on the sidelines of the annual summit
meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.

Singapore Prime Minister Hsien Loong said recently that pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, should be released by
the military dictatorship.

“I am sure that this will be discussed at the US-Asean Summit,” he said.

Obama left the US on Thursday for his first Asian trip, starting with
meetings in Japan and South Korea. He will spend nine days in four
countries including Japan, China, Singapore and South Korea.

Thein Sein will attend the Asean meeting, which marks the 32nd anniversary
of Washington’s relations with Asean, a senior Burmese diplomat, Min Lwin,
told the Associated Press on Monday.

Burmese dissident Khin Ohmar, the chairman of the Network for Democracy
and Development, an exile organization, said that US and Asean leaders
should discuss ways to work together to encourage democratization in
Burma.

“The US should motivate the Asean countries to get involved in the Burma
issue,” Khin Ohmar said.

Aung Moe Zaw, the chairman of the exiled Democratic Party for New Society,
said the US should keep pressing for the release of political prisoners
including opposition leader Suu Kyi and for democratic reform in Burma.

“We don’t expect much from this meeting,” he said. “They [U.S and Asean
leaders] may not focus on the Burma issue in this meeting.”

It is not known if Obama will meet one-on-one with Thein Sein.

Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on
Burma, said, “We hope that he [Obama] will be aware of the current human
rights situation in the region, particularly Burma.”

She said that Obama should call on Asean governments to commit to human
rights and democracy as necessary components for economic development.

Requirements for democratic change in Burma include the release of
political prisoners including Suu Kyi, investigations into crimes against
humanity in ethnic minority areas and a Constitutional review, Stothard
said.

She said Thein Sein should also deliver some tangible signs of
reconciliation if Burma wants to establish better ties with the US.

Thein Sein recently attended the Mekong-Japan summit in Tokyo on Nov. 6-7,
only a few days after he met with members of a US delegation in Naypyidaw,
the Burmese capital.

In Tokyo, the Japan government urged the Burmese regime to free Suu Kyi
before the 2010 general election.  Japan is ready to provide more support
to Burma if it moves toward democratization in Burma, officials said.

A Burma watcher, Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian Studies at Temple
University’s Japan campus, said, “I don't expect that Obama will have
substantive talks at this point and will not be offering anything to Burma
except a process of normalization.”

Obama is well ware of the Burmese junta's track record and will only lift
sanctions if there is tangible progress on democracy and human rights in
Burma, he said.

“Washington's conditional or pragmatic engagement promises to be a slow
and frustrating process because the junta has much to answer for and much
to prove,” Kingston said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 9, Guardian (UK)
Burma claims it will release Aung San Suu Kyi

Diplomat says jailed opposition leader will be allowed to organise her
party for elections next year

Burma's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, may soon be released so she
can play a role in next year's election, a senior Burmese diplomat has
said.

"There is a plan to release her soon ... so she can organise her party,"
Min Lwin, a director-general in the foreign ministry, to ld the Associated
Press. He gave no details and it was unclear whether Aung San Suu Kyi
would be allowed to campaign or stand for election.

Despite the conciliatory remarks, the country's constitution includes
provisions that bar her from holding office and ensure the primacy of the
government in the military.

The Nobel peace prize winner has spent 14 of the last 20 years under house
arrest. In August a court sentenced her to an additional 18 months after
an American, John Yettaw, swam across a lake to her villa in Rangoon and
stayed overnight.

Burma's junta in the the past has raised expectations of Aung San Suu
Kyi's imminent release only to dash the hopes of her supporters at home
and abroad.

Pro-democracy campaigners cautioned against reading too much into the
latest hints on Suu Kyi's release. "They've been saying these sorts of
things for a long time but they have never delivered on them," said Anna
Roberts, the director of the Burma Campaign UK. "The regime's main concern
is get economic sanctions lifted and get approval for the sham elections
next year."

Tantalising hints of a possible release for the political prisoner came as
Min Lwin was in Manila for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (Asean) and the US.

In a break with George Bush's policy of isolating the Burmese regime,
Barack Obama has decided on a policy of engagment with the junta. Last
week the US assistant secretary of state for east Asia, Kurt Campbell, and
his deputy, Scott Marciel, became the most senior American officials to
visit Burma since 1995, when Madeleine Albright went as Bill Clinton's
ambassador to the UN.

Campbell and Marciel held exploratory talks with senior figures in the
junta, including the prime minister, Thein Sein, but not Than Shwe, the
general who has ruled the country for the last 17 years. They also met
Aung San Suu Kyi.

Obama will meet Asean leaders this weekend during the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore, possibly bringing him into rare
contact with Thein Sein. The last US president to meet a Burmese leader
was Lyndon Johnson, who held talks with prime minister Ne Win in 1966.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won Burma's last elections, in
1990, by a landslide but was blocked from power after the junta in place
since a 1962 coup refused to recognise the result. Outside observers fear
next year's election will be a sham to provide the veneer of credibility
the regime has been looking for since 1990.
____________________________________

November 8, Voice of America
Japan pledges more aid to Burma if political prisoners are released

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has urged Burma to release detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before next year's election, saying
Tokyo is willing to provide more aid if democratic reforms in Burma are
advanced.

In talks with Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein in Tokyo Saturday, Mr.
Hatoyama said it is extremely important that Burma release Aung San Suu
Kyi and other political prisoners before the general election to be held
in 2010.

The Japanese leader said that given recent progress being made, including
dialogue between the military government and the Nobel Peace laureate,
Japan would expand, in phases, humanitarian and human resources assistance
to Burma.

Last week, a senior U.S. official was in Burma for talks with the
country's ruling generals, putting in motion U.S. President Barack Obama's
new policy of "pragmatic engagement" with the isolated Southeast Asian
nation.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 9, Associated Press
Obama to meet with Prime Minister of Myanmar

Manila — President Obama plans to meet with the prime minister of Myanmar
along with other Southeast Asian leaders next Sunday, in a high-level
affirmation of the new policy by Washington of engaging the military-ruled
country despite its dismal human rights record.

The meeting between Mr. Obama and leaders of the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations will take place on the sidelines of the annual
summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in
Singapore, the U.S. ambassador for Asean affairs, Scot Marciel, said
Saturday.

Prime Minister Thein Sein of Myanmar will attend the meeting, which marks
the 32nd anniversary of Washington’s relations with Asean, said a senior
Myanmar diplomat, Min Lwin. The junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe,
typically shuns official meetings outside the country.

The talks would be the highest-level contact between Myanmar and the
United States in decades.

Officials have not said whether Mr. Obama will meet privately with Thein
Sein. The last U.S. president to meet with a Myanmar head of state was
Lyndon B. Johnson. He talked with Ne Win, who was then the prime minister,
in September 1966 in Washington, according to Richard Mei, the U.S.
Embassy spokesman in Myanmar. The country was then called Burma.

Under Mr. Obama, Washington has reversed the policy of the administration
of President George W. Bush of shunning Myanmar in favor of direct talks
with the country, which has been under military rule since 1962.

Myanmar welcomed the shift in U.S. policy, Min Lwin said, describing the
change as “positive.”

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 9, The Australian
Confusing messages on human rights – Michael J. Green

The US dialogue with Burma and China in particular is perplexing allies

SINCE taking office, President Barack Obama has used strong words to
describe the importance he places on human rights, democracy and the rule
of law.

In July, he told China's high-powered delegation to the first US-China
Strategic and Economic Dialogue that ``support for human rights and human
dignity is ingrained in America''. In his September 24 address to the UN
General Assembly, he promised ``that America will always stand with those
who stand up for their dignity and their rights.''

As the President prepares to travel to Asia this month, should anyone in
the region doubt the US's commitment to these values?

Unfortunately, there is doubt. Despite Obama's statements, the
administration's specific actions on issues ranging from Burma to Tibet
are creating the impression that Washington has a growing list of concerns
that trump human rights and democracy. The President and his team deserve
support for attempting new approaches to intractable problems. It makes
sense to talk directly to the junta in Burma and to broaden the agenda for
co-operation with China. The problem is that the administration's emphasis
on engagement is leading the region's autocrats and dictators to see an
opening for further repression at home.

The most obvious case is Tibet. The Dalai Lama has met the American
president at the White House during every visit to Washington since 1991.
Initially, the Obama administration signalled it would continue this
tradition during the Tibetan spiritual leader's planned visit last month,
but later changed its mind. The White House may have hoped a subtler
approach to the Tibet problem would pave the way for a successful
presidential visit to China and yield quiet results for Tibet. Fair enough
-- but the opposite is happening. The Chinese are raising the ante on the
Tibetans, demanding that the Dalai Lama cease all foreign travel and
meetings with other international leaders as a precondition for resuming
stalled Sino-Tibetan talks.

Rather than viewing gestures on Tibet as evidence of goodwill to be
rewarded, the Chinese reaction has been to pocket the concessions and
demand more -- steadily asserting its position that regime behaviour and
internal affairs are not the business of the international community.

There are also confusing signals on Burma. After a ``Burma policy
review'', the administration reasonably concluded that neither sanctions
nor engagement alone were likely to change the behaviour of the regime and
announced that the US was going to try a new approach that employed both.
In September, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell testified to the
Senate that the US would not ease sanctions without meaningful steps by
the junta and reserved the right to strengthen sanctions if there was not
progress. This was the right basis for beginning the dialogue. But the
administration has also stated that engagement will be a long-term
process, implying it would not necessarily hinge on the regime's
short-term behaviour. In response, Burma's Prime Minister, General Thein
Sein, announced late last month the US had ``softened its approach''. The
junta symbolically allowed international diplomats to have access to Nobel
Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but has
concurrently increased its internal suppression of ethnic minorities and
democracy activists since the administration's policy review and
engagement strategy began. Tibet and Burma illustrate the administration's
serious dilemma: how to prevent its commitment to engagement from being
perceived as a sign of shifting US priorities and a greater tolerance for
repression.

It is damaging enough that Beijing and Naypyidaw are receiving this
signal, but even minor adjustments in US policy have a major ripple effect
among friendly states also grappling with how to encourage greater
democracy and human rights in the region. The EU was poised to activate
stronger sanctions against Burma, but is now hesitating. Members of the
10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations were engaging in a
painful but important internal debate on Burma. The President should use
his visit to Asia to correct the confusing signals Washington is sending
about the US commitment to human rights and democracy. The administration
does not need to abandon its aim of seeking results through direct
dialogue with Burma's leadership nor curtail its ambitious agenda for
co-operation with China.

But it should not be afraid that a clear stand on human rights and
democracy will jeopardise those goals. Obama can begin by announcing his
clear intention to meet the Dalai Lama early next year and pressing
Chinese President Hu Jintao to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama's
representatives without preconditions. Obama can use the trip to clarify,
in his meetings with Southeast Asian leaders on the margins of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, that the US will increase
targeted financial sanctions on Burma if repression continues to escalate.

The US should also re-engage Burma's neighbours to pressure the regime for
change by stating that the US will continue its new approach only if Suu
Kyi is released and there is a real chance for the opposition and
minorities to participate in a fair political process.

Finally, he should single out and demonstrate support for those dissidents
and prisoners of conscience. For it is they who face the greatest
uncertainty if America's intentions remain unclear.

Michael Green is Japan chair at the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies and associate professor at Georgetown University

____________________________________

November 8, Washington Post
Listen to the dissidents – Jim Hoagland

Barack Obama's extended hand was whacked across the knuckles by the
leaders of Iran, Syria and assorted other thuggeries last week. But the
Obama administration did manage a good demonstration in Burma of how its
brand of engagement can and should work.

Kurt Campbell, the State Department's top Asia official, traveled to the
isolated military dictatorship to talk with its corrupt junta. But
Campbell also insisted on having a highly visible meeting with the leader
of the country's democracy movement, Aung San Suu Kyi, and then publicly
called on her persecutors to grant her party more freedoms.

This is the balance that has been missing in Obama's outreach to other
authoritarian states. Demonstrators on the streets of Tehran underlined
the president's missing link Wednesday by chanting: "Obama, Obama --
either you're with them or you're with us," as Iranian police beat them,
according to news accounts. Obama and his advisers need to take the
dissidents' message to heart.

The dissident -- a hero and catalyst for enormous change in the Soviet
empire, China, the Philippines and elsewhere only two decades ago -- has
become a largely neglected and absent figure in this administration's
diplomacy. Media coverage of political protest globally also seems to have
waned since the end of the Cold War.

True, Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have made symbolic
gestures toward the politically oppressed on their travels and in pro
forma statements. But, as the president's coming visit to China will again
show, dissident political movements have not been incorporated into his
strategy for changing the world. The president believes so strongly in his
powers of persuasion that the transformative work once done by Lech
Walesa, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Corazon Aquino, Wei Jingsheng and others
now falls largely on his shoulders. Campbell's meeting with Suu Kyi
provided a useful corrective, for one country at least, to this tendency.

George W. Bush proved that it is possible to overdo support for dissident
movements and the vilification of their tormentors, just as his father
demonstrated that it can be underdone (see Bush 41's effort to keep the
Soviet Union and Yugoslavia from disintegrating). The Bush 43
administration, in fact, bears some of the responsibility for the eclipse
of the dissident in the public mind. The focus of many journalists and
political activists has recently been on U.S. human rights abuses rather
than those of much more brutal foreign regimes.

So Obama's decision to reach out and encourage hostile regimes to relax
their grip internally made initial tactical sense, especially in Iran. The
administration deserves some credit for the current political fluidity
there. Removing the United States as a heavy-handed, threatening enemy
helped expose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's manifest failures of
governance and helped meaningful dissent to surface and spread.

But the extended-hand tactic may have run its course there. Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, the country's highest authority, used inflammatory language to
denounce Obama and the U.S.-originated proposal on uranium reprocessing
given to Iran on Oct. 1 in Geneva. Even though U.S. officials claimed at
the time that Iran had "accepted" the proposal -- which effectively drops
the long-standing U.S. demand for Iran to suspend its enrichment of
uranium as a condition for negotiations -- Khamenei said that its terms
were unacceptable.

Meanwhile, protesters were voicing concern that Obama's single-minded
pursuit of a nuclear deal is conveying legitimacy to Khamenei and
Ahmadinejad -- at the dissidents' expense. They did not seem to have been
impressed by the general words of support contained in a message issued by
Obama to mark not this political uprising but the 30th anniversary of the
seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, an event celebrated in Iran but not
here.

Syria also served notice that its priorities have not been influenced by
Team Obama's repeated blandishments for better relations. Israel
intercepted a major clandestine Iranian arms shipment destined for Syria
and the Hezbollah guerrillas it supports in Lebanon. And As-Safir, a
Syrian-controlled newspaper in Beirut, launched a vitriolic, sexist attack
on Michele Sison, the able U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, that concluded by
calling on its readers to "silence this chatterbox" -- an ominous
statement in a country where U.S. and European diplomats have been
murdered.

Friendly, principled engagement is a useful tool -- up to a point. It is
probably worth exploring in Burma with new steps. But there also has to be
a workable Plan B -- something Obama will now have to demonstrate that he
has developed for Iran and Syria.

____________________________________

November 8, Financial Times
Talking to Burma – Editorial

Barack Obama’s government is already talking to North Korea and Iran. It
is only right to add Burma to that list, however repressive the military
junta that has so misruled the resource-rich country for years. The
reasons for engaging Burma, whose generals prefer the name Myanmar, are
well-rehearsed – but worth repeating.

A decade of sanctions and regime-isolation has not worked. If anything it
has pushed Burma into the less scrupulous arms of China, which has had
little compunction in rewarding the generals.

Burma is now at a delicate stage politically. Than Shwe, the aging general
who has ruled the country since 1992, is preparing to withdraw from active
politics. Next year the junta will hold elections. They will be rigged – a
farcical constitution ensures as much – but they open a chink of light for
the democratic process since the junta will not have absolute control over
the individuals elected. The generals are also playing a high-stakes game
to bring some of the country’s many ethnic groups to heel, a process that
has annoyed China.

Then there is Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who has spent 14 of
the past 19 years in detention. She has signalled support for some
international engagement. At the same time, she has remained more
ambivalent about whether the west should consider lifting some sanctions.

For the moment, it should not. It is enough that Kurt Campbell, the US
assistant secretary of state, has just paid the generals a visit in their
jungle hideout of Naypyidaw, the isolated capital that is a monument to
the junta’s paranoia. Washington must make clear that it deplores the
treatment of Ms Suu Kyi and hundreds of other political prisoners
languishing under house arrest or rotting in jails. But it should also be
ready to lift some sanctions if the generals open up next year’s
elections.

The real chance of the junta budging is slight. From where Gen Shwe sits,
atop large gas reserves he intends to pipe to China, matters probably look
pretty good. But the political situation is volatile and there is a slim
possibility that other military officials, jockeying for power, will see
the virtue of better relations with Washington and the danger of relying
too heavily on China. Now that contact has been re-established, western
officials should hold out the prospect of gradually lifting sanctions in
return for tangible progress on democracy and human rights. But until the
generals respond with concrete actions, they should remain just that:
prospects.

____________________________________

November 7, The Nation (Thailand)
US will only help if Burma shows results – Editorial

Asean should also step in as a united front and push its peer to conduct
free and fair elections

The two-day trip by the two US senior officials over the week did not
produce any fireworks or breakthroughs. At the press conference on
Thursday, one of them, Ambassador to Asean Scot Marciel was extremely
careful in providing information or coming up with comments related to
this mission.

Obviously, he did not want to mislead the international community into
believing that actual progress had been made. He kept repeating that he
would not speculate on the Burmese junta's intentions, knowing full well
of the high expectations people had of this trip.

However, he did make two important points that the junta needs to take
into consideration with all seriousness. Firstly, there should be
political dialogue for all stakeholders before the scheduled elections are
held next year. Currently, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is not
allowed to meet senior members of her National League of Democracy party.
Other ethnic leaders have the same restrictions. Representatives from
Karen, Kachin, Chin, Hmong, Rohinya and Shan ethnic minorities have
complained to the US visitors about the need to amend the constitution.

The US fact-finding team reiterated that if there is no such
reconciliation process, it would be difficult for the international
community to accept the outcome of next year's polls as being inclusive,
free and fair. In other words, the junta leaders need to make serious and
tangible efforts to materialise national reconciliation.

Secondly, the US has effectively opened up a small window to help push the
Burmese situation forward. The US is mindful of its own role because it
has its own limits. It cannot replace the UN, the EU or regional players
including Asean, China and India. Instead, Washington needs to work hand
in hand with these players to bring into fruition their joint appeals for
inclusive, free and fair elections in Burma.

Now that the Burmese junta leaders have met with the US senior officials,
they should know all details of the important steps they should take.
Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein, along with the rest of the Asean
leaders, will be shaking hands with US President Barack Obama at the first
Asean-US Summit in Singapore on November 15.

However, this will not be a firm handshake of friends if there are no
tangible signs of progress in the near future. It is possible that the
junta might try to buy time by releasing some key political prisoners or
allow Suu Kyi some freedom to consult her colleagues. Still, this effort
being made by the US on Burma should encourage Asean to do more in putting
peer pressure on its pariah member.

Asean should ask itself why it cannot soften the regime's attitude as the
US has been able to do. The grouping's major failure so far has been its
lack of common approach towards Burma. Each member has its own views on
the issue, while new members such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia continue
to back the Burmese regime. Without a consolidated view and position among
the new and old members, Asean will never be able to bring about change
inside Burma.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

November 7, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
Political Prisoner Ma Ni Mo Hlaing in critical condition

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) has learned
that Ma Ni Mo Hlaing, who is currently being held in Thayet prison, is
suffering from typhoid fever. She began demonstrating symptoms of fever on
October 6, 2009, and her condition has steadily deteriorated since.

Due to the severity of her condition, Thayet prison officers have alerted
her family by telegraph, and her mother was able to visit her in prison on
October 27.

Prison officials have also authorized a blood test, but refused to share
its results with the family. Ma Ni Mo Hlaing was administered gastric
tablets and typhoid injections by the prison’s medical authorities, but
her situation has not improved, prompting the prison’s resident doctor to
qualify her condition as very serious. Her family also has a history of
suffering from meningitis, and this has caused additional concern for her
health. It is known that typhoid fever can be fatal when appropriate
medical treatment is not provided.

Ma Ni Mo Hlaing was sentenced to consecutive three and two year sentences
in 23 March 2009. She is a member of the National League for Democracy,
Burma’s main opposition party which won a landslide election in 1990, but
was never allowed by the military junta to govern. Also she was actively
involved as leading role in “Saffron Revolution” on September 2007 and
fundraising for independent Cyclone Nargis relief efforts with her
friends.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners can confirm that there
are at least 128 political prisoners in bad health held in prisons across
Burma.

For media interviews, please contact:
Tate Naing, AAPP Secretary +66(0)81-287-8751
Bo Kyi, AAPP Joint-Secretary +66(0)81-324-8935