BurmaNet News, December 10, 2009

[Editor]

December 10, 2009 Issue #3857


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Freelance journalists under fire in Burma
Kachin News Group: Kachin party opens 10 branches for 2010 polls
New Light of Myanmar: Media responsible for conducting check and balance
of three pillars and helping way of thinking and ideology of people right
and correct

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Burmese women to block 2010 elections

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Obama: Real peace requires justice and opportunity

OPINION / OTHER
Oprah.com: Burma's Nelson Mandela – Desmond Tutu
Boston Globe: Obama: Make like the Dalai Lama - Editorial
The Nation (Thailand): Junta exacts revenge on American citizen – Wa Wa Kyaw
Irrawaddy: Some optimism after third dialogue? – Wai Moe and Ba Kaung
The Age (Australia): Doing business with Burma violates human rights –
Debbie Stothard
The New Republic: General Malaise: Burma’s junta plays us again – Joshua
Kurlantzick

PRESS RELEASE
BurmaInfo (Japan), People’s Forum on Burma, and the U.S. Campaign for
Burma: 442 global parliamentarians to UN Security Council on International
Human Rights Day: Investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes in
Burma

STATEMENT
ABMA, 88 Generation, ABFSU: Statement No. 8/2009(ABMA+88+ABFSU)




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
Freelance journalists under fire in Burma – Francis Wade

Burma continues to be one of the world’s largest prisons for journalists,
according to a media watchdog that warns of a global increase in the
jailing of freelance media workers.

Burma joins China, Iran, Cuba and Eritrea as the five worst of 26
countries worldwide that imprison journalists, the New York-based
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Tuesday.

“Freelancers now make up nearly 45 percent of all journalists jailed
worldwide, a dramatic recent increase that reflects the evolution of the
global news business,” it said.

Five of Burma’s nine imprisoned journalists, whom generally come under the
banner of ‘political prisoners’, are freelancers, according to CPJ.

These include renowned comedian Zarganar, who was sentenced to 59 years in
prison (later commuted to 35 years) in November 2008 after giving
interviews to foreign media in which he was critical of the Burmese
junta’s response to cyclone Nargis.

Zaw Thet Htwe, who worked with Zarganar in filming the aftermath of the
cyclone, was also sentenced to 19 years in prison.

Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latt, who was imprisoned for 12 years after
posting caricatures of Burma’s ruling generals on his website, was also
listed by CPJ, along with former BBC stringer Ne Min, who is serving a 15
year sentence.

“The days when journalists went off on dangerous assignments knowing they
had the full institutional weight of their media organizations behind them
are receding into history,” said CPJ executive director Joel Simon, in
statement.

“Today, journalists on the front lines are increasingly working
independently. The rise of online journalism has opened the door to a new
generation of reporters, but it also means they are vulnerable.”

The group also highlighted the case of Burmese cameraman ‘T’, who worked
for DVB in filming the award-winning documentary, ‘Orphans of Burma’s
Cyclone’, and now faces up to 15 years in prison.

“Journalism is so dangerous in Burma, one of the world’s most censored
countries, that undercover reporters such as “T” are a crucial conduit to
the world,” said CPJ.

Burma ranked 171 out of 175 in the World Press Freedom Index 2009,
released annually by Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Sans
Frontieres. CPJ had also named Burma as the “worst country to be a
blogger” in a report released in April.

____________________________________

December 10, Kachin News Group
Kachin party opens 10 branches for 2010 polls

Gearing up for the junta declared 2010 elections in Burma, an ethnic
Kachin political party has opened 10 branch offices in main cities in
Kachin State, said party sources.

The Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) will contest the 2010 elections
in Kachin State and has opened branch offices in Myitkyina, Bhamo (Manmaw
in Kachin), Momauk (N'Mawk in Kachin), Manje (Mansi), Waingmaw, Chipwi,
Mohnyin, Mogaung, Danai (Tanai) and Puta-O, the sources said.

The party's spanking new two-storey building was inaugurated in Myitkyina,
the capital of Kachin State on November 18. It is designated the party
headquarters, said party officials.

The branch office in Bhamo, the second largest city in the state will be
the second headquarters of the party, the officials added.

The party embarked on its campaign for the 2010 elections since early this
year in Kachin State, though it is not an official political party till
now.

Party officials said they have been mobilizing people for the elections on
the verbal authorization of the junta's Lt-Gen Ye Myint, head of Military
Affairs Security and chief Naypyitaw negotiator on transforming ethnic
ceasefire groups to the Burmese Army controlled Border Guard Force, and
Maj-Gen Soe Win, commander of Northern Regional Command based in
Myitkyina.

KSPP is led by Dr. Manam Tu Ja, former Vice-president No. 2 of the Kachin
Independence Organization (KIO) and leader of 17 ethnic ceasefire groups,
who attended the junta-led 14-year National Convention for drafting the
country's new and contentious constitution.

The KSPP was floated early this year with the support of three main Kachin
organizations--- the KIO, former New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) and
the Kachin Nationals Consultative Assembly (KNCA) rather than in deference
to the wishes of the Kachin people.

According to the junta’s seven-step roadmap to so-called disciplined
democracy, the countrywide general elections will be held next year.
However the military leaders are yet to announce the exact date of the
polls.

Meanwhile, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's pro-democracy leader and
General Secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD) remains
incarcerated in her house in Rangoon.

____________________________________

December 10, New Light of Myanmar
Media responsible for conducting check and balance of three pillars and
helping way of thinking and ideology of people right and correct

Yangon - Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan met trainees of
Journalism Course No. 3/2009 conducted by Myanmar Writers and Journalists
Association at its hall on the second floor of Sarpay Beikman Building on
Merchant Street, here, yesterday.

Also present on the occasion were departmental heads of the Ministry of
Information and officials, the Vice- Chairman-1 of MWJA and CEC members,
members of the course supervisory committee and course instructors.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Brig- Gen Kyaw Hsan said it can be seen
that the youth are playing a role in all sectors of the international
community. He added that indeed, youth are the force of the State in the
future as a Myanmar saying goes: ‘Today’s youth are the future’s force’.
The force or strength is essential for development of a nation or a race,
he said. He added that nowadays, there are over 200 countries with
different sizes of areas and populations across the world. Every country
has to build the forces namely economic force, organizational force and
defence force to be able to stand as a sovereign and independent state, he
said.

The minister pointed out that the countries are standing as sovereign ones
by further consolidating these forces.

Forces to wipe out interferences of powers

Moreover, he added that the countries have to take the international
support as an additional force. Only then, will the country be equipped
with the four forces to wipe out the interference of powers, he said. The
minister noted that if a country applies the proper ratio of quantity and
quality of the youth, the genuine forces will emerge in it. He stressed
the need for the youth to forge patriotic spirit because the quantity and
quality of youth alone is not enough for the country.

Three main pillars

He continued to say that today, Myanmar is in the process of transition to
a new democratic nation.

He pointed out that three main pillars namely legislative pillar, judicial
pillar and executive pillar are essential for a democratic nation.

Likewise, he added that the media, called the fourth pillar, plays a
pivotal role in the country. However, the minister said that these pillars
are not enough for the nation.

The fifth pillar Indeed, the people who play the most important role in a
nation should be taken into consideration as the fifth pillar, he noted.
He continued to say that the media are responsible for conducting check
and balance of three pillars and for helping the way of thinking and
ideology of the people right and correct. A review of the history in the
past centuries showed that the nations stuck to ideology.

In the 21st century, they gave priority to national interest, instead of
clinging on to ideology.

The interest of a nation is the first priority of that nation. In the
history, however, some countries have become lessons for others as they
are badly affected by their own extremism as they placed too much emphasis
on national interests.

Therefore, today’s youth in the country should be equipped with a sense of
spirit which can guide them to carry out non-extreme national interests.

Promote national interests

The minister also said that he wanted the trainees of the journalism
course to become the media men who can promote the national interests of
the country. The country enjoyed the freedom of press from 1948 to 1962.
However, it became the unethical press as they based on sectarianism,
dogmatism and personality cult and worked only for profits, he said.
Therefore, the future media men should become the ones who can promote the
national interests. The Head of State gave guidance to build a constant
learning society with the aim of promoting qualifications which is
necessary in the knowledge age.

Within everyone’s reach

Regarding the education, the government has built the education system
within everyone’s reach. The education helps a society to gain high
qualification through morals, knowledge and skills, he said. In
conclusion, he urged the trainees to work hard to become media men who can
promote the national interests of the country.

Afterwards, Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan browsed the newspapers published
by the trainees and documentary photos and cordially greeted the trainees.
- MNA
____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese women to block 2010 elections

Burma’s 2010 elections will prolong poverty and violence against women and
should not be supported by the international community, an exiled Burmese
women’s rights group said.

Campaigns to block the elections will be carried out by the Women’s League
of Burma (WLB), which yesterday celebrated its 10-year anniversary, the
group’s general secretary, Lway Aye Nang, said.

“We cannot accept the government’s 2008 basic constitution which didn’t
include any resolution on security and insurance for the women and was
approved without the true will of the people,” she said.

Critics of the Burmese government have argued that the constitution, which
guarantees 25 percent of parliamentary seats to the army prior to polling,
will entrench military rule.

Furthermore, given that women are largely excluded from the military in
Burma, all of the power reserved for members of the military is
automatically unavailable to women.

This denial of gender equality is in direct opposition to the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),
to which Burma is a state party.

“Sexual harassments and violations against women are taking place in Burma
and most of these are caused by the people planning the 2010 elections,”
she added.

The WLB comprises 12 Burmese women’s groups, including the Burmese Women’s
Union (BWU) and Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN). The latter in 2002
released the landmark 'License to Rape' report, which documented the use
of rape as a weapon of war by the Burmese military.

“If the elections went on successfully, the situation will get worse,”
Lway Aye Nang said. “We will raise awareness and convince the
international community that the military leaders are criminals, and that
it will still be them in civilian clothing after the 2010 elections.”

Events to mark the umbrella organisation’s anniversary were also held
yesterday in Bangladesh and India.

Saw Mra Raza Linn, a member of the WLB board, said the group’s marking of
the event in Bangladesh’s Cox's Bazaar, close to the border with Burma,
would include a discussion forum on opposing the 2010 elections.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 10, Associated Press
Obama: Real peace requires justice and opportunity

Oslo — President Barack Obama says lasting peace requires human rights and
economic opportunity for individuals, and sanctions against regimes that
violate international rules.

As Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize Thursday he said war is sometimes
necessary but a resilient peace can be achieved if the world imposes
several conditions.

He said the international community must impose meaningful sanctions on
nations such as Iran and North Korea when they violate limits on nuclear
development. He said the same applies to nations such as Darfur and Burma
when they abuse their citizens.

Obama said governments also must grant basic human rights and provide
economic security and opportunity to their people.

He said true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.

____________________________________

December 10, Mizzima News
UNSC urged to investigate junta’s ‘Crime against Humanity’ – Mungpi

New Delhi – On International Human Rights Day, 442 Members of Parliament
from 29 countries on Thursday urged the United Nations Security Council to
set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the Burmese military junta’s
‘Crimes against Humanity’.

MPs from Asia, Europe, North and South America in a letter urged the
Security Council to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate ‘Crimes
against Humanity’ and ‘War Crimes’ committed by Burma’s military rulers
and to impose a global arms embargo against the regime.

The letter sent by Japanese MPs Azuma Konno and Tadashi Inuzuka, who are
members of the House of Councillors, the National Diet of Japan, and
endorsed by 442 MPs across the globe, was addressed to the UNSC’s
President Ambassador Michel Kafando, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and
members of the Security Council.

The Burmese military regime has been committing widespread and systematic
crimes including the killing of thousands of its own civilians and
widespread rape of ethnic women, forced displacement of over one million
refugees and internally displaced persons, recruiting tens of thousands of
child soldiers, and using modern day slave labour, the MPs said in the
letter.

The MPs said evidence of the Burmese junta’s widespread crimes have been
well documented by several groups including various bodies of the United
Nations and accused the UNSC of ignoring the plight of the Burmese people
saying the silence of the Security Council on these matters is “shocking.”

The MPs, in their letter, quoted a recent report by the Harvard Law
School, which was commissioned by five of the world’s leading jurists. The
report, which is a compilation of various UN documents, conclude that
“there is a prima facie case of international criminal law violations
occurring that demands UN Security Council action to establish a
Commission of Inquiry to investigate these grave breaches further.”

The jurists that commissioned the report also conclude that violations
committed by the Burmese regime “may amount to war crimes, as well as
crimes against humanity.”

“Such action is long overdue. Burma’s military regime has carried out
brutal attacks on its own people for decades,” the letter said.

The Japanese MPs also quoted another report by the Thailand Burma Border
Consortium (TBBC), a humanitarian group providing aid to Burmese refugees
and displaced persons along the Thai-Burma border.

The TBBC, in its report released earlier this year, said the junta in
their attack against ethnic minorities since 1996 had destroyed over 3,500
ethnic minority villages in eastern Burma, forcing at least 75,000 people
to leave their homes during this past year alone, and more than half a
million people remain as internally displaced.

The report also said the situation in eastern Burma, where ethnic armed
resistance groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Burmese
junta’s army are engaging in military conflicts, are “comparable to the
situation in Darfur.”

With several UN Special Rapportuers including Brazil’s Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro and Japan’s Yozo Yokota acknowledging the crimes committed by the
Burmese junta, the MPs said, “We strongly urge you to immediately draft
and pass a resolution on these matters.”
“The longer the Council waits, the more people will die in Burma,” the MPs
concluded.

While the campaign for the UNSC to set up a commission of inquiry to
investigate ‘Crimes against Humanity’ and ‘War Crimes’ committed by the
junta gain momentum with MPs across the world joining in, the possibility
of the UNSC taking it up as an official agenda still seems to be far off.

Ivan Lewis, British Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,
at a Parliamentary debate on Wednesday said the United Kingdom, though its
supports the call to UNSC to establish a commission of inquiry to
investigate crimes committed by the Burmese junta, it realises that there
is not sufficient support at the moment to achieve a resolution.

Lewis said the UK at the moment does not want to table such a motion
because if it fails to achieve a desired resolution, it would be “a
propaganda victory par excellence for the Burmese regime.”

“The reason why we are being cautious about the commission of inquiry is
not that we do not believe that it is right in principle, but that we
believe that tabling a resolution that would be voted down would backfire
considerably in realpolitik terms,” Lewis said at the Westminster Hall
debate chaired by MP Mike Hancock.

In early 2007, a UN Security Council resolution proposed by the United
States and supported by France and UK was vetoed by Russia and China, two
of the Burmese regime’s closest allies.

Yuki Akimoto of BurmaInfo, Japan, one of the worldwide campaigners
lobbying MPs across the globe to support the Burma issue, said Russia and
China should realise their action has affected the lives of many Burmese
people and that they should not in the future act irresponsibly.

The letter to the UNSC was signed by parliamentarians and congressmen
includes MPs from Japan, United States, UK, France, India, Korea, Brazil,
Maldives, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand.

Burma, once known as the rice bowl of Southeast Asia, has been ruled by
military dictators since 1962 and is ranked by the Heritage Foundation as
one of five most repressive economies in the world, by Transparency
International UK as the third most corrupt country in the world, and by
Reporters Without Borders as one of the worst violators of press freedom.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 10, Oprah.com
Burma's Nelson Mandela – Desmond Tutu

As a tribute to freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi, an empty chair is kept
open at each meeting of The Elders, a group of global leaders founded by
Nelson Mandela to support peace and dialogue. Aung San Suu Kyi's campaign
for democracy in Burma led to her arrest by its military government, which
has kept her detained for 14 of the past 20 years. She is the world's only
imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

Desmond Tutu, a member of The Elders and an active international advocate
for peace, justice and reconciliation, shares his reaction to President
Barack Obama's recent push to bring Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi into the
global agenda.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a truly extraordinary woman. I can think of no better
way of underlining her courage, sacrifice and importance than to describe
her as Burma's Nelson Mandela.

Her long imprisonment, too, is a symbol of her country's continued
oppression under a cruel military regime. Her commitment to democracy and
nonviolence is a beacon of hope for her fellow countrymen and women—and an
inspiration to all who prize freedom.

Aung San Suu Kyi has now been in jail or under house arrest for fourteen
of the past 20 years. But the cruelty of the ruling generals goes beyond
simply denying her freedom. They have also used her family to try to break
her will.

Her husband, dying of cancer, was refused permission to fly to Burma to
say goodbye. She has been separated from her children most of their lives.
She has grandchildren she has never seen.

Such cruelty would weaken most of us, but not Aung San Suu Kyi. She may be
small in stature, but she is a giant in spirit. She has refused to leave
Burma because she won't abandon her people and she knows that she would
never be allowed to return.

But what is most remarkable is that, like my friend Nelson Mandela, she is
neither bitter nor angry. Despite all she has suffered, her message
remains one of peaceful change and reconciliation in a country that lives
in daily fear.

For Aung San Suu Kyi is not the only political prisoner in Burma. There
are thousands who, like her, have been jailed for their beliefs. Thousands
more have been killed simply because they dared to protest peacefully.

Appalling brutality, disregard for human life and corruption are the
hallmarks of the military that seized power nearly four decades ago.
Burma, one of the biggest countries in southeast Asia, is rich in natural
resources. But while the generals have grown rich, its 50 million people
are among the poorest in the world.

Only two years ago, the dictatorship demonstrated its indifference to the
suffering of its people. When Burma was hit by a severe cyclone, the junta
refused international aid. As communities desperately tried to survive,
the regime used its military forces not in an emergency relief effort but
to herd people to the polls to vote for a constitution that would keep
them in power forever.

But if the generals thought hiding away Aung San Suu Kyi would silence
her, they are beginning to realize they have made a mistake. Her recent
trial and sentencing to renewed house arrest until after planned elections
next year show how much they still fear her and the idea of democracy. The
regime has not forgotten that the party she led won an overwhelming
majority when elections were held in 1990—a result the generals simply
ignored.

Up until now, the international community has failed Burma and its people.
The response has been divided, confused and driven, in some cases, by
economic interests. But President Barack Obama has now pushed the plight
of Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi right up the global agenda.

During his visit to Asia, he directly challenged the generals to release
her and all the country's political prisoners and ensure that next year's
planned elections are free and fair. He has promised that movement toward
democracy would lead to warmer relations with the United States and other
countries that prize freedom and the rule of law. In Burma, as elsewhere
in the world, we need America's moral leadership.

For years, the generals have refused to move. But in recent months they
have begun to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi. They have also allowed her, after
years of isolation, to meet senior western diplomats.

I hope this is not another trick by a cruel regime to hold on to power. We
must demand the generals release their grip on their country. We must
judge them by what they do, not what they say.

But what we have seen in South Africa, and many other countries, is that
the human demand for freedom can't be suppressed forever. We must hope
that the generals can see that their rule is coming to an end and that
this brave woman offers the best hope of a peaceful transition.

The Elders, a group of former leaders set up by Nelson Mandela to promote
dialogue, keep an empty chair for her at each of our meetings. I look
forward to the day when she can join us in person.

Even more, like the people of Burma, I long for the time when she can use
her courage and vision to guide her country, as Nelson Mandela did 20
years ago, to a peaceful and democratic future.

But we know freedom is never given easily. We must all be prepared to
fight for it.

Anglican priest Desmond Mpilo Tutu is chairman of The Elders. Tutu is a
Nobel Peace Prize recipient and was elected Archbishop of Cape Town, the
highest position in the Anglican Church in South Africa. He is an active
international advocate for peace, justice and reconciliation. A tireless
campaigner, he continues to speak out for the world's poor, to raise
awareness of global crises such as the AIDS pandemic and climate change
and to stand up for human rights.

____________________________________

December 10, Boston Globe
Obama: Make like the Dalai Lama - Editorial

In accepting his Nobel Peace Prize today, President Obama must walk a
tightrope between honoring his policy of seeking a dialogue with
repressive regimes and trumpeting the ideals of freedom embodied by such
past Nobel laureates as Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.

Clearly, the acceptance speech is an occasion to speak out forcefully for
human rights. Obama could emulate the Dalai Lama, who accepted his 1989
prize on behalf of Mahatma Gandhi, who never won it. The American
president would be following a similar path if he dedicated his award to
one of the only laureates to be unable to accept the peace prize: Burma’s
nonviolent champion of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held
under house arrest by a military dictatorship for 14 of the past 20 years.
That would be a gesture millions of people would appreciate - not only in
Burma, but in every place where despotic regimes repress dissent by
imprisoning large swaths of their populations.
____________________________________

December 10, The Nation (Thailand)
Junta exacts revenge on American citizen – Wa Wa Kyaw

The Fiance of Burmese-American activist Nyi Nyi Aung describes hearing of
how he was snatched on a visit back to his homeland, then tortured ahead
of his trial.

Early on September 3, my phone rang. Hurrying to get ready for a nursing
shift, I picked up, thinking it might be my fianc้, Nyi Nyi, who was
visiting family in Bangkok.

But it was Nyi Nyi's brother. Nyi Nyi, he said, had boarded a plane to our
native Burma earlier that day, hoping to visit his mother who has cancer.
But according to friends waiting at the baggage claim, he never arrived.
In all likelihood, the military junta seized him.

Nyi Nyi's brother was still talking, but I couldn't hear him. Nyi Nyi is
an American citizen, I thought. How could this happen? And then, it hit
me: I might never see him again.

I called the US Embassy in Rangoon; I wrote to our Congressional
representatives. And I waited.

On September 20 - 17 days after Nyi Nyi disappeared - the junta
acknowledged his arrest. The charge, according to the state-run newspaper,
was "plotting riots and sabotage".

I felt sick, but not surprised - although Nyi Nyi has always been a
non-violent activist, the junta will say anything to justify its actions.
Then, after the Embassy was allowed a brief visit with Nyi Nyi, I learned
the worst of it: He was tortured. He was denied food for over a week.
Kicked in his face. Beaten on his back. Not allowed to sleep. I was
furious - and scared for him and for us.

As a peaceful participant in the 1988 Burmese student protests, Nyi Nyi
had once before been detained and badly tortured by the junta. I, too, had
been involved in the student uprising, and like many others, fled to
Thailand after the brutal August 1988 military crackdown. That's where Nyi
Nyi and I first met.

While in Thailand, Nyi Nyi worked with organisations providing
humanitarian assistance to the refugees, while continuing his efforts to
peacefully advocate on behalf of Burmese democracy and human rights. In
1991, drawn to the United States, which offered the promise of freedom and
a better life, I decided to resettle here; he followed two years later.
Nyi Nyi flourished in the US. He received a computer science degree from
Purdue University and started working for high-tech companies. He became a
naturalised US citizen, like me. We got engaged. But Nyi Nyi never forgot
Burma. He continued working to advance Burmese democracy and human rights,
quietly assisting groups organising peaceful opposition to the junta.

As part of this work, Nyi Nyi returned to Burma five times in recent
years, each time with his US passport and a valid entry visa. The first
four trips he went unmolested. The fifth trip was different. Nyi Nyi is
currently standing trial in Burma. The terrorism charges have been
dropped, but Nyi Nyi is now facing sham charges of fraud and forgery
relating to his alleged possession of a fake Burmese identity card - even
though Nyi Nyi clearly had no need of fake identification, given the
protections of his American passport and valid visa.

He's also been charged with illegally importing Burmese currency into
Burma and failing to declare US currency at customs. But Nyi Nyi was
arrested before he even had a chance to go through customs.

He faces a maximum sentence of 17 years. The courts in Burma are tools of
the junta, and there is little doubt that he will be convicted. The only
question is what will happen next. Recently, the Obama Administration
completed its Burma policy review. Sanctions will remain in place, but the
Administration has signalled that it will pursue greater engagement with
the junta. Recently US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell
travelled to Rangoon, becoming the most senior US diplomat to visit Burma
in over a decade. I hope and pray he raised Nyi Nyi's case with junta
officials.

But Nyi Nyi is far from alone. He is the only American political prisoner
in Burma, but there are over 2,000 Burmese prisoners of conscience. This
number includes my nephew, Nyi Nyi's mother and two of his cousins. Their
only crime? Peaceful support for freedom and human rights in a country
oppressed by a brutal military regime. Several months before his arrest,
Nyi Nyi travelled to New York City to deliver a petition to the United
Nations. The petition had over 675,000 signatures, and urged the release
of all political prisoners in Burma (ironically, a category to which Nyi
Nyi now belongs).

Addressing his words to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a press
conference, Nyi Nyi said, "My message is simple. Your words show you take
this issue seriously. But now I want to see what action you take to secure
the release of my family and all Burma's political prisoners."

So now, I must speak for Nyi Nyi, as he has so often spoken for others.
Nyi Nyi's arrest, detention and treatment has been condemned by the United
States and the international community.

And so I say: your words show you take this issue seriously. But what will
you do?

____________________________________

December 10, Irrawaddy
Some optimism after third dialogue? – Wai Moe and Ba Kaung

Some NLD members are voicing cautious optimism about negotiations between
the Burmese junta and Aung San Suu Kyi, following the third meeting in
three months between her and the junta's liaison officer, Aung Kyi, on
Wednesday.

State-run media on Thursday reported that they met in the regime's Seinle
Kantha Guesthouse for 45 minutes, from 1:05 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.

No official details of the meeting were made available. However, senior
National League for Democracy (NLD) members told The Irrawaddy that the
meeting probably was in response to Suu Kyi's Nov. 11 letter to Snr-Gen
Than Shwe.

NLD spokesman Khin Maung Swe said, “The topic of the meeting might be
related to economic sanctions, which she mentioned in her letter, and it
shows that the government is still willing to talk with her.”

Suu Kyi sent letters to the junta leader in September and November. In
both letters, she said she wanted to cooperate with the junta in working
toward the lifting of international economic sanctions against Burma. In
the November letter, she also requested to meet with Than Shwe.

The meeting on Wednesday came as somewhat of a surprise, following a
recent commentary article in state-run newspapers that criticized Suu Kyi
and the NLD for providing details about her two letters to the media,
describing it as “dishonesty.”

The newspaper commentary said that Suu Kyi and the NLD used “the media as
a tool in an insincere way.”

“It is acceptable that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi sent a letter to the Head of
State. However, they should not have passed the buck to the government
after disclosing the letter to the media with an ulterior motive,” said
the article.

Khin Maung Swe said the media regularly runs stories critical of  Suu Kyi
and the NLD, and the criticism should be put in perspective.

“We can say there could be some parties on both sides who do not want to
see a positive dialogue,” he said. “Hard-liners and soft-liners could be
in both camps. Those people who oppose dialogue write these kind of
articles.”

It's not surprising that the military regime and the NLD reflect different
perspectives about the same events.

While transparency and accountability to the public is an important value
for pro-democracy groups, the generals in Naypyidaw prefer secrecy and
confidentiality as the first priority. As a result, he said, the generals
might see any public announcements by the opposition as “insincere.”

Such views are reflected in the recent commentary article, where it said: 
“It should be taken into consideration that the attempt of one side to
force the other into a corner by making dishonest use of the media might
delay the other side's response.”

Regardless of the commentary, relations between the junta and the NLD seem
to be improving somewhat following Suu Kyi's offer to cooperate on
removing sanctions.

NLD sources noted that, in spite of some difficulties, the authorities
allowed an NLD divisional level meeting in Monywa in Sagaing Division to
take place in November, at the same time an application for reopening a
party office in Rangoon Division was being considered by the government.

Also, the NLD relief committee for Cyclone Nargis recently completed a
trip to the Irrawaddy delta, since the two-month detention in 2008 of
committee head Ohn Kyaing.

Ohn Kyaing told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday: “During previous trips to the
delta, all the guest houses there would not accept our team because of 
restrictions by the authorities. On this trip, we stayed at guest houses.”

On Thursday, the NLD marked the 61st Human Rights Day at its party
headquarter in Rangoon with a public talk on human rights issues in the
country chaired by Win Tin, a prominent NLD executive committee member.

However, some political observers inside Burma still voiced skepticism
about any real progress being made in Suu Kyi's overtures to the junta.

“I won't get excited about U Aung Kyi meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
until I see a  genuine outcome,” said Aye Thar Aung, an Arakanese leader
who is secretary of the opposition umbrella group, the Committee
Representing People’s Parliament. “For any real change in Burma, there are
many more steps that need to be taken.”

____________________________________

December 10, The Age (Australia)
Doing business with Burma violates human rights – Debbie Stothard

Today is International Human Rights Day. This year, the Burmese military
regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), continued to
commit widespread and systematic human rights abuses against its own
people with total impunity. Military offensives against ethnic
nationalities in Eastern Burma's Shan and Karen states forced 37,000
civilians to flee to China and more than 6000 to Thailand in the past six
months alone.

Earlier this year, the regime orchestrated a bogus trial to sentence Nobel
Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to another 18 months of imprisonment. The
SPDC's ongoing crackdown on freedoms in Burma led to the imprisonment of
more than 80 dissidents, including pro-democracy activists, Buddhist
monks, relief activists, and journalists. As a result of this persecution,
the number of political prisoners has reached an all-time record of about
2200.

In their quest for basic rights and in the face of this crushing
oppression, the people of Burma continue to resist in their own way – with
grace, dignity and even compassion for their oppressors. Diverse voices
have been raised to strengthen the movement, bring unity to their cause,
and inspire solidarity across the globe.

How should Australia respond to the courage of human rights defenders from
Burma in a meaningful way? By understanding how their oppressors have
remained standing for so long. The military dictatorship is in power
because of its vast financial resources, estimated to be $US5 billion.
Most of this income has come from Burma's oil and gas industry. It funds
and grows their military arsenal, and fuels their delusions of control.

The Australian business community, and its regulators, must face the fact
that flows of money from the West are not only going into the pockets of
the military dictators of Burma, they are also allowing these criminals
maintain the oppressive infrastructure that prevents the people of Burma
from enjoying food security and their basic freedoms.

Against this backdrop, Australia's Twinza Oil is investing in Burma's oil
and gas industry - Twinza's project alone will earn the military
dictatorship an estimated $US2.5 billion. Investment in the oil and gas
industry requires a certain amount of infrastructure. This should have
beneficial flow-on effects to those in agriculture, with increased access
to markets following the construction of roads, and maybe even increased
mechanisation.

However, in Burma, trade is restricted within the country; many farmers
are forced to grow cash crops for the regime instead of food for
themselves, others are forced to pay interest rates ranging from 7 per
cent to 17 per cent on "assistance" loans. They are the lucky ones – many
others lose their land at gunpoint while others are conscripted as forced
labour on infrastructure projects. Women and children are marched through
the jungle and forced to manually break up rocks into gravel for roads.
Their villages and land are destroyed to make way for dams and gas
pipelines.

Many in the democracy movement in Burma and human rights advocates have
called on foreign investment to be suspended, to be deferred in favour of
future, democratic, state-partners. Sanctions have been criticised by some
for their impact on the general population. However, this overlooks the
institutional characteristics of the Burmese economy. The informal sector,
which is largely village-based, focuses on subsistence agriculture and
represents the vast majority of the population, has little connection to
international trade. In contrast, the formal sector, which is dominated by
the regime and concentrated in highly lucrative sectors such as mining,
petroleum, logging, manufacturing, finance and banking, is more reliant
upon access to the international market.

It is no accident that human development indicators in Burma have
plummeted as the regime's income from oil and gas ballooned: There are an
estimated 70,000 children currently enlisted in the army, the largest
number in the world. One in 10 children die before their first birthday,
and many more are impoverished, abused and orphaned by military actions.
The military uses rape as a weapon to terrorise communities. These crimes
against humanity and war crimes have also involved the military's
destruction of more than 3300 ethnic villages.

Australia, like the US and EU, has financial sanction and travel bans
targeting senior members of the regime and their business partners.
However, they suffer from a lack of consistent implementation. Further
action needs to be taken to ensure that sanctions impact on the regime's
ability to earn foreign income.

It is time that the Australian Government reviewed and strengthened its
targeted financial sanctions and visa bans on Burma, and subjected current
projects with Australian interests in Burma to greater scrutiny. The
Australian business community needs to live up to its corporate
responsibilities and end their trade with Burma, as QBE Insurers and
Downer EDI already have. Will Australia be contributing to greater
protection or violations of human rights in 2010?

Debbie Stothard co-ordinator of the Southeast Asia-based ALTSEAN-Burma.
ALTSEAN-Burma (Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma) is a network of
organisations and individuals based in ASEAN member states working to
support the movement for human rights and democracy in Burma.

____________________________________

December 9, The New Republic
General Malaise: Burma’s junta plays us again – Joshua Kurlantzick


>From the hills outside Mandalay, Burma’s second city, the vista resembles

a postcard of Asian serenity. Monks climb stone steps to a hillside
shrine, where local men and women leave offerings of flowers and fruit.
But the placid scene conceals one of the most repressive states in the
world--a state that the Obama administration has decided may be more
worthy of American friendship than American threats.

For more than four decades, Burma’s junta has persecuted its population.
In conflict-torn eastern Burma, the army reportedly employs
state-sanctioned rape of women and girls, conscription of local children,
and the burning of villages. Nearly one million Burmese have fled to
neighboring countries, while those who stay are sometimes press-ganged
into forced labor, during which, numerous reports reveal, they may be
beaten or even killed. Dissent, of course, is virtually unthinkable.
According to the documentary film Burma VJ, which chronicles the monk-led
2007 Saffron Revolution, troops raided monasteries after the protests,
beating monks and tossing their dead bodies into creeks. The junta,
meanwhile, has run the economy into the ground, while the regime’s senior
leaders live in opulence.


>From the hills outside Mandalay, Burma’s second city, the vista resembles

a postcard of Asian serenity. Monks climb stone steps to a hillside
shrine, where local men and women leave offerings of flowers and fruit.
But the placid scene conceals one of the most repressive states in the
world--a state that the Obama administration has decided may be more
worthy of American friendship than American threats.

For more than four decades, Burma’s junta has persecuted its population.
In conflict-torn eastern Burma, the army reportedly employs
state-sanctioned rape of women and girls, conscription of local children,
and the burning of villages. Nearly one million Burmese have fled to
neighboring countries, while those who stay are sometimes press-ganged
into forced labor, during which, numerous reports reveal, they may be
beaten or even killed. Dissent, of course, is virtually unthinkable.
According to the documentary film Burma VJ, which chronicles the monk-led
2007 Saffron Revolution, troops raided monasteries after the protests,
beating monks and tossing their dead bodies into creeks. The junta,
meanwhile, has run the economy into the ground, while the regime’s senior
leaders live in opulence.

This record of atrocity doesn’t seem to have dissuaded the current
administration in Washington from attempting to engage the Burmese regime.
After more than a decade during which U.S. administrations have isolated
the junta through sanctions, visa bans, and other measures, the Obama
administration has decided to re-engage. Speaking to a group of foreign
ministers in New York this September, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
announced that “[e]ngagement versus sanctions is a false choice, in our
opinion. 
 To help achieve democratic reform, we will be engaging directly
with Burmese authorities.”

The Burmese regime seemed to respond quickly to Washington’s warmth. Only
weeks after the administration’s new policy was announced, the junta
allowed foreign envoys in Burma to meet with opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, who has been held under house arrest on and off for nearly two
decades. Then, last week, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell
became the highest-level American official to visit Burma in more than a
decade; he also was allowed to meet with Suu Kyi. A commentary in Burma’s
state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, normally vehemently
anti-Western, captured this new mood. Burma and the United States, it
sunnily declared, had taken “the first step toward marching to a
1,000-mile destination.”

Don’t expect to see the end of that march any time soon. Over the past two
decades, the junta has used similar promises of rapprochement to get what
it wants from the outside world. With each fake new dawn, the Burmese
generals have skillfully played the international community for fools,
promising the West just enough to win aid and investment without ever
really releasing the junta’s stranglehold on power.

Launched last winter, the Obama administration’s Burma policy review
accompanied its decision to re-engage with other rogue actors like Iran,
North Korea, and Sudan. Overall, the Obama administration apparently
decided, there was no harm in talking to anyone, even the most destructive
governments: Engaging would show the world that the isolationist George W.
Bush was really gone, might actually deliver policy results that isolation
could not, and could prevent the United States from losing the diplomatic
game to China, which is always willing to deal with dictatorships.

When it came to Burma, the United States has decided, for now, to deal
with the generals, and possibly help the long-suffering Burmese
population. As one senior State Department official recently told me,
“We’re moving forward to reach out to them no matter what they did in the
past.” The administration, he said, plans to initiate high-level meetings
between junta officials and State Department power players like Campbell.
State will also start thinking up ways to work with China, the junta’s
closest ally, to deliver more assistance to Burma. Already, the
administration has allowed Burmese Foreign Minister Major General Nyan Win
a rare visit to Washington. “These are the types of outreach we think [the
junta] will respond to,” the State Department official said.

To date, the Burmese have fed this optimism. This year, the junta allowed
Stephen Blake, a senior American diplomat, to visit the country and meet
with its foreign minister, the first time such a high-ranking State
Department policymaker had gone to Burma in nearly a decade. Meanwhile, in
August, Senator Jim Webb, who heads the East Asia and Pacific Affairs
Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, visited the nation,
scoring an unusual audience with the dour, dough-faced junta leader Senior
General Than Shwe, who normally disdains meeting foreigners. The junta
also allowed Webb to meet with Suu Kyi.

Yet optimists like Webb ignore recent history at their peril: Time and
again, the Burmese regime has softened just enough to win concessions,
before reverting to its natural state. In the mid-1990s, the junta,
hobbled by international isolation, made similar promises. It began wooing
investment from the United States, Japan, and neighboring Southeast Asian
nations, and it allowed Suu Kyi and her party more freedom to operate.
Foreign investors flocked to Burma, which boasts abundant natural
resources and architectural wonders that could make it a tourist magnet.
During that period, Burma’s neighbors invited it to join the most
important regional organization, the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, an honor the regime had craved.

Yet, by the end of that decade, the junta had turned its back on the
world. Having reaped enough foreign investment to keep the economy afloat,
and clearly fearful that any more opening could threaten the regime’s hold
on power, the junta cracked down. It started seizing assets it wanted, and
it placed Suu Kyi under total house arrest once again, shuttering many
offices of her party.

In 2002 and 2003, desperate for aid and investment, the junta again fooled
the outside world. At the time, many foreign Burma-watchers saw Prime
Minister General Khin Nyunt, the urbane head of military intelligence and
main interlocutor with foreign nations, as a supposed “moderate.” Khin
Nyunt announced a “road map to democracy” and again freed Suu Kyi. New aid
money flowed into Burma. Sitting at the posh Traders Hotel in Rangoon in
late 2002, I listened to Western diplomats confidently predict that Burma
would witness real political opening within the next two years.

But--surprise--the regime once again shut down. Hard-liners, likely scared
by the vast crowds Suu Kyi was attracting, returned to the strategy they
knew best. In May 2003, thugs suspected of links to the regime attacked
Suu Kyi’s motorcade on a rural road, killing at least 70 people; again,
Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. The junta began slapping
restrictions on foreign aid organizations, or forcing them out of the
country altogether. Frustrated, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria, one of the most prominent international health
organizations, simply pulled out of Burma in 2005. Even Khin Nyunt could
not escape the crackdown: Regime hard-liners jailed hundreds of his
associates and placed the general himself under house arrest.

Today, the junta again has reasons for appearing to open up to the world.
This time, the regime seems desperate to gain leverage over China, its
main foreign ally and investor, by obtaining more independence from
Beijing. “They want to be closer to the U.S. because they don’t want to be
reliant on us,” says one Chinese diplomat.

Twice-burned, those who know Burma aren’t buying its current act. “The
junta will be anxious to give the appearance of responding to the U.S.
outreach, while hoping to avoid any real commitments,” says Sean Turnell,
who runs Burma Economic Watch, probably the most authoritative publication
on the country. “I think the [junta] 
 is simply testing out what they
might perceive as an administration they might be able to fool.”

Indeed, no serious Burma specialist believes the 2010 national elections
planned by the junta will be much more than a sham. Similarly, even as the
junta has cozied up to the United States, it has unleashed its forces
against ethnic-minority militias. In August, thousands of Kokang, a
minority group, fled into China, but not before the military killed at
least 200, including many civilians, according to the Kokang.

To be sure, a decade of sanctions and isolation neither brought down the
military regime nor fostered real economic reform inside the country. Yet
engaging with the junta has dangers as well. It can undermine dissidents
and human rights activists, now unsure whether Washington will stand
behind them. Experts also believe that financial aid sent to Burma for
starving populations is likely to be siphoned off by the regime. Finally,
engaging with a brutal regime could make it harder to get any
international consensus on sanctions again.

The White House, however, seems ready to be burned a third time. And what
happens when Burma’s regime reverts to form? “If you ask them [the
administration’s Burma policymakers], ‘What are you going to do if the
regime doesn’t respond?,’ they don’t seem to have an idea,” says one
prominent D.C.-based Burma activist who consults closely with the State
Department. “So what will they do when the junta doesn’t change?”

Joshua Kurlantzick is a special correspondent for The New Republic and a
fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

December 10, BurmaInfo (Japan), People’s Forum on Burma, and the U.S.
Campaign for Burma
442 global parliamentarians to UN Security Council on International Human
Rights Day: Investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma

Tokyo and Washington, DC - Tokyo-based “BurmaInfo,” “People’s Forum on
Burma,” and Washington, DC-based “U.S. Campaign for Burma” today welcome
the call of 442Members of Parliament (MPs) around the world to the United
Nations Security Council to establish a Commission of Inquiry to
investigate crimes against humanity and other war crimes in Burma, as well
as to impose a global arms embargo on Burma’s military regime.

On the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 442
MPs and Congresspersons from 29 countries from Asia, Europe, North and
South America, including Japan, United States, United Kingdom, France,
India, Korea, Brazil, Maldives, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, Indonesia
and New Zealand, sent a letter to Members of the UN Security Council. The
letter was initiated by two MPs from Japan, Hon. Azuma Konno and Hon.
Tadashi Inuzuka, both members of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.
Although their governments have different policies toward Burma, all the
MPs are deeply concerned about the humanitarian conditions in Burma, also
known as Myanmar, and collectively ask the Members of the Security Council
to take action as it did for similar conditions in Rwanda and Darfur.

Specifically, the MPs request the Security Council to pass a resolution to
establish a Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and war
crimes in Burma and to impose a global arms embargo on Burma’s military
regime. As Hon. Azuma Konno points out, “Such action is long overdue.
Burma’s military regime has carried out brutal attacks on it own people
for decades.” Indeed, through attacks on ethnic minority civilians, the
regime has destroyed over 3,500 ethnic minority villages in eastern Burma
since 1996. A recent report by Harvard Law School’s International Human
Rights Clinic found compelling evidence that the military regime has been
committing crimes against humanity in eastern Burma for well over a
decade.

“This letter demonstrates that the eyes of the world are on Burma and that
we will call attention to the continued human rights violations
perpetrated by the military regime. The destruction of villages and ethnic
cleansing must stop. I am proud to stand with so many freely elected
leaders from around the world to call for the regime to respect the rights
of the people of Burma and to cease the senseless violence.” added Hon.
Joseph Pitts, Member of U.S. House of Representatives.

This appeal follows similar calls made earlier this year by fellow MPs
from the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. On June 15, 2009, 55
Members of U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Obama,
urging the President to encourage the UN Security Council to set up a
Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity in Burma.
Further, 82 MPs from Canada made a similar request to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on October 9, 2009.
Most recently, on November 26, 2009, an Early Day Motion was tabled at the
British Parliament which has since been signed by 92 British MPs, calling
on the British Government to urge the United Nations to establish a
Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity being committed by the
military regime in Burma.

Contact:
Yuki Akimoto (BurmaInfo) in Tokyo: +81 (80) 2006 0165
Aung Din (U.S. Campaign for Burma) in Washington, DC: +1 (202) 234 8022

____________________________________
STATEMENT

December 10, All Burma Monks’ Alliance, 88 Generation Students, and All
Burma Federation of
Student Union
Statement No. 8/2009(ABMA+88+ABFSU)

Rangoon, Burma December 10, 2009 marks the 61st anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On this auspicious day, on behalf
of the people of Burma who have been oppressed and brutalized by the
successive military regime since 1962, we, the All Burma Monks’ Alliance,
88 Generation Students, and All Burma Federation of Student Unions, submit
the following message to the attention of the United Nations and the
international community:

(1) We are proud that Burma was an early supporter of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Our country’s democratically-elected
government supported the Declaration as soon as Burma became a member of
the United Nations after it gained independence from Britain in 1948.
However, since 1962, Burma’s democratically-elected government was
forcibly removed by the military regime, which has abolished all freedom,
democracy and fundamental rights of the people of Burma thereby ignoring
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, when the people from the
rest of the world commemorate this important anniversary, the people of
Burma are forced to live under the climate of fear. We are living in
Burma's darkest days.

(2) As Burma’s military regime is planning to complete its plot to set up
a permanent military rule in the country, with a sham constitution and a
showcase election, scheduled in 2010, the most dangerous days of Burma are
before us. The strong desire of the people of Burma to restore their
fundamental rights will confront the regime’s final attempt to rule the
country forever. Peaceful activities will face forceful brutalities. There
will be more bloodshed, more political prisoners, more refugees; more
internally displaced persons, more slave laborers, more child soldiers,
and more crimes against humanity and no accountability. The regime acts
under the cloak of impunity.

(3) We are seeing that more governments are now choosing to engage with
the regime with the expectation that they can persuade it to make positive
changes in our country. However, evidence, on the ground, proves that the
regime considers engagement as a weakness; the regime rejects good-will.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s request to Senior General Than Shwe for a
meaningful political dialogue has been ignored. The calls by the
international community to release all political prisoners and to hold a
meaningful dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic minorities
have not been fulfilled. The arrest and harassment of democracy activists,
monks and attacks against ethnic minorities continue unabated.

(4) We urge the international community to apply pressure and engagement
with the clear intention to achieve genuine national reconciliation and
democracy in Burma.

We urge the international community to not recognize the 2010 election, if
there is no release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, no sustainable political dialogue with democratic opposition and
ethnic minorities, and no national reconciliation first.

All Burma Monks’ Alliance
88 Generation Students
All Burma Federation of Student Unions