BurmaNet News, December 19 - 21, 2009

[Editor]

“Dear BurmaNet Subscriber,

Please note that from December 23, 2009 to January 4, 2010, the BurmaNet
will release summary issues on the following days:

December 26, 2009
December 30, 2009
January 4, 2010

Thank you,
The BurmaNet Staff”

_____________________________________________

December 19 – 21, 2009, Issue #3864


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar's court to review Suu Kyi house arrest

ON THE BORDER
Bangkok Post: Burmese bra workers resume protest

BUSINESS / TRADE
Reuters: China gets Myanmar assurances on pipeline, border

REGIONAL
Narinjara News: Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister to visit Bangladesh

INTERNATIONAL
The Japan Times: Refugees struggle to survive funding cuts

OPINION / OTHER
DVB: The fascist and feudal Than Shwe – Zarni
Jerusalem Post: A Jewish tour of Burma – Sammy Samuels
AFP: Myanmar's Suu Kyi party needs new blood: analysts – Rachel O'Brien
New Light of Myanmar: The best policy


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 21, Associated Press
Myanmar's court to review Suu Kyi house arrest

Yangon, Myanmar — Myanmar's highest court agreed Monday to review the most
recent extension of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest.

Suu Kyi's lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court last month after a lower
court upheld a decision to sentence her to 18 more months of house arrest.
She had been convicted for violating her previous term by briefly
sheltering an American intruder who swam uninvited to her lakeside home.

The legal team argued that her house arrest extension was unlawful as it
was based on provisions from the 1974 Constitution that was no longer in
existence, Suu Kyi's chief lawyer Kyi Win told reporters after emerging
from the court Monday.

The court posted an announcement on its notice board that it had agreed to
hear the appeal. Final arguments are to take place at a later date.

The court also agreed to review the house arrest of Suu Kyi's two female
companions, who are also ordered confined for 18 months at her compound in
Yangon.

The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Laureate was initially sentenced to three
years in prison with hard labor, but that sentence was commuted by junta
chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe.

Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years.

Suu Kyi's sentence ensures she cannot participate in Myanmar's first
elections in two decades that are scheduled for next year. Her party swept
the last elections in 1990, but the results were never honored by the
military, which has ruled the country since 1962.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 21, Bangkok Post
Burmese bra workers resume protest

More than 3,000 female Burmese workers at a bra factory in Tak's Mae Sot
district again went on strike on Monday over an assault on two of an
employee's relatives by four security officers.

On Friday, workers from Top Form Brassiere (Mae Sot) Co Ltd gathered in
front of the plant and demanded that police  show them the two Burmese
victims, Awor and Korla, whom they earlier suspected had been killed after
the assault.

The protest ended on Sunday after police showed the angry workers that
Awor was alive, while Korla returned to Burma to receive medical
treatment.

The protest resumed on Monday. The workers demanded the plant owner rehire
sacked Burmese workers and provide them with the welfare benefits they
were entitled to under the law.

Mae Sot police chief Possawat Taengjui said the police were negotiating
with the representatives of the Burmese workers.

About 100 police had been deployed  around the plant and nearby villages,
Pol Col Possawat said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 21, Reuters
China gets Myanmar assurances on pipeline, border

Beijing – Myanmar has given China political assurance over an important
crude oil pipeline and promised to maintain stability along the border
after unrest in August pushed thousands of refugees into the Chinese side.

The pledges were made during a weekend visit by Chinese Vice-President Xi
Jinping to the military-run former Burma, treated as a pariah by the West
for alleged human rights abuses and the detention of Nobel laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi.

China is Myanmar's main foreign backer and an important military supplier.
China's overriding concern is a stable Myanmar to give its landlocked
southwest access to the Indian Ocean, as well as oil, gas and timber to
feed its booming economy.

A crucial part of that relationship has been the long-mooted construction
of oil and gas pipelines to China, a project aimed at cutting out the long
detour oil cargoes take through the congested and strategically vulnerable
Malacca Strait.

China's top oil and gas firm CNPC has now received exclusive rights to
build and operate the China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline, CNPC said in a
report on its website (www.cnpc.comc.cn), in a deal signing witnessed by
Xi.

The Myanmar government will guarantee pipeline safety and the ownership
and franchise right of the pipeline, the report said.

CNPC, parent of PetroChina, started building a crude oil port in Myanmar
on October 31, part of the 771-kilometre pipeline scheme.

Xi, seen as frontrunner to succeed President Hu Jintao, assured Myanmar of
China's continuing support.

"Developing friendly and cooperative relations between China and Myanmar
is an important part of Chinese foreign policy, and this will not change,"
China's Foreign Ministry paraphrased Xi as telling Myanmar's reclusive
leader, General Than Shwe.

STRAINED TIES

But the relationship has not been as smooth of late.

In August, Myanmar's military overwhelmed and disarmed the Kokang group,
the weakest of many ethnic armies which, in some cases, have based
themselves for decades along the Chinese border.

That triggered an exodus of more than 37,000 refugees across the border
and strained ties with China, Myanmar's only real diplomatic ally.

Than Shwe, meeting with Xi in the country's new jungle capital of
Naypyidaw, said they would ensure border stability.

"Myanmar will, as always, and working hard with the Chinese, preserve the
peace and stability of the border areas," China's Foreign Ministry
paraphrased Than Shwe as telling Xi, in a statement carried on the
ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn).

"China and Myanmar share a long joint border, and Myanmar deeply
understands and knows that maintaining peace and stability on the border
is extremely important to both countries," added the general, who rarely
meets foreign leaders.

Myanmar's army has maintained a sizable presence over the past few months
in Shan State, where rebel militias are braced for an offensive that could
turn into a protracted conflict, creating another refugee crisis for
China.

The junta wants ethnic groups to take part in a general election next year
and has told local militias to disarm and join a government-run border
patrol force or be wiped out, according to activists in Shan State.

Xi added that China felt "happy" at Myanmar's "road map" to democracy,
roundly dismissed by rights activists as a sham.

"China hopes and believes that Myanmar will peacefully resolve these
problems through dialogue and consultations," Xi said.

(Additional reporting by Jim Bai; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

____________________________________
REGIONAL

December 21, Narinjara News
Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister to visit Bangladesh

Dhaka: Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister U Maung Myint is scheduled to visit
Bangladesh on 28 December to attend foreign secretary level talks,
according to a report from the Bangladesh foreign ministry.

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes will receive his
Burmese counterpart U Maung Myint for two days of bilateral talks, said
the report.

During the meeting, Bangladesh has plans to put pressure on Burma to stop
the push of Burmese Muslims across the border.

"We will talk about the repatriation of Rohingya refugees and stopping the
pushback by Myanmar," Quayes told reporters at a press briefing at the
foreign ministry on Saturday.

"We will stress improving the situation in Myanmar so that the exodus of
people stops," the foreign secretary said.

Repatriation of Rohingya refugees has remained a major issue for
discussion between the two countries since 1992. The two neighbors, with
the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, repatriated
most of the refugees, but about 29,000 people have refused to return to
their homeland in Burma, fearing further oppressive actions by the
military there.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 21, The Japan Times
Refugees struggle to survive funding cuts – Mariko Kato

Last in a series Since the government last May changed the way it
distributes funds to asylum-seekers, nonprofit organizations have had to
deal with an influx of callers in critical situations.

The office of the Japan Association for Refugees in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo,
sometimes gets 15 to 20 visits a day from refugees who have been cut off
from government aid, according to Mika Sakurai, a staff member of the NPO.

"Until spring most people could just about survive, but now their minimum
living standards are not being supported and they don't have anywhere to
live," she said.

The number of applicants seeking refugee status in Japan this year is
approaching last year's unusually large figure of 1,599, Sakurai said. Two
years ago it was half that size.

In a bid to dole out limited funds efficiently, the government has shifted
priority to the neediest refugees, including pregnant women and those with
serious illnesses. But this has left more than 100 people without a home
or food, and many are out of work, Sakurai said. With the support of The
Japan Times Readers' Fund, JAR helped three refugees, including a Nepalese
man whose government support was cut off in April. He faced a gap of three
weeks when he had no money, and as a diabetic also needed medical help,
Sakurai said. Many of the refugees who no longer receive government aid
are waiting two or three months just to have their situation reassessed
through interviews, she added.

The majority of asylum-seekers who contact JAR are from Myanmar, although
this year saw an increase in Sri Lankan callers, Sakurai said.

"We also have a great number of calls from African people, because they
don't yet have a community established in Japan where they can go to for
support," she said.

With the economy slamming the labor market, foreign workers have been hit
particularly hard, according to Ajia Yuko-no Ie (the Friendly Asians
Home), another nonprofit organization in Shinjuku Ward.

"They're being sacked just because they're foreign, or their work hours
are being reduced so much that it's like they're being killed slowly,"
said Taeko Kimura, managing director of the family-run NPO.

FAH, partly through support from The Japan Times Readers' Fund, helps
refugees with infectious diseases and foreign students who graduated from
college here but are unable to find work.

The majority of people seeking help are from Myanmar, although the NPO is
determined to remain neutral on the junta-ruled country and the political
stances of the refugees.

"If we don't help these people they would die from hunger. It's a matter
of life and death," Kimura said.

One of FAH's most earnest missions is to ensure accurate reports about
Myanmar are being spread among the refugees, who have different political
stances and ethnic backgrounds. To help with this, the NPO has taken the
rare step of installing the computer font needed to provide news in the
refugees' native language.

"We want to eliminate the contradictions that come from accurate
information not being spread," Kimura said.

But this new project cannot be completed without a donation of new
computers because the group's current PCs are so old that some pages
cannot be read, according to Kimura.

FAH also wants to correct misconceptions about Myanmar held by those
Japanese who see the country only in terms of the conflict between the
junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said Kazuo Kimura, Taeko
Kimura's son and director of the NPO.

For example, security measures and transport systems run by local
governments or private companies, rather than the junta, are secure and
run smoothly, he said.

"And though telephone systems are not well-established, Myanmar people
actually have a sophisticated use of the Internet and access it frequently
on their cell phones," he added.

Donations can be sent to the following bank account: Shinbashi branch of
Mizuho Bank, futsu koza #1393499 (the name of the account is: Japan Times
Dokusha no Nanmin Enjo Kikin). Checks should be made out to The Japan
Times Readers' Charity Fund, c/o The Japan Times head office (4-5-4
Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8071). For inquiries, call (03) 3453-531

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 21, Democratic Voice of Burma
The fascist and feudal Than Shwe – Zarni

In his doctrine, ‘The Art of War’, Sun Zi, the master Chinese strategist,
stressed that “all warfare is based on deception.” No one in Burma
politics appears to appreciate this principle more than Than Shwe.

The element of Than Shwe’s leadership that has escaped serious scrutiny is
not how he has, so far, successfully met internal and external challenges
to his despotic rule. This has been well documented. It is how he is
forging ahead, largely unobstructed, with his personal vision of Burma as
a semi-feudal economic and political system, deceiving both the army and
the domestic commercial and political elite, both of which are desperate
for change.

In his plan to safeguard his own future and that of his extended family,
the aging despot cleverly and sinisterly strings the entire class of
warriors along, who perceive themselves as the sole guardians of Burma’s
sovereignty, territorial integrity and civilization.

Specifically, the aging despot is deceiving his own officer corps while
confusing the opposition and its international supporters by promising the
supposedly more liberal political process under the banner of the “Roadmap
for Democracy.”

To explain further, it is under Than Shwe’s leadership that the Tatmadaw
[Burmese army] officer corps has suffered enormous reputational damage to
themselves and their once venerable institution.

While material gains for the historically respected warrior-administrators
may have increased since Than Shwe assumed power in 1992, the loss in
their social standing is incalculable. With every callous order from Than
Shwe that the Tatmadaw officer corps tragically executes, its social and
global standing descends further into the abyss. Blinded by rabid
nationalism and personal gains, the officer corps appears not to
understand that its material gains and professional advancement today are
not adequate compensation for its loss of corporate honor in the eyes of
the public in whose name it justifies its existence.

To be sure, it was Than Shwe’s late boss, General Ne Win, who in his
capacity as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and later Defense Minister,
arrested the military’s evolutionary course from a Fascist-trained,
anti-British organization to a modern, multi-ethnic national defense
institution which valiantly defended from multi-color insurgencies a
nascent, if struggling, parliamentary democracy following independence in
1948.

But for the past 20 years, starting from his position as the Chief of
Staff of the Army, and having directly overseen the massacres of
protestors during the 1988 popular uprisings, Than Shwe has sped up the
process of reviving and reinforcing the less honorable fascist-militarist
ethos and practices of the Tatmadaw.

Most dangerously, under his leadership the people are increasingly
alienated from their own defense force. For Than Shwe’s reign depends and
thrives on sowing the bad blood between the people and their soldiers. In
place of civil-military reconciliation, Than Shwe calls for the
consolidation of this divide which he dangerously exploits.

Regressive army

By encouraging commanders at different levels to “eat” revenues, human and
natural resources and land in their respective military-administrative
areas, Than Shwe is taking the Tatmadaw back in time: this was a key
feudal practice which sustained pre-colonial Burma’s warrior-monarchs and
their imperial systems.

The fact that the Tatmadaw’s officer corps has failed to make any
significant move against Senior General Than Shwe, in spite of the
latter’s cold-blooded decision to bloodily crackdown on peaceful monk
protestors and further launch military-style raids on hundreds of
monasteries during the Saffron Revolution in 2007, and his callous
attempts to delay the provision of aid to a few million cyclone victims in
2008, is testament to the revival of the fascist ethos of “One Voice, One
Nation” within the officer corps.

I attribute all these worrying psychological trends and institutional
practices to Than Shwe’s brilliant ability to deceive his own officers and
manipulate their patrioism.

While, under his leadership, the Tatmadaw is being dragged back to its
less-than-honorable fascist institutional and ideological roots, its rank
and file members are generally made to believe that they and their beloved
institution are marching the country towards “discipline-flourishing
democracy,” economic development and political stability. In their view,
it is Western sanctions and Aung San Suu Kyi-led Burmese opposition that
stand in the way of realizing this grand vision. The economic and social
ills in the country are attributable to these two non-Tatmadaw factors, or
so the rank and file members and the officer corps generally feel.

Here “Than Shwe’s soldiers” born and bred in cultural and intellectual
isolation, away from the modernizing currents of globalization, may be
excused for thinking that theirs is a march forward into the future.

But how do we explain the fact that Burmese intellectual and commercial
elites, for their part have failed to grasp the alarming ascendency of the
semi-feudal and fascist behavior of the military leadership? Further, what
of pro-election Western Burma experts, policy makers and advisors who have
so far overlooked these features of the country’s emerging political
economic system?

The regime has repeatedly violated key foundational principles on which
the centuries-old Burmese society rests – such as universal reverence
towards the Buddhist Order or acting with compassion to those who suffer
from war, disaster and other calamities.

The much-anticipated political space or complex institutional structures
which are to emerge post-2010 election have little or no potential to
either facilitate the gradual evolution of the militarized polity and
military-controlled economy, or undermine the current military’s monopoly
over political and economic domains. For the power-holders, Senior General
Than Shwe or his successors, and their institution are determined not to
allow the emergence of any real alternative organizations or powers to
emerge within their system of governance. To paraphrase the famous
lyricist and singer Audrey Lorde, the master’s tools will not dismantle
the master’s house.

To my dismay, both Western liberal governments and the Western-inspired
opposition leadership have somehow failed to come to terms with the
empirical reality that Than Shwe is succeeding in turning the Tatmadaw
into a semi-feudal armed organization, with revived fascist ideological
views. As a result of this analytical failure, they are deceived by Than
Shwe into thinking that the aging despot will potentially retire or that
dialogue with fascist leadership is either conceivable or desirable.

A quick historical glance at how fascist and feudal regimes rose and fell
may offer a clue as to what it will take for the Burmese people to
liberate themselves from such a dark force in history. Fascist, feudal,
colonial and other parasitical regimes entrench themselves in power at all
costs to society and live off the back of the population. While they are
in power, no domestic social and political force alone is capable or
should be expected to be able to overthrow or otherwise change fascist
rule, unaided by external factors.

For the Burmese, both Bama and non-Bama, the ways in which the Burmese
feudal rule, the British colonial rule and the Japanese occupation were
ended, offer a more realistic model of how these socio-pathological
systems of control, exploitation and domination are forced to end, than
current liberal theories of democratic transition. Indeed Burma’s problems
can be effectively addressed through the Burmese Way, and it may not
necessarily take a fundamentally liberal or evolutionary route.

Dr Zarni is founder of the Free Burma Coalition and Research Fellow on
Burma at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

____________________________________

December 19, Jerusalem Post
A Jewish tour of Burma – Sammy Samuels

Only a handful of Jews live in Burma today. For more than 35 years, my
family has taken care of the synagogue, cemetery and what remains of the
once flourishing Jewish community.

Burma has been our home since 1890 or even earlier, when my
great-grandparents left Baghdad to start a new life in the vibrant city of
Rangoon.

During World War II, my grandfather, Isaac Samuels, risked his life for
the synagogue, and today we still revere the same building, which has been
at the center of Jewish life in Burma for the last century.

Every day, my father, Moses Samuels, sits in the quiet synagogue, waiting
to greet Jewish visitors and share with them the rich and unique history
of the Jewish community here. Every Friday, my father and I used to wait
at the synagogue for Jewish visitors until we can gather a minyan to begin
services.

My father posted this sign on the front door of the synagogue: "A tree may
be alone in the field, a man alone in the world, but a Jew is never alone
on his holy days." It is my father's fervent belief that no Jew should be
alone during the holidays - and yet most of the time, the two of us found
ourselves alone in the synagogue.

But even if only he and I are present, I always feel the echoes of the
many Shabbat services that have taken place in this beautiful shul, and
hear the melodies of the songs our grandparents used to sing when the
community was at its peak.

Jewish life in Burma today is quite different from what it was during
colonial times. Before World War II, it still was the case that "the sun
never set" on the British Empire, including in Southeast Asia.

Jewish merchants, who migrated originally to Burma in the late 1800s,
served as a natural conduit between the British colonial rulers and the
export-import community abroad. The Jewish community of approximately
2,500 people was a respected presence in local business and a valued part
of the local society.

During this "golden age," Jewish influence within the government and
society as a whole grew rapidly. Jews played a prominent part in various
fields. In tropical Rangoon, Jews owned ice factories and bottling plants.
Some dealt in textiles and timber, while others were customs officials and
traders.

Jews held a designated seat on the Rangoon Municipal Committee. The Jewish
community in Burma was so influential, in fact, that in the first years of
the century, Rangoon and the smaller city of Bassein had Jewish mayors,
and Judah Ezekiel Street in downtown Rangoon was named to honor a Jew.

The Sofaer family donated the iron gates to the Rangoon Zoo, and another
Jew, Mordechai Isaac Cohen, donated a beautiful cast-iron bandstand in
Bandoola Square. Both are still standing tall today.

In the center of downtown Rangoon (now Yangon) stood Musmeah Yeshua, the
grand synagogue with its soaring ceiling and graceful columns. Musmeah
Yeshua, one of 188 sites on the list of Yangon Heritage Buildings, was
constructed in the 1890s and is a testimony to the Jewish affluence and
comfort in this lush land.

The synagogue had 126 silver Torah scrolls, the Jewish school had more
than 200 students and there were more than 600 gravestones in the Jewish
cemetery.

As Jewish wealth grew in those early days, Jewish philanthropy grew too.
The community donated large sums for local schools, libraries, hospitals
and helped local Burmese in many different ways. The Burmese were very
appreciative of this aid and the country was a welcome and tolerant home
for Jews for many years.

The "golden age" of Jewish life in Burma came to a close when the Japanese
invaded in 1941. Japanese occupation forced most of the Jewish community,
along with most of the British colonial population, to flee to other
countries. Some Jews returned after the war, but they soon realized that
the beautiful life they remembered was no more, and their homes and wealth
were gone.

Even so, there were promising relations between postwar Burma and the new
State of Israel. Burma and Israel both achieved their independence in 1948
and Burma recognized the State of Israel in 1949; in fact, it was the
first Asian country to do so.

Burmese prime minister U Nu was the first foreign head of state to visit
the newly independent State of Israel in 1955. In 1961, prime minister
David Ben-Gurion spent two weeks in Burma. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Golda Meir,
Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres also visited Burma.

Despite cordial relations between Israel and Burma, Jews found it
difficult to restore their lives and reestablish their businesses in the
country after World War II. The Jews of Burma scattered - to Israel,
Australia, England and the United States. Since the war, the Burmese
Jewish community has steadily decreased in population.

We may not be able to return to the glorious days of Jewish life, but our
tiny community believes that, through tourism, we will be able to make a
difference in keeping the Jewish spirit alive in Burma.

In 2005, we started the travel agency Myanmar Shalom, with the goal of
linking Jews around the world to our community and enabling visitors to
explore and experience the beautiful country about which Rudyard Kipling
wrote, "This is Burma and it will be quite unlike any land you know."

Through years of isolation, the country has managed to retain many of its
cultural traditions and preserve much of its historical heritage, making
it one of the few remaining places that truly can bring a visitor back in
time to experience the Asia of old.

Whatever the politics of Burma, the tourist will find a nation of gentle
folk and smiling people, rich archeological sites, glittering pagodas,
colorful bazaars and joyous festivals.

Among many other programs, Myanmar Shalom has hosted its unique "Southeast
Asia through Jewish Eyes" and with Lotus Travels brought more than 30
participants to Burma.

The tour was led by Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, creator of "Journeys through
Jewish Eyes" and one of the world's foremost authorities on the Asian
Jewish experience.

For many years, the synagogue has not had a local minyan, so the group
visit makes a great difference to this small community, once again filling
the Rangoon synagogue with joy and song.

I often think about the history of the Jewish community in Burma from its
golden days before World War II, when the synagogue was filled with more
than 300 people for congregational activities, Jewish holy days, weddings
and bar/bat mitzva ceremonies.

No matter where the descendants of Jews from Burma now live, the synagogue
will remain an important landmark of Jewish history in Southeast Asia for
all of us and a reminder of the very vibrant community that once lived in
Burma.

Today, only a few of us are left in Burma, but our Jewish spirit is still
alive and our prayer services still continue. I pray that through tourism,
the Jewish community may begin to revive and that our beautiful synagogue
once again will be filled with joy and song as we continue our historic
role in the life and welfare of the country.

The writer is the last of a long line of Jews in Burma and a graduate of
Yeshiva University who currently resides in New York and works for the
American Jewish Congress.

sammy at myanmarshalom.com
____________________________________

December 20, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's Suu Kyi party needs new blood: analysts – Rachel O'Brien

Bangkok — Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi faces an urgent
challenge to shake up her party's ranks, analysts say, after a rare
meeting with her colleagues exposed a weak and ageing leadership team.

Faced with national polls next year and their leader still in detention,
members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) also need to resolve
ideological differences within the party, they said.

The military junta, which has ruled Myanmar with an iron fist since 1962,
allowed the democracy icon to leave her prison home Wednesday to pay
respects to three ailing senior members of her political party, and she
used the opportunity to ask their permission to ring in changes.

Party chairman Aung Shwe, 92, secretary Lwin, 85, and central executive
committee (CEC) member Lun Tin, 89, approved Suu Kyi's unprecedented
request to "reorganise" the CEC, Lwin said.

At 64, Suu Kyi is the youngest of the 11-member committee, while nine are
in their 80s and 90s and most of them are said to be in bad health.
Related article: China's vice president in Myanmar for talks

The old guard have disagreed with younger members over party policies,
including whether or not to contest polls scheduled for 2010, with many of
the new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.

"It's a make or break point for the NLD," said a Bangkok-based European
diplomat on condition of anonymity. "There are obviously many hardliners
in the committee who are perhaps looking to the past more than the
future."

The party is yet to decide if it will take part in the elections, which
critics fear are a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.

But the diplomat said the latest development showed Suu Kyi "has given her
signal that she wants them to reorganise and she wants the party to get
ready".

"At the moment there's an amazing lack of vision and knowledge when it
comes to the economic situation, the ethnic issue -- all the key Burma
challenges," the diplomat said, using Myanmar's former name and referring
to tensions with minority groups.

Suu Kyi has spent most of the last 20 years in detention and calls for
changes have been coming ever since her first period of freedom 14 years
ago, said Derek Tonkin, chairman of the UK-based Network Myanmar.

"Since then a lot of people say she ought to have applied herself to the
reorganisation of the party more than political campaigns," he said.

But Win Min, an activist and scholar in the northern Thai city of Chiang
Mai, said new membership had been stifled by fear of the authorities.

"It may be difficult to recruit new blood at the grassroots level because
of the restrictions and intimidation by the military," he said.

In August, following a prison trial, Suu Kyi was ordered to spend another
18 months in detention.

The sentence sparked an international furore as it effectively keeps her
off the stage for the 2010 elections, which will be Myanmar's first since
1990, when the junta refused to recognise the NLD's landslide win.

Following moves in recent months by the United States and European Union
towards a policy of engagement with Myanmar, Suu Kyi has pursued greater
dialogue with the government.

She has written twice to junta chief Than Shwe, once offering her help in
getting sanctions lifted and later seeking a meeting with him, while she
has been allowed three meetings with the government liaison officer since
October.

But her plea for talks with the other CEC members, which would be
necessary to implement changes to the party, has not yet been granted.

One member, 68-year-old Khin Maung Swe, told AFP a place would be kept for
loyal senior colleagues.

"It is certain that we will reorganise the committee, but we cannot say
the time-frame.... We cannot neglect our senior CEC members if they want
to serve," he said.

Although the NLD's fate largely remains in the hands of the junta, the
Bangkok-based diplomat said the party members are partly to blame for
their "incapacity to rejuvenate themselves".

"If they don't get this right they will be remembered for being full of
good intentions but all their sacrifices will be in vain, and I think Aung
San Suu Kyi had grasped that," he said.

____________________________________

December 21, New Light of Myanmar
The best policy – Maung Shwe Ni

In this age, an important question has sprung up, and the people have been
awaiting it. Which will be chosen, cooperation or confrontation?

Which is wanted? Want cooperation? Want confrontation?

The prevailing conditions have paved the way for cooperation. This
decision is the best, isn't it? It is clear that cooperation benefits the
two sides as well as the nation and the people.

All have understood that only cooperation can shape a better future rather
than self-interest. The people will earnestly welcome it.

Sticking to confrontation and coercion by upholding old ideologies can
only beget delays and hindrances. It cannot be successful at all. Then it
will deviate from the public desire. The people will shake their heads
with disappointment. Look at international incidents.

Tragedies stemming from threatening, fighting and arguing are a lesson to
learn. But, unity and cooperation have achieved fruits of success.

Arrogance, grudge and worries came after trying to suppress others and it
is a lesson to be taken. Forgiveness, loving-kindness and goodwill can
only generate peace.

Future cannot be built with self-centredness and egoism. Don't try to
destroy the world only because of your very desire. It is impossible. The
period of 20 years has proved that utter devastation and confrontation are
useless. Why continue to stick to it? Let's take a lesson.

Future can well be shaped with vision only. Future will surely reach soon.
At present, who is the most honest? Who has the ability to serve the best
interests? Who is the most farsighted? Who considers most to serve the
interests of the State and the people?

It is certain that the good or evil legacies of the answer have to be
experienced only by our nation. Can anyone from outside be dependable?

Over the last two decades, the State has been able to forge peace and
cooperation with almost all the groups of our national brethren fighting
for many years amidst various difficulties. History reflects the goodwill
and loving-kindness of the existing government. Its capability to make
peace should not be underestimated. Is it appropriate to collude with the
one from distance whose interest is different from your own by showing
hostile to the nearest one? The one from distance might be clever. But it
is unlikely that he is good to you.

Surely, he will give priority to the interests of his nation and his own.
There may be criticism because of different ideologies. But assistance
cannot come because of the same ideology. Despite being in the same group,
one may not help sacrificing oneself. Now is a time when anyone is working
for his own national interest. He will not do anything that is not
beneficial to him. He will dare to threaten even coming from the western
to eastern hemispheres if it is in his own interest. He has no shame, no
fear, no ethics. He only seeks his interest. Might is right.

In order to safeguard our independence and sovereignty in this age of
hegemony, the only military power, the only political power or the only
economic power is not enough. It is important for the people to have
strong patriotism and Union Spirit with awareness.

Anyone dare not invade our country if the people remain united. It is not
time to argue who is important and who is not important.

It is high time the entire people remained united in doing their bit in
the national interest. The State constitution drawn without any outside
influence has been approved with the support of the entire people.

The demand for amendment to the constitution through discussions and a
dialogue with them is beyond fulfillment. A group of people alone has no
exclusive right to amend the constitution that has been approved in a
democratic way by the people. Should the ruling government fulfil the
wishes of the public or to yield to the demand of a group of people who
are highly conceited and critical?

Why are they demanding for many things impossible? Their real intention is
nothing more than to mar the democratic process. If a person is repeatedly
claiming that he is in favour of democracy, and he wants flourishing
democracy in the nation, but in practice, he is demanding for amendments
to and revocation of the democratic system, then what he claims and what
he does are opposing against each other.

Here, I do not mean that the constitution approved by the public shall
never be amended. Necessary amendments should be made to the constitution
when the occasion arises. Who should amend it?

The Hluttaw (parliament) comprising members of parliament elected by the
people should take that responsibility. And when should it be amended? It
should be done in an opportune time. The people of us have to introduce
and exercise the democratic system in which the people have ultimate
authority.

When the people consider that Tatmadaw member MPs are no longer needed in
the Hluttaw according to the international and national situations in
future, the Tatmadaw will comply with the wishes of the people in line
with the laws adopted by the people's representatives. It can be deduced
from global and local incidents today that the present constitution is the
most suitable one because representatives of the people from all strata of
life and various political parties formulated and adopted it through
thorough and frank discussions. I do not think it is prudent that the
constitution for which it has taken a long time is revoked at one go.

The constitution was approved with the secret ballot of the entire people.
The result was the true one. Ambassadors and military attaches of foreign
embassies in Myanmar were allowed to observe the conditions of the polling
stations, the way to count the votes, and the voting system. The result
has been recognized at the global level.

Various types of media tried to disrupt the referendum. However, they were
unable to sway the people in that regard, because international and
domestic affairs are transparent to the people.

The people know well that they are being deceived.

They also realize that show of force without strength is in reality in vain.

If a person says he wants to make friends, but sticks to the policy of
sanctions against the nation, he will never put his words into deeds. If
so, he will never achieve success.

Some people found to their dismay when they learnt the demand for
amendments to the constitution through dialouge between the government and
them. Then, the people made comments that why they wanted to amend the
constitution approved by the public, and are they crazy out of conceit?

However, the people showed their maturity. The Head of State had great
patience and benevolent attitude; showed consideration; fulfilled some of
their demands; exercised forgive and forget policy to them; did not
harbour any grudge; and still restored his loving-kindness and friendship
toward them. He and they are somewhat like parent and children, so it was
impossible for him to terminate his attachment for them.

An editor of a local journal in the editorial of the 5-12-2009 issue
reminded that showing all hands was the key to national reconsolidation.
They should have quit disguising themselves.

The people are to collectively generate their better future. If they
really favour national reconsolidation and democracy, they should not
apply any trickery for political gains.

All should deal with each other without any political tricks and devious
means. And they should have stopped practising circumlocution and coercing
the government.

They should show honesty and uprightness. We live in the saying that goes
"Honesty is the best policy".

Translation: ST + MS