BurmaNet News, January 27, 2010

[Editor]

January 27, 2010, Issue #3884


INSIDE BURMA
VOA: Verdict postponed in trial of Burmese-American activist
AP: Myanmar arrests 11 accused of plotting bombings
New Light of Myanmar: Two blasts rock Kyaukkyi, no one hurt
Mizzima News: MNA stops providing Suu Kyi pictures
Irrawaddy: Burmese soldiers still recruit underage youth
Irrawaddy: Imprisoned comedian turns 49

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Burmese tycoon takes over fuel imports and sales

ON THE BORDER
The Packet and Times (Ontario): Life at dump beats Burma
Hindustan Times: Burmese Buddhist monks share plight with Tibetan exiles

BUSINESS / TRADE

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: UN Special Rapporteur to visit Burma
AFP: US calls for immediate release of Suu Kyi
DVB: Imprisoned Burmese journalists recognized for reporting truth

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Than Shwe and the waiting game – Aung Zaw

PRESS RELEASE
AAPPB: Nyi Nyi Aung's verdict postponed and family denied visit



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 27, Voice of America
Verdict postponed in trial of Burmese-American activist

A Burmese court has delayed a verdict in the case of a Burmese-born U.S.
citizen charged with fraud and forgery.

The lawyer for Kyaw Zaw Lwin told reporters Wednesday the judge postponed
the verdict until February 10.

Kyaw Zaw Lwin, also known as Nyi Nyi Aung, was arrested last September
after arriving at Rangoon's airport, and was put on trial the following
month.  The charges are in connection with possessing a forged national
identity card and failing to declare foreign currency.

Kyaw Zaw Lwin was one of the organizers of the 1988 pro-democracy
uprising.  He fled Burma for neighboring Thailand following a military
crackdown on activists.  He later emigrated to the United States and
became a citizen.

He traveled to Burma to visit his ailing mother, who is serving a prison
sentence for political activities.

Kyaw Zaw Lwin staged a hunger strike shortly after his arrest to protest
inhumane prison conditions in Burma.  Witnesses say he has been tortured,
denied food and medical care, and confined in a dog pen.

An official at the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon tells VOA's Burmese Service the
embassy is monitoring Kyaw Zaw Lwin's case closely, and continues to press
the Burmese military government to observe international standards of due
process in the matter.

A Thailand-based advocacy group for Burmese political prisoners,
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), say Kyaw Zaw
Lwin's family has been banned from visiting him in detention.

____________________________________

January 27, Associated Press
Myanmar arrests 11 accused of plotting bombings

Myanmar's military junta on Wednesday announced the arrests of 11 people
accused of planning bombings to disrupt elections planned for this year.

State radio said that "terrorists" bent on derailing the 2010 general
election have penetrated the country and were responsible for seven
explosions in Yangon industrial parks in September last year.

The report said the arrests were made last week in Yangon's northern
Mingladon township and the authorities seized handmade explosives, 43
detonators, U.S.-made TNT and C4 explosives, a pistol and a satellite
phone.

It said those arrested included a man who belongs to the People's
Guerrilla Front, which it linked to the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors.

Five armed men from the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors stormed the
Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok in October 1999. The group took 38 hostages to
demand democracy in their country, also known as Burma. Thailand allowed
them to fly to the border and disappear, angering Myanmar but ending the
standoff without bloodshed.

The warriors were blamed for several small bombings in Yangon in April 2008.

The report said those arrested had been planning further explosions in
industrial zones and also were targeting security personnel on patrol.

Separately, state-run newspapers on Wednesday published stories blaming
ethnic Karen rebels for other attacks. They accused the Karen National
Union of being behind two blasts Tuesday morning in Kyaukkyi in Bago
Division, about 105 miles (170 kilometers) northeast of Yangon. No
casualties were reported.
____________________________________

January 27, New Light of Myanmar
Two blasts rock Kyaukkyi, no one hurt

Nay Pyi Taw – Two separate explosions occurred in Kyaukkyi, Bago Division,
early this morning. One occurred in front of a building in Theindan Ward
at about 4 am, and the other in front of a house in Myitta Ward at about
4.05 am. There were no causalities as there were hardly people around
there at that time but the fences and some windows of the buildings were
slightly damaged.

It was learnt that the perpetrations were the acts of a group of KNU
Brigade-3. In a similar incident in which 7 people were dead and 1 I
others injured that ocurred in Ppun, Kayin State 16 December 2009 was also
the act of a group under KNU Brigade-5.

Such incidents have proved that KNU insurgents are detonating bombs,
blowing up power lines, planting mines in farms and gardens and extorting
money, rice and rations from villages and towns, the majority of whose
populations are Kayin nationals, although they are shouting that they are
serving the interest of Kayin nationals and Kayin State. It is learnt that
as the terrorist insurgents in disguise are penetrating regions where
peace and stability prevail, the local people are cooperating with the
authorities in exposing them. — MNA

____________________________________

January 27, Mizzima News
MNA stops providing Suu Kyi pictures – Phanida

Chiang Mai – The State-run Myanmar News Agency (MNA) as of January has
stopped providing photographs of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to
publications, editors of local journals in Rangoon said.

The MNA is a government-controlled agency under the News and Periodical
Enterprise of the Ministry of Information and Publicity. It has exclusive
rights to produce photographs of top-level government activities and also
acts as an agency releasing the government’s news and information.
suu-kyi-photo

The MNA unlike the Press Scrutiny and Registration Board does not censor
the contents of publications but collects information and releases them on
behalf of the government.

As the sole agency with the right to take pictures of government arranged
events including meetings of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and
government officials, local weeklies in Rangoon rely on the MNA for
pictures to be carried with their stories.

“The MNA stopped providing pictures though the censor board allows us to
use it. I think they have been instructed not to do so,” an editor of a
local weekly in Rangoon told Mizzima.

“Since we are unable to get new pictures, we have to use old (file)
photos. So far there has been no notice restricting the use of pictures,”
another editor said.

While running a story on the latest meeting between Aung San Suu Kyi and
junta’s Liaison Minister Aung Kyi on January 15, The Voice Weekly, in its
latest issue had to do without any photographs.

Earlier, for meetings between the Burmese opposition leader and visiting
US delegates or the government’s Liaison Minister, the MNA provided
photographs to the weeklies.

The Weekly 11 journal in its latest issue published on January 16, also
carried the story of Aung San Suu Kyi’s meeting with Aung Kyi but used a
file picture, as the MNA stopped providing fresh photos.

Meanwhile, with the Burmese censor board filtering and censoring
publications and weeklies from publishing information critical to the
regime along with politically sensitive issues, the Myanmar Football
Federation (MFF), chaired by one of junta’s business cronies Zaw Zaw, has
begun restricting local weeklies from covering football tournaments by
limiting the number of journalists allowed into official briefings and
into the stadiums.

A source close to the MFF told Mizzima that it started restrictions
because Burmese media in exile has have been reporting frequent fights and
brawls among football players or among fans.

The MFF has announced that weekly journals interested in covering MFF
events would be allowed to register only one reporter and a photo
journalist at their office. The journalists must seek prior accreditation
with the MFF.

The MFF’s move in restricting journalists is coming in the way of freedom
of expression, a veteran journalist Win Tin said.

“The MFF is also restricting journalists’ freedom. Sports are also
important for the media. I fear that in future there will be more
restrictions in politics, and in the socio-economic sector,” Win Tin
added.

“We were told that limiting the number of journalists covering MFF events
was because the media in exile are publishing and broadcasting frequent
fights and brawls on the football ground. I think the government wants to
hide what is happening on the ground,” a Rangoon-based journalist told
Mizzima.

On January 17, a fight broke out during the match between the Burmese
business tycoon Tayza owned Yangon United and the current Myanmar National
League (MNL) Champion Yadanabon Club. Authorities were compelled to deploy
over 100 security forces to quell the disturbances.

While local weeklies in Rangoon were restricted from reporting the
incident, the Burmese media in exile had a field day reporting it widely.
____________________________________

January 27, Irrawaddy
Burmese soldiers still recruit underage youth – Lawi Weng

The Burmese army is still recruiting underage youth despite the
government's agreement with the UN that such practices would stop.

In the latest incident, Kyaw Min Tun, 14, was conscripted by a soldier in
Light Infantry Battalion No. 83, based in Migaungye in Taungdwingyi
Township in Magway Division.

His mother, San Thar Win, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that her son was
taken to the battalion on Jan. 19 at 4 p.m. She said a soldier from the
battalion persuaded him to join by saying he would receive a 60,000 kyat
(US $60) monthly salary.

She has asked the battalion to release her son, she said, but the military
has not complied.

Meanwhile, Aye Myint, a leading labor activist in Pegu Division, said that
two other underage youths were taken to the same battalion this month. His
group, Guiding Star, works on issues involving child recruitment and
forced labor.

The group received 121 recruitment complaints last year, but only about
one-third of the youth were released, he said.

He said that the Burmese government should punished soldiers who recruit
underage youth. Government officials have signed an agreement with the
International Labour Organization to stop such recruitment but soldiers in
the field continue the practice, he said.

Meanwhile, the Burmese military government has extended an agreement
allowing the UN to monitor complaints of underage recruitment for one more
year.

Kari Tapiola, the executive director of the ILO in Geneva, told The
Irrawaddy by e-mail that the overall number of underage recruitment
complaints has increased.

The forced recruitment of children into the military is a problem which
has been recognized at a high level. According to the “Annual Report of
the UN Secretary-General to the Security Council on Children and Armed
Conflict” in March last year, the Burmese junta “continues to screen and
release underage children found in its armed forces during the training
process.”

The report said the ILO, together with the International Committee of the
Red Cross, was instrumental in the release of 12 underage recruits and had
verified the release of 23 children “mostly from involuntary military
enrollment.” It was waiting for a government response in 14 other cases.

The UN said in its latest report on the situation that the military is
still recruiting child soldiers.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has said that 70,000 underage
soldiers are serving in the Burmese armed forces.

Human rights groups say children are recruited at train stations, bus
depots, teahouses, video halls and movie cinemas, and even while walking
home at night. The groups say the youth are sometimes threatened and
beaten if they refuse to agree to undergo military training. After their
training, many are sent to areas where the military is in conflict with
ethnic groups.

____________________________________

January 27, Irrawaddy
Imprisoned comedian turns 49 – Arkar Moe

While popular Burmese comedian Zarganar spent his second consecutive
birthday behind bars in remote Myitkyina prison in northern Burma on
Wednesday, a small group of dissidents celebrated his 49th birthday at a
Buddhist monastery in Chiang Mai in Thailand.

“We offered alms this morning to the monks in commemoration of Ko
Zarganar’s birthday,” said fellow comedian Godzilla of the well-known
Burmese troupe Thee Lay Thee A-nyeint.  “After all, he has made a real
sacrifice for his people. We wish that he––and all the other persons who
have made such sacrifices––live long and free from danger.”
Zarganar. (Source: campaigns.ifex.org)

Zarganar’s sister-in-law, Ma Nyein, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that
Zarganar is suffering from the skin disease pruritus. “I last saw him on
Dec. 7, 2009. Like other families of political prisoners, we expect him to
be released this year, but it all depends on the Burmese authorities.”

“He is a very funny man who inspires confidence,” said Kyaw Thu, a famous
Burmese actor. “He is a true artiste and I very much appreciate his good
deeds and brave spirit.”

Zarganar was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his involvement in the
humanitarian relief effort in the Irrawaddy delta after Cyclone Nargis
devastated the region in 2008.

For years he has been a thorn in the side of Burma's ruling generals,
constantly criticizing them and the government with sharp wit and fierce
political satire.

Born Thura to a political family, his parents were well-known writers Nan
Nyunt Swe and Daw Kyi Oo.

Zarganar graduated in dental medicine from Rangoon University in 1985.

Adopting the stage name “Zarganar,” meaning “tweezers,” he performed
amateur stage comedy shows at Rangoon universities until in 1986, he
formed the “Mya Ponnama Anyeint” troupe.

He quickly became known for his “than gyat,” a kind of traditional
satirical show popular during Thingyan, the Burmese New Year.

He got away with a highly popular play, “Beggar,” which savagely ridiculed
the late dictator Gen Ne Win and his cronies.

Zarganar was arrested for participating in the nationwide uprising in
1988. He was in prison for the next five out of six years.

Between 1997 and 2006, he was banned frequently from show business by the
military authorities for making controversial video documentaries and
holding interviews with foreign media.

Zarganar wrote a screenplay based on late Gen Aung San's biography and
also directed three short videos and a movie to raise HIV/AIDS awareness
with the help of local NGOs.

He became best known for his performances of A-nyeint Pwe, a form of
theatre that combines dance, music, opera and comedy, which at times is
politically and socially driven and seeks to make light of the stresses of
everyday life.

Continually pushing the envelope against government censorship, Zarganar
formed a comedy troupe called Thee Lay Thee A-nyeint, which performed
mostly in Rangoon and delighted audiences with satirical skits lampooning
the military junta.

In 1991, Zarganar was awarded the Lillian Hellman and Dashiel Hammett
Award, given by the Fund for Free Expression, a committee organized by New
York-based Human Rights Watch.

He was arrested on Sept. 26, 2007, for participating in the nationwide
“Saffron Revolution.” He and his friend, actor Kyaw Thu, made a public
show of offering food and water to Buddhist monks as they prepared to lead
anti-government protests. Moreover, he urged the public to support the
monks in radio interviews with exiled media.

After Cyclone Nargis devastated in Irrawaddy delta in early May 2008,
Zarganar organized a group of about 400 Burmese volunteers to provide
disaster relief to survivors in cyclone-ravaged areas.

He was rearrested on June 4, 2008, after a raid at his home in which the
authorities seized his computer, about US $1,000 in cash and three CDs
containing footage of May’s cyclone devastation, the opulent wedding of
junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s youngest daughter and the film “Rambo 4,”
in which Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone fights Burmese government
soldiers in a mission to rescue kidnapped Westerners.

In November 2008, Zarganar was sentenced to 59 years in prison. Rangoon
Divisional Court later reduced the prison sentence to 35 years after an
appeal by his family. In December 2008, he was transferred to Myintkyina
prison in Kachin State in the country's far north.

One month before his sentencing, Zarganar was awarded the one Humanity
Award by PEN Canada of which he is an honorary member.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 27, The Packet and Times (Ontario)
Life at dump beats Burma – Teviah Moro

Mae Sot, Thailand – A life spent mining through mountains of trash is
better than life in Burma, say those who reside at a local garbage dump at
the edge of this border town.

About 200 Burmese migrants have traded their troubled homeland for
rudimentary bamboo dwellings perched amid the peaks and valleys of
foul-smelling rubbish.

"It's worse in Burma," says a 25-year-old mother of two children from
Rangoon who has lived in the dump for about a year.

Last month, her husband died here after a bout with malaria. He was 28
years old.

The woman, who did not want her name used, says she feels safer at the
dump than in town because run-ins with Thai police are less frequent.

Here, children in grubby clothes run around the heaps barefoot. Camp
dwellers wash their clothes in a lagoon of green-coloured water.

But food scraps and good trash are harder to come by these days with
processors and dumpster divers in town getting first crack at Mae Sot's
garbage.

"I thought I could have an easy life," said Ko Pyar, a 42-year-old father
of two who has lived here for seven years. "I see now that it's different,
but I cannot go back."

Though there is a school for migrant children at the edge of the dump, his
kids don't study there because he needs them to work.

Ko Pyar, whose wife died of hypertension five years ago, says he can earn
between 30 baht ( 96 cents Canadian) and 40 baht ($1.28 Canadian) a day
taking care of cows at farms in the area.

That's about how much he would make if he has a good day finding trash.
The minimum wage in Mae Sot is 152 baht ($4.87) for a day's work.

This is perhaps the bottom rung of the border town's underground economy.

It's estimated that more than 100,000 Burmese migrants work in Mae Sot at
construction sites, garment factories and farms.

Burma, known as Myanmar by its military rulers, has struggled with
internal strife ever since it achieved independence from Britain in 1948.

Ethnic minority groups have mounted armed bids for autonomy and civilians
have been caught in the crossfire.

An impoverished nation of about 50 million, Burma has been subject to
military domination since 1962, earning it the label of international
pariah.

Human Rights Watch states the government "systematically denies citizens
basic freedoms including freedom of expression, association and assembly."

Moreover, the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) "continues
to perpetrate violations against civilians in ethnic conflict areas,
including extrajudicial killings, forced labor, and sexual violence."

Canada continues to impose strict economic sanctions on Burma.

Ron Hoffmann, Canada's ambassador to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Burma,
is hopeful for gradual change.

"Most people with a stake in the country want change," said Hoffmann in a
recent interview. "The government really has very little support."

The SPDC has announced intentions to hold elections sometime this year but
has yet to hold a date. Democratic champion Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of
the National League for Democracy, remains under house arrest in Rangoon.

Hoffmann, who met with the junta's foreign ministry in November, said he's
clearly communicated Canada's expectations of a free and fair election.

Frank Brewster, a family doctor from Orillia, hopes that his work with
Project Umbrella Burma, an Orillia-based charity, can help effect change
in Burma.

He is horrified by the squalor at the Mae Sot dump. But he admires the
dump dwellers' drive to survive in the face of such adversity.

"I took it as bad-tasting medicine," he said after visiting the dump for
the first time.

Brewster says it's hard to gauge the children's chances, but suggests the
general picture is bleak.

"If you take a kid who has so many strikes against them and give them
malaria and gastroenteritis, then they're likely to fail."

This apocalyptic landscape has served as bitter inspiration for artist
Maung Maung Tinn.

The painter, whose watercolours and acrylics have found owners as far away
as Japan, France and Canada, wanted to show the situation to the world.

"It's not for humans. It's for animals."

Maung Maung Tinn left his home in Karen State in 1995, when fighting near
his village became too intense.

"It was like a nightmare. I wanted to escape from the nightmare, so I ran
away."

The 42-year-old painter recalls waiting on pins and needles as mortars
fired between SPDC and Karen military camps flew over his home.

"The bullet doesn't have eyes."

Though life in Thailand isn't easy, at least he has a clean toilet and
electricity 24 hours a day, Maung Maung Tinn said.

During his visit, Brewster learned that a man at the dump planned to visit
the nearby Mae Tao Clinic, which offers free medical services to migrants.

Through Project Umbrella Burma, doctors have volunteered their services at
the clinic, where Brewster is amid his second two-month stint.

"It affirms my work at the Mae Tao Clinic. That is a place where they can
go when they can't go on."

But when he considers the desperation at the dump, and Burma's ruling
junta, he can't contain his quiet rage.

"It fans the flames of anger."

tmoro at orilliapacket.com

____________________________________

January 27, Hindustan Times
Burmese Buddhist monks share plight with Tibetan exiles

Dharamsala -- An 18-member Burmese monks' delegation, which arrived here
on a three-day visit, shared their plight with Tibetan exiles here on
Tuesday.

"We have few Burmese who are visiting Dharamsala and also with them they
have brought a very powerful documentary called Burma VJ. This (the
documentary) is about the Burmese monks protest in 2007 and how people
inside Burma are struggling for freedom and democracy," said Tenzin
Cheoying, a Tibetan activist.

"The Burmese people and the Tibetan people are in same conditions
politically because in Burma we have been under dictatorship rule for more
than 60 years and Tibetan people are also under occupation of the Chinese
government. There are lot of human right violations and our struggle for
democracy has not been successful," said Pluto, the coordinator of the
Burmese delegation.

The Burmese delegation would visit various Tibetan establishments in and
around the town during their visit.

India is home to hundreds of Myanmar nationals, many of them pro-democracy
activists.New Delhi, which has close links to Myanmar, says the generals
should pursue national reconciliation and return to democracy but opposes
tough measures like sanctions, saying the country should not be isolated.

Published by HT Syndication with permission from Asian News International.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 27, Irrawaddy
Burmese tycoon takes over fuel imports and sales

Burmese business tycoon Tay Za, a close associate of the junta generals,
has reportedly co-founded an association to control the importation and
sale of gasoline and diesel fuel.

An official at the regime-owned Federation of Chambers of Commerce and
Industry and Rangoon-based business sources said the Fuel Oil Importers
and Distributors Association (FOIDA) was formed on Jan. 23, with Tay Za as
chairman and Aung Thet Mann as vice chairman. The association has 138
members.

Aung Thet Mann is the son of the regime's No. 4, Gen. Thura Shwe Mann.
Both men are on the US sanctions list.

The Burmese junta's privatization commission announced recently that it is
selling more than 100 state-owned buildings and factories as part of the
latest wave of privatizations. Petrol stations, which were formerly run by
the Ministry of Energy, were not included in the list.

Business sources, however, said that Htoo Trading Co Ltd, owned by Tay Za,
has already been awarded a contract to operate state-owned gas stations in
Upper Burma.

Sources said that the FOIDA will oversee the operations of importing,
pricing and distribution of gasoline and diesel.

According to the Ministry of Energy, Burma has 256 fuel filling stations.
The military government has strictly controlled all fuel-related business,
including filling stations, since 1962.

Due to the continued increase in global fuel prices in 2008, the Burmese
military government has allowed trade by permitting two companies—Union of
Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd, a military generals’ syndicate, and Tay Za’s
Htoo Trading Company—to import fuel.

In August 2008, the Ministry of Energy allowed petrol stations to sell
large quantities of fuel to holders of dollar-denominated foreign exchange
certificates (FECs), ending a system of buying fuel with ration books
under a restricted quota. Consumers paying in the national currency, kyat,
are still limited to two gallons per day.

The sources said the regime's Trade Council, the country’s highest
authority in the area of importing and exporting, announced a policy of
allowing private companies to import diesel from December, 2009.

The new policy replaced that of the Diesel Import Provisional Committee,
which was formed after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in 2008, to enable some
private companies to import diesel to meet urgent demand in storm-hit
areas.

Burma is essentially a diesel-powered economy. Buses, trains, trucks and
portable generators that exist in nearly every home, factory and shop rely
on diesel. According to a Xinhua Chinese news agency report, Burma planned
to import more than 30,000 tons of diesel for the first time from
Singapore in December.

According to the Ministry of Energy, Burma produces some 80 million
gallons of diesel every year for domestic use. Over the last few years,
however, the country has had to import about 330 million gallons of diesel
every year from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

The Xinhua report also said Burma had imported fuel worth US $600 million
over the past few years.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 27, Irrawaddy
UN Special Rapporteur to visit Burma – Ba Kaung

The UN human rights special rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana,
will visit the country from Feb. 14 to 20. When he made a number of
requests last year to visit the country for the second time in one year,
the regime said the timing was not right.

He will make a report on his findings to the UN Human Rights Council in
March, according to the UN Human Rights office in Thailand.
Tomas Ojea Quintana. (Photo: AP)

Quintana has asked the authorities to meet with the detained pro-democracy
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and leaders of ethnic cease-fire groups during
his visit, according to an interview he gave to a Burmese radio station on
Tuesday. He has also asked to visit Arakan State to study the human rights
situation there.

In his report to the UN last year, Quintana called for the release of all
2,156 political prisoners before the 2010 election in order to ensure
national reconciliation and a transition to democracy.

Since his appointment by the Geneva-based UN human rights group in May
2008, Quintana has made two trips to Burma, the second in February 2009.
His mandate comes from the UN Human Rights Council.

During his last visit, he had private meetings with political prisoners in
Insein Prison. He also visited a prison in Karen State where he met with
inmates who were imprisoned for trying to escape after they had been
conscripted as porters by the regime's army.

Quintana has urged the military regime to take four human rights steps
before the 2010 election: the release of all political prisoners; review
and reform laws that are not in compliance with international human rights
standards; reform the judiciary to assure independence and impartiality;
and reform the military to respect international humanitarian laws in
conflict areas, as well as the rights of civilians.
____________________________________

January 27, Agence France Presse
US calls for immediate release of Suu Kyi

Washington — The United States called Tuesday for Myanmar to immediately
release democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi after signals that the junta could
free her following controversial elections.

The Nobel laureate's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said
it had heard that the military regime was considering freeing her in
November -- meeting global demands for her release but only after the
election.

"The idea that her release will conveniently come after the election is
unfortunate," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

"We will continue to press the Burmese government for her release," he
said, using the military-run nation's former name of Burma.

He was speaking after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with US
Senator Jim Webb, the leading advocate in Congress for engaging the junta.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the last democratic elections in 1990,
but the junta, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, never allowed the party
to take office.

The military regime has defied persistent international appeals by keeping
Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the past two decades.

The opposition has been deeply suspicious of the election which the junta
plans to hold sometime this year, believing it is a plot to legitimize its
rule.

US President Barack Obama's administration has launched a dialogue with
Myanmar in hopes of wooing the nation back to the international
mainstream.

But the administration has voiced concern about the country's detention of
political prisoners and its military campaigns against ethnic minorities.

____________________________________

January 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
Imprisoned Burmese journalists recognized for reporting truth – Salai Pi Pi

New Delhi – Two imprisoned Burmese journalists have been named this year’s
recipients of an award in honor of a Japanese journalist killed during the
2007 monk-led protests in Burma.

Tokyo-based Japanese News Agency together with Burma Media Association
(BMA) on Tuesday announced they had selected imprisoned Burmese
journalists Hla Hla Win and Win Maw, arrested by Burmese military
authorities for sending information and reports to the Oslo-based
Democratic Voice of Burma, as recipients of the 2010 Kenji Nagai Memorial
Award.

“We decided to honor them in recognition of the sacrifice they both had
made in sending out information on what really happened in Burma to
audiences across the world," Son Moe Wai, Secretary of BMA, told Mizzima
on Wednesday.

Son Moe Wai said the Burmese regime arrests and suppresses journalists
with the intention of creating an information blackout across the country.

“I think they detained them unnecessarily as they did not commit any
crime. They just practiced freedom of expression in the country,” he
added.

The Japanese News Agency and BMA established the Kenji Nagai Memorial
Award in remembrance of Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai, killed by a
Burmese soldier while covering protests in Rangoon in September 2007. The
honorees of the award will share a US$ 1,000 cash prize and crystal trophy
this year.

A ceremony to acknowledge the winners of the second annual Kenji Nagai
Award will be conducted during BMA’s upcoming conference, to be held this
February in Thailand.

Toru Yamaji, a representative of Asia Press Front (APF), told Mizzima on
Wednesday that he congratulated both Kenji Nagai winners, saying, “ They
are working for the future of Burma and for the Burmese people who want to
get peace in the country.”

Hla Hla Win was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison under the charges
of violating Burma’s Electronic Act and for riding a motorcycle without a
license, while Win Maw was given 17 years for breaking the Electronic Act.

Meanwhile Win Myint, father of Hla Hla Win, said he felt proud of his
daughter who selflessly worked for the Burmese people.

“I feel really proud of her. She is a hero,” Win Myint told Mizzima,
adding, “But I think it is too much for her being given a seven year
sentence for riding a motorcycle [without a license] while thousands of
motorcycles [without licenses] are brought into the country from different
corners.”

The inaugural Kenji Nagai Award in 2009 was presented to Eint Khaing Oo, a
female journalist detained for covering Burma’s delta area after it was
devastated by Nargis Cyclone in May 2008. Eint Khaing Oo was released from
jail in 2009.

Toru Yamaji, in the joint statement with BMA issued on Tuesday, expressed
its distrust concerning the Burmese military regime’s planned election for
later this year, questioning whether it can truly be held in a free and
fair manner.

He encouraged Burmese journalists to cover the reality of the ground
situation in the forthcoming general election.

“I don’t think the regime’s upcoming election will be fair. However, the
people have to decide for a change as the election is likely to be
inevitable and come to happen,” said Toru Yamaji. “Journalists have a
responsibility to reveal the truth on what the people have decided and the
nature of the election.”

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 27, Irrawaddy
Than Shwe and the waiting game – Aung Zaw

It's often said that Burmese junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe is good at
managing time. In 2008, he surprised everyone by calling for a referendum
in May and announcing a general election would be held in 2010.

He then fell quiet, allowing people to speculate about an election date
and  the promulgation of an electoral law. Than Shwe is indeed a
time-management genius.

This week it was reported that Home Affairs Minister Maj-Gen Maung Oo had
told local officials in Kyaukpadaung Township that the detained democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be released in November this year.

Can this be interpreted as a message to the world that Suu Kyi will be
released only after the election—which can be expected in October,
according to a recent unconfirmed report published in the influential
Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun? Than Shwe appears to be testing the
water again to manage his time.

Maung Oo, it will be recalled, played a role at the end of Suu Kyi's trial
last May, theatrically entering the courtroom to read a prepared statement
from Than Shwe commuting Suu Kyi's sentence from three years' hard labor
to 18 months under house arrest. That sentence expires this November. Did
any political pundits predict Than Shwe's letter beforehand? I recall no
one.

It certainly appears that Than Shwe doesn't want Suu Kyi to be released
before the election. If she were to be freed even just one week before the
election she and her National League for Democracy (NLD) could scoop up
votes and hijack the regime's seven-step road map.

Than Shwe surely won't risk another 1990. Without Suu Kyi on the scene he
is confident of victory even before the election is held.

His confidence is bolstered by the fact that the international community,
the US, EU, UN and regional governments, while calling for a free and fair
election, have stopped short of demanding a review of the constitution.

However, by calling for an inclusive and credible election, the US and UN 
have made clear they want detained Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu
Kyi and other political prisoners to be included in the electoral process.

Indonesia Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa recently added his voice to
calls for an inclusive election by saying he wants to see Suu Kyi given
the  possibility and opportunity to interact with her party colleagues on
deciding how they will approach the election.

This week, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, P. J.
Crowley, told reporters at a daily news briefing: “We have long demanded
the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. We think that should still be done and as
quickly as possible. I think the idea that her release will conveniently
come after the election is unfortunate.”

Officials in the Obama administration, busy with a “direct engagement”
policy with Burma, are showing signs of frustration after waiting in vain
for any sign of meaningful enthusiasm on the part of the regime.

The Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Kurt
Campbell, who led a US delegation on a visit to Burma in November, told
senators at a congressional briefing last week: “We are attempting to take
that first step...but I do want to underscore that one can't dance on the
dance floor alone.”

Campbell also said the administration’s formal review of US policy towards
Burma reaffirmed its fundamental goals: a democratic government that
respects the rights of its people and is at peace with its neighbors.

He elaborated further: “A policy of pragmatic engagement with the Burmese
authorities holds the best hope for advancing our goals. Under this
approach, US sanctions will remain in place until Burmese authorities
demonstrate that they are prepared to make meaningful progress on US core
concerns.”

Campbell's visit to Burma was “educational” in nature, encompassing
meetings with the Burmese prime minister, Suu Kyi and ethnic leaders.

The US delegation was reportedly highly impressed with the meetings with 
Suu Kyi at Rangoon's Inya Lake Hotel and with NLD leaders at the party
headquarters. I have also learned that the discussions with Suu Kyi and
party leaders were deep-reaching and covered a wide range of issues.

No time line emerged from the US delegation's talks with regime officials,
however. Than Shwe is keeping that to himself—probably because he doesn't
have one.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

January 27, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
Nyi Nyi Aung's verdict postponed and family denied visit

Burmese American citizenship holder Ko Nyi Nyi Aung@ Kyaw Zaw Lwin has had
a  family visit banned, by authorities.

When his family went to see him on 18 January 2010, jailor Kyaw Min Tun
said they were not allowed to see him at that time, but they would be able
to see him on 27 January. 27 January is also the day that Ko Nyi Nyi Aung
will have his sentence read out in the court.

Then on 25 January an American Embassy staff member, who was informed by
Burmese authorities, told the family that they will not be allowed to see
Ko Nyi Nyi Aung on 27 January. When Ko Nyi Nyi Aung’s family asked the
prison authorities about him, they were told that they won’t be allowed to
visit him anymore.

The family was also told that the charges against Ko Nyi Nyi Aung will be
re-examined, therefore judgment has been adjourned until 10 February 2010.

As the family has been denied a visit to Ko Nyi Nyi Aung, they are now
very worried about him. Normally families can visit detainees under trial,
once a week.

AAPP Secretary Ko Tate Naing said in regard to Ko Nyi Nyi Aung’s denial of
family visit, “if you don’t have family visits, you can get malnourished
and also you suffer mentally and it is torture to his family”.


For more information:
Ko Tate Naing +66(0) 812 878 751
Ko Bo Kyi +66(0) 813 248 935