BurmaNet News, August 6, 2010

[Editor]

August 6, 2010 Issue #4014

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Food crisis ‘worsening’ in central Burma
DVB: Assassination attempt on military chief
IPS: Civil society steps into election fray, trains candidates
Irrawaddy: Junta troops take DKBA border gate
Sydney Morning Herald: Burma mired in struggle two years after deadly storm

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Thailand throws open tourist spot near Shan resistance base

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar to add 400,000 more mobile phone lines

HEALTH / AIDS
KNG: Bhamo hospital full of children suffering from dengue

DRUGS
Straits Times: $5.9m of drugs seized
Mizzima News: Drug economics in Burma’s new political order

INTERNATIONAL
DPA: 'Russia trained 4,000 Myanmar nuclear officers'

OPINION / OTHER
Mizzima News: Amartya Sen reminds India, appeasing tyrants has a price -
B. K. Sen
The Diplomat: Will India pressure Burma? - Rajeev Sharma

INTERVIEWS
Irrawaddy: Election chance for change

STATEMENT
ABMA+88+ABFSU: 'Let's Oppose 2010 Elections Resolutely'

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 5, Democratic Voice of Burma
Food crisis ‘worsening’ in central Burma - Francis Wade

Shortages of food that stem from a three-year drought in central Burma may
be getting worse, according to the outgoing country director for the World
Health Organisation (WHO).

Rainfall in Burma’s central Dry Zone has been scarce in recent years, and
in May the region suffered an unprecedented heatwave, with temperatures
reaching 47C in some parts. It was preceded by severe water shortages that
swept across Burma, leaving river levels low and freshwater wells empty.

Chris Kaye told AlertNet on Tuesday that the food shortage is “a slow-burn
problem but evidence would suggest it is getting worse”.

“Firstly rains were delayed. Then rains did begin to kick in and farmers
started the planting. Since then there’s been a break and now that first
set of inputs into the ground is withering and dying.”

While annual rainfall in Burma’s southern Irrawaddy delta region averages
nearly 100 inches, in the Dry Zone it is closer to 40 inches. Famine is
not restricted to this area: Chin state in the northwest has long suffered
a major food shortage, largely due to mass infestations of rats in rural
areas that feed on crops.

Kaye added that there was adequate food in the country but that “it’s not
getting to the right places”. The Burmese government places tight
restrictions on the flow of aid around the country, and was roundly
condemned in May 2008 after it initially rejected offers of overseas aid
following the devastating cyclone Nargis.

The WFP is also limited in terms of the scope of its work, with staff able
to visit only a handful of areas permitted by the government. As a result,
Kaye said, it has had to rely on smaller nutritional surveys which have
provided evidence of worrying rates of malnourishment.

Rice is the staple food in Burma and provides for much of the country’s
export sector, although production was hit hard by the cyclone two years
ago. Around 1.75 million hectares, or 30 percent of the country’s wet
season rice area, was destroyed.

Last month, figures released by the government’s Central Statistical
Organisation (CSO) showed that rice exports had fallen 60 percent: traders
said that stocks of rice were abundant, but administrative failures by the
government were preventing their sale.

____________________________________

August 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Assassination attempt on military chief - Naw Noreen

A convoy carrying senior Burmese military officials, including chief of
Military Affairs Security, Ye Myint, were yesterday targeted in an attack
by the opposition Karen National Union (KNU).

Five Burmese army soldiers were killed as the eight-vehicle convoy came
under grenade attack as it headed to Myawaddy in eastern Karen state, but
no senior officials were hurt. Also in the vehicles were
lieutenant-general Khin Zaw, chief of Bureau of Special Operations 4 and
major-general Thet Naing Win, the Southeastern [Regional] Military
Commander.

“The attack took place outside of Kawkareit in the valley,” said a source
in the KNLA/KNU Peace Council group, which is close to the KNU.

“The [Burmese army] had some manpower
 maybe some escort vehicles were
hit. We heard general Khin Zaw was spared but all four of his men
[bodyguards] were seriously injured. We know the attackers were Karen
 of
course, they have been pressuring some Karen so [they can expect] to get
attacked by the Karen.”

Phaw Doh, commander of Battalion 101 of the Karen National Liberation Army
(KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU, said the attack was carried out by
their troops and five Burmese soldiers, including one officer, were
killed.

“We’ve been informed there was an officer among the five killed but we
couldn’t identify who that was. The attack was carried out by Karen
revolutionary fighters who dislike the [Burmese government].”

He added that the convoy headed back to Kawkareit in Karen state after the
attack took place around 10am yesterday, and later sent out some army
troops to clear the route. Two of the troops sent stepped on landmines.

Around 2pm yesterday Khin Zaw returned to Myawaddy and ordered the
lowering of KNU and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) flags, according
 to a source close to the DKBA.

____________________________________

August 6, Inter Press Service
Civil Society Steps into Election Fray, Trains Candidates - Marwaan
Macan-Markar

Bangkok - Civil society organisations in Burma are stepping into the
minefield of pre-election activity in the military-ruled country, giving
rise to possible shifts in the political landscape there.

They have been busy training potential candidates for the general election
that Burma’s military leaders have promised to hold in 2010, carrying out
activities in areas like Rangoon, the former capital, in central Burma and
in the border areas that are home to a multitude of restive ethnic
minorities.

This pre-election work is being led by larger officially recognised civil
society organisations (CSOs) and smaller ones working quietly to avoid
detection by the authorities.

Myanmar Egress, formed in 2006 by magazine publisher Nay Win Maung, is
among the larger CSOs leading political education programmes aimed at the
44 political parties that have registered to contest the poll, whose date
has yet to be announced.

Twenty of these parties are ethnic-based, a significant fact given that
tenuous ceasefire accords exist between many ethnic rebel groups and the
junta in Burma, also called Myanmar.

"It is clear that Egress has taken the lead in political education for
potential candidates, party cadres and party members," sais a
Rangoon-based western analyst, who declined to be identified. "They meet
newly formed parties, discuss the constitution, electoral laws, a party’s
regulations and democratic functioning and relations between political
parties and civil society organisations or the media."

CSOs in education, agriculture, health, environment and gender are also
involved in getting the message of democracy out in an oppressive
environment where over 2,200 political dissidents have been jailed.

"If their aim is to educate people inside the system to democratic ways
and means, and to show them that civil society can and must be a partner
for the government in making decisions, then this aim is clearly being
served very efficiently," the analyst said in an interview from Rangoon.
"The number of people involved in this non-confrontational movement,
whether they join political parties or work with civil society
organisations, is growing every day."

Burma reportedly has 64 non-governmental organisations and 455 officially
recognised community-based associations. "(But) there are many more CSOs
in the country not registered who are working to help the people. They are
getting small amounts of funds from foreign governments," a Rangoon-based
CSO activist told IPS on condition of anonymity.

CSOs like Egress enjoy the blessing of the military, which has ruled Burma
since a 1962 coup. A provision in the 2008 constitution recognises CSOs’
role to participate in the political landscape.

The CSOs’ foray into Burmese politics comes in the wake of their pivotal
role after the massive destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

This time, the training that CSOs are giving political parties comes as a
relief given the heavy odds faced by some of these parties, which could
"be described as a possible opposition to the regime", says an European
diplomat who handles Burmese affairs. "The list of candidates to contest
nationwide is very thin because of the political risk and those who
qualify as candidates are very limited."

In this context, assistance on leadership issues, campaigning skills,
public speaking and political acumen will help candidates in a country
that last held an election two decades ago, the diplomat told IPS. The
1990 election was won by the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) but its results were nullified by the military.

"At least five of the parties have come to represent an opposition force,
positioning themselves somewhere in the middle," the diplomat added. "They
say they are not close to the NLD, making this election more complex and
less black- and-white."

Among them is the National Democratic Force (NDF), a new party led by
former political prisoner Than Nyein, who together with others broke away
from the NLD, led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The split
followed Suu Kyi’s asking her party to boycott this year’s poll due to the
junta’s repressive election conditions.

Other parties like the NDF, the Union Democratic Party (UDP) and the
Democratic Party of Myanmar (DPM) are "very much on their own" in this
contest, the diplomat added. "They are not backed by the Burmese political
exiles and not supported by Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD inside the
country."

Besides the lack of support from the more recognised pro- democracy
Burmese constituency and the challenge they face from a regime determined
to stay in power, candidates of the NDF, UDP and the DPM have to overcome
a financial burden too. Each candidate has to pay the Election Commission
500,000 kyat (500 U.S. dollars), an amount that is over half the annual
wage of a middle-ranking civil servant.

Against this backdrop, exiled Burmese activists, who until now have been
seen as standard bearers of the country’s democracy movement, are
dismissive of the CSOs’ training of candidates.

"Groups like Myanmar Egress claim it is good to educate people to be part
of the political process, to be involved," said Soe Aung, deputy head of
foreign affairs of the Forum for Democracy in Burma, the largest network
of Burmese political exiles. "But such training will not help to change
the situation on the ground under the current circumstances the military
regime has employed."

"It is very clear that the military junta is not willing to have a free
and fair election," he told IPS. "So why bother with the training of
candidates?" (END)

____________________________________

August 6, Irrawaddy
Junta troops take DKBA border gate - Lawi Weng

Burmese junta troops in Myawaddy Township on Thursday seized the main
border trade gate operated by Brigade 999 of the  Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army on the Thai-Burma border, according to Karen sources.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, a source close to the DKBA in
Myawaddy said, “They [the regime] have deployed troops in front of the
door controlled by Brigade 999. They won't allow anyone through. If DKBA
troops want to leave their position, they won't let them come back.

DKBA Brigade 555 soldiers control an area formerly under the control of
the KNLA. (Photo: Alex Ellgee/ The Irrawaddy)
“They put up a Burmese national flag and took down the DKBA's flag, and
they changed the name of the gate from Brigade 999 to Dawna Taung [the
name of a well-known mountain in Karen State].”

The Brigade 999 trade gate is the main crossing point in Myawaddy where
Thai products enter and exit Burma. Control of the gate is a major source
of DKBA funds.

Brigade 999 leader Col Chit Thu has agreed to form a  border guard force
(BGF) under the command of the military junta. The junta has set an Aug.
10  deadline on DKBA units to transform into a BGF.

DKBA officers are divided over the BGF issue. Col Chit Thu and Gen Kyaw
Than, the DKBA commander in chief, say they will join the BGF.

DKBA Brigade 5, led by Col Saw Lah Pwe, who is better known as Mr. Beard,
reportedly will join the KNLA. He rejected a meeting on July 21 with
Lt-Gen Ye Myint, the regime's chief of Military Affairs Security.

Meanwhile, multiple clashes between regime troops and breakaway DKBA units
have occurred during the past several days.

Lt-Gen Khin Zaw of the Ministry of Defense and a convoy of junta troops
were ambushed at Bo Thae hill near  Kawkareik Township on Thursday while
enroute to Myawaddy Township. Two junta soldiers were injured, according
to Karen sources.

Soe Soe, a KNLA colonel, said that regime vehicles were ambushed in an
area controlled by DKBA Brigade 555. He said KNLA soldiers did not take
part in the ambush.

There was also a clash between pro-regime DKBA troops and breakaway DKBA
units on Wednesday in Kawkareik Township. Two break-away DKBA soldiers
were killed, according to Karen sources.

The Burmese junta this week banned DKBA troops from carrying weapons and
wearing uniforms while traveling.

The DKBA claims to have 6,000 troops and plans to enlarge its army to
9,000, which would make it Burma's second largest non-state armed group.
The DKBA is a Buddhist militia group that broke away from the Karen
National Union (KNU), which is mostly Christian, and its KNLA military
wing in 1995. The group joined forces with the Burmese military to fight
against the KNU.

The DKBA now controls most of the Thai-Burmese border area previously
controlled by the KNU. There are about 20 illegal border crossing points
controlled by the DKBA.

Observers say that the junta plans to take over control of all
cross-border trade after transforming the DKBA into a BGF.

The border has been closed since July 8 following a disagreement between
Burma and Thailand over a construction project on the Moei River, which
separates Mae Sot, Thailand, and Myawaddy, Burma.

____________________________________

August 7, Sydney Morning Herald
Burma mired in struggle two years after deadly storm

Providing food and shelter is a daily battle amid the slow and painful
recovery of this reclusive nation. A special correspondent reports from
the Irrawaddy Delta. Standing on the man-made wall that runs through
sodden fields from his village to the river, U Aung Htu* surveys the
darkening skies. Two years after cyclone Nargis hit Burma, killing at
least 140,000 people and displacing up to 2.4 million, for those who live
in the vulnerable villages of the Irrawaddy Delta, the grey clouds still
bring a sense of foreboding.

"We had such a bad experience," he says. "The people here do not trust the
weather, do not know they will be safe. When the clouds come, they worry
about another cyclone." It will not be today, he says, but it will come
again. His village was nearly wiped from the map by the storm in 2008.
Thirty-six people were killed here, and 10 children left orphans. Not one
building was left standing. Those who survived clung to palm trees and
floating dead animals as the day-and-a-half long storm obliterated lives
and livelihoods. At the end of last month, the body that has overseen the
Irrawaddy Delta's recovery - the Tripartite Core Group, run by the United
Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Burmese
government - disbanded, handing over control of the region's recovery to
the military junta. "Some things are better now; some are worse," U Aung
Htu says. "But we are not yet recovered. We have a long way to go." The
first month after the cyclone was desperate.

Burma's military leaders, fearful of external influence, refused to let
international aid groups into the country, and the world was outraged by
pictures of tonnes of food and supplies sitting on the country's borders
while people starved. But charities already working in Burma were allowed
to bring immediate aid to the worst-affected areas, and to begin the slow
task of rebuilding. Since then more than $450 million has been committed
to the region but it is less than half of the $1.1 billion called for by
the United Nations. UN officials have consistently said that funds
committed to the recovery have been lower than expected, and that finding
the money to feed and shelter everybody remains its biggest challenge.
Much has been done but there is much more to do. Recovery has been uneven
and unequal. Aid groups expect to be in the region for at least another
two years. Even basics, such as adequate shelter, remain a problem in
affected villages. Nargis destroyed or damaged 800,000 homes. Only about
70,000 have been rebuilt using Burmese government or overseas aid funds.
In U Aung Htu's village the buildings are made from wood; single-room
homes have thatched walls and roofs. There is no shelter more substantial
in the village. "If another storm comes it will take people's lives,
because there is still no safe building to go to," U Aung Htu says. Closer
to the provincial centres of Dedaye and Pyapon, the buildings are more
substantial. In a village half an hour north by boat from U Aung Htu's
home, wooden houses, raised on stilts and with tin roofs, have been built
by CARE International at a cost of $US300 ($330) each.

The concerns here are for the village's 40-odd children. The nearest
school is more than a kilometre away, across exposed tracks through rice
paddies. To get to school each day the children, aged between five and 12,
have to cross two creeks that, during the height of the rains, run to
flooding. "When the children go to school, the parents have to go with
them, to make sure they are safe crossing the water. And they worry about
them if they have to come home suddenly - it is dangerous to get back if
the weather turns bad," says a head monk. U Mya Oo.* People here are still
poorer than they were before the cyclone, and international reports have
warned there is a serious chance of a return to widespread food shortages
if poor crop seasons continue while households have no way of earning an
income. "Now is still a hard time," U Aung Htu says. "Some people are
hungry. There are one or two families that we know are missing meals
because they have no food." Those who own land are better off but when
Nargis struck it destroyed all of the rice crops in the ground. Now, mired
in debt and without any capital to buy new seed, most are planting in only
a fraction of their fields. Two years after cyclone Nargis, life remains
hard in the Irrawaddy Delta. Recovery is steady rather than spectacular,
and fear of another cyclone still haunts those who survived. From habit as
he walks, barefoot, to his riverside home, U Aung Htu watches the dark
clouds roll in overhead. "We worry it will happen again, and we will be
left with nothing again." *Names people have been changed.

____________________________________

August 6, The Age
Lessons on the road to freedom - Liz Minchin

Norwegian Oil & Gas Company. Start exploring our operations.

New graduates from the school for refugees from Burma, led by the once-shy
Law Eh Paw, who won a prize for improved confidence.

New graduates from the school for refugees from Burma, led by the once-shy
Law Eh Paw, who won a prize for improved confidence. Photo: Angela Wylie

HER father died when she was two, one of her brothers was killed by a
landmine, and her home was burnt down by soldiers, forcing her family to
make a dangerous border crossing through the jungle. Yet the first thing
you notice about 19-year-old Day Wah Htoo is her smile.

Her wide, cheeky grin is matched by an irrepressible curiosity about the
world outside her home: a sprawling refugee camp in the hills of
north-west Thailand, just a few kilometres from the Burmese border.

Within minutes of meeting us, she is asking in halting English where we
are from, saying she'd like to visit Parliament House in Canberra some
day, and that her dream is to be a politician in a free Burma.
Advertisement: Story continues below

It's a dream she plans to dedicate her life to, as part of a new
generation standing up against a decades-old military regime - but doing
that means challenging even older prejudices within her community.

Day Wah Htoo and 27 classmates have just graduated from the Karen Young
Women Leadership School, a cluster of bamboo stilt huts ringed by thick
forest, built on a slope above the camp. Run by locals with Australian
funding, the school teaches women in their late teens and early 20s from a
Karen ethnic background a unique mix of political and practical skills.

But even in a crowded curriculum of international law, women's rights and
typing lessons, they still squeeze in some fun. Once a week is
international movie night. The teachers choose from a folder of scratched
DVDs - Billy Elliot, Mulan and Hotel Rwanda among them - to spark class
discussions on gender roles and politics.

Day Wah Htoo's favourite movie of the year was Whale Rider. ''When I
watched Whale Rider, I feel that the woman also has the same skills and
abilities as the men. But sometimes the community doesn't accept that,''
she says in Karen.

Her 20-year-old friend Mu Sei Sei liked Bend It Like Beckham better. ''It
shows that girl, she's really in love with football and she secretly tries
to play,'' she says. ''But her family said it's a boys' sport. Her first
challenge is her own parents and also the other men. But she really tries
very hard to show that she is equal and can make it.''

The school was built with funding from the International Women's
Development Agency, a small Melbourne charity celebrating its 25th
anniversary today.

Each day at the school starts at 5am with outdoor exercises, followed by a
packed day of cooking, cleaning and classes, until lights out at 9pm, when
the generator goes off.

Learning about human rights for the first time, some students are taken
aback to discover that things they took for granted as children are
considered human rights violations.

Most of them have lost family and friends in Burma; many have had to watch
people being tortured and killed; others have been used as forced labour,
carrying food and ammunition for the Burmese army.

The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and others have collected countless
horror stories of how Burma's unelected ''State Peace and Development
Council'' treats its suspected opponents. Ethnic minority groups such as
the Karen, who have long fought for independence, have suffered some of
the worst repression. Crucifixions. Beheadings. Rape. Imprisonment without
trial and jail sentences with no end in sight.

In full view of the world, the regime has kept the Nobel peace
prize-winner and democratically elected prime minister of Burma, Aung San
Suu Kyi, locked up for the better part of two decades.

So if someone as famous as Suu Kyi can be treated that way, why aren't
these women afraid of the consequences of attending a community leadership
school like this - especially when many are keen to return to Burma one
day?

''I am afraid,'' 18-year-old Mu Di Paw answers quietly. ''It's really
difficult work if you choose to become a community leader. As we know, the
Burmese regime, they have really good tricks 
 [and] sometimes we will
suffer. But we need to do something if we want change.''

The understated confidence of graduates such as Mu Di Paw is not yet
shared by the newly arrived class of 2011 students.

When 28-year-old school co-ordinator Ta Mla Saw looks at the timid new
students, she recognises herself at their age. ''I used to be very quiet
and shy like many of the new students here. I didn't like to talk in
public, I'd just cry,'' she says, in a voice that can be heard several
rooms away.

Donations from Australia keep the school running, including paying for
extra food for the students and their teachers to top up their camp
rations of rice, beans, fish paste, chilli and cooking oil. In the past
year, that funding has also paid for two laptops to be added to the
classroom collection of ancient typewriters.

But on the shelves above the typewriters, their small library is falling
apart. Tattered English readers - abridged paperback versions of Anne of
Green Gables, Sherlock Holmes and A Christmas Carol - have been read so
often that the pages are coming loose from their spines.

School co-ordinator Ta Mla Saw is responsible for several other projects,
both inside Burma and along the Thai border, including a nearby dorm for
child refugees. ''Sometimes I feel very tired and fed up,'' she says.
''But [watching the students] I just fall in love with this work again. As
I have told them, every time you feel tired or you feel you don't
understand things, just remember there are a lot of people who need you.''

Some of the school's graduates have since returned to Burma, working in
health and education services, or supporting families forced to flee their
homes, such as with baby kits for new mothers.

Others remain in Thailand, with many putting their new skills to use to
help keep the crowded camps functioning.

It is a huge job - there are 18,000 people living at Mae Ra Ma Luang camp,
where the school is based, and it is still growing. Not far south of here,
another camp shelters more than 40,000 refugees.

Keeping the peace between families and neighbours in these makeshift
communities is an exhausting task, as father-of-seven and long-time camp
leader Milton knows. It's one of the reasons why he has supported the
school since it opened nearly a decade ago - and why he is back for the
class of 2010's graduation ceremony, handing out prizes to the best and
the most improved.

''In the past, we didn't have a chance to study women's rights and human
rights. So the men thought the women have to stay at home, and only the
men were making all the decisions,'' he says.

''We didn't intentionally want the women to suffer - but our decisions
affect them and sometimes make more work for the women.

''Now that we have women in decision-making roles, it's changed, because
they can be the voice of the women. So when we make a decision now, it's
good we don't exclude the view of the women.''

On the day of the graduation, the school office is converted into a small
hall, with streamers and ''Happy birthday!'' balloons strung from the
wooden rafters. Parents squeeze into rows of plastic chairs, fanning
themselves in the mid-morning heat.

Dressed in immaculate white shirts and red sarongs, the graduates are on
their best behaviour to the end, staying hushed and solemn until their
names are called to collect their leaving certificates. Posing for photos
at the end, the graduates finally break into delighted smiles.

Among the top students called up a second time to collect prizes are Day
Wah Htoo, Mu Sui Sei and Mu Di Paw - winners for big improvements in their
reading, self-confidence and initiative.

Soon afterwards, Day Wah Htoo stands at the front of the room and takes
over from the teachers as the master of ceremonies. She speaks without a
stumble in Karen, her mother proudly watching from her seat.

The next morning, we walk through the camp to visit Day Wah Htoo's mother.
As she sits on her bamboo mat floor, the drumbeat of rain on the leaf roof
makes it hard to hear her faint voice, especially as she tells how
soldiers burnt her village in Burma.

But she has high hopes that her daughter will be able to build a better
life. ''Now I am very old, I don't see a future for myself,'' she says,
her daughter translating.

''Day Wah Htoo is my future, and the future for our community.''

Liz Minchin and Angela Wylie travelled to Thailand with the assistance of
IWDA. Liz Minchin is The Age's Saturday news editor.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 6, Shan Herald Agency for News
Thailand throws open tourist spot near Shan resistance base

Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province in cooperation with the Thai Army based
along the Thai-Burma border has opened Doi Tai Leng, a base camp located
on the Thai side of the border near the headquarters of anti-Naypyitaw
Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’.

Doi Tai Leng offers tourists a chance of experiencing Thai’s self-reliant
life as well as the natural beauty of the environment, according to Thai
media Kom Chad Luek.

Doi Tai Leng, is over 1,000 meters above sea level and is located in
Thailand’s Pang Ma Pha district's Tambon Mae Lana, 56 kilometers downtown,
which is a boundary with the Shan State Army base led by Lt.Gen Yawd Serk.
(Loi is Shan corruption of Doi, which means ‘mountain.’)

According to Governor Kamthorn Thawornsathit, the Thai side is ready to
welcome tourists to enjoy the environmental beauty and learn about the
livelihood of the Shan people.

Besides watching the life of local people, visitors can catch a glimpse of
the Shan State Army across the border with Burma, he said.

The climate here is cool the whole year around and the mountain boasts
beautiful and pristine natural scenery.

He said from Doi Tai Leng on the Thai side, people can see the beauty of
the mountains.

Col Uthai Chaichana, Commander of Task Force 7 of Mae Hong Son province
said that it would be safe for tourists to visit, with the authorities
saying that they will provide security and help and manage accommodation
for visitors, so that the area can welcome travelers anytime.

“It might be more difficult in the rainy season but then, people can go by
four wheels,” the governor said.

The area can accommodate in excess of 300 tents and food and other
supplies can be bought from nearby shops, he added.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 6, Xinhua
Myanmar to add 400,000 more mobile phone lines

Yangon -- The Myanmar telecommunication authorities will add over 400,000
more GSM and CDMA mobile phone lines this year to facilitate
telecommunication link, a local weekly reported Friday.

The authorities have also planned to add 30 more GSM radio stations, 150
more CDMA 450 MHz and 42 more CDMA 800 MHz radio stations in the country
to expand coverage during the year, the Bi- Weekly Eleven quoted the
state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) as saying.

So far the MPT has leased a total of 1.2 million GSM and CDMA mobile
phones to users in the country, according to earlier report.

Of the total, GSM phones accounted for 500,000, while CDMA took 700,000
which include CDMA 800 MHz and 450 Hz.

The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 800 MHz phone lines, operational
in some parts of Myanmar's Yangon and Mandalay, have been upgraded to
respectively cover the whole cities starting July.

Before the extended coverage for the whole of Yangon, the CDMA lines were
set to cover only designated townships in the former capital, giving rise
to inconvenience for the users. The CDMA phone lines, which are of 8
digital numbers and start with 73 in Yangon or 93 in Mandalay, are set to
be operational with prepaid top-up cards marketed by the Elite Tech
company, owned by Myanmar business tycoon Tayza.

According to statistics of MPT, during last year, Myanmar established
119,300 CDMA 450 MHz phone lines and 78 related stations throughout the
country with 19,400 more lines and 13 more stations under implementation.

At present, 10 kinds of telephones are in use in the country which also
include WCDMA phones, D-AMPS phones, McWLL phones, ARTS and DECT radio
telephones, the report said, adding that auto- telephones or line phones
have reached 866,084 in number.

The statistical figures show that the telephone density of Myanmar now
stands 37 per 1,000 population.

Myanmar introduced cellular phones in 1993, DECT (Digital Enhanced
Cordless Telecommunication) and CDMA in 1997 and GSM phones in 2002.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

August 6, Kachin News Group
Bhamo hospital full of children suffering from dengue

Children suffering from Dengue Fever and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever have
been crowding the Bhamo or Manmaw public hospital in Burma’s northern
Kachin State, said hospital sources.

The Children’s Ward in the hospital can accommodate up to 20 patients.
However there are now over 38 patients and extra bed sheets had to be laid
outside the ward in corridors to admit the suffering children, said a
local who visited to hospital.

The children in the hospital are under 10 years of age and they are
suffering from Dengue Fever and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF). The
patients have to stay in the hospital for at least a week where all
treatment costs have to be borne by the patients’ families, said hospital
sources.

Some child patients, however, are being taken to the hospital for the day
for treatment and taken back home, added residents.

There are child Dengue Fever and DHF Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever patients in
every quarter and villages in Bhamo Township but they cannot access
treatment at the hospital because their parents are unable to pay the
hospital charges. They are recuperating at home, according residents of
Bhamo.

In Bhamo, like in other cities in Kachin State, most common people are
unable to get admission either in private clinics or government hospitals
because their unable to afford the charges, said local residents.

Children stand in front of Manmaw (Bhamo) Kachin Baptist Church, Bhamo,
Kachin State. Photo: Kachin News Group.

The Burmese military authorities of Bhamo, as is their habit, have ignored
the problem  and have not taken any action against the spread of Dengue
Fever and DHF Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever among children in Bhamo township
since June, with the onset of the monsoons, said locals.

Currently, both adults and children in Kachin State are suffering from
seasonal diseases like Dengue Fever, DHF Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever and
Malaria with the rainy season in full swing, according to local people.

Burma’s ruling junta spends 40 to 60 per cent of the national budget on
the military and armaments whereas a paltry 0.4 per cent is set aside for
healthcare.

____________________________________
DRUGS

August 6, Straits Times
$5.9m of drugs seized - Mavis Toh

Both also accounted for bulk of $5.9m worth of drugs seized in half-year

HEROIN and Ice are proving to be the two main stumbling blocks in
Singapore's fight against the drug scourge.

In the latest statistics released by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB)
for the first six months of the year, the two drugs accounted for 84 per
cent of the 914 drug abusers nabbed.

The only other drug type to register a spike in abusers, compared with the
same period last year, was cannabis.

The bureau's seizure of $5.9 million worth of drugs - the highest in two
years - was also largely down to heroin and Ice. The 25.29kg of heroin and
3.88kg of Ice were worth about $5 million on the streets.

The CNB attributed the larger load of drugs seized to an increase in the
supply in the region: 'It is no secret that Singapore is located in a
drug-producing region, and the income disparity among countries in the
region has attracted drug syndicates to continue to supply drugs to
Singapore.'

The growth of opium poppy in the Golden Triangle of Thailand, Laos and
Myanmar also provides a ready source of raw material for heroin-processing
factories in the region, the bureau said.

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_562839.html

____________________________________

August 6, Mizzima News
Drug economics in Burma’s new political order

The regime’s biggest threat for the past half-century, besides Aung San
Suu Kyi, has been rebel armies from various ethnic groups. For decades the
regime has worked to increase its presence in these rural areas by
building paramilitary allies in hostile regions. The local militias
suppress rebel activities in exchange for the freedom to produce and
transport drugs with full military co-operation. As the military brokered
more deals, its obsession with power quickly took precedence over its war
on drugs. Now the regime is more powerful than ever, due to a survival
strategy that is largely subsidised by Burma’s multi-billion-dollar drug
trade. Perry Santanachote examines that trade, the people who benefit from
it and cover it up, the victims and those caught in between.

MYANMAR, LOWI SOI : A poppy sticks out among others in this poppy-field
outside the village of Lowi Soi, in Myanmar's Northern Shan state, close
to the Chinese border, 26 February. This is in one of the few opium
growing settlements in the region which the government says has escaped
its anti-drug campaign. Myanmar authorities took some delegates from the
Interpol Fourth International Heroin Conference and journalists to see the
results of its anti-opium campaign which won an endorsement from the world
police body.

Welcome to Shan State: land of the drug lords

Aung Min, like many in Rangoon, grew up poor. He enlisted in the Burmese
army in 1999 at the age of 18 with ambitions that he would one day join
the ranks of his commanding officers. By 2003 he was a second lieutenant
stationed in Laukkaing Township in Shan State and led a group of 20 men –
his pockets filled reliably with drug money.

Opium production has been an economical lynchpin in eastern Shan State
since the late 1940s when military leaders refused to honour the Panglong
Agreement that granted autonomy to ethnic states. Rebel armies grew as
their drug trade took over the region, and then the world. Shan warlord
Khun Sa dominated Southeast Asia’s infamous Golden Triangle with his
heroin enterprise through the 1980s and 1990s. By 1995, the Golden
Triangle, the mountainous region where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet,
became the world’s leader in opium production. His 30-year revolutionary
war ended in 1996 but heroin continues to flow out of the state, albeit at
a lower rate, with a new breed of drug lords.

Despite acknowledgement by the US State Department that poppy cultivation
in Burma today is less than 20 per cent of what it was in the mid-1990s,
it’s still an annual multi-billion-dollar business. Burma remains the
world’s second-largest opium producer after Afghanistan, and processed 330
metric tonnes, or 17 per cent, of last year’s world supply, according to
the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2010 World Drug Report. Poppy
cultivation has also been on a steady incline for the past three years.

Other pages in the report show that Burma is also Asia’s largest producer
of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), which include methamphetamine,
distributed in the form of the cheap and chemically dirty pills, most
commonly known in Thailand and the region as ya baa (crazy drug); and the
more expensive and cleaner crystalline form known as Ice. Burmese
production of methamphetamine coincided with reduced opium production, but
producers did not necessarily switch over.

“There has been more production last year when it comes to stimulants
because of the increased involvement by the junta-backed militia groups,”
Khun Seng, an editor at the independent media and research group Shan
Herald Agency for News (SHAN), said. “When the militia groups support the
political aspirations of the junta they are also supported by the junta in
their drug activities.”

“And if you’re the drug boss,” he added. “You’ll do anything that’ll bring
in money. If I’m producing more meth it is because of the market – the
buyers. Right now, for two years in a row, opium production has been down
so there is less production of heroin than in other years, that’s all.
They are not intentionally switching from heroin production to meth
production.”

Pornthep Eamprapai, director of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board
in Chiang Mai, said heroin and opium production was down because of
climatic conditions and drought, not because of eradication. “Meth”
quickly filled that gap in recent years, he said, because consumer demand
in Thailand is high due to economic and social instability. Thais are
becoming addicted to ya baa at an alarming rate, while they were never too
keen on heroin.

“Making meth is so much easier too,” Pornthep said. “Cooking up meth or
Ice doesn’t require any crop.”

Another big difference between today’s drug trade and that of the Khun Sa
era, is that it is now increasingly controlled by the government. Former
Prime Minister Khin Nyunt engineered a series of ceasefires with major
drug-producing militias in 2003-2004 and incorporated them into the
economy and constitutional process, creating an environment conducive to
drug production and collusion between military personnel and drug
traffickers. The regime has been suspected of involvement in the drug
trade in the past but never at the level seen today.

In the past decade, the military regime has prioritised keeping it under
wraps and making it appear as though it has waged a war on drugs. In 1999
the military inducted a 15-year drug-eradication programme, made lofty
promises to the international community to crack down on trafficking,
publicised some token drug busts and even opened an anti-drug museum. But
these acts were all sleight of hand – an illusion to placate the
international community. Although, they may have worked.

The UNODC commended the junta for its “considerable decrease in the area
under cultivation and a strong decline in potential opium production” in
its Opium Poppy Cultivation Report last year and budgeted US$7.7 million
for the eradication programme between 2004 to 2007.

“It’s just another attempt to get the international community to pay for
ordinary development programmes instead of using the state budget for that
purpose,” said Chiang Mai-based author Bertil Lintner, who chronicled the
history of Burma’s heroin warlords in his book, Burma In Revolt, and more
recently the multi-billion-dollar methamphetamine trade in Merchants of
Madness: The Methamphetamine Explosion in the Golden Triangle.

“And most of the UNODC’s programmes are just that – ordinary development
programmes that have little or nothing to do with drug eradication,”
Lintner said.

Pornthep says the Thai government gives Burma 20 million baht (US$625,000)
annually every year for opium eradication.

“Their [Burma’s] government isn’t doing enough because they don’t have the
resources,” he said. “Therefore they need co-operation and aid from other
countries.”

Eleven years later, drug lords continue to operate with impunity and the
Burmese Army remains closely involved in the lucrative opium economy,
using it as leverage against ceasefire armies. As its deadline approaches,
Burma is nowhere near being a drug-free nation. Only 13 townships of the
targeted 51 can claim to be poppy-free, while the others are still
growing, according to the 2009 Shan Drug Watch Report.

More
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/4217-drug-economics-in-burmas-new-political-order-.html

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 06, Deutsche Presse Agentur
'Russia trained 4,000 Myanmar nuclear officers'

Bangkok - Russia has trained 4,185 Myanmar military officers in nuclear
sciences over the past decade but only a "sprinkling" of scholars have
pursued the positive uses of the energy source, a Myanmar academic said on
Friday. Myanmar's nuclear ambitions have been a subject of concern in
recent years after
allegations by defectors that the pariah regime is keen to develop nuclear
weapons in cooperation with North Korea.

Myanmar's ruling junta, however, claims that its nuclear ambitions are
purely medical in nature.

Maung Zarni, a research fellow at the London School of Economics and
Political Science, pointed out that only a handful of the Myanmar
graduates who have studied nuclear-related technologies in Moscow had
medical backgrounds, raising questions about the regime's claims of
pursuing nuclear energy for medicinal reasons.

"Between 400 to 600 graduates are sent to Russia every year and out of
those graduates only a sprinkling of officers have medical backgrounds,"
he told a seminar at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

Zarni estimated that only five to 20 of the military graduates attending
nuclear-related courses in Moscow since 2001 had medical backgrounds. He
had compiled the list of 4,185 based on interviews with former graduates,
he said.

"And if the nuclear programme is for medical purposes why isn't there any
involvement by the Ministry of Health," Zarni noted.

He acknowledged that it was still difficult to prove whether Myanmar's
military junta had acquired or developed nuclear weapons, but argued their
intent to do so was pretty clear.

At this stage the junta might be more interested in using the threat of a
potential nuclear arsenal as a "big stick" in diplomacy, he speculated.

"The fact that the US and other powers have not done anything substantive
to rein in North Korea is because they have the bomb, so that's a role
model for a lot of rogue states," Zarni said.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 6, Mizzima News
Amartya Sen reminds India, appeasing tyrants has a price - B. K. Sen

Amartya Sen while delivering a lecture on the “Centrality of Literacy”
said in the presence of India’s PM that he disapproved of the nation’s
policy on Burma.

“I do not agree with your policy on Burma. In a democratic country like
India, I can say this to the Prime Minister,” he said in a remark that
came close on the heels of New Delhi playing host to Burma’s military
ruler, Senior General Than Shwe.

Over the years, Than Shwe has been slammed across the world for his scant
regard for democratic norms and horrifying human rights abuses of which
there are instances galore. A few for example: pro-democracy leader and
Nobel laureate Aung San Su Kyi has been kept under house arrest and barred
from contesting the elections slated for later this year; about 2,000
political leaders are being kept in jail; ethnic Shan leaders have been
imprisoned in a far-flung jail on trumped up charges; hundreds of Buddhist
monks are also behind bars; the result of the 1990 elections in which Su
Kyi won landslide victory have been annulled and a fake election is being
staged.

The junta has subverted the rule of law, destroyed its judiciary and
transformed the country into a police state in the course of its rule of
nearly half a century.

India’s diplomacy is understandable; it wants to ward off China’s growing
influence and it wants energy security. However, history bears testimony
that appeasement and engagement is never a sound policy for dealing with
tyrants.

Also India cannot repudiate its tradition of lending a helping hand to all
democratic countries and countries fighting to establish democratic order
within. Indian government leaders who are now friendly with the junta’s
leaders must nudge them to initiate genuine political reforms in the
country so that a democratic state emerges. A vibrant neighbouring
democratic state is conducive to India’s well-being.

The message Amartya Sen wanted to send to the prime minister was that
Indian leaders ought to be more pro-active in the matter of the promotion
of democracy in Burma. India’s uncritical embrace of the junta leaders
will tarnish the image of India. Let the junta leaders understand that
they have to prioritise the need for national reconciliation before the
general election is held.

____________________________________

August 6, The Diplomat
Will India pressure Burma? - Rajeev Sharma

Than Shwe's visit put relations with Burma in the spotlight. Will India
pressure the junta?

For almost a decade, India’s relations with Burma have been improving
gradually. But now it seems ties between the two are strong enough that
Western powers have been nudging New Delhi to use its ‘influence’ with
Burma’s military junta to try to bring proper democracy to the oppressive
nation.

After China, India is viewed as the power that has the best relations with
Burma (although Sino-Burma ties really are considerably closer, with
Beijing wielding significant influence over Naypyidaw).

Still, India-Burma bilateral relations got another big boost when Burma’s
Head of State and Senior Gen. Than Shwe visited India from July 25 to
29—his second visit to India since October 2004.

The geographical expanse of Shwe’s religious-cum-official visit was
impressive. During the five days he was in this country he visited five
Indian cities—Bodh Gaya, Varanasi, Hyderabad and Jamshedpur and New
Delhi—where he held delegation-level talks with Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh.

Shwe’s visit was a low-key affair as neither side held any press
conferences (although the Indian Ministry of External Affairs did come up
with an elaborate joint statement after Shwe’s talks with Singh).

New Delhi agreed to help Burma in developmental activities in three ‘I’s’:
information technology, industry and infrastructure. However, the
international community was watching the visit from a political
perspective. Burma is set to hold a general election later this year,
though the exact date has yet to be announced. Of course, these elections
will inevitably be a sham as Burma’s champion of democracy,  , won’t be
taking part.

The developed world—the US, the EU and Japan—have all tried but failed to
pressure the junta to restore democracy in the country. So the
international community expects India to exert pressure on the junta
whenever there’s any top-level interaction between Delhi and Naypyidaw.

But India has its own motivations for engaging with the country, which it
shares a 1640-kilometre border with, including major strategic, security
and economic stakes.

New Delhi has indeed been emphasizing to the junta the urgent need to
begin a process of national reconciliation, and it did so again during
Shwe’s latest visit. But at the same time, India hasn’t gone hammer and
tongs at Burma over the issue of democracy because, whether the
international community likes it or not, India’s Burma policy is driven
more by realpolitik than notions of democracy or human rights.

____________________________________
INTERVIEWS

August 6, Irrawaddy
Election chance for change

The Irrawaddy's Ba Saw Tin interviewed Vice-Chairman Dr. Min Hla Aung of
the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) about the party's political
goals, objectives and activities. The AMRDP was founded to contest the
election this year. It is based in Moulmein [Mawlamyaing], the capital of
Mon State.

Min Hla Aung lives in Taranar Village in Kyaik Ma Yaw Township in Mon
State. He was a central committee member of the Mon National Democracy
Party which participated in the 1990 election.

Question: Please tell us how your party was founded.

Answer: We believe that there should be a political party to represent all
Mon and other ethnic nationalities living in Mon State. We first took
advice from patriotic and venerable monks. Then we gathered and consulted
patriotic individuals, veterans, intellectuals and youth. Finally, we
decided to form a political party. With majority agreement, we
preliminarily elected 15 representatives with the sole responsibility to
apply for official party registration. That was how the AMRDP was founded.

Q: What are the party's aims and objectives?

A: Today's political atmosphere suggests that the coming 2010 election is
a path to democracy that all ethnic nationalities in Burma, including the
Mons, have to go through. In this political process, we, as Mon, are
willing to take part alongside other nationalities. We also hope to raise
political consciousness and knowledge among many of the young Mon
generation who live in the darkness. Furthermore, we aim to achieve
political rights for Mon people through democratic ways and to work in
cooperation with other ethnic nationalities in the establishment of a
genuine democratic federal union. Mainly, we want democracy, human rights
and equality to prevail.

Q: Who are your key party members?

A: The AMRDP was formed with mainly educated persons such as retired
senior officials, and young and older intellectuals. The party has also
recruited patriotic persons from different villages and townships. As for
the party's leadership, Nai Ngwe Thien (Nai Ja Nu Mon) is chairman; I am
the vice-chairman and Dr. Min Nwe Soe is the secretary. Nai Ngwe Thein is
a retired managing director of the Basic Education Department (Upper
Burma), and Dr. Min Nwe Soe is a retired director of the Department of
Health in Mon State.

Q: Where will you campaign? only in Mon State?

A: Our party doesn't solely represent Mon living in Mon State, but it will
represent and organize Mon and other nationalities living in different
divisions and states. Our main focus areas will be Rangoon Division, Pegu
Division, 10 townships in Mon State, Ye Pyhu, Kaukhaung, Margwe, Boatpyin
and Palaw townships in Tenessarim Division, and Kawkareik, Hpa-An, Kya-in
Seikgyi, Myawaddy in Karen State.

Q: How is your party campaign going so far?

A: We believe it has been successful. When we meet with people, we see
that they want tosee a change on way or another. They are very ardent in
pursuit of change.

Q: According to the Political Parties Registration Law, if a party plans
to conduct campaign activities and contest the election nationwide it must
have at lease 1,000 members within 90 days after it has been approved by
the Union Election Commission (EC). How is your party membership? Have you
been able to meet the EC's requirement?

A: Currently, we have between 3,000 and 4,000 members, which is already
far beyond the EC requirement.

Q: The New Mon State Party (NMSP), which plays a key role in Mon politics,
has repeatedly rejected the regime's order to transform it into a border
guard force under the control of the military junta. Apparently, there is
tension between the NMSP and the regime. Tell us your thoughts on the
NMSP.

A: Since the NMSP has clearly voiced its position, I don't think we need
to make any comment on that matter. I just want to say that they are
working with their own stance and belief.

Q: The upcoming election will be held based on the 2008 Constitution. What
do you expect from this Constitution?

A: Everyone knows about the Constitution. What our party believes is that
from what we are given, we can work to extend our rights and mandates for
ethnic affairs.

Q: Do you think that the upcoming election can bring prosperity to all
nationalities including the Mon?

A: Democratization has to go through the election process. We hope that
the changes our people hope to achieve will gradually come through the
election process. Change will not come overnight. It takes time. What I
believe is that this election will be beneficial to Mon people.

Q: What obstacles are you facing?

A: The main obstacle is money. We are in a difficult financial situation
for our party and party candidates.

Q: What did you think about the 1990 election?

A: In my opinion, the 1990 election was genuine, but transferring power
was another story. I don't think it will be the same this time.

Q: We've learned that ethnic-based parties are being treated differently.
Have you experienced such discrimination?

A: No. Nothing in particular.

Q: How is your campaign going?

A: I don't know about other parties. For the AMRDP, our movement is going
well.

Q: What message would you like to convey to the people of Burma who want
democracy?

A: I'd like to ask people to participate in the election process by
showing up at the polling stations to vote for the parties and candidates
who can truly work for good people in their respective areas. I also would
like to urge all political parties to take part in the election. I would
like to urge all ethnic nationalities living in Mon State to vote for the
Mon party. Likewise, people living in other states should vote for ethnic
parties representing their states.

The 2010 election is a chance for change. It doesn't matter if the
Constitution is good or bad, and whether we accept it or not. We, the
people of Burma, should take part in the election in our respective
regions. Then, if we cooperate and work collectively either in the central
or state government, we will accomplish our goals in a time.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

August 6, All Burma Monks’ Alliance, 88 Generation Students, All Burma
Federation of Student Unions
''Let's Oppose 2010 Elections Resolutely''

No. 8/2010(ABMA+88+ABFSU)
Rangoon, Burma

The political forces which are thinking of participating in elections
should not gamble the fate of the country with their dreams.

Our struggle for democracy has already reached its' 22nd anniversary, if
we count from the 8888 nation-wide pro-democracy uprising. On this
anniversary, we again recognize that it was the nation-wide uprising, not
the parliamentary debate that abolished the Burma Socialist Programme
Party dictatorial regime of Bo Ne Win and his 1974 constitution.

When Burma Socialist Programme Party was set up, some politicians
collaborated with Bo Ne Win's regime with the intent to focus on the
people's interest, believing they could make changes from within. The
result unfortunately was different: our country became one of the least
developed countries and those politicians were excluded through the
devious and conniving antics of Bo Ne Win's power circles. Such recent
historical lessons should be remembered by those self-claimed democratic
political forces.

The constitution which will come into force through the 2010 election is
infamous for being unilaterally written and because it was adopted in the
midst of a national disaster, Cyclone Nargis. It will legalize the
military rule, military rulers wearing civilian masks will be the new/old
rulers. The peoples of Burma are already aware of such deceptive tactics
of the military junta. Once this constitution comes into force,
considering reforming it through parliamentary debates will be just a
dream. The political forces which are thinking of participating in
elections should not gamble the fate of the country with their dreams.

The regime has ensured that it will continue to control power by writing
the constitution itself, and setting biased electoral laws and decrees to
exclude pro-democracy forces from the country's political process.
Moreover, it transformed its notorious mass organizations including Union
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) into a political party, the
Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP). The regime shamelessly backs this party known
for its corruption and violence against the peoples and pro-democracy
activists. All the political forces are aware of these unfair and unequal
rules of the game. Such unfair and unfree elections will not lead the
country toward the goal of democracy but will bring our country toward the
cemetery of democracy.

It is not too late for the democratic political forces which are thinking
of participating in elections to review their pro-election policies.
Otherwise they will be recorded in history as collaborators in the demise
of the country. They should move swiftly to join hand in hand with Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi and the peoples of Burma resolutely. Therefore, we
earnestly urge all political forces and pro-democracy citizens to boycott
the elections with 8888 sprit and determination and not to give any
legitimacy to un-legitimized political actions of the military regime. We
further urge all political forces to continue to hold democratic
aspirations firmly.

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