BurmaNet News, November 4, 2010

[Editor]

November 4, 2010 Issue #4076


INSIDE BURMA
New York Times: A guarded optimism in Myanmar as vote nears
BBC: Burma hit by massive net attack ahead of election
DVB: Activists to attempt elections uprising
Irrawaddy: PM's opponent injured in suspicious incident

ON THE BORDER
AFP: Myanmar ethnic rebels unite in fear of junta assault: report

BUSINESS / TRADE
BBC: Burma to build its first Special Economic Zone
Reuters: Italian-Thai inks deals for huge Myanmar port project
Reuters: For some, Myanmar is ultimate frontier market

REGIONAL
AFP: China calls for smooth elections in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima: Germany sides with China against UN Burma inquiry

OPINION / OTHER
BBC: Aung San Suu Kyi: Burma's fading light?
Economist: Slowly, the army eases its grip
Irrawaddy: Advance voting abuses rampant – Htet Aung
New Light of Myanmar: Let's go to polling station – Editorial




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 4, New York Times
A guarded optimism in Myanmar as vote nears

Yangon, Myanmar — During nearly five decades of military dictatorship, the
impoverished population of Myanmar has become accustomed to hearing
soldiers shout orders. And now comes a more unusual request from the
ruling generals: Vote!

“Every citizen who values democracy and wants democratic rule must cast
their votes without fail,” says a daily exhortation running in the state
news media that urges voters to choose “candidates correctly.”

The national elections to be held here on Sunday are the first since an
attempt to form a Parliament 20 years ago was aborted by the military
because it lost in a landslide. Judging from the junta’s enthusiasm, the
generals appear confident that this time they will come out on top.

Many citizens of Myanmar both inside and outside the country dismiss the
elections as a sham, an empty exercise in legitimizing the continued rule
of the military, which will appoint a quarter of the seats in the new
Parliament. There have been no debates during the campaign, the government
has barred outside election monitors, the news media are heavily censored
and parties must obtain permission to hold election rallies weeks in
advance.

Even the country’s links to the Internet have been disrupted, with its low
capacity portals periodically overwhelmed with a flood of data that makes
communications impossible. While the culprit could not be immediately
identified, suspicion focused on the government, which has barred Western
journalists from covering the vote and makes a general practice of sealing
off Myanmar from contacts with the outside world. But many people here
have a more optimistic take. Accustomed to repression, they measure hope
and progress with a lower threshold, and some see in the elections the
seeds of a less hierarchical and authoritarian system.

“In the future we expect to have more of a voice,” said Yuza Maw Htoon,
one of 82 independent candidates running for a parliamentary seat. She has
spent recent weeks roaming the streets of her constituency in Yangon with
a megaphone, handing out pamphlets — an activity that only a few months
ago might have resulted in arrest. She said in an interview that she sees
the veil of fear being partially lifted.

“People seemed scared to receive pamphlets when we first went out. Now
they are asking for them,” she said. “They say, ‘Go for it!”’

Here is what change might look like in Myanmar: In the new political
system the government’s budget, which is now treated as a state secret,
would be introduced in Parliament and possibly would be debated. The
economy, which until now has been almost totally controlled by the
military, might be partly liberalized, allowing Myanmar to follow the path
of countries like Vietnam or China, where political freedom remains scarce
but businesses flourish and incomes rise.

Or maybe not.

The owner of a construction company here predicted that post-election
Myanmar would remain hermetic and poor, with the economy dominated by the
military and its cronies. “Same water, new cup,” he said.

There are more than 3,100 candidates vying to fill about 1,150 seats in
the election, with the majority of candidates from two military-backed
parties. The main opposition party led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel
peace laureate who won the election two decades ago, is boycotting the
vote on Sunday. She is under house arrest but may be released later this
month, when her detention period expires.

A splinter group from her party and more than two dozen other smaller
parties are contesting the election, making it possible that a significant
plurality of the new Parliament will be controlled by nonmilitary parties.

Richard Horsey, a former United Nations official in Myanmar, believes that
a rivalry between the two military-linked parties, the Union Solidarity
and Development Party and the National Unity Party, will make the
military’s voice less monolithic. Lawmaking is likely to be “dominated by
a conservative, authoritarian-leaning nationalism,” he said in a written
analysis. “But it would certainly not be merely a facsimile of the present
regime in civilian clothing.”

The election is part of the country’s “road map to democracy,” which the
generals have pursued under pressure from the United Nations and foreign
governments, mainly from the West. But it is unclear why Myanmar’s
paramount leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, who is in his late 70s, would
want to relinquish the absolute power that he now has. Some analysts
believe that the election is part of his succession plan, a strategy to
diffuse power and soften his dictatorial legacy.

In the final days of campaigning, it remains very difficult to gauge the
opinions and enthusiasm levels of Myanmar’s estimated 29 million voters.
In a world saturated with opinion polls, there are none in Myanmar.
Foreign journalists must conduct their interviews in secret, making it
difficult to canvass large groups of people. There are very few election
posters on the streets of Yangon, and the city is unusually quiet in the
evenings, which some residents attribute to a fear of election-related
violence.

The country’s Election Commission has barred voting from a number of
districts in the far north of the country controlled by the private armies
of various ethnic groups.

In 1990, voters gave Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party a landslide victory, and
some believe voters will try to send a similar message to the junta this
time. “This is first chance in two decades for people to punish the
government,” said one Yangon resident.

In recent months, the state news media have sought to trumpet the
achievements of the military government, with pictures of newly
constructed hospitals, airport runways and concrete factories. One article
in The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run daily newspaper, calculated that
all the previous “monarchs and rulers” had managed to build only 69 dams
through 1962, the year that the military took power in a coup d’état. By
contrast, the military had built 233 dams in the last two decades alone,
the article said.

Yet this picture of progress is at odds with the reality of daily life in
Myanmar. Blackouts are frequent, and the streets of Yangon are filled with
buildings seemingly near collapse. A large number of people in the
countryside are malnourished, and the average life expectancy of 60 years
is a decade shorter than in neighboring Thailand. The military’s
antiquated bureaucracy and highly restrictive rules on imports have slowed
the arrival of new technologies, symbolized by an entire shopping district
that Yangon has dedicated to the manufacture of rubber stamps.

The government is promising continued development, publishing a list of
“major roads under construction,” but some promises of better
infrastructure have come with strings attached.

For the residents of 87th Street, a small but densely populated dirt lane
in Yangon, campaigning for the elections began with a surprise offer from
the municipal authorities: the government would pave their street in
exchange for 500 votes for the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

After local residents fed up with mud and dust agreed to fill out the
ballots, construction crews arrived and began pouring concrete. But work
on the road abruptly stopped when officials realized they had only
collected around 100 votes for the military-backed party, according to one
of the street’s residents.

As the election approaches, a narrow ribbon of concrete covers one side of
87th Street. Residents hope construction crews will return someday to pave
the other half.

____________________________________

November 4, BBC News
Burma hit by massive net attack ahead of election

An ongoing computer attack has knocked Burma off the internet, just days
ahead of its first election in 20 years.

The attack started in late October but has grown in the last few days to
overwhelm the nation's link to the net, said security firm Arbor Networks.

Reports from Burma say the disruption is ongoing.

The attack, which is believed to have started on 25 October, comes ahead
of closely-watched national elections on 7 November.

International observers and foreign journalists are not being allowed into
the country to cover the polls.

It will raise suspicions that Burma's military authorities could be trying
to restrict the flow of information over the election period.

The ruling generals say the polls will mark a transition to democratic
civilian rule.

But as the BBC's Sue Lloyd-Roberts reports from Burma, many believe the
election is a sham designed to cement the military's grip on power.

In the last elections in 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory but the junta ignored the result
and have remained in power ever since.
Cyber attack

The Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, as it is known, works by
flooding a target with too much data for it to handle.

The "distributed" element of it means that it involves PCs spread all over
the world. These networks of enslaved computers - known as "botnets" - are
typically hijacked home computers that have been compromised by a virus.

They are typically rented out by cyber criminals for various means,
including web attacks. They can be called into action and controlled from
across the internet.

Burma links to the wider net via cables and satellites that, at most, can
support data transfers of 45 megabits of data per second.

At its height, the attack was pummelling Burma's connections to the wider
net with about 10-15 gigabits of data every second.

Writing about the attack, Dr Craig Labovitz from Arbor Networks said the
volume of traffic traffic was "several hundred times more than enough" to
swamp these links.

The result, said Dr Labovitz, had disrupted network traffic in and out of
the nation.

He said the attack was sophisticated in that it rolled together several
different types of DDoS attacks and traffic was coming from many different
sources.

At time of writing, attempts to contact IP addresses in the block owned by
Burma and its telecoms firms timed out, suggesting the attack is still
under way.

"Our technicians have been trying to prevent cyber attacks from other
countries," a spokesperson from Yatanarpon Teleport told the AFP news
agency.

"We still do not know whether access will be good on the election day."

Mr Labovitz said that he did not know the motivation for the attack but
said that analysis of similar events in the past had found motives that
ran the gamut "from politically motivated DDoS, government censorship,
extortion and stock manipulation."

He also noted that the current wave of traffic was "significantly larger"
than high-profile attacks against Georgia and Estonia in 2007.

____________________________________

November 4, Democratic Voice of Burma
Activists to attempt elections uprising – Dan Withers

An activist network will attempt to spark a mass uprising against military
rule in Burma on Sunday, the day of the country’s first elections in two
decades, DVB has learned.

Moethee Zun, one of the leaders of the 1988 student uprising which was
brutally put down by the army, said the People Action Committee (PAC)
believed it could succeed where the ‘88 demonstrators failed. “We have no
guns or bullets
 but we have enough determination to end the dictatorship
and restore democracy,” said Moethee Zun, one of the PAC’s seven leading
members.

Sunday’s elections will not be free and free and will merely perpetuate
the military regime’s rule, said the long-time activist and former deputy
chairman of the influential All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF).
“Major parties such as the National League for Democracy and ethnic
ceasefire groups have been purged from the political process
 they are
being besmirched by the regime’s propaganda machine.”

“Only the USDP [Union Solidarity and Development Party] is campaigning
freely, using threats, bribes and violence,” he said. He accused the
military of blocking the activities of democratic parties, preventing them
from meeting in public and denying them the freedom to promote their
policies in the media.

The PAC has a central committee of around 50 members, including ‘88
activists, MPs elected in the 1990 elections and ethnic leaders inside the
country, said Moethee Zun. Each committee member has a network of
activists within Burma ready to disrupt the polls, he said. The network
would distribute leaflets and posters, make speeches, shout slogans, and
attempt to start marches in crowded areas, he said.

The PAC has already started its activities. On Wednesday its members gave
out leaflets in the Yuzana Plaza shopping mall. Tomorrow activists will
campaign in 20 townships in Upper Burma, giving out t-shirts, urging the
public not to support the election and demanding the release of political
prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi. Asked whether Suu Kyi would join the
government if the uprising succeeded, Moethee Zun said his group had not
held discussions with her.

But political analyst Aung Naing Oo, himself a former member of the ABSDF,
was sceptical the group would succeed in its goals. “Democracy is a
process
. Even if the opposition groups are able to kick out the military,
democracy won’t come to Burma overnight,” he said.

In fact, the PAC was putting lives at risk by inviting a violent crackdown
by the army, he said. “I have argued with opposition groups, especially
people like Moethee Zun
 that he is sending people to their deaths
 They
[the military] didn’t even spare the country’s most revered institution,
the monks,” he said, referring to the 2007 Saffron Revolution, when the
military brutally suppressed a mass uprising by Burma’s Buddhist clergy.

Asked if the PAC risked provoking violence in Burma, Moethee Zun’s reply
was simple. “We are expecting that response,” he said. “We have no
choice.”

____________________________________

November 4, Irrawaddy
PM's opponent injured in suspicious incident

The lone candidate challenging Burma's Prime Minister Thein Sein, the
chairman of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party
(USDP), for parliament in his Zabbu Thiri Township constituency in
Naypyidaw was allegedly injured in a suspicious motorcycle incident on
Oct. 29.

The accident, which occurred in Pyinmana Township in Mandalay Division,
was deliberately meant to injure or kill 70-year-old Kyaw Aye, the
candidate representing the National Unity Party (NUP), according to NUP
party members. He sustained minor injuries to his legs and head after
being struck from behind while riding on the rear of a motorcycle.

The motorcyclist left the scene and has not been identified, but local
residents suspect that he is connected to the USDP. Because of his
injuries, Kyaw Aye will not be able to continue campaigning, but has not
canceled his participation in the election, said a party member.

The NUP is widely viewed to be pro-regime because it was transformed from
the former ruling Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP) led by the late
dictator Gen. Ne Win. But in the absence of the National League for
Democracy, which is boycotting the polls, and since other pro-democracy
parties are unable to field many candidates due to financial constraints,
analysts speculate that the NUP might become the opposition party to the
USDP.

Top junta officials, including Thein Sein, are running for parliamentary
seats as USDP candidates in five sparsely-populated townships in
Naypyidaw, with their only opponents being members of the NUP.
Pro-democracy parties said that they would not run in those townships
since the voters there have been  heavily influenced by the regime.

“The NUP members are running there to help create an impression of
opposition for the junta officials. Actually, there are not many voters in
these townships in Naypyidaw, except Zabbu Thiri where the prime minister
is running. So the prime minister's opponent was harassed,” said the owner
of a restaurant located in a government ministerial building in Naypyidaw.

The NUP is the second largest political party, contesting for 999 
parliamentary seats in the election on Sunday. Only the USDP and NUP will
be running for seats in ten Naypidaw constituencies having a population of
600,000 people, and there will be 200 voting centers for the election on
Sunday in those constituencies.

The NUP suffered a strong defeat to the disbanded NLD party in the last
election in 1990, winning only 10 seats.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 4, Agence France Presse
Myanmar ethnic rebels unite in fear of junta assault: report

Bangkok – Six armed groups in Myanmar's troubled ethnic minority areas
have agreed ahead of a rare election to work together to resist the ruling
junta, an exile media website reported Thursday.

Sunday's poll has been criticised as a sham aimed at legitimising army
rule and analysts say the military could use a change of government to
justify smashing ethnic resistance once and for all.

"We were meeting for the unity of ethnic nationals in the Union -- to
fight together for democracy, freedom and autonomy," said Na Kham Mwe, the
leader of a breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
(DKBA).

He told the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) that the groups, who seek
greater autonomy, had agreed to help each other fight back if any of their
number were attacked by regime forces in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

All but one of the groups have signed ceasefire agreements with the junta,
but tensions have increased after the regime's attempts to bring ethnic
armies under state control as "border guard forces" met with fierce
resistance.

Four of the groups operate along Myanmar's border with Thailand -- the
DKBA offshoot Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the Karenni Army and
the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army Peace Council
(KNU/KNLA PC).

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in northern Myanmar and the Shan State
Army-North (SSA-N) in the east also participated in the agreement.

According to the report, the new alliance will aid members in their
campaigns against the regime's army, which has battled ethnic rebels since
Myanmar gained independence in 1948.

In the border areas where civil war continues, rights groups have accused
the junta of waging a brutal counter-insurgency campaign involving the
rape, torture and murder of villagers whose homes are routinely destroyed.

The military has had a stranglehold on the country since 1962 and the
"Tatmadaw" armed forces have doubled in size over the past two decades to
an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 personnel.

Authorities have barred swathes of ethnic-minority areas from taking part
in the election, while there are fears that renewed fighting could see an
influx of refugees to Myanmar's neighbours.

An offensive against ethnic Chinese Kokang rebels in the northeast in
August 2009 caused tens of thousands of people to spill over the border,
earning the junta a rare rebuke from China.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 4, BBC News
Burma to build its first Special Economic Zone – Shirong Chen and Myo Tha
Htet

Burma has announced the setting-up of its first Special Economic Zone
(SEZ), to be built in Dawei (Tavoy) township near the southern border with
Thailand.

Burmese state media said the zone would be developed around a deep sea
port in Dawei, covering up to 64,000 hectares.

Infrastructure development contracts were endorsed by the two governments
to enable the construction of rail and road links with western Thailand.

Burma's SEZ may be similar to that of China, which has seen rapid growth.

The Dawei SEZ will also have a hydro-electricity power plant,
petrochemical and refinery plants, and upstream steel mills.

The framework concession agreement on the project, signed between
Italian-Thai Development (ITD) public company and the Burmese Port
Authority, is worth Bt400bn ($13.4bn; £8.2bn).

It is expected to be completed in 10 years.

ITD will seek investment partners because the project is the largest in
the company's history, according to its senior executives.

Many investors from South Korea, China and India have shown interest.
Tight political control

In September, the Burmese military leader, Gen Than Shwe, visited China's
SEZ in Shenzhen, and said his country would learn from China's experience
of economic reform and opening up.

If it works out, it would be a concrete example of adoption of China's
development model, which encourages economic growth while maintaining
tight political control.

The Burmese authorities reached a deal with the Thai government in October
but published the news on Wednesday, four days before a general election -
perhaps as part of an effort to promote their credentials.

In the country's last election 20 years ago, the military rulers refused
to hand over power to the winning party, the National League for
Democracy, led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently
under house arrest.
____________________________________

November 4, Reuters
Italian-Thai inks deals for huge Myanmar port project – Kochakorn Boonlai
and Ploy Ten Kate

Bangkok – Top Thai construction company Italian-Thai Development Pcl
(ITD.BK) has signed a contract with Myanmar for a port and infrastructure
project worth at least 200 billion baht ($6.73 billion).

The framework agreement between Italian-Thai and the Myanmar Port
Authority was endorsed in Naypyitaw, Myanmar's capital, on Nov. 2,
according to state media in Myanmar and a company source.

The Dawei development in the Tanintharyi region in Myanmar's south will
take 10 years to complete under three phases of construction.

The project covers construction of the deep-sea port, buildings for
shipyard and maintenance work, petrochemical industries, a refinery, a
steel plant, a power station, road and rail links from Dawei to Bangkok
and an oil pipeline running alongside those transport links.

A total of 25 vessels ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 tonnes would be able
to berth simultaneously at the 22 wharves and 100 million tonnes of goods
could be handled a year at the port.

An area of 250 square kms (96.5 sq miles) has been designated to build two
industrial zones. A power station that can generate 4,000 megawatts would
also be part of the project.

After two years of losses, Italian-Thai is expected to return to net
profit this year, helped by new construction projects.

The huge Myanmar deal will be a huge boost to revenue over a period of
years, but some analysts were worried about how the company would fund it.

"What we need to know is how they are going to finance it and whether they
would need to raise funds. Its debt-to-equity ratio is now 4.0 times,"
said Trinity analyst Vajiralux Sanglerdsillapachai.

At the midsession break, Italian-Thai shares were unchanged at 5.40 baht,
while the broad Thai index .SETI was up 1 percent. ($1=29.70 Baht)
(Writing by Ploy Ten Kate; Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun in Yangon;
Editing by Alan Raybould)

____________________________________

November 4, Reuters
For some, Myanmar is ultimate frontier market – Jason Szep

Bangkok – Asset manager Douglas Clayton calls it the ultimate frontier
market: a country rich in natural gas, timber and gemstones strategically
located between China and India with enormous potential for
infrastructure.

But as army-ruled Myanmar heads into its first election in two decades on
Sunday, mainland Southeast Asia's biggest country remains one of the
world's most difficult for foreign investors, restricted by Western
sanctions, blighted by 48 years of oppressive military rule and starved of
capital.

Some investors expect the parliamentary election to change that by
introducing reforms that could slowly prise open the country of 50 million
people that just over 50 years ago was one of Southeast Asia's most
promising and wealthiest, the world's biggest rice exporter and major
energy producer.

"It seems that the situation could not get much worse but has huge room to
get better," said Clayton, a former hedge fund manager who is now chief
executive and managing partner of Leopard Capital, a private equity fund
focused on emerging Asian markets and backed by overseas investors.

"It has more natural resources than other frontier markets. It is
basically four times the size of Cambodia. So the scale is attractive to
people who deal in billions of dollars instead of millions," he added.
"The election is potentially a seminal event in changing the perception
about Myanmar."

Most political analysts advise against such exuberance.

Under the army-drafted constitution, the military has a 25 percent quota
of all legislative seats and most of the remainder are expected to go to
recently retired generals and their proxies running against minimal
opposition due to tough election laws.

The pro-army parliament would appoint a president responsible for the
government.

There's no chance the election will be a catalyst for lifting Western
sanctions, which depend more on whether the government releases an
estimated 2,200 detained political activists or opposition politicians
including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest expires on
Nov. 13.

CIRCUMVENTING SANCTIONS

But some U.S. and European companies are exploring how to navigate
sanctions to get in early.

"Recently we've seen companies mostly from Europe and the United States --
not just the usual Chinese, Southeast Asian and Indian investors --
looking to go in," said a source at at a political risk consultancy who
declined to be identified because he was not authorised to talk about
clients.

"They are approaching this in a way where they are willing to take a big
of a hit on their reputation to navigate some of the political risks to
simply be there, to get in there first.

Telecommunications and construction materials companies, in particular,
are interested, he said, noting the election, while widely dismissed as a
sham, will create a framework for a democratic system that might yield
changes in years ahead.

"The perception is that, rightly or wrongly, Burma is about to open up in
a big way," he said.

China, Thailand, India and Singapore are already big investors in Myanmar.
Chinese companies poured in $8 billion from January to May, mostly in
energy-related projects, according to official Myanmar statistics.

India's dominant state-owned oil explorer has announced it wants to invest
in Myanmar's gas fields, Thailand has ramped up investments, mostly in
natural gas and infrastructure.

The country's proven gas reserves doubled in the past decade to 570
billion cubic metres, equivalent to almost a fifth of Australia's,
according to the BP Statistical Review.

Revenues from those reserves are tightly held among the ruling military
elite whose cronies dominate other businesses.

"In the short term, it is not in anyone's interest among the ruling elite
to make big changes," said Sean Turnell, an expert on Myanmar's economy at
Sydney's Macquarie University.

"There are deep, deep vested interests. And those vested interests will be
trying to protect themselves."

CONTENDING WITH CRONIES

Turnell points to the sale of about 300 state assets -- from real estate,
gasoline stations and toll roads to ports, shipping companies and an
airline -- that have been privatised, mostly this year, in highly opaque
sales.

As military brass swap fatigues for civilian clothes in the poll, the
sales put major assets under their control via holding companies or
through allies, turning the ex-military elite into the financial
powerbrokers of a new era of civilian rule.

Myanmar has also expanded its number of private banks ahead of the
election to 19 from 15, but the four businessmen opening them are among
the closest allies to the top generals.

Turnell said tension among businessmen over who gets better favours could
to lead to rifts and be an eventual catalyst for reforms, but he casts
doubt on a theory circulating among investors that Myanmar will develop
like Vietnam or Indonesia, where investment friendly policies thrived amid
hardline rule.

Myanmar has few technocrats and shuns outside advice, unlike Indonesia,
for instance, where former president Suharto worked closely with
U.S.-educated Indonesian economists known as the "Berkeley mafia" after
coming to power in 1967.

"There is the risk that companies are caught in a false dawn, but there
could also be some opening up," said Jacob Ramsay, senior Southeast Asia
analyst at consultants Control Risks. "Instead of focusing on the
illegitimacy of the election, it is time to start thinking about how the
landscape could change, particularly if business gets involved."

Clayton at Leopard Capital is more bullish. "Everyone knows that fortunes
will be made here once the sanctions are lifted and the economy opens up,"
he said.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 4, Agence France Presse
China calls for smooth elections in Myanmar

Beijing – China said Thursday it hoped for a "smooth election" at the
weekend in close ally Myanmar -- a poll criticised by Western powers and
exiled democracy activists as a charade to legitimise army rule.

"We hold that to safeguard domestic stability in Myanmar and ensure a
smooth election is in the fundamental interests of the people of Myanmar"
and in the interests of regional prosperity, foreign ministry spokesman
Hong Lei said.

"China respects the independent choice of the Myanmarese people's
development path and hopes to see a smooth election in Myanmar as well as
continued progress in democracy and development in the country."

Myanmar on Sunday will stage its first election in 20 years, and the
ruling generals have maintained that the vote will mark the dawn of
democracy after almost five decades of autocracy.

But critics fear it will simply give a veneer of legitimacy to the
isolated country's ongoing military rule.

Junta-backed candidates have hefty advantages and a quarter of
parliamentary seats are reserved for the military.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been barred from standing, and her
now-disbanded National League for Democracy has refused to participate.

China is one of Myanmar's closest allies and has long helped it to keep
afloat through trade ties, arms sales, and by shielding it from UN
sanctions over rights abuses as a veto-wielding member of the UN Security
Council.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 4, Mizzima
Germany sides with China against UN Burma inquiry – Thomas Maung Shwe

Chiang Mai – The German Foreign Ministry has informed Mizzima that at this
time it does not support the proposed UN commission of inquiry to
investigate war crimes and human rights violations in Burma.

In an e-mailed response to Mizzima’s questions regarding Germany’s stance
on the proposal, German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Theresa Schoenfeld
told Mizzima that “to ensure that this new initiative [the inquiry] is
successful and has positive consequences, it is important to continue to
monitor the situation and crucial to find some co-operation mechanism with
the [Burmese] national authorities.”

The reluctance of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right coalition
government to support the UN inquiry comes amid reports by The Washington
Post that China had waged a “high-octane diplomatic campaign” over the
past two months to convince Asian and European nations to oppose the
creation of a commission of inquiry.

The Post reported that just days after the mid-August announcement the
United States supported the creation of such an inquiry, Chinese UN
ambassador Li Baodong “paid a confidential visit” to Vijay Nambiar, UN
secretary general Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff and the UN special envoy to
Burma, to voice Beijing’s strong opposition to any inquiry.

According to Post writer Colum Lynch, three separate UN sources privy to
the details of the meeting said that Baodong told Nambiar the proposed
Burma inquiry was “dangerous and counterproductive, and should not be
allowed to proceed”.

In response, NLD co-founder and veteran political prisoner Win Tin told
Mizzima he was disappointed with Berlin’s decision not to support the
inquiry, a proposal first made in March this year by UN special rapporteur
on the human rights situation in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana.

Win Tin said it was “very upsetting that Germany is siding with China and
not supporting a UN inquiry. The military’s repeated attacks on Burma’s
ethnic nationalities are very severe and have killed many people. These
crimes must be investigated by the international community.”

Although 10 European Union (EU) nations including France and Britain
favour an inquiry, opposition from the EU’s largest member, would likely
prevent the EU executive body, the European Commission, from taking action
to support the proposal or take a stronger stance against the regime.

When informed of the German spokesman’s statement, Mark Farmaner from
Burma Campaign UK took particular issue with the suggestion that there had
to be a “co-operation mechanism” with the Burmese regime for the
initiative to proceed.

He offered this rebuttal: “UN inquiries and the International Criminal
Court were created precisely because dictatorships won’t investigate their
own human rights abuses. It is ridiculous for Germany to imply that its
support for establishing a UN inquiry depends on the generals’
co-operation.”

“If Germany applied this logic domestically they’d get rid of their own
police force and courts and ask criminals to voluntarily go to jail,”
Farmaner added.

Monk calls German stance ‘strange’

Ashin Sopaka, one of the leading figures in Burma’s exiled monk movement,
told Mizzima he was not surprised to learn that Germany was not supporting
the UN inquiry.  Sopaka, who speaks German and lived there for seven years
after receiving asylum, said Germany’s stance on Burma was far weaker than
many other western nations.

“Germany’s policy on Burma is really very strange, the government is more
interested in business. It’s like the German government doesn’t want to
accept that in Burma there is a horrible military that kills many people.”

Sopaka, who has travelled throughout Germany, added that the government’s
position on Burma was quite out of step with the overall German public.

German firms shipped weapons plant to junta

Major Sai Thein Win, a former senior scientist in the Burmese military,
defected last year with documentation revealing that the Burmese regime is
using advanced equipment supplied by German firms for top-secret rocket
research and a nuclear programme.

In a Democratic Voice of Burma documentary on Burma’s nuclear programme,
he detailed how the firm Deckel Maho Gildemeister (DMG) sent engineers to
assist with the installation of specialised imported machinery in Burmese
military-owned factories.

Sai Thein Win said DMG machinery was designed to make precision metal
parts in the manufacturing of rocket and missile parts. In addition to
DMG, the Burmese military had also bought equipment from German firm
Trumpf, including a specialised laser cutting machine designed to cut
sheet metal quickly.

Officials from the German embassy in Rangoon visited two of the factories
where the machinery was being used in 2007, 2008 and last year. However,
despite evidence provided by Sai Thein Win that the equipment was being
used for non-civilian purposes, the German government has thus far done
nothing to restrict the sale of such plant.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 4, BBC News
Aung San Suu Kyi: Burma's fading light? – Zoe Murphy

For many Aung San Suu Kyi has come to embody the struggle for democracy in
Burma.

Poised and dignified, her moral authority has ensured the silent but
unwavering support of her people, for whom she remains a symbol of hope.

Detained by the junta for much of the past two decades, her refusal to
leave Burma has kept the plight of its people on the international agenda.

A Nobel peace laureate, she has been lauded by presidents and religious
leaders for her enduring commitment to a democratic Burma.

Yet on the eve of the country's first elections in 20 years, she finds
herself a political phantom of sorts.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD), which was cheated of its victory
at the polls in 1990, is now defunct, its members divided.

The 65-year-old remains cloistered in her crumbling lakeside home in
Rangoon, and will play no role in the election.
'A first step'

It is clear that the junta's election laws have left Ms Suu Kyi on the
political sidelines, but has her idealism contributed to this isolation?

The NLD was given the choice of expelling Ms Suu Kyi (and accepting the
annulment of the 1990 poll victory) or not contesting the election. It
took the painful decision to disband - and called for a boycott.

But the party split internally, with some members deciding to compete as
the National Democratic Force (NDF), arguing it made more sense to be
involved in the process, however flawed.

The division has become acrimonious, with some activists accusing the NDF
of betraying the long struggle for a true democracy.

This has left Aung San Sui Kyi open to criticism that she has weakened the
opposition at a time when unity would have served it better.

Win Tin co-founded the NLD with Ms Suu Kyi and spent 19 years as a
political prisoner in the country's notorious Insein jail.

The 81-year-old says many Burmese people are confused and despondent that
the NLD has been dissolved.

"But they know in their hearts that the alternative opposition parties
cannot win in the way that Aung San Suu Kyi did in 1990," he said.

"We don't believe it's a real political solution."

The British Ambassador to Burma, Andrew Heyn, has described the election
as a "complete failure".

He said the junta had failed to meet any of the prerequisites for a
legitimate vote.

He cites a constitution that guarantees a dominant role for the military,
and more than 2,000 political prisoners still in jail among the reasons
why these elections cannot be free, fair or inclusive.

"This is a huge missed opportunity," he said.

Ms Suu Kyi said her party should "not even think" of running because of
the nature of the election laws. And although on the voters' list, she has
refused to take part.

But without the participation of Ms Suu Kyi and the NLD, many voters were
left without a choice.

NDF chairman Than Nyein said his new party was determined to offer those
supporters a voice.

"It is our duty to carry on the democratic movement, within the legal
fold. It's the only tangible way to do politics...

"We take this coming election as a first step in a long journey."
New approach

Ms Suu Kyi's perseverance has been seen by many as a positive force for
Burma, but some say her rigidity has held the pro-democracy movement back.

"Far more an idealist than an astute political operator, in hindsight she
can be criticised for not bringing on a younger leadership within her now
disbanded party," says Justin Wintle, author of the biography Perfect
Hostage.

"Back in the late 1990s she perhaps missed a trick by not leaving her
country when she was free to do so - she could then have addressed the UN
General Assembly and other international bodies."

Mr Wintle and others suggest that her support for sanctions has been
counter-productive, serving mainly to deprive the majority of the
population, and that now is the time for a new approach.

Burma is part of an Asian economy that is changing at great pace. Its own
market is freer - although still very corrupt - compared with the
socialist state-controlled economy of 20 years ago.

The generals have recently started "privatising" state assets - ports,
airways, highways, mines. Oil and gas pipelines to China are under
construction. Already, the sale of gas to Thailand has made some rich.

Thant Myint-U, a Burma historian and a former UN official, says it might
be easier for Ms Suu Kyi to push for economic change and development.

It does not mean devaluing or giving up on ideals of democracy but the
right kind of trade and business links with the outside world will be
critical in expanding the middle class, making possible broader-based
growth, and in the process create new political dynamics, he says.

"Economics has a way of shaping politics, in Burma like everywhere else.

"For the democratic opposition, including Aung San Suu Kyi, it's vital
that they factor in the huge changes taking place in Burma's economic
relations with the rest of Asia," he says.
Anticipated release

What happens next is impossible to predict, but it is clear Ms Suu Kyi
must evolve with the political landscape if she is to remain relevant.

Her current period of house arrest expires on 13 November.

Some analysts believe she may be released then, on the presumption that
the transition from military rule to "democracy" has been safely wrapped
up in the junta's favour.

Mr Heyn says the UK and EU are pressing hard for her unconditional
release, and that her freedom would have a "significant impact".

All tangible signs of her are banned in Burma. Millions there have never
seen Ms Suu Kyi or heard her speak.

But Win Tin says there are many who understand what she represents, and
Burmese people would flock to hear her speak.

It is unthinkable that she would leave Burma, instead "she will need to
adapt to new realities with which she has had limited contact", Mr Heyn
said.

When and if she is freed, it is possible a number of opposition parties
will have seats in the new parliament.

Power may be slightly dispersed - and the hope remains that even a heavily
repressed democracy could take on a life of its own.

Some in Burma now want Ms Suu Kyi to take on the role of elder statesman
and pursue change in general, instead of pushing for legitimate political
office.

Analysts say she must be willing to think about more than pure politics -
but this will be personally and ethically difficult as long as dozens,
possibly hundreds, of her supporters remain in prison.

On Burma's most significant day in 20 years she too will remain locked up
in her home and prison - just where the junta wants her.

____________________________________

November 4, The Economist
Slowly, the army eases its grip
An unfair and unfree poll stirs plenty of cynicism. But a political
transition may be starting at last

Myitkyina and Yangon – NO MATTER who you vote for, as a wag once wrote,
the government always gets in. Nowhere is such cynicism more apposite than
in military-ruled Myanmar, formerly Burma, which goes to the polls on
November 7th. The elections are the first to be held since 1990, when the
opposition won by a landslide. The regime refused to budge, rounded up its
critics and annulled the results. Democracy activists howled at these and
other cruelties, and Western governments responded by isolating Myanmar’s
dictatorship and imposing sanctions, to little effect.

This election should go more smoothly, from the army’s point of view. The
playing field is tilted firmly in favour of the junta’s Union Solidarity
and Development Party (USDP), led by the prime minister. The USDP has
vastly outspent its opponents, most of them puny upstarts put together at
short notice with paltry resources. Parties had to stump up a $500 deposit
for each candidate—a year’s wages in Myanmar—so most parties are
contesting just a handful of seats. Of the 37 registered parties, only the
USDP has nominated candidates for all 1,157 elected seats. The
second-largest contender, the National Unity Party (NUP), is stuffed with
old faces from the previous junta. To be on the safe side, an additional
25% of seats in local and national parliaments are reserved for military
men.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the 1990 election and
presumably had a shot at doing well this time, is not standing in protest
at the unfair conditions. Its leader and Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi,
is under house arrest, as she has been for much of the past two decades,
though her current term expires on November 13th. Over 2,100 other
political detainees, including NLD members, student activists and Buddhist
monks, are rotting in jail. Military censors are busy, as ever, with their
red pens. No opposition rallies are allowed. This is the sort of
“disciplined democracy” beloved of Myanmar’s generals.

Unsurprisingly, the generals have told diplomats that international poll
monitors will not be invited in, and nor will foreign journalists, with
the exception of accredited local staff. A national referendum held in
2008 to approve a new constitution was equally opaque. It was also a
farce. Villages voted en masse, ballots were prewritten and the results
were tallied in secret in Naypyidaw, the gaudy new capital. The outcome
was a 93% endorsement of a controversial charter. Some in Myanmar fear a
repeat performance, as do many Western leaders.

Nonetheless, on the streets of Yangon, the ramshackle former capital (once
called Rangoon), politicians are out hustling for votes and eagerly
talking up their chances. Weekly newspapers carry extra pages of election
coverage. Teashop gossip and foreign radio broadcasts fill in the gaps.
This election will not be an exact rerun of the rigged referendum. Ballots
will be tallied at individual polling stations, and candidates can send
representatives to watch. Unofficial poll monitors will quietly fan out to
check for any obvious hanky-panky. At least in urban areas, the voting may
be reasonably free of tampering, though polling stations in the
countryside, where most voters live, will be much harder to watch.

There is very little free or fair about this election; but, all the same,
it offers a path of sorts to political progress. The opposition will gain
a legal footing in parliament and in other institutions. The top brass is
finally retiring. Unlike the junta, the USDP is not monolithic, and nor is
the NUP. Business interests and political calculations, not blind loyalty
to a clique of generals, will begin to guide them. Under the constitution,
power will be dispersed. The army may slowly ease its stifling grip,
provided it does not feel threatened. Leaders of most of Myanmar’s ethnic
minorities, a crucial element of any political reconciliation, will be
around the table. In elected assemblies in their homelands, they may
dominate. But others are still fighting the junta or have been politically
stymied, sowing the seeds of future friction (see article).

Entrepreneurs and professionals are among those most eager to see a change
of government. Some are standing for election, either under the umbrella
of large parties or as independents, and pushing a pragmatic line. “We
can’t wait any more,” says Phone Win, a doctor who heads Mingalar Myanmar,
an aid group. If elected in his Yangon constituency, he says he will focus
on health and education reforms. Other moderates in the opposition camp
are pinning their hopes on parliament as a forum to air economic issues.
They argue that parties can find common ground in drafting economic laws,
which require a simple majority to pass. Such legislation can be a
“comfort zone” for military loyalists and their opponents, says Tin Maung
Thann, a businessman and co-founder of Myanmar Egress, another NGO.

A spoonful of cooking oil

Many residents of Yangon would simply be happy to get electricity. Even
posh residential areas and industrial zones are not spared from power cuts
that add to the sense of a blacked-out city cut adrift by an army bunkered
down in Naypyidaw. Life is not cheap in Myanmar. A clapped-out 1982 Toyota
taxi costs as much as $12,000. A permanent SIM card for a mobile phone
fetches over $1,000. The profits on these accrue to the junta and its
cronies, part of a distorted economy that, far more than Western
sanctions, deters potential investors in Myanmar. A torrent of dubious
privatisations carried out earlier this year has put even more assets in
the hands of these cronies.

While Western companies stay away, Myanmar’s neighbours are less finicky.
The government said recently that it had approved plans for foreign direct
investment (FDI) worth $16 billion in the second quarter of 2010.
Astonishingly, this is said to equal total FDI pledged in the previous 20
years, though only a small amount was actually spent. Thailand leads the
latest wave of investors, followed by China. By far the biggest single
investment is going into an offshore gasfield operated by South Korea’s
Daewoo International and twin pipelines being built to carry gas and crude
oil across Myanmar to southern China, a project awarded to China National
Petroleum Corporation.

Myanmar’s overall economy is hard to assess. The government has not
published a budget for years. The banking system is dysfunctional. The
central bank has only a tenuous hold on monetary policy. Much of the
economy is undeclared and untaxed. Official data record double-digit
growth, and to suggest otherwise is probably not a clever career move
under the present regime. As a Harvard research team wrote in 2009, facts
in Myanmar “are negotiated more than they are observed”.

Aid workers say that in reality the nation has been driven deep into
penury. One describes a “silent disaster” unfolding in rural areas that
were vulnerable even before recent flooding wiped out crops. Agriculture
is in a desperate state. The rains came late this year in the Irrawaddy
Delta, which bore the brunt of a 2008 cyclone that killed over 130,000.
But most problems are manmade: villages lack power, roads, threshers and
storage for the harvest. Private banks may not lend to farmers, and the
government agriculture bank is moribund. Loan sharks and rice merchants
are more reliable. But interest rates are sky-high.

The World Food Programme, which has sporadic access to some of the worst
areas, estimates that the vast majority of people have to spend over 75%
of their income on food. The Harvard study reported that cooking oil was
being sold by the spoonful to those who could not afford a larger measure.
In Asia only Afghanistan has a higher rate of child mortality. Almost one
in ten children in Myanmar do not make it to five.

The 2008 cyclone opened the door a crack to more foreign aid. Humanitarian
assistance has since risen modestly; more local aid organisations have
sprung up to plug the gaps and help towns and villages respond better. But
the political deadlock between Myanmar and its Western critics casts a
long shadow over development assistance. America opposes new World Bank
lending to Myanmar, which in any case is in arrears on its previous loans.

As with aid, international reactions to Myanmar’s election are likely to
be as predictable as the vote itself. Led by China, most governments in
Asia will probably hail the vote as a landmark. Western reactions are
unlikely to be as positive. Since last year, the Obama administration and
the European Union have adopted a policy of engagement, while maintaining
sanctions on the regime. Exiled Burmese activists are lobbying Western
politicians to deny the legitimacy of both the election and the government
that emerges from it. These politicians are inclined to agree.

Kurt Campbell, America’s assistant secretary of state for East Asia and
the most senior envoy to visit Myanmar under the new policy, has admitted
that he was disappointed with the results. But he told Congress recently
that this did not mean engagement had failed. He predicted that the
upcoming election might create “new players, new power relationships, new
structures”, a view that is shared by plenty of diplomats in Yangon.

Will the Lady turn?

The one dissident who could probably recast this debate is Miss Suu Kyi,
the international face of principled resistance to military rule. It is
hard to imagine that the election date was not chosen with an eye to her
scheduled release, six days after the poll, from her latest term of house
arrest. As usual, the regime has dangled her release as a sop to Western
opinion. Even if Miss Suu Kyi were set free, however, the generals would
be watching closely to see what she does next. So would many ordinary
Burmese, whose reverence for “the Lady” is undimmed by her enforced
absence.

But Miss Suu Kyi will no longer be the lone voice of political opposition
in Myanmar. Elected MPs can rightly stake a claim to speak for their
constituents. The junta that Miss Suu Kyi opposes, and insists on talking
to, is preparing to dissolve itself. It is not clear that a new government
would be obliged to negotiate with Miss Suu Kyi, whose formal position is
secretary-general of the NLD, a party that no longer exists. It was
disbanded after it opted out of the election, on the advice of its
detained leader.

The Lady’s exalted status transcends her party. Whatever happens next, she
will remain a potent political force and a magnet for Western governments.
Many have long assumed that the road to change in Myanmar led through her
lakeside house in Yangon. But the country has altered since her last spell
of freedom, and not simply in terms of political participation, says Thant
Myint-U, a historian and former UN official. The changes include many more
NGOs, foreign and local, the flood of new foreign investment and pressing
environmental and economic concerns. “The rise of a new Asia will be all
around,” he says.

While the NLD is boycotting the election, a breakaway group is taking part
as the National Democratic Force (NDF). This has caused uproar among
exiles, for whom compromise is a dirty word, and has further divided the
opposition. NDF officials hope Miss Suu Kyi will respect their choice to
participate in the election. But she may take the opposite tack, arguing
that the entire process is illegitimate. By rejecting the election, she
would paint herself into the corner with “the radical element”, says a
prominent NDF backer.

If Miss Suu Kyi is one constant in Myanmar’s poisoned politics, the other
is Senior General Than Shwe, a former postal worker turned junta leader.
Characteristically, he has kept everyone guessing as to his future role. A
crowd of ageing generals have been cashiered; some are running for
parliament as civilians. This shake-up in the ranks clears the way for
younger officers to steer the army; the next commander-in-chief will
probably be in his mid-50s. But Than Shwe appears to have retained his
position, for now. Some fear that he could seek the presidency and remain
as head of state. Under the constitution, the upper and lower houses of
parliament will convene to elect a president who will then appoint his own
cabinet, who may or may not be MPs. Finally the junta would formally
transfer power to a new administration within 90 days of the election. In
theory Than Shwe, junta leader, could pass the torch to Than Shwe,
president.

A more likely scenario is that the prime minister or others in his cabinet
would use their USDP power base to seek the presidency. Than Shwe would
then ease into an honorary position either as patron of the ruling party
or the army, from where he could pull some strings. Than Shwe
understandably fears being hung out to dry, as happened to his
predecessor, General Ne Win, who stepped down in 1988 and was later
arrested. Than Shwe may look enviously at Singapore, where the former
prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, holds the post of Minister Mentor, a title
created for him. A formal role may not be necessary; when Deng Xiaoping,
China’s paramount leader, died in 1997 his only post was chairman of the
China Bridge Association.

A government dominated by recycled generals would not be not a clean break
after half a century of military rule. But given the steady erosion of
virtually every other institution in Myanmar—universities, the civil
service, trade unions—no other group was likely to emerge on top. Many
think the next election, in 2015, will mark the start of a more dynamic
contest both between parties and within the ranks of the ruling parties.
The USDP may then be ready to jettison some of the old guard, particularly
if they show themselves incapable of managing the economy.

The army is not about to go away. In addition to its 25% block in
parliament, it will have far-reaching constitutional powers that place a
deliberate check on civilian politicians. The commander appoints the
ministers of defence, interior and border affairs and can declare a state
of emergency that overrides much of the government apparatus. Army
commanders in the provinces will continue to demand the co-operation of
local authorities. This is similar to the “dual-function” system of
Indonesia under President Suharto until he was ousted in 1998. The army
may eventually prefer to follow the path of neighbouring Thailand,
reserving the right to intervene, forcibly, in politics if its interests
are threatened, but otherwise steering clear of day-to-day affairs.

Such abstractions are remote from the lives of ordinary voters, whose
hopes for change are tempered by apathy, self-preservation and cynicism.
“If they tell me to vote, I’ll vote,” shrugs a bookshop-owner. Politics,
like so much else in Myanmar, is ossified. Parties are long on lofty
statements, short on anything resembling a policy, and the opposition
spends more time squabbling than devising a common platform. The NLD is
urging voters to stay home. The generals seem to be alarmed by the
prospect of a low turnout, though the election laws do not require a
quorum. A state newspaper warned on November 1st that if too many voters
abstain, the government “will have no choice” but to stay in power and
prepare for another election, which, it said, “will take a long time.”

____________________________________

November 4, Irrawaddy
Advance voting abuses rampant – Htet Aung

Any enthusiasm Burmese may have felt toward election day on Sunday has
been dampened by the widespread reports of vote-rigging by government
authorities with regard to advance ballots.

Several sources have told The Irrawaddy that local authorities and
election sub-commissions have manipulated advance votes or have pressured
voters to sign declarations saying their vote has been cast in advance.

The military authorities have clearly abused the electoral laws that
stipulate only voters who are away from their constituencies can cast
advance ballots, specifically: (a) security personnel such as the military
and the police; (b) civil servants; (c) students; (d) trainees; (e)
detainees; (f) hospital in-patients; and (g) other voters who are away
from their constituencies.

In the case of voters who are living or working away from their
constituency, the respective sub-commissions are authorized to arrange
balloting.

However, the junta has bypassed this electoral law and has expanded the
electoral operations to allow election officials to collect a huge number
of advance ballots from various types of voters who were, in fact,
perfectly able to turn out at polling stations on election day and cast
their votes in a correct democratic fashion.

Article 66 of the Pyithu Hluttaw [People's Assembly] Electoral Law defines
the act of “interfering with the electoral right and making false verbal
or writing declaration” as “malpractice,” which is precisely what the
election authorities have committed in this case.

The first maneuver of malpractice by the Burmese regime was to collect
advance ballots from more than 450,000 military personnel and their family
members whether or not they were stationed away from their constituencies
[Link: “Election Commission Video Misstates the Law”; October 28, 2010; ].

Like the military, thousands of members of Burma's police force are on the
advance voting list. They, too, are exempt from going to polling stations
on Sunday.

The second target was the country's civil servants who were under intense
pressure from their superiors to sign declarations that they “wanted” to
cast advance ballots, according to sources who said that civil servants
were strongly advised to vote for the Union Solidarity and Development
Party (USDP) [Link: “2,000 Gov't Workers Told to Vote for Junta Party”;
November 3, 2010;].

The third target of the regime's directive were Burma's university and
college students—those of voting age at the the more than 100 institutions
across the country. As so many students live away from home and their
constituencies, they fall under the category of advance voters.

The military junta then turned its sights on the trainees attending
various government and other training centers. An overt example of voter
manipulation was exposed when the election commission collected advance
votes from the trainees at Mandalay's Central Institute of Civil Service,
but denied the trainees any form of privacy when casting their votes.
[Link: “Gov't Workers' Early Votes Demanded”; November 3, 2010; ].

Next on the junta hit list was a miscellaneous layer of voters such as
those working for semi-government or private businesses, and voters from
the transportation services.

In one instance, the administration department of the Rangoon Division
Buses Control Committee ordered its employees to cast advanced votes on
Nov. 5 [Link: “Advanced Votes for Ma-Hta-Tha”; November 3, 2010;].
According to the department sources, they were told they need not cast
votes in their respective constituencies; instead, they have been
designated an official site where they must cast advance ballots.

The Election Commission has never made known to the public the right of
transparency that should be employed in a democratic election. Nor has it
publicized its directives on advance voting. Instead, it conducts a covert
election in the shadow of the electoral laws and continues to expect that
no one will bat an eye.

____________________________________

November 4, New Light of Myanmar
Let's go to polling station – Editorial

The multiparty democracy general election is getting nearer. In the
meantime, we have heard news that some destructive elements are
perpetrating acts of instigation and agitations to abort the election
through all possible means.

If the election is aborted, there will not be a government that is elected
through the votes of the people. Then, the ruling government will have no
choice, but to keep taking State responsibilities till it holds another
election. As such, all the people are to stay away from those who destroy
the aspiration of the people or interest of the entire people.

Thus, all the people with patriotic spirit are to join hands in
successfully holding the election ignoring the activities of instigators
to spoil the election. The people are to march on along the path of
democracy.

The democratization process that the entire people aspire is obvious. The
candidates are ready to serve the interests of the State and the people
with utmost efforts on the path of democracy. Of them, the people are to
choose the candidates who will really serve the public interest.

Not everybody has the right to choose the candidates for the public. Only
eligible persons will have the right to cast vote. If not, they will lose
the opportunity to shape their future. It is important that all the people
are to ignore the instigation of destructive elements.

To be a dutiful citizen in the free and fair multiparty democracy general
election with patriotic spirit, let us go to the polling station to be
able to choose the candidates who will serve the national interest.