BurmaNet News, November 16, 2010

[Editor]

November 16, 2010 Issue #4085

INSIDE BURMA
Time Magazine: In Burma, all eyes on Aung San Suu Kyi's next steps
AP: Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi presses party's case
AFP: Suu Kyi calls for non-violent revolution
Irrawaddy: Junta leaders look grim after Suu Kyi’s release
NLM: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (father U Aung San) granted pardon
Mizzima: Parties decry cost to lay electoral fraud charges
KNG: Two Kachin women raped by Yuzana Company workers

ON THE BORDER
Sydney Morning Herald: Karen factions reunite as Burmese forces close in
DVB: Karen refugees flee further clashes

BUSINESS / TRADE
Bloomberg: Myanmar, China Thailand agree to study for $10 billion
hydropower project

REGIONAL
The Jakarta Post: Indonesia ‘welcomes’ Myanmar election results
Reuters: China says confident in Myanmar's peace process
VNA via BBC: Vietnam voices support for Burma's national reconciliation
Sydney Morning Herald: East Timor calls for end to blockade of Burma
DNA: Burmese palace in Ratnagiri turned 100 the day Aung San Suu Kyi was
freed
Asahi Shimbun: North Korea has no Aung San Suu Kyi

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: U.S. eyes talks with Myanmar after Suu Kyi release
DVB: UK govt warns against ‘forgetting’ Giri

OPINION / OTHER
Jakarta Post: The future of Myanmar and ASEAN after the elections -
Bambang Hartadi Nugroho
Irrawaddy: 'The Lady' hasn't changed, but neither has the junta - Htet Aung
Mizzima: A new programme needed for long term benefit (Editorial)

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 16, Time Magazine
In Burma, all eyes on Aung San Suu Kyi's next steps

Rangoon – Three days after her release from more than seven years of house
arrest, the political future of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League
for Democracy (NLD) remained uncertain as her lawyers prepared to seek
legality for the party and dialogue with the remainder of Burma's heavily
fractured political landscape.

The democracy icon said on Monday afternoon she had still not held talks
with any of Burma's other 30-plus political parties, including the
National Democratic Force, a group that splintered from her NLD to run in
the widely criticized Nov. 7 elections, the country's first in 20 years.
"It's for them to decide first ... They have to decide whether or not they
wish to work together with us or if they should have anything to do with
us at all," Suu Kyi said on Monday at her party headquarters in Rangoon.
(See pictures of Burma's long history of dissention.)

Many parties will likely be cautious of overly antagonizing the junta by
forming bonds with Suu Kyi's party as the NLD is still technically illegal
after choosing to boycott this month's election. NLD lawyer Nyan Win said
the party will start to fight for its legitimacy this Thursday when the
Burmese High Court in Naypyidaw is scheduled to hold a hearing on an
appeal from Suu Kyi arguing that the NLD's dissolution is illegal.

On Nov. 12, the day crowds first started to appear outside Suu Kyi's house
in Rangoon expecting her release, the junta mouthpiece The New Light of
Myanmar appeared to offer the NLD some way back into the legal fold,
albeit in a typically circumspect manner. The daily said political parties
wishing to become legal should submit their credentials to the country's
election commission, which would "scrutinize whether they are in
conformity with the provisions prescribed in the law or not, and [a]
decision will be taken." (See pictures of Burmese youth.)

The junta has made no other comments relating to the legality of the NLD
since Suu Kyi's release on Nov. 13, nor has it tried to prevent people
from visiting the party's headquarters in Rangoon, although government
informants were out in force yesterday opposite the front gate. Inside,
NLD members - some young but most of them old - gathered throughout the
morning to witness the latest appearance by Suu Kyi, still a novelty after
so many years of detention. The scene was much more low-key than Suu Kyi's
packed rally the day before, when the inside of the party's headquarters
heaved with people struggling to get a glimpse of "the Lady."

What Suu Kyi will do next is a matter of much speculation. On Monday, she
said she had much work to do in Rangoon before considering travel to other
parts of Burma. In the past the junta has tried to prevent her from
traveling outside the country's largest city and former capital in a bid
to contain her support geographically, away from the provinces and the
many ethnic groups that fringe the country, some of which continue to
oppose the military through local militias.

Whether Suu Kyi is successful in someday fulfilling her long-standing goal
of building democracy in this divided country will depend as much on
gaining support among those warring ethnic factions as it will reconciling
her own differences with the military regime. The democracy icon said
again on Monday that she wishes to hold substantive dialogue with the
junta. This would be unprecedented as previous talks had only happened
when she was in captivity, and then only on a handful of occasions. "When
I'm not under arrest I do not usually work with them," Suu Kyi said. "This
is one of the problems, of course, the lack of communication."

____________________________________

November 15, Agence France-Presse
Suu Kyi calls for non-violent revolution

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi called Monday for a “non-violent
revolution” in Burma after being freed from years of house arrest.

The 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner told the BBC in an interview at
the headquarters of her National League for Democracy she was sure
democracy would eventually come to Burma, although she did not know when.

She added that she would take any opportunity for talks with the ruling
military junta, which she wanted to change rather than fall.

“I don’t want to see the military falling. I want to see the military
rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism,” she
said.

“I think it’s quite obvious what the people want; the people just want
better lives based on security and on freedom.”

Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest on Saturday, less than a week after
controversial election that cemented the junta’s decades-long grip on
power but was widely criticised by democracy activists and Western leaders
as a sham.

She said in the interview, published on the BBC website, that she wanted a
non-violent end to military rule.

“I think we also have to try to make this thing happen
 Velvet revolution
sounds a little strange in the context of the military, but a non-violent
revolution. Let’s put it that way,” she said.

Suu Kyi, who has been locked up by Burma’s regime for 15 of the past 21
years, spent several hours at the NLD headquarters in meetings with
regional party members, ending her first day back at work with a trip to a
Rangoon monastery.

She told the BBC she was not subject to restrictions on her freedom but
would take the consequences if the junta decided to lock her up again for
what she said or did.

The opposition leader gave her first political speech in seven years on
Sunday, appealing to thousands of her jubilant supporters for unity.

She also told reporters she was willing to meet junta chief Than Shwe and
talk through their differences.

Suu Kyi swept her party to victory in a 1990 election, but it was never
allowed to take power.

Her struggle for her country has come at a high personal cost: her British
husband died in 1999, and in the final stages of his battle with cancer
them junta refused him a visa to see his wife.

Australia was the latest country to offer support to Suu Kyi on Monday,
with Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd saying he had spoken with her and
promised that his country would continue to be her “reliable friend” in
the future.

____________________________________

November 16, Irrawaddy
Junta leaders look grim after Suu Kyi’s release - Wai Moe

Are Burma's top generals having second thoughts about releasing
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday?

That's the impression that many Burmese are getting from the latest image
of junta supremo Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his deputy, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye,
to appear in the state-run press.

The picture—the first to be published since Suu Kyi was freed on
Saturday—shows the two men seeing off Prime Minister Thein Sein at
Naypyidaw airport on Monday, as Thein Sein departed to attend a pair of
regional conferences in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

All three men look tense, in contrast to photos from just a few weeks ago,
when the generals appeared more relaxed and confident, according to local
observers.

“When Than Shwe welcomed the prime minster back from the Asean Summit in
Hanoi on Oct. 31, he looked quite comfortable, and Maung Aye even smiled,”
said one Burmese observer in Rangoon who spoke on condition of anonymity.

At the time, the generals were just one week away from holding an election
that they seemed quite confident of winning. However, the subsequent round
of international condemnation of the polls, which allegedly involved
widespread vote-rigging, has probably made them less self-assured.

But it is Suu Kyi's release, and the jubilant reaction that it has
unleashed among ordinary Burmese and in the international community, that
has probably done the most to increase their uneasiness.

Tens of thousands of cheering people turned out on Saturday evening to see
Suu Kyi and listen to her first words in public since she was placed under
house arrest in 2003. The crowds were even larger the next day, when she
went to the Rangoon headquarters of her National League for Democracy
(NLD).

According to Burmese military intelligence sources, however, the regime
was not unprepared for the sudden upsurge in activity among pro-democracy
forces and their supporters. The sources said that authorities in
Naypyidaw and Rangoon have been ordered to monitor Suu Kyi’s activities
since she was released.

In Rangoon, Maj-Gen Tin Ngwe, the chief of Bureau of Special Operations-5,
Maj-Gen Kyaw Swe, the chief of Military Affairs Security, and Brig-Gen Tun
Than, the commander of Rangoon Regional Military Command, are reportedly
in charge of keeping an eye on Suu Kyi and the opposition.

However, Rangoon mayor Aung Thein Lin of the Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP) and police chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi have also
reportedly been assigned to keep an eye on the opposition’s activities in
the wake of Suu Kyi's release.

The sources added, however, that doing Suu Kyi's surveillance detail has
presented a bit of a dilemma for the security officers in charge. In all
of her public appearances, Suu Kyi has been surrounded by massive crowds
of supporters, presenting a spectacle that could only make the top
generals wonder if it was a mistake to let her go free.

“All the photos in front of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house and at the NLD
headquarters showed thousands of people, so it was quite difficult to send
them to Naypyidaw,” said an intelligence official in Rangoon.

Whatever their misgivings, Suu Kyi made an effort on Tuesday to assure the
generals that she was not their enemy.

“I don't want to see the military falling. I want to see the military
rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism,” she
told the BBC in an interview.

Although Suu Kyi's release has received considerable attention in the
international and Burmese exiled media and on the websites of private
journals in Rangoon, the state-run media has been almost completely
silent, apart from one brief report on Sunday.

Private journals in Rangoon have complained that some reports about Suu
Kyi for their print editions have already been banned by the regime's
draconian censorship board, resulting in delays in publication.

____________________________________

November 16, The Associated Press
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi presses party's case

Yangon -- Myanmar's military government warned Tuesday against filing
complaints over the Nov. 7 election - a move that could spell trouble for
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has vowed to probe alleged
voting irregularities.

The warning puts Suu Kyi on a possible collision course with the ruling
generals, just days after her release from more than seven years of house
arrest. The 65-year-old Nobel Peace laureate must balance the expectations
of the country's pro-democracy movement with the reality that her freedom
could be withdrawn any time by the hard-line regime.

Suu Kyi, meanwhile, went on a legal offensive Tuesday, filing an affadavit
with the country's High Court to have her political party reinstated. The
junta disbanded it earlier this year for failing to reregister after
choosing not to take part in the election, complaining conditions set by
the junta were unfair and undemocratic.

In a reminder of how delicately she has to tread, the official Union
Election Commission warned Tuesday that political parties making
fraudulent complaints about the polls can face harsh legal punishment.

Full results from this month's elections have yet to be released, but
figures so far give the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development
Party a solid majority in both houses of parliament. Critics complain the
vote was rigged and designed to cement the power of the military, which
has ruled Myanmar for five decades.

Anyone who files fraudulent charges of vote cheating can be jailed for
three years, fined 300,000 kyats ($300), or both, the commission said.

Suu Kyi has already announced her intention to join party colleagues in an
investigation of alleged electoral fraud. She told reporters, however,
that while her party plans to issue a report, it has no plans to protest
the results of the election as it didn't take part.

The election was the first in Myanmar since a 1990 vote won by Suu Kyi's
party. Her National League for Democracy was barred from taking power and
has faced near-constant repression.

A day after her release, Suu Kyi told thousands of wildly cheering
supporters at her party headquarters Sunday she would continue to fight
for human rights and the rule of law. In press interviews, she has spoken
more of reconciliation than justice.

Suu Kyi has said she would like to talk to junta leader Senior Gen. Than
Shwe, with whom she has not spoken since 2002.

"We have got to be able to talk to each other," Suu Kyi told the
Washington Post in an interview posted on the newspaper's website Tuesday.
"I think, firstly, we have to start talking affably - real genuine talks,
not just have some more tea or this or that."

Nyan Win, who is Suu Kyi's lawyer as well as a party spokesman, said
Myanmar's High Court will hold a hearing Thursday to decide whether to
accept the case from Suu Kyi arguing her party's dissolution "is not in
accordance with the law."

He said the new Election Commission has no right to deregister parties
that were registered under a different Election Commission in 1990.

As she walked into the courthouse Tuesday, about 20 supporters ran toward
her to see her while others waited outside to get a glimpse. Security was
light with a dozen plainclothes officers watching the crowd.

Suu Kyi has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years but has remained the
dominant figure of the NLD. Although her party is now officially
dissolved, it has continued operating. Without official recognition, it is
in legal limbo, leaving it - and her - vulnerable to government
crackdowns.

____________________________________

November 14, The New Light of Myanmar
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (father U Aung San) granted pardon

Yangon, 13 Nov - Chief of Myanmar Police Force Brig-Gen Khin Yi of the
Ministry of Home Affairs went to the house of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at No
54/56 on University Avenue, Shwetaunggya Ward-1, Bahan Township at 5 pm
today and read the order of the ministry on granting pardon for her on 13
November 2010 when the period of the suspended sentence is up.

Afterwards, Chief of MPF Brig-Gen Khin Yi read the order on granting
pardon for Daw Khin Khin Win, daughter of U Tin Ohn, and Ma Win Ma Ma (a)
Ange Lay, daughter of U Nyan Lin, who were found guilty under Section 22
of the Law to Safeguard the State Against the Dangers of Those Desiring to
Cause Subversive Acts with regard to Criminal Trial 47/2009 of Yangon
North District Court, on 13 November 2010 as the period of the suspended
sentence is over.

Chief of MPF Brig-Gen Khin Yi was accompanied by Police Col Aung Daing of
Yangon Region MPF, Deputy Head of Special Branch Police Col Win Naing Tun,
Region Judge U Myint Aung, Region Law Officer U Aung Than Myint and
officials.

After reading the orders, Chief of MPF Brig-Gen Khin Yi cordially greeted
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, saying that he was pleased to meet Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi having good health, that their duties are to ensure community peace
and prevalence of law and order, that they want the nation to be peaceful
and tranquil in the future and that they stand ready to give her whatever
help she needs.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also replied to him in a similar manner.

The Yangon North District Court handed down three years’ imprisonment with
labour on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 14 May 2009, for she was found guilty
under Section 22 of the Law to Safeguard the State Against the Dangers of
Those Desiring to Cause Subversive Acts with regard to Criminal Trial
47/2009.

However, being the daughter of leader General Aung San who sacrificed his
life for the Myanmar’s independence, viewing that peace, tranquility and
stability will prevail and that no malice be held against each other, the
sentence was amended under Criminal Procedure Code Section 401, Subsection
(5) that the half of the sentence to be served is remitted and the
remainder of the sentence was to be suspended.

During the period of the suspended sentence, she had already been informed
that should she abide by the annexed stipulations, all suspended sentence
shall be pardoned.

As she was found to be displaying good conduct in line with the annexed
stipulations during the period ahead of the suspended sentence she was
granted pardon on 13 November 2010 when the period of the suspended
sentence is up. - MNA

____________________________________

November 16, Mizzima
Parties decry cost to lay electoral fraud charges - Ko Wild

Chiang Mai  – Political parties are making efforts to expose the junta’s
electoral fraud since its watchdog, the Union Election Commission,
announced its list of successful members of parliament. They are however
running into yet another structural obstacle to fairness: to charge a
local or national election commission with electoral fraud requires they
must submit a one million kyat (US$1,000) deposit.

Political parties are reviewing reports of various electoral offences
compiled by township members. However, the junta’s own electoral laws
state that to charge electoral authorities with any such offences, the
political parties need to submit a non-refundable deposit of one million
kyat per case.

The Democratic Party (Myanmar) said the party would hold a press
conference at its headquarters in Rangoon to reveal to the public the
fraud cases.

“Submitting complaints will not change the results as they’ve already
taken power illegitimately 
 That [fund deposit] regulation was designed
to block parties’ legal actions,” Democratic Party (Myanmar) chairman Thu
Wai said.

Only three of the party’s 47 contesting candidates have won parliamentary
seats; two from Rangoon Division and one from Mandalay Division.

Bo Maung, a United Democratic Party candidate for the People’s Assembly
seat of Depayin Township, said the party would file a complaint with the
town’s election commission and peace and development council about the
Union Solidarity and Development Party’s (USDP) black campaigning,
electoral fraud and use of ghost votes, and the authorities’ coercion of
people to cast votes in advance for the USDP.

“Hla Lu and Thaung Ya died 15 years ago but a staff member at the
Paungtaungku Ward Peace and Development Council voted for the USDP using
their names. He is also secretary of the ward’s election commission,” Bo
Maung said.

He added that authorities stopped parties’ polling agents from monitoring
the advance-voting processes.

“I’ll file a complaint to the township election commission. But I won’t
charge the township election commission and village election commission
because I can’t pay the one million kyat [deposit],” he said.

Union Democratic Party general secretary Thein Tin Aung said that without
filing the lawsuits over electoral fraud, the results could not be
changed. But parties were averse to the financial risk of lay charges
against the authorities, he added.

Although his party would publish a report on the election, it would not
charge the electoral authorities, he said.

____________________________________

November 16, Kachin News Group
Two Kachin women raped by Yuzana Company workers

Two Kachin women in Hugawng Valley, in Burma’s Kachin State, were sexually
abused by workers of the Yuzana Company, a local agricultural project
supported by the military regime, according to sources close to the
victims.

Ledo Road and Yuzana's construction in Hugawng Valley, Kachin State.
Photo: Kachin News GroupOne woman from Wa Ra Zup, and another from Nam
Sai, were sexually abused and beaten up by company workers on November 13,
at the same time and in the same location, the sources said.

They said a 40-year-old woman was raped and another woman, aged 60, was
beaten up by the rapists.

The two women were taken into the forest by the rapists while they were on
their way to sell goods at the gold mines in Ban Kawk village, which is
situated beside Stilwell Road (or Ledo Road).

“A rapist told a woman after he raped her, ‘I am living in 99 (company
area). I apologize for this and will see you again’, and he disappeared,”
a villager quoted the victims as saying.

Residents of the two villages have no idea who they should complain to, or
call to take action on this case.

Villagers said they have no one to complain to except their village head.

“Unfortunately, the village headmen cannot help the two victims take legal
action against the rapists, because the two village administrators have to
remain loyal to Burmese military authorities,” said the villagers.

The Rangoon based Yuzana Company, chaired by U Htay Myint, entered the
Hugawng Valley in 2006 with the help of the Burmese military, and
confiscated up to 400,000 acres of land, including paddy fields and crop
plantations owned by native Kachin people, as well as a tiger reserve.

Local people said the company also transported tens of thousands of Burman
labourers, from southern Burma, to use as a workforce, but also to settle
Burman people on Kachin soil.

Villagers are often fighting in different ways with the company workers,
who locals accuse of being a big threat to local girls and women.

They said this is not the first incident of Hugawng area women being raped
by Yuzana Company workers.

They also said a villager was murdered and two young women were raped
after the company arrived in the area.

The source added the two victims have not received any medical treatment
for their injuries, but remain at home.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 16, Sydney Morning Herald
Karen factions reunite as Burmese forces close in - Craig Skehan

OO KRAY KEE, Burma: In the mountain village of Oo Kray Kee, the first
rooster crows more than an hour before sunrise as soldiers of the Karen
National Liberation Army roll from their hammocks. During the night
rocket-propelled grenades and mortars could be heard in the distance as
rebel soldiers clashed with forces of Burma's military regime. Battles
have escalated since the national election on November 7, partly because
the poll was seen as unfair by the Karen and other ethnic minorities, many
of whom were excluded from the vote.

Burma is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations, with more
than 100 languages and dialects. The Karen National Liberation Army has
been fighting for the right of the Karen to rule themselves since Burma
became independent from British rule in 1948. But in 1994 the Karen split
into Christian and Buddhist factions. The new Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army sided with government forces and one of the places they attacked 16
months ago was Oo Kray Kee, about six kilometres inside Burma from the
Thai town of Umphang. It was shelled and then razed. But a KNLA commander,
Nerdah Mya - son of the Karen leader, Bo Mya - encouraged refugees who had
fled to Thailand to return and rebuild. Now the fighting is again getting
close to Oo Kray Kee, but this time the Buddhists and Christians are
fighting on the same side, partly because both groups object to pressure
from the junta for all ethnic minority armies to join a so-called border
guard force under the command of the Burmese army. The rapprochement is
seen as significant because divisions among the ethnic minorities have
been an impediment to making headway against the junta. Members of the
KNLA at Oo Kray Kee said the Burmese military had moved artillery from the
border trading town of Myawaddy to a military camp only five kilometres
away during the past few days. They believed preparations were under way
for a full-scale assault. Most of the 300 villagers have not waited to
find out, and only a few dozen remain. Most of the KNLA from the base camp
at Oo Kray Kee have gone to the "front line" to fight alongside the
Buddhist comrades they have now re-embraced. Issacs, 31, a KNLA sergeant
who carries a rocket-launcher, said they had ringed the village with more
than 1000 mines to keep the Burmese soldiers at bay. Asked who destroyed
the village previously, Issacs said: "It was government troops and [the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army]. But we are all Karen. So now we can fight
together." But because relationships can also hinge on co-operation and
rivalry in lucrative cross-border trade and smuggling, it is yet to be
seen if the new alliance will hold.

____________________________________

November 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
Karen refugees flee further clashes - Naw Noreen

Hundreds of refugees have fled a second wave of fighting along Burma’s
border with Thailand close to Waw Lay, a former stronghold of a breakaway
Karen army faction.

Estimates of the number of people sheltering in Thailand’s Phop Phra
district, in Tak province, vary: a source on the border told DVB that 350
refugees fled, while the Bangkok Post put the figure at 600.

A week ago some 20,000 people, the majority from Myawaddy town in Karen
state, poured into Thailand after clashes erupted between a renegade
faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and Burmese troops.

While most of these returned several days later, the situation along the
border still remains volatile. The fighting yesterday was triggered after
DKBA troops returned to their base at Waw Lay, which was captured last
week, and encountered a Burmese army soldiers.

A DKBA official told DVB that troops that the group had also attacked the
nearby Bayinnaung Hill and Kanaelay army outposts. The Burmese army
retaliated by firing artillery shells into Waw Lay, injuring two villagers
who are now in hospital in Thailand’s border town of Mae Sot.

Schools in Myawaddy meanwhile have reopened after closing last week as the
town emptied of residents. The main market, where several locals were
killed in the crossfire in 8 November, has also been teeming with people
since it reopened.

Army checkpoints that were set up along the road into Myawaddy prior to
elections have also been removed, although one resident said that toll fee
for freight trucks carrying goods from Thailand into Burma have been
raised from 50,000 kyat ($US50) to 80,000 kyat ($US80) per truck.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 16, Bloomberg News
Myanmar, China Thailand agree to study for $10 billion hydropower project

China, Myanmar and Thailand agreed to study a $10 billion hydropower
project that would be Southeast Asia’s largest by generation capacity, the
Chinese government said.

The 7-gigawatt project would be built on the Salween River in Myanmar over
15 years, China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration
Commission said in a statement on its website today. Companies from the
three countries signed an accord on the project on Nov. 10, according to
the statement.

China, the world’s largest energy consumer, is planning to add hydropower
capacity in its southern provinces such as Yunnan and help build hydro
dams in neighboring countries including Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia to meet
demand from the region. The Asian Development Bank in September raised its
2010 economic growth forecast for Asia, excluding Japan, to 8.2 percent.

“Asia’s power demand is set to rise with the economy, and Chinese
developers are keen to tap the rich hydro resources in Southeast Asia to
fuel regional growth,” said Dave Dai, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Daiwa
Securities Capital Markets Co.

China Three Gorges Corp., Sinohydro Corp. and China Southern Power Grid
Co. will work with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and
the International Group of Entrepreneur Co. in Myanmar on the study,
according to the statement.


>From its headwaters in the Tibetan plateau, the 2,800- kilometer

(1,740-mile) Salween traverses Yunnan and Myanmar before emptying into the
Andaman Sea. The river is known as Nu Jiang in China.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 16, The Jakarta Post
Indonesia ‘welcomes’ Myanmar election results

Indonesia “has welcomed” results of the Myanmar elections where the ruling
military junta’s parties won the vast majority of the seats contested,
while at the same time pushing for reconciliation.

“While we are welcoming the results of the [Myanmar] elections, we are
urging reconciliation,” Foreign Ministry director general for ASEAN
cooperation Djauhari Oratmangun said Monday in a discussion organized by
the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“Communications between Indonesia and Myanmar have to be intensified to
push [Myanmar] toward reconciliation,” he said without elaborating.

Presidential advisory board member and former foreign minister Hassan
Wirajuda, who was also among the speakers, said the elections had been
prepared in a way to guarantee the victory of the Myanmar military.

But he added that he believed that Indonesia still had the leverage to
deal with Myanmar issues, and urged the West to not press only ASEAN on
the issue, but also China and the world’s largest democracy — India.

Both countries, he said, had kept silent about undemocratic Myanmar due to
their huge interests in the resources-rich country.

However, speakers at the discussion agreed that it was important to
“acknowledge” the results of the Myanmar elections as the elections
themselves were a step toward democracy.

Alexander Chandra of Trade Knowledge Network, a global collaboration of
research institutions, said that although it was important to uphold human
rights and democratic values, the Indonesian government should not abandon
Myanmar.

He said the Indonesian government should approach Myanmar not only with
political and security agendas, but also with economic engagement.

Likewise, a security expert with the CSIS, Evan Laksmana, said the best
thing for the Indonesian government to do was “acknowledge” the results of
the Myanmar elections.

“But it’s also now the time for the Indonesian government to start
demanding a post-election blue-print from the Myanmar government,” he
said.

“If the Indonesian government is serious about its chairmanship in ASEAN,
then business, civil society and people-to-people aspects have to be the
focus in dealing with Myanmar’s post-election issues.”

Separately, international relations scholar Hariyadi Wirawan and House of
Representatives foreign affairs commission member Tantowi Yahya supported
the Indonesian government’s standpoint.

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released last Saturday,
is trying to have her disbanded party declared legal again, the AP
reported. The Myanmar government officially dissolved her party before the
elections.

____________________________________

November 16, Reuters
China says confident in Myanmar's peace process

Beijing - China is confident that Myanmar will continue its process of
peace and ethnic reconciliation, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, in
Beijing's first official reaction to the release of pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We hope and are confident that Myanmar will continue advancing the
seven-point road map plan, and will maintain peace and stability,
promoting ethnic reconciliation and economic and social development,"
spokesman Hong Lei said when asked about her release.

The "road map" is the Myanmar's government plan to return the country to
civilian rule, which culminated in an election earlier this month. Critics
say the polls created a facade of civilian rule with the military still
calling the shots.

Hong, speaking at a regular news briefing, declined to answer further
questions on Suu Kyi's release, including one about whether China
encouraged dialogue between her and the Myanmar government.

China is keen to maintain stability in its southern neighbour, especially
along their shared border, where spats between drug lords, rebel armies
and Myanmar's central government have spilled over into China in the past.

China has kept in contact with opposition groups in Myanmar despite its
close relationship with the current military rulers of the southeast Asian
country, formerly known as Burma, which is the subject of wide-ranging
Western sanctions.

Suu Kyi said on Sunday she did not consider China an enemy, despite its
ties with the military junta that held her in prison or under house arrest
off and on for 15 years since 1989.

China has pumped $8.17 billion into Myanmar in the current fiscal year,
accounting for two-thirds of its total investment over the past two
decades, according to Myanmar's state media.

Energy projects formed the bulk of the investment, with $5 billion in
hydropower and $2.15 billion in the oil and gas sector of the
resource-rich nation. However, analysts say official investment data for
Myanmar is notoriously unreliable.

Myanmar gives China access to the Indian Ocean, not only for imports of
oil and gas and exports from landlocked southwestern Chinese provinces,
but also potentially for military bases or listening posts.

____________________________________

November 16, Vietnamese news agency via BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
Vietnam voices support for Burma's national reconciliation

Text of report in English by state-run Vietnamese news agency VNA website

[Unattributed article from the "General" page: "VN supports Myanmar's
national reconciliation, concord"]

Hanoi (VNA) -Vietnam on Nov. 15 voiced its support for national
reconciliation and concord in Myanmar [Burma] and said it wants that
parties concerned in the country successfully carry out the process.

A Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson made the statement while
replying reporters' question on Vietnam's reaction to the move by
Myanmar's incumbent government to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We acknowledge and watch the developments in Myanmar. Vietnam supports
and wishes that concerned parties in Myanmar to successfully implement the
national reconciliation and concord for peace, stability and development
benefit of the people of Myanmar," said the spokesperson.

Source: VNA news agency website, Hanoi, in English 15 Nov 10

____________________________________

November 17, Sydney Morning Herald
East Timor calls for end to blockade of Burma

New York: East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, has urged the United
States and Europe to lift sanctions against Burma after the junta released
the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

''I'm very happy with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi,'' Mr Ramos-Horta
said. ''I see it as something good and I congratulate the military regime
in Myanmar for handling this.

''I'm also waiting and hoping for two blocs, namely America and Europe,
which have been applying harsh sanctions against Myanmar, to lift them.''

He said economic sanctions on a poor country like Burma, which is also
known as Myanmar, were ''morally not good'', although Washington and
Brussels say the measures are targeted at the regime and not the Burmese
people.

However, in her first meeting with foreign diplomats since being released,
the Burmese opposition leader vowed to focus on political prisoners still
in prison and did not ask for the lifting of international sanctions,
sources said.

With the UN Security Council expected to discuss Burma tomorrow and the UN
General Assembly to vote on a Burma rights resolution the same day,
international powers are
anxiously looking for signs of how the junta treats the Nobel peace prize
winner.

Ms Suu Kyi told diplomats no conditions had been imposed on her freedom
but she had no immediate travel plans. She said she was ''already focused
on the other 2100 political prisoners'' in Burmese jails, the source said.

The junta denies there are any prisoners of conscience.

Ms Suu Kyi urged the international community to play a ''constructive
role'', most immediately by pressing for the release of the other 2100
political prisoners, the source said.

''She paid tribute to the countries that had steadfastly supported her''
and added she hoped that India would be ''more proactive in future''.

The UN Security Council is split between the United States and European
nations, which have taken a hard line on Burma, and China, the junta's
main international backer, and its allies.

The diplomatic source said if Ms Suu Kyi asked for the ending of
sanctions, ''obviously we would need to listen to that case''.

China, a key trader with Burma, has declined to comment on Ms Suu Kyi's
release but praised the recent elections.

Ten days ago, Ms Suu Kyi's NLD party ended support for a 15-year tourism
boycott, which is opposed by many anti-regime Burmese because it hurts
taxi drivers, guesthouse owners and souvenir vendors more than regime
loyalists who run the airline and big hotels.

Sanctions were first imposed by the US in 1993, with the EU following
three years later, suspending all bilateral aid other than humanitarian
assistance.

A draft resolution on human rights in Burma, drawn up by European nations
with the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, is to be voted on at the
UN General Assembly tomorrow.

It expresses grave concern at ''arbitrary detentions, enforced
disappearances, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.''

It urges Burma to order an inquiry into reports of rights abuse. However,
it does not mention calls for an inquiry into possible crimes against
humanity as a UN rights expert has urged.

____________________________________

November 16, Daily News & Analysis
Burmese palace in Ratnagiri turned 100 the day Aung San Suu Kyi was freed
- Yogesh Pawar

Ratnagiri on Maharashtra’s Konkan coast is nearly 4,000km from Mandalay,
Myanmar’s last royal capital and its second largest city.

But nestled along the Arabian Sea is the 3,000-sq-metre Thebaw Palace,
which connects the two places. No wonder locals here believe that it is
not a mere coincidence that
Myanmar’s most well-known daughter Aung San Suu Kyi was released on
Saturday after decades of incarceration, the same day the historical
structure turned 100.

Constructed in 1910-1l, the Thebaw Palace was built for the exiled king
and queen of Burma (now Myanmar). They lived in this palace from November
13, 1911 till their death in 1916. The five years of their stay are now
immortalised in the local laterite stone with their tombs.

“This sprawling palace is a slice of history. It uniquely uses local raw
material to create a Far Eastern look, making it one-of-its-kind,” says
local historian Sharad Darvekar. “There have been demands for a long time
for more funds for its upkeep and the creationof either a regional museum
or heritage hotel here. But theadministration seems largely apathetic to
most of the suggestions.”

The wooden balustrades on the stairs, the beams with ornate work, the
regally done rooms and their intricately carved doors have survived most
ravages of time. But wear and tear is setting in.

“Cyclone Phyan took a heavy toll on the structure, which now has leaky
spots at five places,” rued Darvekar. He pointed out how a demand to have
a water connection for the lawn has been pending with the local civic
council for over decade.

Life in Ratnagiri was not easy for the exiled royals. They were forced to
live off a meagre pension from the British. The eldest daughter Phaya
married Shrimant Gopal Bhaurao Savant, her father’s former servant, and
had two children.

She returned to Rangoon (now Yangon) in 1947. But she was unwelcome
because of her marriage to an Indian commoner and was compelled to return
to Ratnagiri.

The collector’s records say that Phaya was a destitute when she died.
Locals collected money for her funeral. Phaya was survived by a daughter,
Tu Tu.

Without money or education, she married a local mechanic and had seven
children, none of whom had anything Myanmarese about them. She forgot all
about her royal heritage. “Nothing is known about the family and their
whereabouts,” says Darvekar.

____________________________________

November 16, Asahi Shimbun
North Korea has no Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar (Burma) is perennially ranked along with North Korea as one of the
world's worst countries for human rights abuses.

After gaining independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar was, for a time,
recognized as a prosperous country in Asia along with the Philippines.
After a junta was set up in 1962 through a military coup with the goal of
establishing its own brand of socialism, however, Myanmar was reduced to
the worst form of authoritarianism, like North Korea.

The Southeast Asian country simultaneously established diplomatic ties
with both Koreas in 1975, but severed relations with the North after the
1983 Aung San terrorist bombing. Naypyidaw restored ties with Pyongyang in
2007 and both sides have since maintained a close relationship.

A military authoritarian government has ruled Myanmar for 48 years, while
North Koreans have been suffering under an oppressive ruling dynasty for
62 years. The North exports arms to Myanmar and receives food in return.

In October last year, the U.S. House of Representatives said North Korea
might have used Myanmar as an intermediary base for arms exports and that
Naypyidaw bought technology for developing nuclear weapons from Pyongyang.

Myanmar grew even more infamous in 2005 when it moved its capital from
Yangon (Rangoon) to the remote mountainous city Naypyidaw.

In Myanmar's first general elections in 1990, the opposition party led by
Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide victory for the first time since the 1962
military coup, but the junta nullified the election results and refused to
transfer power.

Twenty years later, a party supported by the military government won the
Nov. 7 general elections, in which the major opposition leaders were
banned from running.
Chaos continues in Myanmar, however.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who was pursuing a Ph.D. at Oxford University in 1988,
returned home to Myanmar to care for her sick mother and joined the
pro-democracy movement. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 but was held
under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years.

She was finally released Saturday.

North Korea has neither a symbolic figure for democracy like Suu Kyi nor
an anti-government figure, like this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu
Xiaobo of China. Pyongyang nips democratic and human rights movements in
the bud. Those who engage in such activities are executed or sent to
concentration camps.

Even if a figure like Liu were to issue a declaration urging democracy,
North Koreans would probably never know about it or anything else from the
outside world because of Pyongyang's tight control over the media. Many
innocent North Koreans could also be dying in concentration camps.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 16, Reuters
U.S. eyes talks with Myanmar after Suu Kyi release

Washington – The United States plans to hold talks with Myanmar's new
military-backed rulers as it assesses U.S. sanctions after the release of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Department said on
Monday.

"We will have meetings in the coming weeks," State Department spokesman
P.J. Crowley told a news briefing, adding that Washington would watch
closely to see how Suu Kyi is treated by the government of Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma.

"We are prepared to have a different kind of relationship with Burma but
there are things that Burma will have to do," Crowley added, without
offering specifics. "It will take more than one action to change our
policy."

Suu Kyi's release on Saturday after seven years in detention came a week
after the country's military rulers permitted polls that were won by a
military-backed party, causing many foreign observers to dismiss it as a
sham designed to prolong the junta's control.

The Nobel laureate will have no official political role but could serve as
a go-between for the West and the reclusive military leadership
particularly on the issue of sanctions.

Suu Kyi said on Sunday she was willing to enter into a dialogue with
Western countries on sanctions, which she once supported but which
analysts say may now be hurting the Burmese people rather than the ruling
generals.

Western nations too may be interested in taking a fresh look at the
sanctions, which largely shut them out of the resource-rich nation of 50
million people even as neighboring China, Thailand and India pour
investment into the country.

Crowley declined to provide more details of U.S. hopes for more talks,
which would follow a series of largely fruitless meetings between U.S. and
Myanmar officials initiated after U.S. President Barack Obama took office.

"There's a new government in place. It's unfortunate that government did
not come to power through a legitimate political process, but nonetheless
we do plan to engage," Crowley said.

He said U.S. policy toward Myanmar continued to involve both engagement
and sanctions, and remained aimed at encouraging the emergence of a
broader, more inclusive political process in the country.

Crowley said the United States would be particularly attentive to the fate
of Suu Kyi, who Obama hailed on Saturday as a personal hero.

"We'll be watching carefully to see how the government of Burma responds
to Aung San Suu Kyi's release. There have been times in the past where she
has been released for a period of time only to have restrictions imposed
upon her again. We don't want to see that happen," he said.

____________________________________

November 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
UK govt warns against ‘forgetting’ Giri

Britain has pledged aid to more than 100,000 people in western Burma still
lacking adequate food and water following cyclone Giri last month.

It comes as the Japanese foreign ministry today announced it had offered
$US500,000 for the delivery of food aid through the World Food Programme
(WFP) to victims of the 22 October cyclone, which left nearly 90,000
people homeless in Arakan state.

A statement from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID)
said that more than 260,000 people had been severely affected “and are in
urgent need of emergency aid”.

In addition, local medical facilities were washed away, “causing the local
health care system to collapse”, the statement said.

“This disaster was in danger of being forgotten, ignored and unseen by the
international community,” said the Secretary of State for International
Development, Andrew Mitchell.

The past two weeks in Burma have been dominated by the 7 November
elections and the release one week later of opposition icon Aung San Suu
Kyi, but the situation in several townships in Arakan state remains
critical.

“Thousands of families have lost their homes, crops have been flooded,
houses destroyed and villages wiped out. Many families are completely
dependant on aid for their survival.

He added that unless urgent assistance is given, “the situation will
continue to deteriorate, as a lack of food and disease spreads amongst the
survivors”. According to aid agencies cited in the statement, more than
200,000 people will need emergency food aid for at least the next three
months.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) said last week that 16,187 hectares of
rice paddy – or 40 to 50 percent of the harvestable area – were destroyed
by Giri. In contrast, May 2008’s cyclone Nargis – Burma’s worst recorded
natural disaster – destroyed around 1.75 million hectares of farmland, or
30 percent of the wet season rice area for the entire country.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

____________________________________

November 16, The Jakarta Post
The future of Myanmar and ASEAN after the elections - Bambang Hartadi Nugroho

The Nov. 7 general election in Myanmar has become a cause for concern for
many, with critics calling it undemocratic, because it prohibited the
leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), from
contesting.

The military junta went farther by keeping NLD leader and Nobel laureate,
Aung San Suu Kyi, together with many of her colleagues in custody. The
only significant opposition party allowed to put up its candidates was the
National Democratic Force (NDF) with only 164 candidates, compared to the
junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the
National Unity Party (NUP) with 1,112 and 995 candidates respectively.
Moreover, the Constitution of 2008 mandates that 25 percent of the seats
in the parliament should go to military appointees in any case.

The outcome of the election announced Wednesday saw the USDP win by
landslide, with around 80 percent of the available seats in the
parliament. This result, however, was not unpredictable given the
composition of the parties allowed to stand.


>From the beginning, the junta had designed the poll to maintain the status

quo and hold on power regardless of mounting criticism from across the
world. Thus, it is hard to imagine there will be a significant change in
the domestic situation in Myanmar.

The question now is how this election result will impact on the future of
Myanmar and its people, including the opposition and ethnic minorities,
and on the future of ASEAN as the main regional actor that has constantly
been defending Myanmar from external pressure, although lately ASEAN also
has shown signs of impatience towards the slowness of change in its
youngest member.

The Burmese government finally released Suu Kyi on Nov. 13 as planned,
around a week after the election. However, based on previous experiences,
there is no real guarantee that the junta will keep its promise. And even
if she really is freed, there are doubts she can do much under the current
situation and in the future.

Some believe Suu Kyi still has a chance to gain support from Burmese
people as she did soon after her release in 2002, when she held rallies
all around the country and made speeches in front of her supporters.
However, in terms of political movement, it is unwise to rely solely on
charisma and influence, because it is going to take a lot more than that
to push for political reforms.

This effort will even be tougher assuming that the junta will not be kind
enough to simply let Suu Kyi and her colleagues to stage anti-government
rallies, especially now that the junta can claim to have secured a mandate
from the people.

For the ethnic minorities that account for approximately 30 percent of
Myanmar population, there is a little hope the election will bring any
changes to their fate. Historically, the military regime has always been
discriminatory against ethnic minorities such as the Karen and Rohingya.

In a wider context, the result of this poll can affect the development of
ASEAN cooperation. It would be exaggerating to say that the future of
ASEAN will be determined by what happens in Myanmar, but we must admit
that problems in the Indochinese sub-region could probably impact
negatively on ASEAN.


>From the beginning, ASEAN has always rejected the western approach towards

these issues, which focus on pushing agendas through political and
economic sanctions.

Through its “constructive engagement” approach, ASEAN has tried to engage
Myanmar since the early 1990s by building economic cooperation, while at
the same time trying to counter pressures from the US and Europe. SEAN
believed that by engaging Myanmar, it would be able to exercise influence
to persuade the junta to adopt political reform.

However, recent developments indicated that this belief did not hold true.

Of course ASEAN’s future development does not depend solely on the issue
of Myanmar, but Myanmar has become and will remain an unsolved matter for
ASEAN if it insists on the principle of non-interference, which has
justified its non-action against Myanmar.

Some ASEAN members have, to some extent, violated this principle,
including Indonesia which recently suggested that the junta should have
allowed media coverage on the election process to ensure its fairness and
impartiality. Yet, that was the most they could do: They commented only on
individual basis, unable to use a stronger and more formal institutional
mechanism to put pressure on Myanmar.

Evidently, ASEAN has lost very precious momentum to push Myanmar to reform
itself.

Finally, the issue of democratization in Myanmar is vital for ASEAN not
only to rebuild its reputation — after being heavily criticized for
protecting the military regime — but more than that, it is also important
in order to strengthen political and regional security cooperation.

ASEAN states have set the common goal of creating a Political and Security
Community by 2015, in which one of the strongpoints is to promote
democracy and the protection of human rights within the region.

That is why the need to encourage Myanmar to carry out political reform is
vital to ASEAN.

Nevertheless, the group has failed to do so, and they will have to wait —
if unable to create—new momentum in the future to mount pressure on
Myanmar.

Hopefully, when the new momentum comes, ASEAN will be able to maximize it,
for the sake of Burmese citizens, and for the sake of ASEAN’s
institutional development.

The writer is assistant lecturer at the Department of International
Relations, University of Indonesia.

____________________________________

November 16, Irrawaddy
'The Lady' hasn't changed, but neither has the junta - Htet Aung


After a seven-year public absence from Burma's political scene, Aung San
Suu Kyi reappeared to the cheering jubilation of a huge crowd of
supporters. The adulation she received, coupled with her first public
comments, demonstrated that nothing about Suu Kyi has changed except the
wrinkles on her face.

Unfortunately, however, the rigged and fraudulent manner in which the
junta conducted the recent election shows that nothing about the Burmese
military regime has changed either, except maybe  moving the capital to
Naypyidaw during her house arrest.

Despite being under house arrest for 15 of the last 21 years, Suu Kyi has
clearly been able to maintain her influential role in politics and remains
a symbol of hope for the Burmese people, whose support for her has not
diminished during her two-decade struggle to achieve democracy in a
country ruled by a ruthless regime.

The 65-year-old pro-democracy leader's political charisma still captivates
her followers, who are ready and willing to heed her commands. Once again,
however, this will surely be interpreted by the junta as a threat to its
power.

Her first political speech, delivered on Monday, briefly laid out a
political road map that picked up exactly where she left off when placed
under house arrest in 2003.

Suu Kyi reaffirmed that without the people's involvement, change is
impossible. She also revealed  her strategy for getting the people
involved: the formation of a network of people to pursue her unfinished
non-violent democratic struggle.

The grass-roots strategy of mobilizing her supporters to get personally
involved in the cause is the same approach Suu Kyi used during her
countrywide tour in 2003, when she traveled from the northern part of
Kachin State down to the central Burma before her convoy was attacked by
thugs near Depayin, where she was rearrested and about one hundred of her
followers were reportedly killed.

In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Suu Kyi pushed the political
envelope further when she said she wants to bring about a “nonviolent
revolution.” She said that such a nonviolent revolution would consist of
“a radical change” in Burma brought about in a peaceful manner, which she
went on to describe as a “noticeable change” and a “great change for the
better.”

That is a far cry from the junta's vision of building “a modern developed
nation” under the leadership of the military in politics. And the question
that must now be asked is: How will Suu Kyi mobilize a “people's network” 
to bring about a “nonviolent revolution” while avoiding another Depayin?

Despite the fact that the generals released Suu Kyi, the methods they used
to rig the election show that the junta leaders are still of the same
oppressive mindset as they have been for two decades and are not willing
to risk any loss of their iron grip on power.

The regime still considers Suu Kyui their primary nemesis, and although
Suu Kyi reiterated that the goal of her political discourse has always
been dialogue with the generals rather than confrontation, her first
public comments following release may have set the stage for another
showdown.

In the near future, the junta will carry out the last two steps of its
seven-step political road map when the first session of the new parliament
is convened within 90 days after the election and a president is
subsequently elected and forms the executive and judiciary branches of
government.

As Suu Kyi was excluded from the election and her party, the National
League for Democracy, chose not to participate because they believed the
process was undemocratic, both will be absent from Burma's institutional
political scene for the foreseeable future.

In this context, it is difficult to see how positive future change in the
relationship between Suu Kyi and the generals will occur. So just as
before, the junta and Suu Kyi's opposition will likely remain two parallel
lines going in opposite directions.

The more things change in the junta's Burma, it seems, the more they
remain the same.

____________________________________

November 16, Mizzima News
A new programme needed for long term benefit (Editorial)

The release of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest was an
auspicious moment. While her release may provide a headache for the the
junta, it has provided a moment of joy and hope for a democratic struggle
plagued with failures.

During her public address from party headquarters on the 14th November
2010, Aung San Suu Kyi spoke of how she spent up to six hours a day
listening to short wave radio broadcasts over the long years of her
detention. She emphasised the importance of freedom of expression and the
need for national reconciliation.

The challenges which lie ahead in achieving these two goals-  Burma's
second independence struggle-  is too big for one person alone. Even the
daughter of Burma’s first independence leader, Bogyoke Aung San.

She has rightly called for the people to support and trust her.

Many Burmese expect her to continue leading the struggle for human rights
and democratic change. They want to be free from the repression and
restrictions imposed on them by the military regime.

On the other hand, the junta has just let its political front- the Union
Solidarity and Development Party (USDP)- win recent elections. This
confident step along the regimes 'roadmap to democracy' has been
drastically undermined by allegations of electoral fraud and vote rigging.

The military regime released Aung San Suu Kyi to relieve international
pressure exerted on them. They will want to assess its implications both
at home and abroad.

Despite Aung San Suu Kyi’s release 2,100 political prisoners are still
locked up in prisons throughout the country. These include ethnic leaders
such as Khun Tun Oo, 88 Generation leaders such as Min Ko Naing, and many
prominent monks including U Gambira.

Holding no personal grudge or hatred against the ruling generals who put
her under house arrest for over 15 of the past 21 years, Aung San Suu Kyi
reiterated the need for dialogue with the generals.

But the last time she met Senior Gen. Than Shwe met her was in 2002. This
event was followed in 2003 by the Depayin massacre, which left over 70
dead and resulted in her detention.

The monks then led the people in the 2007 Saffron Revolution.

Just a few days after cyclone Nargis- the worst natural disaster to ever
hit Burma- devastated parts of Burma in 2008, the junta held a sham
constitutional referendum to give itself legitimacy.

Failure to reach agreement with ethnic armed groups, ignored and neglected
in the regime's electoral process, have resulted in a looming civil
conflict.

Karen National Union Vice-Chairman Pado David Thakapaw is right when he
said to Mizzima recently that Suu Kyi's non-violent struggle against the
regime has achieved little and that she can do nothing to improve things
for ethnic people.

It is quite unrealistic to expect Burma's transformation into a liberal
democracy to be achieved with dialogue alone.

Dialogue alone is futile while the regime and its cronies siphon off
handsome profits from Burma's natural wealth. Sanctions must remain and be
strengthened.

Dialogue alone will not address the collapse into ruin of basic social,
education and health infrastructure. Development must also occur.

Burmese people of all ethnic backgrounds have pinned high hopes on this
charismatic leader who carries a a most heavy burden.

The junta closely monitors her every move, and her immediate challenge
will be to avoid being rearrested.

Aung San Suu Kyi must adopt a political programme that avoids outright
confrontation, but will result in long-term benefits for the people.