BurmaNet News, November 19, 2010

[Editor]

November 19, 2010 Issue #4088

INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Suu Kyi sees military role in democratic Myanmar
BBC: Burma AIDS clinic eviction after Suu Kyi visit
Irrawaddy: Internet cafes ordered to install CCTV
Mizzima: NDF sacks deputy who sought audit

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Fighting breaks out again near Myawaddy
DVB: ‘The past is behind us; we’ll fight together’

BUSINESS / TRADE
Reuters: Myanmar border markets deadly site of tiger trade

ASEAN
DVB: Transport link whets ASEAN’s appetite

INTERNATIONAL
BBC: UN condemns Burma's human rights and 'unfair' elections
AFP: US House denounces Myanmar elections
Times of India: India does not vote against Myanmar and Iran in UN

OPINION / OTHER
Straits Times (Singapore): Myanmar: Time to rethink sanctions – Editorial

INTERVIEW
Guardian (UK): Aung San Suu Kyi: I was both prisoner and maintenance woman
– Jack Davies

PRESS RELEASE
USCB: The military regime’s merciless act of making the people living with
HIV/AIDS in Burma helpless and homeless denounced


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 19, Reuters
Suu Kyi sees military role in democratic Myanmar

Bangkok – Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday she was
willing to work with Myanmar's military junta who locked her up for 15
years and said she would support its new political system if it helped the
people.

The comments by the 65-year-old Nobel peace laureate, in an interview with
Reuters six days after her release from house arrest, were the strongest
yet illustrating her intention and desire to engage the junta to bring
about democratic reforms.

"We have not ruled out cooperation with military," she said in a telephone
interview from her home in Myanmar's former capital, Yangon. Asked to
elaborate on her wish for a "non-violent, peaceful revolution" in the
former British colony also known as Burma, she said: "let's put it as
significant change rather than dramatic change. Drama isn't always for the
best."

Although she said she would review her earlier support of Western
sanctions, she doubted multinational companies could nudge the country
toward economic and political reforms.

____________________________________

November 19, BBC News
Burma AIDS clinic eviction after Suu Kyi visit

Residents and staff at an HIV/Aids centre in Rangoon have been told that
they will have to leave, two days after a high-profile visit by Aung San
Suu Kyi.

The Burmese pro-democracy leader drew large crowds when she met residents
at the clinic on Wednesday.

Late on Thursday, local officials told people at the clinic that their
resident permits would not be renewed.

Mr Yazar, the clinic manager, said he believed the two were linked.

"I think they were shocked to see the crowd when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
visited the centre," he told BBC Burmese.

"So many people came to support her and the patients. This could be the
main reason they are worried about."
'Nowhere to go'

The clinic, in eastern Rangoon, is run by a high-profile member of the
youth wing of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

The 80 patients - some of whom come from outside Rangoon - require
government-issued monthly residence permits to stay at the clinic.

They were told late on Thursday that these would not be renewed and they
would have to move out.

"Even I have nowhere to live apart from this centre," Mr Yazar said.

"And the patients have nowhere to go. They used to stay at the monasteries
before the 2007 September monks' protests, but since the protests the
government does not allow patients to stay at the monasteries."

He said staff and patients had no option but to stay put.

Htin Aung, a patient at the clinic, said he needed access to treatment.

"I don't think we can move. In our home towns, I see all the patients die.
Here we have a systematic treatment and we have medicines," he said.

About 500 people gathered at the clinic on Wednesday to see Ms Suu Kyi,
who was released from years of house arrest on Saturday.

She called for better funding for anti-retroviral drugs to help HIV/Aids
patients. A UNAIDS report in 2007 estimated that 240,000 Burmese people
were living with HIV/Aids.

Burma's military rulers have not placed any restrictions on Ms Suu Kyi's
movements but, says BBC Burmese editor Tin Htar Swe, they may well try to
make things uncomfortable for her.

The generals dislike her high profile and would not be pleased that she
had raised the issue of HIV/Aids, Tin Htar Swe says.

____________________________________

November 19, Irrawaddy
Internet cafes ordered to install CCTV – Zarni Mann

Rangoon authorities have instructed Internet cafe owners to install CCTV
cameras within three days in order to monitor Internet users.

The order was issued after explosive devices were found on Wednesday in
the Sky Net Internet Cafe, located near Rangoon City Hall.

“We were invited to the township peace and development council office and
told that we must follow their instructions or our shop will have to close
down. They will even do a surprise check,” said an Internet cafe owner
from Alone Township.

“They said it is because of the bomb found on Wednesday,” he said.

The owners were told to keep the CCTV footage and report weekly to the
township office.

“The township officer said we must be aware of people who are using proxy
servers to surf the restricted websites, such as exile media and blogs. If
we find someone doing this, we must take the user's identity numbers and
inform the authorities,” said the Internet cafe owner.

He said the Internet cafe owners did not want to follow the order because
it will affect the privacy of their users and their relationship with
customers.

“But we will have to install the CCTV, because we don't want to be in
trouble with the authorities,” he said.

Since the military government banned access to exile media websites and
blogs which are reporting on human rights abuses, people inside Burma are
using proxy servers to view the sites.

“Sometimes we also have to use the proxy to surf other foreign sites. For
example, when doing a thesis on some topic, we need to look at the
Internet. With CCTV cameras, we will not have any privacy when surfing in
the net cafes,” said a student in Rangoon.

The military government has viewed Internet users as a threat to military
control of information since the international community learned of the
junta’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2008 through
reports from private citizens posted on the Internet.

In Burma, surprise checks of Internet cafes and the issuance of orders to
report on customers reportedly take place.

The authorities also post notices in Internet shops warning customers that
accessing banned websites is against the law.

____________________________________

November 19, Mizzima News
NDF sacks deputy who sought audit – Phanida

Chiang Mai – The National Democratic Force has voted to expel its deputy
chairman Thein Nyunt over “irresponsibility” and disclosing internal party
affairs to the media, NDF leader Khin Maung Swe said yesterday. Thein
Nyunt responded that the NDF had failed to conduct an audit of party
accounts as promised.

“In accordance with party regulations, any member who discloses internal
affairs to the public must be expelled. He violated that regulation. He
made disclosures 
 not only to journals but also to his friends,” Khin
Maung Swe said.

The decision to remove Thein Nyunt came after 12 out of 15 NDF leaders
from Rangoon, Mandalay and Tenasserim divisions voted for his expulsion
yesterday.

“He [also] wrongly accused the party of using foreign currency. That’s not
true”, Khin Maung Swe said.

The party had already warned Thein Nyunt against revealing party business
to the public since before the election, but he had ignored the warning,
he said.

Thein Nyunt however denied that he had violated party regulations.

“I spoke to the media in accord with democratic principles. I would like
to say three things. Firstly, they [NDF leaders] said the party would have
a financial audit after the election. Secondly 
 I think they are jealous
of me as I have won [a seat] in the election. Finally, before I could file
a complaint to the electoral commission about them, they removed me from
the party,” Thein Nyunt told Mizzima.

He also accused the four top NDF leaders of failure to submit party
accounts ahead of the audit.

Thein Nyunt said that he would complain to the electoral commission about
the case and perform NDF duties until the electoral commission removed him
from the party.

On October 2, NDF, Democracy and Peace Party, Chin National Party, Rakhine
Nationalities Development Party, Union Democratic Party, and Shan
Nationals Democratic Party formed a political alliance. But after some NDF
candidates had received donations from the Myanmar Fishery Federation vice
chairman Hla Maung Shwe, a junta appointee, some parties withdrew from the
alliance.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 19, Irrawaddy
Fighting breaks out again near Myawaddy – Saw Yan Naing

The Burmese border town of Myawaddy was on high alert again on Friday
after fighting broke out a few miles away between the Karen National
Liberation Army (KNLA) and troops of the newly formed Border Guard Force
(BGF) combined with units of the government army.

Schools closed early and shops shut after the fighting broke out early in
the afternoon near Thinganyinaung, in Kawkareik Township, sources said.

The KNLA is the military wing of the Karen National Union, a rebel group
that has been locked in conflict with the government for six decades.

The BGF, led by Col Chit Thu, currently controls Myawaddy after a bloody
battle for the town earlier this month.

After the BGF warned Myawaddy residents that the current fighting could
continue, the town went on high alert. It saw heavy fighting on Nov. 8
between government troops and a breakaway faction of the DKBA's Brigade 5,
led by Brig-Gen Saw Lah Pwe.

Adding to the uncertainty in Myawaddy were rumors that Saw Lah Pwe and his
5th Brigade were planning an attempt to retake the town.

About 12 battalions of the BGF, led by Col Chit Thu, are stationed in
Myawaddy town, along with a government force.

More than 20,000 residents of Myawaddy and outlying areas fled to Thailand
to escape the Nov. 8 fighting. Most returned when the fighting died down.

Brigade 5, led by Saw Lah Pwe, is the only DKBA brigade that rejected the
junta’s BGF plan. Tension between government troops and the faction has
been mounting since then.

Sources on the Thai-Burmese border said Brigade 5 recently held a meeting
in a secret location on the border with leaders of KNLA Brigades 6 and 7
and reached an agreement to provide military assistance to each other.

The meeting took place amid reports that the BGF and government troops
were preparing an offensive against the three brigades.

As fighting for control of Myawaddy on Nov. 8 broke out, hostilities
erupted further south, at the Three Pagodas Pass. The Brigade 5
headquarters there were captured and Saw Lah Pwe's home in Wah Lay was
burnt down.

____________________________________

November 19, Democratic Voice of Burma
‘The past is behind us; we’ll fight together’ – Naw Noreen

Two Karen armies who spent the best part of two decades as sworn enemies
have officially pledged to put the past behind them as they unite to fight
the Burmese army.

In a ceremony this week deep inside rebel-controlled territory in eastern
Burma, a breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)
joined forces with their long-time foe, the Karen National Liberation Army
(KNLA).

Once one and the same, the two groups split in 1994 and turned against
each other, with the DKBA allying itself to the ruling junta. But after
heavy pressure over the past year from the generals to transform into a
Border Guard Force, a move that would see troops assimilated into the
Burmese army, a faction of the DKBA defected.

The ceremony to officially cement the new alliance took place on Wednesday
in Kawkereik, western Karen state. “The DKBA and KNLA will be one; we are
facing the Burmese army together,” said Colonel Ner Dah Mya, commander of
the KNLA’s 6th Brigade.

Gifts were exchanged and military parades carried out, said DKBA
spokesperson, Major Saw Steel.

Spearheading the defection was Brig-Gen Na Kham Mwe, nicknamed Mr Beard.
Ner Dah Mya said that the man who played a key role in the split 16 years
ago had now become the lynchpin of the new alliance.

“Now we are friends,” he said of Na Kham Mwe, who oversees up to 500
troops. “We don’t think about the past history; we think about the future
of the Karen people, and we will forgive and forget.”

Around 1000 troops in total defected from the DKBA after it became a
Border Guard Force earlier this year, a move that the ruling junta hopes
will strengthen its support base in the volatile ethnic border regions.

Additional reporting by Francis Wade

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 19, Reuters
Myanmar border markets deadly site of tiger trade

Bangkok – Black markets along the borders of Myanmar are the deadly
gateway of a thriving illegal trade in tigers, considered "easy money" by
many in the area, wildlife protection groups said on Friday.

Provincial markets along Myanmar's borders with Thailand and China are
notorious because many are located in areas outside government control
between northern Myanmar and southern China, said British-based Traffic
International, which carried out a study with the Worldwide Fund for
Nature (WWF).

"With as few as 3,200 wild tigers worldwide, the ongoing large-scale trade
documented in this report cannot be taken lightly," said William Schaedla,
Traffic Southeast Asia Regional Director, in a statement.

"The area is struggling with governance and tigers are easy money for
everybody from mafia types to anti-government opposition groups."

Provincial markets at the Myanmar towns of Mong La, near the border with
China, and Tachilek, on the Thai border, saw active trade in live animals
-- including a rare Asiatic lion -- as well as tiger and leopard parts, a
report on the study said.

The products of this trade -- whole skins, bones, paws, penises and teeth
-- were transported into China and Thailand or sold to Chinese traders who
crossed the Myanmar border, it added.

Hundreds of tiger and leopard parts, representing more than 400 individual
animals, were observed during nearly a decade of investigations in Myanmar
and Thailand.

A study issued by Traffic and the WWF this month said more than 1,000
tigers had been killed over the last decade for illegal trade. India was
the center of the trade, with the most seizure of tiger parts, followed by
China.

An average of 104 to 119 tigers were killed annually, though the groups
said this was probably a fraction of the total trade.

The report noted that while wildlife laws in Thailand were considered well
written and Myanmar had "clearly-articulated" laws, the biggest problem
was enforcement, especially in areas outside government control.

"Effective suppression of trade will only be achieved when the countries
involved significantly increase their enforcement efforts, allocate more
resources to conservation and work more closely with enforcement officials
and agencies in neighboring countries," wrote report author Adam Oswell.

Tiger parts are used in many cultures as good luck charms, decoration or
in traditional medicines, with the animals symbolizing strength, courage
and luck.

____________________________________
ASEAN

November 19, Democratic Voice of Burma
Transport link whets ASEAN’s appetite – Joseph Allchin

A proposed ‘south-south’ corridor hailed as a major transport route
between China and the lower Southeast Asia region has been approved at a
summit in Cambodia.

The route, which will also link the much-anticipated Tavoy (Dawei) port in
Burma to Malaysia, was given the nod this week at the fourth
Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS),
cargonewsasia.com report. ACMECS is a grouping of five countries focusing
on regional economic integration, similar to BIMSTEC.

China is also in talks with Ital-Thai, the company behind the $US8.6
billion Tavoy project, to buy one of the three bays in the port.

Economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc will
be keeping a keen eye on China’s 12th five-year economic plan, which is
expected look towards inclusive growth in the region. The development of
its south and western provinces will also require greater connectivity,
and such developments could prove extremely lucrative to ASEAN businesses.

Prospects for the Tavoy port and the associated economic corridor were
being eagerly seized by Thai firms such as Ital-Thai, Amata Corporation
Plc., and Bangkok Bank. They had looked to provide start-up capital for
the projects, which included an ambitious deep-sea tanker port and a
chemical and industrial hub. Taiwanese, Japanese and Chinese firms are
also rumoured to be interested in investment.

Companies were being urged to seize this opportunity, in which Thai
business would prosper from Chinese growth via a port on Burmese soil, and
where Burmese input would be minor, save for cheap labour and dividends
for the generals.

But for Burma, foreign-built infrastructure could help get nascent
labour-intensive industries such as garment manufacturing – which are
being held back by restrictive investment policy and unreliable
infrastructure – off the ground.

The corridor would also likely connect with a proposed $US6.6 billion
Chinese-funded railway project from Nohng Khai in northeastern Thailand to
Malaysia, via Bangkok.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 19, BBC News
UN condemns Burma's human rights and 'unfair' elections

A UN human rights committee has condemned Burma's recent elections, saying
they were neither free nor fair.

The committee said it "deeply regretted" that the ruling junta had not
taken steps to ensure the process was "transparent and inclusive".

But China defended Burma, saying "finger pointing" would not advance human
rights in the country.

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was not released from house arrest
until after the election.

She had urged her supporters to boycott the polls but has since said she
is willing to meet the country's leader, Senior General Than Shwe, to work
towards national reconciliation.

The UN committee welcomed her release and called on the junta to take up
her offer of talks on moving towards democracy.

The resolution - sponsored by the EU, US and other Western nations - also
strongly condemned the "ongoing systematic violations of human rights and
fundamental freedoms" in Burma.

It expressed "grave concern at the continuing practice of arbitrary
detentions, enforced disappearances, rape and other forms of sexual
violence, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment".

'No moral authority'

The resolution was backed by 96 nations but 28, including China and
Russia, voted against it.

China's representative said the motion failed to reflect advances made in
Burma and that "finger pointing does not protect human rights," the AFP
news agency reports.

Burma's ambassador to the UN, Than Shwe, rejected the criticism and said
the resolution had "no moral authority", the Associated Press reports.

The elections on 7 November - the first to be held in Burma in 20 years -
were won by the biggest military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP).

Six days later, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. Her
now-disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) won the last election in
1990, but was never allowed to take power.

She has urged her followers not to give up hoping for change and has also
said she is willing to talk to Western nations about lifting sanctions on
Burma, which she previously supported.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi earlier on
Thursday, telling her she was "a source of inspiration for millions of
people around the world".

In a statement, Mr Ban's office said he had reiterated the UN's commitment
to "uphold the cause of human rights and support all efforts by the
government, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other stakeholders to build a
united, peaceful, democratic and modern future for their country".

____________________________________

November 19, Agence France Press
US House denounces Myanmar elections

Washington — The US House of Representatives on Thursday condemned
Myanmar's recent elections and said no government there can be legitimate
without the participation of Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

By voice vote, lawmakers approved a symbolic resolution that "denounces
the one-sided, undemocratic, and illegitimate actions" of the country's
ruling junta and accused them of consolidating their power with a "flawed
election."

"No government in Burma can be considered democratic or legitimate without
the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy,
and ethnic nationalities," the measure states.

The resolution also demands "the full restoration of democracy, freedom of
assembly, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of the press,
and internationally recognized human rights for all Burmese citizens."

The November 7 vote has been widely panned by international observers, and
US President Barack Obama said the "bankrupt regime" in the country,
generally referred to in Washington as Burma, had stolen the election.

The resolution also called on the junta to "begin an immediate transition"
to democratic rule and the "immediate and unconditional release" of all
those deemed political prisoners, and pressed the Obama administration "to
not support or recognize the military regime's elections as legitimate."

And it pressed the administration to fully implement a 2008 US law aimed
at stifling Myanmar's trade in precious stones, a key source of foreign
currency.

____________________________________

November 19, The Times of India
India does not vote against Myanmar and Iran in UN

United Nations – The UN General Assembly committee that deals with human
rights issues adopted separate resolutions by strong majorities,
condemning human rights violations in Iran, Burma and North Korea.

While the US voted "yes" for the resolutions on all three countries, India
voted "no" for Burma, abstained for Iran and North Korea.

China voted "no" for Myanmar and North Korea but "yes" for Iran.

The passage of the resolutions invited strong reactions from diplomats of
the countries, which were censured by the international community.

Mohammad-Javad Larijani, chief of Iran's Human Rights Council, said that
US was the "mastermind" behind yesterday's vote and put a motion to
dismiss the resolution, which did not pass.

"This text doesn't have anything to do with human rights and its
promotion," he said.

"It is intended to maliciously as part of US hostile policy and hegemony
against Islamic Republic of Iran", Larijani added slamming the US and
other western countries for not condemning Israel's human rights
violations against the Palestinians.

"They didn't see that men, women and children were slaughtered in Gaza. It
is a double standard obvious".

In recent months, Iran has come under criticism for the decision of
stoning to death Sakineh Mohammad Ashtiani who had been accused of
adultery, and her life still hangs in the balance.

The resolution against Myanmar slammed the recent elections and said that
UN countries "deeply regretted" that electoral process was not "free,
fair, transparent and inclusive".

Venezuela and Syria spoke in defense of Iran saying that the resolution
was the product of "political motivations" and called for "no action.

China spoke in defense of Myanmar. Than Swe, Myanmar's envoy to the UN
described the resolution as "flawed" and "based on a tissue of hearsay and
allegations emanating from expatriate groups opposing the government".

Welcoming the passage of three separate resolutions, the US envoy to the
UN Susan Rice said, "The Government of Iran continues to harass,
arbitrarily detain and violently repress its own citizens, including broad
segments of civil society.

"The government of Burma also continues to commit serious human rights
violations, including arbitrary and prolonged detentions of its citizens,
rape and sexual violence, discrimination and violence against ethnic
minorities," she said.

The US recently prevented Iran from getting on the board of a new agency
called UN Women.

"We've made no secret of our concern that Iran joining the board of UN
women would have been a inauspicious start to that board," Rice told
journalists, last week.

"The membership of countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia is like a joke,"
said Nobel laureate and prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi
one day ahead of the elections.

Saudi Arabia, however, was elected to the board, which will work for the
empowerment of women.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 19, The Straits Times (Singapore)
Myanmar: Time to rethink sanctions – Editorial

DAW Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Myanmar's icon of democracy, might have spent most
of the past 20 years under house arrest, but it is clear that none of that
has affected her political acumen. Only days after her release last
Saturday, Ms Suu Kyi said that she might seek to get Western economic
sanctions on Myanmar lifted, thus marking a significant shift from a
previous position.

The scope and meaning of her latest position are still unclear - it was a
short statement - but it bears repeating that one of the main conditions
that buttressed Western sanctions on Myanmar no longer stands: the
detention of Ms Suu Kyi.

Moreover, sanctions have had a mixed record in international relations.
Specifically in the case of fringe states such as Myanmar, North Korea and
Iran, they appear to have had little impact. If anything, observers note
that the sanctions imposed on Myanmar have only exacerbated the hardship
of the country's masses, while leaving unaffected the regime's grip on
power.

For Asean, and only quite recently, the United States, engagement with
Myanmar is the preferred policy option. That said, engagement too has not
resulted in quick changes. Indeed, some impatient US officials are
beginning to believe that President Barack Obama's new policy of
engagement will produce few results.

The failure of either sanctions or engagement to effect immediate change
proves one fact: the military junta will not broach external interference.
In 1998, some Asean countries, Japan and the World Bank offered Myanmar US
$1 billion in aid, on condition of political reform. The generals did not
bite. Myanmar's foreign minister at the time, Mr Win Aung, said that the
aid package was 'like offering a banana to a monkey and asking it to
dance... We are not monkeys. We won't dance'.

Ultimately, political change in Myanmar will not come from without, but
from within. The country's recent elections have been criticised as
farcical, since an unfair advantage was given to two parties linked to the
junta. This is true. But at a more fundamental level, the polls will
provide an opening. The opposition will gain a foothold in Parliament and
the military brass is retiring. More civilians in positions of authority
could lead to some economic reforms, and an opening up of the political
system. In this context, a loosening of Western sanctions might provide
the trigger for Ms Suu Kyi and the country's democratic forces to play a
bigger role in Myanmar's political saga. Her release is a genuine new
factor and Western nations should adjust their policies accordingly.

____________________________________

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

November 19, Guardian (UK)
Aung San Suu Kyi: I was both prisoner and maintenance woman – Jack Davies

Burma's pro-democracy leader talks about her life in captivity, her first
days of freedom and the fight ahead.

Rangoon – Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi talks about her years under
house arrest and Burma's future at the offices of her National League for
Democracy in Rangoon Photograph: AP

Finally free from the clutches of Burma's ruling generals and the lonely
life of house arrest they subjected her to, Aung San Suu Kyi now finds she
cannot escape from herself.

At the headquarters of her currently-outlawed political party, the
National League for Democracy (NLD), images of her are everywhere: on
posters, calendars and pamphlets, T-shirts, necklaces and earrings.

As she poses politely for photos, the Guardian asks who the golden bust
behind her represents. "It's supposed to be me," she says. "I wish people
wouldn't make busts or posters of me, it is a very strange thing to be
looking at yourself all the time. It's not like this at my house, I
promise you. I have pictures of my children."

The building is filled to overflowing; the noise of a hundred
conversations reverberate off the peeling wars and concrete floors. Today,
there are more people than chairs, and those left without crouch against
walls.

Across the road, perched on conspicuous orange motorbikes, the
government's spies are kept busy, watching her party headquarters through
camera lenses and binoculars. But Aung San Suu Kyi is unconcerned about
the attention from the military's special branch. They will be her
companion every day she is free.

"That is for them to worry about. I can only do what I feel I need to do,
what I can do for the people of Burma," she says. "They will follow me, I
cannot stop that. I cannot worry."

Aung San Suu Kyi is 65, but looks 20 years younger. A hint of grey at her
temples is the only physical sign of the strains of two decades spent
resisting a brutal military regime. She has a piercing gaze, which rarely
moves from her interrogator, and her response is deliberate when pushed
about the government's overt, hostile attention. She is not frightened
that she could be detained again – a fate that has befallen her for 15 of
the last 21 years.

"It is not a fear, it's a possibility that I live with. I understand that
is the situation, and I have to accept it. They have done it before, and
it is very possible they will do it again, but it is not something I fear
every day. It is my situation."

It is nearly a week since military officials came to her door at 54
University Avenue, Rangoon, and told her she was free, noting perversely,
her good behaviour.

Since then, she has been almost constantly in meetings of one sort or
another. Diplomats and journalists from every corner of the globe have
formed a queue at the bottom of the stairs leading to her door. She has
taken phone calls from presidents and prime ministers. She has met with
NLD party elders to discuss strategy and legal challenges and sanctions
policy.

But she has stopped too, amid the throng of admirers, to talk to people on
the street, old women who claim kinship, children who have a flower for
her.

She has spoken with her sons by phone every day – something she could
never do before, though there is no word on when she will be allowed to
see them – she has visited the high court to lodge an appeal against her
party's disbanding, and visited an HIV/AIDS shelter. Everywhere she goes,
she is mobbed.

She is happy, "because now I am free".

She talks candidly about her years under house arrest, saying it was "far,
far easier" than the time currently being served by Burma's 2,100
political prisoners. They must be freed before any real progress will be
made, she insists.

Reluctantly, she concedes that there were moments of pessimism. "Despair
is not the right word, but there were times that I would worry 
 a lot,
not so much for myself, for my situation, but for the future of the
country."

But she has little time for introspection and none for self-pity. The
overwhelming feeling during the last seven-and-a-half years she spent
confined to her damp, two-storey home was, she says, that "there weren't
enough hours in the day".

"As unbelievable as it may sound, it's true. When I tell you that I had to
listen to the radio for six hours every day, that is a big chunk of time,
and that was solid work, just to make sure I caught all of the Burmese
programs, just so I could keep up with what was going on. Because if I
missed something, there was no one to come around to tell me 'did you hear
about'. I needed to keep myself informed."

She says she read, for work and pleasure, biographies and spy novels were
favourites at the end of the day, and she meditated regularly. "And then
there was the house to run and to maintain, there really was a lot to do."

She laughs at the ridiculous lengths the junta went to in its ad hoc
imprisonment. "I was both prisoner and maintenance woman," she says,
mimicking a feeble effort with a hammer.

"No one was allowed to come to fix the house. I had to fix everything that
went wrong around the place. The two people I was with (her live-in maids,
a mother and daughter) were completely non-mechanical and non-electrical,
so I had to learn with great difficulty how to do these things."

She was not always successful. For several days following cyclone Nargis
in 2008, the trio lived by candlelight.

But she is less interested in reflecting on the years of isolation than on
what happens next in her country.

Internationally, Aung San Suu Kyi's release has been described as Burma's
"Mandela moment", comparing it to the day in 1990 when Nelson Mandela
walked free from prison in South Africa. She hopes it may one day prove
so, but is wary of the comparison now.

"I think that our situation is much more difficult than South Africa's.
South Africa had already made some movement towards democracy when Mandela
was released. Here in Burma, we are nowhere near that. We haven't even
begun."

"And I feel our case is a lot more difficult than South Africa."

South Africa's fault line was clear-cut, apartheid was based on race, she
says. "Colour is something that everyone can see straight away. Here, it
is less obvious who is who, because we are all Burmese. It is Burmese
discriminating and oppressing Burmese.

"I have often thought everything would be much easier if all the NLD
supporters were coloured purple. Then it would be obvious who is being
jailed and who is being discriminated against. And the international
community would be angered more easily, they could easily say 'you cannot
discriminate against the purples'."

Where Burma goes from here is unclear, she says, "we are a country in limbo".

She realises the power of her freedom to the people of Burma, though she
is always conscious that there are many others in her movement, and
thousands still in prison. "I don't believe in one person's influence and
authority to move a country forward. I am honoured by the trust people
have in me, but one person alone can not bring democracy to a country.

"Change is going to come from the people. I want to play my role 
 I want
to work in unison with the people of Burma, but it is they who will change
this country."

Jack Davies is a Guardian reporter writing under a pseudonym

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

November 19, U.S. Campaign for Burma
The military regime’s merciless act of making the people living with
HIV/AIDS in Burma helpless and homeless denounced

Washington, DC – The U.S. Campaign for Burma (USCB), a Washington DC-based
organization campaigning for freedom, justice and democracy in the
Southeast Asian country of Burma, denounced today the military regime for
its threat to drive out the people living with HIV/AIDS from the shelter
provided to them by members of the National League for Democracy (NLD),
led by Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. On the night of
November 18th, 2010, local regime authorities from No. 18 Block, Dagon
Myothit (South) Township in Rangoon summoned U Super (aka) U Htin Aung, a
volunteer helping HIV/AIDS patients taking shelter at House No. 376,
Kambawza 2nd Street, a house rented by the NLD members specifically to
provide a home to HIV/AIDs patients.  The local regime official informed
him that they will not extend temporary residence permits to any of the
over 120 patients in the house when their current permits expire on
November 24, 2010. Burma’s democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was
recently released from house arrest, visited the house one day before, on
Nov 17, and encouraged and comforted the patients who, like tens of
thousands of other HIV infected persons, have been ignored by the military
authorities.

“This is a merciless act on the part of the regime, making these poor
people homeless and helpless. This also proves that the regime is scared
of the popularity of and public support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We
demand the regime stop mistreating the people”, said Aung Din, Executive
Director of USCB.

For many years, these HIV patients have been given shelter at this
particular house and have been cared for by a group of NLD members, led by
the famous NLD social activist Phyu Phyu Thin. They all travelled from
various parts of Burma to Rangoon, to receive ARV medicines free of charge
from international NGOs based in Rangoon. Phyu Phyu Thin and her group
provide them with a home, help them get medical check-ups and blood
transfusions, and bring them to the INGOs to get the vital ARV medicine.
They also monitor the patients taking medicine daily and their
improvement; provide food and nutrition while they are under their care.
According to the regime’s restrictions against travel and movement, they
are required to report to local authorities and get a temporary residence
permit valid for a week to stay at the house. As long as they stay in the
shelter, they are required to apply for an extension of the permit every
week. Those who fail to get a permit and fail to report will be punished
with imprisonment. The authorities’ current threat to not extend the
temporary residence permits mean they are not allowed to stay at that
house after November 24, and if they continue to stay there, they will be
imprisoned by the regime. Phyu Pyhu Thin and her volunteers, as well as
the owner of the house, will also be charged and imprisoned.

According to official figures by the United Nations, over three hundred
thousand people in Burma are infected with HIV/AIDS and thousands of them
are dying every year. Among over 75,000 who need ARV medicine, only about
15,000 are receiving it from INGOs and two government hospitals. As the
regime has ignored their plight and failed to combat the disease
effectively, instead spending over 60% of the national budget on military
affairs. This dangerous and killer disease is spreading in the country
dramatically. Most of the people living with HIV/AIDS have no choice, but
to rely on volunteers and social activists like Phyu Phyu Thin and group
to get help.

When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and two senior leaders of the NLD, U Tin Oo and
U Win Tin, visited the house yesterday, thousands of local residents
waited for her for hours, welcomed her wholeheartedly and chanted loudly
“Be Well Mother Suu”. She cordially met the patients, encouraged and
comforted them to stand strong, and promised them that she will try to get
more medicine and food for them. Later, she made a short speech to the
crowd who were gathering in the street in front of the house. Many people
cried as they listened to her speech, in which she appealed to all the
people to sympathize with the patients and help them as much as they can.
“I want you to help others who are poorer than you. Many people only focus
on self-interest. But I want you to have the desire to help and work for
others. Such desire has to build up. This is called altruism. I want you
to build up”, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, according to the report by The
Irrawaddy News Agency

(Note: Unofficial translation of the local authority letter, and original
Burmese version of it)

Media Contact: Jennifer Quigley at (202) 234 8022 and (732) 606 7508