BurmaNet News, May 26, 2004

[Editor]

May 26, 2004, Issue # 2483

“Mr. Razali needs only to report to Kofi Annan. Kofi Annan needs to
decide. He needs to do what he has to do. I can only say that. He needs to
take this matter to the Security Council.”
- NLD Spokesman U Lwin, quoted in VOA Burmese Broadcast, May 25, 2004


INSIDE BURMA
VOA: NLD Party Spokesman Criticizes Kofi Annan and BBC
Xinhua: Myanmar arrests 680 people for human trafficking

ON THE BORDER
Nation: Rebel leader now a teen dad

BUSINESS / MONEY
Mizzima: Traders appeal new Prime Minister to boost India-Burma trade

REGIONAL
AFP: UN envoy to seek China's support on Myanmar deadlock
Irrawaddy: UN Envoy Urged to Play Greater Role

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Serious rights abuses in Myanmar despite reform claims: Amnesty

OPINION/OTHER
Windsor Star: A voice in Myanmar
Kao Wao: Time to Put Burma in the United Nations Security Council


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

May 25, Voice of America
NLD Party Spokesman Criticizes Kofi Annan and BBC

Khin Maung Soe of the VOA Burmese Service interviewed U Lwin, spokesman of
the National League for Democracy (N-L-D) Party, on Wednesday, May 25,
2004.

U Lwin said that United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's role in
relation to Burma should be more clearly defined.

U Lwin said:

"[Special Rapporteur on Burma] Pinheiro's work is complete when he reports
to the Human Rights Commission. Again, with the Human Rights Commission,
after their decision, their work is complete after reporting to the Third
Committee. However, with [the Special Envoy] Razali. As he is a special
envoy, Mr. Kofi Annan needs to go one step further after his report. There
is the General Assembly. There is the Security Council.

Mr. Razali needs only to report to Kofi Annan. Kofi Annan needs to decide.
He needs to do what he has to do. I can only say that. He needs to take
this matter to the Security Council.
He [Mr. Annan] is a veteran executive in the U-N. As he is not appointed
to the position because of his political position, he is very experienced
in his work.

Now, looking at the trend he is going, it seems he is trying to avoid the
Security Council. After avoiding the Security Council, he gives the
responsibilities to the region. He encourages the [countries of the]
region. He seems as if he wants to handle this matter through regional
decisions.

After our discussions with other diplomats, [they also think that] he is
going through this trend. So whoever his special envoy is or whoever
replaces his special envoy, it will be the same.
Some people are not satisfied with what Razali is doing. There are some
things that I am not satisfied with. However, it all depends on how Mr.
Kofi Annan is going to act."

On media, U Lwin says:

"There are two parts concerning the media today. The United States
extended its sanctions again. What VOA says and what the President [of the
United States] says are all the same.
However, BBC is not like that. [I] think BBC does not like the sanctions.
If you look at these [BBC's reports], [they] are very much opposed to the
sanctions. [I] do not know how much they know about the Burmese
politics.It is clear that [BBC] does not know the country's present
economic, social and political situation.

[I am saying this] not because it is VOA or it is the US President. What
you [VOA] are saying is closer to our view on the country's situation."

On pro-democracy organizations, U Lwin says:

"It will be good if the pro-democracy organizations can be more united. I
feel that there are too many forums. There are one forum after another. I
have not seen any resolutions that can be implemented clearly.

[People] do not understand that since the Socialist Government [in Burma],
the country's economy has been in a sorry shape because of the
government's mismanagement. [They] are only saying that it is because of
sanctions."

______________________________________

May 26, Xinhua News Service
Myanmar arrests 680 people for human trafficking

Yangon: Myanmar has arrested 680 people for human trafficking and educated
more than 600,000 people since 2002, a local weekly quoted a police
official as reporting in its latest issue.

About 100 young women victims of trafficking were repatriated to Myanmar
between 2002 and 2003, the Myanmar Times also quoted an official of the
Women's Affairs Federation as disclosing.

Myanmar has stepped up combating human trafficking and commercial sexual
exploitation of children, and a law to combat such crime is being drafted
in accordance with the United Nations Convention Against Transnational
Organized Crime.

The draft of the law is expected to be finalized later this year for
enactment.

The country formed a 24-member working committee for prevention against
trafficking in persons in July 2003.

In its international anti-human-trafficking and anti-illegal migration
cooperation, Myanmar has agreed with Australia in its latest move.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is also making preparations to host a regional
conference by October on human trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion
comprising China's Yunnan Province, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and
Vietnam.

The regional meeting is expected to focus on a coordinated ministerial
initiative against human trafficking.


ON THE BORDER
_____________________________________

May 26, The Nation
Rebel leader now a teen dad - Punnee Amornviputpanich

God's Army twin Luther Htoo has found love and music after putting down
his gun.

One of the teenage leaders of a rag-tag rebel group, which drew
international attention several years ago, Luther has a new life and
family in a refugee camp near the Burmese border.

He has given up taking up arms and wants to study music and raise his
six-month-old son, he said yesterday.

Luther, now 16, said he had married a 19-year-old Karen woman named Paw
and they had a child together.

The couple met at the refugee camp in Tambon Nong Lu, Sangkhla Buri
district, where they now live, about a year after Luther and his brother
Johnny surrendered to the Thai Army - along with 16 other members of their
group - several years ago.

'Before I didn't worry much about family, but now I've a son and want to
get a job to get money to raise my family,' Luther said.

Unfortunately, refugees in the camp are not allowed to work, so Luther
spent time initially learning Thai. But his teacher later married and did
not return.

Luther, who still smokes but has cut down for the sake of his wife and
family, said he and Johnny spent most of their leisure time playing the
guitar. Luther dreams of getting a scholarship to study music so he can
become a musician, sell records and earn money to raise his son, So Thor.

'In my life, if I don't hold guns, I'll hold a guitar,' he said.

His twin brother Johnny said: 'The difference between taking up arms and
holding a guitar is that when you hold arms you are a warrior ready to die
for your nation, but with a guitar you feel good playing it.'

However, the guitar could not save his brothers, he added.

Johnny said he did not want to start a family yet because every day he
still thinks of other God's Army members. And news of people tortured,
robbed, raped or killed by Burmese troops makes him feel terrible because
he cannot do anything to help save them.

Life as a rebel was not easy. Sometimes they had to live on bananas and
water, but they saw it as their duty to pick up arms to protect
themselves, their families and the Karen people.

'Although life was tough, we were very proud,' Luther said.

On the other hand, living a simple life in a refugee camp along with their
family is warmer and more comfortable and they have no worries about what
to eat because they can grow vegetables and fruit for food. But there is
less freedom to get around and the future is still uncertain, they added.

'Life is the camp is more secure but I don't feel comfortable,' Johnny
said. 'If I could, I would exchange a comfortable life here and die for
the peace of Karen nation.'

His left hand is tattooed with dark green Karen words that say, 'A child
was born from his mother's womb with blood and when he dies he will go
with blood.'

The God's Army came into being after the larger Karen National Union,
which had stubbornly resisted Rangoon for decades, was driven out of the
area opposite Ratchaburi's Suan Phung district by a massive Burmese
offensive in 1997.

The twins and others - mostly children - turned themselves over to the
Thai Army after their stronghold, Karmaplaw, was overrun by Burmese
troops. The boys were reunited with their parents at a camp on the
Thai-Burmese border.

In total, more than 100,000 displaced Burmese - mostly ethnic Karens - are
sheltered in the border camps.


BUSINESS / MONEY
_____________________________________

May 26, Mizzima
Traders appeal new Prime Minister to boost India-Burma trade - Surajit Khaund

Several trade bodies in northeast India are eagerly awaiting a
comprehensive business policy from the new government, particularly for
boosting trade with Burma and other Southeast Asian countries.

In a four-page letter sent on 23 May to the new Prime Minister Mr.
Manmohan Singh, president of the Federation of Industry and Commerce of
Northeastern India (FINER), Mr. Subhash Agarwal, appealed to the
government to make cross-border trade issues in northeast India a
priority.

The FINER president also said that with the globalisation of trade and
opening of trade routes with Myanmar, the volume of trade between the two
countries has shown an increasing trend and the new government should
explore this potential.

"The border trade between and India and Myanmar has been increasing in
leaps and bounds with the opening of trade points along the international
border. To carry forward growth of trade, the new government should offer
incentives to the traders," FINER urged.

FINER, which is said to be one of the major trade bodies in the region,
recently sent a delegation to Burma to share the views of northeast Indian
traders with the Burmese traders. Immediately after, a Burmese delegation
agreed to visit to northeast India to expand business operations in the
plywood and tourism sectors. Agarwal also appealed to the Prime Minister
to improve the condition of roads along the international border so that
the traders can run their business without
hindrance.

The Indo-Myanmar Traders Union also appealed to the Prime Minister to
complete unfinished work in the region, commenced by the previous Indian
government. In a letter to the Prime Minister, general secretary of the
trade body, YK Kapoor, said that the  construction of several roads along
the Indo-Burma border are yet to be completed and as a result, traders are
facing a lot of difficulties.

"We urge you to complete the construction work as early as possible," he
added. The Chairman of the North East Federation of International Trade
(NEFIT), RC Agarwal, also appealed to the new government to open more
trade routes with Burma to explore the business potential.

 The new Indian Prime Minister, Rajya Sabha (Upper House), is a Member of
Parliament of Assam in the northeast India. Therefore, people in this
region, particularly traders, have many expectations of him.


REGIONAL
_____________________________________

May 26, Agence France Presse
UN envoy to seek China's support on Myanmar deadlock

Kuala Lumpur: UN envoy Razali Ismail said Wednesday he would seek support
from China, Myanmar's major ally, to break the political deadlock in
Yangon during a visit there this week as part of a Malaysian delegation
led by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Abdullah leaves Thursday for a five-day visit to strengthen political and
trade ties with China, and Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat, said he
would be a member of the entourage which includes nine senior ministers
and some 100 industry leaders.

Abdullah is due to meet his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao and call on
President Hu Jintao during his trip to mark the 30th anniversary of
Malaysia-China bilateral relations.

"I will use the occasion to talk to the Chinese authorities about the
situation in Burma," Razali told AFP, but declined to give details on what
sort of support he hoped to get from China.

Razali, who is the UN's special envoy to Myanmar, was the catalyst for
landmark contacts between the military junta and pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi which began in October 2000 but collapsed last year.

Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) won 1990
elections but was never allowed to rule, remains under house arrest.

Razali earlier this month urged emerging giant China, India and the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to assist the UN
in pushing for Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom and the NLD's participation in
constitutional talks which began May 17.

"I am going to China to appeal to them to do more than what they had done.
I have a feeling the new government of India will be able to help me more.
We have to find ways to move forward," he said then.

Razali promised the UN would spearhead economic and humanitarian aid to
Myanmar if it freed Aung San Suu Kyi and included the opposition in the
convention.

The talks, which have drawn together more than 1,000 delegates mostly
handpicked by the government, are the first step in the regime's "roadmap
to democracy", which it says will end in free elections but have been
dismissed as a sham by Washington and human rights groups.

The junta has come under growing international criticism, including from
the UN and Myanmar's ASEAN neighbours, for proceeding with the convention
without the NLD and key ethnic global leaders.

_____________________________________

May 26, Irrawaddy
UN Envoy Urged to Play Greater Role - Aung Lwin Oo

Malaysian politicians want the UN special envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail,
to play a more effective role in Burma, according to a leading opposition
member of Malaysia’s parliament.

“We want him to be more effective representing the international opinion,”
said Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the Malaysian opposition Democratic Action
Party, who spoke to The Irrawaddy by telephone from Kuala Lumpur. He was
critical of Razali’s failure to make any progress in bringing about a
political settlement in Burma.

Meanwhile, a bi-partisan body is to be formed by Malaysian politicians to
push for change in Burma. “Members of Parliament regardless of party, from
government and opposition, are concerned about the issue of democracy in
Burma, [and the] release of Aung San Suu Kyi and political detainees,”
said Lim Kit Siang, who was one of the initiators of the committee on
Burma.

The group, as yet unnamed, will meet for the first time on June 8. Its
primary objective is to promote the cause of democracy in Burma and to
find ways in which Malaysia and ASEAN can assist the country in coming to
a political settlement.

Lim said that the Malaysian government should be more responsive to the
issue, especially as Burma is an ASEAN member.

The Prime Minister of Burma, Gen Khin Nyunt is scheduled to make an
official visit to Kuala Lumpur on June 1 where he will meet with his
Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Badawi. The Burmese PM will travel on to
Bangkok on June 4 for talks with Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.


INTERNATIONAL
_____________________________________

May 26, Agence France Presse
Serious rights abuses in Myanmar despite reform claims: Amnesty

London: Myanmar's ruling junta carried out serious rights abuses in 2003
including a violent attack on Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition, despite its
claims to be pursuing democratic reforms, Amnesty said Wednesday.

In its annual report, Amnesty said some 1,350 political prisoners were
languishing in the nation's jails, many of them prisoners of conscience.

Among them is democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi herself, who was taken into
custody along with other leaders of the National League for Democracy
(NLD) after a May 30 attack on her convoy during a political tour of
northern Myanmar.

The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) said four people
were killed and 50 injured in the melee, which witnesses reported was
carried out by a junta-backed mob.

"Opposition sources reported much higher casualties. As the SPDC did not
permit an independent investigation, it was not possible to establish the
number of casualties," Amnesty said.

"The assailants beat NLD supporters with iron bars and bamboo staves, in
some cases with fatal results. Several women were badly beaten and had
their clothes ripped."

Amnesty said attempts to achieve national reconciliation made no progress
in 2003, despite the regime's announcement of a seven-point "roadmap" for
transition from military rule to democracy.

There were various international initiatives aimed at breaking the
deadlock between the junta and the NLD, which won a landslide election
victory in 1990 but was never allowed to assume power.

Howver, they made little headway and the United Nations' special
rapporteur on Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro was forced to cut short a
March visit after he discovered a covert listening device while
interviewing prisoners.

As the situation in Myanmar deteriorated, the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) made its first public criticism of a fellow member
by issuing a statement calling on the government to release Aung San Suu
Kyi, it said.

After the May 30 incident, both the United States and the European Union
tightened their economic sanctions against the regime.

Amnesty said ethnic minorities continued to be subjected to extensive
human rights violations, including forced labour, particularly in restive
areas including Shan, Kayin, Kayah and Mon states.

"The army continued to confiscate, without adequate compensation, large
tracts of land owned by civilians and to take civilians for forced
labour," it said.


OPINION/OTHER
_____________________________________

May 25, Windsor Star (Ontario)
A voice in Myanmar - Hanna Ingber

I am not allowed to tell you about the political situation in Myanmar
because I am still living here and do not want to be kicked out.

Sometimes I do. When I am preparing dinner and the electricity in my
downtown apartment in Yangon goes out for the fourth time that day, I feel
ready to leave.

When I write my weekly column for the Myanmar Times, the largest weekly
newspaper in Myanmar and where I have worked for the past eight months, I
crave the freedom of the press I took for granted in the United States.

(During my first month here, the censor said to me: "We encourage freedom
of expression. You can think whatever you want -- just keep it in your
head.")

When I wrote about an adorable little street child with long dark hair and
beautiful black eyes who greets me on my walk home from work, the censor
rejected it because "We do not want to give off that image." I was so
disappointed I wanted to quit.

I'm ready to throw in the towel when our front page shows a huge picture
of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt and an article quoting his speech: "The false
perception that Myanmar is crumbling and that its people are downtrodden
has been created by those who wish us ill." We are not allowed to
challenge or analyze his statements.

Or when a rat runs under my desk and I scream while my Myanmar colleagues
break into laughter.

I am ready to come home when I talk to my parents on the phone but have to
watch what I say because there is a good chance "they" are listening.

But overall, I enjoy my time here. As many expatriates say, "Life is
good." Myanmar is one of the least-developed nations in the world, yet for
the foreigners, we do OK.

I make about $900 a month, but I live in a beautiful, newly renovated
apartment in the heart of the city. I don't have a cellphone (because they
cost about $2,000 and you have to know someone very important), but I can
afford a housekeeper five times a week. She is paid about $60 a month, a
salary that is considered extravagant. Some reporters, who have worked at
the Myanmar Times for more than a year, earn $60. They cannot save, but
most do not quit because it is the best salary they are likely to find.

Life for foreigners is good because no one messes with us. I can walk home
from a bar in the middle of the night and not worry about being mugged. It
does not look good for a foreigner to be victimized -- therefore, rumour
has it, the penalties are steep.
I don't want to leave because life here is fascinating. Everything
operates differently.

At night I buy my vegetables from women with thanakha (a cream used to
protect the skin) decorated cheeks who sit on the sidewalk with their
produce, a little metal scale and a candle. They recognize me, one of the
few foreigners, and call me by my Myanmar name Thet Thet. I squat on the
ground and select the best tomatoes. The young woman smiles at me as she
puts my tomatoes into a plastic bag and weighs them. Then she points to
some weird green leaf, asking me to buy it. "Ma kyai bu," (I don't like) I
say. She laughs and shouts, "Ma kyai bu!" to the women sitting around her,
who all laugh too.

The newspaper's translators are men in their 60s who wear the traditional
longyi (a patterned fabric that is tied in the front and looks like a
skirt) and speak English well because they were educated under the British
colonial system. They ask me to accompany them for their daily tea break.
In the United States, I was on a carb-free diet. Here I eat rice and beans
for breakfast, rice and soup for lunch, rice and curry for dinner.

Strangers see me on the street and stare at my white skin. (I often have
to say "ga yu sai ba!" (be careful) because they forget to watch for
oncoming traffic.) They shout at me, "Hello! Hello! Where you go?" or
"Chit ze a leh" (What a cutie).

Living in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country that harbours
tremendous resentment against its Muslim minority and is run by a military
dictatorship, is the biggest culture shock of my life.

And as a fellow foreigner told me during my first week here, "The longer
you stay, the more confused you become."

Let's just hope "they" let me stay. You can never really be sure.

Hanna Ingber, 22, is a weekly columnist for the Myanmar Times in Rangoon.
This column first appeared in the Hartford Courant.

_____________________________________

May 26, Kao Wao News
Time to Put Burma in the United Nations Security Council - Kanbawza Win

Burma has entered the Guinness Book of Records as the first country to
hold the National Convention without the participation of the
representative of its nationals and have authentically proved that the
country cannot solve its own problem. It is already half a century that
the Burmese are unable to find a solution of their own and an outside
imposed solution has becomes indispensable. The Bangkok Post (May17th)
wrote, "the Junta convention lack any international or domestic
credibility and will serve only to create further tensions within the
country and continued international isolation. The International community
must help Burma back into an internationally accepted framework under UN
auspices to move towards national reconciliation and formation of a
domestically and internationally accepted government. For the sake of the
region and the peoples of Burma, a new path has to be mapped out. The
permanent members of the UN Security Council must act collectively and
urgently to remove this long-simmering threat to regional peace and
stability, and the stain on the international conscience."

Since 1992 the Security Council has increasingly been prepared to define
that an internal situation of a country can constitutes a threat to
international peace and security under Act 39 of the United Nations. Such
a determination can justifies enforcement action under Chapter VII of the
Charter, which is binding on all Member States. Recent practice of the
Security Council shows that there is a clear case of Council to determine
that the internal situation of Burma constitutes a threat to the
international peace and security. Three classes of situation has been
recognized by the Security Council as constituting threat to international
peace and security; internal conflicts. They are (1) violations of
fundamental norms of international law such as human rights and
humanitarian law, (2) humanitarian crises; and (3) disruption to
democracy. All these factors are present in Burma.

In the first instance, the ongoing internal conflicts for half a century
where the regimes troops continue to battle the democratic forces and the
ethnic resistance groups of Chin, Rakhine, Karenni, Shan and the likes is
a clear example of the existence of violations of fundamental norms. The
continued violation of human rights and humanitarian law is committed not
only by one side but from both sides. The Tatmadaw or the Burmese national
army' is notorious for its continued gross violations of human rights is
well known throughout the world. Large scale displacement and relocation
of civilian has created one of the largest refugee populations in Asia and
an estimated 600,000 to one and half million internally displaced persons.
According to the Burma Border Consortium there are 176 forced relocation
centers in Thai Burma border alone and this dose not include in the
Western side of Chin, Arakan and Rohingya areas. Hence, a rough estimation
is that there are about 2 million displaced persons and refugees in Burma.
Numerous reports have documented the systematic and flagrant violations of
international humanitarian law such as forced labour, torture, political
imprisonment, forced recruitment of child soldiers, systematic rape of
ethnic women and girls in its ethnic cleansing policy etc. All these
indicate that there is no human rights not to mention humanitarian law.

In the second aspect of an unending humanitarian crisis is the dire
situation of the country. The report of the nine UN agencies in Rangoon
which was put up to the United Nations headquarters on June 30th 2001
indicates that poverty is rampant and that about one quarter of the
population estimated about 13 to 15 million people are having a hard time
in making both ends meet and most of them survived under the poverty line.
The UNICEF in its report in 1992 also pointed out that more than 57.6% of
the children in the country couldn't go to school because the parents
cannot afford basic education for their children. In the non-Burman area
elementary schools were closed down because of the Burmanization policy.
But the most troubling aspect is that the regime construes the high school
and university students as potentials trouble makers. The regime's
allotment of the health care resources is 0.38% of GDP in 1995/6 slides
down from 0.38% to 0.17% in 2,000 while the rate of infant mortality rises
of the 1.3 million children born 95,200 will never celebrate their first
birthday and another 139,000 will die before reaching the age of 5
(according to UNICEF figures) while one in three children became
malnourished. HIV/AIDS or better known as Na Wa Ta disease (because there
was not a single person suffering HIV prior to 1988) rose to 580,000.
However, the crowning factor was the mismanagement of the economy. The
regime blundered the scarce resources with their cronies who are just
economic bumpkins. This lack of governance is the main cause of the untold
sufferings of the people

The final aspect is the disruption of democracy. The failure of the
military regime to live up to its commitment to negotiate a peaceful to
democracy by constantly frustrating the process the military regime has
not honored its own elections of 1990 but has tried every means to
liquidate the winning party, NLD including the attempted assassination of
its leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The enforcement of the National
Convention with its handpicked men without the participation of the
genuine representatives of the people and the pre meditated attempted
assassination of the Nobel Peace laureate and democratic leader last year
where 182 people were mercilessly murdered itself justifies the UN
intervention. U Tin Oo and Daw Suu are still under lock and key.
Large-scale refugee flows to neighbouring countries are everybody to see.
400,000 asylum seekers are currently living in neighboring countries while
over 1,000 refugees cross the Thai borders. Are not these figures a threat
to the international community? The regime is doing every thing to
perpetuate its power and legitimize in the eyes of the world must be dealt
sternly by the international community.

Even though the UN especially its representative Razali Ismail is putting
the carrot on the Junta with the vain hope that it will put reason on the
idiotic brains of the Generals it has to be admitted that peaceful means
both by the people of Burma and the international community has been
exhausted. Now there is one option and that is the initiative must be put
it on the agenda of the UNSC.

The Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of
peace and security as Article 24(1) stipulated. Secretary General Kofi
Annan has said, "A task has become more complex because of internal civil
strife has serious external repercussions." And Burma has become a classic
case. The consequence of half a century of internal conflict couple with
the dire humanitarian situation should also be considered. Now there is an
emerging consensus that the status quo in Burma is not serving anyone's
interests and alarmingly, it has all the potential dangers to undermine
international peace and stability. Such consensus is the essential
components to bring Burma to the eyes of the Security Council. The agony
of the Burmese people has become a shame on the United Nations and the
world itself. It's high time that the Security Council should come to the
rescue.

Another noteworthy trans-boundary consequence of Burma's instability is
the flow of narcotic drugs into the regions. Burma alternates with
Afghanistan as being the world's largest producer of illicit opium and is
the primary source of amphetamine producing some 600 million tablets per
year.

In the international arena, one of its strongest supporters ASEAN has
already second thought at the 36th ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting and the
10th ARF meetings. Hitherto, it has firmly rejected the entreaties of the
West to stand against the Junta and now there is a clear disillusioned
with the results of their attempts. Besides Burma has become a thorn in
the neck of ASEM. The unkept promises of peaceful negotiated transition to
democracy by the regime to the world community itself is one of the
reasons of why it should be put up to the UN Security Council. Are we
going to tolerate further the regime that lies the very conception of
truth?

In an official notice to Congress, President George W. Bush called Burma
an "extraordinary threat" to US national security interests and ordered
that economic sanctions remain in force. "Burma's actions and policies are
hostile to US interests, and pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary
threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States".
Even Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra a non-interfering neighbour
voice a rare criticism over the Junta's lack of democratic progress and
indicated it had duped him over to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. While Japan and
Malaysia both said a way must be found for the NLD to attend the
constitutional talks, in Britain it was debated in the House of Lords.

With such a situation where the people inside the country have done their
level best, it is for the Burmese in Diaspora to unite and act with one
voice instead of releasing their bombastic rhetoric and firing Thin Gyan A
Myauk (firing cannons without balls to mark the Burmese New year). Are we
that serious?