BurmaNet News, January 4, 2006

[Editor]

January 4, 2006 Issue # 2872

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar opposition calls for new "leading body"
AP: Burma commemorates Independence Day
Mizzima: SSA-South commander and troops surrender after two-week siege
Mizzima: Myanmar Times in negotiations for daily publishing license
DVB: Rangoon court orders trial of policemen accused of rape
DVB: Ex-teacher jailed for reporting bad water supply system in central Burma

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima: Burma ranked third least free economy

REGIONAL
Malaysiakini.com: Malaysian court releases two Burmese detained over Suu
Kyi protest

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Press freedom body says 2005 deadliest year for reporters for decade
The Times (London): UN under growing pressure to appoint a woman leader

OPINION / OTHER
Wall Street Journal: Asian Pariah - Christopher Hill
Independent: Western pressure on Burma isn't working – Zar Ni

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 4, Agence France Presse
Myanmar opposition calls for new "leading body"

Yangon: Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition called Wednesday for a new
"supreme leading body" that would bring together the military rulers,
political parties and ethnic groups as a prelude to democracy.

U Lwin, spokesman for the National League for Democracy, said in a speech
marking Independence Day that a new governing body could guide the country
in a transition to democratic rule.

"It is not realistic to expect to reach our objectives instantaneously. We
must go through a transitional period within a specified time frame," he
said.

"For this matter, it is now urgently required to take action for the
formation of a supreme leading body comprising the current authority of
the State Peace and Development Council (the ruling junta), the
representatives of the political parties...and the forces of ethnic
nationalities."

But in a statement released to mark the 58th anniversary of independence
from Britain, the NLD said any substantive political dialogue with the
junta would require the release of its leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other
political prisoners.

U Lwin spoke to a group of some 400 party members, diplomats, politicians
and student leaders at the party's headquarters in Yangon.

Before the ceremony, NLD chairman Aung Shwe and other party members
released 60 doves and 120 sparrows while party members shouted "May Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi be free" in front of the party's offices.

Student leader Min Ko Naing wore a T-shirt bearing Aung San Suu Kyi's
picture and the words "Set her free."

"When I see her photo on my chest, I remember the one who is not free on
the eve of Independence Day. She is representing our Myanmar people who
are not independent yet," Min Ko Naing said.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize winner, has spent more than 10 of
the last 16 years in detention and is currently under house arrest.

Security forces watched and took pictures and video of the event.

The military held its own Independence Day ceremony at a Yangon park that
was sealed off to the public.

The junta has come under mounting international pressure to follow through
on promises to make democratic reforms. It has agreed to accept an envoy
from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations group, of which it is a
member.

Last month it resumed talks between hand-picked delegates on a new
constitution, but has set no date for completing the document or moving to
hold elections.

Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD won 1990 elections but was never allowed to govern.
Its provincial offices have been shut down by the junta.

____________________________________

January 4, Associated Press
Burma commemorates Independence Day

Rangoon: Burma's military rulers celebrated the 58th anniversary of
independence from Britain on Wednesday with a simple flag-hoisting
ceremony and a message from the junta chairman accusing big nations of
interfering in the affairs of other countries.

Burmese junta supremo Snr-Gen Than Shwe's message was read out by Rangoon
area military commander Lt-Gen Myint Swe at a flag-raising ceremony in the
People's Park attended by more than 10,000 people from the country's
various ethnic groups, government agencies and non-government agencies.

"Nowadays, brazen annexation of a nation with the use of force is not as
popular as before. However, it is found that some big nations are essaying
to interfere in the domestic affairs of others and influence their
political, economic, social and cultural traditions," said the message.

No particular country was named, but Burma frequently criticizes the
United States, a strong critic of the junta, for acting like a bully in
international affairs.

Burma gained its independence from Britain in 1948. But the country
experimented with democracy until 1962, when the military seized power to
which it has since clung. The current junta emerged in 1988 after
violently suppressing mass pro-democracy protests. It held a general
election in 1990, but refused to recognize the results after a landslide
victory by the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest
for most of last decade and a half.

Her National League for Democracy was to hold a separate ceremony at its
Rangoon headquarters later Wednesday. The independence struggle was led by
Suu Kyi's father Aung San.

According to Than Shwe’s message, the current military government has laid
down a seven-point roadmap that would lead to democracy.

The roadmap, announced in 2003, has been labeled a sham by Western nations
and international human rights groups.

Meanwhile, two bombs exploded in Pegu, 55 miles (80 kilometers) north of
Rangoon, on the eve of the celebrations but there were no reports of
casualties and it was not known if the blasts were related to the day’s
celebrations.

“A blast occurred around 7pm near a school. I heard the explosion but
there were no casualties. Security is very tight today in Pegu,” a
resident contacted by phone told a reporter Wednesday, insisting on
anonymity for fear of reprisals.

_____________________________________

January 4, Mizzima News
SSA-South commander and troops surrender after two-week siege - Myo Gyi

After more than two weeks under siege by Burmese military forces, more
than 40 Shan State Army-South soldiers led by commander Khun Kyaw
surrendered on Monday morning.

The junta's Northeast Command forces blocked all possible escape routes
for the group near Namti village, Namkhan Township for more than 15 days.

SSA-South forces led by Khun Kyaw, also known as Than Jaung, had to
surrender along with their arms, ammunition and communication equipment.

Eyewitnesses told Mizzima the soldiers were transported to Lashio in a
convoy of seven military trucks on Monday afternoon after being handcuffed
and shackled.

"They will interrogate these surrendered forces. It will be difficult to
say what will happen to them as their commander was also captured with
them. They would certainly extract all the military information they want
from these soldiers," a local military analyst said.

"According to my own experience, they would be sentenced for long term
imprisonment or they will exploit political mileage from this surrender,"
he said, adding a 'surrender ceremony' might be held by Burmese troops in
Lashio.

Khun Kyaw is a former member and war commissioner of the All Burma
Students' Democratic Front in the Kachin Independence Army-controlled area
in Northern Burma.

In 1992, he became vice-chairman of the ABSDF-North but after the KIA
reached a cease-fire agreement with the military, his forces had to leave
the KIA-controlled area in 1997, leading to his resignation and a merger
with SSA-South forces.

Khun Kyaw is respected as an adept military strategist and brilliant
fighter, losing an eye and arm during skirmishes with the junta. He is
renowned for his courage during battles between the SSA and the United Wa
State Army.

Khun Sai from the SHAN news agency based on the Thai-Burma border said,
"The local people said some broke into tears when they saw Khun Kyaw and
his comrades in such a situation. They were sad and showed sympathy for
their defeat to the military junta and their sufferings in the dense
forest."

Khun Kyaw's forces battled junta troops in the area three miles from
Namkhan twice. More than 2000 Burmese troops opposed the group in their
final battle and despite their overwhelming majority, forced local people
to act as sentries during the midnight hours of the siege.

The military forced 20 people from each surrounding village to act as
porters with one local telling Mizzima, "This forced porter recruitment
was done by Kyaw Htwe who is the brother of Pan Say people's militia.
These porters had to stand guard along Namkhan-Namphatkar road and all
ferry ports along the Shweli River".

Shan people in the area have become increasingly nervous as Burmese troops
continue their operations in the state.

_____________________________________

January 4, Mizzima News
Myanmar Times in negotiations for daily publishing license

The Myanmar Times, Burma's only privately owned English-language weekly,
is negotiating with the Burmese military to be awarded a daily publishing
license sources close to the newspaper told Mizzima.

Just months ago, major shareholders Yamin Htin Aung and her jailed husband
Sonny Swe were ordered to sell their shares in the company by the Ministry
of Information.

The move was reportedly designed to force the paper's publisher Australian
Ross Dunkley to work with a Burmese partner who was closer to the
military.

Sources close to the company said the ministry was considering issuing
Dunkley a daily license as a consolation gesture.

High-level members of the company refused to confirm the reports when
contacted by Mizzima yesterday.

If issued the license would make the Myanmar Times the only private
publication to be allowed to publish on a daily basis – a long term dream
of Dunkley who launched the publication in 2000.
_____________________________________

January 3, Democratic Voice of Burma
Rangoon court orders trial of policemen accused of rape

A judge at Rangoon Twante Township court, during a hearing on 2 January,
ordered the trial of two local Burmese policemen accused of raping a
housewife, with the original charges against them.

Housewife and mother of three, Soe Soe was allegedly handcuffed and raped
by policemen Tin Ko Oo and Kyaw Myo Min on 12 June 2005, while on her way
home from work. The order of the trial came after 12 witnesses were
cross-examined by the court.

But the defending team requested the judge to let them re-interrogate
three main witnesses, in an effort to delay the trial, according to a
local resident who has been following the case closely. Nevertheless,
forensic evidences weigh against the accused, he added:

“There are statements of eyewitnesses and the confessions of the accused
at the police station. So they can’t deny it. (Incriminating) evidences
were found on their clothing by the township doctor and the doctors from
the hospital who carried out medical examinations.”

The trial, if it goes ahead, would be one of the rare cases in Burma in
which armed authorities, are allowed to be sued by unarmed civilians. The
hearing will resume on 6 January.

Meanwhile, many Burmese soldiers and other armed forces are often accused
of gang-raping ethnic national women who have been barred from suing the
culprits.
_____________________________________

January 3, Democratic Voice of Burma
Ex-teacher jailed for reporting bad water supply system in central Burma

An ex-schoolteacher at Kanthaya Ward, Magwe in central Burma, Kyi Maw was
recently sent to prison for writing a letter of complaints to the
municipal authority about the erratic and sorry state of water supply
system which had been causing untold miseries to the local people for
years.

He was arrested and charged with Act 182 for allegedly filing false
reports and sentenced to six months in prison because when the authorities
came to inspect the water supply at Kanthaya Ward, it was said to be
working.

A local resident of Kanthaya Ward confirmed that water supplies only come
to the ward once a month and added:

“The pipes are rusty, old broken ones which were installed in 1972. You
can’t use the water during the initial ten minutes (of the supply). You
only get dirty water. Only the subsequent water is good. Even that, you
never get regular supply. It is not happening at just this place. Water
supply doesn’t come regularly to many areas of Magwe. They are trying to
supply water from the river but as the electricity power is not full, no
water has been forthcoming from that system.”

The people of Burma especially those living in urban areas have been
facing many kinds of difficulties and miseries for years due to erratic
water and electricity supplies.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 4, Mizzima News
Burma ranked third least free economy - Jessicah Curtis

Burma has the world's third least free economy according to the '2006
Index of Economic Freedom' released by the Heritage Foundation and the
Wall Street Journal today.

Burma was ranked above only North Korea and Iran and was placed in the
'repressed' economy bracket with 11 other countries including fellow ASEAN
member, Laos.

The report said the political climate in Burma was largely responsible for
its dismal ranking.

". . . pervasive corruption, nonexistent rule of law, arbitrary
policymaking, and tight restrictions on imports and exports all make Burma
an unattractive investment destination and have severely restrained
economic growth," the report said.

The report studied 10 aspects of Burma's economy and while it found the
military's monetary policy and economic intervention policies had improved
slightly in the past year, several other areas, including its fiscal
burden, had worsened.

Burma's overall score increased 0.14 percent on previous figures but the
report found economic regulations, the banking and finance sector and
foreign investment figures contributed to the country's poor position.

"Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a vital source of capital for
cash-strapped Myanmar," the report quoted the Economist Intelligence Unit
as saying, "but international sanctions and consumer boycotts, combined
with the junta's own mismanagement of the economy, have driven away many
large-scale investors."

The US Department of State's Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs said
the ruling junta has mismanaged the country's economy and has no respect
for its own rules.

"Burma is notorious among foreign businesspeople for its complete lack of
regulatory and legal transparency. All existing regulations . . . are
subject to change, with no advance notice, at the whim of the senior
ruling generals," the department's records said.

The Heritage Foundation's figures put Burma's gross domestic product at US
$7.6 billion with a GDP per capita of just $154.

In contrast to Burma and Laos, Asian economies Hong Kong and Singapore
were listed as the first and second most free economies in the world
respectively.

Cambodia and Malaysia tied for 68th position and joined Thailand, which
ranked 71, in the 'mostly free' economic grouping.

ASEAN members the Philippines, China, Indonesia and Vietnam were ranked
98, 111, 134 and 142 respectively in the 'mostly unfree' bracket.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 3, Malaysiakini.com
Malaysian court releases two Burmese detained over Suu Kyi protest -
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz

After being remanded for more than six months in Sungai Buloh prison, two
Burmese asylum-seekers were freed today. The Kuala Lumpur Magistrate's
Court ordered their release on grounds that they were recognized refugees
when arrested on 16 June 2005. At the time, they were visiting 64 of their
Burmese friends who had been detained earlier for illegal assembly, while
demonstrating in front of their embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The two were charged under Section 6 (1) (c) of the Immigration Act 1967
for entering and staying in Malaysia without valid documents. This
morning, they were handed over to a United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) officer after it emerged that they had been recognized as
refugees before their arrest.

Two other asylum-seekers who were arrested together with them remain under
remand at the women's prison in Kajang, Selangor. One, who holds a Burmese
passport, has been charged under Section 15 of the Immigration Act for
over-staying, while the other has been charged under Section 6 (1) (c) of
the Act. Magistrate Mohd Khairi Haron fixed their case for mention on 17
January.

Trial dates set

In the demonstration which led to their arrest, the 64 asylum-seekers were
commemorating the 60th birthday of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and protesting against the Burmese military junta. A total of 37
have claimed trial. The hearing has been fixed for 7 March, but
proceedings for two minors will be held in the Kuala Lumpur juvenile court
on 17 January.

Their lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad, questioned the basis for the continued
detention of the asylum-seekers, since the majority had received UNHCR
recognition since their arrest. Amer said the attorney-general's chambers
should drop the charges against the others as well because "refugee status
is not something conferred upon an asylum-seeker" or regarded as only
effective from the date of recognition. "It's not like citizenship which
takes effect on the date of conferment. It should be backdated to the time
the person left his or her country seeking refugee. This is the principle
on which the UNHCR works," he said outside the court.

Earlier, 27 members of the group had been sentenced to five months in jail
after pleading guilty to charges under the Police Act of holding a
gathering without a permit and failing to obey an order to disperse. They
were transferred to the Semenyih detention centre after serving their
sentence.

In another magistrate's court, a Burmese refugee was given a discharge not
amounting to an acquittal today after spending nine months in remand in
Sungai Buloh. He was arrested during a raid on undocumented migrant
workers and charged under Section 6(1) (c) of the Immigration Act.

Slamming the authorities for the delay in processing his release, his
lawyer James Khong said it illustrated the urgent need for a separate
Immigration Court to deal more efficiently with such cases. "This delay is
just one example of what is plaguing our courts in Malaysia," said an
irate Khong when met later.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 4, Agence France Presse
Press freedom body says 2005 deadliest year for reporters for decade

Paris: More than 60 journalists were killed in 2005 and 1,300 physically
attacked or threatened, making it the deadliest year since 1995, the press
freedom watchdog Reporters sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders -
RSF) said Wednesday.

In 2004, 53 journalists and 15 media assistants were killed. In 1995 64
journalists died, 22 in Algeria.

In Iraq, the deadliest country for the media for the third year running,
24 journalists and five media assistants were killed last year.

A total of "76 journalists and media assistants have been killed there
since the start of fighting in March 2003, more than in the 1955-75
Vietnam War. Terrorist strikes and Iraqi guerrilla attacks were the main
cause but the US army killed three of them, " RSF said in its annual
report.

"Iraqi TV producer Wael al-Bakri, 30, was shot dead by US troops on June
28. "A US Third Infantry Division spokesman admitted the next day in
Baghdad that a US unit was involved in his death and said an enquiry had
been opened. No result has been announced, nor in the other investigated
killings."

In all 63 journalists were killed in 2005 in 22 countries, with the
Philippines (seven deaths) second only to Iraq.

"Despite the conviction during the year of the killer of journalist Edgar
Damalerio, murdered in 2002 on the island of Mindanao, impunity remained
the rule, "RSF said.

"Journalists in other Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka) were also killed because of their work."

Violence against journalists also increased in Africa, with journalists
murdered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Somalia and
their killers (some of them known) going unpunished, the report said.

"The investigation of the December 2004 murder of Gambian journalist Deyda
Hydara, the local correspondent of Agence France-Presse and Reporters
without Borders, made no progress because the authorities did all they
could to prevent those responsible from being identified and to ensure
they escaped punishment."

"In 2005 at least 807 journalists were arrested, 1,308 were physically
attacked or threatened and 1,006 media outlets censored," RSF said. "On
January 1, 2006 126 journalists and 70 cyber-dissidents were in jail
around the world."

China holds the largest number of imprisoned reporters (32) followed by
Cuba (24), Ethiopia (17), Eritrea (13) and Burma (Myanmar) (five).

"The Internet is still tightly controlled by some repressive governments
and Reporters without Borders has drawn up a list of 15 'enemies of the
Internet' (Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Libya, the Maldives, Nepal,
North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
Vietnam)."

____________________________________

January 4, The Times (London)
UN under growing pressure to appoint a woman leader - James Bone

New York: Since 1945 the world's top diplomatic job has been held by three
Europeans, two Africans, one Latin American, but no women.

Kofi Annan is due to step down as UN Secretary-General at the end of the
year, or even earlier, and women's groups have begun lobbying for a woman
to succeed him.

Their campaign has taken on new urgency with the recent announcement that
Mr Annan's deputy, Louise Frechette, appointed in 1998 partly because she
was a woman, will leave in April to return to her native Canada. "Starting
with the Charter of the UN, it has always been among their goals to reach
gender parity," Taina Bien-Aime, of the women's rights group Equality Now,
which is leading the effort, said. "Every year, there is a resolution on
efforts to reach gender parity in the UN secretariat.

"People tend to hire people who look like them. "It is important for women
to get beyond that, and to be seen to get beyond that."

The UN is reeling from allegations of corruption in the Oil-for-Food
programme for Iraq and the race to become the new secretary-general could
be decided earlier than usual. John Bolton, Washington's hawkish UN envoy,
has told fellow diplomats that he wants to settle on a successor by July,
a move interpreted by many as undermining Mr Annan.

This has led to speculation among insiders that Mr Annan, whose second
five year term expires on December 31, may step down several months early
so that he can leave before the next General Assembly session in
September. US diplomats are said to have already started "pre-screening"
interviews with potential candidates.

Resurgent Asian countries insist that it is an Asia's turn to hold the job
under an informal practice of rotation among the main regional groupings.
The last Asian Secretary-General was U Thant, of Burma, who left office in
1971. But newly free East European countries say that they want their
first chance to take the top slot.

Britain and the US are sceptical of a "Buggins's turn" system that would
award the job to an Asian simply because of geographical rotation. Both
powers hold a veto on the selection through their permanent membership of
the 15-nation Security Council. But it is unlikely that the two allies can
muster the votes to block a qualified Asian winning in the 191-member
General Assembly, which must confirm the Security Council's choice.

"We are looking for the best person capable of meeting the demands of the
job, including the capability to lead the reform of the UN," Sir Emyr
Jones Parry, the British UN Ambassador, said. "If this analysis produces
the best person being a woman, there we are."

Several candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring -but all
of them are men: Surakiart Sathirathai, 47, a Harvard-educated lawyer and
Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand; Jayantha Dhanapala, Mr Annan's former
under-secretary-general for disarmament and now a senior adviser to the
new Sri Lankan President; Ban Ki Moon, the South Korean Foreign Minister;
and Aleksandr Kwasniewski, the former Polish President.

The latest figures from June show that only six out of the 37
under-secretaries-general in the UN secretariat, or 16.2 per cent, are
female. One more woman, Inga-Britt Ahlenius, of Sweden, has since joined
at that rank as the internal watchdog. But Ms Frechette and Brigita
Schmognerova, the head of the Economic Commission for Europe, will be
leaving soon.

Diplomats and UN officials expect Mr Annan to name his British chief of
staff, Mark Malloch Brown, a former head of the UN Development Programme,
as Ms Frechette's successor. Ms Schmognerova is to be replaced by Marek
Belka, the former, male, Polish Prime Minister. Equality Now has drawn up
a list of 18 potential female candidates. Several Asians are on the list,
but the group's most provocative proposal is to name Aung San Suu Kyi, the
Nobel Peace Prize winning Burmese pro-democracy leader, to the post. That
is unlikely to say the least, and not only because she would be the second
Burmese to hold the job.

* THE CANDIDATES

* AUNG SAN SUU KYI
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader of the Burmese pro-democracy
movement, aged 60, has been under house arrest by the military junta on
and off since 1989. Her National League for Democracy won a landslide
victory in 1990, but the military refused to turn over power.

* GRO HARLEM BRUNDTLAND
A former health service doctor in Norway, Mrs Brundtland, 66, was Prime
Minister and head of the World Health Organisation. She chaired the UN
World Commission on Environment and Development.

* HELEN CLARK
A former political science lecturer, 55, who has been New Zealand's Prime
Minister since 1999, through a time of economic growth. In October she
became the first Labour leader to win a third consecutive term.

* THORAYA OBAID
The first Saudi woman to receive a government scholarship to study at a
university in the US, Ms Obaid, 60, has run the UN Population Fund since
2001 and is the first Saudi citizen to head a UN agency.

* VAIRA VIKE-FREIBERGA
The Latvian President, 68, nicknamed the "Baltic Iron Lady", has called
the secretary-generalship of the UN "not a bad job", but her ardent
support for the war in Iraq would make her a rather controversial choice.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 4, Wall Street Journal
Asian Pariah - Christopher Hill

The United Nations Security Council took up the issue of Burma for the
first time last month, with the Council's 15 members receiving a sobering
briefing on the growing problems resulting from the military regime's
harsh policies. The Council's involvement reflects rising concern around
the globe that the deteriorating situation in Burma poses a threat not
only to the long-suffering Burmese people, but to the health and stability
of the region as well.

The military regime's draconian policies force the Burmese people to live
in a state of perpetual fear, and have precipitated a steady economic and
social decline, as evidenced by rising rates of inflation, infant
mortality and malnutrition, and a worrisome increase in HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria. They have led to a steady outflow of refugees
and illicit narcotics, and thwarted peace among Burma's ethnic minority
populations, who face forced relocation, forced labor, and other severe
human rights abuses.

In a dynamic region that is enjoying strong economic growth, increased
freedom and democracy, and an enhanced role in global affairs, Burma
stands out as an exception. As President Bush stated during his recent
visit to Asia, Burma is "a nation that should be one of the most
prosperous and successful in Asia but is instead one of the region's
poorest. ... The result is that a country rich in human talent and natural
resources is a place where millions struggle simply to stay alive."
Burma's rulers recently chose to heighten their isolation from the world
and their own people, moving the government to the remote town of
Pyinmana, and promising to provide a fax number should anyone need to
reach them.

The United States has spoken out for years against the regime's repression
of the Burmese people, its imprisonment of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
and other courageous advocates for democracy, and its rejection of
international efforts to encourage reform. The regime recently extended
Aung San Suu Kyi's detention - yet another step in the wrong direction.

Others are starting to speak out too. In Kuala Lumpur last month,
Southeast Asian leaders sent a message to the regime that the status quo
is not acceptable. If Burma's rulers had hoped that the world would ignore
the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and their efforts to proceed
with a sham National Convention, ostensibly to create a new constitution,
they have miscalculated. By excluding the opposition, which won 82% of the
vote in Burma's last free and fair ballot, and including only delegates
hand-picked by the regime, the National Convention can have no credibility
with the Burmese people, nor internationally. Rather, it can serve only to
enshrine in power the same groups that have driven Burma in the wrong
direction for 43 years. As such, the junta's so-called road map to
democracy is an empty promise, based on a flawed and illegitimate process.

There is another way ahead, however, that can give Burma both stability
and a chance for progress. The regime could release political prisoners,
begin a dialogue with the opposition, open the National Convention to full
participation by all elements of Burmese political life, and accept the
help of the U.N. in facilitating a peaceful transition toward a
representative government. It could reduce the restrictions that are
hindering efforts by humanitarian organizations to address the country's
health and education crisis, and thus help to reduce risks to Burma's
neighbors. These steps would be consistent with 28 United Nations General
Assembly and Commission on Human Rights resolutions passed by consensus
over the last 15 years, all of which have been ignored by the regime.

Because of the regime's self-imposed isolation, it will take a concerted,
coordinated effort by the international community - the U.S., the
countries of Southeast Asia, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the
European Union, and many others - to persuade Burma's rulers to begin and
sustain a process of credible and full national reconciliation that the
country so desperately needs.

The Security Council's discussion of Burma was a good first step, as was
the Dec. 12 decision by Southeast Asian leaders to press for political
reforms. Looking ahead, it is incumbent on all of us to make clear to the
regime that the world will not accept a sham political process, but that
it would welcome and respond positively to tangible, verifiable, and
irreversible steps toward a genuine national dialogue that empowers the
people of Burma to determine their future.

Mr. Hill is the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and
Pacific Affairs.

____________________________________

January 4, The Independent
Western pressure on Burma isn't working – Zar Ni

Sanctions and isolation only stymie the emergence of a viable civil society

Today marks the 58th anniversary of Burma's independence from Britain. Our
history since then has been a troubled one. But the current debate over
what to do about the country's military government, and the well-meaning
prescriptions proposed in the West, have been generally simplistic and
unhelpful. They over-emphasise democratisation above other important
aspects of nation building, and seek to effect regime change through
pressure and sanctions which are in many ways doing more harm than good.
After a decade and a half of failed policy we "the opposition and the
outside world " need to rethink our approach.

Burma's problems include pre-colonial ethnic and political divisions
institutionalised and exacerbated by 100 plus years of Britain's colonial
policy; by half a century of civil strife since independence supported by
the US, and occasionally our neighbours India, China and Thailand; by a
post-colonial leadership long on nationalist polemic and short on
intellectual and administrative competence; and by nearly three decades of
self-imposed isolationism.

There are also widespread human rights abuses, an ailing economy, decaying
public services in health and education, a decade-old political impasse
between the major opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi and the
powerfully entrenched military junta; the world's second largest heroin
trade along Sino-Burmese borders, and the country's deeply rooted
authoritarian but populist mass culture.

Even if we had succeeded in securing and building on our democratically
elected government in 1990, Burma's problems would be daunting; but since
the country's widely unpopular junta has been singled out and transformed
by the West into a global human rights whipping boy, we have no chance of
rapid development while the rest of Asia, including Communist China and
Vietnam, are lifting their citizens out of poverty and undergoing societal
changes.

Some have argued that all Burma's ills are self-inflicted (by the ruling
generals). The Burmese opposition and its supporters who subscribe to this
view see no hope for reforms originating from or in association with the
current junta. They seek a popular revolution inside the country, with
supporting 'big sticks' from the international community, as the only way
of bringing about democratisation and economic progress.

To be sure, no elite in power, civilian or military, can be expected
voluntarily to cave into voices for change. The Burmese generals are no
exception; but this should not preclude the possibility of ushering in a
new and improved order through other means, such as economic change. If
change is not possible through coercion, as is the case of Burma, those of
us who have been working for democratic change there need to think anew.

The protracted economic sanctions and international isolation of Burma
only stymie the emergence of a viable civil society and economic forces
that can function to bring about political change. For an open society "
that ultimate goal of democratic and economic reforms " cannot be fostered
through and in isolation.

The defiant Castro regime is a living testimony to the failed American
(and, until recently, EU) policies, with no evidence that the Cuban people
have been helped politically or economically by 40 years of Western
sanctions. The current American efforts to Cubanise international policy
toward Burma is wrong and it must be challenged.

A different, better balanced Burma policy is urgently needed. In addition
to human rights issues, such a policy should take into account the daily
economic hardship confronting ordinary Burmese, which can be addressed not
through trendy 'poverty-reduction' aid packages, but only through foreign
investment-induced economic growth. It also needs to address national
security and the interests of the country's most powerful institution "the
armed forces " which shows no signs of implosion or splits. It must engage
in a critical dialogue with the junta at all levels about nation building,
including the need to institutionalise international human rights norms,
to import technical know-how, to improve the quality of education and
health, and to achieve environmental sustainability.

As her former colonial ruler, Britain is uniquely positioned to press for
the multi-faceted nation-building policies on Burma within the EU, while
serving as a moderating influence against the unilateralist excesses in
Washington, which seems bent on turning this former British colony into a
new American human rights 'test-case' in South-east Asia, and in the world
at large.

The writer is founder of the Free Burma Coalition