BurmaNet News, August 30, 2006

[Editor]

August 30, 2006 Issue # 3036


INSIDE BURMA
Xinhua: Myanmar warns against possible terrorist attack
Irrawaddy: Hydro dam may force 30,000 to move

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: New temporary visa centers for Burmese
Kaladan News: Five Burmese refugees admitted to hospital

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Thaksin acts to combat AIDS in refugee camps
Narinjara News: Malaria outbreak in remote Arakan

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima: Total, Daewoo urged to stop new gas exploration by BCN
Xinhua: Roundup: Myanmar takes measures to bring down commodity prices

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Burma seals victory in regional football tournament

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: Burmese in Finland insecure after violent attack

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Message from the island - Aung Naing Oo

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 30, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar warns against possible terrorist attack

The Myanmar authorities have warned against possible bomb attack by a
15-member terrorist group to carry out sabotage and destructive acts in
the country, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported
Wednesday. The 15-member group belongs to the All Burma Students'
Democratic Front (ABSDF) which the government declared as a terrorist
organization, the report said.

According to the decision of a recent meeting on the Myanmar-Thai border
held by an expatriate group, led by Pyithit Nyunt Wai (alias) Maung Maung,
the ABSDF group, led by Khin Kyaw and Than Aye, left their headquarters at
Daungkh-win camp on Monday to sneak into Bago division's Penwegon and
Zayatgyi areas and carry out destructive acts next month, the report said.
Seven others including Than Htwe from Canada, Yin Htwe from America and
Soe Win from Japan were also sent to Myanmar for the purpose, the report
added.

The authorities urged the public to beware of such possible acts to be
committed by the group and cement peace in the country. ABSDF along with
three other unlawful organizations in exile, namely Sein Win-led National
Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), Hla Oo and Pyithit
Nyunt Wai-led Federation of Trade Union-Burma (FTUB) and Win-Khet-led
National League for Democracy-Liberated Area (NLD-LA) were declared by the
government in April as terrorist organizations.

In May this year, the Myanmar authorities had pre-warned against possible
terrorist attacks in some major cities including Yangon, Mandalay and
Mawlamyine, publishing through official media general features of wanted
terrorists and calling for exposure of them. According to earlier official
reports, there had been three bomb attacks in Penwegon area since May this
year. The first was a minor bomb blast near an electric transformer on May
4 with no casualties claimed but some damage to the device, while the
second on May 12 killed a cyclist and the third on July 16 destroyed a
motor car.

Besides, two government employees were also reportedly killed and five
others injured in a mine attack by an unnamed insurgent in July in the
Bago division's Htantabin area. Meanwhile, another unlawful organization,
the Shan State Army- South (SSA-S), led by Ywet Sit, was also termed as a
terrorist group last Friday.

____________________________________

August 30, Irrawaddy
Hydro dam may force 30,000 to move - Yeni

The northwest Burmese town of Khamti on the border with India would be
submerged and its 30,000 inhabitants forced to move if a proposed
hydro-electric dam project goes ahead, say environmentalists.

The project, mainly intended to supply electricity to India, would also
displace 35 villages of the Kuki whose land would be part of the 17,000
acres likely to be flooded.

These are the conclusions of the India-based Kuki Students’ Democratic
Front, Tamanthi Dam Campaign Committee and environmentalists in Rangoon.
Lu Lun, one of the leaders of the Kuki students’ group, said: “So far
there has not been any consultation with the affected Kuki people.”

A memo of understanding has been signed between the Burmese junta and
India’s National Hydro-electric Power Corporation which would build and
operate the dam.

It’s not known when the project, to be located on the Chindwin river which
passes through Khamti, will be built or at what financial cost.

The Tamanthi hydrodam is meant to have a generating capacity of 1,200—more
than Burma’s entire current generating capacity. Similar sized hydrodams
being built in Laos, or planned on the Salween river near Burma’s border
with Thailand, are budgeted to cost close to or above US $1 billion,
analysts note.

NGOs and environmentalists say most of the people who would be directly
affected by the Tamanthi project are Kuki, an ethnic group who live on
both sides of the India-Burma border. Naga people would also be affected.
Rangoon-based journalists told The Irrawaddy that surveys of the likely
social and environmental impact of the hydrodam are now under way. “The
residents there are not very happy to hear that they must move,” said one.

The environmentalists also warned that the proposed dam development could
encroach on part of Burma’s largest national park—Hukaung Valley Wildlife
Sanctuary—and threaten endangered wild life, including tigers, leopards
and gorillas.

The World Bank has estimated that Burma, which produces very little
electricity—less than 1,000 megawatts—has the potential from its rivers to
produce up to 100,000 megawatts a year. Up to 80 percent of the
electricity planned to be generated at Tamanthi will go to India, and most
of the power produced by a 600-megawatt hydrodam to be built at Hatgyi on
the Salween will go to Thailand.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER




August 29, Irrawaddy
New temporary visa centers for Burmese workers - Sai Silp

The governments of Thailand and Burma have agreed to speed up the
establishment of temporary visa centers on the Thai-Burmese border for
Burmese migrant workers.

The first center would be set up within six months at Mae Sot to issue
visas to some 10,000 Burmese who had been offered jobs in Thailand, said
an official of the Thai Ministry of Labor. More centers would follow at
other major border crossing points.

The centers would also process temporary visas for Burmese currently
working illegally in Thailand, the official said. The visas would be
issued within one day.

The agreement to set up visa centers was reached at a meeting between Thai
Labor Minister Somsak Thepsutin and Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Maung
Myint. Somsak said that under the agreement Burmese who had worked for
more than two years in Thailand would be eligible for two-year work
permits. Burmese migrants who had worked in Thailand for four years would
have to return home at the end of that period.

Amnat Nathaharn, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries in
Thailand’s Tak Province, welcomed the agreement between the Thai and
Burmese governments, and said it would help business and industry in the
area, where Burmese workers were in high demand.

Negotiations would continue on the possibility of issuing day passes for
Burmese wanting to work in Thailand, Amnat said.

Pranom Somwong, of the Migrant Assistance Program Foundation, also
welcomed the agreement, but said the Thai government should do more to
improve the status of Burmese now working, legally and illegally, in
Thailand, apart from allowing others to replace them.

Pranom pointed out that many Burmese migrants in Thailand were from ethnic
minorities that weren’t recognized by the Burmese government.

The agreement with Burma follows similar ones with Laos and Cambodia.
About 70,000 Laotian and Cambodian workers in Thailand have now registered
with the Thai Labor Department.

____________________________________

August 30, Kaladan News
Five Burmese refugees admitted to hospital

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh : Injured in a clash with the police and Ansers,
five Burmese refugees were admitted to the refugee Health Centre in
Kutupalong refugee camp while carrying firewood to the camp.

The refugees clashed with policemen and Ansers at about 5:30 p.m. on
August 27, as they were entering the refugee camp with firewood collected
from a nearby forest. The camp police and Ansers did not allow them to
enter the camp, said a Majee from the camp requesting not to be named.

An argument ensued between the police and the refugees carrying firewood
at the gate of the camp. Some refugees of the camp rushed to the spot to
rescue the others from the police. On the other hand, the Ansers also
rushed to the spot to intervene. The Ansers joined the police and severely
beat up the refugees.

Some of the refugees were injured in the clash. Of them, five were in a
serious condition. Four injured refugees were admitted to the refugee
Health Centre in Kutupalong camp and another injured was sent to Cox’s
Bazaar Sadar Hospital for treatment at around 9:00 p.m. the same day.

According to the refugees, the officials in the refugee camp were hostile
to the refugees of Kutupalong because refugees were holding banners
welcoming US officials when they paid a visit to the Kutupalong camp on
August 22. Besides, the refugees are provided firewood by concerned
authorities monthly, but the supplies are inadequate.

As a result, refugees have to go to the forest to collect firewood to
fulfill their needs. Earlier, the authorities of the camp did not bar the
refugees from collecting firewood from the forest. “Why are they
restricting the refugees from collecting firewood from the forest now?”
refugees asked.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

August 30, Irrawaddy
Thaksin acts to combat AIDS in refugee camps - Shah Paung

Thailand’s caretaker prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has ordered the
country’s public health ministry to send medical staff to border refugee
camps to tackle a growing AIDS problem there, the Associated Press
reported on Wednesday.

Thai government spokesman Chalerchai Mahakitsiri said Thaksin acted after
meeting UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, who visited a
camp housing more than 10,000 ethnic Karen refugees. Guterres was
accompanied on the visit to Tham Hin camp, in Ratchaburi Province, by US
Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey.

AP reported that Guterres later “urged Thailand to help tackle the AIDS
situation in refuge camps.” At the same time, he praised Thailand for its
national AIDS prevention campaign.

More than 140,000 refugees, mostly Karen from Burma, live in nine camps
near the Thai-Burmese border. Tham Hin camp was built in 1997.

About 2,700 camp residents are scheduled to be resettled in the US and
Australia. Three hundred have left the Tham Hin camp this month for
resettlement, and the camp’s remaining refugees are reported to be facing
relocation to camps in Kachanaburi and Saraburi provinces. Many are
dismayed at the prospect of the resettlement program coming to a
conclusion at the end of this year.

Ka Nae Khin, a camp resident waiting to leave for the US, said he
considered himself lucky but voiced concern about the fate of other
refugees.

Another camp resident, Paw Lan who is not being resettled, hoped she and
other remaining refugees would be well looked after by the Thai
authorities.

Nero, who is working in the Karen Women’s Organization and will not be
accompanying her family to the US, said: “I hope people who go there will
not forget those of their nation still in refugee camps and those
suffering in Burma. I hope they will retain their Karen culture. This is
the most important thing.”

_____________________________________

August 30, Narinjara News
Malaria outbreak in remote Arakan

A new strain of malaria has broken out in several villages in a remote
area of Ponna Kyunt Township, 16 miles north of Arakan State Capital
Akyab, said a pharmacy owner in Ponna Kyunt.

"As far as I know, at least two people have died recently from malaria.
The number of dead may be higher than I think," said the pharmacy owner.

Many villages from Taw Phar Chaung area under Ponna Kyunt Township are now
afflicted by malaria.

"The area where there is an outbreak of malaria is on the upper Taw Phar
Chaung River, and is located between Rathidaung and Ponna Kyunt Township,"
a villager from the area said.

Among the affected villages, Ao Rama, Sin Thay, Thet Thun Bon Chaung, and
Thet Yet Chaung are suffering the most from the outbreak.

"There aren't any government clinics, nor any nurses or doctors in the
area. When people become afflicted by the disease, they have to be sent to
Ponna Kyunt Township hospital. It is very far from here," the villager
added.

As the hospital is located far from the area, many malaria patients have
died on their way to receive treatment.

On top of this, the price of medicines and materials related to treating
malaria are also very high, and local people cannot afford to buy them.

"An instrument for checking malaria is Kyat 600 in the area, but it was
delivered free when an NGO was operating in the area in recent years,"
reported the villager.

According to local pharmacy sources, a Quinine tablet, or Colloquies, is
about Kyat 250, while anti-malarial injections cost between Kyat 700 and
2,000.

"Our people are very poor and they are unable to buy the medicines from
pharmacies. Due to this, many of our people often die," the villager
continued.

Regarding the outbreak of malaria in the area, some village headmen
informed the Ponna Kyunt Township Peace and Development Council, but there
has been no response or implementation of disease control measures by the
authorities.

A village council member from Poe Ree Byint village said, "The authorities
told us they want to send some doctors to the malaria affected area, but
there are no more doctors or nurses in Ponna Kyunt Township, nor are there
any medicines for treatment of malaria patients at the hospital."

It was learnt that the malaria outbreak has to do with a new strain that
has not been seen in the area before, compounding the suffering of those
with the disease who are unable to obtain proper medical treatment or
medicines.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 30, Mizzima News
Total, Daewoo urged to stop new gas exploration by BCN

Campaigners have urged Total and Daewoo International to stop its proposed
gas exploration in Burma's western coast and accused the companies of
adding to the severe human rights violation suffered by the Burmese
people.

The Burma Centre, Netherlands, is planning a protest rally on September 8
in front of the French oil giant Total’s headquarters, South Korean
Embassy and the Indian Embassy in Netherlands, to drive home the point to
the two oil giants that their withdrawal from Burma would ease human
rights violations and diminish the strength of the Burmese junta.

Jennifer Hartogensis, head of Total campaign of the BCN told Mizzima
today, while there are reports of continued human rights violations
perpetrated by the military junta, Total and Daewoo should stop financing
new research for gas exploration in Burma.

"Total buys gas right now [from Burma] and with the money that they pay
for the gas the Burmese junta maintains their position and power. So Total
is partly responsible for the bad situation in Burma and they cannot deny
knowledge of that fact," said Hartogensis.

Total, which had signed an agreement with the Burmese junta to explore gas
in eastern Burma in 1992, has claimed that the withdrawal of the company
would not improve the situation in Burma but it would be replaced by
another company.

"Total always uses this argument. We can bring against that, that Total is
partly responsible for human rights abuses in Burma, related to their
investments and pipeline there. They can take responsibility and leave
Burma and so put a stop to human rights abuses in their name," Hartogensis
said.

Hartogensis further said it is questionable if another company will take
total's place in Burma.

"Total is a major oil company, and if they leave Burma, other smaller
companies will probably think twice before taking their place, with all
the trouble it might entail," she added.

Total extracts oil from the Yadana gas fields in eastern Burma and
transports it to Thailand through a pipeline. While the exploration of gas
and construction of pipelines is done by Total the Burmese Army guards the
pipelines to Thailand.

The construction, maintenance and guarding of the Total pipeline to
Thailand has caused severe human rights violations and damage of the
environment, said the BCN.

South Korea's Daewoo with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Gas
Authority of India Limited and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise are
currently in the stage of exploration in the off-shore gas fields of
Burma's Arakan state.

"Even though (Daewoo) Shwe Gas Project is still in the exploration stage,
already there are signs of severe human rights violations in that region
of Burma as well," said the BCN in a press statement.

____________________________________

August 30, Xinhua General News Service
Roundup: Myanmar takes measures to bring down commodity prices

Myanmar is taking measures to create uniform commodity prices across the
country in a bid to bring down the skyrocketed prices which have sustained
for months especially the prices of the most basic food items such as rice
and edible oil.

Aimed at emergence of such uniform commodity prices, three commodity price
control committees, representing the country's three regions -- the
central, upper and lower parts, have been established and are seeking ways
to bring down the commodity prices, local reports said. The three price
control bodies are the Nay Pyi Taw (new capital) Commodity Price Control
Committee (CPCC) Yangon CPCC and Mandalay CPCC. The committees will, in
the first phase, work for the stability of the prices of the basic food
items such as rice and edible oil, while in the second phase, it will deal
with indispensable home- apply medicines and in the third phase with
domestic service industry, the reports said.

To bring down the various rice prices which rose by 30 percent over the
past months, special rice shops were opened as many as possible arranged
by the state for low-income earners in Yangon city to enable them to buy
rice at a rate far lower than the market rate. Up to now, such special
rice shops have come to over 100 in number, according to the Yangon CPCC.
The authorities claimed that rice is sufficient in Yangon city reaching a
sufficiency rate of 115.62 percent. At present, rice prices in suburban
areas are steady, said some local reports.

The Yangon CPCC also claimed that Yangon division, like Ayeyawaddy and
Bago divisions, stands a region with rice surplus. In the division alone,
the cultivated areas of monsoon and summer paddy extended as 12 million
acres (4.86 million hectares) and there are 2.5 million baskets of rice in
stock which are enough for the next seven months for the Yangon population
of 6.2 million. In addition to the over-100 special rice shops lately
introduced as one of the measures in coping with rising commodity prices,
there had been about 3,000 ordinary rice shops in the Yangon municipal
areas and rice is allowed to trade freely in the country, the authorities
said. Meanwhile, the authorities attributed the recent temporary hike of
rice prices to coinciding with the time of new harvest. "In Myanmar, rice
production does not decrease. Rice is neither short in supply. It is
natural according to the nature of the market that rice prices fluctuate
at new harvest," a high-ranking information official clarified. He blamed
some unscrupulous traders with bullying the rice prices while taking the
disadvantage, pledging to cooperate with private entrepreneurs to take
steps through organizational and administrative means in this context.

Myanmar's annual output of paddy was registered as 1,200 million baskets
(about 25 million tons) against merely 650 million baskets ( about 13
million tons) in 1988. The annual consumption of paddy by the entire
country is now only 810 million baskets (about 17 million tons), thanks to
triple cropping round the year. In another bid to bring down the edible
oil prices, the authorities made surprise check on the business
undertakings of 2,335 oil dealers in Yangon division over the past months
and 17 of them were revoked of their business licenses after being found
not abiding by the related rules and regulations in their business run
resulting in the rise of oil prices.

Myanmar started to adopt a market-oriented economy in late 1988, basically
opening up its centrally controlled economy. Observers here believed that
through the measures taken by the authorities, the commodity prices would
remain steady to a certain extent and increased efforts are to be made in
bringing down the commodity prices.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 30, Irrawaddy
Burma seals victory in regional football tournament

The Burmese football team won an unexpected victory against Indonesia in
the final of the Merdeka tournament at the Shah Alam Stadium in Malaysia
on Tuesday night, ending 35 years of disappointment following their last
triumph in the competition in 1971, also against Indonesia.

In front of a reported 30,000 fans, Burma managed a 2-1 win despite being
the lowest-ranked team in the tournament. Goals from Kyaw Thura in the
61st minute and captain Soe Myat Min in the 85th minute gave the Burmese
side a largely undeserved two-nil lead, Malaysia’s New Straits Times
reported, before Indonesia managed a goal in the 87th minute from Zaena
Arif, which guaranteed a tense finish to the match.

The Burmese team claimed US $10,000 in prize money as winners of the
competition. The triumph means Burma has ended a dismal period in which
the team has failed to win the annual Merdeka tournament and has only once
made it into the knockout stages of Southeast Asia’s other main
competition, the Tiger Cup, since the country’s footballing heyday in the
1960s and 1970s.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 30, Mizzima News
Burmese in Finland insecure after violent attack - Nem Davies

Some Burmese refugees in Finland, insecure after a violent attack by a
local mob are preparing to shift to other cities.

Last week, about 20 young men broke the windows of a room belonging to
Burmese refugees in a public apartment in Suulisniemi district in Kotka
city, 150 kilometers from the capital city Helsinki.

The Burmese Campaign group in Finland sent an appeal to the Minister of
Labour, Finland Government to implement quick adaptation of flawed
integration plans for the Burmese people and also make contingent plans
for the affected in the incident so that they feel secure and safe.

"If they do not respond to our requests, we will try to shift all the
Burmese people to others cities," said Thant Zin Htun, the coordinator of
the group.

According to Htun, the secretary of the Labour Minister said they will
respond to the request letter immediately.

"Their (Burmese) security is still causing anxiety" said Htun.

However, some Burmese residents said that, currently they felt secure.

Two local men of the age of 18 and 22 have been arrested for their
involvement in the attack. Reportedly, the authorities gave compensation
for the destruction of personal property of the victims and arranged for
some Burmese families who desired, to move to Kotka.

The mob used wood and stones to attack the building where 40 Burmese
refugees reside.

The currently resettled Burmese refugees in Finland came from different
refugee camps based on the Thai-Burma border since 2000 under the UNHCR
resettlement programme.

Half of the previous Burmese population which arrived is still jobless and
is relying on the Finland government’s subsistence allowance.

The total Burmese population in Kotka is about 30,000 and one third are
resettled refugees from a foreign land.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 30, Irrawaddy
Message from the island - Aung Naing Oo

Burmese political satire has taken a new turn recently. Over the past 18
years, Burmese citizens have regularly ridiculed their ruling generals for
their greed, abuses and follies. Within the country, tales mocking the
military junta’s failures and ignorance are relayed privately to trusted
friends and relatives. Satirists living outside Burma poke fun at the
junta’s backwardness at will.

However, the country’s main opposition party, the National League for
Democracy, has largely escaped such derision, owing to public sympathy for
the group and its victimized status. Except for occasional criticisms,
most jokes and satire targeting the NLD—even among those in the relative
freedom of exile—have been confined to the realm of private conversations.

Yet despite its endless silent, and public, sufferings the opposition can
no longer escape the wrath of a frustrated satirist, who has brilliantly
highlighted the party’s shortcomings in several recent short pieces
distributed on the Internet to a wide and enthusiastic audience.

Writing in Burmese under the pseudonym Sugar King, using the Burmese pun
for sugar (Thagyar) and the King of the Celestials (Thakgar Min), a
Burmese, likely to be an exile, has written several hilarious satires
scoffing at the NLD leadership for its indecision. Below is one of his
stories.

The Kingdoms of Hell and the Celestials are often in conflict over Gen
Than Shwe’s excesses. Every attempt by the King of the Celestials, or the
Thagyar Min, to take action against the wayward general is met by fierce
resistance from the King of Hell, the Ngayae Min, who maintains a policy
of “non-interference” in Burma’s internal politics.
Obviously, the King of Hell has adopted such a policy because as long as
Than Shwe rules Burma there will be no shortage of Burmese ending up in
Hell when they die, contributing to population growth in his underworld.

Indeed, given the rampant and growing corruption, swindling, theft, abuses
and myriad other crimes and misdeeds that take place in military-ruled
Burma, ever more Burmese are ending up in Hell, rather than in Heaven or
the Celestial kingdom. The dwindling number of new Burmese arrivals to
heaven each year utterly irks the King of the Celestials.

The two kings almost come to war when the Burmese junta extends Aung San
Suu Kyi’s detention for another year. Yet sensing that the war would
devastate both their realms, the two kings eventually reach a deal. They
decide to send Than Shwe and a chosen NLD leader to an isolated island,
where they can obliterate each other. The rationale is that if one side
can totally eliminate the other, then Burma will get better. It would also
save the two kingdoms from going to war, they reason.

Than Shwe agrees to the proposal by his master, the Ngayae Min. The NLD
leadership likes the idea but cannot agree on whom to send to fight Than
Shwe. They are concerned that the chosen leader may come to a secret
agreement with Than Shwe. Eventually, the whole NLD leadership decides to
go to the island, to which Than Shwe gladly agrees.

Once on the island, the King of Hell orders Than Shwe to eliminate all NLD
leaders once and for all. The King of the Celestials, knowing NLD too
well, slips a magic pencil to U Aung Shwe, the NLD chairman, and tells him
that anything he draws on the sand with the pencil will become real.

The minute the two kings leave the island, Than Shwe immediately sets out
to work; he builds a prison and throws all NLD leaders into it. The NLD
leaders are now really concerned but U Aung Shwe assures them they have no
need to worry. Indeed, the NLD now possess the super magic pencil.

U Aung Shwe calls for a meeting and asks the party leaders what kind of
picture they want to draw. Someone suggests drawing a tank so that they
can use it to destroy Than Shwe. But another leader reminds him that
violence is against Aung San Suu Kyi’s policy. Another suggests that they
should draw thousands of pictures of people so that they can start a
people power uprising. Yet again, someone in the group questions who will
shoulder the responsibility for bloodshed if Than Shwe violently cracks
down on the masses.

Finally, they get a brilliant idea; they decide to draw a picture of a
bottle and a piece of paper in the sand. They write something on the paper
and put it in the bottle and throw it into the sea. Sometime later the
King of the Celestials picks up the bottle from the sea. He takes the
letter out and reads it. It says: “Free Aung San Suu Kyi.”

In its fuller version, the story is of full of wit, taunting Than Shwe.
While the satirist also mocks Than Shwe’s lieutenants, like Gen Maung Aye
and Gen Thura Shwe Mann, the junta leader is vilified and cast as the
ultimate evil villain, who colludes intimately with the King of Hell, the
most abhorrent figure in Burmese Buddhist folklore. In essence, the
satirist seems to say that the junta as a whole will not change—a feeling
shared by most ordinary Burmese.

Yet the tragedy is that the black humor of this original piece portrays
the genuine state of affairs in Burma—the Burmese junta becoming
increasingly repressive and the NLD becoming ever less effective. Most
poignantly, the piece pinpoints the NLD leadership’s indecision while Aung
San Suu Kyi is under detention, and highlights the distrust among those
left to run the party in her absence.

The ultimate question is whether either the political and military elite
will actually get the spoof’s bleak message: that common people are paying
a heavy price in the conflict of ‘evil vs indecision.’ This, perhaps, is
the message Sugar King wants to relay to them.

Aung Naing Oo is a Burmese political analyst living in exile.