BurmaNet News, November 28, 2007

[Editor]

November 28, 2007 Issue # 3352

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Maggin monastery ordered to close
DVB: Monks refuse funeral blessing for militia leader
Irrawaddy: Popular musician and friends arrested in Rangoon
Irrawaddy: Violence against women serious problem in Burma
Narinjara News: Two young soldiers desert Burmese Army
DVB: Combat training held in monastery compound
Irrawaddy: Junta fires back in “Missile Attack” debate

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Poet flees to Thai-Burma border
SHAN: Men join workshop on women’s rights

BUSINESS / TRADE
Japan Economic Newswire: Myanmar gets over $750 mil. in direct investment
in FY2006
Mizzima News: Mixed signals from gem emporium
Irrawaddy: Junta interrupts KIO tax levies on major highway

HEALTH / AIDS
IRIN via Irrawaddy: HIV doesn't recognize Burmese traditions

REGIONAL
AFP: Vietnam president opposes Myanmar sanctions
AP: Dalai Lama condemns Myanmar crackdown
Mizzima News: Ethnic delegates seeks Indian support for tripartite dialogue

INTERNATIONAL
AP: UN investigator says number of political prisoners in Myanmar larger
than government says
Japan Economic Newswire: Over 5,000 sign petition to counter Myanmar junta
The Nation: UN chief will not discuss Burma with Thailand

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Armed intervention debate goes - Aung Zaw
Mizzima News: Singapore, the ASEAN summit, Burma and Thailand

PRESS RELEASE
Amnesty International: Burma: arrests continue

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 28, Irrawaddy
Maggin monastery ordered to close - Wai Moe

A prominent monastery in Rangoon has been ordered to close within one week
by the Burmese authorities, according to the 88 Generation Students group.

Nilar Thein, a spokesperson for the 88 group, told The Irrawaddy on
Wednesday that authorities came to Maggin Monastery in Thingangyun
Township in Rangoon on Tuesday afternoon and again on Wednesday morning.

The Maggin Monastery, raided four times since September, has been a source
of aid to HIV/AIDS patients

“They came to the monastery again this morning [Wesnesday] around 8 a.m,"
she said. "The officials who came were U Kyin Khine and U Kyaw Kyaw Tun
from the Ministry of Religion, along with a township State and Development
Council official, U Yin Lin.”

The officials told monks in the monastery that they have to move
immediately. However, the monks replied that they cannot move so quickly
and asked for two weeks to move.

“The monks told them [officials] that the abbot of the monastery has been
under arrest since September. Other monks at the monastery are still
behind bars. The monks in the monastery now had been released from
detention eariler.

The monks asked them [officials] why the authorities continuously harass
them,” said Nilar Thein. No response was given.

Maggin Monastery has been raided by soldiers four times since September.
The abbot, U Indaka, a former political prisoner, is still being detained
at an unknown location.

In 1990, he was arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment for his
role in a "patam nikkujjana kamma"—the boycott of alms from members of the
military regime, which followed the junta’s raids on monasteries in
Mandalay. At that time, he was forced to disrobe. He was released in late
1994 and returned to the monastery as abbot.

Maggin Monastery is known as a hospice and treatment center for HIV/AIDS
patients who come to Rangoon to receive medical treatment. After the
monastery’s monks were arrested in raids following the September uprising,
all patients were transferred to the Wai Bar Gi Infectious Diseases
Hospital in North Okkalapa Township.

Commenting on the order to close the monastery, Bo Kyi, the
joint-secretary of a human rights group, the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners (Burma), noted that the junta had said that its
arrests and crackdowns were over after it met with the UN Special Envoy to
Burma, Ibrahim Gambari.

“But crackdowns and arrests are going on," he said, "and these kinds of
acts do not create a good environment for national reconciliation and
democratic transitions. Crackdowns and arrests are not the solution.”

____________________________________

November 28, Democratic Voice of Burma
Monks refuse funeral blessing for militia leader

Local monks have refused to perform a funeral blessing for a notorious
senior Swan Arr Shin member from Phaw Kan ward in Insein township who died
recently.

Maung Maung, a senior leader of the pro-government militia Swan Arr Shin,
was admitted to Insein hospital on 20 November after falling ill and
diagnosed with malaria which had affected his brain.

He died at around 1.30 pm on 26 November.

Maung Maung was known for his involvement in the Burmese government’s
brutal crackdown on monks and civilians taking part in public
demonstrations in September.

A senior member of Swan Arr Shin, Maung Maung was said to have been the
one who passed on the orders to start beating up monks involved in the
protests.

He was rewarded by the regime for his part in the crackdown with money and
mobile telephones, which are difficult to get in Burma.

However, when the authorities looked for monks to perform Maung Maung’s
funeral blessing today, all the monks the approached refused to do so.

They eventually took his body to a monastery in Gyogone and asked the
abbot there for a blessing but he also refused.

One local resident linked the timing of Maung Maung’s death to his
activities during the protests.

“He died on 26 November at around 1.30pm, the exact same time that they
started to beat up protestors on 26 September,” the Insein resident said.

____________________________________

November 28, Irrawaddy
Popular musician and friends arrested in Rangoon - Wai Moe

Popular Burmese musician Win Maw was arrested on Tuesday, along with two
friends, Myat San and Aung Aung, as they sat in a Rangoon teashop, sources
said on Wednesday.

The arrests came one day after the detention of Aung Zaw Oo, a member of
the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters group, who was suspected of
planning events to mark International Human Rights Day on December 10.

Amnesty International condemned the arrests, saying they were “part of the
Myanmar [Burma] government’s systematic suppression of freedom of
expression and association, contrary to its claims of a return to
normalcy,”

Two of the three arrested on Tuesday had already served long prison terms.
Win Maw, lead guitarist in the Shwe Thansin group, one of Burma’s top
bands of the 1990s, was sentenced in 1997 to seven years imprisonment for
writing songs in support of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He
was released in 2003.

Myat San, a member of the Tri-Colour Students Group, which provided
security for Suu Kyi in 1989, was sentenced to 20 years for participating
in a students demonstration in support of Suu Kyi in December 1991. He was
released from Taungoo Prison in 2005.

Amnesty International issued a strong statement condemning the arrests,
saying: “Two months after the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators,
arbitrary arrests continue unabated as part of the Myanmar [Burma]
government’s systematic suppression of freedom of expression and
association, contrary to its claims of a return to normalcy.”

The statement, issued by Catherine Baber, AI’s Asia-Pacific Programme
Director, pointed out that junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe had assured UN
Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari in early November that “no more arrests
would be carried out.”

Baber commented: “Normalcy for the military government may mean a return
to systematic and widespread human rights violations away from media
attention, but the international community must no longer tolerate this
situation.”

AI maintains that up to 700 people arrested during and after the September
demonstrations remain behind bars, while 1,150 political prisoners held
prior to the protests are still imprisoned.

____________________________________

November 28, Irrawaddy
Violence against women serious problem in Burma - Shah Paung

Burmese authorities keep a careful watch on the home of Tar Tar and
monitor her daily activities when she leaves her house. Pro-junta
supporters stand around on the street corners of her neighborhood.

Tar Tar, who asked not to be identified by her real name, is one of many
Burmese women who have been harassed, hounded, threatened and, in some
cases, detained and tortured following the September uprising.

Tar Tar lives alone. Burmese authorities keep a close eye on her because
they are searching for her sister, a National League for Democracy member
who was active in the protest demonstrations.

Tar Tar herself was not involved, but she herself is now a target for the
authorities because she has dared to speak to the international media.

“Some young women who live in my neighborhood came to my house and they
told me to be careful because the authorities plan to raid my home and
arrest me,” Tar Tar said. “Whenever I receive this kind of news, it makes
me so afraid. I just sit and look at the clock.

“When it's 11 pm, when I prepare myself for bed, I put on two or three
different clothes and a longyi,” she said, in case security forces come
and arrest her in what's known as the Midnight Knock. If they don't give
her time to pack a bag, she will at least be wearing a few extra clothes.

She seldom goes out, she said, because authorities follow her to see if
she will contact her sister.

“I just live with a hope that I have a right to speak out,” she said. “I
will suffer from heart disease if I have to continue living under this
horrible situation.”

On Sunday,  more than 25 women activists staged a brief demonstration in
downtown Rangoon to mark the International Day of the Elimination of
Violence against Women from now until December 10 and to call for the
release of all detained women who took part in the September uprising.

The Women’s League of Burma, a women rights group in exile in Thailand,
also lunched a 16-day campaign starting on November 25, calling on the
junta to release all women activists arrested during the demonstrations as
well as democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nang Yain, the general-secretary of the WLB, said the group wants women in
Burma to know the group supports their efforts, and that they are also
working to raise the awareness of the problems of women in Burma.

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political
Prisoner (Burma), 131 Burmese women were arrested, including six Buddhist
nuns, during the demonstrations and at least 19 women are unaccounted for.

Recently, Su Su Nway, a prominent human rights activist, was arrested by
authorities after two months in hiding. Earlier, Mie Mie, a member of the
88 Generation Students group, was arrested. They both played leading roles
during the peaceful demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the Burmese authorities continue to hunt for other activists,
including Nilar Thein, a member of the 88 Generation Students group. The
mother of a 6-months-old baby, she has been in hiding since September.

Phyu Phyu Thin, a well-known HIV/AIDS activist and member of the National
League for Democracy, was unable to attend her father's funeral because
she has been in hiding since September.

“We are honored and encouraged by all our sisters who are working inside
Burma in a very difficult and dangerous situation,” Nang Yain said. “Their
actions are for the true freedom of the Burmese people. They are also
showing how much women can do for the people of Burma.”

More than 100 women in conflict areas have been raped, killed or drafted
into forced labor by Burmese soldiers, according to the women's rights
groups.

____________________________________

November 28, Narinjara News
Two young soldiers desert Burmese Army

Two young soldiers deserted from the Burmese Army and arrived in
Bangladesh recently seeking refuge. They left their weapons behind, border
report said.

The deserters are Zayar Aung, an Arakanese national aged 19 years, and Hla
Min, a Burman national aged 18 years. Both belonged to Light Infantry
Battalion 564 based in Taung Chay Wra Village in Buthidaung, 80 miles
north of the state capital Sittwe.

The duo reached Bangladesh by swimming across the Naff River and were
rescued at the river bank by Bangladeshis, a witness said.

The two are currently hiding at an undisclosed location out of fear that
Bangladesh authorities may force them to return to Burma . The Burmese
Army typically executes army deserters after they are arrested.

An Arakanese from the border area confirmed that some other deserters were
killed by the Burmese Army on the border last year.

It was learnt that the desertion rate in the Burmese Army has been
increasing by the day due to the appalling conditions faced by soldiers.

____________________________________

November 28, Democratic Voice of Burma
Combat training held in monastery compound

Authorities in San Dway township, Arakan state, have reportedly been
conducting combat training inside a monastery compound, according to a San
Dway resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.

About 60 people, including government employees, manual labourers and
trishaw drivers, took part in the exercise, which began ten days ago and
was due to run for 30 days in total.

Police and volunteer firefighters have conducted the training, which has
focused on riot control, basic combat skills and use of shields and sticks
as weapons.

The training has angered local residents because it is taking place inside
a local monastery in Lay Myat Hnar pagoda compound, even though monks are
still living at the monastery and the grounds are in public view.

Residents have also complaining that the sessions are unnecessarily loud
and are causing a disturbance in the township.

____________________________________

November 28, Irrawaddy
Junta fires back in “Missile Attack” debate - Yeni

A propaganda booklet circulating in Rangoon contains an apparent regime
reply to suggestions that the Burmese junta should be toppled by force,
possibly through a missile strike on Naypyidaw.

The 20-page booklet prints color photographs, without captions or text, of
monks marching in the September demonstrations and of other clergy
officiating at regime-organized religious ceremonies, and poses the
question: "Which way would you choose?"

Other photographs contrast Iraq's capital, Baghdad, under US attack, and
Naypyidaw and its statues of three Burmese kings Anawrahta, Bayintnaung
and Alaungpaya.

The booklet was issued by the regime as a reply to an article on the
website of The Irrawaddy last week, according to informed sources.

The article—titled Apocalypse Naypyidaw!—suggested that the Burmese people
would welcome a missile attack on the Naypyidaw residence of junta leader
Snr-Gen Than Shwe. Copies of the article in Burmese are in big demand in
Rangoon; observers say many Burmese believe only force will remove Than
Shwe and his junta.

"This is a clear indication of how much they hate him," Aung Naing Oo, an
exile Burmese political analyst, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. "Fifteen
years of his erratic rule is more than enough. He has not only brought the
country to an economic standstill but also tarnished the image and pride
of the Burmese people.

"[But] it is also not very encouraging that the Burmese rely on outsiders
to get rid of their leader; they should rely on themselves to remove bad
rulers from power."

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 28, Democratic Voice of Burma
Poet flees to Thai-Burma border

A Burmese poet facing a second trial for publishing politically sensitive
material, despite having already been punished for the offence earlier
this year, has fled to the Thai-Burma border.

Kyaw Thu Moe Myint was given a 30,000 kyat fine and served 12 days in
prison for illegally circulating sensitive information after he
distributed a small collection of 11 poems to mark Valentine’s day, two of
which mentioned independence hero general Aung San.

He was told in early November that he would be tried again for the same
offence, and could face up to 18 months in prison if convicted.

Kyaw Thu Moe Myint, from Kyauk Se, Mandalay division, told DVB that he had
left the country rather than face more time in prison.

“I decided to flee Burma because I don’t want to spend time in jail and
not be able to contribute to the movement,” he said.

“I’d like to urge all people from the world of literature and all other
people to continue with the movement, as it is the responsibility of
everyone.”

Kyaw Thu Moe Myint said he would able to do more writing in Thailand and
plans to write more poems and distribute them inside Burma to educate
people and encourage them to support the democratic movement.

He also hopes to strengthen communication between people inside Burma and
outside to enable information to reach people in the country.

Over 100 people have fled Burma since the government’s crackdown on
demonstrations in September.

____________________________________

November 28, Shan Herald Agency for news
Men join workshop on women’s rights

A workshop focused on the way to reduce violence against women held on
Monday, 26 November, on the Thai-Burma border was attended by 28
participants, including 12 men.

The resource person, U Maung Maung Gyi, also happened to be a man. “To
prevent violence, it depends on the state,” he said. “Deputy Senior
General Maung Aye said our domestic problems don’t concern our neighbors.
Doesn’t he know his people are running away to the neighboring countries?”

“Solving the violence in the family is like solving the violence in the
state,” said male participant. They were active in the discussion of
comparison between family violence and state violence.

“The state ought to have a law for preventing violence not only for a men
also women,” said a female attendance. “This law must be very powerful and
effective for women,” added another attended woman. “From now on we men
will try the best to stop violence against women,” male participants
promised before closing the workshop.

 The workshop was organized by Regional Women Against Violence (WAV) team
which is one of the branches of the Thai-based Women's League for Burma
(WLB). It  comprised 12 different ethnic women organizations. Its mission
is to work for women's empowerment and advancement of the status of
women, and to work for the increased participation of women in all
spheres of society in the democracy movement, and in peace and national
reconciliation process through capacity building, advocacy, research and
documentation, according to its statement.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 28, Japan Economic Newswire
Myanmar gets over $750 mil. in direct investment in FY2006

Military-ruled Myanmar attracted foreign direct investment worth more than
$750 million during fiscal year that ended March 31, 2007, according to
official figures made available Wednesday.

During the period, China, South Korea, Russia, Singapore and Britain
invested in projects worth $752.7 million, mainly in the oil and gas
sector, figures from the Central Statistical Organization said.

Four of the five investing countries went in for the oil and gas sector,
accounting for more than 62 percent of investment in the year.

Britain, which regularly criticizes Myanmar's junta for human rights
abuses, invested $240.68 million in the oil and gas sector, followed by
Singapore with $160.8 million in the same sector.

South Korea and Russia invested in oil and gas at $37 million and $33
million, respectively.

Myanmar's staunch ally China topped the list among the five with its
largest package, $281.22 million, being in the power sector.

Total cumulative foreign investment in Myanmar has now reached more than
$14.6 billion.

Investments from Japan in Myanmar since 1989, when the country opened up
its economy, reached $215.283 million, but there has been no new
investment from Japan since fiscal 2004.

____________________________________

November 27, Mizzima News
Mixed signals from gem emporium

Burma's latest gem emporium came to a close yesterday, following a nearly
two-week bazaar held under international pressure to ban the import and
sales of gems originating from the strife-torn nation.

While legislation is currently in the works in the United States and
elsewhere aimed at outlawing the sale of Burma's blood jewels, human
rights organizations such as New York-based Human Rights Watch had been
outspoken regarding the moral duty to boycott the latest trade show due to
gross human rights violations surrounding Burma's gem industry.

However, judging by state statistics, the final numbers from this latest
drive to bring in foreign currency to the cash-strapped nation appear to
point to a limited impact of looming sanctions and calls to boycott.

According to the state-run New Light of Myanmar, going into the final day
of sales the emporium had documented some 3,330 lots of precious stones
sold. This compares more or less equitably with the volume of sales during
the March event, prior to the mass protests and violent crackdown of
September, which witnessed a reported 3,652 lots sold.

Further, though a majority of traders in attendance came from regional
neighbors such as China and Thailand, the state run press was eager to
point out that buyers also arrived from a host of international countries,
including the United States, Britain, Australia and Japan.

Yet the projected sales look to fall well short of a goal for sales
proclaimed by state officials prior to the auction, of some 5,500 lots to
be sold. This prediction may have stemmed from the success of a special
sale in July, in which over 4,600 lots were purchased.

The exact value of hard currency earned from this latest sale is not yet
known, though the March sale garnered a reported $185 million.

In addition to large quantities of jade, Burmese rubies are estimated to
account for 90 percent of all rubies on the world market.

____________________________________

November 28, Irrawaddy
Junta interrupts KIO tax levies on major highway - Saw Yan Naing

Burma authorities in Kachin State in upper Burma have increased pressure
on the Kachin Independence Organization, the main ceasefire group, by
beefing up troops along the highway between Myitkyina, the state capital,
and Laiza, where goods and timber are transported, according to a source
close to the KIO.

The junta has banned basic commodities, furniture and timber which are
transported along the road, providing the KIO income from taxes collected
from merchants trading in the region, the source told The Irrawaddy on
Wednesday. The taxes are shared with the regime with the KIO receiving a
smaller portion.

“They [Burmese officials] have asked truck drivers not to carry any goods
or timber from Laiza to Myitkyina as well as from Myitkyina to Laiza since
last week,” the source said. All travelers were also stopped and asked to
show their citizen identification, he added.

Goods and timber transported daily by trucks along the Myitkyina to Laiza
road are estimated to be valued at 100 millions kyat (US $77,220) per day.
The amount of the tax levied was not available.

Beefed up army units along the road are controlled by the chairman of the
Kachin State Peace and Development Council and the commander of the
Northern Command, Maj-Gen Ohn Myint.

Meanwhile, the regime has also asked the Shan State Army—North to patrol
around Mansi and Bamaw Township in Kachin State to interrupt the KIO trade
in the region, he said.

Some residents believe fighting will break out between the junta and the
KIO as the regime puts more pressure on the KIO. One source close to the
KIO disagreed, however, reasoning that all businesses in Kachin State not
only benefit to KIO but also the regime.

“It is a kind of pressure or threat because the regime wants the KIO to
disarm and some of the KIO leaders want to do it because they support the
National Convention," he said. "But some leaders don’t want to disarm and
want a federal union instead.” He said disagreements among KIO leaders are
increasing.

The KIO has been recruiting new soldiers, collecting rations and ordered
its armies to be on standby alert. Up to 4,000 fresh troops are now on
alert at the headquarters in Laiza.

The KIO was also pressured by the regime to sign a statement opposing a
statement released by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari on behalf of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Recently, the Burmese army’s Infantry Battalion 146 under the Northern
Command raided a KIO frontline office near Laiza and arrested eight
soldiers. The soldiers were released after negotiations with the regime.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Burmese military government, Minister
for Culture Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint, has traveled to the China-Burma
border region to lobby ethnic groups in Shan State, including ceasefire
groups such as the United Wa State Army, the Shan State Army-(North) and
the Kokang armies, to support the government’s National Convention.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

November 28, Integrated Regional Information Networks via Irrawaddy
HIV doesn't recognize Burmese traditions

Zar Zar's husband was a womanizer. Throughout their five years of marriage
he was a regular in the brothels around the city of Rangoon in Burma,
drank heavily, was violent, and more than once gave her a sexually
transmitted infection.

She tried telling his parents, but they had never approved of the marriage
and sided with their son; to make matters worse, the couple lived under
their roof. In the end, fed up, she packed her bags and left for
neighbouring Thailand as a migrant worker, but did not get away scot-free.

Now aged 30, Zar Zar lives in a shelter for HIV-positive women from Burma
in the Thai town of Mae Sot near the Burmese border. She is concerned that
many more are at risk of infection because there is so little awareness
about AIDS in her home country. "Women in Myanmar [Burma] don't know
anything about how to protect themselves," she said.

HIV prevention campaigns inside military-ruled Burma are underfunded;
across the border in Thailand, they struggle to reach, and make sure the
estimated 1.5 million migrant workers from Burma understand the messages.

Public health professionals fret that even when women from Burma are
taught how to prevent HIV infection, deeply conservative attitudes towards
women's sexuality prevent them from negotiating condom use with their
partners.

"In Burma, every sex relationship is up to the man," said Mie Mie, 30, a
Burmese health educator working with migrant workers in Thailand. "So a
woman keeps feeling that she cannot openly ask a partner, 'please use a
condom', or else he will look down on her."

Brian Williams, the head of UNAIDS in Rangoon, says the difficulties women
face in negotiating condom use, especially in a marriage or stable
relationship, are not unique to Burma. But according to recent
projections, up to 25 percent of people now living with AIDS in Burma are
thought to be 'low-risk' married women who most likely contracted the
virus from their husbands.

Until a few years ago the authorities considered the mere possession of a
condom sufficient evidence to convict the carrier of prostitution. Many
women still feel that owning condoms, or insisting on their use by their
husbands or partners, raises doubts about their own sexual morality.

"They think this [a condom] is very dirty—used by criminals or very
sexually active people," said Mie Mie. "So they think, 'this is not for
us'."

Traditionally a women's chastity was carefully guarded until marriage. The
mass migration to labour-hungry Thailand has undermined those social
controls, handing young people from Burma far greater sexual freedom, but
also reinforcing gender roles that tend to frustrate prevention
strategies.

Who's fooling whom?

Dr Ei Ei Khin, technical advisor to an HIV prevention project targeting
Burmese workers in Thailand, notes that traditional attitudes deter most
young, unmarried women from being upfront with boyfriends about their
sexual histories, and from requesting condom use.

The result is that many young Burmese men, who may use condoms when
visiting brothels, underestimate the risks of unprotected sex with their
girlfriends, usually assuming—sometimes wrongly—that the young women,
often factory workers, are virgins.

"The boys believe their girlfriends are innocent and have no previous
experience," Khin said. "Even if girls have experience before, they don't
tell, or try to hide it. The boys want virgins, and if they know the girls
had sex before, they won't marry, or may leave them. So if the girlfriend
requests condom use, maybe the boyfriend will think 'oh, she knows too
much'."

Tha Zin, 30, a married factory worker trained as an informal AIDS peer
counselor, says her efforts to encourage younger colleagues to use condoms
have floundered due to the girls' shame at admitting they were sexually
active before marriage.

"Most of the girls have boyfriends, and mostly they have sex, but I never
heard that they used a condom," she said. "In three factories, after
training, I gave condoms but the girls ran away. They are very shy and
they are very ashamed."

[The Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) is a news service
that forms part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA). But this report does not necessarily reflect the views of
the United Nations]

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 28, Agence France Presse
Vietnam president opposes Myanmar sanctions

President Nguyen Minh Triet of Vietnam, which joins the UN Security
Council next year, on Wednesday rejected Western moves to punish Myanmar,
saying his country remembered the pain of economic sanctions.

But Triet said Vietnam shared concerns about military-ruled Myanmar, a
fellow member of the Association of Southeast Asian States (ASEAN) which
launched a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests in September.

"Vietnam experienced war and was slapped with economic sanctions," Triet
told a news conference during a visit to Tokyo.

"We fully understand the agony people that felt at the time," he said.
"Therefore, we will not support economic sanctions on Myanmar, which are
merely a means of making people suffer."

The United States and European Union have both stepped up sanctions on
Myanmar over its clampdown on dissent, but Asian nations have largely
preferred to focus on engaging the regime.

Vietnam, which was under a US trade embargo until 1994, next year joins
the UN Security Council for a two-year term in a sign of its integration
with the world.

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy on Myanmar, visited Hanoi this week
and called for Vietnam to support UN efforts to resolve the crisis, saying
that the communist country was among the states closest to Myanmar's
junta.

Triet said that "together with other ASEAN states, Vietnam is deeply
worried about the situation in Myanmar".

"We want to try hard to resolve the issue smoothly through cooperation
among Vietnam, ASEAN and the United Nations," he added.

During talks with Triet on Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda
also asked Vietnam to urge Myanmar to respond to international calls to
move towards democracy and cooperate with the United Nations.

Japan has cancelled nearly five million dollars in aid to Myanmar to
protest the crackdown and security forces' killing of a Japanese
journalist as he filmed the events.

____________________________________

November 27, Associated Press
Dalai Lama condemns Myanmar crackdown - Gavin Rabinowitz

Amritsar, India -- The Dalai Lama said Tuesday he supported the recent
pro-democracy demonstrations in Myanmar and condemned the crackdown on the
Buddhist monks who led them, saying it reminded him of China's oppression
of Tibetans.

Myanmar's military rulers crushed a series of pro-democracy protests in
September, killing at least 15 people according to information authorities
gave the U.N., and detaining nearly 3,000 protesters. Monks were at the
forefront of the movement. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was
much higher.

"When I saw pictures of people beating monks I was immediately reminded of
inside Tibet, in our own case, where just a few days ago monks were beaten
by Chinese forces," the Dalai Lama said.

"I am fully committed and I have full support and sympathy for the
demonstrators," the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters on the
sidelines of the Elijah Interfaith Summit of world religious leaders in
the northern Indian city of Amritsar.

The meeting, which brought together prominent Hindu, Muslim, Christian,
Buddhist, Sikh and Jewish leaders, focused on using religion to spread
peace and resolve conflict.

The Dalai Lama urged the military junta in Myanmar _ a staunchly Buddhist
country _ to heed the Buddha's teachings.

"They should be Buddhists. Please act according to Buddha's message of
compassion," he said.

The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962, crushing
periodic rounds of dissent. It held elections in 1990 but refused to hand
over power to the democratically elected government.

The Dalai Lama has been leading a campaign for autonomy and religious
freedom for Tibet, which China has ruled since its Communist-led forces
invaded Tibet in 1951.

The 72-year-old Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, has been
based in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala since he fled Tibet in the face
of advancing Chinese soldiers in 1959.

____________________________________

November 28, Mizzima News
Ethnic delegates seeks Indian support for tripartite dialogue

The Indian government gas been urged by the Ethnic Nationalities Council
to use its influence over the Burmese military and help kick-start the
process of national reconciliation through a tripartite dialogue. The
Council is an umbrella group of Burmese ethnics in exile.

A four-member ENC delegation, visiting India's capital New Delhi, said
during their meetings with Indian leaders they highlighted the need for a
tripartite dialogue between the Burmese military junta, pro-democracy
leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic leaders to resolve Burma's long
political impasse.

"We believe Burma 's political crisis can be best solved through the
process of tripartite dialogue," Dr. Lian H. Sakhong, General Secretary of
the ENC said.

The ENC delegates, who are on a three-day visit, from November 25 to 27 to
India at the invitation of the Indian Parliamentary Forum for Democracy in
Burma (IPFDB), met Indian leaders including members of Parliament, civil
societies, journalists and human rights activists.

The delegates said they briefed Indian leaders of the importance of
supporting Burma's process of dialogue and argued that India 's interest
would be better served by a federal democratic system in Burma.

In response to the ENC delegates' request, Indian parliamentarians said
they would highlight the Burma issue at the next parliamentary session.

"We have discussed with some of the Indian Members of Parliament the Burma
issue and they agreed to take it up as a Parliamentary debate in the next
session," Harn Yawnghwe Director of Euro-Burma office and Adviser of ENC
said.

India was one of the few countries that had in the past maintained a
hard-line stance against the current Burmese military generals, when they
came to power after brutally suppressing the students-led pro-democracy
uprising in 1988.

Reportedly, the Indian embassy in Rangoon had sheltered Burmese student
activists when the junta randomly cracked down on them and even suggested
the activists flee to India for refuge.

However, Indian foreign policy on Burma took a U turn in the late 1990s,
with Indian policy makers claiming the need to engage the Burmese generals
in their national interest, which included countering Chinese influence on
Burma.

"The Indian government should not compete with China for favours from the
Burmese junta basically because of two things. Both India and China have a
different political system. While India is a democracy, China is a
Communist state. India should think of its long term interest, and
maintaining a relationship with the junta will only hamper its image,"
Sakhong said.

The ENC leaders said India 's national interests as well as the interest
of regional countries could only be best served with a genuine solution to
Burma 's long political stalemate.

Sakhong said, Burma's political crisis can only be genuinely resolve with
a tripartite dialogue that will bring an end to military rule, restoration
of democracy and establishing a genuine federal system of government based
on the1947 Pang long agreement, initiated by Burma 's independence hero
Bogyoke Aung San.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 28, Associated Press
UN investigator says number of political prisoners in Myanmar larger than
government says

A U.N. human rights investigator who recently returned from Myanmar said
he believes there are more political prisoners detained in the country
than the government says, although he would not estimate how many.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro visited Myanmar for five days this month to look
into allegations of abuse by the ruling military junta and to determine
how many people were killed or detained in the September crackdown on a
series of pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks.

Security forces killed at least 15 people and detained nearly 3,000
protesters, according to information Myanmar authorities provided to
Pinheiro. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher.

The regime has said it has since released most of the detainees, but
Pinheiro said Tuesday that the government's claim that only 93 people
remain in detention is most likely not true.

"I don't think this number corresponds to reality," Pinheiro told an
audience at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies,
where he is a visiting professor. "Ninety three is too low. I think it's a
larger number of people continuing in detention."

He declined to provide his own tally and said he expects to give a more
detailed report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva next month.

Pinheiro has said at least 15 people died in Yangon, Myanmar's largest
city, a number based on post-mortem reports and other official
information. He has said he was continuing to investigate the overall
number of deaths and did not provide an updated count on Tuesday.

He said in an interview after his speech that he was still looking into
whether monks were among those killed.

Images of peaceful demonstrations being met with violence sparked
"universal revulsion" and that the international community has the
opportunity to seize on that outrage and create positive change, Pinheiro
told The Associated Speech after his talk.

"The attention of the concerned countries is very short," he said. "My
fear is that all the scenes of these marches, these demonstrations, will
soon be forgotten, and then we will lose an opportunity."

He said the crisis in Myanmar required "quiet diplomacy" as well as
support and coordination from other countries.

"The international community has to prove some effectiveness, some
competence to talk less and to act more effectively," he said.

Pinheiro's visit to Myanmar was his first since being banned from entering
the country in November 2003. During his most recent trip, he visited a
prison for political detainees and a Buddhist monastery that had been
raided by troops.

But he said his five-day visit was too short to be considered a
full-fledged fact-finding mission. He also said he was allowed only
limited access to the country and was not able to verify key information.

"You are supposed to have free access," he said. "You control your own
agenda. This was very much organized by the country, the government."

The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962, crushing
periodic rounds of dissent. It held elections in 1990 but refused to hand
over power to the democratically elected government.

____________________________________

November 28, Japan Economic Newswire
Over 5,000 sign petition to counter Myanmar junta

A group of people from Myanmar submitted a petition with 5,205 signatures
to the United Nations Center for Regional Development in Nagoya on
Wednesday, asking the international body to persuade the military
government to stop suppressing demonstrations and to free democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi.

The signatures are addressed to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and
will be sent to the United Nations Information Center in Tokyo.

"Strong pressure from the international community is mandatory to change
the stance of the military government which is vigorously clamping down on
people," said Aung Aye Win, 43, a leader of the League for Democracy in
Burma in Japan.

The group members collected the signatures in streets in Nagoya and other
places in Aichi Prefecture since late September.

During the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit talks in
Singapore this month, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda urged Myanmar
Prime Minister Thein Sein to improve the situation on democratization and
human rights.

In September, a Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai, 50, was killed while
covering an antigovernment rally in Yangon.

____________________________________

November 28, The Nation
UN chief will not discuss Burma with Thailand

Bangkok - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will not discuss Burma when he
makes his first visit to Thailand next month, Prime Minister Surayud
Chulanont said Wednesday.

Surayud said the visit will concentrate on Thailand's engagement with
various UN agencies rather than the Burma issue, which had already been
exhaustively discussed in the UN General Assembly in New York, the Nation
newspaper reported.

Burma's recent crackdown on the biggest protests against military rule for
two decades recently prompted diplomatic rebuke across the world. Even
China, traditionally reluctant to upset friends like the Burma's military
junta, was forced to express concern.

Thailand has shown little interest in pressuring the military regime for
change. Thailand is currently ruled by a cabinet appointed by military
coup leaders itself, and it also has key economic interests in Burma,
particularly gas and oil exploration.

 Ban Ki-moon will visit Thailand on December 9,10 and 11. Thailand will
hold elections for a return to civilian rule on December 23.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 28, Irrawaddy
Armed intervention debate goes - Aung Zaw

The debate on humanitarian intervention and covert operations to remove
Burma’s regime leaders isn’t just a domestic talking point but is
increasingly being taken up on Internet Web sites, in the media and even
in US congressional hearings.

In what was regarded as a “pointed remark” at the height of the September
crackdown, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, for instance, warned
the Burmese military dictators of the potential consequences of their
actions.

Some observers say the Burmese people would definitely welcome any foreign
liberation troops that could remove regime leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe and
his regime in Naypyidaw—a sitting target for air strikes.

“If you slaughter the monks and those calling for democracy, when your
regime falls, and it will fall, you will be pursued to every corner of the
globe like the Nazi criminals before you,” said the hawkish legislator
from California.

Exactly two years previously, in September 2005, Rohrabacher suggested
pressuring the Burmese regime with the “threat of military intervention.”

In testimony before the Asia and Pacific Subcommittee of the House of
Representatives International Relations Committee, Rohrabacher urged US
support for all attempts by the Burmese people, including revolutions and
covert operations, to topple the regime.

Aside from hot air, some serious thought has been—and is being—given to
the possibility of an invasion to remove the hated regime.

The London-based independent think tank, the International Institute for
Strategic Studies (IISS), said on May 19, 1993, that a better case could
be made out for the UN to intervene in Burma than in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The IISS said that UN intervention in Burma "would have a clear aim: 
removing SLORC [the regime’s previous name, the State Law and Order
Restoration Council], a finite end, and the support of the majority of the
[Burmese] people."

Prince Khaled Sultan Abdul Aziz, commander of the Saudi contingent in the
1991 Gulf War, called for “Desert Storm” style action against Burma after
he visited Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh in April 1992.

US Senator Joe Lieberman suggested in an article in the New York Daily
News in October that the Bush administration should be asked to “actively
investigate how else our military and intelligence capabilities can be
used to put additional stress on the regime.”

William Kristol, founder and editor of the Weekly Standard, a hawkish
writer who advocated the war on Iraq, wrote in The Washington Post on
October 7: “What about limited military actions, overt or covert, against
the regime's infrastructure—its military headquarters, its intelligence
apparatus, its rulers' lavish palaces? Couldn't such actions have a
deterrent effect, or might not they help open up fissures in the regime?
Have we really done all we can to avert the disaster that is unfolding?”

Isn’t it ironic that Burma, preparing now to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of its independence, now generates debate about a new invasion
from outside?

Some observers say the Burmese people would definitely welcome any foreign
liberation troops that could remove regime leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe and
his regime in Naypyidaw—a sitting target for air strikes. But then what?
After a few years of “liberation,” would Burma witness a new armed
struggle to eject the invaders?

Burma is one of the countries identified by Condoleezza Rice as outposts
of tyranny when she was appointed US Secretary of State in 2002. Cuba,
Zimbabwe, Belarus, Iran and North Korea were the others. So far, some say,
Burma is off the US radar screen.

On October 12, Ramzy Baroud, author and editor of the online magazine
PalestineChronicle.com, posed the question: “So why aren't the US and
Britain responding to the situation in Burma with the same determination
that they exhibited for Iraq, and now Iran?”

In an article titled ‘Burma Is Not Iraq,’ Baroud criticized the West’s
hypocritical stand: “Western leaders, aware of the criticism that awaits
them, have paid the necessary lip service, but little else. British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown decried the use of violence against protesters and
demanded European sanctions. President Bush declared that Americans ‘stand
in solidarity with these brave individuals’.

“Israel, on the other hand, denied its military links to the junta,
despite much contradictory evidence. It justified its unwillingness to
influence the situation on the grounds of nostalgia—Burma was the first
South Asian country to recognize Israel.”

He continued: “If Iraq has been a lesson of any worth it is that the
Burmese are much better off without American bombing raids or British
napalm in the name of intervention. True reforms and democracy can only
come from within, from the closed fists of the determined dispossessed.
Indeed, Burma is not Iraq, and Thank God for that.”

These articles provoked some vigorous online feedback.

“Why is it that a guy who thinks US military action is always the answer
is any more credible than the peacenik who thinks it never is?” fumed one
reader of Kristoll’s article.

One letter writer contributed to the debate on the online Tiscali Forum:
“So why aren't we proposing an invasion of Burma to remove the regime
there? At the time of the Iraq war, we were told about the ‘moral case for
regime change’ in Iraq. Well, isn't there a moral case for regime change
in Burma? Why aren't the USA and UK sending a task force to liberate the
people of Burma?”

The letter continued: “Burma has a long coastline, allowing many landing
points for our forces. The western-friendly neighbors, India and Thailand,
might allow our troops to invade from their borders. It should not be too
difficult. What's the big difference between Iraq and Burma, then? Apart
from the fact that Burma hasn't got huge oil reserves?”

A debate on the Helium website produced the opinion: “Fundamentally, Iraq
was a country of interest to the US government, while Burma has long been
off America's radar, as it's a highly secretive country. Burma has pursued
a very low profile and made it difficult for people to visit. On the other
hand, Saddam's Iraq pursued the limelight and enjoyed pushing the
envelope. Saddam pursued a cult of personality and relished brinkmanship.

“There are many differences between Iraq and Burma, but the most important
seem to be that Iraq had lots of oil, threatened Israel and insulted
American leaders. Iraq had been a country of concern for years and it had
lots of powerful enemies.”

Simon Taylor added a humorous slant to the debate on the Tiscali Forums
Web site: “The leaders of Burma didn't try any funny business with George
Bush's dad when he was in power. God hasn't told Bush to invade Burma.
(YET)!”

____________________________________

November 28, Mizzima News
Singapore, the ASEAN summit, Burma and Thailand - Zaw Htoo Aung

With a growing Burmese community in Singapore, this island city-state has
become an important place for overseas pro-democracy forces for Burma.

Most Burmese living in Singapore are well educated, have new and fresh
ideas, live in harmony with democratic society, and possess high moral and
social values. They look at the problems in Burma from all different
dimensions and not from a political point of view alone.

There are thousands of Burmese working in Singapore as skilled laborers,
engineers, managers and directors. Many young and active Burmese graduated
from polytechnic schools and universities in Singapore and over the past
decade have made this country their new home away from home.

In recent years Singapore's business and social ties with Burma are
getting stronger than any other country of ASEAN and Singapore has come to
play a key role in the struggle for socio-economic and political
transformation in Burma.

There were many effective protests and actions by Burmese activists in
Singapore during the recent ASEAN summit. Their activities brought
significant global attention to the issue Burma. Activists are united in
their cause and they are involved as individuals as well as through
organizations such as Overseas Burmese Patriot (OBP), Oway, LPK Library,
Concern for Myanmar and DTASG.

They organized a remarkably quiet and peaceful protest along Singapore's
busy Orchard Road in response to ASEAN's shamefully weak response toward
Burma's regime during the ASEAN summit.

They signed and distributed an open letter to the soft-spoken ASEAN
leaders and representatives from the EU and other nations at ASEAN the
summit.

They invited British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and former
Minister for Women and Equality, Meg Munn, and French State Secretary in
charge of foreign affairs and human rights, Rama Yade, to visit the
Burmese Buddhist temple and little Burma (Peninsula Plaza), the well known
rendezvous point for Burmese in Singapore. The British and French
ministers eventually spent more than one hour with Burmese social
activists and communities groups in Singapore.

They successfully conducted all these effective actions and brought
attention to the plight of Burma during the ASEAN summit.

In the past, Thailand was the only key place for pro-democracy activists
and forces of exiled Burmese in Asia. Because of its own political
problems, it is unfortunate that Thailand, also a Buddhist dominated
country, could only play a minor role in recent months in supporting the
pro-democracy cause of Burma and in helping the monks and people of its
neighbor.

In the near future, Singapore will become an even more important place for
Burmese pro-democracy activists and for Burma. We are seeing that
Singapore's government is actively involving itself in the Burmese issue.
A minister from PAP (the governing People's Action Party), Ms. Irene Ng
Phek Hoong, initiated a discussion in Parliament on the Burma issue. This
is significant as we rarely see the ministers discuss any other country's
affairs.

However Singapore's existing strict laws and acts on public gathering,
public speaking and street protests will continue to be a major roadblock
for overseas Burmese pro democracy activists in Singapore undertaking
activities for their motherland.

Nevertheless, Burmese in Singapore will continue their struggle for
democracy and human rights with strong determination, intelligence and
with the use of technology.

Interestingly, they are not only struggling for democratic reform for
their motherland, they are also fighting for their basic rights under
Singaporean law.

As a Burmese living abroad, I praise all overseas governments who
sympathize with and support our efforts and our struggles for the people
of Burma. Hopefully, Thai people and a new Thai government will be more
interested and have a strong desire to support democratic reform in Burma.
More active involvement on its neighbour's part will bring back Thailand's
democratic image on both the regional and global political stages.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

November 28, Amnesty International
Burma: arrests continue

Military junta targets human rights activists, ethnic leaders and
politicians as number detained since September's protests rises to 700

Amnesty International today condemned the new arrests of political
activists inside Burma, despite the commitment by Prime Minister Thein
Sein to the UN Special Representative, Ibrahim Gambari, in early November
that no more arrests would be carried out.

Catherine Baber, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Programme Director,
said:

"Two months after the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators,
arbitrary arrests continue unabated as part of the Burmese government's
systematic suppression of freedom of expression and association, contrary
to its claims of a return to normalcy.

"Normalcy for the military government may mean a return to systematic and
widespread human rights violations away from media attention. The
international community must no longer tolerate this situation.'

Amnesty International confirms that the following arrests have occurred
since early November:

• On 4 November, U Gambira, head of the All-Burma Monks Alliance and a
leader of the September protests, was arrested and reportedly charged with
treason. Two of his family members previously detained as 'hostages' in an
attempt to force him out of hiding, have been kept in detention.

• On 13 November, the government arrested Su Su Nway, a member of the
youth wing of the main opposition National League for Democracy party.
Fellow youth activist Bo Bo Win Hlaing was arrested along with her while
putting up anti-government posters.

• On 14 November, at least three people were arrested in Yangon for
passing out anti-government pamphlets.

• On 15 November, authorities raided a monastery in western Rakhine State,
and arrested monk U Than Rama, wanted for his involvement in the September
protests. He was reportedly beaten during the raid and his whereabouts
remain unknown.

• On 20 November, Myint Naing, a senior member of the National League for
Democracy was detained.

• On 20 November, ethnic Arakanese leader U Tin Ohn was detained and his
whereabouts remain unknown.

• On 20 and 21 November, other ethnic leaders, including Arakanese Cin
Sian Thang and U Aye Thar Aung, Naing Ngwe Thein from the Mon National
Democracy Front, and Kachin political leader U Hkun Htoo were rounded up
but released after questioning.

• On 26 November, Aung Zaw Oo, a member of the Human Rights Defenders and
Promoters group, was arrested in Yangon, likely on account of his
involvement in planning events for International Human Rights Day on 10
December.

Amnesty International is deeply disappointed by the fact that these
arrests are still taking place despite the government's promises to the
contrary. Just last week, the Burmese government was attending ASEAN's
40th Anniversary Summit, where it signed the organisation's new Charter
committing it to the "promotion and protection of human rights".

To date, up to 700 people arrested during and since the September protests
remain behind bars, while 1,150 political prisoners held prior to the
protests have not been released.

Amnesty International is urgently calling on the government of Burma to
release all those detained or imprisoned merely for the peaceful exercises
of their right to freedom of expression, assembly and association,
including both long-term and recent prisoners of conscience, and to stop
making further arrests.