BurmaNet News, January 17, 2008

[Editor]

January 17, 2008 Issue # 3382

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Security forces break up attempted demonstration in Western Burma
DVB: Myanmar Times banned for one week by censors
DVB: Authorities demand cheap rice from farmers
Mizzima News: Myanmar telecom blocks bloggers
Guardian Unlimited: More street protests predicted in Burma

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: More Burmese migrants seeking work in Thailand
IMNA: Burmese migrant workers robbed by Thai group

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: Burmese economic reform requires political change: expert
Irrawaddy: South Korea offers work permits to Burmese
AFP: Myanmar minister seeks Japanese investment
SHAN: Junta increases communication fees

GUNS
Mizzima News: Chinese military trucks for Burma Army arrive on border

REGIONAL
AP: Japan urges Myanmar to speed up democratic reforms, hold talks with
Suu Kyi

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Security Council to meet again on Burma
AFP: Security Council meets to discuss lack of progress in Myanmar
Voice of America: India, China urged to pressure Burma to release lawmakers
Irrawaddy: Rambo to the rescue
Epoch Times: Canadian sanctions having an effect in Burma

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 17, Irrawaddy
Security forces break up attempted demonstration in Western Burma - Wai Moe

About 200 people in Taunggot Township in Arakan State in western Burma
were prevented from staging a demonstration on Thursday by soldiers and
security forces, according to local sources.

A witness told The Irrawaddy that a crowd gathered around the Taunggot
Market, including Buddhist monks, at about 7 am.

The security forces included members of the Union Solidarity and
Development Association.

“A number of security force people prevented the protest,” said a local
source. “Authorities used the same techniques they used in Rangoon.”

He said security forces formed a line and pushed back the protesters with
metal shields and truncheons.

No one was arrested or injured, said the source.

Fearing a possible demonstration, the authorities closed the market on
Wednesday without notice after interrogating two local members of the
opposition National League for Democracy.

“This morning [Thursday] all the shops on streets around the market were
doing business so it was very crowded,” said a witness. “An angry crowd
was ready to demonstrate.”

Nyan Win, a NLD spokesperson, said NLD members in the township were
closely watched and are now under surveillance.

Residents in Taunggot also demonstrated during the pro-democracy protests
in August and September 2007.

Two men, Sithu and Than Lwin, staged a two-hour demonstration on August 31
and were arrested. The two carried sign boards declaring, “People Are
Starving!” as a protest against fuel and commodity prices.

On September 4, about 1,000 people in the township staged a peaceful
protest demanding the release of Sithu and Than Lwin, led by 15 local NLD
members.

____________________________________

January 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Myanmar Times banned for one week by censors

The Burmese government censor board has imposed a one-week ban on the
weekly Myanmar Times newspaper after it published a story about the
postponement of new satellite license fees.

An editor from Rangoon, speaking on condition of anonymity, said newspaper
is being punished for publishing a sensitive story despite a government
warning not to write anything about it until they gave permission.

"The government doesn't feel comfortable with news being reported on the
new satellite fees and they told the press not to write about it," said
the editor.

"But the Myanmar Times published a story on it, and now they have been
banned for a week by the censor board."

Issue 346 of volume 18 of the Myanmar Times, published on 11 January,
included an article about Myanmar Post and Telecommunications postponing
acceptance of the new satellite license fees, which had recently been
raised from 6000 to one million kyat.

"The government is angry about the Myanmar Times story because they were
still at the stage of testing out whether the public would give in and
agree to pay satellite fees at this ridiculous price," said the editor.

San Moe Wai, secretary of the Burma Media Association said that the
government's action against the newspaper showed how the military regime
is increasing restriction on press freedom in the country.

"Their attitude towards the press is getting worse and worse,” said San
Moe Wai.

“This story about the new satellite fees has already been acknowledged by
everyone and the press wrote an article about it,” he said.

“Because of that, they decided to impose a ban on publishing, and this is
not acceptable."

The Myanmar Times was unavailable for comment on the case.

____________________________________

January 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Authorities demand cheap rice from farmers

Local authorities in Arakan state and Bago division are demanding cheap
rice from farmers for military rations, despite the junta’s claims they
would no longer buy rice direct from farmers.

In Taunggok township, Arakan state, township authorities are buying 2 tin
(about 8 litres) of rice per acre of farmland from farmers in four village
groups in Ywa Ma province.

The current price of the rice at local markets is between 4800 and 5000
kyat for each tin, but officials are only paying 2800 kyats, claiming that
the rice is for military rations, and farmers complain they are losing
hundreds of thousands of kyat from the sales.

Locals have assumed that the authorities’ demands are intended as
punishment for their political activism and enthusiastic support of the
September 2007 protests.

Farmers in the affected area are now collecting signatures for a petition
and preparing to file a complaint against the township Peace and
Development Council chief.

In Bago division, where the current market price for rice paddy is 385,000
kyat for 100 tin (about 400 litres), local officials are only paying
300,000 kyats.

The farmers are also expected to cover the cost of delivering and hulling
the rice.

____________________________________

January 17, Mizzima News
Myanmar telecom blocks bloggers

Rangoon – In a bid to stop the flow of information outside Burma one of
the most popular blog sites www.blogger.com has been banned by the Myanmar
Post and Telecomm Ministry as of Thursday morning, according to bloggers
in the former capital.

In the wake of 'Saffron Revolution', another Internet Service Provider
'Bagan Teleport' has blocked this blog website. And now the remaining ISP
under the MPT has blocked this website which bars computers in Burma from
accessing the blogs.

Both the ISPs are under the control of the military regime but under two
different administrations.

However, an official from MPT in Rangoon denied the report and said that
she didn't know why surfers can't visit these blogs when a Mizzima desk
reporter contacted her.

Similarly an official from the telecom office said that there was no
official instruction given to them to block these blogs sites, but he
declined to give further details.

Bloggers played an important role in exposing the secretive and isolated
military-ruled country for its crackdown against demonstrators during the
people's uprising last September.

____________________________________

January 17, Guardian Unlimited
More street protests predicted in Burma - Matthew Weaver

Britain's ambassador to Burma today predicted more anti-government streets
protests of the kind that were brutally put down last September.

In a briefing to journalists, Mark Canning condemned the military junta
for failing to tackle the underlying political "anger" that led to last
autumn's unrest.

The Burmese government says 30 people were killed when troops fired on
demonstrators but human rights activists fear that hundreds may have died.

Canning said the mood in Burma was "fearful and angry", and he pointed out
that a group of around 40 people protested this week in Rangoon, despite
the continued "heavy presence" of the police on the streets.

"Going forward we are going to see more demonstrations. The underlying
grievances have not been addressed."

Canning dismissed the concessions granted by the regime since the unrest
as "tactical".

They included the release of some of those arrested during the unrest and
the appointment of a minister to liaise with opposition leaders such as
Aung San Suu Kyi.

But Canning said these moves were "designed to forestall international
attention rather than signal some fundamental shift in approach. The name
of the game for the Burmese government is keeping themselves off the front
pages."

Canning also condemned plans by the junta to increase the license fees for
satellite televisions by 160 times, from $5 to $800.

The plan, which also involves charging hotels $1,000 for each television
they own, was designed to "shut off the flow of information".

Canning said that if the military government goes ahead with the
controversial fees "it would prevent most Burmese, including the middle
classes, from accessing anything but terrestrial television".

"It would be a terrible blow to the freedom of information."

Speaking by phone from Rangoon, Canning also pointed out that the generals
had suspended publication of the Myanmar Times reporting a story about the
planned fees.

Ross Dunkley, editor-in-chief of the part government-owned paper, said
today: "We got a red card from the government for one week."

He denied reports the government asked that four editors be sacked, but
acknowledged that he was asked to make changes in the newsroom.

Canning revealed that there are now more monks on the streets of both in
Rangoon and Mandalay after many mysteriously disappeared following the
protests.

"The number we are seeing are still way down on what you would have seen
five months ago. A significant number may have been de-robed and sent
packing back to rural villages."

Also speaking at the briefing, foreign office minister Meg Munn said the
British prime minister, Gordon Brown, would be discussing Burma with
Chinese leaders on his visit this week.

"We believe that China has an important role to play," she said.

Asked whether Brown would call for China to stop supplying arms to Burma's
regime, she said: "I don't know the exact contents of the discussions."

____________________________________

January 17, Inter Press Service
Burma:  Junta achieves food shortages amidst plenty - Marwaan Macan-Markar

By announcing a new programme to expand its work in military-ruled Burma,
a U.N. food agency has shed more light on the dire economic realities
faced by that country’s impoverished people.

The World Food Programme (WFP) plans to feed 1.6 million people living in
remote, rural areas over a three-year period, beginning this year. It is a
marked increase from the 500,000 people the agency has catered to so far
in helping ‘’vulnerable communities to overcome chronic food shortages.’’

Most of the communities due to benefit belong to ethnic minorities in the
South-east Asian nation. These regions were plagued by conflict for years,
where Burmese troops fought ethnic rebels. Peace deals signed between the
warring parties through the 1990s saw an end to the separatist struggles.

According to the WFP, a steady supply of rice will feature in the basket
of food due to the minorities living in, among other places, the Kachin
State, in north-eastern Burma, near the Chinese border. The other items
include pulses, vegetable oil, salt and high-protein blended food.

But such a U.N. intervention comes despite Burma, also called Myanmar,
being a substantial producer of rice. ‘’Myanmar produces large amounts of
rice, much of it grown in the central delta region,’’ Paul Risley,
spokesman for the WFP’s Asia office in Bangkok, said in an interview.
‘’All the rice for our programmes is domestically purchased.’’

Yet what has come in the way of the home-grown grain getting to the needy
is a vast network of security checkpoints set up by the military and, in
some areas, by ethnic militias. Such roadblocks have forced the movement
of food by local traders to a trickle, at times. Clearance to move food in
trucks from one state to another requires the approval of the military’s
local area commander, for which bribes have become mandatory.

Even the country’s majority Burmans are not immune to these
military-imposed hurdles, consequently increasing the number of people
enduring food shortages. The WFP estimates that in all nearly five million
people, just under 10 percent of the country’s 54 million population,
suffer from food insecurity. The impact of the restrictions on
transporting food and the poverty rates has resulted in nearly 36 percent
of children under five years being underweight and malnourished, according
to some studies.

Such limits placed on the movement of food have little to do with security
concerns of the notoriously oppressive Burmese junta. They are a military
solution to control the price of food commodities, including rice, across
the country. ‘’The junta has very little understanding of economics. These
roadblocks have been around for decades,’’ says Win Min, a Burmese
national security expert teaching at Payap University in Thailand’s
northern city of Chiang Mai.

‘’They have little security value for the junta. They were introduced to
keep a check on the price of rice going up,’’ he explained in an
interview. ‘’But the situation has become worse today. More checkpoints
have come up. So the price of rice in one state is different to the price
in the next.’’

The junta’s mishandling of the domestic rice trade is just one in a litany
errors it has committed that has dismantled a once promising economy. When
British colonisation ended in Burma 60 years ago, the country was known as
a one of the world’s major rice exporters. ‘’(At) independence, in 1948,
Burma was regarded as the South-east Asian nation ‘most likely to
succeed’,’’ states ALTSEAN, a regional human rights lobby on Burma, in a
recent report.

The decay set in after the military grabbed power in a 1962 coup. The
strongman at the time, Gen. Ne Win, opted for a socialist agenda, titled
the ‘Burmese Way to Socialism.’ It led to the nationalisation of all the
major industries, banks and the international trading sector. Ne Win’s
successors, including the current military leaders, opted for a more open
economic agenda once they came to power, including a bow to more private
sector activity.

The shift, however, produced little difference. ‘’The economic
mismanagement of the current military junta, the State Peace and
Development Council, is causing the collapse of social infrastructure and
perpetuating serious threats to human security,’’ states ALTSEAN, which
stands for the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma. ‘’The military regimes
that have ruled the country since 1962 have dragged the country into
disgrace and economic ruin through gross economic mismanagement (and)
corruption.’’

‘’The U.N. estimates that households are (currently) spending 70 percent
of their incomes on food, with more than 90 percent of the population
already living on less than one US dollar a day,’’ it adds.

Such dismal figures have brought into relief the paradox in the country,
since Burma is awash with natural wealth, ranging from extensive oil and
gas reserves to the world-renowned pigeon-blood rubies. The rewards from
such wealth, however, have been denied to the public.

The pro-democracy protests on the streets of Rangoon and elsewhere in
August and September last year revealed the public anger towards
unbearable economic woes. The protests, which were brutally crushed, were
triggered after the junta raised the price of oil by 500 percent in
mid-August with no warning.

Thailand’s estimated two million registered and unregistered migrant
workers from Burma also echo a tale of economic hardship. What began as a
trickle in the 1980s, largely involving workers from ethnic communities
along the border, turned into a flood by the end of the 1990s, with more
Burmans from the centre of the country crossing the border in search of
jobs.

‘’They have left because of unemployment and a lack of money to buy food
and other items for their daily needs,’’ says Moe Swe, secretary-general
of Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, a Burmese labour rights group based
along the Thai-Burma border. ‘’The economy has deteriorated and the people
have to leave Burma if they want to survive.’’

The profile of Burmese who have entered Thailand in search of work to feed
themselves illustrates the current predicament. ‘’Some of the migrant
workers here used to be teachers, nurses, government sector employees,
factory workers and farmers,’’ he told IPS.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 17, Irrawaddy
More Burmese migrants seeking work in Thailand - Shah Paung

The economic crisis in Burma has forced more migrant workers—many
illegal—to enter Thailand recently, according to labor rights groups.

Moe Swe, the head of the Yaung Chi O Workers Association based in
Thailand, said more Burmese are entering Thailand through Mae Sot in Tak
Province in northwestern Thailand.

There is no way to determine how many illegal entries have occurred, he
said, but anecdotal evidence suggests a marked increase.

About 200 Burmese enter Thailand legally each day through the Mae Sot
border bridge.

“We can say more migrant workers are coming because we can see the factory
workers,” Moe Swe said. “Now most of workers are new people and many of
them are from Rangoon. The Burmese workers who were here before are mostly
going to Bangkok to find other jobs.”

Most Burmese migrants in Mae Sot work in knitting and garment factories
where they earn a daily wage of 35 baht (US $1.05) to 80 baht.

Illegal migrants in Mae Sot frequently pay smugglers to take them to
Bangkok, for fees ranging from 8,000 baht ($241) to 15,000 baht.

Likewise, many new Burmese migrant workers are believed to be entering
Thailand through Kanchanaburi Province about 110 km west of Bangkok and by
sea to locations in southern Thailand.

San Hla, a labor right worker with the Grassroots Human Rights Education
and Development program, said Burmese also enter Thailand illegally by sea
in boats which take about four hours to arrive in Kuraburi District in
Phang Nga Province of southern Thailand.

Bu Poe, a young mother who is now looking for a job in Bangkok, has
entered Thailand illegally three times.

In her fist trip, she came with five friends. They hid in the forest in
Sankhlaburi District in Kanchanburi Province before going to Bangkok. They
were smuggled into Bangkok in a car, hiding under a plastic covering. “We
almost stopped breathing it was so hot,” she said.

In her second trip, she came with a female friend hidden in the trunk of a
car. On her third trip, she arrived with 14 other migrants all laying down
in a tight space in a truck covered by a plastic sheet.

“For now, I will not go back to Burma until my baby is grown, because the
journey is very difficult,” she said.

According to Bu Poe, most illegal migrants pay around 11,000 baht ($332)
to 13,000 baht ($392) to be smuggled from Kanchanaburi into Bangkok.

It is not uncommon for migrant workers to be killed or seriously injured
as they attempt to enter Thailand illegally. Many boats are not sea
worthy. In December, Thai marine police discovered 22 bodies of Burmese
migrant workers in the Andaman Sea in southern Thailand.

However, new Burmese migrant workers will continue to come to Thailand in
hope of a job and a legal work permit, Moe Swe said.

According to one labor rights group, there are an estimated 1 million
Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. About 500,000 are legally registered.

____________________________________

January 17, Independent Mon News Agency
Burmese migrant workers robbed by Thai group - Malay Chan

Burmese migrant workers were robbed by a group at Surat Thani province,
Tha Chana, Township, on Tuesday night. Eight people, including two young
Mons looted the property of Mon migrant workers.

The police arrested two Mons but the rest of the robbers are still at
large. The two young Mons are of the ages 16 and 19.

A group of burglars destroyed seven huts. They robbed money and a mobile
phone. The robbery took place when the migrant workers were scraping the
rubber plantation.

A Mon migrant woman living beside the destroyed hut said that they have
been facing such burglaries often. The robbers damaged and burgled their
property 15 times from 2007 and till now. She has been scraping rubber in
the district for nine years.

"The robbers also fired at a house and damaged a television set. We are
afraid of them and don't dare to sleep in our hut at night," said the
woman. They have to hide in the cave around the rubber plantation she
added.

The robbers do not get much money because the migrants do not leave the
money in their huts. A Mon youth working for four years said he had seen
such things happening many times since he started work there.

There are an estimated two million migrant workers living in Thailand,
according to the Chiang Mai based Migrant Assistance Programme, about 90
percent of whom are from Burma.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 17, Mizzima News
Burmese economic reform requires political change: expert

Only a change in the political system will usher in economic reforms
because the economy is in the vice like grip of the Burmese military, said
a Burmese economic expert.

According to the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal's economic
freedom listing, Burma, which has been ruled by successive military
governments for decades, is ranked near the bottom.

In the 2008 index of economic freedom, which is based on the assessment of
10 areas of the economy, Burma is listed as the 153rd country that enjoys
39.5 percent economic freedom.

Dr. Khin Maung Kyi, a retired Burmese economic expert based in Singapore,
said the Burmese economy is largely controlled by the military junta and
that accounts for the failure and instability of the economy.

He added that in order to improve the economy, greater freedom is needed,
and that requires a change in the political system.

"There is no way to improve the economy of Burma, except by changing the
political system. Unless that is done we will see more unpredictable
problems as the economy is unstable," Khin Maung Kyi said.

According to the index report, Burma's economy is defined by severely low
economic freedoms, with five of 10 areas, at least 35 points below the
world average.

"Burma will not develop effectively without serious economic reforms,"
added the report.

Another factor that the Burmese economy suffers from is the lack of rule
of law that can guarantee investment freedom, financial freedom, property
rights, and freedom from corruption, the report said.

"The almost complete lack of a judicial system forces domestic and foreign
companies to negotiate directly with the government to resolve disputes.
Foreign investment is adjudicated in each instance with no clear
guidelines for investors," added the report.

Khin Maung Kyi said the Burmese military junta, however, would be
reluctant to implement any type of reforms in fear that it might endanger
their political power.

"We all know this government [military junta] will never want to usher in
any reforms, not even by negotiation or pressure because they do not want
to lose their power," Khin Maung Kyi said.

____________________________________

January 17, Irrawaddy
South Korea offers work permits to Burmese - Violet Cho

Some 2,000 people in Burma will soon be able to go to South Korea to work
legally, due to the Korean government’s decision to offer working visas to
foreign workers.

According to a source close to the South Korean embassy in Rangoon, an
overseas job seeking agency, Shwe Innwa, has received permission from the
military government to oversee the process in Burma.

Burmese workers who want to work in South Korea must fulfill certain
criteria, according to Shwe Innwa. For example, they must be aged under 30
and pass a test in Korean language.

A source close to the Shwe Innwa agency said that, as a new project, they
have not yet set the working arrangements and fees; however, previously,
Burmese workers who wanted to work in South Korea had to pay brokers at
least 5 million kyat (about US $4,000), which included finding jobs for
them and travel arrangements.

There is a lot of competition between brokers in Rangoon, said a source
close to Shwe Inwa, adding that most job seeking agencies were run by the
families of military veterans.

Kyaw Zwa, a Burmese factory worker in South Korea, said, “The majority of
Burmese people who get the opportunity to come here are military veterans’
children and those who have connections to the military.”

Kyaw Zwa claimed that brokers with offices in Burma and South Korea make
huge profits from the overseas workers. “Brokers always ask workers to
remit half of their salaries every month to them,” he said. “The brokers
will deduct various fees, and then send the remaining money to the
workers’ families that stay behind in Burma”

Burmese migrant workers in South Korea mostly work in plastics factories,
noodle factories and carpentry and construction businesses. They generally
have to work at least eight hours as day and they usually earn $700 to
$800 per month, some 50 percent lower than South Korean workers.

According to South Korean immigration statistics, there are currently
about 4,000 Burmese migrant workers in South Korea, about 700 of who are
working illegally.

Although Burmese workers will have the opportunity to apply for legal
working status in South Korea for the first time, observers fear that
severe exploitation of migrant workers’ rights will be widespread if the
overseas job seeking agencies fail to take responsibility and protect
Burmese workers from unscrupulous employers.

Zaw Moe Aung, a senior member of the National League of
Democracy—Liberated Area (South Korea), explained that Burmese migrant
workers face many problems with Korean employers.

“Burmese workers were always ignored by the agency that brought them to
South Korea,” he said. “The broker will not help them, even if they are
underpaid or refused wages. They are also prohibited from seeking other
employment unless they get permission from the first employer.”

____________________________________

January 17, Agence France Presse
Myanmar minister seeks Japanese investment - Kyoko Hasegawa

Myanmar's foreign minister on Thursday called on Japan to invest in the
country's rich natural resources, boasting that China and India were doing
business there despite Western sanctions.

Myanmar faced heavy international criticism for its crackdown on
pro-democracy protests last year, with the United States and the European
Union tightening sanctions on the military-ruled regime.

But Foreign Minister Nyan Win told a seminar of investors in Tokyo that
Japanese investors would be missing out if they shunned the country.

"A business-friendly environment is created for foreign investors in
Japan," Nyan Win told the seminar sponsored by Japan's foreign ministry
and the local office of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"Therefore, we invite all the Japanese entrepreneurs to come and invest in
Myanmar's oil and gas sectors and other sectors," he said.

"In Myanmar, investments are being made to produce more crude oil and
natural gas," he said. "The Chinese government has shown strong interest
in exploring and drilling of crude oil and natural gas."

"Negotiations are being made with China to export gas" he said, adding
that "we also have ongoing natural gas projects dealing with India."

He noted that Myanmar was also rich in natural resources such as copper,
gold and tungsten, a rare metal used for various industrial products such
as light bulbs and digital appliances.

The seminar, which is aimed at promoting Japanese private sector
investment in the Mekong River region, also featured the foreign ministers
of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Participants made no remarks about Myanmar's human rights record.

Nyan Win later held a closed-door meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister
Masahiko Komura, who has previously told his counterpart that Myanmar must
move towards democracy and improve its human rights record to ease global
concerns.

Myanmar nationals in Japan staged protests outside the investment seminar
and the Japanese foreign ministry, holding up pictures of detained
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

They also criticised an aid project announced Wednesday to improve
infrastructure in the Mekong region, saying it would encourage the junta
to continue abuses.

"What is needed in Myanmar is national dialogue for reconciliation," said
protester Myat Thu, 40, as he led some 50 activists outside the foreign
ministry.

"We want Japan to pressure Myanmar. We are also asking potential investors
whether they are OK with investing their money in a country that clearly
violates human rights," Myat Thu said.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met with the ministers on Wednesday
and urged each country to "use its wisdom" on democracy and human rights.

"In reality, Japanese companies are reluctant to invest in Myanmar, given
the current political situation," a Japanese foreign ministry official
said on condition of anonymity ahead of the meetings.

Japan invited the ministers in a bid to renew its influence in the region,
where China, Myanmar's main ally, is raising its profile.

Japan slashed aid to Myanmar after the crackdown, in which a Japanese
journalist was killed, but has refused Western calls to end all
assistance.

____________________________________

January 17, Shan Herald Agency for News
Junta increases communication fees - Hseng Khio Fah

Since the September crackdown on peaceful protesters, Burma’s military
regime has increased the communication fees.

A telephone user, who received the bills every 2 months, complained about
the skyrocketing price of the phone bill and said, “It has increased 5
times. The usual fee was US $1 for every 3 minutes, now it is 2 dollars
per minute. If they had informed us of the new price earlier, we would
have been careful about our calls but we were not informed. So we made
many phone calls having in mind of the old price,” said a local resident.

"Usually, I used to pay ($ 25) from Kyat 30,000 to 40,000($ 32) per month.
But this time, I went to pay over 100,000($ 80) Kyat. I can’t do anything.
I just have to pay. If not, they (military) will confiscate the phones,"
said a resident who is regularly in contact with her relatives overseas
and who wishes to remain anonymous.

"SPDC wants to close our ears and eyes from everything. Right now they
will raise the fee of using the internet service from Kyat 600($ 0.50) to
10,000($ 8) per hour. They want people not to be able to afford it" said a
local source.

“They sometimes cut the phone lines and sometimes the internet servers.
There are even SPDC agents at the cyber caf้e,” said a local source.

Switzerland based news organization ‘Follow the Media’ wrote that Burmese
government declared foreign media as ‘skyful of liars attempting to
destroy the nation’ and it is trying to restrict ownership of satellite
dishes by increasing the price from 6,000($ 5)kyat to 1 million kyat($
800). There is also rumor that the government is trying to block radio
transmission from overseas radio services such as the BBC and Radio Free
Asia.

____________________________________
GUNS

January 17, Mizzima News
Chinese military trucks for Burma Army arrive on border - Myo Gyi

Shweli: About 100 Chinese manufactured military trucks have been arriving
on the Sino-Burma border, Jie Gao since yesterday. These 'First Automobile
Works' (FAW) trucks are to be handed over to the Burma Army.

This is the second batch of such truck transfer now stopping by at Jie
Gao, opposite Muse. Burmese military analyst U Aung Kyaw Zaw based on the
Sino-Burma border said that total number of FAW trucks to be handed over
to the Burma Army is over 1,000. These vehicles are being given to Burma
as a gift in batches.

Experts estimate that each truck costs around USD 9,000 (RMB 60,000) in
the open market. The 'First Automobile Works' (FAW) is producing cars in
collaboration with Japan's Toyota Company and Germany's Volkswagen
Company.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 17, Associated Press
Japan urges Myanmar to speed up democratic reforms, hold talks with Suu Kyi

Japan urged Myanmar's junta on Thursday to hold talks with detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and work harder to implement democratic
reforms.

In a meeting Thursday, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura also
urged Nyan Win, his Myanmar counterpart, to cooperate with the United
Nations on improving human rights conditions in the military-ruled nation,
the Foreign Ministry said.

Nyan Win was in Japan to attend the first meeting of the foreign ministers
of Japan and five countries along Southeast Asia's Mekong river —
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam — to promote trade and
investment.

"Myanmar's transition to a stable democratic nation is crucial for the
development of the Mekong region as a whole," Komura told Nyan Win, the
ministry said in a statement. "Myanmar's government should begin dialogue
with Aung San Suu Kyi to make concrete progress toward democracy."

Komura said Myanmar should allow the special U.N. envoy to Myanmar,
Ibrahim Gambari, to revisit the country as soon as possible.

Suu Kyi's political party has called for her freedom and for the release
of prisoners seized during a military crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy
protests last year.

Nyan Win replied that the junta had made efforts to achieve national
reconciliation and tried to hold "constructive" talks with Suu Kyi, the
ministry said. He said Myanmar will continue cooperating with the U.N. and
that Gambari, who last traveled to Myanmar in November, would be able to
make another visit after mid-April, it said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 17, Irrawaddy
Security Council to meet again on Burma - Wai Moe

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was scheduled to hold a close
door meeting on Burma on Thursday, according to the UN’s official Web
site.

The meeting will be the fourth such session since the Burmese regime’s
brutal crackdown on September’s demonstrations.

At one of the meetings, on October 11, a presidential statement (a
non-binding resolution) was issued, saying: “The Security Council strongly
deplores the use of violence against peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar
[Burma].” And it added: “The Security Council emphasizes the importance of
the early release of all political prisoners and remaining detainees.”

Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD) told The
Irrawaddy on Thursday that the NLD welcomes the UNSC efforts on behalf of
democracy in Burma.

Nyan Win said the NLD had written a letter of support recently to UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The letter had appealed for “real actions”
to be taken to advance Burma’s transition to democracy.

San Aung, of the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma (NCGUB),
Burma’s government in exile, drew attention to the continuing efforts of
UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who plans another trip to Burma, as well
as to India and China.

India, China and Burma’s partners in the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations should all use their influence and support UN efforts to bring
political change in Burma, said Nicholas Burns, US under-secretary of
state for political affairs, in a commentary published by the Washington
Post on January 8.

Burns said the UN should increase diplomatic efforts to bring democracy to
Burma.

“The US is convinced that the only way to achieve this objective is
through the sort of broad national dialogue that Gambari is trying to
facilitate with Security Council support,” he said.

Gambari last visited Burma in early November, 2007.  The Nigerian diplomat
said on December 18 that he expects to return to Burma by January, but the
Burmese junta is delaying the visit, which may now come in April,
according to analysts.

____________________________________

January 17, Agence France Presse
Security Council meets to discuss lack of progress in Myanmar

The Security Council on Thursday huddled behind closed doors with UN
troubleshooter Ibrahim Gambari to discuss what several diplomats described
as "the lack of progress" toward democratic reform in Myanmar.

US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad said that the 15-member body also
wanted to discuss reports that Gambari, the UN's pointman in efforts to
foster a dialogue betweeen Myanmar's ruling junta and the opposition, "has
not been allowed this month to come back" to the country.

"We want to hear from him about that and talk about what we can do to
incentivize the (military) regime to cooperate," he told reporters on his
way to the meeting.

Gambari has visited Myanmar twice since September when the military junta
crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years.

At least 15 people were killed and 3,000 arrested in the September
violence, which sparked global outrage against the regime with the United
States and the European Union tightening sanctions against the country's
top rulers.

Thursday, several UN diplomats decried "the lack of progress" in Myanmar
since the council in November pressed the ruling junta to "create
conditions for dialogue and reconciliation by relaxing, as a first step,
the conditions of detention of (opposition leader) Aung San Suu Kyi and by
pursuing the release of political prisoners and detainees."

"The situation in Myanmar has been deteriorating since late last year,"
said a Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We want to assist Gambari's mediation and see what we can do" to persuade
the military regime to ease restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and start a
genuine dialogue with the opposition, he added.

____________________________________

January 17, Voice of America
India, China urged to pressure Burma to release lawmakers - Lisa Schlein

The Inter-Parliamentary Union is calling for India and China to apply
pressure on the Burmese government to release 26 imprisoned
parliamentarians. The Inter-Parliamentary Union says India and China
should follow the example of Venezuela and Brazil, which recently helped
gain the release of two hostages held by rebels in Colombia. Lisa Schlein
reports for VOA from Geneva.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union says it is delighted with the recent release
of two Colombian hostages kidnapped by the FARC guerrilla group.

Consuelo Gonzalez de Perdomo, a member of the Colombian National Congress,
was kidnapped in 2001 and Clara Rojas, assistant to former senator Ingrid
Betancourt, was kidnapped in 2002 along with Betancourt.

But IPU Human Rights Committee chairwoman, Canadian Senator Sharon
Carstairs, notes that five other parliamentarians along with hundreds of
other people are still being held by the guerillas.

She says she hopes the same kind of good offices used by Venezuela and
Brazil to obtain the freedom of the two hostages will result in the
release of others. She says engagement by other governments is needed to
achieve similar results in countries where parliamentarian rights are
being violated.

"That is why we would put in a plea to both India and China to become more
engaged and more involved in Myanmar," said Carstairs. "Now Myanmar has 13
parliamentarians who are still serving sentences for participation in the
1990 election. An additional 13 parliamentarians were arrested during the
crackdown in the fall of 2007 and are still in custody. An additional six
have died in custody and two were assassinated."

Carstairs says India, China and to some extent Thailand, who are major
trading partners with Myanmar, are in a strong position to exert pressure
on that country's military government to release imprisoned
parliamentarians.

Philippines Senator Aquilino Pimentel says ASEAN countries also are in a
position to help. He says there is a growing clamor among ASEAN members to
pressure Burma to ease up on the repression suffered by their people.

"I would like to mention that our President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, our
Foreign Minister, Alberto Romulo and the Indonesian members of the IPU
particularly have strongly come out for a more effective sanction against
the ruling junta in Myanmar unless they go back to the roadmap of
democracy that should include all the key players for democratization in
Burma including Aung San Suu Kyi," said Pimentel.

The parliamentarian group notes it has no legal power to force the Burmese
government to release the imprisoned members of parliament. It only has
moral authority. That is why, they say, it is essential that countries
such as India and China use their power to persuade Burma to change its
course.

____________________________________

January 17, Irrawaddy
Rambo to the rescue - Violet Cho

After much fanfare, the Hollywood movie “He is Back” premieres on January
25. The movie features action hero Rambo on a rescue mission to Burma and
was filmed on location around Chiang Mai in Thailand.

The British newspaper, Daily Mail, quoted leading actor Sylvester Stallone
as saying: “I witnessed the aftermath [in Burma]—survivors with legs cut
off and all kinds of land mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears
cut off.

“We saw many elephants with blown-off legs. We hear about Vietnam and
Cambodia, but this was more horrific," he reportedly said.

"This is a hellhole beyond your wildest dreams," Stallone said. "All the
trails are mined. The only way into Burma is up the river."

The fourth in a series of “Rambo” films, this time the Hollywood action
hero heads into the Burmese jungle to rescue Western missionaries abducted
by the Burmese military.

Many Burmese are planning to watch the movie; but several have different
expectations.

A Burmese university student in Bangkok said that he was excited about the
upcoming Rambo movie. “I think that it will be fun to watch this movie,”
he said.

A young Burmese living in Canada said he sees the movie as a chance to
raise awareness about the situation of the indigenous people in Burma to
an international level. However, he pointed out that if this were a movie
that was “supporting missionaries,” it would hold contradicting views
among Burmese communities.

On the same day that “He is Back” is released, members of the Burmese
community in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the United States, will organize a
photo exhibition of Burmese people who have been killed or oppressed by
the military regime.

They said they will also distribute pamphlets with the message: “Stop
Killing, Support Free Burma, Join our Movement, Free Burma” while wearing
saffron-colored T-shirts.

Several Hollywood celebrities have recently shown interest in the Burma
crisis and have helped increase awareness of the situation.

During the military crackdown on monks and protesters, comedian Jim Carrey
joined the Burma campaign and called for the release of Burmese democracy
icon, Aung San Su Kyi via Internet site “YouTube.”

Other movie stars, namely Eric Szmanda, who stars in the award-winning
series “CSI,” and Walter Koenig, a member of the “Star Trek” series cast,
recently visited Karen refugee camps along the Thai border.

Well-known Burmese film director and comedian Zarganar said that the
Hollywood celebrities had become interested in Burmese issues following
the demonstrations in September 2007.

“I think the ‘Saffron Revolution’ was the force that increased the
interest of Hollywood people in Burma. I never realized that so many
American movie stars had come to visit Burma until after I was released
from detention,” he said.

In Europe, Italian film director Giuseppe Tornatore is also due to make a
movie about Burma’s pro-democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi. It is to be an
English-language film with an estimated budget of US $30 million.

____________________________________

January 17, Epoch Times
Canadian sanctions having an effect in Burma - Sharda Vaidyanath

Burma's ruling military junta is definitely feeling some pressure from
Canada's economic and trade sanctions, while foreign investments are
stalling the restoration of democracy in the country, says Liberal MP
Larry Bagnell.

Just back after a week-long fact-finding mission to the Thai-Burmese
border, Bagnell, chair of Parliamentary Friends of Burma (PFOB) says the
Burmese people want Canada to continue with sanctions.

"Burmese resistance leaders are very happy with the sanctions," he said.

"There's a good chance because of the instability put on Burma" that some
Chinese and Singaporean investments in the country have slowed down, says
Bagnell.

But he warns the situation is much worse than the world knows because
rural and ethnic atrocities don't get world media attention.

While Aung San Suu Kyi, National League for Democracy leader who was made
an honourary citizen of Canada last year, remains under house arrest, the
main obstacle to restoring democracy in Burma may lie externally: foreign
investments propping up the military junta.

Foreign money is funding planned trans-national pipelines and huge dams on
the Salween and other rivers, providing a windfall for the dictatorship.
This allows for the purchase of more weapons "to further oppress the
people, and lead to massive displacements, forced labour, and other human
rights abuses," Bagnell said in a news release.

The release made it clear that contrary to the international community's
belief that the worst may be over in Burma, "atrocities in the ethnic
states including rape, forced displacement, forced labour and
extrajudicial killings are going on daily."

Tin Maung Htoo, executive director of Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB)
says it is the first time in about a decade that a Canadian politician has
visited the region. He agrees with Bagnell's take on the situation.

"There's no sign of any progress in the political front."

In anticipation of an upcoming visit to Burma by Ibrahim Gambri, the UN
Secretary-General's special envoy, representatives of the military junta
did meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, but that was "just a political game to
diffuse the situation," says Maung Htoo.

"We don't know the content of their talks."

The crisis in Burma escalated last September with the brutal crackdown of
thousands of pro-democracy activists that included a large number of
Buddhist monks. Many were beaten, tortured and jailed. It is estimated
that hundreds were killed.

"I did get a sense that some prisoners were released but not necessarily
out of goodwill, they had become a burden
no one knows how many are
missing or where they are," says Bagnell.

Maung Htoo says that while some activists held in city detention centers
may have been released, many have gone into hiding and there's virtually
no change to the oppression of people in rural areas.

While the international community and the UN sent a Security Council
Presidential letter condemning the Burmese regime last fall, Canada
imposed the strongest possible economic/trade and diplomatic sanctions yet
on the Burmese military dictatorship in December.

Maxime Bernier, Minister of Foreign Affairs said at the time that Canada's
economic sanctions against Burma are the toughest in the world.

"We believe that sanctions are the means by which we can best exert
pressure on the military junta," he said.

With the exception of export of goods for humanitarian reasons to Burma,
there is currently a ban on all exports and imports between Canada and
Burma. The assets of Burmese nationals in Canada are frozen and there's a
prohibition on Canadian financial services to and from Burma.

In addition, there's a prohibition on ships and aircraft docking and
landing rights in Canada and Burma. There will also be no export of
technical data and a ban on new investments.

While the total trade between Canada and Burma has fallen from an
estimated $47 million in 2002 to just $8.5 million last year, there are
still approximately seventeen companies investing or doing business
directly or indirectly in Burma, says Maung Htoo.

"We are quite satisfied with the Canadian government's sanctions but there
are lots of loopholes and the sanctions don't impact on existing
investments which are still extensive."

CFOB and Foreign Affairs websites list many Canadian companies still doing
business in Burma, but a lesser known fact is investments of Canadian
Pension Plan funds in non-Canadian companies in Burma and endowment funds
from Canadian universities.

"The government should do something about this," says Maung Htoo.

"We have been lobbying the government to remove these investments too,"
says Bagnell, adding that Ivanhoe Mining operations have shut down in
Burma.

Bagnell says the Burmese people want UN efforts to intensify to enable a
dialogue between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burmese Opposition is
also looking for "much more concrete support from ASEAN and nations of the
region."

He says he discovered a lot on his trip "because I could talk to the
people on the ground and find out exactly where things stood by asking
different groups the same questions." The consistency mattered, and he is
more clear and confident about the course of action that should be taken,
he says.

As for neighboring countries, Bagnell says India is an example of where a
lot of NGOs are supportive of pro-democracy groups in Burma and that
grassroots pressure on the Indian government will be effective.

As word on the atrocities gets out in the international media, China,
which supports the military junta, will also face international
embarrassment and pressure, he says.

"I will be convening a meeting of the PFOB when Parliament returns, to
discuss the various suggestions by the Burmese people and their
organizations as to how we can do more to help this tragic situation."

An entire generation of youth in Burma is now passionately engaged in
opposing their unelected military junta and that is very inspiring, adds
Bagnell.

PFOB is not a Parliamentary committee but a non-partisan, multiparty group
of 35 members including Senators and MPs (and associate members who need
to apply or be invited to become members) with a mandate to support the
Burmese democratic movement.

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