BurmaNet News, February 2-4, 2008

[Editor]

February 2-4, 2008 Issue # 3394

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Burma’s censors are now also code-breakers
Mizzima News: Illegal Rambo VCDs circulating Rangoon
DVB: Solo demonstrator in solitary confinement
DVB: Funeral fund’s announcements blocked

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Calls to reform exiled government grow
Reuters: Burmese refugee boat sinks in Bangladesh River

BUSINESS / TRADE
Reuters: Burma tourism down
IMNA: Burmese agents make piles of money for getting passports done

DRUGS
Narinjara News: Yaba dealers sentenced to life

REGIONAL
BBC Burmese Service: Burmese in Singapore gather for 'Rambo'
Newkerala: India playing constructive role in Myanmar's national
reconciliation: Gambari

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: New Zealand opposition slams government over Burma link
AP: Top US Diplomat in Myanmar wants international pressure on Junta for
reforms
Reuters: Sylvester Stallone challenges Myanmar junta

OPINION / OTHER
Wall Street Journal: Burma's most wanted - Leslie Hook
Wall Street Journal Asia: How to deal With Burma - Jared Genser

STATEMENT
Statement of National League for Democracy (Unofficial Translation)

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 4, Irrawaddy
Burma’s censors are now also code-breakers - Saw Yan Naing

Burma’s censorship authorities have found new tools to monitor submitted
written manuscripts before approval—mirrors and magnifying glasses.

Rangoon-based writers told The Irrawaddy that censors working in the Press
Scrutiny and Registration Board office are now equipped with mirrors and
magnifying glasses to help them seek out hidden messages in poems, novels,
stories and advertisements.

The new tools were introduced following the discovery in a published poem
of a clandestine message mocking junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

The first words of each line of the short poem, written by Saw Wai under
the title “February 14” and published in the weekly “Love Journal,” made
up the message: “Senior General Than Shwe is foolish with power.” Saw Wai
was subsequently arrested.

The head of the censorship board, Maj Tint Swe—himself a writer, with the
penname Ye Yint Tint Swe—was summoned to a meeting with high-ranking
officials, where he had to explain the lapse. Sources say he may soon be
fired.

Saw Wai’s ruse was the second of its kind to mock Than Shwe in this way.
In July 2007, an advertisement in the English-language semi-official The
Myanmar Times newspaper contained a hidden message calling Than Shwe “a
killer.”

The advertisement was placed in the paper by a Danish satirical art group
posing as "The Board of Islandic Travel Agencies Ewhsnahtrellik and the
Danish Industry BesoegDanmark." When read backwards, the Danish-looking
word "Ewhsnahtrellik" spelt out "Killer Than Shwe."

A Burmese editor living in Rangoon confirmed to The Irrawaddy on Monday
that censors were now using mirrors and magnifying glasses to search for
hidden messages in the texts they are required to check before
publication.

Editors and publishers say the additional work is slowing up the
censorship process. “The censors are even checking cover pages of
magazines time and again.”

One Rangoon writer said he now had to submit his manuscripts one month
ahead of publication, compared to one week in the past.

____________________________________

February 4, Mizzima News
Illegal Rambo VCDs circulating Rangoon - Nay Thwin

Despite the Burmese government's effort to ban the recently released
Hollywood film Rambo, local residents in Rangoon say a downloaded version
of the movie is making its way among a circle of friends.

While cinema halls cannot show the movie, which takes as its storyline
Burma's current political crisis, and video rental shops in Rangoon are
not to posses copies, a downloaded version from the Internet is making its
rounds, said a local resident, who wished not to be named.

"Some of the video rental shops have put up a sign that reads – 'We don't
have a copy of Rambo 4 released in USA on January 25' - as many people
continue to ask for it," the resident told Mizzima.

However, he said that the movie was downloaded from the Internet and
burned onto a CD by activist youth and is being circulated among friends
and trusted people as it could land possessors of the CD in jail.

The fourth Rambo movie, which is partially shot along the Thai-Burmese
border, depicts Hollywood superstar Sylvester Stallone as a Vietnam War
veteran who comes out of retirement in Bangkok to rescue Christian
missionaries, who were abducted by Burmese army troops while supplying aid
to ethnic Karen villagers.

While Burmese political activists both inside and outside cheered the
movie as revealing the brutality of the junta in remote areas of the
country, viewers in Rangoon are confused as to whether or not the movie
contains any real storyline, the local resident said.

According to news reports, Rambo, which opened on January 25, was listed
second last week at the North American box office, and had already made
$18.2 million in its first week.

Meanwhile over 600 Burmese residents, wearing red shirts, attended a
special showing of the movie at Singapore's Bugis Junction Cinema.

Organizers of the event said they had requested all viewers to come in red
in commemoration of the September protests, where at least 31 people are
reported to have died and hundreds of monks and civilians were arrested by
the ruling junta.

As part of the special event, organizers played Burmese revolutionary
songs and student movement songs. And as the movie was about to begin the
more than 600 viewers stood to salute the Burmese national flag and in all
their strength sang the Burmese national anthem.

"But as the movie began there was a great silence and a feeling of sadness
and anger filled the hall. As the crowd witnessed rape, mass killings, and
the burning of villages, there were sympathetic groans from some of the
viewers who had witnessed the 1988 crackdown," according to Kyaw Soe, a
member of the Overseas Burmese Patriots group, which organized the event.

A special ticket booth was set up for the event and organizers said all
600 tickets were sold as Burmese activists, veteran politicians, and even
migrant workers came to see the show, Kyaw Soe said.

"With Burmese people, ranging in age from the elderly to young children,
coming to see the show, the hall was crowded with overseas Burmese," Kyaw
Soe said, adding that the event was able to further publicize the Burmese
issue as the organizers briefed reporters and correspondents, who were
waiting outside the cinema hall, on the situation in Burma.

____________________________________

February 4, Democratic Voice of Burma
Solo demonstrator in solitary confinement

U Ohn Than, a solo demonstrator currently detained in Insein prison, has
been placed in solitary confinement and denied family visits after writing
a letter about poor living conditions inside the prison.

Ma Ei Ei Maw, daughter of the 61-year-old solo protester, said she was
told by prison officials during a recent visit to the prison that Ohn Than
has been banned from receiving family visits until 9 February.

"They said the letter my father sent violated prison regulations by
leaking information outside and so he has been banned from taking exercise
and receiving family visits," said Ei Ei Maw.

"The restrictions will be lifted on 9 February."

Ei Ei Maw said she is worried for her father, who has been suffering from
hypertension and kidney stone problems.

"I'm worried is will be very cold inside in his solitary cell which will
make his health worse," she said.

Ohn Than was arrested in late August 2007 after staging a solo
demonstration in front of the US embassy in Rangoon against the
government's decision to increase fuel prices.

____________________________________

February 4, Democratic Voice of Burma
Funeral fund’s announcements blocked

The Free Funeral Service Society's announcements in the weekly Ray of
Light journal have been banned by the government censor board, a donor to
the charity said.

The FFSS regularly publish announcements in the journal on funding they
have received from private donors.

The FFSS donor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the office of the
Ray of Light journal told him that the censor board had banned the
publication of any news or media items relating to the charity.

While they did not provide any reasons for the ban, the donor believed the
announcements were being blocked for political reasons.

"It is probably because the actor Kyaw Thu, who is a key figure with the
FFSS, supported monks during September protests as well as providing them
with water and food," said the FFSS donor.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 4, Irrawaddy
Calls to reform exiled government grow - Wai Moe

Debate over the need for Burma’s government-in-exile to reform has become
louder, as elected leaders living in exile prepare to meet for a
conference of the Members of Parliament Union (MPU), scheduled to be held
soon on the Thai-Burma border.

San Aung, of the Washington-based National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma (NCGUB), told The Irrawaddy that some exiled politicians
want the exiled government to reform, and especially to include more
ethnic leaders.

The issue of NCGUB reform has come up repeatedly over the past year. Last
December, delegates of the National Coalition of the Union of Burma
(NCUB), an umbrella organization of exiled politicians and leaders of
ethnic groups based in Thailand, met in the US to discuss the need for
reforms with members of the NCGUB.

“The NCGUB and NCUB met [in Thailand] last March, and at the time, the
NCUB raised the issue of reform and expansion of the exiled government. We
agreed to form a commission to investigate how to improve the exile
movement,” said San Aung.

The meeting between the NCGUB and the NCUB raised a number of issues for
consideration, including the need for unity among exiled politicians. They
also agreed that politicians operating outside of Burma should ensure that
democracy forces inside the country do not object to their work. They also
discussed the advantages of reforming the exiled government, according to
San Aung.

Nyo Ohn Myint, head of the foreign affairs office of the National League
for Democracy (Liberated Area), confirmed that reform of the NCGUB might
be on agenda of the upcoming MPU conference. During the meeting, which
will bring together parliamentary representatives elected in 1990, leaders
will also discuss how to strengthen overseas political activism through
reform of the exiled government.

“Some think the NCGUB reform is needed because it is like a ceremonial
group,” said Nyo Ohn Myint.  “When the NCGUB was founded, they agreed to
include ethnic leaders in the future. So some exiled politicians suggested
the group encourage more ethnic participation.”

Tint Swe, an elected official traveling to Thailand from India for the
meeting on the Thai-Burma border, called the MPU “like a congress of the
exiled government”, and said debate over reform of the NCGUB would be on
the agenda. “But whether there are calls for reform or expansion, the
important thing is to create more unity among exile groups,” he added. He
also rejected criticism of the NCGUB’s role as a lobby group, insisting
that they were making “self sacrifices”.

Calls for reform of the exiled government have intensified recently, led
by the online Burma Digest, which said in an editorial, “Burma [needs] an
all-inclusive government-in-exile to give support to the exile community,
to develop a broad-based consensus on the way forward, to adapt to the
times and work tirelessly in pursuit of the main goal—liberation from
tyranny.”

Some exiled politicians have suggested that Maung Maung, secretary-general
of the NCUB, was behind the push to force the exiled government to include
more non-elected members, as he was leading the Thailand-based group when
it held talks with the NCGUB in the US late last year. He was not
available for comment when The Irrawaddy called to contact him.

The NCGUB is led by Sein Win, cousin of Aung San Suu Kyi, and consists
entirely of members of parliament elected in Burma’s last general
elections in 1990.  However, it currently has only five members. Critics
say that the exiled government has done little to promote a stronger
democracy movement in exile, and expect a reformed government-in-exile
will have a similarly limited impact.

____________________________________

February 4, Reuters
Burmese refugee boat sinks in Bangladesh River

At least one woman was drowned and two others were missing after a boat
packed with refugees from Burma drowned in a river in Bangladesh on
Sunday, a police officer said. "The boat sank due to overloading by
refugees crossing into Bangladesh illegally," he told Reuters from Teknaf
border town, 500 km (312 miles) from the capital Dhaka. Most of the
refugees swam to safety or were rescued by fishing boats after their boat
sank in the river Naf. Despite tightening of security along the border
with Burma, Muslim refugees from its mainly Buddhist neighbour continue to
sneak into Bangladesh. More 17,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees have entered
Bangladesh's southeastern Cox's Bazar district from military-ruled Burma
over the past one year.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 4, Reuters
Burma tourism down - Aung Hla Tun

Tourist arrivals in Burma almost halved in the last three months of 2007
after the military junta crushed popular monk-led protests, killing at
least 31 people, a weekly journal reported on Monday.

The English-language Myanmar Times said the number of foreign visitors
fell 24 percent in October, immediately after the crackdown, and were down
44 percent in the last quarter of the year from the same period of 2006.

"Tourist arrivals during the whole year fell by 8.8 percent in 2007 from a
year ago," Deputy Tourism Minister Aye Myint Kyu, a brigadier-general, was
quoted as saying in an article which gave no further details.

According to the government-run Central Statistical Organisation, 349,877
tourists came to the former Burma in 2006 and arrivals in the first eight
months of 2007 showed a slight increase.

However, the suppression of the monk-led protests, including the secretly
filmed shooting of a Japanese journalist on Sule Pagoda Road in Rangoon,
caused worldwide outrage and led to groups cancelling tours out of fear.

The junta blamed the foreign media and dissident reporters sneaking
footage and pictures out via the Internet for causing the plunge in
arrivals.

"Some foreigners attempted to tarnish the image of Myanmar [Burma] by
posting in the Web sites the photos of the protest walks," Aye Myint Kyu
wrote recently in state-run newspapers under a widely known pseudonym.

"The photos and news of the incidents on the Sule Pagoda Road had a strong
negative impact on the nation's tourism industry," he said of protests in
central Rangoon.

Hoteliers reported occupancy rates down by as much as 70 percent during
the normal year-end high season and were forced to slash rates to attract
visitors.

The monk-led protests in August and September were the biggest challenge
to decades of military rule since a mass uprising in 1988.

The United Nations says at least 31 people were killed in the subsequent
crackdown, in which the junta admits 2,927 people were arrested. Of those
detained, 80 remain in prison, the junta says.

____________________________________

February 4, Independent Mon News Agency
Burmese agents make piles of money for getting passports done - Lawiweng

Agents in Burma making passports in Rangoon are into a thriving business
as more and more people continue to migrate to other countries seeking
jobs.

Every day about 800 people register for passports at the Burmese Embassy
said an agent. The agents get Kyat 80,000 for getting one passport done.

"We can say this generates good income in Burma " said an agent.

"This is my apartment. I own three apartments designed like offices for
making passports" he said.

"This is how good the business is making agents wealthy and allowing some
to own three apartments. He has seven computers on the first floor for an
internet café. He has a mobile phone and a car. It seems he is rich" said
a youth who just applied for a passport.

"Most agents have a nexus with the police in the passport office. Many
people queue up in the office. Those who don't want to stand in line go to
the agents. The agents just go to the passport officer's room and the
police help them" said the youth.

The application forms are filled by the agent and the applicants are just
sign the form. "Agents bribed the police in front of me," he said.

According to the law in Burma , the junta does not allow agents to get
passports done and after applying, one has to wait for six weeks to get
it.

However, there are many women and men agents and if the applicant needs
the passport quickly, one can bribe 400,000 kyat to the police, said the
agent.

According to the youth, two policemen were standing at the door and
checking people who entered the office. The office was full of people.
There was no space in the sitting room as more than 100 applicants were
waiting for the senior police officer to sign on the form.

Burma has 54 million people. Most people applying for passports are
between 20 and 30 years of age. They are from different parts of Burma .
Many of them go to Malaysia and Thailand .

The Burmese junta's economic mismanagement has led to massive unemployment
and poverty. Hundred thousand of people move to other countries for work
every day.

____________________________________
DRUGS

February 4, Narinjara News
Yaba dealers sentenced to life

Maungdaw: Three yaba dealers were sentenced by a district court in
northern Arakan's Maungdaw Township on Thursday to 20 years in prison for
attempting to smuggle yaba tablets to Bangladesh, reports a lawyer from
the district court on condition of anonymity.

He said, "The verdict was passed down to them by the Maungdaw district
court on Thursday, but another two individuals were released
unconditionally."

The yaba dealers from Maung Ni Village located on the outskirts of
Maungdaw were arrested with 800 tablets in their possession at the
beginning of last year. They were arrested by police as they were crossing
the Naff River from Burma to Bangladesh in a row boat.

After their arrest, the three confessed that the tablets did not belong to
them, but to the owners of two drug stores - Zaw Win and Har Chai - in
Maungdaw. They told police officers that they had been paid to transport
the drugs. The police later arrested the two drug store owners.

Yesterday, the court released the drug store owners unconditionally
because they were not arrested with tablets in their possession, while the
three smugglers were sentenced to long prison terms.

The lawyer said, "It is not a fair application of the verdict, because the
court only sentenced the three poor people to long prison terms, while the
other two rich people who owned the drugs were set free."

After the verdict was handed down, rumors began to spread in Maungdaw that
the judge was bribed with a large sum of money by the two drug store
owners to be released unconditionally, a local source said.

The sentence handed down to the three men is the first drug conviction and
jail term by the Maungdaw district court since constable Thein Win was
sentenced to 18 years in prison for his involvement in smuggling yaba to
Bangladesh last year.

In the western border town of Maungdaw, the arrest and sentencing of drug
dealers is usually even because many people are involved in the business
of smuggling yaba to Bangladesh.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 4, BBC Burmese Service
Burmese in Singapore gather for 'Rambo'

More than 600 Burmese in Singapore gathered yesterday to see Rambo movie.

In the movie, a retired Rambo ventures into Burma to rescue a group of
Christian aid workers who were kidnapped by a ruthless local infantry
unit.

A special cinema hall was hired and all 600 tickets were sold, said Ko
Kyaw Soe of the Overseas Burmese Patriots group, which organised the
event.

The filmgoers, most of them wearing red T-shirts to honour those involved
in Burmese democracy movements, stood and sang the national anthem at the
beginning of the film, and the crowd clapped for 80 seconds at the film's
conclusion, he said.

____________________________________

February 2, Newkerala.com
India playing constructive role in Myanmar's national reconciliation:
Ibrahim Gambari

The United Nations (UN) special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, has
said that India, as a member of the group of friends, has been playing a
constructive role in persuading Myanmar towards national reconciliation.

After meeting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday, he
said that the international community was looking forward to a peaceful
and stable Myanmar.

He said: "We want a peaceful, prosperous and stable Myanmar, that is
moving along the path of democratization with full respect of human rights
of its people. These goals we share, and pursuing the strategies for
this."

"There are lot of conversations going on between India and Government of
Myanmar. We think right messages are being conveyed on behalf of Secretary
General. But, we now want to see all of that lead to tangible results, in
terms of an all-inclusive national reconciliation process, faster process
to democracy with full respect for the human rights of its people,"
Gambari added.

Myanmar had seen a large number of Buddhist monks protesting in the
country in October last year, calling for democracy and an end to the
military government.

The international community including the United Nations had condemned the
use of force by Myanmar authorities against pro-democracy demonstrators
staging the biggest anti-junta protests in 20 years.

The crackdown prompted criticism even from China and condemnation from the
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a
member.

India shares a 1,645-km border on its east with Myanmar and relations
between the neighbours go back centuries to the time Buddhism was born in
the subcontinent and spread across the region.

Although New Delhi initially supported Nobel laureate Aung Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy, it changed its strategy in the early 1990s
to court the military regime in what is seen as an effort to counter
China.

India has invested in developing ports, building roads and railways and is
also competing with Beijing for Myanmar's oil and gas reserves. India and
Myanmar have also exchanged several high-level visits in recent years.

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=19028

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 4, Mizzima News
New Zealand opposition slams government over Burma link

New Zealand's opposition National Party said Prime Minister Helen Clark's
claim that telecommunications company Kordia's work on cell phone towers
in Burma contributes to democracy is unrealistic and fanciful.

Murray McCully, a spokesperson of the National Party, in a statement
released today said that Prime Minister Clark and the ruling Labor Party
is making excuses for the fact that a wholly-owned government company is
conducting work in Burma, whose military government is criticized as one
of the most brutal, and repressive regimes in the world.

According to the statement, Kordia, an Auckland-based telecommunications
company, is working with Thai firm ALT Inter Corp. to install
mobile-telephone towers in Burma.

In an interview with New Zealand's TVNZ, Clark said the government-owned
company is not trying to conceal its contract with Burma and believes that
the work is contributing toward democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.

"The job was worth $80,000. It was something to do with putting up towers
for cell phones. Now quite frankly I think that is probably aiding
democracy in Myanmar, not a step back from it because one of the ways of
getting news out to the world ... is precisely through that technology,"
Clark was quoted as saying.

However, the National Party said the Prime Minister's claims are
ridiculous and are inconsistent with the government's policy on Air New
Zealand carrying Australian troops to Kuwait and sanctions against Fiji.

"All of the evidence that New Zealanders have seen on their television
screens shows that the Burmese government is not interested in democracy,"
McCully said.

"It would be hard to find a regime with a more despicable track-record,"
McCully added.

The Burmese military junta attracted world-wide condemnation in September
last year when it brutally cracked down on massive, peaceful protests,
which had started on a much smaller scale in August over sudden fuel price
hikes.

The United Nations says at least 31 people have been killed and more than
70 people went missing during the crackdown. But activists say the death
toll and arrests are much higher.

McCully said Kordia's work for the Burmese government agency - Myanmar
Post and Telecommunications – is against New Zealand's policy not to
assist undemocratic regimes around the world.

Burma, which has been ruled by military dictators since 1962, has
maintained a tight grip on communications and the flow of information –
tapping telephone lines, filtering the Internet – in an effort to stop
anti-government movements.

Despite the tight grip, dissidents inside Burma were able to effectively
use the Internet and telephone lines to provide information, images and
even video clips of the latest demonstrations in September, shocking the
world with the junta's brutal actions against protestors.

Following the junta's violent suppression of protests led by Buddhist
monks, the Burmese regime was internationally condemned and several
countries and organizations, including the United States and European
Union, further tightened economic sanctions on the generals.

"New Zealanders expect their Government to show fairness and consistency
in conducting foreign policy. Neither fairness nor consistency is being
shown here," McCully said.

____________________________________

February 2, Associated Press
Top US Diplomat in Myanmar wants international pressure on Junta for
reforms - Grant Peck

Fresh international pressure is necessary to push Myanmar's military
rulers toward reform because the momentum for change after last year's
demonstrations has been lost, the top U.S. diplomat in the country said
Friday (1 Feb).

The appeal by Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in
Yangon, followed signs that the ruling junta was again stepping up
repression of dissidents.

It also came after Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi said Wednesday (30 Jan
) she was dissatisfied with the progress of her reconciliation talks with
the junta, and cautioned the public to "hope for the best and prepare for
the worst."

Myanmar's crisis attracted world attention when Buddhist monks last
September began leading anti-government protests, the biggest in two
decades. At least 30 people are believed to have been killed when the
government suppressed the demonstrations, and thousands detained, though
most have since been released.

Under pressure from U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, the junta
appointed a "Minister for Relations" to talk with Suu Kyi, but their few
meetings have borne no results, and junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe has
made no further moves toward reconciliation.

"I think everybody hoped that there was genuine will on the part of Than
Shwe and his senior generals to begin a real dialogue, and what is
increasingly evident is that they have no intention whatsoever in engaging
in a genuine dialogue," Villarosa said in a telephone interview with The
Associated Press in Bangkok.

Earlier this week, lawyers working with the pro-democracy movement said
that about two dozen members of the 88 Generation Students group, whose
small protests against a fuel price hike mushroomed into last September's
massive demonstrations, would face trial. They are charged with making
illegal statements and could face up to seven years in prison if
convicted.

Last week, human rights group Amnesty International said the ruling
military had continued to arrest political activists, despite its promise
to the United Nations that it would halt arrests following September's
demonstrations.

Amnesty International said 1,850 political prisoners were behind bars,
including 96 imprisoned since early November when the government told the
world body it had stopped all arrests.

Villarosa said it was crucial for Myanmar's fellow members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, along with its giant neighbors
China and India, to push the junta to open up to dialogue and
reconciliation with its opponents. The U.N. also needs to be involved, she
said.

____________________________________

February 4, Reuters
Sylvester Stallone challenges Myanmar junta - Michael Winfrey

Not satisfied with slugging it out with Myanmar's military government on
celluloid in his latest "Rambo" film, Sylvester Stallone wants to go there
and confront the junta face-to-face over human rights.

Stallone, who said he was gearing up to make a fifth and final installment
in the blood-and-guts series, told Reuters that media reports of his film
becoming a bootleg hit in the former Burma, and an inspiration to
dissidents, was a pinnacle in his movie career.

"These incredibly brave people have found, kind of a voice, in a very odd
way, in American cinema... They've actually used some of the film's quotes
as rallying points," Stallone, 61, said in a telephone interview.

"That, to me, is the one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film."

Residents in Yangon told Reuters this week that police had given strict
orders to DVD hawkers to not stock the movie -- named simply "Rambo".
Locals said fans had "gone crazy" over lines in the hero's brusque dialog
such as: "Live for nothing. Die for something."

In the film, Vietnam War veteran John Rambo -- best known for mowing down
enemies with an M60 machine gun in the 1980's -- comes out of retirement
in Thailand to save a group of Christian missionaries from a sadistic
Myanmar army major.

Stallone said that, rather than make a film about Iraq or Darfur, he
focused on a lesser-known crisis before Myanmar suddenly grabbed the
spotlight in September when the military junta crushed a pro-democracy
campaign led by Buddhist monks.

Officials put the death toll from the crackdown at 15, but diplomats and
aid groups say it is much higher and some media have reported hundreds --
or thousands -- were killed.

"People finally got the idea of how brutal these people are," said Stallone.

INVITE ME, PLEASE

Stallone's movie specifically focuses on the Karen tribe of eastern
Myanmar. UK-based Christian Aid says the Karen and other groups have
suffered half a million cases of forced relocation and thousands more have
been imprisoned, tortured or killed.

Many ethnic rebel groups have fought Burmese governments for more autonomy
since independence from Britain in 1948. Stallone said he was in
communication with some, and several former freedom fighters acted in the
movie.

And he hopes the film can provoke a confrontation.

"I'm only hoping that the Burmese military, because they take such
incredible offence to this, would call it lies and scurrilous propaganda.
Why don't you invite me over?" he said.

"Let me take a tour of your country without someone pointing a gun at my
head and we'll show you where all the bodies are buried... Or let's go
debate in Washington in front of a congressional hearing... But I doubt
that's going to happen."

"Rambo" opened last month second in north American box office returns to
the ancient Greek warrior spoof "Meet the Spartans", making $18.2 million
in its first week.

Stallone said he was happy with what he described as "the bloodiest, R
film (for) a generation" and hoped to make another.

"It will depend on the success of this one, but right now I think I'm
gearing one up. It will be quite different," he said.

"We'll do something a little darker and a little more unexpected."

(Editing by Matthew Jones)

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 4, Wall Street Journal
Burma's most wanted - Leslie Hook

"We did not reach final victory. We were defeated in the middle of our
struggle," says the young Burmese monk sitting in front of me. "It will be
very hard to have another demonstration."

He should know. Ashin Kovida chaired the impromptu committee that
organized last year's democracy protests in Rangoon, Burma. The marches,
sparked by an economic crisis, brought more than 100,000 people to the
streets to demand democracy and the release of political prisoners,
including opposition leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The
ensuing crackdown left at least 31 civilians dead, and thousands more
beaten or jailed.

The protest leaders -- Mr. Ashin included -- fled for their lives.
Exchanging his monks' robes for civilian clothes and a crucifix necklace,
Mr. Ashin hid in a shack outside Rangoon for several weeks. After he made
it over the border into Mae Sot, Mr. Ashin holed up in a safe house,
leaving only to be shuttled to occasional meetings or interviews. Finding
a safe venue for our meeting proved a challenge. We agreed I'd wait in my
hotel for a phone call from a "friend," who would tell me how to proceed.
"There are many different kinds of people at your hotel," Mr. Ashin said.
"Maybe not safe."

When our agreed interview time passed, I worried if he'd been snagged by
the Burmese spies trawling this town. An hour later, there was a soft
knock on my door. When I opened it two men scuttled inside: Mr. Ashin, a
skinny 24-year-old in flame-colored robes, and Kyaw Lin, a friend and
interpreter. The monk looked horrified when I shook his hand, averting his
gaze. It was only afterward that I realized this violated his vows not to
touch a woman.

Mr. Ashin had no special preparation to become a freedom fighter. Born in
1983 in a village near Ann, a town in the eastern state of Arakan, he
joined a monastery at age 12. His parents were poor farmers, and they sent
him, their second son, to become a monk at the nearest monastery so that
he could get an education. He lived there until 2003, then moved to Nan Oo
monastery in Rangoon to pursue further monastic studies.

Meanwhile, his country was falling into grave disrepair. Since the junta
took power in 1962, the generals have stripped the country for their own
personal gain through a combination of brutal oppression, ethnic wars and
a standing army of more than 400,000 soldiers. Today it is difficult for
most citizens to obtain basic food and clothing. Per capita GDP is around
$300, in league with the world's poorest countries.

Political activism in this environment is difficult, at best. But monks in
Burma have a tradition of being involved. Their daily alms rounds keep
them in touch with citizens' lives, and their vows require them to act for
the well-being of their community. In 1988, when students and citizens
took to the streets to protest for democracy, the monks marched alongside
them. Those demonstrations ended with the massacre of several thousand
demonstrators.

But the way he tells it, Mr. Ashin's activism wasn't originally part of a
national movement; rather, it evolved from a grass-roots level,
organically. After several monks were beaten during a Sept. 5 protest in
Pakokku, a city in central Burma, Mr. Ashin and his fellow monks were so
outraged that they printed and distributed pamphlets demanding an apology
from the government. Mr. Ashin says he spent Sept. 10-13 wandering the
streets of Rangoon with a bag full of pamphlets, distributing them to
major monasteries.

"We demanded that the government apologize" for what happened in Pakokku,
Mr. Ashin explains. "If there was no apology by Sept. 18, then the monks
would take to the streets. On Sept. 18 there was no response. On Sept. 19,
my colleagues and I thought we needed an organization to organize the
protests and keep them on the right track."

Thus the Sangha (Monks) Representative Committee was born. The committee
was composed of 15 volunteer monks, aged 24-28, who had met each other
during earlier protests in August and September. "Everyone was invited,"
Mr. Ashin says. "I did not even know the names of the others -- most of
them used nicknames for their security."

Mr. Ashin was elected chairman, and the committee agreed to meet every
morning at the East gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda -- Burma's holiest shrine
and the temple from which Ms. Suu Kyi addressed her followers during the
protests of 1988.

"The committee was there to control the demonstrations and make sure they
were peaceful," he tells me. They wanted "just to help the people, and to
show how much people are suffering. The monks did not have any political
objectives. We want for people to have a right to fight for power...the
monks just paved the way for them."

Unlike 1988, the monks had new tools available to help their cause.
Cellphones and the Internet played a crucial role in enabling the
protests, and in alerting the outside world. All of the recent arrivals I
met in Mae Sot, including Mr. Ashin, said they used Gmail chat ("gtalk,"
they call it) to keep in touch with their friends and family inside Burma.
Yahoo! is blocked inside Burma.

To avoid confrontation with the government, the organizing committee asked
people to display only the "sasana," a Buddhist flag used in religious
ceremonies. The committee also ensured that monks, who gather alms in the
morning for food, could forgo that duty to join the marches. "All classes
of people joined together to prepare food," he says, adding that famous
Burmese actors and models pitched in, too.

It was a grass-roots movement from the start. Mr. Ashin says none of his
colleagues were members of any political groups. No one on the committee
had contact with Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) until
the party asked the committee for permission to display its flag, he says.

A few days after the committee formed, representatives from the NLD and
some student political groups did ask. And so the yellow phoenix -- a sign
of NLD unity during 1988 -- was displayed on the streets of Rangoon once
again. The committee also allowed public speeches on Sept. 25.

For the military junta, that was a step too far. That night, the first of
a series of brutal midnight raids on monasteries began.

The next morning, only seven of the 15 committee members showed up, Mr.
Ashin says. As people came out to march, they found that the military had
cordoned off the areas around Shwedagon Pagoda where they usually met.
Disjointed groups began to coalesce, and Mr. Ashin said he found himself
in the midst of about 300 people surrounded by walls and riot police.

Mr. Ashin remembers that as a dark afternoon. He received several blows to
the stomach before he scaled a wall to safety. "The monks and students
started throwing stones at the security forces. There was a violent mood.
[People from the committee] tried to convince people to stop and not be
violent."

Across the rest of Rangoon similar scenes played out. In some places
soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators, and day's end saw dozens dead
or wounded.

On Sept. 27, the committee couldn't meet at all. Some people tried to
continue the protests, but a massive security presence resulted in further
violent clashes. That night, Mr. Ashin went into hiding.

The government didn't forget about him, though. State-run newspapers
carried his photograph and labeled him a "fake monk." The junta's English
mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar, accused him of being responsible for
48 cartridges of TNT found buried near a residence in Rangoon.

Contrary to the regime's propaganda, Mr. Ashin says he was completely
unconnected to the Burmese governments-in-exile that have sprung up in
Thailand. He left Rangoon without a backup plan and arrived in Mae Sot
with a single phone number, of a man he had never met.

Mr. Ashin is clearly devastated by what he perceives as the "defeat" of
the protests. Most of his disappointment is directed not at his fellow
Burmese. "If the MPs had been actively involved, then our demonstrations
could have changed something," he says. "It is a great loss for our
struggle. But they were just watching and waiting."

Four months after the demonstrations Burma has largely fallen off of the
world's radar screen. The U.S. and the EU were quick to implement tighter
economic sanctions on the regime after the protests, but neighboring
China, Thailand and India have avoided putting pressure on the regime. The
U.N. Security Council issued a statement "strongly deploring" the use of
violence.

The situation on the ground in Burma is every bit as dire now as it was in
September, and many say it is getting even worse, as fuel and food
shortages continue.

The Monks' Representative Committee reorganized in several cities in Burma
earlier this year with 50 new members. They've pledged to protest again
this month if the government doesn't take action for political
reconciliation. But with leaders like Mr. Ashin out of the picture and the
junta on the lookout, it's difficult for them even to meet.

Mr. Ashin says he will be relocated to the U.S. soon. He wants to continue
working to bring change to Burma, but isn't sure how he will do so from a
distant shore. Step one will be improving his English, so that he can tell
the world what is going on.

Ms. Hook is an editorial page writer for The Wall Street Journal Asia.

____________________________________

February 1, Wall Street Journal Asia
How to deal With Burma - Jared Genser

It's been four months since Burma's military government brutally
suppressed peaceful democracy protests, and one thing is clear: There's no
incentive for change. This sentiment was most poignantly expressed
Wednesday by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who told supporters to
"hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

What's needed now is firm action from the United Nations -- action that is
long overdue. After briefing the Security Council on Burma on Jan. 17,
Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari evaded reporters' questions about the
regime's brazen stall tactics. He even suggested the junta's denial of his
request to visit last month was not a revocation of its "standing
invitation" to him, but really just a question of timing.

One would have hoped Mr. Gambari might feel some sense of shame at having
been played by the regime yet again. Almost two years ago, in a memorable
display of naïveté, Mr. Gambari declared the regime appeared ready to
"turn a new page" in its relations with the international community. Days
later, the generals extended opposition leader Ms. Suu Kyi's house arrest
for another year.

Even when the U.N. has acted, it's mostly been at America's urging. After
a strong State Department push in 2006, the U.N. Security Council finally
voted to place Burma on its agenda. A subsequent measure, urging a
transition back to democracy, was vetoed by China and Russia and opposed
by South Africa, which all claimed the situation was not a threat to peace
and security in the region. Yet all seemed to change during last fall's
Saffron Revolution and subsequent crackdown. In October, the Council
issued a unanimous statement of condemnation and a demand for action. And
then: silence.

The cold hard truth is that Mr. Gambari's mission has failed. Burmese
leader General Than Shwe has seen many a special envoy come and go with
similar rhetorical flourish. What is a required now is a concerted effort
to increase the pressure on the regime and force it to the table. Greater
financial and other sanctions by the U.S. and European Union were a good
first step. But much more needs to be done.

First, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should immediately travel to
Burma and tell the junta that the U.N. will no longer tolerate
intransigence. Mr. Ban should also recommend further action by the
Security Council if real progress is not achieved. The first concrete test
of the regime should be the immediate release of Ms. Suu Kyi and other
political prisoners.

Second, the U.S., the EU, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
should urge China to follow India's lead and immediately halt arms sales
to Burma. China has sold billions of dollars of arms to prop up the
Burmese dictators and forestall the installation of a democratically
elected government. Beijing should be held publicly accountable for its
actions.

Finally, like-minded governments should coordinate their sanctions
programs to ban banking transactions with top Burmese leaders, as well as
state and private entities that support the government's weapons trade.
There are no easy answers to restoring democracy to Burma. But the U.N.
secretary-general and Security Council must not turn a deaf ear to
countless Burmese people who courageously demanded a restoration of
democracy to their country during last fall's protests.

Mr. Genser is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and lecturer at
the University of Michigan Law School.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

January 31, National League for Democracy
Statement of National League for Democracy (Unofficial Translation)

Non violent and peaceful demonstrations by monks and laymen that occurred
in August and September of 2007 resulted from the colossal increase in the
price of fuel imposed on the people by the authorities causing a great
leap in the cost of every commodity and the cost of transport.  The people
have been stretched to breaking point.

The authorities and their paramilitary groups brutally responded with
excessive force, gun fire, tear gas and batons, attacking and assaulting,
kicking and beating up demonstrators and even onlookers.  Without legal
authority the Swan-ah-shin (Dare Devils) and USDA (Union Solidarity and
Development Organisation) arrested monks and laymen in violation of
Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states
interalia that no person should be arrested or taken into custody without
proper legal authority.

Furthermore, many so arrested have not been charged or brought to trial in
any judicial proceedings nor have they been released.  This is in
contravention of Section 61 of the Criminal Procedure Code which
explicitly states that those taken into custody must be presented in a
court of law within 24 hours and Section 81 which requires that detainees
be brought before a court of law without delay.

We have been informed that non-convicted prisoners and convicted prisoners
are housed in the same premises in violation of the Prisons Act Section 27
(3) and Regulation 415 (3) of the Prisons Manual which require that
non-convicted prisoners be separately housed from prisoners that are
convicted and serving sentence.

We have also been informed that in the NLD Vice Chairman and Secretary of
Taungdwingyi Township, Magwe Division were taken into custody with their
hands manacled behind their backs and are held in this position all day
except when they are given their meals.  Regulation 397 of the Courts
Manual clearly states that it is not desirable that persons arrested be
bound with manacles, ropes or chains.  The authorities appear to be
disregarding all legal regulations and requirements.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 5 states that punishment
should not be brutal or of an undignified nature. However, we have learnt
that when prisoners are returned to the Insein jail from the courts, they
are bodily searched in a rough and brutal manner to hurt and shame them.

The Prisons Act, Section 37 (2) requires the Chief Jailor to immediately
report to the Medical Officer when any prisoner requires medical attention
and to appropriately adjust the set schedules of prisoners who have
medical problems in accordance with the medical officer’s instructions. We
have been informed that these provisions are not adhered to because
prisoners are not given proper and adequate medical attention.

Therefore, to bring about national reconciliation the NLD urges the
authorities to immediately adhere to the political slogans which are being
advertised daily:-
•	the establishment of the “rule of law” as set out in the laws of the state
•	the adherence to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which the
state is a signatory.

Central Executive Committee
National League for Democracy
Mo. 67B West Shwegondine Road
Baham Township, Rangoon