BurmaNet News, June 11, 2008

[Editor]

June 11, 2008 Issue #3489


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar says detention of democracy leader legal
Reuters: Myanmar junta says Suu Kyi deserves to be flogged
Irrawaddy: WFP forbidden to buy rice from local dealers
Xinhua: Myanmar takes care of cyclone orphans, bans adoption
AP: Foreign aid agencies concerned over Myanmar
DPA: Burma junta claims visas granted to 911 disaster relief workers

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Rice price keeps increasing
AP: Burma says no tax deductions from foreign donations
Mizzima News: Air Bagan to suspend international flights for three months

HEALTH / AIDS
DVB: Remote villagers lacking proper medical treatment

DRUGS
Mizzima News: Top general to resign for son's alleged drug trafficking

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US backs UN rights expert's report on Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
New York Times: The end of intervention
DVB: Constitution and the role of citizens
Mizzima News: Change is hard for military regime
IPS: One million survivors not yet reached




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 11, Associated Press
Myanmar says detention of democracy leader legal

A state-controlled newspaper said Wednesday that Myanmar's military rulers
were breaking no laws by holding pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
under house arrest for a sixth straight year.

The junta's recent decision to extend Suu Kyi's detention by one year
sparked international outrage, with the Nobel Peace laureate's party and
foreign defense lawyers arguing the junta could legally only hold her for
five years.

But a commentary in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said detentions are
permissible for as long as six years under a 1975 "Law Safeguarding the
State from Dangers of Subversive Elements."

Yearly extensions must be approved by the Council of Ministers and then by
the Central Body, which includes the home, defense and foreign affairs
ministers, the newspaper said.

The military regime extended Suu Kyi's house arrest May 27, despite
international pressure to set her free. She has been detained for more
than 12 of the last 18 years at her home in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party denounced the extension as
illegal and urged the regime to open a public hearing on the case.

Party spokesman Nyan Win said he usually doesn't comment on articles
published in state-run newspapers, which constantly attack the country's
pro-democracy movement without allowing a response.

But he said the article's explanation of how it was not illegal to hold
Suu Kyi for another year "is legally wrong. The law says that detention
period should be a total of five years."

Nyan Win declined to elaborate because the party will submit an appeal and
fight the case in court if allowed to.

An American lawyer hired by Suu Kyi's family to push for her release also
condemned her continued detention as illegal.

"The Burmese junta's extension of Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest in clear
violation of its own law comes as no surprise," Jared Genser, the lawyer,
said at the time. "Adherence to the rule of law is not their forte, and
the junta remains deeply concerned about her appeal to the Burmese
people."

How the opposing sides interpreted the same 1975 law differently could not
be immediately explained.

The junta also came under fire from the international community for
initially refusing to allow urgently needed foreign aid workers to enter
areas of Myanmar to assist in relief and recovery in areas devastated by
Cyclone Nargis.

____________________________________

June 11, Reuters
Myanmar junta says Suu Kyi deserves to be flogged – Aung Hla Tun

Myanmar's military junta said on Wednesday that detained opposition leader
and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi deserved to be beaten like an
errant child for threatening national security.

Seeking to justify the 62-year-old's latest stretch of house arrest, now
in its sixth year, official newspapers said Suu Kyi and other detainees
had been in contact with and had received cash from rebel guerrillas and
foreign governments.

"Due to the crimes they have committed, they well deserve flogging
punishment as in the case of naughty children," the papers said in Burmese
and English-language editorials thought to reflect the thinking of the
junta's top brass. The editorials added that the government was behaving
like the "parent of the people" and exercising "great patience".

It detained Suu Kyi and others "in order that they will not be in a
position to commit similar crimes again", they said.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won more than 80 percent of
seats in a 1990 election, only to be denied power by a military that has
ruled the former Burma since a 1962 coup.

As the daughter of independence hero Aung San, she exercises enormous
personal political clout in the nation of 57 million. It is largely out of
fear of this that the ruling generals have kept her in some form of
detention for nearly 13 of the last 19 years.

The newspaper commentaries also sought to explain the specific security
law under which Suu Kyi is being held, but they failed to clarify whether
the extension of her detention order on May 27 was for six or 12 months.

The papers also cited Singapore, Malaysia and the United States as
countries which had laws to "prevent those who pose danger to the state".

(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Alex Richardson)

____________________________________

June 11, Irrawaddy
WFP forbidden to buy rice from local dealers – Violet Cho

An official from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has
confirmed that the Burmese government has told the food relief agency that
it will no longer be permitted to buy rice from local dealers to feed
survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

“This is an issue that has come up, so we are preparing to import rice,”
said WFP spokesman Paul Risley. He added, however, that the agency would
“need to receive notification and approval from the government” before it
could begin to import rice.

According to Risley, the WFP’s operations in Burma currently have only
enough rice left to last another six weeks. The UN recently said that
cyclone survivors in the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta could need food
assistance for as long as a year.

Due to severe damage to rice fields and lack of farming supplies, many
farmers will not be able to plant rice in time for this year’s monsoon
season.

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, about 200,000
hectares, or 16 percent, of the delta’s total 1.3 million hectares of
agricultural land were severely damaged in the cyclone and would “not be
available for planting this season.”

As UN aid agencies express concern over possible food shortages in the
coming year, the Burmese military government continues to deny that the
country is facing a serious problem.

On Wednesday, Soe Tha, the minister for national planning and economic
development, described rumors that the country’s rice supplies were
inadequate as “groundless.”

“Some organizations were spreading groundless information such as there
was or would be a shortage of rice in Myanmar [Burma],” he was quoted in
the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper as saying.

“The rice output in the storm-affected areas in Ayeyawady [Irrawaddy] and
Yangon [Rangoon] Divisions made up only 2.3 percent of the nation’s total
rice output. The uncultivable acreage is barely 1 percent of that of the
whole nation,” he added.

Despite such reassurances, however, the regime has cancelled planned
exports this year of up to 600,000 metric tons of rice to Bangladesh and
Sri Lanka.

The WFP has provided more than 11,000 metric tons of rice to
storm-affected communities and all of this rice was bought from local rice
dealers.

Business sources in Rangoon suggested that the government’s decision to
ban the WFP from purchasing rice from local dealers was unjustified.

“The government has a huge reserve of rice as they cancelled rice exports
to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. If the government allowed it, it could be
sold,” said a Rangoon businessman.

Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in early May, killing up to 134,000 people and
leaving 2.4 million destitute.

____________________________________

June 11, Xinhua
Myanmar takes care of cyclone orphans, bans adoption

Myanmar will not allow adoption of orphans left by a recent cyclone storm
by any organizations or any individuals, local weekly 7-Day News quoted
the Department of Social Welfare as saying Wednesday.

Instead, the survived orphans will be jointly taken care by the
government, domestic non-governmental organizations and resident United
Nations organizations, social welfare official U Aung Tun Hlaing, who is
the acting Director-General, told the 7-Day News.

The government will also help find the orphans' survived relatives and
provide education for them up to university or institute level depending
on the orphan's wisdom and skill, the official said.

While accommodating the orphans in cyclone-lesser-hit Maubin and Myaungmya
in Ayeyawaddy division, the government is also building two orphanages in
cyclone-hard-hit Phyapon and Laputta in the same division to each house
300 orphans, the report said, adding that so far there has been 130
cyclone-survived children officially registered as orphans out of an
initially-estimated number of over 500.

A fortnight after the cyclone storm Nargis swept Myanmar, the country's
top leader Senior-General Than Shwe called for setting up orphanages for
children whose parents were killed in the storm as a special program of
the relief work.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has given polio vaccination to 540 cyclone-survived
children under five years of age in relief camps in Laputta with 720
others ranging from 9 months to 10 years of age also given measles
vaccination.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund, of the 2.4 million people
affected by the cyclone storm Nargis, 960,000 or 40percent were estimated
to be children.

____________________________________

June 11, Associated Press
Foreign aid agencies concerned over Myanmar

International aid agencies expressed concern Wednesday over new and
complicated guidelines established by Myanmar's government for carrying
out assistance programs to victims of last month's cyclone.

The guidelines, distributed Tuesday by the government at a meeting with
U.N. agencies and private humanitarian organization, would require a large
amount of paperwork and repeated contacts with national and local
government agencies.

The new guidelines require most activities by the foreign agencies to be
cleared with not only the relevant government ministry and local
authorities concerned, but also with the so-called Tripartite Core Group,
comprising representatives of the government, U.N. agencies and the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nation, ASEAN, of which Myanmar
is a member.

ASEAN helped establish the core group last month as a way of expediting
assistance, though it has no independent authority.

Foreign aid organizations have faced a series of hurdles in trying to
provide help for victims of the May 2-3 storm, starting with the
government's reluctance to grant anything but a handful of visas to
foreign helpers.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month traveled to Myanmar to meet
with the chief of the ruling junta, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, who agreed to
allow aid workers into the affected area "regardless of nationality,"
according to Ban. The general also agreed to allow the U.N. to bring in 10
helicopters to fly supplies to the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta.

Although the helicopters have been allowed in — with some delay — aid
agencies say the government has continued dragging its feet over visa
applications and allowing foreigners access to the most devastated areas.

The government's briefing paper setting out the guidelines complained that
there had been a lack of coordination in aid efforts.

"Where there is no orderly and systematic distribution, it would thus lead
towards duplication and uncoordinated activities should not take place in
aid and assistance rendered to cyclone victims," it said.

Responding to the meeting announcing the guidelines, the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the humanitarian
community was expressing concerns that "additional steps for seeking
approval may unnecessarily delay the relief response."

"The meeting was assured by the concerned ministries that this would not
be the case and that delays would definitely not be a consequence of the
approval process outlined," the IFRC said a report issued Wednesday.

The U.N. estimates that Cyclone Nargis affected 2.4 million people and
that more than 1 million of them, mostly in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy
delta, still need help. The cyclone killed at least 78,000 people,
according to the government.

Although the government says the relief operations have now reached the
post-emergency, recovery phase, aid agencies are concerned that many
people still are lacking necessities.

"What we're concerned about is premature returns to areas where the
services are not yet in a position to be used, to try and make sure we can
reach people the best we can no matter where they are," said Amanda Pitt,
a spokeswoman for the U.N. Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, at a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

France Hurtubise of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies said providing shelter remains a priority. According to
the organization, only 107,000 of some 341,000 households had received
shelter kits, which are supposed to include two tarpaulins each.

Aid agencies project that tarpaulin supplies will fall short of demand in
the coming weeks, in part because of the competing need for such supplies
for victims of China's May 12 earthquake.

On Tuesday, a major operation was launched to assess the needs of storm
survivors in a sign the junta is finally cooperating in international aid
efforts five weeks after the cyclone buffeted the country.

Some 250 experts from the U.N., the government and Southeast Asian nations
— under the leadership of the Tripartite Core Group — headed into the
Irrawaddy delta Tuesday by truck, boat and helicopter for a
village-by-village survey, the United Nations said.

Over 10 days, they will determine how much food, clean water and temporary
shelter the 2.4 million survivors require, along with the cost of
rebuilding houses and schools and reviving the agriculture-based economy.

____________________________________

June 11, Deutsche Presse Agentur
Burma junta claims visas granted to 911 disaster relief workers

Burma's state-run media disclosed Wednesday that the government has issued
visas to a total of 911 foreign disaster relief workers since Cyclone
Nargis hit the country on May 2-3, in apparent effort to counter
criticisms of hindering the aid effort.

"Altogether 911 persons have been permitted to enter the country from 5
May to 5 June," said The New Light of Myanmar, a government mouthpiece.

According to the newspaper, visas have been granted to 458 people working
for the United Nations and non-governmental organisations, 357 to relief
workers from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) and 96
foreigners attending a UN-Asean donors meeting held last month.

Burma's ruling junta drew international criticism for failing to waive
visas requirements for international aid workers in the aftermath of
Cyclone Nargis, that left at least 133,000 people dead or missing and 2.4
million in desperate need of emergency assistance.

A breakthrough of sorts was achieved by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
on May 25 when he met with Burma junta chief Senior General Than Shwe and
won a promise from the autocrat that he would allow "all" foreign experts
to enter the country to assist the aid effort.

Later, the junta clarified that aid workers would be welcome providing
they represented registered agencies that offered aid with "no strings
attached."

While there has been a marked improvement in access since Than Shwe's
commitment, international aid agencies still complain that the process of
being given travel permits to the Irrawaddy delta, the region hardest-hit
by the cyclone, is time-consuming and unsystematic.

There are also complaints about the short duration of many visas and
travel permits.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 11, Irrawaddy
Rice price keeps increasing – Min Lwin

High-quality rice has nearly doubled in price in the wake of Cyclone
Nargis, according to merchants and businessmen at the Bayintnaung
Wholesale Centre, Burma’s largest commodity wholesaler, in western
Rangoon.

A representative from Champion rice warehouses told The Irrawaddy on
Wednesday that Pawsan Mwe, Burma’s highest quality long-grain rice, had
shot up in price since the May 2-3 disaster.

“We used to sell a 38-kilogram bag of Pawsan Mwe rice for about 23,000
kyat (US $20),” he said. “Since the cyclone, the price has increased to
39,800 kyat ($35).”

A rice trader at Bayint Naung said that high-quality rice farms in the
lower delta had been completely destroyed and that rice stocks were also
damaged by the storm and seawater.

The most common seeds of high-quality rice in Burma are Pawsan Mwe, Pawkwe
and Taungpyan, which are traditionally planted in water-retentive depths
in five-month cycles. The Irrawaddy delta was, by far, the most suitable
environment in the country for high-quality rice paddies.

Much of the rice planting in the delta is traditionally carried out in May
and June, before the annual monsoon season. With rice paddies inundated
with seawater and the monsoon rains arriving, farmers in the delta have
little or no time to sow rice this season—or else face six months without
a crop. Normally, the price of rice peaks in August and September.

“No cargoes of rice have arrived from the delta since the cyclone,” said a
rice warehouse owner from Lanmadaw Township.

According to sources at Bayintnaung wholesale centre, there could soon be
a marked rice shortage, forcing the price higher until harvests from the
delta return to normality.

A resident of Rangoon said that people feared a rice shortage and some had
begun to store rice.

A grocer from South Dagon Myothit Township in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy:
“I have no high-quality rice from the delta, so now I am only selling
standard rice from upper Burma.”

Rangoon residents consume an estimated 2 million kilograms, or 60,000
38-kilograms bags, of rice every day. About 75 percent of Rangoon’s rice
comes from the Irrawaddy delta.

Soe Tha, the Burmese Minister for National Planning and Economic
Development, said at a conference in Rangoon on May 25 that US $220.78
million worth of fertilizers, pesticides, plows, paddy seeds and sprayers
had been destroyed by Cyclone Nargis.

He noted that the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation stated that an
estimated 1.9 million tonnes of rice or 2.4 million acres out of a total
of 20 million acres of rice paddy in the entire country—nearly 10
percent—were destroyed by the cyclone and the resulting tidal wave.

____________________________________

June 11, Associated Press
Burma says no tax deductions from foreign donations

Burma's ruling military junta denied reports Wednesday that it was
deducting 10 percent from foreign donations to cyclone victims, saying all
incoming funds were spent on relief efforts.

The state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper said foreign radio
broadcasts had wrongly accused the government of deducting the tax from
donations deposited in the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank.

The state bank, which usually deducts 10 percent from all foreign currency
deposits, has opened special accounts to accept US dollars, euros and
Singapore dollars from which all donations would be fully channeled to
cyclone survivors, the newspaper said.
Organizations and individuals who have misused relief funds sent from
abroad will be punished, it said.

The United Nations estimates that Cyclone Nargis affected 2.4 million
people and that more than 1 million of them, mostly in the hardest-hit
Irrawaddy delta, still need help. The cyclone killed more than 78,000
people, according to the government.

In separate reports, state media said there have been no outbreaks of
contagious diseases in storm-hit areas and that 911 staffers from
international aid organizations and neighboring countries were issued
visas to enter the country between May 5 and June 5.

The junta has been criticized for dragging its feet on issuing visas and,
until recently, not allowing foreign aid workers into the Irrawaddy delta,
where most victims are.

Briefing foreign aid agencies in Rangoon on Tuesday, the government
stressed that all aid deliveries had to be coordinated with Burmese
authorities at both the central and local levels.

On Tuesday, a major operation was launched to assess the needs of storm
survivors in a sign the junta is finally cooperating in international aid
efforts five weeks after the cyclone buffeted the country.

Some 250 experts from the UN, the government and Southeast Asian nations
headed into the Irrawaddy delta Tuesday by truck, boat and helicopter for
a village-by-village survey, the United Nations said.

Over the next 10 days, they will determine how much food, clean water and
temporary shelter the 2.4 million survivors require, along with the cost
of rebuilding houses and schools and reviving the agriculture-based
economy.

____________________________________

June 11, Mizzima News
Air Bagan to suspend international flights for three months – Nem Davies

Air Bagan will suspend its Rangoon-Bangkok flight for three months as of
June 13, according to aviation industry sources.

In an advisory sent to ticket reservation offices, Air Bagan a private
airline owned by a business tycoon close to the military junta, has
communicated that the flight will be suspended until September. No
official reason was given.

"They informed us last week that this flight will be suspended from June
13 to September. We have surrendered the tickets in our hand," Thura,
Ticketing Manager of 'Nice Fare' travel agency told Mizzima by telephone.

Air Bagan flies its Rangoon-Bangkok-Rangoon route twice a week every
Monday and Friday and uses Airbus A 310-200 aircrafts.

The tickets bought will be fully refunded and all the tickets reserved for
the Bangkok-Rangoon flight will be transferred to the state owned 'Myanmar
Airways International' (MAI).

The flight has been suspended due to the significant decline in the number
of travelers visiting Burma, possibly due to increased restrictions on
issuing visas to foreigners and the US economic sanction imposed on the
airline which has made it difficult in procuring spare parts for its
aircrafts among other limitations, Air Bagan Ltd. sources said.

The mass demonstration led by Buddhist monks, the biggest in nearly two
decades occurred in Burma's big cities and troops opened fire on the
protesters in September 2007. The regime has tightened visa issuance to
foreign travellers since then. It has only increased after Cyclone Nargis
lashed Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon division in early May.

Air Bagan Ltd. is owned by Tay Za who is close to the military brass
including junta supremo Snr. Gen. Than Shwe's family.

The US imposed sanctions froze bank accounts of 25 top Burmese generals of
the regime and its 12 crony businessmen on October 19, 2007. Tay Za is
included in this list.

A few days after the sanction was imposed, Air Bagan had to suspend its
Rangoon-Singapore- Rangoon flight.

Similarly, another private airline 'Air Mandalay' suspended its
Rangoon-Chiang Mai-Rangoon flight from June 7 to August 7.

"The airline did not inform us in detail. It just said that the flight
would be suspended until August 7," Rangoon based Air Mandalay staff, who
wished to be anonymous said.

"I think it is due to the declining occupancy rate on these flights unlike
before," he added.

Besides the private airlines owned by the Burmese tycoon, foreign airlines
are also reducing the frequency of their flights to Burma.


____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 11, Democratic Voice of Burma
Remote villagers lacking proper medical treatment – Khin Hnin Htet

Cyclone survivors in 14 small villages in remote areas of Dadaye township,
Irrawaddy division, have had no access to medical treatment for wounds
sustained during the cyclone, aid workers said.

Soe Naing, a private relief worker who has recently come back from the
area, said local villagers had to treat their own injuries due to the lack
of proper medical supplies.

“I saw villagers with wounds from insect bites, with broken shoulders and
ribs, and with bruises on their backs and chests,” Soe Naing said.

“They are just using local herbal medicine to treat themselves. It is
unpleasant to see them.”

Soe Naing and a group of friends collected relief supplies and went to
Danyingone and other villages a few days ago to distribute aid among
refugees.

The villages are located approximately three hours by boat from Dadaye town.

Soe Naing said the health problems were being exacerbated by the
conditions on the ground, with bodies still uncollected around the village
one month after the cyclone hit.

“They haven’t been provided with enough supplies and are currently facing
a shortage of drinking water,” said Soe Naing.

“Their health conditions will get worse if they don’t get access to proper
medical care soon because of the environment they are in.”


____________________________________
DRUGS

June 11, Mizzima News
Top general to resign for son's alleged drug trafficking

Lt. Gen Ye Myint the head of the Special Operation Bureau (1) has been
asked to put in his papers because of his son's alleged involvement in
illicit drug trafficking, sources said.

Military junta supremo Senior Gen. Than Shwe wants Lt. Gen Ye Myint to
resign.

"(Lt. Gen) Ye Myint will go today or soon," a source said.

Ye Mint was once a special representative for Than Shwe in dealing with
ethnic cease-fire groups, including the United State Wa Army, the main
producer of methamphetamine, for volunteer disarmament.

A Mizzima undercover correspondent in Rangoon says the investigation team
is suspecting that UWSA planned to grab a lion's share of the domestic
market in drugs.

Son of Lt-Gen Ye Myint, Aung Zaw Ye Myint was arrested by the police in
last week of May.  Mizzima broke the news on June 5. The crackdown also
netted one of the richest men in Burma, young tycoon Maung Weik and
several celebrities of Burma's film world.

Drugs, a gun, handcuffs and several millions in Burmese currency notes
were seized from the office building of Aung Zaw Ye Myint, the owner of
Yetagun Construction Company after a joint force of the military
intelligence and special police raided his office in Kyi Myin Dine
Township.

"A room full of 1000 Kyat denomination currency notes were found," a
source close to military regime told Mizzima.

Maung Weik, the Managing Director of Maung Weik & Family Co. and a former
Putra Golf champion was arrested as investigations revealed he was part of
the drug ring, said a Home Ministry source.

Maung Weik and Family Co. is undertaking reconstruction work in Kyai Latt
township, one of the Cyclone-affected area in Irrawaddy delta.

However, another source said nothing could be found on Maung Weik and he
was released later. Several film stars, a majority of whom are female,
were also taken into custody but they were said to be on parole.

Film actress Nawaratt, a close friend of Aung Zaw Ye Myint topped the
wanted list. They visited Thailand and Singapore often for alleged drug
trafficking, sources in celebrities circle told Mizzima.

According to the U.S Drug Enforcement Agency reports, Burma is the largest
source of Methamphetamine pills in Asia and it is trafficked not only to
neighbouring countries but also the United States.

Nevertheless, domestically, it is an open secret that several Burmese
celebrities were customers of Aung Zaw Ye Myint for illicit drugs such as
Ya-Ba and Ecstasy. Crystal-methamphetamine, locally known as "Gaung Khar
Say", is worth 50,000 Kyat per tablet in Rangoon.

The two top generals, Than Shwe and Vice-senior Gen. Maung Aye were
reportedly angry with Aung Zaw Ye Myint for his company having acquired an
unqualified contracted road project.

Yetagun Company was awarded a contract by the government for the
Maymyo-Mandalay road project but it was not appropriately constructed and
Asia World Company had to take over and rebuild the road.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 11, Agence France Presse
US backs UN rights expert's report on Myanmar

The United States gave its backing Tuesday to a UN expert's report raising
concerns about Myanmar's recent referendum and called on the military
rulers to release all political prisoners.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also called on the country's
military rulers to uphold their pledge to give international aid access to
victims of last month's Cyclone Nargis, which left 133,000 dead or
missing.

"The US shares the conclusions of the UN human rights monitor in his
sobering report that the referendum on the regime's draft constitution was
far from credible," McCormack said in a statement.

Washington also agrees that the continuing detention of political
prisoners, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, and the condition
under which they are held is "appalling," he said.

"The United States continues to urge the Burmese regime to release all
political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and to begin a genuine
dialogue with democratic and ethnic minority leaders on a transition to
democracy," he said.

McCormack added that Washington shares the conclusions that Myanmar "must
respect the human rights principles of non-discrimination and
accountability in the international effort to assist the victims of
Cyclone Nargis."

The US government remains committed to helping cyclone victims and calls
on Myanmar's regime "to uphold its pledge to UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon to allow international humanitarian workers and supplies
unhindered access to cyclone-affected areas," he said.

"We are concerned that forced relocation of storm victims, absent adequate
access to assistance, will put them at even greater risk."

In a report last week, the UN special rapporteur for Myanmar, Tomas Ojea
Quintana, raised "significant concerns" over the referendum held in the
wake of the devastating cyclone, and called for a public report on the
event.

Myanmar's military rulers had claimed that despite the cyclone
devastation, 98 percent of voters turned out and more than 92 percent
endorsed their charter.

They also claimed that the constitution would clear the way for democratic
elections in two years, but critics believe it would only enshrine
military rule.


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 11, New York Times
The end of intervention – Madeleine K. Albright

THE Burmese government’s criminally neglectful response to last month’s
cyclone, and the world’s response to that response, illustrate three grim
realities today: totalitarian governments are alive and well; their
neighbors are reluctant to pressure them to change; and the notion of
national sovereignty as sacred is gaining ground, helped in no small part
by the disastrous results of the American invasion of Iraq. Indeed, many
of the world’s necessary interventions in the decade before the invasion —
in places like Haiti and the Balkans — would seem impossible in today’s
climate.

The first and most obvious reality is the survival of totalitarian
government in an age of global communications and democratic progress.
Myanmar’s military junta employs the same set of tools used by the likes
of Stalin to crush dissent and monitor the lives of citizens. The needs of
the victims of Cyclone Nargis mean nothing to a regime focused solely on
preserving its own authority.

Second is the unwillingness of Myanmar’s neighbors to use their collective
leverage on behalf of change. A decade ago, when Myanmar was allowed to
join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, I was assured by leaders
in the region that they would push the junta to open its economy and move
in the direction of democracy. With a few honorable exceptions, this
hasn’t happened.

A third reality is that the concept of national sovereignty as an
inviolable and overriding principle of global law is once again gaining
ground. Many diplomats and foreign policy experts had hoped that the fall
of the Berlin Wall would lead to the creation of an integrated world
system free from spheres of influence, in which the wounds created by
colonial and cold war empires would heal.

In such a world, the international community would recognize a
responsibility to override sovereignty in emergency situations — to
prevent ethnic cleansing or genocide, arrest war criminals, restore
democracy or provide disaster relief when national governments were either
unable or unwilling to do so.

During the 1990s, certain precedents were created. The administration of
George H. W. Bush intervened to prevent famine in Somalia and to aid Kurds
in northern Iraq; the Clinton administration returned an elected leader to
power in Haiti; NATO ended the war in Bosnia and stopped Slobodan
Milosevic’s campaign of terror in Kosovo; the British halted a civil war
in Sierra Leone; and the United Nations authorized life-saving missions in
East Timor and elsewhere.

These actions were not steps toward a world government. They did reflect
the view that the international system exists to advance certain core
values, including development, justice and respect for human rights. In
this view, sovereignty is still a central consideration, but cases may
arise in which there is a responsibility to intervene — through sanctions
or, in extreme cases, by force — to save lives.

The Bush administration’s decision to fight in Afghanistan after 9/11 did
nothing to weaken this view because it was clearly motivated by
self-defense. The invasion of Iraq, with the administration’s grandiose
rhetoric about pre-emption, was another matter, however. It generated a
negative reaction that has weakened support for cross-border interventions
even for worthy purposes. Governments, especially in the developing world,
are now determined to preserve the principle of sovereignty, even when the
human costs of doing so are high.

Thus, Myanmar’s leaders have been shielded from the repercussions of their
outrageous actions. Sudan has been able to dictate the terms of
multinational operations inside Darfur. The government of Zimbabwe may yet
succeed in stealing a presidential election.

Political leaders in Pakistan have told the Bush administration to back
off, despite the growth of Al Qaeda and Taliban cells in the country’s
wild northwest. African leaders (understandably perhaps) have said no to
the creation of a regional American military command. And despite recent
efforts to enshrine the doctrine of a “responsibility to protect” in
international law, the concept of humanitarian intervention has lost
momentum.

The global conscience is not asleep, but after the turbulence of recent
years, it is profoundly confused. Some governments will oppose any
exceptions to the principle of sovereignty because they fear criticism of
their own policies. Others will defend the sanctity of sovereignty unless
and until they again have confidence in the judgment of those proposing
exceptions.

At the heart of the debate is the question of what the international
system is. Is it just a collection of legal nuts and bolts cobbled
together by governments to protect governments? Or is it a living
framework of rules intended to make the world a more humane place?

We know how the government of Myanmar would answer that question, but what
we need to listen to is the voice — and cry — of the Burmese people.

Madeleine K. Albright was the United States secretary of state from 1997
to 2001.

____________________________________

June 11, Democratic Voice of Burma
Constitution and the role of citizens – Aung Htoo

The constitution of a country must be directly relevant to the real life
of citizens living in that country. Otherwise, it is just a useless piece
of paper.

The people of Burma have recently suffered the worst cyclone in the
country’s history. Victims have yet to receive effective aid distribution
a month after the cyclone devastated the country because the military
regime has used its absolute power to obstruct international aid. As a
result, a large number of people continue to die and hundreds of thousands
of others continue to bear enormous hardship.

Nine days after Cyclone Nargis struck Burma, a powerful earthquake hit
southwest China with a devastating impact on people’s lives – thousands
were killed, an unknown number of people were buried under rubble, and
buildings were wiped out. But the government of China immediately began
effective relief operations to save the lives of its own citizens, and
also accepted international aid within a few days of the disaster. United
Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon recently congratulated China for its
impressive earthquake relief efforts.

Why did Burma and China respond differently to their natural disasters? It
would be wrong to think it was because the Chinese leaders are kind and
Burma’s generals are cruel. It was instead because of the different
political systems and constitutions in the two countries.

The backbone of China’s political system is the political party. In
particular, the axis of the political system in China is the Communist
Party of China, a very influential political party that was founded in
1921. Under the leadership of the CPC the entire country was organised to
fight against the feudal system and liberated from the yoke of feudalism.

However, CPC leaders recognised that the party had made mistakes when it
led the Cultural Revolution in China between 1956 and 1966. Chinese legal
experts have also remarked that the foundations of rule of law in the
country were destroyed during the revolutionary period. Later, after Deng
Xiaoping’s four modernisation ideologies were implemented in 1974, the CPC
focused on policies related to the rule of law. When the CPC was placed
under the country’s 1982 constitution, the party structure was not the
same as it was during the 1958-61 famine.

Professor Shin Guminh from Shanghai University’s Social Science Department
pointed out that, in the system practised in China, “The country’s
policies are developed by the CPC organisations. Opportunities for public
participation in policy making process are also created. So, first of all,
basic principles for different policies can be found in the speeches and
addresses of CPC Central Committee and Politburo leaders. Second,
government officials compile details of policies in formal written
language and third, the National People’s Congress adopts them as laws.”

Ordinary citizens in China have the rights to participate in CPC’s policy
making process. Government officials have to respect and follow party
policies. After a policy has become a law, all (including the CPC, the
government and the army) will have to obey it. Article 29 of the
Constitution of the People's Republic of China clearly states “all armed
forces belong to the people”; thus, the Chinese army is under the
administration of civilian government and the leadership of the CPC.

The Chinese government had to take care of its citizens when the
earthquake hit the country because a political system was established in
accordance with the constitution, which forced the government to pay
serious attention to the suffering of its own people. Since there was a
strong political party system in favour of civic rule the army would have
to follow policies and implement working programmes adopted by the
people’s party.

A quick study with regard to political systems can also be made of another
of Burma’s neighbours, India.

A strong multiparty system based on democratic principles can be found in
India. The 123-year-old Congress Party is still thriving. The Bharatiya
Janata Party, Congress and Communist parties have taken leading roles in
India’s policy making processes. The Indian army has always been under the
supervision of those political parties.

Both Burma’s large neighbours, China and India, have stability and
economic growth recognised by the international community. It is not
generals who have brought this recognition, but the political parties that
have taken the lead in policy making. They have gained this recognition
due to the long-term establishment of political party systems in their
countries.

Opposition leaders and parties were severely repressed in the period
between 1975 and 1979 when a government led by prime minister Indra Ghandi
ruled India. However, opposition leaders were well protected by a federal
court with independent judiciary power granted by the then constitution.
The people’s political party system is still strong in Indian society.

Unfortunately, there have been problems in the people’s political party
system in Burma since the country proclaimed its independence in 1948. In
1962, the military staged a coup to seize power and the political party
system was destroyed. Later, military leaders founded the Burmese
Socialist Programme Party as a civic party but in reality it was led by
the military. As a result, during the pro-democracy uprising in Burma in
1988, the BSPP was thrown out by people’s power. The National League for
Democracy, a civic party, emerged after the military took power again in
1988 but it has been constantly repressed by the junta. The civic party
has never been able to influence the policies of the military regime.

In this critical and fragile time for the people of Burma after the
cyclone, a handful of military leaders are obstructing the delivery of
international aid, and using the aid shipments that manage to get in for
their own benefit, namely to prolong the military dictatorship.

In fact, tens of thousands of soldiers’ family members and relatives were
among those affected by the cyclone. But neither the civic party nor
ordinary soldiers have had the rights to participate in making policies on
the receipt of international aid. They are not granted the right to do so
because the people’s political party system is still being crushed.
Ordinary citizens and soldiers can give their opinions only when a
people’s political party system is in operation.

The current state constitution written by the military regime will
continue to destroy the people’s political party system in Burma, in
particular due to Article 404, which states, "The aim of a political party
must be non-disintegration of the union, non-disintegration of national
solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty".

A people’s political party system ought to aim to reflect the people’s
political will. Limitations on what kind of political objectives a
political party should and should not have are a means of eliminating the
people’s political party system.

There will be no other country in the world like Burma where political
parties are severely restricted by the governing body under the state
constitution. The first victims of Article 404 will be political parties
linked to ceasefire organisations. Then, the next target will be the NLD.
It’s a fair guess that the NLD will be pressured until the party is
dissolved.

The military regime’s Referendum Commission announced that the state
constitution had been adopted with 92.48% of eligible voters casting their
votes in favour of the charter. It is hard to believe that the vast
majority of the voters supported the Constitution because, in reality,
many of them did not have a chance to read it and many others did not even
see it prior to the referendum. Despite strong domestic and international
criticism, the military regime has adopted its constitution by force
against the wishes of its citizens, and thus it is certain that the junta
will continue along its own path.

The people of Burma will progressively suffer not only from future natural
disasters but also from the severe repression of the military dictators if
the country has to follow the current constitution that does not reflect
the interests of the citizens.

Aung Htoo is the general secretary of the Burma Lawyers’ Council

____________________________________

June 11, Mizzima News
Change is hard for military regime – Htet Win

Ever since I heard a recent comment from a senior minister in the ruling
government, the attitude of the men-in-green has been made clearer to me.

The Transport Minister, who has a close relationship with Senior General
Than Shwe, told a media congregation: "Whatever we do are good things.
Even if and when we have gone wrong, we usually assume it is good. Given
the aging figures within the government, we are incapable of changing our
ways or to take better options. We are ready to die in this way."

All of the leading military personnel and government ministers around the
Senior General concern themselves with a similar mentality. The military
interprets any domestic development as politics. And all of the generals
have reached a stage where they cannot reverse the hellish path of the
country.

The military government's announcement that the first phase of the
country's post-disaster restoration work – rescue and relief – had
finished up to a certain extant, was issued at the cost of the national
interest as a whole but for the benefit of the ruling elite. Since Cyclone
Nargis a month ago, the junta has focused its struggle on offsetting
international involvement in domestic problems, including both the natural
disaster and political crisis. Bluntly put, the regime has been focusing
attention on protecting itself from outside interference.

Meanwhile, the regime is trying to sell the effects of the disaster for
billions of dollars in the name of resettlement and reconstruction
assistance in disaster-hit areas. But any financial commitment by the
international community will only be misused by the ruling generals,
unless the international community is able to organize its own proper
channels for aid.

However the military's third in command, General Thura Shwe Mann,
contradicted the calls for relief money when he stated that the country
had enough financial and material supplies to effectively tackle the
effects of the disaster.

Yet, a few days after his fatuous comment, the government officially made
an announcement that the country was in urgent need of more than $10
billion of international assistance for reconstruction work in the
devastated areas.

Prime Minister General Thein Sein also called for external assistance free
of politics. This announcement came despite the military government
apparently failing to act timely and effectively on the relief of
cyclone-hit areas, preoccupied as they were with assuring passage of their
May 10 constitutional referendum.

Meanwhile, another Burmese military official, a retired brigadier-general
and a minister who is said to be well-versed in both military and global
economic affairs, criticized the way the government has responded to the
international community.

"They (the government) do not know how to properly deal with the
international community over domestic issues, usually coming up with no
flexibility and maintaining a persistently isolationist stance in a
globalized world," he commented.

A former director general with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said
the cause of the general public's severe suffering from Cyclone Nargis
rested with the military government's long-time failure to fundamentally
uplift the country's socio-economic interests.

"The military government has, since it assumed state power about two
decades ago, been unable to manage economic development measures that
would raise the living standard of more than 55 million people who exist
under grinding poverty and hardship," the director general remarked.

Some ordinary people interviewed agreed with the director's comments,
adding that the government also seemed to fear that the general public
would become lively and interested in domestic political changes if their
lives became too easy.

There was yet another recent and revealing instance of how alarmingly
selfish and short-sighted are the senior military personnel. A high
ranking military official with the Northern Military Command said a few
months before the cyclone that Burma had no significant issues to tackle
in contrast to most nations of the world.

And in Kachin State's capital of Myitkyina in late last January, a
military officer with the rank of major-general said, "We must keep on
running our country as [ordered] by the Senior General." He was likely
referring to the seven-step roadmap, which is to be followed as long as
domestic political improvement is not detrimental to the interests of the
governing military elite.

Lastly, a senior writer who was for several years an instructor with the
Defense Services Academy in Pyin Oo Lwin, retorted, "It is sure that the
high-ranking military personnel who presently lead the country do not love
the country and its people."

"They know just the orders from their superiors", said the writer, now in
his eighties, "to ensure that the country continues along a path desired
by the generals."

Any way you look at it, recent domestic events – like the peaceful
monk-led uprising that was crushed last September, the rigged referendum
and the government's intentional neglect of the terrible effects of the
Cyclone Nargis – have proven the military regime incapable of change and
intensified the public's distrust of the military government.

____________________________________

June 11, Inter Press Service
One million survivors not yet reached - U.N. – Marwaan Macan-Markar

Bodies lay amongst piles of debris in the wake of Nargis. U.N. officials
are giving the impression that the world body is making headway in helping
the millions of survivors in Burma’s cyclone-hit Irrawaddy Delta.

Yet, according to the U.N., so far more than one million survivors have
not been reached. Cyclone Nargis killed 130,000 to possibly 300,000 people
and affected 2.5 million to 5.5 million people.

Since the Cyclone Nargis struck on May 3 the military regime in Burma, or
Myanmar, has issued 180 visas for U.N. staffers to enter the South-east
Asian country to help in the relief efforts, according to the U.N.’s
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"There has been some progress," Amanda Pitt, spokesperson for OCHA, said
at a press conference this week in the Thai capital. "But international
staff need more sustained access to the delta."

Others, such as Paul Risley, spokesperson for the World Food Programme’s
(WFP) Asia division, confirmed that more food is getting into the affected
part of the delta. "The WFP has dispatched 11,046 tons of food to Myanmar,
of which 60 percent has reached the people." In addition, a hurdle that
had been placed by the Burmese junta -- preventing the U.N. food relief
agency’s helicopters ferrying supplies -- has finally been surmounted.
"There are 10 WFP helicopters working in Myanmar. One helicopter does
three or four rotations," according to Risley.

But away from the weekly press conferences that offer a progress report on
the U.N.’s work in the cyclone-hit areas, a different face of the world
body emerges. It is one of frustration at the bureaucratic roadblocks
placed in the way of the U.N.’s humanitarian mission.

"It could be described as red tape in the day-to-day operations under
normal circumstances. But in the post-cyclone environment, that red tape
becomes a roadblock in providing aid to people in desperate need," one
disgruntled U.N. official told IPS on condition of anonymity. "It is
intolerable, creating days of unnecessary delays."

This confirms a departure from the commitment Senior General Than Shwe,
the junta’s strongman, made to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon -- to
permit the world body greater access to the delta.

"I have been much encouraged by my discussions with Myanmar’s authorities
in recent days," Ban said at a press conference in Bangkok soon after he
finished his first official visit to Burma in late May. "Senior General
Than Shwe agreed to allow all international aid workers to operate freely
and without hindrance."

Yet, the days since that May 25 disclosure have been anything but what was
promised. It appears the junta intends to grind the on-going international
humanitarian mission down to an even slower pace. A high-level meeting
held in the country Tuesday between the junta’s representatives and U.N.
officials saw new rules of operation released.

Now the U.N. and international humanitarian agencies involved in cyclone
relief have to get clearance from two to three additional ministries.
Among the new ministries roped in to fortify the junta’s bureaucratic wall
is the Commerce Ministry.

These additional hindrances could not have come at a worst time for the
desperate survivors -- already a waterlogged area the size of Austria is
being battered by the first wave of the seasonal monsoon rains.

Among those who will be doubly burdened by the delays in aid delivery are
pregnant women in the delta, raising the fear of more cases of maternal
mortality.

"Many pregnant women have no place to go for delivery," says William Ryan,
spokesperson for the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA). "There are nearly
35,000 women pregnant in the delta, and at least 100 give birth daily."

"These women now have insufficient access to skilled birth attendants,
they face more delays in getting to hospitals or health facilities and
they cannot be sure how long it will be before they are treated even when
they get to such a facility," Ryan said in an interview. "The facilities
have been damaged and access has become more difficult."

"On top of that, their health could have been compromised due to lack of
good nutrition in the past few weeks and the trauma of escaping the
cyclone," he added. "All these will add to the risk when giving birth."

Even before the cyclone, Burma’s maternal mortality rates were grim, some
380 women dying per 100,000 births. "Globally speaking, that is a very
high figure," says Ryan. "One in seven deliveries can be life-threatening
if there are no health facilities."
UNFPA is hoping that a clearer picture of the number of pregnant women who
need help will emerge once an assessment of the affected area is completed
later this month.

The junta, in a concession to international pressure to help the cyclone
survivors, has permitted a team of 250 people -- of which 50 are from the
U.N. -- to spend 10 days visiting the entire affected area to gauge the
extent of damage in order to shape a coordinated relief and reconstruction
response.

This arrangement also includes the participation of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a 10-member regional bloc, of which Burma
is a member. ASEAN, the U.N. and representatives from the junta are part
of a tripartite group formed to direct the post-cyclone aid effort.