BurmaNet News, September 19, 2008

[Editor]

September 19, 2008 Issue # 3560


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Monks gather in Sittwe to mark anniversary of boycott
Irrawaddy: Suu Kyi appeal to be lodged next week in Naypyidaw
Reuters: Myanmar gives labour activist hard labour
KNG: Kachin military officials kick off 2010 election campaign

ON THE BORDER
Christian Science Monitor: Activists put Burma's grim jails on display

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Myanmar and India sign hydro deal: report

HEALTH / AIDS
Mizzima News: Acute scarcity of food leads to diseases in Chin State

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: UN should put more pressure on Burma: France
Mizzima News: Credentials Committee of the UN to decide on Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Independent (UK): Penguins and golf in Burma's hidden capital – Helen Beaton
DVB: Far from home: 20 years in exile – Htet Aung Kyaw
Irrawaddy: Where are Burma’s monks? – Min Lwin


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 19, Democratic Voice of Burma
Monks gather in Sittwe to mark anniversary of boycott – Nan Kham Kaew

Sittwe monks gathering in the Arakan capital of Sittwe yesterday to mark
the one-year anniversary of the monk-led Saffron revolution vowed not to
give up their fight against the military government.

About 60 monks gathered in Sittwe yesterday to mark the anniversary of the
start of the nationwide monks' boycott of military officials on 18
September 2007.

One of the monks who attended said representatives from monasteries around
the town had joined the gatherings, which were held in three different
locations in the town, and chanted metta for those who were killed in the
protests.

"We marked the anniversary of the monks' Pattananeikkujana protest in
three different locations in Sittwe today to remember those who were
killed in the crackdown and to show that we Sittwe monks will keep on with
our movement," the monk said.

"We chanted metta today to help our people across the country from falling
into dangerous situations."

He also called for unity and cooperation from monks across Burma in their
protest against the military government.

The monk added that security had been increased in Sittwe with troops
deployed in key positions.

"Security is really tight today – government officials in civilian
clothing are closely watching the monasteries while troops are circling
around in town on military trucks," he said.

Taunggok National League for Democracy joint secretary U Than Hlaing said
authorities had also secured potential flashpoints around the town.

"Barbed wire fences have been put up near important building and positions
in town, such as pagoda compounds, at road junctions and near government
offices," he said.

U Than Myint of Taung Thar township NLD and Daw Myint Myint Aye of
Meikhtila NLD said the security was also tight in their areas, with troops
deployed at road junctions.

____________________________________

September 19, Irrawaddy
Suu Kyi appeal to be lodged next week in Naypyidaw – Lawi Weng

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer said on Friday his
legal assistant will travel to Naypyidaw next week to lodge a formal
appeal against her continuing house arrest.

Suu Kyi’s house arrest was extended in May for a further year. She had
already served five years, and her lawyer, Kyi Win, has said the extension
was illegal.

Kyi Win told The Irrawaddy he would meet Suu Kyi soon to discuss the
appeal, which would be presented in Naypyidaw by his assistant, Aung Myo
Myint.

Kyi Win said Suu Kyi would meet the regime's liaison officer, Aung Kyi,
when her health permitted.

The French news agency AFP reported that Suu Kyi was receiving intravenous
treatment to restore her health. She refused to receive food supplies at
her home for four weeks in what was seen as a protest against the
conditions of her detention.

Last week, the regime relaxed some restrictions, and Suu Kyi agreed to
accept deliveries of food and other household supplies to her home, where
she has been detained for more than 13 of the past 19 years.

____________________________________

September 19, Reuters
Myanmar gives labour activist hard labour

Myanmar's junta has given two years' hard labour to an activist who helped
people, including child soldiers, file complaints about forced labour, the
International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Friday.

The case against Thet Way has become a barometer of whether the former
Burma's ruling generals are serious about stamping out forced labour,
which in some cases means carrying military supplies through guerrilla
conflict zones, rights groups say.

The Geneva-based ILO said it was "concerned and disappointed" at the
sentence, the maximum permissible under the law. It added that it had been
in contact with the military government about the case "at a senior
level".

"The ILO cannot but consider that the sentence imposed is related to Thet
Way's role in complaining on forced labour practices," the United Nations
agency said in a statement.

Under a deal reached between the ILO and Myanmar last year, anybody making
or supporting those making complaints about forced labour should be immune
from prosecution.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

____________________________________

September 19, Kachin News Group
Kachin military officials kick off 2010 election campaign

The Burmese military junta seems to have begun to make its pitch for the
general selections in 2010. Two officials of the regime told about two
hundred people in a meeting with ethnic Kachins in Myitkyina, capital of
Kachin State today, “We suppose you know who you should vote for in the
elections", local sources were quoted as saying.

Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, the ruling junta's Minister of Post, Communication and
Telegraph, and organizer of Kachin State, was accompanied by Northern
Command commander Maj-Gen Soe Win. The two military officers said this to
residents of Pa La Na and Nawngnang villages at the Hall in Trinity Kachin
Baptist Church between 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. local time, said local
participants.

During his 30-minute speech, Minister Thein Zaw said “All in Naypyidaw,
senior-general Than Shwe, vice-senior general Maung Aye, Gen Thura Shwe
Mann and Lt-Gen Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo are in good health and are
working hard for the country together in solidarity."

According to participants, Minister Thein Zaw  added, "Our government
(junta) is working hard for the development of the military, the economy,
education sector, people's prosperity and all sectors for a future
modernized country."

Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win also said, the junta started development
projects in Kachin State since 1994 (when the junta and Kachin
Independence Organization (KIO) signed a ceasefire agreement) and he
strongly exhorted that people avoid foreign intruders and the foreign
rebel media, a participant said.

Maj-Gen Soe Win also mentioned in the meeting that there are now 24
million people out of 56 million of the country's population who are
members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) which
is sponsored by the ruling junta. They are also working hard for the 2010
elections.

By the end of today's 2010 election campaign, Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win
gifted about 300 pieces of books to schools in Pa La Na and Nawngnang
Villages whereas Minister Thein Zaw gifted 1,000,000 Kyat (est. US $ 844)
for the construction of the No. (5) Basic Primary School in Nawngnang
through the village pastor Rev. Ja Gashin Naw Awn, said participants.

Till now this year, Minister Thein Zaw visited Pa La Na village twice and
his trip was jointly organized by village and State USDA leaders, said
participants.

Earlier, the two officials met people in Nan Kwi village in the town, said
local sources.

The junta is steadily gearing up for the 2010 elections in Kachin State by
using USDA members, according to local sources.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 19, Christian Science Monitor
Activists put Burma's grim jails on display – Anand Gopal

Iron shackles lie heaped in the corner. A cement-gray jumpsuit, block
letters emblazoned across the front, hangs from the wall. Wooden chess
pieces, carved by Burmese prisoners, sit nearby.

But this 10-by-10-square-foot room isn't actually a prison cell – the
notorious prisons in Burma (Myanmar) are, of course, off limits to
visitors. Instead, former political prisoners now hiding in Thailand have
built a "prison museum" to expose the conditions inside the detention
centers.

The replica on the Thai-Burmese border re-creates prison conditions, which
curators hope will expose visitors to the plight of political prisoners.

"We have to preserve the memory of the victims of the military regime,"
says staff member and former prisoner Aung Kyaw Do.

The museum – created by a group of former political prisoners called the
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPPB) when it
formed in 2000 – helps raise international awareness of the situation in
Burma, even though it may not alter politics "on a grand scale," says
Nancy Wu, an aid worker with Burma Issues, a nongovernmental organization
based in Mae Sot.

Burma's treatment of political prisoners has drawn widespread criticism
from human rights groups for years. There's little sign that prison
conditions are improving. At least 2,092 political prisoners are being
held in detention centers across the country, according to AAPPB.

Last September's "saffron revolution" – when monks led an uprising against
the regime and the government cracked down – triggered a fresh wave of
arrests and lengthy prison sentences. Authorities arrested over 5,000
people, including 2,000 monks. Though many were eventually released, close
to 200 monks and hundreds of other activists are still being detained.

In August the United Nations special human rights envoy to Burma, Tomas
Ojea Quintana, visited prominent political prisoners in Insein prison, a
complex outside Rangoon that many Burmese consider the country's harshest
facility. They included Kyaw Kyaw, who is serving 20 years for helping
organize a workers' rights seminar during last year's protests, and U
Gambira, head of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance, which was a leading force
in the protests.

At the museum , photos of prisoners who died while incarcerated are
plastered on the walls, alongside drawings and letters written by inmates.
A large map depicts the locations of the 43 prisons in Burma, including
four facilities built in recent years. The centerpiece is an intricate
scale-model of the infamous Insein prison.

A section titled "Lives Behind Bars" details the inmates' daily routine:
They sew, carve trinkets for sale outside the prison walls, or
occasionally do hard labor. Meals usually consist of watery soup made from
fish paste or, when prisoners run afoul of authorities, nothing. Usually
each hall has a pair of buckets that serve as the bathroom for up to a
dozen inmates.

"We want the world to know that human rights abuses are taking place daily
in Burmese prisons," says Mr. Kyaw Do. Like most of the other staff
members, he spent many years incarcerated, including at Insein.

Kyaw Do took part in the democracy protests that rocked Burma in 1988 and
forced the military leadership to schedule elections in 1991. When it
refused to recognize the election results, he and thousands of political
activists were rounded up after expressing discontent.

"I was sentenced to 20 years, even though I didn't even have a defense
lawyer," he says.

In prison, Kyaw Do says he and other inmates had to follow strict rules
and faced torture regularly. "We were in the cell 23 hours and 40 minutes
a day, often in solitary confinement," he says. "At times they put a hood
on me, beat me, and shackled me. Other times I was locked in the sun
room," a metal room on the prison roof that heats up with sunlight.

Kyaw Do was released in 2004. Yet as a former political activist, he
considered himself a marked man, and during last September's uprising he
fled to avoid rearrest. He says he escaped illegally to Thailand and
joined the AAPPB.

Legal entry for Burmese into Thailand is extremely difficult, especially
for political activists, since the government here doesn't want to provide
a launching pad for their work and stoke problems with its neighbor. Most
AAPPB members are here illegally. Their museum is also kept secret from
Thai authorities, and is open mostly to nongovernmental organizations and
by appointment only.

In addition to museum visits, Kyaw Do and his colleagues maintain contacts
with current prisoners inside Burma. Wardens keep political prisoners
separate from common criminals, he says, and they tightly control what
inmates say, see, and hear. "We were not even allowed to say the word
'democracy,' " he recalls. To help prisoners stay connected to the outside
world, AAPPB activists keep in regular contact with inmates' families, who
then pass along news.

Members say that they provide emergency help to some prisoners by
arranging for families to deliver medicine and other provisions into the
detention facilities.

"The military intelligence regularly withholds medical treatment as a form
of psychological torture," says former prisoner Ko Bo Kyi.

AAPPB members say they hope to pass along information about the conditions
of the prisoners to the new UN envoy, Mr. Quintana, and to the rest of the
world. "The regime doesn't want the world to know what it does to its
people," Kyaw Do says. "It's our job to make sure the world knows."

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 19, Agence France Presse
Myanmar and India sign hydro deal: report

Myanmar has signed an agreement with neighbouring India to build two hydro
electricity projects in the northwest of the country, state media reported
Friday.

Myanmar's Hydroelectric Power Department and India's Hydroelectric Power
Corporation Ltd signed the agreement for the construction in Chin state,
which borders India, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

The paper said the agreement called for the building of a 1200-megawatt
dam in Htamanthi and a 600-megawatt dam in Shwesayay.

The deal was reportedly signed Tuesday in the reclusive nation's
administrative capital Naypyidaw during a ceremony attened by minister for
electric power Zaw Min and Indian Ambassador Bhaskar Kumar Mitra.

Myanmar and India share a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border, and the hydro
deal is the latest move signalling expanding ties between the two
counties.

India was until the mid-1990s a supporter of Myanmar's pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi but it has since cultivated ties with the ruling
junta as it sees Myanmar as a key source of energy to power its fast
economic growth.

India was one of the first countries to rush aid to Myanmar after Cyclone
Nargis hit on May 2-3, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing.

Over the past few years New Delhi has pledged hundreds of millions of
dollars to Myanmar despite increasing international calls for the military
government to introduce democracy.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

September 19, Mizzima News
Acute scarcity of food leads to diseases in Chin State – Zalat May

Devastated by rats that destroyed crops from farmlands, the people in
Burma's western Chin State are yet faced with another disaster – health
hazard.

Mizzima correspondent, who since early September visited regions in Chin
state witnesses people in at least five villages of Thangtalan Township
suffering from various diseases including diarrhoea and skin diseases.

About 30 to 50 people in each village in Longkywethe, Longkywepi,
Ngaphaipi, Ngalai and Lailang villages in Thangtalan Township have
suffered from skin diseases and diarrhoea.

"Diarrhoea and skin diseases are rampant in our village. Most children and
adults are suffering from diarrhoea," a public health worker in
Longkywethe village said.

A farmer in Ngaphaipi village said that about 30 villagers are suffering
from diarrhoea and skin diseases.

The cause of these diseases, which seem to be endemic in nature, is
related to acute scarcity of food in the region, a local public health
worker said. Villagers due to scarcity of food are forced to rely on corns
in place of their staple food rice, produced on shifting farmland. This is
causing indigestion and diarrhoea, he said.

"Boiled corn is making us suffer from such ailments. Most children and
elders are suffering from indigestion because of this food. Long time
dependence on such food is also leading to malnourishment," he added.

He also said that at least four villagers have died of diarrhoea and cholera.

The villagers in Ngaphaipi who used to have three meals a day are now
hardly able to scrounge a meal of gruel and boiled corn given the food
scarcity.

A villager from Lailam village which has 160 households said, "Only three
households in our village can afford normal intake of rice. A family in
our village had nothing to eat for three days and two nights in the first
week of September. The village authorities (VPDC) gave them three tins of
rice."

Some villagers who are facing severe financial hardship are fleeing to the
neighbouring Indo-Burmese border regions and some are trying to survive by
selling their domestic animals.

"Thanks to the aid supplies provided by the church community and social
organizations in exile, the villagers in this region are able to survive
in a famine like situation," he quoted an 80-year old from Longkywethe
village as saying.

"We are surviving on the relief supplies being provided by the church
community and other charity organizations in exile. We didn't know what to
do and no one cared about us," the old man said.

The elder added that in 1958, about 30 villagers in Lonekywethe village
died when the bamboo bloomed and rats multiplied after eating the bamboo
flowers leading to famine. Bamboo flowers every 50 years when its life
cycle comes to an end. Rats eat the flowers increasing to their fertility.
The rodents multiply and swarm over cultivated fields devouring crops
leading to famine.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 19, Irrawaddy
UN should put more pressure on Burma: France – Lalit K Jha

Expressing complete dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in Burma, a
top French diplomat said yesterday that United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon should put more pressure on the country’s ruling junta.

Speaking to reporters outside the Security Council at the UN headquarters
in New York, the French ambassador to the UN, Jean Maurice Ripert, also
said that France does not accept the Burmese regime’s unilateral decision
to hold a referendum on a draft constitution in May of this year, to be
followed by a general election in 2010.

“They are trying to get a fait accompli: after the cyclone, let’s go to
the election. No. The process was decided unilaterally and not [in
consultation] with the opposition,” Ripert said, referring to Cyclone
Nargis, which devastated a wide swath of the country a week before the
referendum on May 10.

Ripert also offered conditional support for the diplomatic efforts of
Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy on Burma, who visited the country
last month without achieving any tangible results.

He said that Gambari should continue his “good offices” mission on behalf
of the secretary-general, “but at the same time the secretary-general
should put some more pressure on the Burmese authorities so that they
commit themselves to the five points and to the benchmarks the Security
Council has decided last year.”

The UN Security Council has repeatedly called on the regime to release
democratic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political
prisoners and begin a meaningful dialogue with Suu Kyi’s party, the
National League for Democracy, and ethnic minority groups.

Referring to internal discussions within the Security Council, the French
envoy said he disagreed with those who claim that there has been some
improvement in the situation in Burma.

“I am absolutely unaware what kind of progress,” Ripert said.

“Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest. 
 There is no release of
political prisoners. On the contrary, there are signs that there are still
some arrests going on in Burma. There is no progress vis-a-vis political
dialogue,” the French ambassador said.

Ripert said he wanted to see the Security Council put some conditions on
cooperation with the Burmese authorities and impose a deadline for
political progress. He conceded, however, that his position does not enjoy
majority support in the Council.

____________________________________

September 19, Mizzima News
Credentials Committee of the UN to decide on Burma – Solomon

Burmese opposition groups in exile said the first step towards challenging
the ruling military junta's membership of the United Nations has proceeded
smoothly, as the World Body chief has admitted their petition to the
General Assembly.

"The UN General Secretary has conveyed the message and admitted our
petition to the General Assembly. There has been no rejection. So the
first step is successful," said Myo Win, Joint General Secretary (2) of
the National Council of the Union of Burma, an umbrella Burmese group that
led the campaign.

"The General Assembly has accepted the petition and it will be discussed
by the Credentials Committee," he added.

Burmese opposition groups in exile, including the NCUB, Members of
Parliamentary Union (MPU), and International Burmese Monks Organisation or
Sasana Moli on September 9, submitted a petition challenging the
credentials of the Burmese junta at the world body.

The 63rd UN General Assembly, which began its session on September 16, has
appointed a nine-member Credentials Committee which includes Botswana,
China, Cyprus, United States, Russia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Mozambique and
Saint Kitts, and Nevis on the opening day of the session.

The credential challenge will be first reviewed and discussed by the
committee before taking a decision on it. Only if the committee decides to
put it forward, will it be submitted to the General Assembly for a final
decision.

Myo Win said, "Most of the members from the Credential Committee are in
solidarity with us, except a few countries, so we are optimistic."

"But we know China and Russia will oppose the petition in the committee
but there is no provision for the use of veto power," said Myo Win.

Burma became a UN member state in 1948 and from 1961 to 1971, U Thant, a
Burmese diplomat served as the third General Secretary.

Burma enjoyed a brief period of parliamentary democracy following its
independence from British rule in the period 1948 to 1962.  But in March
1962, the military led by former General Newin grabbed power in a coup and
transformed the country into a socialist state.

But in 1988, Burmese people rejected the socialist form of governance and
ousted Newin and his one party system in a mass protest. But the legacy of
the military went on when the current batch of generals assumed power in a
coup in September 1988.

The junta in 1990 held general elections, where detained opposition leader
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy party won a
landslide victory. However, the junta refused to hand over power and
continued to rule the country with an iron grip.

The Burmese opposition groups in exile, which have launched the credential
challenge to oust the junta at the UN, argue that as the generals have
been forcibly retaining power and have ruled the country illegally,
therefore the UN should review its credential.

"We also hope that this campaign will highlight the sufferings of the
people of Burma," Myo Win said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 19, Independent (UK)
Penguins and golf in Burma's hidden capital – Helen Beaton

A year ago this week, Burma saw its biggest uprising in decades when
Buddhist monks and thousands of civilians poured onto the streets of
Rangoon and Mandalay. But as the world watched, the targets of their fury
were nowhere to be seen. The generals who rule Burma had relocated
hundreds of miles to the north to a new purpose-built capital city
designed to be impervious to protest or invasion.

Welcome to Naypyidaw, a bizarre, white-elephant place populated only by
government employees forced to relocate. Building began after the personal
astrologer of Than Shwe, the head of the notorious Burmese junta,
prophesied unrest in 2005. The superstitious – and paranoid – regime
selected a site in the remote badlands of central Burma and set about
turning their mad vision into bricks and mortar.

Millions of Burmese are still reeling from Cyclone Nargis while rising
food prices push many closer to starvation, but the military rulers are
pumping money into their personal utopia. Sealed off from the rest of the
world, an estimated £2.7bn from the ruby, teak and opium trades is giving
Naypyidaw such luxuries as 24-hour lighting – most Burmese get electricity
for a few hours a day – three golf courses and a zoo, complete with a
climate-controlled penguin house.

Glimpses of the hidden city are rare. There are no international flights.
Foreigners are banned. There is no mobile phone network. To get here,
would-be visitors must take the battered road north of Rangoon. Suddenly
the dirt track becomes a vast eight-lane highway stretching across the
scrub land to the horizon. The highway is weirdly empty, used only by
horses and carts and the occasional, screaming convoy of the junta's
blacked-out SUVs.

The city itself is eerie, a jumble of new buildings spread over scrubland
and linked by yet more wide roads. The government claims that a million
people live here, but apart from construction labourers (widely assumed to
be forcibly employed) and government workers, Naypyidaw is deserted. A few
labourers in dirty sarongs walk past – they smile hesitantly and scurry
away. Further on, we pass a group of women in the white shirts and green
sarongs of the government uniform. They too avert their eyes.

Over everything hangs an unsettling quiet: where most Asian cities bustle,
here there is silence. Along yet another empty road is a half-built
shopping centre, with a huge glass front dusty from disuse. Nearby, a huge
neoclassical building apparently modelled on Wall Street is being erected:
it's the new bank. Other projects are further behind: "Mitsubishi
Electronics Coming Soon!" declares a sign erected at a jaunty angle.
Behind it is an empty field. Along another highway are hundreds of blocks
of flats – there are more than 1,500 across the city. Many are clearly
uninhabited. In an Orwellian touch, they are colour-coded according to the
ministry whose employees they house: blue for Health, green for
Agriculture and Irrigation. Next to them is a police station; outside a
large board asks surreally, "May I help you?"

Than Shwe and his junta have locked themselves away in a fortress within a
fortress, in a closely guarded secret quarter populated entirely by
military leadership. No civilians – let alone foreigners – are allowed
here. Reports say the area is a network of bunkers and luxury houses, from
which the generals rarely venture, emerging downtown only to play golf or
gamble in the specially built five-star hotels.

Even in nearby Pyinmana, a sleepy, poor town a few miles away,
conversation is guarded. What do people here think of Naypyidaw? "They
don't," says one local bitterly. "We just survive day to day." "Than Shwe
is a king, he wants his own palace," shrugs another. "And although he is
king, he is afraid of many things. He thinks that here he will be safe."

He may be right. A year on from the protests, there is little sign of
more. There is no money for an armed uprising, and no organisation to run
it. Hundreds are still in prison and many more are in exile.
____________________________________

September 19, Democratic Voice of Burma
Far from home: 20 years in exile – Htet Aung Kyaw

It was midnight on 19 September 1988, the day that government troops shot
dead at least five demonstrators and wounded many more in Tavoy, southern
Burma.

About 100 university students, young men and women, escaped from the
killing field to my village across the Tavoy river to discuss what to do
next.

Finally, we agreed to go underground to launch an armed struggle. "It will
not take more than 20 days," Tin Lay, chairman of Tavoy district Students’
Union, told his followers before we headed to the eastern jungle where we
hoped to take up arms and fight back against government troops.

But now, we are far from home – 20 years, not 20 days. My life has totally
changed, from 24-year-old university student to rebel leader and now to
exile. Dozens of my comrades were killed on the battlefields while Tin Lay
and others fell victim to jungle intrigue.

There was no opportunity for an independent inquiry so no one knows who
killed Tin Lay and why. But according to a brief report by a former
student from battalion 201 of the All Burma Students Democratic Front’s
Minthamee Camp, Tin Lay and seven students were killed in spy games while
81 were killed on the battlefield.

The ABSDF's official website, www.absdf8888.org, confirmed that account
and said that a total of 992 students were casualties of jungle life; 344
were killed on the battlefield and 394 wounded, while 254 died of disease
or other causes.

After 20 years of fighting, how many are left of the thousands of ABSDF
members now, aside from those 992 martyrs? You can still see a few hundred
in the Thai-Burma border area while thousands of others have resettled in
the West; North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

What are they doing now? Are they still fighting for democracy, the main
reason they left their county in 1988, or are they just enjoying the full
scale of human rights on offer to them in their new democratic homelands?

"This is our individual right!" insisted one of my comrades who has
resettled in North America. "As you know, we fought the enemy for 10 years
in the jungle spending our time wrapped in leaves. Now is the time for my
family," he explained to me.

"We want to continue our struggle wherever we are," another comrade who
resettled in Europe told me. "But we face many regulations here
restricting our political activities. You will face funding cuts from the
government if you are carrying out activities during the week. That why
you only see our activities at weekends," he said sorrowfully.

But another comrade who resettled in Australia and is now a business
graduate suggested focusing on higher education rather than political
activism. "You guys are only focusing on current politics rather than
looking to the future rebuilding of the country. We all need to pursue
higher education as this is what Burma is likely to need once the military
falls," he said.

Although many exiles were students during the 8888 uprising, very few have
completed further education. Not more than a dozen of exiles have gained a
PhD, about three dozen have Masters degrees and about 100 have Bachelor
degrees, while more than 10,000 other exiles have been wrapped up in their
daily lives and have lacked the will or the means to pursue further
education.

However, many former members of the ABSDF, including the three quoted
above, are still sympathetic to the cause and continue to send donations
to their comrades who are fighting in the border areas, as well as to
activists in Rangoon and survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

But the question remains: is this a good enough way for an exile to bring
democracy to their country? Is this what they dreamed of 20 years ago? Do
they believe that these small-scale activities can press the military
regime in Naypyidaw to change the situation in Burma?

No, no one believes that this is the way to change in Burma but they do
not have much choice. If you look back further than 20 years, you will see
another two generations of exiles in hiding. There are members of the
People's Patriotic Party led by former prime minister U Nu in the 1970s,
now exiled in Thailand, India and the West, while hundreds of others from
the Communist Party of Burma are now in China. The period since the
September 2007 Saffron Revolution has seen the latest generation of exiles
leave for Thailand and the West.

To conclude this discussion of exiles and their role in Burma’s politics,
let me quote two different views from leading politicians inside the
country.

"We are in the same fight but in different tactical positions. We
recognise their sacrifices and commitment to the revolution. We also
praise their activities abroad, although we would never think of going
into exile ourselves," said Ko Ko Gyi, a leading member of the 88
Generation Students group who is now in jail after playing a prominent
role in last September’s Saffron Revolution.

But U Lwin, a retired colonel who served as deputy prime minister during
the late general Ne Win's socialist regime and is now a leading member of
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, holds a different view.

"You guys in exile just criticise each other, criticise us, criticise
everyone rather than do your job. If you are brave enough to fight the
military government, please come here, don’t just criticise from thousand
of miles away. Then you will understand the real political situation that
we face here every day."

Htet Aung Kyaw was one of the students involved in the 1988 uprising and
is a former Student Army rebel. He is now working for the Oslo-Based
Democratic Voice of Burma.
____________________________________

September 19, Irrawaddy
Where are Burma’s monks? – Min Lwin

One year ago, Buddhist monks in Burma took to the streets in their
thousands. Today, however, they are either in detention or back in their
monasteries, where they remain under the watchful eyes of the authorities.

Many of the leaders of last year’s uprising—the largest in nearly 20
years—have been imprisoned by Burma’s ruling military regime, which came
down hard on the chanting masses of saffron-robed monks as their growing
numbers threatened to embolden a country that rarely dares to challenge
its rulers.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners—Burma
(AAPP), the junta is now holding 212 monks in its notorious prisons,
including the prominent activist-monk U Gambira, who was arrested last
November after three months in hiding, and U Indika, the abbot of
Rangoon’s Maggin Monastery—one of the focal points of last year’s unrest.

U Indika and another monk appeared at a court hearing in Rangoon’s Insein
Prison today, according to relatives of the detained monks. They are
facing numerous charges for alleged criminal offenses related to their
involvement in the protests.

During the crackdown, monks were shot and beaten by heavily armed soldiers
and riot police. A year later, they are still viewed with suspicion by the
authorities, who have deployed plainclothes security forces to monasteries
and pagodas around the country.

In Rangoon, Burma’s largest city, residents say that only a handful of
monks can be seen near Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma’s most revered religious
site, or Sule Pagoda, another local landmark that attracted huge numbers
of protesting monks last year.

“Riot police have been stationed around all of Rangoon’s best-known
monasteries,” said a senior monk. “There have also been plainclothes
policemen and members of the [pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development
Association] around Ngwe Kyar Yan Monastery in South Okkalapa Township
since three days ago.

“The plainclothes security forces are carefully observing the monks’ daily
routines,” he added. “They are watching for any signs of anti-government
activity, or to see if monks are sending information to the exiled media.
We have to be very careful, especially when we go into Internet cafés.”

Another monk from a monastery near Shwedagon said that there were security
forces posted at every entrance to the pagoda.

“They are guarding it like it’s a prison camp,” he said.

According to pilgrims to the Dhammayone religious hall near Shwedagon,
dozens of plainclothes police have been positioned around the area where
pilgrims gather for Buddhist rites.

“Military intelligence agents without uniforms and police are going around
the pagoda and watching everyone very closely,” said one Buddhist pilgrim.

Meanwhile, in the Arakan State city of Sittwe, dozens of monks were
prevented from gathering at the Gissapa Nadi football field on September
14, according to local monks.

In Rangoon, at least two monasteries have been shut down since last
September’s protests. Maggin Monastery and Thatana Thatepan Monastery were
closed because of their alleged links to the unrest.

“The authorities see Maggin Monastery as a camp for political activists
because one of the leading monks stayed here,” said a monk close to the
monastery.