BurmaNet News, January 21, 2009

[Editor]

January 21, 2009, Issue #3635


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Monk given 14-year jail term
AFP: Myanmar hopes for policy change from Obama: official
Mizzima News: Nilar Thein's health deteriorates
Mizzima News: NLD member jailed for two years for disturbing officials
Irrawaddy: Obama’s inauguration attracts big interest in Burma

ON THE BORDER
AFP: Thailand refuses to grant access to Myanmar boat people
Narinjara: Security tight on western Burmese border
Xinhua: Myanmar strives for development of cross-border fiber links with
neighbors

REGIONAL
AFP: Myanmar refugees protest alleged UN discrimination

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: EU to give Burma US $52 million in aid
UPI: Australia would consider fishermen asylum
Japan Today: Court revokes deportation order for Myanmar woman

OPINION / OTHER
WSJ: A new government for Burma – Sein Win
Mizzima News: Burma 101 for Obama; Three quarters rights in military
constitution is slavery – May Ng
Jakarta Post: The plight of the Myanmarese



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 21, Democratic Voice of Burma
Monk given 14-year jail term – Nan Kham Kaew

A monk who was arrested following public demonstrations in September 2007
has been sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment by Mayangon township court
for stealing a jade Buddha statue.

U Khaema Sara from Bahan township in Rangoon was found guilty of stealing
the statue and possession of a fake identity card, according to source
close to the case.

"He hadn’t been using fake ID card but he carried it while he was hiding
from the authorities after the September 2007 uprising," the source said.

"After he came back from hiding, he stayed at Shan Kyaung monastery in
Mayangon township and there was a broken Buddha statue made of jade he
sent to a shop in Shwe Dagon pagoda to get fixed," he said.

"He was also accused of stealing that statue after authorities arrested him."

Mayagon township judge Khin Thant Zin sentenced him to seven years for
stealing the statue and another seven years for using a fake identity
card.

U Khaema Sara was originally also charged with defaming the Sasana, but
another source said these charges had been dropped.

"The charge of defaming the Sasana is considered somewhat political,” the
source said.

“We think the court dropped these charges so they could just send him to
prison as a common criminal, so that he could be sent off to a prison
labour camp somewhere."

____________________________________

January 21, Agence France Presse
Myanmar hopes for policy change from Obama: official

Myanmar hopes that new US president Barack Obama will change Washington's
tough policy towards its military regime and end the "misunderstandings"
of the past, a senior official said Wednesday.

The Myanmar government and state media have made no official comment on
Obama's inauguration, but the official said on condition of anonymity that
the country was looking to the US leader to show his "good intentions."

Former US President George W. Bush's administration strengthened
decade-old sanctions against Myanmar while his wife Laura was an outspoken
critic of the country's ruling junta.

"Our two countries' relations have had some misunderstandings in the past
with the Bush administration. Mr Obama needs to study our country's real
situation so that he can change policy," the Myanmar official told AFP.

"There have been many mistakes in the past (in relations between the
countries). We have had misunderstandings. But now we are expecting good
intentions," he said.

The Myanmar official accused Bush of making "one-sided" decisions.

The Bush administration "made decisions one-sidedly without knowing the
real situation on the ground. We hope that US foreign policy will change
for the world," he said.

State-owned daily newspapers carried no comment on the swearing-in of
Obama and there were only a few reports in the papers' foreign news
sections.

But people in Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon, watched the inauguration
ceremony on satellite TV overnight.

"I have never seen anything like this ceremony in my life," Aye Aye, 28, a
university student told AFP after staying up until late to see the event.

"There were so many people and it was very surprising and also
interesting. I do not understand politics, I just watched because of my
interest in the inauguration of the new president," she said.

Myanmar's top leader, Senior General Than Shwe, sent a formal diplomatic
note of congratulation to Obama in November after he was elected but no
details have been released of the rare communication.

Myanmar's opposition pro-democracy party has also cautiously welcomed the
election of Obama, but said time would tell if he could help open up the
military-run country.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and is under economic
sanctions from the United States and Europe over rights abuses and the
detention of pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

____________________________________

January 21, Mizzima News
Nilar Thein's health deteriorates – The The

Family members of Nilar Thein, serving a 65-year prison term, are anxious
about her health on hearing that she has peptic ulcer.

The famous woman leader belonging to the 88 Generation Students is
suffering from peptic ulcer and vomiting almost daily in prison, some
prisoners, who have just been released from Thayet prison, told her family
members. She has not been allowed to meet her family members for over a
month.

"We could not meet her for nearly two months and don't know about her
health condition. Now we are worried about her health after hearing she is
vomiting almost daily. She is said to have peptic ulcer and is being kept
in solitary confinement. We heard about her health through some who have
just been released from prison," her mother-in-law told Mizzima.

It is learnt that her family members will ask the prison authorities for a
meeting with her.

"She has been kept in a cell since her arrival in prison. The prison
doctor saw her but did not treat her. He just advised her to go in for
meditation and tell her beads," said Zaw Lin, who has just been released
from Thayet prison.  Moreover two prisoners were punished and put in
fetters for 15 days for giving her religious books, he said.

Nilar Thein is one of the leading figures among 88 Generation Students and
played a pivotal role in the 2007 saffron revolution. Soon after the
brutal crack down on the saffron revolution, she was on the run to evade
arrest by the junta authorities. She was finally arrested on September 10
by the junta.

Earlier, she was punished twice for her political activities for two
months in 1991 and for nine years in 1996.  Her husband Kyaw Min Yuu
a.k.a. Jimmy is also an 88 Gen Student leader and was arrested on 21
August 2007 along with his colleagues. He is also serving a 65-year prison
term.
____________________________________

January 21, Mizzima News
NLD member jailed for two years for disturbing officials – Ko Wild

A  member of the National League for Democracy, Burma's main opposition
party, was arrested and sentenced to two years  in prison on charges of
disturbing officials carrying out their duty at the behest of the
authorities of the Township Peace and Development Council of Rangoon's
suburban township of South Dagon on Monday.

Thein Soe, an NLD member, was charged under article (189) of the criminal
code, an offence for disturbing officials carrying out their duty, by the
police in-charge of North Dagon police station. He was sentenced by
justice Daw Htay Htay to two years in jail

Thein Soe's wife Khin Moe Moe told Mizzima that her husband had been
actively monitoring the activities of township and police officials and
would frequently intervene if he saw that the officials were corrupt and
were out to suppress the people.

"He protested against the township authorities recruiting child soldiers
and he knew all about the corrupt practices of the police. So, may be that
is why they [the official] wanted to get rid of him," she said.

Thein Soe was informed that he had been charged for disturbing officials
while carrying out their duty since October last year.

Thein Soe, an active member of the NLD, had served as one of the security
and information officers into recording events during the detained Nobel
Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's political tour in upper Burma in 2003.
____________________________________

January 21, Irrawaddy
Obama’s inauguration attracts big interest in Burma – Saw Yan Naing

A Rangoon monk who watched the entire US presidential inauguration on TV
summed up the feelings of countless Burmese when he said afterwards: “We’d
like to see that happen in Burma, but we don’t know when.”

A young Rangoon journalist said: “We want to freely elect our leader like
that, but that’s just a dream.”

Tuesday’s inauguration of Barak Obama as the 44th president of the US
attracted huge interest in Burma.

The unnamed journalist said Obama’s path to the White House had been
followed especially keenly by the Burmese media and intellectuals.

Burmese from all walks of life, however, watched the inauguration on
satellite TV or tuned in to Burmese radios broadcasting from abroad.

Hla Oo, a resident of Mogok in upper Burma, said he believed Obama would
offer more help to Burma’s democracy movement than did his predecessor,
George W Bush.

A businessman in Bogalay in the Irrawaddy delta said he thought Obama was
capable of solving all the problems he faced.

The popular desire for change that swept Obama to power was shared by the
people of Burma, the businessman said.

“We want change,” he said. “Change from a system of military rule to
democratic rule.

“We are fed up with the military regime. We have lived in fear for a long
time. We also want change and liberation.”

Most Burmese opposition leaders expect US support for the pro-democracy
movement to remain strong under Obama’s administration.

Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD), told The
Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “We believe that the US will keep up its support for
human rights and the democracy movement in Burma.”

Some dissidents, however, believe the Burmese people themselves remain the
most potent force for political change.

Aye Tha Aung, chairman of the Arakan League for Democracy, said he didn’t
expect greater support from the US for political change in Burma.

“The most important forces for change in Burma are the Burmese people,
opposition groups and ethnic leaders,” he said.

Ludu Sein Win, a veteran Burmese journalist in Rangoon, said nothing more
than condemnation of the regime could be expected from the Obama
administration.

“I want to urge the Burmese people: Don’t rely on Obama and [UN
Secretary-General] Ban Ki-moon,” Sein Win said. “We must rely on
ourselves.”

Burmese astrologers also watched the inauguration with interest—one of the
best known, San Zarni Bo, predicted that the new US president could face
assassination attempts in 2009, 2010 and 2013.  All attempts would fail,
he said.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 21, Agence France Presse
Thailand refuses to grant access to Myanmar boat people

Thailand's prime minister Wednesday refused to grant UN experts access to
126 boat people from Myanmar, following allegations that the Thai army had
left them to die on the open seas.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dodged reporters' questions on a request
from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to visit the group, and
urged it instead to work with Thai authorities.

"The agency should come and talk to us about how to work together. Our
work together should be based on cooperation and appropriate rules,"
Abhisit told reporters.

"They (the UN) should understand that every country has this problem (of
refugees)," he said, adding that he wanted to discuss the matter with
Myanmar.

Late Tuesday, the UNHCR announced it had asked the Thai government for
access to the refugees to assess their needs.

Spokesman Ron Redmond said 80 of the migrants were being held on Koh Sai
Daeng island off the Thai coast in the Andaman Sea.

Another 46 have been handed over to the Thai military authorities with no
further information on their current location, he said.

Thailand's foreign ministry on Wednesday said it spoke with UNHCR
frequently and may arrange a meeting with agency officials to discuss the
matter further.

Survivors and a human rights group have accused the Thai army and navy of
detaining and beating up to 1,000 members of the Rohingya minority from
Myanmar late last year, before towing them out to sea with little food and
water.

Nearly 650 of the Muslim Rohingya have been rescued in waters off India
and Indonesia.

Some of them told officials that they had been beaten in Thailand before
being set adrift in barges with no engines or navigational equipment.

The spokesman for Thailand's state security body, Colonel Thanatip
Sawangsaeng, said Tuesday the case was being investigated.

He added that the army chief had said that the military "followed
international standards and adhered to humanitarian principles."

Abhisit said he had requested further photo evidence and information from
the navy on Thailand's routine treatment of illegal immigrants.

Foreign ministry permanent secretary Virasakdi Futrakul said neighbouring
countries would be invited to a joint discussion on the Rohingya,
describing them as a "regional problem".

"The ministry will invite ambassadors from Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and
other countries who also have a problem with the Rohingya to discuss the
problem and what kind of measures they use," Virasakdi told AFP.

"The Rohingya people are not only one country's problem but a problem for
the whole region."

____________________________________

January 21, Narinjara
Security tight on western Burmese border

A large number of additional security forces have been deployed around
Maungdaw on the western Burmese border since yesterday, but the reason
behind the deployment remains unknown, said one resident from Maungdaw.

"Many additional security forces have been deployed in our town since
yesterday but we do not know why the authority has deployed them," he
said.

Many armed security forces, including Nasaka, riot police, and police
constables were deployed around Maungdaw while a number of soldiers were
also deployed along the Buthidaung - Maungdaw motor road.

"I think it is an arrangement for a visit of VIP high officials from
Naypyidaw to the western border, but I have never before seen so many
additional forces deployed in our town. All of the people are amazed at
the security forces being deployed in our town," he said.

The authority has also hoisted some small red flags at certain places in
Maungdaw, such as crowded public areas and intersections in town.

A resident from Maungdaw close to government officials said, "Yes, the
authority is preparing the hall of the district office for a public
meeting but I am not sure who will come to our town."

Townspeople in Maungdaw are watching the situation in the town to see what
will happen in the next few days with the security deployments.

The town of Maungdaw is located on the western border and is a key town
for connecting with Bangladesh. Burmese high authorities are now cautious
about the situation on the western border after the Awami League
government was elected in last year in Bangladesh.

According to a local official source, the Burmese authority wants to know
the policy of the current Bangladesh government on Burma because some of
the leaders have supported the Burmese democracy movement and democracy
icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

____________________________________

January 21, Xinhua
Myanmar strives for development of cross-border fiber links with neighbors

Two cross-border fiber optic link projects, Myanmar-Thai's and
Myanmar-India's, in addition to the already-established Myanmar-China's to
boost information link between Myanmar and the two neighbors will be
operational in the next two months as work on the two projects has almost
been completed, according to the state-run Myanmar Posts and
Telecommunications (MPT) Wednesday.

The project has been implemented as part of the information superhighway
network (ISN) project of the six-country Greater Mekong Sub-region
(GMS)-Economic Cooperation.

With the Myawaddy-Maesot cross-border network link as the final phase
completed in last November, the Myanmar-Thai fiber optic link will be put
into service in February, the MPT told media persons.

According to the MPT, the Myanmar-Thai fiber optic link, which is of 10
gigabyte and set up in cooperation with its Thai counterpart, will bring
the country's total gigabyte to 20 after that with China.

The MPT also estimated that the cross-border optical fiber link between
Myanmar and India will be completed and operational by March.

Under the Indian government loan, the project, which worths 7 million U.S.
dollars, started in 2006 December.

The 640-kilometer-long Myanmar-India optical fiber link, which connects
Indian's northeastern border town of Moreh and Myanmar's second largest
city of Mandalay, passes through 6 cities of Tamu, Kampatwa, Kyi Gone,
Shwebo, Monywa and Sagaing.

Along the fiber link, ADSL+2 system with 7,000 lines are being installed
in 80 locations including Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw.

The project was signed between the MPT and the Telecommunications
Consultants India Limited (TCIL) during Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam's
state visit to Myanmar in March 2006.

According to the contract, MPT and TCIL agree to implement SDH/STM 4
optical fiber link between the two cities and the ADSL system.

Earlier in March last year, fiber link between Myanmar and China, built
since April 2007 and involving China Telecom and Yunnan Telecom, was set
up in Myanmar's border town of Muse also as part of the regional ISN
project.

The Myanmar-China fiber optic link was built across China's Kunming and
Myanmar's Muse with its link further extended to reach the commercial city
of Yangon.

The establishment of the fiber optic links between Myanmar and the three
neighbors would not only improve the country's domestic information link
system but also boost the country's information link with other GMS member
countries, experts said, adding that the move would also improve Myanmar's
international telephone service, internet usage and video-conferencing
utilization.

 There are 12 ISN fiber optic links being built across the GMS to boost
information links.

 With regard to the building of the fiber optic link across GMS, a
memorandum of understanding was signed at the ministerial meeting of the
GMS in Laos in 2004.

 The ISN project covers building of a commercialized information and
communication platform in order to launch basic business of chatting,
data, connection of internet as well as distant education, medical
treatment, e-government and e-commerce which will sharply raise the
capacity of the internet to promote the socio-economic development of the
sub-region.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 21, Agence France Presse
Myanmar refugees protest alleged UN discrimination

At least 50 Myanmar refugees demonstrated Wednesday outside the United
Nations refugee agency office to protest alleged discrimination by the
U.N. organization.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, denied the
claim by the action group All Burma Democratic Force.

The protesters, including women and children, held placards saying "We
need better treatment from UNHCR," and "Our future depends on UNHCR."

Anti-riot police were deployed, but there was no trouble.

Aung Kyaw Moe, 37, the protest group's spokesman, said UNHCR officials had
discriminated against some of them.

"They divided us along ethnic group and won't allow some of us to enter
the UNHCR office," he said, saying it was causing ethnic tension among the
various refugee communities.

The UNHCR had said there were about 45,400 refugees and asylum-seekers in
Malaysia, of whom 40,400 are from Myanmar, formerly called Burma.

The majority are Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar's Rakhine state, while the
rest are Christian Chins, Karens and Shan.

The demonstrators in Kuala Lumpur demanded fair treatment from the U.N.
body regardless of ethnicity or religion, especially regarding issues
related to resettlement in third countries.
The U.N. organization said it recognized their frustrations.

"UNHCR's policies towards all refugee groups are nondiscriminatory. We do
our utmost to assist and protect all refugees," said Yante Ismail, the
U.N. agency Kuala Lumpur office spokeswoman.
"The UNHCR will continue to engage different refugee communities to
address their problems," she said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 21, Irrawaddy
EU to give Burma US $52 million in aid

The European Commission will give €40.5 million (US $52.4 million) in
humanitarian aid to Burma this year.

€22 million has been allocated to meet the continuing needs of cyclone-hit
communities in the Irrawaddy delta and €18.5 million is being provided
targeting other highly vulnerable populations, as well Burmese refugees in
Thailand and the Rohingya Muslims who are living in northern Arakan State,
according to a statement.

The €18.5 million relief program for 2009 includes €8.75 million for
highly vulnerable rural people in remote areas along the Chinese and Thai
borders. The main sectors of assistance there will be protection,
water/sanitation, food aid, nutrition and health.

"We have progressively developed a very good cooperation with the
authorities on humanitarian access in the Irrawaddy Delta in the wake of
Cyclone Nargis. The commission will continue advocating for similar
cooperation and access to other parts of the country," said European
Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel.

Cyclone Nargis, which killed an estimated 140,000 people and affected 2.4
million others, severely disrupted key economic activities including
farming and fishing, and significant humanitarian needs remain.

Meanwhile, the head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
says Burmese victims of Cyclone Nargis are in desperate need of help.

Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told Radio Australia the regional
bloc needs to raise another $700m for a three-year recovery program in
Burma, also known as Myanmar.

"The TCG, the Tripartite Core Group, which we established in Yangon in
order to do the day-to-day work in Myanmar overseeing the assistance to
the victims of Cyclone Nargis, they have come up with an estimate that for
the next three years for the recovery effort they would need about $690
million. Now that is a rough estimate, and that is an estimate that has to
be discussed further."

____________________________________

January 21, United Press International
Australia would consider fishermen asylum

Australian immigration officials say it is possible two castaway fishermen
rescued from a floating cooler could seek asylum rather than return to
Myanmar.

The pair continued recovering Tuesday after spending nearly a month
floating in the oversized plastic cooler before being picked up in the
Torres Strait by an Australian border patrol helicopter.

Officials told The Times of London it was too early to tell if the two
would be requesting permission to remain in Australia.

"Obviously if they did raise claims of protection of course they would be
considered," a spokesman for Australia's immigration department said. "Or
if they wanted to return home we'd try to facilitate that as well."

The Times said the rescued mariners were being treated for leg problems
caused by the cramped quarters and otherwise recovering from their ordeal.
____________________________________

January 21, Japan Today
Court revokes deportation order for Myanmar woman

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday granted refugee status to a Myanmarese
female lawyer engaged in pro-democracy activities against her country’s
military junta. Revoking the Japanese government’s deportation order for
the woman in her 50s, Presiding Judge Makoto Jozuka said she would likely
be persecuted if she returns to Myanmar due to her pro-democracy
activities.

The woman has since stayed illegally in Japan and filed for refugee status
in 2004, only to receive a deportation order in 2007. The court,
meanwhile, rejected a request for refugee status from the woman’s younger
sister who worked as a public servant before arriving in Japan in 1997,
stating she has only acted subserviently and indirectly in pursuing
political activities.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 21, Wall Street Journal
A new government for Burma – Sein Win

The Burmese junta's disgraceful nonresponse to Cyclone Nargis last year
called international attention to the direct human consequences of
repressive rule in the Southeast Asian country. Since then, Burma's
economic plight has only worsened. It is time for the political opposition
abroad to present a broader, more coherent alternative for the Burmese
people.

To this end, the legitimately elected representatives of the people of
Burma -- the Members of Parliament from the 1990 elections -- are meeting
in Dublin over the next few days to elect a new government-in-exile. The
convention delegates are motivated by a sense that change in the culture
of Burma's exiled opposition is needed. All are aware that the plight of
Burma's people can no longer be tolerated; the status quo cannot be
continued.

This move is a huge step forward for the multiethnic, multicultural
Burmese people, who have never enjoyed a government that gave all groups
an equal voice. A new government-in-exile should also provide comfort to
Burma's neighbors, who worry about civil unrest when the junta falls.

We sketched out our core beliefs in this month's edition of the Far
Eastern Economic Review, a sister publication of this newspaper. In
Dublin, we call for an inclusive process that will lead to an interim
constitution, taking into account the interests of all stakeholders in
Burma. We also call for the release of all political prisoners; for the
lifting of restrictions on liberties such as free speech and free
association; and for an agreement on a realistic timetable for free and
fair elections in Burma.
We have a vision of a nation-building process for Burma that will create a
federal union with an appropriate relationship between the central
government and the states and regions, ensuring, for example, the
equitable distribution of revenue from natural resources. We support free
trade.

We will also be good regional and global citizens. Our Asian partners need
to become involved in solving Burma's myriad problems by urgently and
effectively pushing for increased dialogue and national reconciliation. We
look to the United Nations to forge a path by which such a dialogue can
take place.

We call on the U.N. Secretary-General to conduct a goals-oriented tour of
Burma as soon as the Burmese generals are prepared to compromise. We
suggest enacting a regional strategy to democratize Burma perhaps through
the Association of South East Asian Nations, overseen by the United
Nations.

Burma desperately needs a liberal, open regime. Even before the global
economic crisis landed, the Burmese economy was being run into the ground
by the current regime's mismanagement and corruption.

Now, the global financial crisis is making a bad situation even worse.
Natural gas revenues -- which account for around 40% of Burma's total
export income -- fell 28.5% in the first nine months of 2008, compared to
the same period last year. Tourism has slowed to a trickle. Unemployment
is spiking.

This isn't just a problem for our country, but for our neighbors, too.
Burma is Asia's second largest opium producer -- behind Afghanistan -- and
a major exporter of synthetic drugs such as amphetamines. Our refugees --
who are fleeing in droves -- are carrying HIV, drug-resistant tuberculosis
and malaria abroad. Today, over 3.5 million Burmese are displaced with
some 10% of the population currently living overseas, one of the highest
proportions in the world.

Our country needs major economic and social reforms that only a government
with popular support can deliver. Yet the national elections scheduled for
2010 will be a parody of democracy. The tricks and thuggery of the
military were instrumental in the passage of the 2008 constitution that
legitimizes military rule in Burma. The same constitution, which mandates
that 75% of the parliament will be civilian -- with the remainder reserved
for the military -- will also ensure a rigged outcome of the elections in
2010.

The nominally civilian Union Solidarity and Development Association and
the Swan-ah-Shin -- pseudo-independent political groups backed by the
government -- are already working behind the scenes to fill the civilian
seats with military lackeys. The resulting government will have little
inclination to address the political or economic concerns of the Burmese
people.

The Burmese government-in-exile has already initiated steps to enable
clusters of Burmese, as well as foreign experts in political, economic,
and other fields, to work on a blueprint for a transition to democracy in
Burma. This presents better, clearer, options for the Burmese people. The
interests of the military are included in this blueprint as well. We do
not want the military to be what stands in the way of Burma's progress.

We look forward to working together in an inclusive new government to show
that Burma can have a better future for its people. And when we return
home, we'll show the international community what Burma should be: engaged
abroad, prosperous and free.

Sein Win is prime minister of the National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma, based in Washington D.C., and a delegate to the Dublin
convention.

____________________________________

January 21, Mizzima News
Burma 101 for Obama; Three quarters rights in military constitution is
slavery – May Ng

When the American Declaration of Independence was famously penned by
Thomas Jefferson in 1776 that, "all men are created equal," the black
African slaves were not included as part of the men who were considered
equal. Section 2 of Article I of the original Constitution of the United
States defined slaves as "three-fifths" of a person for calculations of
each state's official population. And the failure to resolve the issue of
slavery became a bitter factor that contributed to American Civil War
which almost ended the first young liberal democracy on earth.

One hundred years after the 1863 'Emancipation Proclamation' and the 1865
'Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution' prohibiting slavery
officially;-- in 1964, strongest civil rights law in history, the Civil
Right Act banning discrimination based on race, colour, national origin,
religion, or sex was passed.

And now almost fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that, "I
have been to the mountaintop-- and I have seen the promised land,"--a
descendant of an African from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas will
become the most powerful leader in the world, as a president of the United
States.

No longer three fifths of a person, this African American is bearer of the
torch of future hopes for his people and the world at one of the most
turbulent time in history.

Believing that challenges bring opportunities, Obama seems poised to face
the world he inherited. But the plight of Burmese people did not rank very
high in the priority list of the US president even during George Bush's
administration. Even though Burma is not on top of Obama's stack of cards
now, Burma is one of a few George Bush's legacies that Obama cannot
abandon.

During the 2008 terrible Cyclone Nargis in Burma, the Burmese military
leaders ignored international pleas to let in rescuers for over a month.
Instead, the army generals abandoned the appearance of legitimacy, and
triumphantly announced winning of the referendum on military's
constitution.

According to their constitution only military leaders have one hundred
percent right to become leaders of Burma. Everyone else will only have
seventy five percent of the rights to become a political leader of Burma.
This will effectively reduce every Burmese citizen except the military
generals to become three quarter of a person in Burma.

It took Americans, 'the inventors of modern democracy', over 200 years and
many deaths to come full circle and have the courage to elect a great
leader by abandoning fear and racial prejudices.

Today, powerful neighbours of Burma like India, China, and Thailand, by
citing hundred years old British colonialism in Burma, insist that as long
as they are Burmese the cruel military dictators can do no wrong to their
people in Burma. But the 2008 military constitution will enslave the
Burmese people with laws that only allow ordinary Burmese citizen three
quarter of rights.

Obama's presidency should not let hypocrisy cloud the reasoning that "when
foreigners enslave you it is wrong but when your own people enslave you it
is no one's business."

With this on their mind the people of Burma will be welcoming the new
great American president.

(May Ng is a member of Justice for Human Rights in Burma. To view her
poems about Burma, please visit:
http://www.othervoicespoetry.org/vol33/ng/index.html)

____________________________________

January 21, Jakarta Post
The plight of the Myanmarese

After Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar last year, very few in the region took
notice of the continuing plight and suffering of the Myanmarese. It was
overshadowed by other events in the region and in other parts of the
world.

Indeed, after ASEAN's "success" in persuading the Myanmarese junta to
accept ASEAN-led international assistance in May last year, it seems that
many of us uncritically assume that things are back to "normal" in that
country.

The reality, however, is completely the opposite. We are beginning to see
worrying signs that things might have actually gotten worse in the
country.

On Jan. 7, 193 Myanmarese of the Rohingya tribe drifted at sea for weeks
before finally landing on Indonesia's province of Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam. According to one of the refugees, there were about 400 who
left the military-controlled state on the same day (The Jakarta Post, Jan.
10, 2009).

Last week, India's coast guard and navy rescued hundreds of Myanmarese
refugees at sea. However, hundreds of others that left at the same time
have either drowned or are still lost at sea.

Drifting for weeks on the open sea, however, was not the only torment they
faced. They had previously landed on Thailand's island of Koh Sai Daeng.
Instead of rescuing and helping the refugees, Thai navy guards beat them
up before forcing them back to sea (The Straits Times, Jan. 17, 2009).

Instead of treating them as victims of the brutal military regime in their
country, local Thai authorities treated them as unwanted criminals.

ASEAN countries should no longer close their eyes, turn their backs and
ignore the problem. This is not the first time that scores of people have
fled Myanmar.

On Dec. 27 India rescued 107 Myanmarese survivors on the Andaman Sea. In
April 2006, 77 Myanmarese refugees landed in Aceh after drifting at sea
for weeks.

The refugees leave Myanmar for one reason only: They can no longer bear
life in their country. Most of the refugees are Rohingyas - a Muslim
ethnic group from the Arakan state of Myanmar.

This ethnic group, along with many other minorities in Myanmar, has been
subject to severe human rights abuses at the hands of the military junta.
Myanmar even denies their right to citizenship which makes them ASEAN
should no longer hesitate to tell the generals in their luxurious palaces
in Nyapidaw that this is no longer Myanmar's internal affair.

It has gone on too long for ASEAN to tolerate such unacceptable practices
by the junta against its own people. ASEAN should explain to the junta
that when their people flee oppression and end up in other countries, it
becomes a transnational issue.

ASEAN should tell the junta that when a problem becomes transnational and
the business of ASEAN. There is indeed an urgency to explain to the junta
the meaning of the provision on "the protection of human rights" in the
ASEAN Charter.

If ASEAN as an institution cannot do this simple task, then Indonesia
should. If we are really serious as we are proud of being the third
largest democracy in the world, Indonesia should bring this problem to the
ASEAN table.

As a country that has received hundreds of refugees from Myanmar, we have
the right, and indeed the obligation, to tell the Myanmarese junta to stop
persecuting their own people.

We do not need to invoke the fact that the Rohingyas are Muslims. We
should base our response to the problem on universal values of fundamental
rights, justice and humanity.

The Rohingyas, the Karen, the Wa and indeed millions of Myanmarese, are
putting their hope in us, in ASEAN and in the world. We have been too
lenient towards the military junta in Myanmar and that is no longer
acceptable.

The so-calledWay" no longer works in this regard. The attitude of Thai
authorities, which initially denied the ill-treatment against the refugees
until photographic evidence made headlines in the media, needs to be
rectified. Beating up refugees and pushing them back to sea is not an
ASEAN value. The ASEAN Charter, which is celebrated as a magic formula for
a better ASEAN, cannot help millions of Myanmarese.

What could help the plight of the Myanmarese is the willingness and
determination of Indonesia, and other like-minded countries in ASEAN, to
begin serious efforts to find a solution to the problem.

They should begin by asking ASEAN to have a common strategy on how to deal
with a recalcitrant member state.

Indonesia should bring this agenda to the ASEAN summit next month in
Thailand. As for now, let us just hope that someone in our government does
care.


The writer is the Deputy Executive Director of the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies in Jakarta.