BurmaNet News, March 18, 2009

[Editor]

March 18, 2009, Issue #3673


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer demands response from government
RFA: Burma dissident's eyesight 'at risk'
Xinhua: Burmese leader Than Shwe, Chinese army chief discuss military ties

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: KNLA Leaders Still Barred from Mae Sot

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar foreign investment rises sharply in 2008

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Burmese sex workers tested for HIV

REGIONAL
Reuters: Singapore urges Myanmar to reconcile with opponents
AFP: Singapore activists protest tribute to Myanmar PM
Mizzima News: SAARC writers encourage Burmese scribes to continue work

OPINION / OTHER
DVB: Media coverage of the Rohingyans has barely broken the surface –
Francis Wade

INTERVIEW
Aktuálnì.cz (Czech Republic): Generals sure to suffer living hell, says
Burmese monk



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 18, Democratic Voice of Burma
Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer demands response from government – Khin Hnin Htet

The lawyer of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has sent a
second letter to the government demanding a response to an appeal for her
release, five months after the as yet unacknowledged initial demand.

Kyi Win, lawyer of Daw Suu, told DVB the letter had been sent on 13 March,
75 days before the stated end of her house arrest, and demanded a trial in
which to hear the appeal.

“According to Article 19 of the law under which Daw Suu was kept under
house arrest, we have our right for an appeal so we submitted it on 9
October 2008,” said Kyi Win.

“Now, only 75 days have left before the expiration of the detention order,
we still have no response from the government – we take it they are
silently rejecting our appeal.”

Kyi Win said he also requested another meeting with Daw Suu before going
to trial, providing the government agreed to the trial, to push for a free
and fair court hearing.

He added that he expected to hear a response from the government when
Prime Minister Thein Sein returned later this week from his current visit
to Indonesia and Singapore.

____________________________________

March 18, Radio Free Asia
Burma dissident's eyesight 'at risk'

A former student leader who was jailed for his part in the 1988
pro-democracy movement in Burma is in danger of losing his eyesight, his
wife said, after getting a letter from Ko Hla Myo Naung last month.

Ma Aye Aye Mar wrote to prison authorities in the northern city of
Myitkyina requesting medical treatment for her husband after receiving the
letter, she said.

"I received a letter from him saying that one of his eyes was bad. He said
a doctor had seen his eye but the problem is not something that could be
diagnosed just by looking into the eye with a flashlight," she said.

...With one eye already gone blind, he cannot afford to let the other eye
go blind as well."

Ma Aye Aye Mar

"So we don’t know for sure what is wrong. I have only visited him once. I
received a letter about this on Feb. 17."

She said the problem was similar to one he had already experienced in the
other eye, resembling strobe flashes of light from time to time.

"The people there don’t know much," Ma Aye Aye Mar said. "Even in Rangoon
there are only two eye specialists who can treat this kind of ailment."

Eye drops prescribed

"There are no proper medical instruments there either. They just looked at
his eye and prescribed eye drops," she added.

Families of political prisoners requently report that Burmese prisoners
with medical problems face difficulties because their medical records are
not transferred together with them when they are moved to prisons in
remote areas of Burma, a common practise making visits long-winded and
expensive.

Such prisoners miss out on their regular prescription medication and
ongoing medical examinations as a result, and doctors and medical staff at
the new prison often refuse to believe what the prisoners say about their
medical condition in the absence of written proof.

Also at Myitkyina, political prisoner Ko Thein Aye became mentally
disoriented after transferring there, because he was unable to take his
regular medication for amnesia.

Ma Honey Oo, who has heart problems, was not given an electrocardiogram
examination or her regular medication after she was transferred to Lashio
prison from Rangoon's notorious Insein prison without her medical records,
sources said.

And sources close to Ko Kyaw Ko Ko, a prisoner transferred to Taunggyi
with liver disease, said he was having problems after failing to get his
regular prescriptions filled.

Fear of blindness

Ma Aye Aye Mar said she hoped to make a second visit to the Myitkyina jail
at the end of March, although she had received no response to her letter
requesting treatment yet.

"Since he was transferred to Myitkyina, I have not been too concerned with
his other medical problems. He only has two eyes and with one eye already
gone blind, he cannot afford to let the other eye go blind as well," she
said.

"That is why I have made the appeal. I have asked for help but I have not
received a reply as yet. So right now, I don’t know what to do. I will
just see what I can do when I get there."

In a related case, a parliamentary representative serving a sentence in
Mandalay Ohboe jail lost his sight in one eye after failing to receive
treatment. U Than Lwin's eye was injuring after he was hit with a brass
knuckle.

Meanwhile, the family of Ko Pyone Cho, jailed for 65 years for his part in
the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations 790 miles (about 1,250 kms) from his
family home in the former capital Rangoon, said they also had concerns
about his health.

"After hearing that we had arrived in Kawthaung in February but were not
allowed to visit him, he became worried and his blood pressure went up," U
Win Maung said of his son's health.

Conditions basic

"He had to take medication and a doctor took care of him. He had high
blood pressure when he first arrived and this is the second time. His
general health is good. The township medical doctor would visit the prison
regularly and treat the prisoners," he said.

The family visited Ko Pyone Cho following his transfer to Kawthaung prison
in the southernmost part of the country last December.

Conditions inside the jail were basic, with some access allowed to grow
vegetables for food, but political prisoners were kept from speaking to
one another, his father said.

"As for sleeping conditions, they were given a wooden bench and a bamboo
mat on top. But since the weather is similar to that of Rangoon, it was
not too cold and as it would rain in the night, they did not suffer from
the heat too much."

Original reporting by RFA's Burmese service. Burmese service director:
Nancy Shwe. Translated by Soe Thinn. Executive producer: Susan Lavery.
Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah
Jackson-Han.

____________________________________

March 18, Xinhua
Burmese leader Than Shwe, Chinese army chief discuss military ties

Chairman of the Myanmar [Burma] State Peace and Development Council
Senior-General Than Shwe met with Chen Bingde, visiting member of the
Central Military Commission of China and Chief of General Staff of the
Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw
Wednesday.

Than Shwe, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Defence Services,
said China is a trustable friend of Myanmar and the Myanmar-China paukphaw
(fraternal) friendship is long-standing.

The two sides coordinated and were resonant in the international and
regional affairs, and the friendly cooperation in every sector continued
to deepen. Myanmar highly attached importance to and valued the
Myanmar-China friendship, he said, expressing Myanmar's wishes to
continuously consolidate and develop the bilateral friendly ties.

He noted that Myanmar, from independence up to now, has embarked on a road
that conforms to the country's status. However, the Myanmar government and
its people firmly opposed to the interference and pressure imposed upon by
external forces.

At the meeting, Chen said China and Myanmar are friendly neighbours linked
by mountains and rivers and the Sino-Myanmar friendship is genuine and
time-tested.

The friendly cooperation between China and Myanmar was established on the
basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and non-interference
in each other's internal affairs, contributing to the maintenance of
regional peace and stability, and enhancing the joint development, he
said.

He expressed China's wishes to further strengthen the friendly and
cooperative ties between the two countries and the two armed forces,
hoping Myanmar will make new achievements in striving for the stability
and development.

Present at the meeting from the Chinese side were Chinese Ambassador Ye
Dabo and main entourage of Chen, while from the Myanmar side being SPDC
Vice-Chairman and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services and
Commander-in-Chief of the Army Vice Senior-General Maung Aye and SPDC
member and Chief of General Staff of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force
General Thura Shwe Mann.

On the same day, Chen held talks with Shwe Mann and exchanged views on the
international and regional peace status, the relations between the two
countries and the two armed forces and matters of common concern.

Chen, who leads a military delegation, arrived in Yangon on Tuesday on an
official goodwill visit to Myanmar at the invitation of General Shwe Mann.

Myanmar is the first leg of Chen's three-Asian-nation tour, and after
Myanmar visit, he will proceed to Vietnam and South Korea.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 18, Irrawaddy
KNLA Leaders Still Barred from Mae Sot – Lawi Weng

Senior military officials of the Karen National Union (KNU) have not been
allowed to re-enter Mae Sot, Thailand, since Thai authorities forced them
to leave the country on February 25, according to a KNU leader.

Saw David Taw, a member of KNU central executive committee, said that
Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) senior leaders have been denied
permission to re-enter Mae Sot since they were forced to return to Burma.

"Many are worried that they can't ever return to Mae Sot," he said.

The Thai army reportedly told the KNU that the expelled officials must
obtain permission from Thai authorities to re-enter Mae Sot and must not
engage in military activities while on Thai territory.

KNU leaders believe the recent pressure is a result of improved bilateral
trade on the Thai-Burmese border.

Saw David Taw said, "The Thai policy today is different than before. They
don't want us to live on their territory, and many KNU leaders are having
a difficult time."

The KNLA has fought against the Burmese government since 1948. In 1995, it
lost control of its former headquarters at Manerplaw in Karen State. It
later shifted its command centre close to the Thai-Burmese border area.

Since then, the KNU and KNLA have continued to attack Burmese army units
by forming small units and basing themselves in temporary jungle camps
along the Thai-Burmese border.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Burmese government has reinforced
troops in Karen State in preparation for a dry-season military offensive
against the Karen army.

Military sources said that the Burmese junta has deployed more infantry
battalions and a group of armoured personnel carriers (APCs) in Kya Inn
Seikgyi Township, a so-called "black area" in Karen State where the KNLA
is active.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

March 18, Xinhua
Myanmar foreign investment rises sharply in 2008

Myanmar's foreign investment rose sharply by 93.06 percent in 2008,
reaching 974.996 million U.S. dollars compared with 2007, according to the
latest figures released by the Central Statistical Organization.

The organization attributed the sharp increase of the foreign investment
to that added in the mining sector which registered 860.996 million
dollars. Of it, over 855.996 million dollars were injected by China, while
the remaining 5 million dollars by Singapore.

Of the 114 million dollars' foreign investment in oil and gas during the
year, Russia accounted for 94 million dollars, while Vietnam represented
20 million dollars.

According to local report, total foreign contracted investment in Myanmar
has hit 15 billion U.S. dollars in 422 projects up to end of 2008 since
Myanmar opened up to such investment in late 1988.

Of the 29 countries and regions investing in Myanmar, Thailand stood first
with over 7 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Britain and Singapore with
over 1 billion U.S. dollars each, the Union of Myanmar Federation of
Chambers of Commerce and Industry was quoted as saying.

Electric power sector dominated with 6 billion U.S. dollars, followed by
oil and gas (over 3 billion U.S. dollars).

Such sectors as manufacturing, mining, real estate development, hotel and
tourism were injected with over 1 billion U.S. dollars each, while
fisheries and livestock breeding, and transport and communication took 300
million U.S. dollars each, industry estate 100 million U.S. dollars,
construction and agriculture 30 million U.S. dollars each.

Myanmar also received 136.5 billion Kyats' (113.7 million U.S. dollars)
investment from domestic companies in 11 sectors namely -manufacturing,
real estate development, transportation, construction, fisheries and
livestock breeding, mining, hotel and tourism, electric power, industries
and agriculture, local news reports said.

Of these sectors, manufacturing topped the investment with 40 billion
Kyats (33 million U.S. dollars), followed by real estate development (25
million U.S. dollars) and transportation (16.6 million U.S. dollars).

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

March 18, Irrawaddy
Burmese sex workers tested for HIV – Min Lwin

A recent survey of female sex workers in Burma confirms a high incidence
of HIV, threatening a dangerous and potentially devastating epidemic.

The survey was undertaken in six locations in 2007 to examine and test
female sex workers, according to the Rangoon-based weekly journal The
Weekly Eleven News, which quoted statistics from the Ministry of Health on
Wednesday.

The journal reported that 147 of 945 sex workers tested positive for HIV
in six townships: Lashio, Mandalay, Myintkyinar, Taunggy, Rangoon and
Kaungtaung.

The percentages were Lashio, 22.7 percent; Mandalay, 22.6 percent;
Myintkyinar, 17.9 percent; Taunggyi, 14.4 percent; Rangoon, 9.6 percent;
and Kaungtaung. 1.2 percent.

According to an HIV/AIDS Projection and Demographic Impact Analysis
Workshop in September 2007, Burma had 240,000 people, including children,
living with HIV/AIDS.

An estimated 339,000 people were infected with HIV at the end of 2004,
according to statistics from the military government’s National AIDS
Program.

The recent economic crisis and increasing economic woes has led more
Burmese women to turn to the sex industry, say observers.

A volunteer who counsels people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and educates
volunteers in Rangoon said that the majority of female sex workers have
never been tested for HIV, and they have little information about HIV and
sexually transmitted infections.

“Even sex workers who knew about HIV said they can’t use condoms because
their partners don’t like it,” she said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 18, Reuters
Singapore urges Myanmar to reconcile with opponents – Nopporn Wong-Anan

Singapore urged Myanmar's military rulers to reconcile with the opposition
and engage with West, even as the junta renewed a crackdown on
pro-democracy activists.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told his Myanmar counterpart
Thein Sein on Tuesday the city-state would "do what we can" to help the
junta revive ties with the United States and Europe.

"Countries are grappling with the financial crisis, and asking themselves
what is the most effective way to conduct their affairs with other
regions," said Lee, whose People's Action Party has governed Singapore
since independence in 1965.

"We hope Myanmar will seize this moment to take bolder steps towards
national reconciliation and in engaging the international community," he
said in a dinner reception speech.

The junta, which has ruled the former Burma since 1962, has refused to
recognise a 1990 landslide election victory of the opposition National
League for Democracy. Its leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house
arrest for most of the past two decades.

Hours before Lee's banquet speech, an NLD spokesman said Myanmar
authorities had detained five of its members in Yangon last week, but did
not know why. It was the latest in a series of arrests of pro-democracy
activists ahead of an election next year, the last step in the junta's
"roadmap to democracy".

Western governments have criticised the poll as a sham aimed at
entrenching military rule.


WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Lee's remarks came as a U.N. investigator called on the junta to release
more than 2,100 political prisoners and allow them to take part in the
election.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar,
also urged the military to halt its use of civilians in forced labour.

Washington, whose sanctions on Myanmar include freezing assets of the
ruling generals, wants the 10-member Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN), which includes Singapore, to press for reform and
political progress in Myanmar.

But Singapore, a strong U.S. ally and a growing centre for wealth
management, has opposed sanctions on Myanmar and is believed to be home to
the generals' offshore bank accounts.

Lee said resource-scarce Singapore would continue to develop business
opportunities in resource-rich Myanmar, urging the junta to provide a
"stable environment for businessmen to operate in, and take concrete steps
to remove barriers and bureaucratic hassles".

Critics say the junta has turned the "Rice Bowl of Asia" into one of
Asia's poorest nations, but the regime says it is pursuing its own
seven-step "roadmap" to democracy and shrugs off calls for reform.

On Wednesday, Singapore's state-run Botanic Gardens hosted an "Orchid
Naming Ceremony" for Thein Sein, the number four in the junta's hierarchy,
a ceremony that the government traditionally conducts to honour visiting
dignitaries.

Three Singaporeans at the gardens tried to present a bouquet of orchids to
Thein Sein to give to Suu Kyi, and called for her release. Protests are
rare in Singapore and gatherings of five or more people are illegal
without a police permit.

"We feel it would be more fitting for the orchid flower to be honoured in
the name of Miss Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the rightful leader of Burma," the
protestors said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Kash Cheong)
____________________________________

March 18, Agence France-Presse
Singapore activists protest tribute to Myanmar PM – Philip Lim

Singaporean activists Wednesday denounced their government's decision to
honour visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein by naming a new orchid
strain after him.

The premier was given the tribute at the National Orchid Garden, one of
the city-state's tourist attractions, but three demonstrators went to the
nearby Myanmar embassy to register their objections.

Foreign dignitaries are routinely brought to the garden for a
flower-naming ceremony but the activists said the general did not deserve
to have an orchid -- "Dendrobium Thein Sein" -- named after him because of
his government's record.

"As Singaporeans we want to register our disapproval over the naming of
Singapore's national flower, the orchid, after a leader of the despotic
military junta of Burma," said a group calling itself Singaporeans for
Burmese Democracy.

Burma is the former name of Myanmar, which has been under military rule
since 1962 and has resisted international pressure to improve its human
rights record and to introduce democratic reforms.

"We feel that it is more fitting for the orchid flower to be honoured in
the name of (opposition leader) Aung San Suu Kyi, the rightful leader of
Burma," the statement added.

An AFP reporter said Thein Sein signed a symbolic "birth certificate"
officially naming the orchid, one of many new strains constantly developed
in Singapore.

An official press release from the National Parks Board described it as a
"robust hybrid" whose sepals "curl backward and are greenish-yellow
flushed with brown."

After the ceremony, three local activists went to the Myanmar embassy and
unfurled a banner saying "Long Live Aung San Suu Kyi" before leaving eight
orchids dedicated to her, one of them told AFP.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, won general
elections in Myanmar in 1990 but the junta never allowed it to take
office. She has been under house arrest for most of the past 19 years.

Singapore has also named orchids after former South African President
Nelson Mandela, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and former Chinese
premier Zhu Rongji, among others.

____________________________________

March 18, Mizzima News
SAARC writers encourage Burmese scribes to continue work – Salai Pi Pi

The members of the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature has urged
Burmese scribes to continue their work amidst tight restrictions imposed
on them, by their military rulers, saying their solidarity remains with
them.

Ajeet Cour, president of the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature
said, despite the obvious lack of freedom of the press in Burma, writers,
poets and journalists should continue writing to promote literature in the
country.

Cour said Burmese writers should, “never yield before injustice. Stand
firm. If truth is with you, you will win in the end.” She said, the
Foundation supports the struggle of the Burmese scribes.

Speaking to Mizzima, on the sidelines of the 29th SAARC Literature
Festival held in Agra, the city which is home to the Taj Mahal, from March
12 – 17, Cour said, the foundation hopes to include Burmese writers as
members in the future as Burma is culturally connected with South Asia.

The Foundation currently includes, writers from the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries - Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, India and Bhutan.

“We hope that Burma will also become a member of SAARC, as we share the
same civilization that was stretched from Afghanistan to Burma,” she
added.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Samad, poet and professor at the Institute of Social
Welfare and Research in the University of Dhaka of Bangladesh, also
expressed the need for SAARC leaders to connect with Burma as the country
shares cultural connection.

“We have found that there are good relations on trade and investment
between Burma and South Asia countries. At the same time, there should be
also cultural connectivity between Burma and South Asian countries,” Samad
said.

“If Burma can be included in SAARC, we will be able to exchange our views,
we will understand each other better,” he added.

The Foundation, during its 29th literature festival, invited two Burmese
writers – Ju and Nay Win Myint – from inside Burma. However, both of them
failed to attend the festival. But a Burmese poet in exile, along with two
journalists, was able to attend the festival.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

March 18, Democratic Voice of Burma
Media coverage of the Rohingyans has barely broken the surface – Francis Wade

While the world remains shocked by the story of the Rohingya boatpeople
who washed up on Thailand’s shores in January, the media coverage has
failed to open up a discussion on the wider Burmese refugee crisis.

It is a situation that is, to put it politely, being ‘under-reported’; a
classic problem of media hype, when the surface layer of a story is mulled
over again and again without adequately probing the underlying context.

The international frenzy around the Rohingya story has brought the
situation of arguably Burma’s most downtrodden ethnic group to global
attention, and rightly so.

Last week the head of the United Nations refugee agency, Antonio Guterres,
traveled to Burma and met with officials from the governing State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) to “discuss” the issue, and expand
“humanitarian space”. He paid a visit to Rakhine state, home of the
Rohingya, where the UNHCR has offices.

It was Guterres’ first visit to Burma, and comes four years into his
five-year stint as head of the UNHCR. If one could believe that UN
officials prioritized a regional topic by its media notoriety, then he
could be forgiven for not arriving sooner.

Prior to the Rohingya story, coverage of Burma’s broader refugee problem
had been myopic, to say the least, and that is despite the country
suffering one of the worst natural disasters of modern times and a civil
war that has raged longer than any still underway on this planet.

Refugee experts will know that these two factors, and the baggage they
carry, are the biggest cause of forced displacement.

The Rohingya coverage failed to alert the world to the 140,000-odd
Christian Karen refugees who have fled a 60-year conflict with the Burmese
military and are now holed up in camps along the Thai border. They are not
‘newsworthy’ because the cripplingly restricted lives they lead allows few
chances for a spontaneous news flash.

Like the Rohingyas, they fall outside of the government’s political,
social and racial comfort zone, and so are unable go home to Burma. They
are also unable to set foot outside of the camps’ perimeters because they
are illegal persons under Thai law, and thus condemned to a life as
stateless, invisible peoples.

The coverage also failed to highlight another seldom seen extension to
Burma’s refugee crisis.

A report issued last week by The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
found that nearly half a million ethnic Burmese are displaced inside
Burma’s rural eastern regions alone, hundreds of miles away from the
Rohingya spotlight and, consequently, Guterres’ radius.

Karen state alone, which borders Thailand’s northwest region, is where
over 100,000 internally displaced people reside – those who haven’t
managed to find ‘refuge’ in the border camps. Here is where conflict
between the Burmese military and ethnic insurgent groups has been most
acute, and where humanitarian access is highly restricted.

Guterres’ visit has resulted in what seem to be merely cosmetic
compromises from the junta, such as age-old promises of development.
Ironically, these practices, aimed partly at alleviating outside pressure
on the regime, are another major contributor to internal displacement.

‘Development’, in SPDC lingo, carries with it widespread forced labour and
land confiscation. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights in Burma said last year that such practices “drive down incomes to
the point that people have no choice but to leave their homes.” As the
world learnt after Cyclone Nargis, internal displacement inside Burma is
not necessarily the ‘softer option’ compared to those forced to flee the
country.

Burma is almost unique in its level of self-imposed isolationism: few
other countries in the world place such tight restrictions on outsiders –
whether aid workers or journalists, even government officials – accessing
victims of conflict or natural disasters. Little help can reach these
people, and scant details about the scale of the situation can get out,
rendering the problem terminally self-perpetuating.

Guterres’ absence from Burma over the last four years is symptomatic of
this, yet his visit is unlikely to open the window any wider. The Rohingya
issue symbolizes a systematic problem for ethnic Burmese who, solely due
to the star they were born under, are forever tossed about and trampled
on. With domestic Burmese media an outlet only for the most blatant
propaganda, it is the responsibility of international journalists to dig
deeper when the chance arrives; before the junta promises Rohingyans a
‘safe-haven’ back in Burma and the spotlight moves elsewhere.

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

March 18, Aktuálnì.cz (Czech Republic)
Generals sure to suffer living hell, says Burmese monk – Pavel Vondra

Burmese monk Ashin Sopaka recently came to Prague on the invitation of the
One World film festival to introduce one of the strongest human rights
documentaries to be shown here in recent years.

The story of Danish film "Burma VJ" revolves around the work of a group of
undercover video-journalists from Burma who cover the anti-government
street demonstrations that rocked Rangoon and a few other cities in this
military-ruled South East Asian country in August and September 2007.

The revered Buddhist monks took the leading role in the protests, which
became known as the Saffron Revolution for the colour of their robes, and
they also bore the brunt of the crackdown that the junta eventually
unleashed against the demonstrating crowds.

In the interview he gave to Aktuálnì.cz, Ashin Sopaka explains what made
his fellow monks take on one of the most brutal regimes in the world and
how the junta eventually lost its face in front of the Buddhist community:

Aktuálnì.cz: Many people around the world were really surprised by the
sheer size of the anti-government protests that took place in Burma in
September 2007 as well as by the prominent role the Buddhist monks played
in those events. Were you surprised too, given that you had been away from
the country for several years when it all started?

Ashin Sopaka: Of course, when I first saw the pictures of monks marching
in the streets, and how many they were - especially on September 24 and 25
- I could not stop crying because I was so happy. I never imagined that so
many monks would take to the streets and would lead the demonstrations. I
really could not hold back the tears, I was so moved and so happy.

Later, when the regime started shooting at the protesters and the
crackdown began, I became so sad that when my German friends tried to
visit me I had to tell them to leave me alone. I just closed the door and
started crying again. It took me about a week to recover. But then I came
to realize that this is like a battle for peace. Its goal was to achieve
peace, but it was battle all the same. And I started thinking in another
way: in every battle, soldiers die. And the monks who were killed by the
regime, they were the real, extraordinary soldiers who sacrificed their
lives for the benefit of people. And therefore we had to take
responsibility, forget about the pain and move on.

But it was not easy because some people, for example my journalist friends
from The Radio Free Asia, were so depressed by what happened that they
could not even sleep. I had to encourage them and make them share my
vision of the inevitable losses on the side of our "soldiers" for peace to
help them recover.

Though I was not directly involved in the events of September 2007 in
Burma, I had already done my own peace marches in Germany (from Cologne to
Berlin), Thailand (from Bangkok to Mae Sot) and the US (from New York to
Washington, DC). And while I was doing it I was imagining what it would be
like to do these marches inside Burma. So when the monks really started
marching in September and their ranks grew to so many, I was the happiest
man on Earth.

There is one thing that many people can't get their heads around. Why is
it, they ask, that the Buddhist monks must meddle in politics like they
did when they were leading the anti-government demonstrations? How do you
justify this as a monk?

What we are doing is helping the people who have no voice. We do not
expect any positions from this - to be a president or a prime minister,
nothing like that. We are not really interested in politics, what we are
doing has everything to do with the teachings of Buddha to practice
compassion, or Garuna, a very important teaching, and of course also
loving kindness, or Metta.

The monks and the people in Burma have always had a good relationship,
after all the monks get offerings of food from them. And since we always
keep in touch, we know what the situation is and how hard the life is for
the people. That's why we understand much better than the generals what
ails the people. The monks decided to take the front row in the protests
to help bring the justice and peace in the country as well as freedom. So
we are just helping the others and that, I believe, is not against the
Buddhist teachings.

Talking about killing - there is still some confusion about the number of
victims of the military crackdown in September 2007. How many people died,
according to the information you get?

Well, the UN said it was at least 31, while the Democratic Voice of Burma
(DVB) put the number at one hundred. I would trust the DVB, because they
have had journalists inside.

And as for the number of monks who are still in custody among the
estimated minimum of 2100 political prisoners - do you have a precise
number?

We got a list from the government that has some 220 names of monks on it,
but many other monks are still missing, some having been disrobed and
having possibly returned to their hometowns and some probably having been
killed. We don't know precisely.

Regarding the disrobing - is that done forcefully by the state or is it a
voluntary act?

Some are forced, but some decided themselves to disrobe because of the
insecure situation that comes with being a monk in the post-Saffron
Revolution Burma.

So is the situation in Burma actually threatening the monastic life in the
country and the Buddhism itself? One of your colleagues from the
International Burmese Monks Organization, Ashin Nayaka, has recently
claimed precisely that, in a paper delivered at an international Buddhist
conference in Japan.

Yes, you can definitely trust his knowledge and judgment in these matters
as well as his sources of which he has many. And I would also add that by
extension, it is destroying peace as such, because what we monks are
trying to do in our daily efforts is to bring peace to the world. In our
prayers that we recite - and these also featured prominently in the
September 2007 demonstrations - we are saying: May all the beings live in
peace
 and that doesn't mean only Burmese, but everybody, in fact all the
creatures, not only people. So when someone is attacking the monks, he is
also destroying the peace in the world.

So what does it says of the generals as Buddhists, which they all claim to
be? Can they ever be redeemed for what they have done to the monks -
beating them, jailing them, even killing them, when it is absolutely
prohibited, traditionally, for any follower of Buddha's teaching in Burma
to lay a hand on a monk?

Well, before the events of September 2007, the regime was really trying to
present itself to the public as being devoutly Buddhist to make the
generals' rule seemingly more acceptable to the people and also to steer
the monks away from any anti-government activity. But after the bloodshed
people could see right through this lie, they realized they have been
cheated. Besides, the generals didn't even try to ask for forgiveness for
all the mistakes and wrongdoings they have done.

The supreme leader of the ruling Burmese junta, General Than Shwe, in a
picture displayed in one of Mandalay's pagodas.

But I am sure that in their minds they suffer a lot. Imagine - it is
enough for a Buddhist with a conscience to kill an animal for him to
suffer. What then if he kills a man? And now they are killing monks. Such
sickness of mind creates a living hell for them and they suffer a lot, no
doubt about it. That is also why they do not come out in the public so
much any more like the used to. They have lost their confidence.

There is one very interesting Buddhist teaching called Attanuvada. It
means self-accusation and it basically says that if you do something that
is wrong, like stealing, it is unavoidable that your mind will be
tormented even if you get away with it and you manage to hide it from the
police, for example. So I am one hundred per cent sure that they already
suffer as Buddhists, it is unavoidable. In their case, the hell is here.

But can there be a national reconciliation, under these circumstances,
which the junta claims is working for? Can the opposition ever strike a
deal with the present regime after all that has happened?

It is very difficult. Even if the National League for Democracy and the
ethnic minorities want to have a reconciliation, the regime is not showing
any good will. For example after the Saffron Revolution (and under the
pressure from the UN) the junta appointed the mediator to facilitate
negotiations between (the NLD leader) Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and (the
supreme chief of the junta, general) Than Shwe, but what has he been doing
for the last year or so? He is just a fake. So whenever they are making
such a fake gesture for the world without a genuine, honest intention,
they are making the situation more difficult. The only chance is to force
them to the negotiating table by staging another round of demonstrations.

"I have a feeling that Burma is going to be free soon...”

And do you think that monks will continue to be part of the pro-democracy
movement in Burma even after what happened - the massacres in the streets,
the raids in the monasteries, forced disrobing and jailing of monks etc.
Will they still be interested?

Yes, many monks are still free. We have more than 400,000 monks. A few
have been arrested, but we have a lot of monks and many said they would go
on until the end. I would say that after the Saffron revolution we have
more solidarity among the monks, more contacts with the opposition and
more unity. And unity means power.

So the next time it happens, we will try to be more effective as we are
trying to find ways that the regime cannot control. I have a feeling that
Burma is going to be free soon. We cannot say when exactly, but I say soon
and with that image of free Burma, where people rejoice, play music and
dance to celebrate their freedom I continue working and it makes me happy.