BurmaNet News, May 20, 2009

[Editor]

May 20, 2009, Issue #3714


INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Suu Kyi stands trial in infamous Myanmar court – Aung Hla Tun
Irrawaddy: Thirty diplomats, ten reporters attend Suu Kyi Trial
Kaladan Press: SPDC trains for 2010 election with select supporters in Arakan
Kachin News Group: Students paste "free Suu Kyi posters" in Kachin State

ON THE BORDER
New Nation (Bangladesh): Rohingyas face being driven out

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: French oil firm would be hurt by Myanmar sanctions: minister
Xinhua: Singapore, Myanmar businessmen to work for enhancing bilateral trade

ASEAN
Republika (Indonesia): Indonesian paper asks Burma to free Suu Kyi,
respect ASEAN charter

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: US says Myanmar trial outrageous, vote illegitimate
Irrawaddy: Is it time to take Than Shwe to International Criminal Court?

OPINION / OTHER
New York Times: Myanmar’s cowardly generals – Editorial
New York Times: Bravery fills secret Burmese dispatches – A. O. Scott
Kantarawaddy Times: Suu Kyi’s trial to worsen Burma’s relation with
international community – Hnoung Hlaing
Guardian (UK): Suu Kyi's trial backfires on junta – Simon Tisdall

PRESS RELEASE
European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma: EPCB calls for UNSG to release Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 20, Reuters
Suu Kyi stands trial in infamous Myanmar court – Aung Hla Tun

Aung San Suu Kyi sat confidently in the prison courtroom, listening over
the din of a clacking typewriter and noisy ceiling fans.

The 63-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, charged with breaking the terms of
her house arrest, was unmoved as the police investigator spoke.

"She asked why I had come. I showed her the warrant and a picture of John
Yettaw," Captain Tin Zaw Tun said, recalling his search of Suu Kyi's
lakeside home after an American intruder was arrested for spending two
days there.

In a rare concession from Myanmar's military regime after days of
international outrage, some 30 diplomats and 10 Burmese journalists were
allowed to watch the 45-minute hearing in Yangon's notorious Insein
Central Prison.

Despite spending more than 13 of the past 19 years in detention, it is the
first time Suu Kyi has faced the special court which has played a key role
in the generals' suppression of dissent over the years.

Hers is the latest in a string of trials critics say are intended to
eliminate political opposition ahead of elections in 2010, the final
stages of the junta's "roadmap to democracy."

Aside from dissidents, opposition politicians, labor activists and
ordinary criminals, the court has also dealt swiftly with the military's
own internal feuds.

The last time a trial on this scale was open to the media was 2002, when
the relatives of former dictator Ne Win were sentenced to death for an
alleged coup plot.

At Wednesday's hearing, the visitors stood up when Suu Kyi, dressed in a
pink blouse and maroon longhi, or sarong, entered the packed courtroom.

Several female police officers also jumped to their feet at the sight of
Suu Kyi. After a minute, they sheepishly looked at each other and sat
down.

Suu Kyi spoke with her lawyers before the presiding judge, U Thaung Nyunt,
and another judge took their seats in antique wooden chairs placed on a
one-foot high platform.

Suu Kyi and two female assistants, who were also charged last Thursday,
sat in plastic chairs facing the judges.

Nearby, a male court clerk tapped furiously on an aging typewriter as the
police captain gave his testimony.

At times, he was drowned out by the busy typist, the ceiling fans and
occasional barking dog outside.

Yettaw, the 53-year old American accused of using homemade flippers to
swim across Yangon's Inya Lake to Suu Kyi's home, sat alone.

Dressed in a white shirt and khaki trousers, he appeared nervous at times.
His motives remain unclear and he did not speak during the hearing.

Suu Kyi was also silent as she listened to the judge and prosecution witness.

When the hearing ended, she turned to the diplomats and journalists seated
two rows behind her.

"Thank you for coming and for your support," she said, smiling.

A few minutes later, a female police officer whispered something to her.

"I'm sorry I can't meet you one by one," Suu Kyi said. "I hope to meet you
in better days."

She was escorted out of the courtroom and driven back to her guesthouse in
the prison compound.

The trial resumes on Thursday.

(Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Paul Tait)
____________________________________

May 20, Irrawaddy
Thirty diplomats, ten reporters attend Suu Kyi Trial – Saw Yan Niang

Thirty diplomats and 10 journalists were allowed to attend the third day
of Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial in Rangoon’s Insein Prison on Wednesday.

Suu Kyi thanked them for coming and for their support, the journalists
reported.

Three of the diplomats were allowed to meet Suu Kyi briefly at the
conclusion of Wednesday’s proceedings. The three were the Ambassador of
Singapore, who is doyen of the diplomatic corps in Burma, and senior
Russian and Thai diplomats.

A British diplomat, requesting anonymity, told The Irrawaddy that the
Russian ambassador had been invited because his country is currently
president of the UN Security Council, while Thailand has the chairmanship
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Britain’s ambassador, Mark Canning, said the court displayed all the
customary legal “paraphernalia,” but he doubted whether Suu Kyi would
receive a fair trial. “I think this is a story where the conclusion is
already scripted,” he told the BBC.

Canning, who did not meet Suu Kyi, said: “She was composed, upright,
crackling with energy
very much in charge of her defense team.”

One journalist said Suu Kyi had appeared “as calm as ever.”

One prosecution witness, a police official, gave evidence on Wednesday.
Two women were asked by the prosecution to display some religious robes
allegedly left at Suu Kyi’s house by the American, John William Yettaw,
who is accused of illegally staying in her home.

Five Burmese journalists working for foreign news agencies, including AFP
and Reuters, and five who work for local journals and magazines—Myanmar
Times, Snap Shot, The Yangon Times, Popular Journal and Weekly Eleven—were
permitted to attend the trail.

The five local journalists, chosen by the Burmese authorities, work for
publications that have a close working relationship with the Information
Ministry.

____________________________________

May 20, Kaladan Press
SPDC trains for 2010 election with select supporters in Arakan

The Burmese military junta is providing long term training to selected
supporters for the 2010 election in Kyaukpru district starting from May
15, said a village authority from Kyaukpru town.

The junta authorities are going to replace the village authority with
their supporters from the Union Solidarity and Development Association
(USDA) and Swan Arr Shin members in Arakan, to win the election, he added.

In the first phase, the authorities started in the district of Kyaukpru
and Sandaway, said a school teacher.

The authorities selected their supporters from USDA and Swan Arr Shin and
will give them a month’s training about controlling people and how to woo
people to support the ruling military junta in the 2010 polls, said a
student who is working with USDA.

The authorities selected three persons from USDA or Swan Arr Shin from one
village to replace in the village authorities, he added.The training will
be from May 15 to June 15.

The authorities collected from villagers of Kyaukpru, kyat 500 and 30 kg
rice per family for the trainee’s lodging and food, said a labourer who
works in the market and faces problems paying.

The authorities always pressurize local people to provide their needs,
said a school teacher from Kyaukpru town.

____________________________________

May 20, Kachin News Group
Students paste "free Suu Kyi posters" in Kachin State

After a lull of several months, students in Burma's northern Kachin State
have become active yet again against the Burmese ruling junta. They have
demanded the immediate release of democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from
Insein Prison. The students pasted 50 hand-written posters in Myitkyina,
the capital of Kachin State this morning, said student activists.

The student activist leader Shadang Naw Awng, who is behind this morning's
poster movement said, the A-4 sized papers had two slogans ---"Free Aung
San Suu Kyi immediately" and "Against 2010 elections". The posters were
put up in six major quarters in Myitkyina--- Du Kahtawng, Yan Gyi Aung,
Yuzana, Myothit, Aung Nan and Ayeyar.

Shadang Naw Awng told KNG, "We mainly pasted the posters on government
buildings at road junctions and corners, on electric poles and on the
walls in front of some government buildings.  We also put up posters on
the wall in front of the Office of the Director of Township Education in
Aung Nan quarter."

An eyewitness said the town’s military authorities did not remove the
posters till noon.

The poster movement was organized by All Kachin Students' Union (AKSU),
the underground student organization in Kachin State which was formed just
before the September 2007 Saffron Revolution.

Aung San Suu Kyi, general secretary of the National League for Democracy
(NLD) and winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize was transferred to Insein
Prison in Rangoon on May 14 from her home where she had been under
house-arrest.

The junta started a closed-door trial of Mrs. Suu Kyi on Monday in the
Insein Prison. She has been charged for violating the terms of her house
arrest and could face a prison sentence of up to five years, her lawyers
have said.

She has been charged in connection with an American John William Yettaw’s
arrest last week for allegedly swimming across Innya Lake and entering Suu
Kyi's home and staying there for two days.

The 63-year-old pro-democracy leader has been detained for more than 13 of
the past 19 years. Her latest house arrest is officially due to end on May
27 after six years.

Meanwhile, the US, EU and ASEAN expressed deep concern over Suu Kyi's
arrest but China said on Tuesday it would not interfere in the internal
affairs of its neighbour.

On the flip side, the junta is pressurizing all ethnic ceasefire groups in
the country to transform to battalions of border security forces under the
junta's control before the general elections next year.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 20, New Nation (Bangladesh)
Rohingyas face being driven out

TENSIONS are building up again in the Bangladesh-Myanmar border for
attempts on the part of Myanmar border security forces to lay wire fences.
More serious is the issue of the Rohingya Muslims of Arakan again facing
threats to leave their homes and enter Bangladesh. For their ethnicity and
religion, they have been under harassment by the predominant Burmese
people of Myanmar who run that country and form its elite, especially
among the ruling armed forces. The Rohingyas have for long been persecuted
in their homeland for their distinct entity. In 1991, following some
incidents, the Burmese border security forces and the army drove out over
250,000 Rohingyas from Arakan into Bangladesh.

After some years, talks between the two countries led to the return of a
large number of the Rohingyas. But many still remain as the repatriation
programme was suspended in 2007. Instead of resuming it, Myanmar
authorities seem to be planning to push afresh the Rohingyas into
Bangladesh. Press reports quoting different sources indicate that there is
the possibility that the Myanmar authorities are plotting to start fresh
troubles to create the ground for pushing into Bangladesh some 20 lakh
Rohingyas. In other words, they have plans to push out the entire Rohingya
population from Arakan into Bangladesh.

Thus, Bangladesh should watch these developments to be able to prevent
them. The Bangladesh-Myanmar borders could soon turn out to be a hotbed of
serious troubles. Launching immediate wide-ranging diplomatic activities
to prevail on Myanmar authorities to see reason and be restrained from
pushing Rohingyas into Bangladesh might be useful. Bangladesh should use
their Chinese friends to put pressure on Myanmar to hold back from their
adventure against Bangladesh. Bangladesh has no choice but to be proactive
in relation to Myanmar.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 20, Agence France Presse
French oil firm would be hurt by Myanmar sanctions: minister

If Europe imposes new sanctions on Myanmar's military regime they would
hit the French energy giant Total's operations in the country and have far
reaching consequences, France said Wednesday.

Speaking as EU countries mulled action against the junta over its
treatment of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner said Total was the sole major European investor in the country.

"The only serious economic lever would obviously be Total," Kouchner told
members of the French parliament, warning that any decision to stop the
firm working in Myanmar would have serious consequences in the region.

"Total presents us with a problem that we are going to try to solve," he
admitted. "No-one is saying that we shouldn't take a firm stance on Total.

"But if we take a firm stand that would be decided at the highest level of
the state, and we're going to review the situation in the coming days,
that would mean cutting off gas supplies to a good part of the Burmese
population, not to mention the city of Bangkok, since the gas goes to
Thailand," he said.

"We have to weigh things carefully," he continued, warning that if Total
was forbidden from working in Myanmar's natural gas fields, Chinese firms
would be quick to pick up the slack.

"That's not to say we're not considering it. That means that we're
thinking seriously about it but we find the current situation in Myanmar
unacceptable," Kouchner said.

On Monday, EU ministers meeting in Brussels criticised Myanmar's decision
to prosecute Suu Kyi for having allowed an American trespasser to stay in
the house where she was being held under house arrest.

But they failed to threaten new sanctions, preferring to call on India and
China to bring pressure to bear on the regime.

Total, France's largest and most profitable company, has been a major
investor in Myanmar's Yadana gas field since 1992. Production from Yadana
represents 60 percent of Myanmar's gas exports to Thailand.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Myanmar in 1996, banning arms
exports, imposing visa restrictions on junta allies, limiting diplomatic
contacts and freezing officials' offshore accounts.

New measures were taken in 2007 after a crackdown on pro-democracy
protests by Buddhist monks, banning European firms from importing wood,
minerals, gems and metals from Myanmar.

____________________________________

May 20, Xinhua
Singapore, Myanmar businessmen to work for enhancing bilateral trade

Businessmen from the Singapore-Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Association (SICCI) and the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) have been seeking ways to enhance economic
and trade cooperation between the two countries.

SICCI, formed with more than 10 leading Singaporean companies, has
proposed to boost import of forest and marine products and agricultural
produces from Myanmar, according to the local Yangon Times Wednesday.

Singapore used to export to Myanmar electronic goods, construction
materials, fertilizer and steel products.

According to Myanmar official statistics, the two countries' bilateral
trade amounted to over 2 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, of which Myanmar's
export to Singapore took up 896.86 million dollars, while its import from
that country represented 1.112 billion dollars.

Since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in late 1988, Singapore's
investment in Myanmar has so far reached over 1.5 billion dollars standing
as the third largest foreign investor after Thailand and the United
Kingdom.

____________________________________
ASEAN

May 20, Republika (Indonesia)
Indonesian paper asks Burma to free Suu Kyi, respect ASEAN charter

It is as if the soldiers have befriended all of Aung San Suu Kyi's
democracy activists. Several days before she was to be released from house
arrest, a 'crazy' man named John William Yettaw swam to see Suu Kyi. For
two days the Vietnam War veteran stayed in the democracy fighter's house
in Burma. It's not clear just what Yettaw, who is said to share her views,
did while there.

The military junta discovered the 'infiltration' by Yettaw, an American.
According to the rules of her house arrest, Suu Kyi is not allowed to
receive foreigners. Furthermore, Yettaw is critical of the military junta.
So Suu Kyi was brought to court on a charge of violating the constitution.

We are very alarmed to see injustices continue in Burma, a member of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Several attempts have been
made to end the conflict there, but they have all failed. In the end, the
ruling military junta asked ASEAN not to interfere in their internal
affairs.

ASEAN's role is clear and simple, it is needed to break the deadlock
regarding democracy in Burma. Up to now, ASEAN has tended to be weak and
not take clear steps to overcome the crisis there. However, the ASEAN
Charter clearly states that all members must respect human rights and
democracy.

But what is happening in Burma? The military junta are seemingly unmoved
by countries which support the ASEAN Charter. Suu Kyi's fate is unchanged,
and has in fact been worsened by the behaviour of the crazy American. It
is hard to believe his actions were free from government involvement.
Their purpose is keeping Suu Kyi out of the 2010 elections.

Clearly ASEAN is not the only potential solution to the crisis in Burma.
The tropical country is not free of interference by the two current
centres of power in the world: the West and China. The West is divided:
while some European countries are soft on Burma, others are harsher. Their
motives are clear: economics and energy resources.

China, France, Italy and Russia seek Burma's energy resources and have
large economic interests in the country. While business is tightly
controlled, these countries are committed to protecting Burma from
international pressure.

The US, with its (usual) double standards, supports those who oppose the
military junta. The US's interests are not accommodated there. When Saddam
Hussein ignored their energy interests, they attacked Iraq. When
Afghanistan didn't give more space for American oil and gas companies,
that beautiful country was defeated. In Burma, Uncle Sam is too scared to
involve their military because they know powerful countries stand behind
the military junta.

Within this geopolitical situation, ASEAN's role is too small to solve
Burma's democracy problems. One organization, representing ASEAN, China,
Europe and the US, is needed to reach a progressive solution to create a
democratic atmosphere in Burma.

Clearly, the military junta must release Aung San Suu Kyi. Her future and
political activities could be discussed within such an organization. As a
member of the United Nations, Burma must follow the universal values in
granting individuals freedom, in this case Suu Kyi.

Her release is necessary to allow all parties involved in ending the
democracy deadlock to operate equally. Suu Kyi is on the same level as the
military junta. The role of a mediator from ASEAN and other countries
should be to move towards a road map to peace, prioritising the needs of
the people of Burma.

We don't want further political oppression in Southeast Asia, and Burma is
still an obstacle and a tough challenge for ASEAN to solve.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 20, Reuters
US says Myanmar trial outrageous, vote illegitimate

Myanmar's trial of Aung San Suu Kyi is outrageous and its planned 2010
election will be illegitimate because of its treatment of the opposition
leader, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

"It is outrageous that they are trying her and that they continue to hold
her because of her political popularity," Clinton said of Suu Kyi, who is
charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest after an American
intruder was arrested for spending two days at her lakeside home in
Yangon.

Suu Kyi appeared in court on Wednesday at the latest in a string of trials
that critics say are intended to eliminate political opposition before
Myanmar's planned elections in 2010, the final stages of the ruling
junta's "road map to democracy."

"They intend to hold elections in 2010, which from the beginning will be
illegitimate because of the way that they have treated her," Clinton told
a congressional hearing.

"It's our hope that this baseless trial will end with a quick release of
her and ... a return to some political involvement, eventually, by her and
her party," she added.

In a rare concession from Myanmar's military government after days of
international outrage at Suu Kyi's treatment, some 30 diplomats and 10
Burmese journalists were allowed to watch the 45-minute hearing in
Yangon's notorious Insein Central Prison.

Despite spending more than 13 of the past 19 years in detention, it is the
first time Suu Kyi has faced the special court that has played a key role
in the generals' suppression of dissent over the years in the former
Burma. (Editing by Peter Cooney)

____________________________________

May 20, Irrawaddy
Is it time to take Than Shwe to International Criminal Court? – Arkar Moe

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta and the Burma Lawyers’ Council have
announced they are ready to appeal to the International Criminal Court
(ICC) to charge Snr-Gen Than Shwe with criminal acts.

The ICC was established in 2002 as a permanent international tribunal to
prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes. The court’s Pre-Trial Chamber can authorize its Prosecutor’s
Office to open an investigation on the basis of information received from
outside sources.

Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said he would appeal to the ICC
to investigate Burma’s ruling junta if it fails to free Aung San Suu Kyi,
who was arrested last week and is standing trial on what many say are
trumped up charges.

The Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC) said on Saturday it will seek to restore
the rule of law to Burma by asking the ICC to launch an investigation into
human rights abuses and violations of international law in Burma.

Nan Shan Hpound, a team leader of the BLC Working Team for the
International Criminal Court, told The Irrawaddy, "Now we are gathering
evidence and collating information on how to prosecute the military
generals in the International Criminal Court.”

Ramos-Horta said he will urge the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC to
investigate and prosecute Sen-Gen Than Shwe and other responsible leaders
of the State Peace and Development Council for crimes committed under
their leadership.

The ICC has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes which have
been committed or are being committed if a given state’s judicial system
is unable or unwilling to investigate and take legal action to ensure
justice.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now being tried for violation of her house
arrest, is being detained under the State Protection Law of 1975. The
government is permitted to detain her for five years under that law.
Contrary to law, they have already held her in detention for almost six
years.

The Women’s League of Burma (WLB) said it also supports a move to appeal
to the ICC and called for the international community to join in referring
Snr-Gen Than Shwe and others to the ICC.

Lway Aye Nang, the general-secretary of the WLB, told The Irrawaddy, "The
time has come to say enough is enough. The United Nations should invoke
its responsibility-to-protect mechanism and establish a commission of
inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity in Burma. The Burmese
military ignores all international laws and uses rape as a weapon of war.
Snr-Gen Than Shwe is a real criminal.”

International condemnation against the Burmese military government has
increased as a result of its recent arrest and prosecution of Suu Kyi, who
faces a five-year prison sentence if she is found guilty of violating the
terms of her house arrest. She has been under house arrest for 13 of the
past 19 years.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 20, New York Times
Myanmar’s cowardly generals – Editorial

For all of its repressive power and privilege, the military junta in
Myanmar is frightened of its people — and one especially. Otherwise, why
would the generals be using a show trial, and a bogus infraction, to
tighten the already unconscionable restrictions on the country’s
pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?

The 1991 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has been under house arrest
almost continuously since her National League for Democracy Party won an
overwhelming victory in the 1990 elections and was blocked from taking
power. But the trial, which could send her to prison for up to five years,
is the most aggressive action by the generals in quite a while.

The charges would be laughable if not so deadly serious. For reasons that
are still unclear, an American man swam across a lake this month and spent
a night in Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s house. The junta accused her of
violating the terms of her house arrest, which severely limit her contact
with anyone except the two women who live with her.


>From what is known, the man (who, along with the two women, is also on

trial) seems to have acted without Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s knowledge.
Tragically, he gave the generals an incident to exploit and extend her
detention — her current six-year term was supposed to be up later this
month — ahead of next year’s general election. That’s when the military
aims to formalize its dominance with a new sham constitution.

The Obama administration, which is reviewing the hard-line policy toward
Myanmar that was inherited from President George W. Bush, has wisely
decided against lifting sanctions. The European Union’s foreign policy
chief, Javier Solana, is rightly calling on European nations and others to
increase the pressure on the junta.

Myanmar’s neighbors — who have looked the other way for too long — must do
more. China, Myanmar’s major foreign investor, and Russia and India,
leading trading partners, must also speak out. They should warn the
generals that unless Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi is quickly freed, their foreign
bank accounts will be frozen and their travel visas denied.

Longer term, the international community has to find a way to reach out to
what some experts say are “reform-minded” military leaders as well to
members of the country’s civil society. For two decades, Mrs. Aung San Suu
Kyi has sacrificed her own freedom to champion the rights of her people.
The world must make clear that she is not alone.

____________________________________

May 20, New York Times
Bravery fills secret Burmese dispatches – A. O. Scott

Many of the images in “Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country” are
shaky and blurred, captured with video cameras small enough to be quickly
concealed in circumstances of danger and chaos. The lack of cinematic
polish emphasizes the urgency of these pictures and the bravery of the
anonymous camera operators — “VJ” stands for “video journalists” — who
risked their safety, their freedom and their lives to record popular
protests against the military government of Myanmar and the regime’s
brutal response.

Directed by Anders Ostergaard, a Danish filmmaker, this documentary is
largely a collage of those clandestine videos, recorded in August and
September 2007 and narrated by a Burmese pro-democracy activist known as
Joshua, whose face and identity are shrouded for his own protection.
Joshua and his colleagues are haunted by memories of the early 1990s, when
the military junta known as Slorc (an acronym for the State Law and Order
Restoration Council) responded to its electoral defeat by Aung San Suu Kyi
by cracking down ruthlessly on the citizens of the country that nearly
everyone in this film pointedly calls Burma, rather than the new name
imposed on it by Slorc.

As public defiance of the regime grows through the late summer of 2007,
Joshua hopes the result will be different. He is part of the Democratic
Voice of Burma, a network of journalists who discreetly gathered
information about Burmese life by interviewing ordinary people and
recording their everyday activities. When small, apparently spontaneous
demonstrations begin in the capital, the group’s cameras are there to
witness the events, and as video circulates at home and abroad, the
gatherings grow bigger and bolder.

Somewhat reluctantly, Joshua flees to Thailand, where, via cellphone and
Internet, he receives firsthand reports and raw footage of a rapidly
escalating movement. Myanmar’s normally quiescent Buddhist monks emerge as
the symbolic and strategic linchpin of anti-government activity, and
images of their defiance spread around the world in spite of the
government’s ban on foreign journalists.

“Burma VJ” is a rich, thought-provoking film not only because of the story
it tells, which is by turns inspiring and devastatingly sad, but also
because of the perspective it offers on the role that new communications
technologies can play in political change. The viral videos of the
Democratic Voice of Burma are like the hidden printing presses of earlier
underground revolutionary movements, except that the portability of the
cameras and the ease of Web and satellite-based distribution make them
harder to suppress.

But not impossible. While much of the film offers the stirring drama of a
population shaking off passivity and fear and standing up to tyranny, the
denouement shows that old-fashioned police-state repression can still
overpower a rebellion fueled by new media. The cameras are on hand to
record the eventual crackdown in horrific detail — there is something
indelibly and uniquely appalling about the sight of soldiers firing on
crowds of their fellow citizens — but they cannot alter the terrible
course of events. And so the narrative of “Burma VJ” takes on a somber,
elegiac cast, as the potential for freedom flares up and is, in short
order, snuffed out.

The story is not over, of course, as a glance at recent headlines
suggests. The cruelty and paranoia of the Myanmar government may yet be
overcome by the patience and resilience of people like the brave and
anonymous monks, students and office workers glimpsed in “Burma VJ.” But
while the film refuses despair, it also declines to traffic in hopes that
may prove, once again, illusory. Instead it tries, with a fascinating
mixture of directness and sophistication, to tell the truth.

BURMA VJ

Reporting From a Closed Country

Opens on Wednesday in Manhattan.

Directed by Anders Ostergaard; written by Mr. Ostergaard and Jan
Krogsgaard; directors of photography, Simon Plum and Burmese video
journalists; edited by Janus Billeskov Jansen and Thomas Papapetros; music
by Conny Malmqvist; produced by Lise Lense-Moller; released by
Oscilloscope Laboratories and HBO Documentary Films. At Film Forum, 209
West Houston Street, west of Avenue of the Americas, South Village. In
English and Burmese, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 25
minutes. This film is not rated.

____________________________________

May 20, Kantarawaddy Times
Suu Kyi’s trial to worsen Burma’s relation with international community –
Hnoung Hlaing

The relationship between Burma and the international community can worsen
if the military junta unjustly sentences Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, said Aung
Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst. Suu Kyi, the leader of National
League for Democracy, has been detained in Insein prison and is being sued
for allowing an American into her house.

"The relationship between the international community and Burma will nose
dive if this issue is not resolved smoothly and this will not be good for
the Burmese people," said Aung Naing Oo.

The US and EU have imposed economic sanctions on Burma but at the same
time the international community has granted humanitarian aid to the
military ruled country. But the trial will go against the Burmese military
junta vis a vis the international community.

The international community is concerned over Suu Kui’s trial and the US
and Australian governments have released statements condemning it. It is
learnt that the European Union will release a statement.

The American Embassy in Rangoon has not as yet clarified about John
William Yattaw, who intruded into Daw Suu's house and stayed for two days.
The military junta is using this as a ploy to exclude Suu Kyi and her
party the NLD from the 2010 election.

"It shows that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is not safe because a person sneaked
into her house," said U Nyan Win, the of NLD spokesperson

The rumour is that the US citizen wants peace and has been doing research
for peace. It's not clear whether he was alone in the act or was aided by
other associates or if the junta is involved in the entire thing.

The incident occurred only two weeks ahead of her release from house
arrest after six years of consecutive detention. Questions are being
raised about the coincidence and regarding the timing.

"It is unfortunate because it's happening at this time. There are many
questions but no answers. Why did this man sneak into her house? It is
obvious that if the   military junta really wants to detain her for
another year or two, the incident helps a great deal," said Aung Naing Oo.

Now the military junta has sued Daw Suu in court. Besides, her two house
mates and family doctor were arrested. It seems that the military junta
has a systematic plan.

____________________________________

May 20, Guardian (UK)
Suu Kyi's trial backfires on junta – Simon Tisdall

Generally speaking, the more depraved a military dictator is, the stupider
his actions. This rough rule of thumb certainly seems to hold true for
Than Shwe whose decision to place Burma's much-persecuted pro-democracy
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on trial on trumped-up charges has backfired
spectacularly.

If Burma's senior general hoped to sideline Suu Kyi ahead of next year's
state-managed elections, the trial now under way in Insein prison is
having the opposite effect. After a period in which her leadership of the
National League for Democracy was increasingly questioned, Than Shwe has
managed in the space of a week to re-unite the opposition and galvanise
the international community in furious support of her.

What foreign secretary David Miliband calls the "show trial" in Rangoon
has also drawn the spotlight back to the egregious human rights violations
perpetrated by the regime in the wake of the failed 2007 uprising, known
as the saffron revolution. Of grave concern is the plight of Burma's more
than 2,000 political prisoners who are held in a gulag of about 100 jails
and labour camps spread across the country.

A report entitled Burma's Silent Killing Fields, published last week by
the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP),
a group comprising exiled activists and former prisoners, paints a
horrific, case-by-case picture of systematic abuse including torture,
deaths in custody, denial of medical assistance and a deliberate policy of
transferring prisoners to remote regions to prevent family access and
support.

Most of the abuse thus takes place far from the public eye and out of
sight of the international community, not least because the International
Committee of the Red Cross was forced to suspend prison visits in 2006.
The ICRC said it was prevented from working freely; the report calls on
the UN security council to insist that, at a minimum, the junta grant it
unrestricted access to the gulag.

Among 127 prisoners said to be suffering from dangerously poor health are
Htay Kywe, a leader of the pro-democracy 88 Generation movement held in
Buthidaung prison in Arakan state. "Htay Kywe has been tortured in
Buthidaung," the AAPP said. "He has also been denied food and the right to
exercise. He has not been allowed to bathe regularly and has developed
scabies as a result. He suffers from high blood pressure. He is currently
held in solitary confinement. There is no doctor at the prison, which is
over 700 miles from Yangon [Rangoon]."

Also highlighted are the cases of Hla Myo Naung of 88 Generation, held at
Myitkyina prison in Kachin state, blinded in one eye, at risk of total
blindness, but denied medical treatment; Su Su Nway, an NLD activist held
at Kale prison in Sagaing division, who has a heart condition and cannot
walk unaided, but who has no access to a doctor; and activist Myo Yan
Naung Thein, who was tortured after his arrest in 2007 and is now
suffering from paralysis at Thandwe prison in Arakan.

Family members told the AAPP the policy of transfers to remote parts of
the country meant they could not see or aid their imprisoned relatives due
to the cost of travel and the denial of necessary permits. "We could not
meet her for nearly two months. Now we are worried about her health after
hearing she is vomiting almost daily. She is said to have a peptic ulcer
and is in solitary confinement," said the mother-in-law of Nilar Thein who
is held at Thayet prison in Magwe division.

Other ongoing abuses include lack of treatment or protection from rampant
malaria (the prisoners are allowed no mosquito nets), tuberculosis and
HIV; imprisonment in labour camps, which is "tantamount to a death
sentence"; and torture.

"Torture is state policy in Burma and common practice at interrogation
centres and prisons. Common forms include sleep deprivation, beatings and
stress positions ... Punishments such as solitary confinement exacerbate
existing injuries," the report states. Combined with poor nutrition and
hygiene, these conditions have "a severely detrimental impact on the
physical and mental health of the prisoner". Such practices, it concludes,
are designed "to ensure that political prisoners never leave prison".

According to Burma Campaign UK, 300,000 people so far have signed a
petition calling on Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to secure the
release of all Burma's political prisoners. But the UN, like the
Association of South-East Asian Nations, appears powerless to stop the
horror. So, too, despite their angry protests over Suu Kyi's ordeal, do
Britain, the EU and the US - although activists say western countries, and
neighbouring China and India, could do much more if they really wanted to.

For many, it is already too late. Thet Win Aung, a member of the Basic
Education Students Union, was jailed for 60 years, the AAPP said.

He was very badly tortured under interrogation. He was first held in Kale
prison, in Sagaing, where he took part in a hunger strike calling for
political prisoners' rights. He was then transferred to Khamti prison,
where he contracted cerebral malaria.

He was denied medical treatment for a long time. Eventually he was
transferred to Mandalay prison for treatment but it was too late. He died
there in October, 2006.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 20, European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma
EPCB calls for UNSG to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political
prisoners in Burma

167 parliamentarians from 16 European countries, members of the European
Parliamentary Caucus on Burma (EPCB), today called on UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-Moon to personally secure the release of the opposition leader Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial after being accused of breaching the
terms of her house arrest. The EPCB have written the letter in support of
the Free Burma Political Prisoners Now Campaign, which collected more than
400,000 signatures calling for Ban Ki-Moon to take Action.

According to the letter, Ban Ki-Moon should negotiate the implementation
of previous UN calls for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all
political prisoners in Burma. The United Nations Security Council, General
Assembly, and Human Rights Council have all called for her release. This
March the UN ruled the detention of the opposition leader as illegal not
only under international law, but also under Burmese law.

In direct defiance of the UN, the regime is seeking to prolong the
detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In further defiance of the UN, the
regime is continuing the systematic torture, long-term imprisonment, and
transfers to remote prisons, and denial of healthcare on the country’s
pro-democracy activists.

“As Secretary General of the United Nations, it is essential you show
strong leadership, not only for Burma’s political prisoners, but also for
the credibility of the United Nations and your good offices.” the letter
says.

The Free Burma Political Prisoners Now petition campaign is organized by
the Burmese exile organizations, the Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners and Forum for Democracy in Burma and can be signed at
www.fbppn.net.

The European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma was founded in June 2008 to
raise awareness on Burma in Europe and promote human rights and democracy
in Burma.

For more information contact:
UK: Zoya Phan at zoya.phan at burmacampaign.org.uk
CR: Marie Zahradnikova at marie.zahradnikova at peopleinneed.cz