BurmaNet News, June 2, 2009

[Editor]

June 2, 2009, Issue #3725


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Suu Kyi lawyers challenge witness ban at Myanmar trial
AFP: US intruder to Suu Kyi home acted alone: lawyer
DVB: NLD claims junta only interested in own security
Mizzima News: Call for the release of NLD Vice-Chairman Tin Oo

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: DKBA starts border guard recruitment

BUSINESS / TRADE
The Nation (Thailand): Thai-Burmese border trade down on economic crisis

REGIONAL
AP: South Korea urges Burma to ensure democracy
Narinjara: Need for political change in Burma for regional stability: Thai FM

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: Burma ranks 126th in Global Peace Index

OPINION / OTHER
Washington Post: What the U.N. can't ignore in Burma – Pedro Nikken and
Geoffrey Nice
Irrawaddy: The regime’s hollow talk of justice and the law – Editorial
Jakarta Post: Will Myanmar follow North Korea's way? – Lilian Budianto

INTERVIEW
Irrawaddy: ‘We won’t have another Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’ – Khin Ohmar




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 2, Agence France Presse
Suu Kyi lawyers challenge witness ban at Myanmar trial

Lawyers for Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday
they had asked a court to overturn an earlier ban that prevented three
defence witnesses from testifying at her trial.

Myanmar's military junta has charged the Nobel laureate with breaching the
terms of her house arrest after an American man, John Yettaw, swam
uninvited to her lakeside home in May, leaving her facing up to five years
in jail.

Judges at the closed court in Yangon's Insein prison last month refused to
allow three people including two members of her party from testifying at
the trial, in which final arguments are due Friday.

"We have filed a revision order to the court today and they will hear it
this afternoon. We want to call the other three witnesses," Kyi Win, her
main laywer, told AFP.

"The prosecution had 14 witnesses and we had only one so far. If you look
at the numbers it is one-sided, and that is why we have made this
application," he added.

The three barred witnesses were Tin Oo, a journalist who was Myanmar's
longest serving prisoner until his release in September; Win Tin, the
detained deputy chief of her National League for Democracy, and lawyer
Khin Moe Moe.

"Tin Oo is a very important defence witness because he was a witness to
the Depeyin incident," Kyi Win said, referring to a deadly attack on Aung
San Suu Kyi's motorcade by a pro-junta mob in May 2003.

Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Tin have both been detained ever since the attack.

Her legal team has questioned the basis of the laws under which she was
held under house arrest for the past six years -- the detention order was
lifted last week -- and argued that the charges against her are invalid.

She remains in prison awaiting the verdict.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention. Her party
won Myanmar's last elections, in 1990, but the result was never honoured
by the military, which has ruled the country since 1962.

The trial has drawn international condemnation but Myanmar's ruling
generals say the case is an internal matter and have accused Aung San Suu
Kyi of covering up Yettaw's visit.

____________________________________

June 2, Agence France Presse
US intruder to Suu Kyi home acted alone: lawyer

A US man who swam to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi was not paid by or
taking orders from any outside organisation, his lawyer said ahead of
final arguments in the trial of Myanmar's democracy icon.

Myanmar's military regime has expressed scepticism over John Yettaw's
explanation for his visit to the Nobel laureate's lakeside home, with one
official suggesting that the American was a "secret agent or her
boyfriend."

But lawyer Khin Maung Oo said the devout Mormon was a "sincere and pious"
person who believed God had told him to warn Aung San Suu Kyi and the
government after he had a vision that she would be assassinated.

"There is no issue of him acting on someone's instruction to him or that
some organisation provided money to him to do so," Khin Maung Oo said of
his client, who like Aung San Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail.

"As far as I know, he's a very sincere and pious person. He cooperated
with the court. He answered the same during the interrogation and at the
trial," he told AFP.

The lawyer added that photos taken by the American in Aung San Suu Kyi's
house -- which the prosecution have focused on during the trial -- were
"just to show his daughter, not for publicity or not to communicate to
anyone."

Hearings in the mostly closed trial of Aung San Suu Kyi and Yettaw have
been adjourned until Friday when lawyers will present their closing
arguments. The trial has drawn international condemnation.

Yettaw, a former US military veteran, testified in court last week that he
had a dream in which Aung San Suu Kyi was killed by "terrorists" and that
he swam across the lake using a pair of homemade flippers to alert her.

Last month Myanmar's consul general in Hong Kong posted a letter on the
Internet saying that "we have no idea whether he is either secret agent or
her boyfriend."

The country's deputy defence minister, Major General Aye Myint, said
Sunday that Aung San Suu Kyi had deliberately covered up the visit.

Khin Maung Oo said Yettaw's story about his reasons for his bizarre
night-time swim across Yangon's Inya Lake on May 4 had been consistent
both under interrogation and when his client testified last week.

"He did not deny entering (the house). He said he came here on God's
mission to warn Senior General Than Shwe (the leader of Myanmar's ruling
junta) and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," he said.

"He said he came to warn that she could be assassinated by some
terrorists. He said he had his vision in the state of trance. If he had
failed to do so, Aung San Suu Kyi could be lost and the government will
also lose dignity."

Khin also said his 53-year-old client was a Vietnam War veteran who has
post-traumatic stress syndrome, diabetes and heart disease.

Aung San Suu Kyi has branded the trial as biased and said that she allowed
Yettaw to have "temporary shelter" for a night. She blamed Myanmar
authorities for the intrusion, saying they failed to provide proper
security.

The opposition leader has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention.

Her party won Myanmar's last elections, in 1990, but the result was never
honoured by the military, which has ruled the country since 1962.

____________________________________

June 2, Democratic Voice of Burma
NLD claims junta only interested in own security – Khin Hnin Htet

Burma’s warning to its neighbours to respect its sovereignty should only
be interpreted as an attempt to guard the security of the Burmese junta
and not its citizens, the National League for Democracy said yesterday.

Responding to a statement given by Burma’s deputy defence minister at the
weekend that called for regional countries to steer clear of interfering
in domestic matters for fear of affecting “the peace and security of the
region”, NLD member Win Tin said it was a reaction to mounting
international pressure.

“He [Aye Myint] is absolutely right, but the ‘security’ he was talking
about is not the security for the people and the politicians in our
country,” said Win Tin.

“He was talking about the security of the military regime itself, which is
now facing a growing threat in the country as the international pressure
increases.”

Deputy defence minister Aye Myint had been addressing a meeting of
regional defence officials in Singapore.

The meeting came amidst mounting international pressure on the regime to
release Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial for allegedly breaching
conditions of her house arrest.

Thailand, who holds close ties to the regime and has in the past been
reluctant to pass criticism, has become increasingly vocal as Suu Kyi’s
trial has progressed.

Burma last week reacted angrily to Thailand’s “grave concern”, warning it
not to interfere in Burma’s internal affairs for fear of setting a bad
precedent within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc,
which follows a line of non-interference in member countries domestic
affairs.

Yet the Suu Kyi trial has brought to light a debate over whether Burma’s
internal problems are now affecting the region, with Thailand’s ASEAN
chief stoking the flames with comments to the effect that Burma was now
tarnishing the bloc’s image.

Speaking on the sidelines of talks between ASEAN and European Union
leaders in Hanoi last week, Surin Pitsuwan warned of damage to the bloc’s
credibility, with Burma an ever more controversial member.

"The discussion in the room back there was that [Suu Kyi’s trial]...
affects ASEAN's image and ASEAN's collective interests," he told
reporters.

____________________________________

June 2, Mizzima News
Call for the release of NLD Vice-Chairman Tin Oo – Salai Pi Pi

While the world remains fixated on the trial of National League for
Democracy (NLD) Chairman Aung San Suu Kyi, a veteran politician has called
on the international community to press equally hard for the release of
the party's Vice-Chairman, Tin Oo, who is being held under house arrest.

Win Tin, veteran journalist and Central Executive Committee member of the
National League for Democracy (NLD), on Tuesday said while monitoring the
trial against party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and pressing for her release
is important, the international community should also push the military
rulers to release Tin Oo.

“I would like to urge the authorities to release him because his five
years [detention] is already completed,” Win Tin told Mizzima.

Tin Oo, a retired military General, was arrested along with Nobel Peace
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on May 31, 2003, after a brutal attack on their
motorcade by a junta-backed mob during a political tour in the town of
Depayin in upper Burma.

Win Tin, a former political prisoner himself, said Tin Oo, like Aung San
Suu Kyi, has passed more than five years of detention and is thus due to
be released.

“There is nothing that we can do except raise our voices for his release,”
he added.

Tin Oo, following the brutal attack in Depayin, was initially taken to a
prison in Kale Township in Sagaing Division. But in February 2004 he was
brought back to Rangoon, where he has remained under house arrest ever
since.

Tin Oo, as was the case with Aung San Suu Kyi, is being kept detained
under section 10 (b) of the Law Safeguarding the State from Danger and
Subversive Elements, which allows the state to detain individuals up to a
maximum of five years.

Win Tin said even if the junta counts Tin Oo’s detention date commencing
from February 2004, the duration of the sentence is now still more than
five years and counting, and hence in violation of Burmese law.

However, the junta, in February 2009, announced the extension of his house
arrest for yet another year.

Bo Kyi, co-founder and Joint-Secretary of the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners (Burma), based in Thailand, on Tuesday said that the
continued detention of Tin Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi clearly shows the lack
of respect for the rule of law in Burma.

“Actually, they [Tin Oo and Suu Kyi] should be the ones to prosecute the
authorities for their brutality in Depayin, but it has turned into the
opposite. This shows that there is no rule of law in Burma,” Bo Kyi
stipulated.

On Sunday, the junta’s Deputy Defense Minister told a regional security
meeting in Singapore that the trial against pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi is being conducted according Burmese law, a domestic affair in
which no other states or external parties should interfere.

He said the trial was in keeping with the universal legal principle that
no one is above the law; further arguing, “If offenders of the law are not
faced with action, anarchy will prevail and there will be a breach of
peace and security.”

Tin Oo, an ex-military man, is well respected among soldiers. He was also
among the founding members of the National League for Democracy, which won
a landslide victory in the 1990 election, the result of which has never
been honored by the military.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 2, Irrawaddy
DKBA starts border guard recruitment – Saw Yan Naing

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a ceasefire group, has begun
forcibly recruiting people to serve as border guards in compliance with
orders from Burma’s ruling junta, according to Karen sources.

A Karen source close to the DKBA said that the ceasefire group recently
started a three-month recruitment drive in villages in its territory. New
recruits will then receive training from the Burmese army, said the
source.

Saw Steve, a head of the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People,
a Karen relief group, said the DKBA started rounding up villagers to serve
as border guards in areas under its control, including Thaton and Pa-an
districts, last month.

Some villagers were threatened with arrest by DKBA soldiers if they
refused to join the new border security force, he said.

In January, the DKBA was told by the Burmese regime in Naypyidaw to
provide border guards under the terms of Burma’s new constitution.

According to Karen sources in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, opposite
Myawaddy in Burma’s Karen State, some people in villages under DKBA
control have begun fleeing to Thailand to escape forced recruitment.

“Some villagers don’t want to serve as soldiers, so they are running to
Thailand,” said the source close to the DKBA.

The DKBA, which signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military
regime after splitting from the Karen National Union in 1995, is one of
many groups that are facing increasing pressure from the Burmese army to
transform themselves into border security forces.

Under the new scheme, the border guards would be commanded by officers of
the Burmese army. The move is seen as a way to effectively disarm the
ceasefire groups.

So far, however, few of the key ceasefire groups have shown any interest
in falling in line with the junta’s plan.

Last month, two major ceasefire groups—the New Mon State Party and the
United Wa State Army—rejected instructions from the junta to transform
their soldiers into border guards under the joint-command of the Burmese
army.

Another strong ethnic ceasefire group, the Kachin Independence
Organization, has not yet made a decision regarding the Burmese regime’s
plan. The organization said that it would carefully consider the junta’s
proposal.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 2, The Nation (Thailand)
Thai-Burmese border trade down on economic crisis

The Thai-Burmese border trade in Tak province has affected more from
global economic problems than political turbulence in Burma, said Chaiyuth
Senitantikul, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries in Tak.

He said political movements in Burma are concentrated in Rangoon and
produce less impact on the border trade.

 Thailand's exports - mostly consumer products - in May dropped 10 per
cent from the previous month to Bt1.8 billion, while imports were down
10-20 per cent to about Bt200 million.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 2, Associated Press
South Korea urges Burma to ensure democracy

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak urged Burma to take steps to promote
democracy during a meeting with its prime minister on Tuesday, Lee's
office said.

Lee held talks with Gen Thein Sein on the sidelines of a two-day summit
between South Korea and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations.

"President Lee expressed the hope that the Myanmar [Burma] government
would address the concerns of the international community by making sure
that national unity and democracy take root in a substantial manner
through dialogue and compromise," Lee's office said in a press release.

The statement offered no specifics and did not say how Gen Thein Sein
responded.

The meeting came as detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is
on trial in Rangoon for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Friday.

Suu Kyi has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past
19 years. Her party won the country's last elections held in 1990, but the
military, which has run Burma since 1962, did not allow her to take power.

The junta, which has come under strong international criticism, says it is
committed to democracy and will hold elections next year, though serious
doubts persist about its intentions.

South Korea was once ruled by a series of military-backed strongmen.
Nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations in the summer of 1987 forced then
president Chun Doo-hwan, a former general who took power in a coup, to
restore direct presidential elections.

Lee and Thein Sein agreed that their nations would cooperate to further
expand trade and investment, the release also said.

____________________________________

June 2, Narinjara
Need for political change in Burma for regional stability: Thai FM

Political change in military-ruled Myanmar was "very much needed" for
regional stability, said Kasit Piromya Foreign Minister of Thailand
yesterday.

Piromya was holding a joint-press briefing with Bangladeshi Foreign
Minister Dipu Moni at the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry office in Dhaka
yesterday. The Thai FM was on a two-day official visit.

"Changes in Myanmar are very much needed. It is not only a necessity for
the security of Myanmar but also for all the neighbouring countries
including Bangladesh and Thailand," Piromya said.

The Thai minister said changes in Myanmar would resolve the issues of
internally displaced Myanmarese along the Bangladesh-Myanmar and
Myanmar-Thailand borders.

He, however, avoided comment to the Press on the affect the trial of Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi by the Burmese junta would have on regional stability.

U Maung Aye Chan, a senior Arakanese politician in Cox’sbazar said the
Thai FM is also likely to discuss the trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in
Insein prison because ASEAN and other neighbours of Burma are being
criticized by western countries and international human rights
organizations for its failure to pressurize the Burmese military regime
for political reforms.

Thailand has also been severely criticized by the international community
and human rights organizations for putting Rogingya boat people, who come
by boat, adrift at sea in engineless boats.

On the Rohingya issue, Piromya said that Thailand is ready to work with
Bangladesh on repatriation of Rohingya refugees.

“It is a common problem for the two countries next to Myanmar,” Piromya said.

Both the foreign ministers felt that the two countries should convince the
Burmese military authorities that the Bangladesh-Myanmar Road is "a more
viable" route for the proposed Asian Highways to connect Thailand to
western countries.

The Thai Foreign Minister added that Bangladesh and Thailand could easily
be connected by road via Burma. The road will help the two countries
economically.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 2, Mizzima News
Burma ranks 126th in Global Peace Index – Mungpi

Increasing militarization and internal conflict has pushed Burma down to
126th place in the new Global Peace Index, which measures the level of
peace in countries across the world.

The 2009 Global Peace Index, released on Tuesday, reveals that Burma’s
peace has been further reduced by continued militarization, internal armed
conflict and human rights violations.

Ranking 126th among the 144 countries included in the Index, Burma also
ranks as the 22nd worse country in Asia, ahead of only North Korea,
Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Index calculates the level of peace in a country using 23 qualitative
and quantitative indicators ranging from a country’s level of military
expenditure to its relations with neighboring countries and the level of
respect for human rights.

The indicators, selected by an international panel of experts including
academics and leaders of peace institutions, shows that in 2008 global
peace has been jeopardized by the global recession and an increase in
violent conflict and political instability.

In Burma, reports suggest that human rights violations and militarization
continued to increase in 2008.

According to the Karen National Union (KNU), an ethnic armed rebel group
based along the Thai-Burmese border, its Army had more than 1,000 clashes
with the Burmese Army and their allies over the course of the preceding
year.

The KNU said the junta, in early 2009, concluded a three-year military
campaign against the rebel group, with an aim to eliminate them.

The increasing incidence of armed conflict has produced thousands of
internally displaced persons along the Thai-Burmese border, according to
the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), a group
helping internally displaced persons.

Additionally, following deadly Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, the worst
recorded natural disaster in Burmese history, human rights violations
reportedly reached a new height.

Rights groups and international governments condemned Burma’s ruling junta
for blocking aid supplies in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone. And
even though the junta later opened up and accepted external help, rights
groups said violations, including restrictions on movement within cyclone
hit regions, have continued to hamper relief and rehabilitation efforts.

The Index, which is in its third year, defines peace as “the absence of
violence” and looks at internal indicators including homicides, percentage
of the population in jail, availability of guns and the level of organized
crime.

It also looks at external indicators including the size of the military,
exports and imports of arms, battlefield deaths, UN peacekeeping
contributions and relations with neighboring states.

The study is endorsed by several prominent individuals including Nobel
Peace Laureates Martti Ahtisaari – former President of Finland, Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, former President Jimmy Carter
and Kofi Annan – former Secretary General of the United Nations. It is
maintained by the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 2, Washington Post
What the U.N. can't ignore in Burma – Pedro Nikken and Geoffrey Nice

The trial of the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung
San Suu Kyi, has once again catapulted events in Burma onto the front
pages of newspapers around the globe. The leader of Burma's struggle for
human rights and democracy has been charged with violating the terms of
her house arrest after an American citizen swam across a lake and broke
into her home last month. Heads of state from Asia and the West,
celebrities, and U.N. leaders such as human rights chief Navi Pillay have
responded strongly, demanding not only an end to the trial in Burma's
kangaroo courts but the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has
been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years.

With the verdict expected this week, many eyes remain glued to Burma. We
hope this global attention will result in long-overdue action.

For while the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi, without trial, has long
been denounced, a less-publicized travesty has been underway in Burma for
much of the past 15 years. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Human
Rights First and Amnesty International have reported on the crimes against
humanity and war crimes committed under the rule of Burma's military
regime, including the recruitment of tens of thousands of child soldiers
and attacks on ethnic minority civilians. The former U.N. special
rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, reported last
year that he had received information indicating that the military regime
had destroyed, forcibly displaced or forced the abandonment of more than
3,000 villages in eastern Burma, where ethnic minorities predominate. At
least 1 million people fled their homes as a result of the attacks, he
said, escaping as refugees and internally displaced persons. This is
comparable to the number of villages that have been harmed in the Darfur
region of Sudan.

Inexplicably, the U.N. Security Council has not systematically
investigated these abuses, which probably rise to the level of crimes
against humanity and war crimes. So a group of jurists from the United
States, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa -- of which we were part --
commissioned a report by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard
Law School to determine whether the United Nations is sufficiently aware
of the seriousness of the charges and willing to pursue justice. The
Harvard team -- relying only on U.N. documents and not information from
human rights groups -- examined four international human rights violations
documented by U.N. bodies over the past 15 years: sexual violence, forced
displacement, torture and extrajudicial killings.

It found that, indeed, the United Nations is well aware that such abuses
are taking place in Burma. Numerous U.N. special rapporteurs, the U.N.
General Assembly, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (now Human Rights
Council), and the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women have repeatedly documented and cited human
rights abuses that rise to the level of crimes, using language such as
"widespread" and "systematic," which are key elements to proving the
existence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Harvard report noted that the United Nations has acknowledged that
rights abuses in Burma have taken place with impunity. Moreover, U.N.
reports observe that most often the Burmese military commits these grave
human rights abuses. Key U.N. experts have acknowledged that there is no
independent judiciary in Burma, with Tomás Ojea Quintana, U.N. special
rapporteur on human rights, stating as recently as November that "There is
no independent and impartial judiciary system" in Burma.

Tragedies such as last year's cyclone and this spring's sham trial
inevitably draw the world's eyes to Burma. We should maintain our gaze.
Given that the United Nations is aware of the scale and severity of rights
abuses in Burma, it is incumbent on the Security Council to authorize a
commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes in
Burma. In previous, similar cases -- such as the situation in the former
Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Darfur -- the council voted to create such a
commission to investigate charges and recommend actions. So many U.N.
bodies have documented severe human rights abuses that such a move on
Burma is not only justified but long overdue.

Geoffrey Nice was the principal prosecution trial attorney in the case
against Slobodan Milosevic in the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Pedro Nikken was president of the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights and is an executive committee member
of the International Commission of Jurists.

____________________________________

June 2, Irrawaddy
The regime’s hollow talk of justice and the law – Editorial

"No one is above the law." The famous prosecution statement is used
repeatedly and blissfully by the Burmese junta's senior officials these
days.

Stung by global outrage and criticism, including from its closest
neighbors in Southeast Asia, the Burmese junta has launched a diplomatic
offensive against mounting international pressure to release democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and halt her unfair trial.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win, his deputy Maung Myint and Deputy Defense
Minister Maj-Gen Aye Myint, attending separate meetings in the region,
urged governments not to interfere in their "internal affair."

In the latest statement, on Sunday, Aye Myint said at the Shangri-La
Dialogue, an annual forum of defense ministers, academics, experts and
analysts, organized by Singapore’s International Institute for Strategic
Studies, that Suu Kyi was charged because she allowed a foreigner to stay
in her house, communicated with him and provided him food and shelter
instead of informing the police.

"It is the universal legal principle that no one is above the law," he
declared, adding that the police noted that Suu Kyi "committed a cover-up
of the truth by her failure to report an illegal immigrant."

Consequently, he said, “there was no option but to proceed with legal
proceedings."

It is absurd to contemplate that, without committing any violation of any
law, Burma's detained Nobel Peace laureate will probably be found guilty
of harboring an American who swam across a lake to her residence. She
faces up to five years in prison.

Suu Kyi had been a prisoner in her own home, held there under tight
security. If that security had been adequate, no intruder could have
entered her property. Until now, however, no action has been taken against
any security officials.

Instead, the regime is using Burmese "law," which specifically prohibits
unannounced foreign guests, to claim that Suu Kyi and her two live-in
party supporters and companions, Khin Khin Win, and her daughter, Win Ma
Ma, violated the terms of her house arrest and to put them on trial.

The military authorities charged them under Section 22 of the State
Protection Act, which states, "any person against whom action is taken,
who opposes, resists, or disobeys any order passed under this Law shall be
liable to imprisonment for a period of from three years up to five years,
or to a fine of up to 5,000 Kyats, or to both."

According to Suu Kyi's lawyers, the law dates back to 1975 and was part of
the 1974 constitution, which was invalidated when the military seized
power in 1988. Furthermore, under the junta’s “seven-step road map,” the
country approved a new constitution in May 2008 by national referendum,
which would also invalidate the 1975 act.

Although ordinary courts now handle high-profile political cases following
the abolition of military tribunals in 1992, the hearings are held under
heavy military influence.

It is very common for the Supreme Court to appoint judges after approval
by the Naypyidaw regime. There are courts at the township, district,
state, and national levels.

The junta has used laws such as the Emergency Provisions Act and the
Unlawful Associations Act to crack down on dissent. Human rights
organizations such as Amnesty International and the United Nations have
accused the junta of holding unfair trials and arbitrary imprisonment, as
well as use of torture and summary execution.

The law in Burma emanates from the barrel of a gun. Although they
shamelessly speak about the "law," the regime's officials have no idea
about how to follow its rules and regulations. Lawyers point out that Suu
Kyi is described as "an offender" even though the court has yet to pass
judgment.

It is outrageous to see our justice and judiciary system destroyed by a
power-hungry regime and it’s sad to see how Burma’s citizens are denied
their basic rights by force of arms.

____________________________________

June 2, Jakarta Post
Will Myanmar follow North Korea's way? – Lilian Budianto

As North Korea's recent nuclear test raises tensions in Asia, rogue state
Myanmar's nuclear program is ringing alarm bells in the Western world, say
Greenpeace and a local expert.

Myanmar's notorious junta, which has been subject to Western economic
sanctions because of its poor human rights record, has attracted criticism
over its plan to develop nuclear reactors. In 2002 it was reported that
the Russian government had agreed to help the military junta build a
nuclear research facility that would be used to develop reactors for
medical and electricity resources.

The US has shunned Myanmar's nuclear plans, saying Yangon has neither the
legal framework nor the provisions that would safeguard its nuclear
program from posing a security threat.

"Nuclear power and nuclear arms are different sides of the same coin.
Every nuclear-power-wielding state can turn into a nuclear-armed nation,"
said Tessa de Ryck, an anti- nuclear campaigner from Greenpeace Southeast
Asia.

"North Korea is an example. Once a country possesses a nuclear power
plant, it is hard for the international community to restrict ambitions to
develop nuclear weapons."

The global community failed to persuade North Korea from conducting
another nuclear test last week after the collapse of six-party talks last
year. The United States is yet to determine how it will respond to the
North test, which has provoked more hostilities with neighboring South
Korea and Japan.

Japan is reported likely to persuade China, who has provided economic
support for Pyongyang, to take a tougher stance to the North regime. China
has also ensured economic support for Myanmar, undermining economic
sanctions imposed by the West.

Ten ASEAN members signed the 1995 Bangkok Treaty that outlined a
nuclear-weapon-free zone and an agreement not to abuse nuclear technology.
However, precedents have shown the bloc has no leverage in meddling in the
domestic affairs of member countries in case of any standoffs.

ASEAN consists of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philip-pines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Myanmar has become the center of attention recently over the fresh trial
of opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has
been under house arrest for 13 out of the 19 years since her party won a
landslide victory in 1990. ASEAN leaders have come under fire for their
leniency toward Myanmar at a time when the West has been considering
imposing yet more sanctions on Myanmar.

"No one can ask Myanmar to adhere to the human rights commitment they have
made under the ASEAN Charter that entered into force last year," said
Bantarto Bandoro, the chairman of the Indonesian Institution for Strategic
Studies. "If Myanmar later abuses the nuclear plant to produce arms, there
would be no one that could ask them to stop."

Greenpeace has predicted that nuclear power plants in the ASEAN region
would be able to produce up to 200 nuclear bombs a year, considering it
takes only 5 kilograms of plutonium to make a nuclear warhead.

Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines have already
notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of their intention
to operate nuclear power plants in the near future as an alternative to
non-renewable energy resources.

Indonesia relies on coal, oil and gas to generate electricity for its
population of 240 million. Along with the rise in industrial production,
the government has sought to develop four nuclear plants that could
support 10 percent of its electricity demands by 2025.

Similarly, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam all aim to either build or
operate nuclear power plants by 2020, while the Philippines has plans to
revive its closed Bataan nuclear power plant.

Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia have
signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

June 2, Irrawaddy
‘We won’t have another Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’ – Khin Ohmar

Khin Ohmar is a secretary of Forum for Democracy in Burma and a
spokesperson for a campaign calling for the release of all political
prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The campaign started on March 13,
Burma’s Human Rights Day. On May 26, the campaign announced that it
collected more than 650,000 signatures from more than 150 countries around
the world. Ohmar spoke to The Irrawaddy regarding the trial of  Suu Kyi.

Khin Ohmar
Question: What is your opinion of the current international pressure on
the junta?

Answer: In this situation, the obvious factor is that international
response is very important at this moment. The junta didn’t perhaps expect
this much pressure. It has been so obvious to see how much the
international community admires and respects Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They
were seen to try to take actions rather than issuing statements as they
did before. For example, there was huge support from the United Kingdom,
as a government, which created a Web site with the intention of describing
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. At least, the United Nations Security Council issued
a statement. China and Russia will neither think of discussing it [the
matter of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi], nor easily accept it. But due to the
immediate response of the UK, US and France, a statement came out. Also,
Asean and Thailand issued strong statements [on the trial of Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi].

Anyway, it is clear that most of the governments have plans to continue
follow-up actions, not just issue their statements. It is different from
what we saw before.

Q: What will the international community do if the junta puts Aung San Suu
Kyi in prison?

A: At this time, the junta has to either release her or put her under
house arrest, which is also unrealistic. So, I think the junta must give
her a prison sentence. The international community is also aware of what
the junta is going to do, and it won’t stop putting pressure on the junta.

The junta has been using ways to demean Suu Kyi. We have to see how much
the international community and individual governments can cooperate with
each other to seek a practical solution which is beneficial to our
country.

It is not easy. That’s why [our struggle] has lasted such a long time,
because China and Russia have blocked [the UNSC] from doing anything on
Burma.
But I don’t see the international pressure decreasing. It will even
increase, but what is needed from them are practical actions.

Q: What do you think about the role of exiled Burmese opposition groups?

A: We demanded Asean to send a special delegation team to meet with the
Burmese junta and ask for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Another is
for the US, EU and Asean to impose economic sanctions targeted
individually on the junta. Currently, the international community is
putting immediate diplomatic pressure on the junta. The UNSC should call
an emergency meeting and pass a resolution on the Burma issue. The UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should actively show his personal
involvement to draw up a plan in which all key countries are able to
become involved and all parties can agree. When Mr. Ban Ki-moon goes to
Burma to meet the junta, he shouldn’t accept anything without the release
of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners.

Another issue is that the US appointed a special envoy to Burma former but
the incumbent President Obama hasn’t finalized it yet. Asean hasn’t so far
had a special envoy as well. Therefore, we demanded the US and Asean
appoint special envoys and send them to Burma for the release of Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi. We already told the EU special envoy to go to Burma. All of
these are diplomatic means. If all these efforts fail to persuade the
junta to stop the trial and release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, another step is
for the UNSC to impose an arm embargo on Burma and to form a commission to
inquiry into the crimes committed by the junta.

We are preparing to send these demands to the office of the UN
secretary-general.

They reflect the concerted efforts of all leading exiled political
organizations, women and youth groups.

Q: As a woman, how do you view the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi?

A: This event can be viewed through the gender issue because Snr-Gen Than
Shwe, the junta’s No 1 leader, is a masculine general while Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, a feminine democratic leader, is seen as his rival, and to say
the truth, a woman who will bring his power to an end. A thin lady who is
younger than Than Shwe has won not only the heart of the Burmese people
but also that of the people of the world.

To be sure, Than Shwe receives the love of his family and grandchildren,
but not the loving-kindness of the people. To view the situation from Than
Shwe’s perspective, he will surely want the love of the people, but know
that he can’t win it. In this sense, he must have personal hatred, anger
and jealousy towards her. What is more troubling is that the woman who is
younger than him has a better capacity than he has even though he, as a
general, has the power to rule the whole country. Therefore, hatred and
jealousy of Than Shwe drove him to take revenge on her.

The junta knows well that wherever Suu Kyi goes, the people follow her
from dawn to night. She doesn’t need a single weapon to organize the
people. On the contrary, the junta doesn’t dare to step into the crowd of
the people even though they possess huge armed forces. This is the biggest
threat to them.

The only weapon that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has is the people behind her.
She is never reluctant to face anything for the truth. She is a woman as
well as a mother of two sons and grandchildren. She could have had a
peaceful life together with her family. She has all the basic needs of a
human being. Even though she could have lived such a life, she has been
sacrificing all of her self-interest and family life. For truth and
democracy, she tolerates the current situation and doesn’t even hate the
generals, who can never compete with her nobility.

History will tell the truth if they continue to do their misdeeds with
hatred while Daw Aung San Suu Kyi firmly stands up for [democracy] courage
and honesty. The generals know she can not compete with their might, but
her popularity is greater than theirs

As a woman, I have concerns about her. She is going to be 64 and will be
living under poor conditions, either in prison or under house arrest. And
then, I can imagine the extent to which she can receive healthcare when
she has the health problems that a woman usually has. I can imagine the
hatred she receives under the junta’s atrocious behaviour. I’m really
worried about her security.

I was astonished when I saw her face on the TV. Whenever I feel depressed,
I try to see her face in my mind and ask myself how she can stand up for
all of us. When I recently saw her during her meeting with three diplomats
and her entry into the court, her face was clear, peaceful and clam. As
usual, she has neither worry nor fear.

Such a mindset doesn’t fear even an army of a million soldiers. She is
really an incredible person. Her firm stand [on democracy], and her strong
mental as well as physical health proves she herself is free from fear.

Q: What is your view on the feelings and mood of the Burmese people?

A: I would like to say that I am worried about the people not only for the
time being, but also for the future. The people have been living under
extreme fear. I am worried that they have lost their motivation, leading
them to become inactive. I am not blaming them, and we can’t blame them
under this extreme repression.

Back to the 1990 movement, if something happened to a student, other
students followed; so did their parents at the same time. But now when the
Buddhist monks are beaten and put into prisons, the extreme level of fear
among the people makes them unable to come out onto the streets.

We won’t have another Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the future. It is very
important that we must rebuild our country together with the leadership of
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

But the people fine it difficult to see the importance of this, because it
is more for them to have two good meals a day. Another factor in fear is
they don’t want to be arrested and put into prison. They fear these
matters more than 24 hours of a day. As a result, the people see only a
short distance ahead in their lives. I am worried about that.

While I live in exile, I don’t think it is fair for me to tell people what
they should do. But I have the desire to make them active. All the people
both inside and outside the country must cooperate and work together for
change in our country.

I want to say to all people: Please don’t sit and accept the injustice
done to our leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces an unfair trial. While
living outside the country, I have been doing my best [to change Burma].
At the same time, I want to say to people inside the country, join
together hand-in-hand to stand up for our struggle against injustice.