BurmaNet News, June 4, 2009

[Editor]

June 4, 2009, Issue #3727



INSIDE BURMA
Guardian (UK): Burma reels from poor PR but Aung San Suu Kyi verdict is close
Reuters: Women, children held after rare protest in Myanmar
Irrawaddy: Keep up the pressure, urges Win Tin
Irrawaddy: Burmese media again challenge Thailand’s Burma policy
Mizzima News: Detained NLD leader likely to be shifted to another jail
IMNA: Splinter group makes arrests in territory controlled by Mon
political party

BUSINESS / TRADE
Kachin News Group: Burmese junta allows felling of 100,000 tons of timber
per company annually

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Health problems increasing for political prisoners

REGIONAL
AFP: Myanmar nationals in Malaysia call for Suu Kyi's freedom

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Tried 'for being polite'

OPINION / OTHER
Mizzima News: ASEAN-led humanitarian aid effort needed in Burma – Larry Jagan
Bangkok Post: Darkness descends on Burma's lady by the lake – Larry Jagan



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 4, Guardian (UK)
Burma reels from poor PR but Aung San Suu Kyi verdict is close

The British ambassador in Burma, Mark Canning, is one of the few outsiders
to have been allowed into the courtroom to witness parts of the trial of
Aung San Suu Kyi. In the latest part of a series on her trial, he recounts
his experiences

The military regime in Burma has been stung by the intensity of the
criticism levelled at the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, and this comes
through clearly in the relentless rebuttals in the official newspaper. The
trial, we're told, is an "internal matter". The "rule of law must
prevail". No exception can be made for Daw Suu. Neighbouring countries
have displayed an "unreasonable interest" in the proceedings; the nations
of the European Union in particular should strive to achieve "greater
understanding" of the prevailing conditions.

The whole exercise has been a disaster for them in PR terms. The trial
will resume tomorrow for closing arguments. A number of diplomats, myself
included, have asked to be allowed back into the courtroom, but this is
unlikely to be granted.

Daw Suu's team will ask to be allowed to produce the three witnesses that
were earlier rejected by the judges. The current imbalance between
prosecution and defence witnesses is 14 to 1. Whether sentencing will also
take place tomorrow we don't know, but the consensus is that it's likely
to come quite quickly. Quite how a guilty verdict will be fashioned from
the evidence produced is unclear, but most are sure it will.

The people of Burma have been through terrible times and enjoy none of the
benefits of their neighbours (a Thai lives almost 10 years longer on
average). The past couple of years – with the suppression of the "Saffron"
uprising and Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 130,000 – have been
especially cruel. They struggle to cope with mounting economic pressures
and an economy skewed towards those with the right connections.

Yet despite these day-to-day pressures, they remain transfixed by what is
happening in the court in Insein, and one senses the importance of the
role that Aung San Suu Kyi, as a symbol of hope, continues to play in
their lives. Many seem noticeably angrier about the trial than they were
when the 2007 protests were crushed.

____________________________________

June 4, Reuters
Women, children held after rare protest in Myanmar

Myanmar police arrested five people, including children, outside the U.S.
embassy on Thursday where they had sought help for the release of a man
detained by the military regime.

The two women and three children were arrested in the former capital
Yangon after they held up a placard calling for the release of "our
father, husband".

The identity of the detained man was not known.

The group had met with U.S. embassy officials for 15 minutes and left
without incident, an embassy spokesman said.

"They were concerned about a private matter. There was no political
motivation," he said.

Public protests are rare in the former Burma and the military government
deals harshly with dissenting voices.

According to the Thailand-based Assisting Association for Political
Prisoner (Burma), there are more than 2,000 political prisoners of
conscience in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military for nearly
half a century. (Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Writing by Martin Petty;
Editing by Darren Schuettler and Valerie Lee)

____________________________________

June 4, Irrawaddy
Keep up the pressure, urges Win Tin

Win Tin, a prominent member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for
Democracy (NLD), has urged the international community to continue pushing
for her release, saying that the pressure on the Burmese junta since her
trial began more than two weeks ago has given the democratic opposition
more “breathing space.”

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, the 79-year-old Win Tin expressed
deep appreciation for strongly-worded statements from world leaders
condemning the detention of Suu Kyi and asking for the Nobel Peace Prize
winner’s unconditional release.

Win Tin at an NLD ceremony shortly after his release last year from 19
years in prison (Photo: AP)
“That was very significant,” he said of the strong messages of support for
Suu Kyi from a number of world leaders, including US President Barack
Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

He also thanked Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and other leading
Thai politicians, who have been unusually outspoken in their criticism of
Suu Kyi’s detention, even raising the issue at meetings of regional
leaders.

Win Tin also welcomed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s promise to return
to Burma “as soon as possible.” He added, however, that the UN chief must
be prepared to press for tangible results.

“If he leaves Burma empty-handed, it will be a setback,” he said.

He also warned against any slackening of pressure on the regime, which he
said was now stalling Suu Kyi’s trial in the hope that the international
outcry would lose momentum.

The veteran politician, who spent 19 years in Rangoon’s notorious Insein
Prison, where Suu Kyi is currently being held, said that the court agreed
to hear an appeal of an earlier decision barring three of her defense
witnesses because the regime was trying to buy time.

The Nobel laureate’s trial on charges she violated her house arrest was to
have final arguments on Friday, paving the way for a widely expected
guilty verdict and a prison sentence of up to five years.

Suu Kyi, 63, faces three to five years in prison if found guilty of
breaking the terms of her house arrest by allowing an American intruder to
stay for two days after he swam to her home on May 4.

Although the trial has resulted in tighter restrictions on Suu Kyi, the
intense international attention that it has attracted has actually made
life slightly easier for beleaguered democratic opposition forces,
according to Win Tin.

Before Suu Kyi’s arrest and transfer to Insein prison, activists and
dissidents in Burma were powerless to make a move without the regime
pouncing on them, “but now we have some breathing space here,” he said.

Win Tin also said he suspected the regime was behind the bizarre incident
that landed Suu Kyi in a special court at Insein Prison.

“It was a set up,” he said, questioning why John William Yettaw, the
American man who swam to Suu Kyi’s house on May 4, was able to get a visa
to return to Burma after police were informed that he had breached the
tight security around her home late last year.

Suu Kyi’s personal physician, Tin Myo Win, had reported this first
intrusion to the police on December 4, 2008. Yettaw entered her compound
on November 30 and was immediately told to leave. It was not clear what
prompted him to attempt a repeat of his earlier illegal entry into Suu
Kyi’s residential compound.

Win Tin also dismissed the regime’s efforts to use the incident to smear
Suu Kyi’s reputation and justify her continued detention after more than
six years under house arrest.

“People in Burma do not believe the regime’s propaganda,” said Win Tin,
adding that the junta’s actions could provoke unrest.

In a sign that the regime is growing increasingly wary of a backlash, it
has beefed up security in Rangoon, where residents said that they saw
about 30 police trucks on roads leading to Insein prison yesterday.

Win Tin also said that despite the military leaders’ determination to keep
Suu Kyi in prison, the daughter of Burma’s independence leader doesn’t
hold any personal grudge against them.

“They know her very well. They know that she has no ill will against them,
but they want to lock her up or deport her somewhere,” he said.

But the generals were making a serious mistake by attempting to
marginalize Suu Kyi, said Win Tin, who said that they would need her when
the time comes to cede power.

“They should realize that she can save them,” he said.
____________________________________

June 4, Irrawaddy
Burmese media again challenge Thailand’s Burma policy – Wai Moe

Burma’s state-run media has resumed its war of words with the government
of neighboring Thailand over Bangkok’s Burma policy.

The Myanma Alin newspaper reported on Wednesday that former Thai Foreign
Minister Noppadol Pattama had charged that Thailand’s relationships with
neighboring countries had worsened under the administration of Prime
Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.

Noppadol served briefly as Thailand’s foreign minister in the short-lived
government led by the People’s Power Party, which took office in 2008.
Noppadol, a lawyer, was a close associate of fugitive former Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose government had nurtured close ties with
Burma.

Wednesday’s Myanma Alin report quoted remarks by Noppadol that appeared in
the Thai daily Matichon:  “Now Thailand is the chairman of Asean [the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations] and the credibility of the Asean
chairman is down because Thailand’s relationships with Asean members,
Burma and Cambodia, are not good.”

Thailand, as chairman of Asean, issued a statement on May 19 condemning
the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi and calling for the release of her and all
other political prisoners. Myanma Alin quoted Noppadol as saying the
statement was interference in Burma’s internal affairs.

The Burmese newspaper also reported that Noppadol had called on Kasit to
resign.

In a report on Burmese-Thai relations on Tuesday, Myanma Alin quoted Gen
Sonthi Boonyaratglin, a leader of the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin, as
saying that “if Thailand has a conflict with Burma, it will face defeat.”

Another Burmese language daily, The Mirror, has also carried reports
questioning the Thai government’s Burma policy, although the state-run
English language daily, The New Light of Myanmar, has been silent on the
issue.

____________________________________

June 4, Mizzima News
Detained NLD leader likely to be shifted to another jail – Myo Gyi

Ruili (Mizzima) - Myo Khin, Chairman of Rangoon’s Yankin Township National
League for Democracy party, serving a prison term in Bamo jail in upper
Burma is likely to be transferred to another prison on health grounds,
family members said.

His wife, Khin KHi Win, who recently visited him, said, “When I visited, I
met the SB [Special Branch Police] and the jailer. They told me that they
will transfer my husband on June 5 and said it was on health grounds. They
will transfer him to a prison where there is a doctor. I don’t know the
details as yet.”

She said her husband suffers from severe cardiac problems as well as high
blood pressure. On May 21, he fainted and fell down. Again on May 23, he
vomited so severely that he had to be taken to Bamo hospital.

“He is not in good health. He has cardiac problems and high blood
pressure. He fainted thrice in jail,” Khin Khin Win said.

Myo Khin sustained minor injuries on his head and on his eyebrow from the
fall. An X-ray was taken at the hospital before he was discharged on May
26.

Myo Khin was arrested on August 23, 2007 for being involved in mass
protest against skyrocketing essential commodity prices. He was charged
for instigating public unrest, and disrespectful act against the
government. He was sentenced to four years in prison on November 13, 2007.

He was later transferred from Rangoon to Bamo prison in Kachin State in
upper Burma.

____________________________________

June 4, Independent Mon News Agency
Splinter group makes arrests in territory controlled by Mon political party

An armed splinter group enter territory controlled by the largest Mon
political group and arrested 2 retired village officials last night.

On June 3rd at 8 p.m., an armed Mon splinter group entered into Brigade
No. 3 village, in territory controlled by the New Mon State Party (NMSP)
south of Three Pagodas Pass near the Thai-Burma border, and then arrested
2 former village officials.

According to eyewitnesses, 10 armed soldiers entered the village under the
command of Nai Khin Maung. The 2 men arrested were: Nai Shwe Thaung, who
was the former village headman of Brigade No.3 village, and a second
retired official, Nai San Htain , who was the quarter headman from the
village.

According to Nai Ba Tin, who is part of the Three Pagoda’s Pass
administrative committee in NMSP territory, the group arrested the two
men, but it is still not clear why. He speculated that the arrest could
have been a result of a long-standing personal conflict.

“Brigade No. 3 is close, only one mile from the village. If the armed
group commanded by Nai Khin Maung wanted to clarify something, they could
just go to the NMSP Brigade No. 3.,” said Nai Ba Tin. “It seems likely
that since Nai Khin Maung arrested these two village headmen, it was
because they had personal problems.”

Nai Khin Maung, who led the activities in Brigade No. 3 village, is a
former NMSP soldier and member of the Brigade No. 3 village militia.
However he quit the village militia only within the last 5 months.

According to the villagers, when the armed group arrested the two men,
they fired their guns 4 times into the air. The NMSP has been trying to
arrest this group since last night.

Though Nai Khin Maung led the group in the actual arrests, the armed group
is rumored to be under the control of Nai Shaung, who is a former MNLA
Colonel. The group was officially recognized as a splinter group in
February 2009 by the NMSP.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 4, Kachin News Group
Burmese junta allows felling of 100,000 tons of timber per company annually

The Burmese military junta has granted permission to each logging company
in the country's northern Kachin State to fell over 100,000 tons of timber
except teak every year, said local officers of the Forest Department.

In reality, both hardwood and teak from forests are Kachin State is mainly
transported to neighbouring China through the two countries' border in
Kachin State and Rangoon, former capital of the country for export, said
local timber companies' sources.

U Tet Zin, the head of a timber camp near Train Station in Mayan Village
between Myitkyina-Mandalay railways said, "We can log unlimited timber.
However the military authorities have officially allowed us 5,000 tons of
timber in a year."

He added that the hardwood accumulated in the timber camp in Mayan is
jointly owned by the regime's retired generals in Rangoon and retired
officers of the Forest Department.

The trees were felled in the forests along the ascent of Loili River also
called Loili Hka in Kachin and Gwi Marit Bum (Gwi Marit Mountain) near
Mayan village. The forests have been preserved by generations after
generations, said elder Kachin villagers of Mayan who are very upset with
the rampant logging in their preserved forests.

Because the logs are stored at the centre of village, near the railway
station in this monsoon, Mayan villagers are being forced to live with the
bad smell from the rotting tree skins, said villagers.

Whenever the village headmen requested moving the timber camp to another
place, the log company has refused, added villagers.

At the moment, there are several timber camps based along the stations
between Myitkyina and Mandalay--- Mayan, Nammar, Kyauk Gyi and Namti, said
local timber company sources.

Among them, Myat Noo Tu Company in Nammar station and Kyauk Gyi station
has timber camps of the Htun Mya Taung Company, Htoo Company and Dagon
Company, said eyewitnesses.

All these companies transport timber to Rangoon only by trains and ships
along Irrawaddy River for export, said local sources.

A KIO official in Myitkyina Relation Office told KNG, "Actually, the
source of those timber were protected areas of KIO in the past.  We would
like to collect tax from it but the KIO does not give permission."

Since 1994, when the main Kachin armed group Kachin Independence
Organization (KIO) signed a ceasefire agreement with the regime, the
timber from Kachin forests have been rampantly cut down for export.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 4, Irrawaddy
Health problems increasing for political prisoners – Min Lwin

Increasing numbers of Burma’s political prisoners are suffering ill
health, according to their families and the Thailand-based Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

Many of them are serving long sentences in remote prisons, far from their
families, who have difficulty maintaining contact.

They include several women, including Nobel Aye, known as Hnin May Aung,
who is reportedly ill with jaundice in Shwe Bo Prison, Sagaing Division,
where she is serving an 11 year sentence.

Kyi Than, a teacher from Henzada Township, Irrawaddy Division, was
transferred from Pyarpon Prison, Irrawaddy Division, to Rangoon’s Insein
Prison for treatment of a skin disease. Kyi Than was arrested in August
2007 for his involvement in political activities and was sentenced to nine
years imprisonment.

One inmate of Insein Prison is reportedly being refused medical treatment
for injuries he received while being arrested. Zaw Nyunt was beaten up by
members of the pro-regime Union Solidarity and Development Association and
paramilitary Swan Ar Shin when demonstrating at Insein market on May 28.

A source close to Insein Prison authorities said Zaw Nyunt suffered mouth
injuries. “He has not been allowed visits by his family and the prison
authorities refuse to treat him because he was injured outside the
prison,” the source said.

The AAPP reported in May that at least 127 political prisoners are in poor
health. Nineteen of them require urgent medical treatment, including Aung
San Suu Kyi, comedian Zarganar, female labor activist Su Su Nway and 88
Generation Students leader Min Ko Naing.

AAPP Joint Secretary Bo Kyi said systematic torture, long-term
imprisonment, transfers to remote prisons and denial of medical treatment
took its toll on the prisoners’ health.

An AAPP report said more than 350 activists have been sentenced since
October 2008, and the majority of them have been transferred to remote
jails away from their families. However, the prison transfers make it
difficult for family members to visit and provide essential medicine.

Since November 2008, at least 228 political prisoners have been
transferred to remote prisons across the country away from their families.
The long-term consequences for the health of political prisoners recently
transferred would be very serious, said the report.

There are 44 prisons in Burma, and at least 50 labor camps. Not all have
hospital facilities and at least 12 do not even have a resident doctor.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 4, Agence France Presse
Myanmar nationals in Malaysia call for Suu Kyi's freedom

Aung San Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail on charges of breaching
the conditions of her house arrest.

At least 30 supporters of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi held a
noisy demonstration outside the country's mission here Thursday to demand
her release.

During the brief protest, the Myanmar nationals shouted slogans such as
"We want democracy," and "Free Aung San Suu Kyi" and carried placards with
the words: "We oppose the 2010 elections."

"The protest is to press the military junta to free Aung San Suu Kyi and
other leaders," Thein Aung, 38, told AFP.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, faces up to five
years in jail on charges of breaching the conditions of her house arrest
after a bizarre incident in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam to
her lakeside home in May.

Authorities in Myanmar have accused her of covering up the American's
presence and have rebuked her for offering him food and shelter.

The trial, the latest episode in a nearly two-decade test of wills between
the pro-democracy champion and Myanmar's ruling junta, has provoked an
international outcry.

But leaders have dismissed outside criticism, saying the trial was an
internal matter.

The junta headed by reclusive Senior General Than Shwe has kept Aung San
Suu Kyi in detention for a total of 13 years since 1990, when it refused
to recognise her party's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections.

The military has ruled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, since 1962 and
critics say next year's elections are a sham as they will be held under a
new constitution which gives the army a role in any government.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 4, Agence France Presse
Tried 'for being polite'

THE United States criticised Myanmar Wednesday, saying it had put
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on trial 'for being polite.'

The critique was delivered by the State Department's new communications
director, PJ Crowley, who told reporters the United States wanted to
promote 'the concept of integration rather than the concept of isolation.'

'We'll be looking for countries that are acting as problem solvers, as
opposed to countries that are acting as spoilers. We'll be looking for
countries that empower people - or not fear them,' he said.

'I mean, that certainly is the situation in a country like Burma, for
example, where this week you have a Nobel Peace Prize winner on trial for
being polite.' Ms Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, faces up to
five years in jail on charges of breaching the conditions of her house
arrest after a bizarre incident in which an American man, John Yettaw,
swam to her lakeside home in May.

Authorities in Myanmar have accused Ms Suu Kyi of covering up the
American's presence and have rebuked her for offering him food and
shelter.

The trial, the latest episode in a nearly two-decade test of wills between
the pro-democracy champion and Myanmar's ruling junta, has provoked an
international outcry.

But leaders have dismissed outside criticism, saying the trial was an
internal matter. Ms Suu Kyi has been deprived of her liberty for 13 of the
last 19 years.

Mr Crowley said the issue was 'how nations will govern themselves in the
21st century.'

'It's not for the United States to impose these solutions on countries
such as Burma. In fact, for a country like Burma, if you're going to
succeed in the 21st century, you have to empower your people. You can't be
fearful of your people,' he said.

'You should - you'll find ways to promote the exchange of information, not
find ways to hide it or to restrict it,' he said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 4, Mizzima News
ASEAN-led humanitarian aid effort needed in Burma – Larry Jagan

Many international and regional aid officials are now suggesting using an
ASEAN-led model for all future humanitarian assistance to Burma.

Last weekend was the anniversary of the establishment of the Tripartite
Core Group (TCG) – the international communities’ response to the Burmese
government’s reluctance to accept international relief aid and assistance
in the first few weeks after Cyclone Nargis devastated most the Irrawady
Delta and parts of the former capital Rangoon.

The success of  the TCG, which primarily helped coordinate the
international community’s response to the devastating affect of Cyclone
Nargis in May last year, has led many ASEAN officials, international aid
workers and UN representatives to urge the Burmese government to consider
extending the process to cover all humanitarian and development projects
throughout the country..

Aid workers believe it would be particularly useful as a model to improve
international support provided to the west of the country, the home of
nearly a million Burmese Muslims – known as Rohinygas – who are causing
international concern because of their mass exodus to escape poverty and
repression there.

The ASEAN-led mechanism, which brought together the south-east Asian
regional body, UN agencies and the Burmese government, was invaluable in
ensuring a rapid and effective relief effort in the weeks immediately
after the cyclone hit Burma. “The dialogue and good cooperation between
its members contributed to facilitate the efficient, transparent and
accountable provision of relief and recovery efforts,” the UN’s resident
humanitarian coordinator, Bishow Parajuli told Mizzima.

It was critical in getting speedy access to the Delta for relief workers
and providing visas for international staff from NGOs and the UN that were
needed to support the relief effort in the first few months after the
cyclone. The Burmese government was initially reluctant to accept relief
materials and allow large numbers of aid workers into the country.

“Without the TCG the humanitarian impasse may have dragged on,” Andrew
Kirkwood, head of the UK-based aid agency, Save the Children in Burma told
Mizzima. “The TCG helped to build trust, coordinated the aid effort, and
overcame obstacles like visa handling for humanitarian workers,” said Matt
MacGuire, Cyclone Recovery Co-ordinator in Rangoon for the British
government’s Department for International Development (DIFD).

Many aid workers believe it could now be used now to respond to the
problems in Northern Arakan state. More than a thousand Rohinygas made
international headlines earlier this year when they were allegedly pushed
out to sea by the Thai authorities after braving the turbulent waters from
Bangladesh to Thailand and Malaysia in search of a better life. Hundreds
ended up in Indonesia and India, as well as Thailand.

These refugees and their future became a major regional issue. ASEAN at
their summit in Thailand in February decided that the Bali Process,
established in 2002 to deal with human trafficking and other crimes in the
region should deal with it. At the same time the countries of the region
proposed that ASEAN coordinate a census of those Rohingyas languishing in
south-east Asian countries.

This raised the prospect of a TCG-type mechanism to deal with the issue,
particularly as the south-east Asian nations endorsed the idea that the
Rohingya issue had also to be dealt with at source – the causes for the
mass exodus – as well as their repatriation.

“The TCG could have an enormous benefit if it could be extended to the
rest of the country or to specific areas like Northern Rakhine state
(NRS),” Luke Arend, Medecines Sans Frontiere’s Deputy Head of Mission in
Burma told Mizzima.

But other senior humanitarian officials in Burma believe it is the
co-operation and coordination that the TCG established between the three
sides involved that should be replicated.

“The cooperation between the TCG partners -- Government, ASEAN and the UN
representing the international humanitarian community -- has worked well,
and the UN hopes that the parties can have an open dialogue and joint
efforts in facilitating the delivery of humanitarian and development
assistance to other parts of the country,” Mr. Parajuli told Mizzima.

That is also the view of the ASEAN Secretary General, Surin Pitsuwan whose
single-handed efforts gave birth to the TCG a year ago. “An ASEAN-kind of
initiative, whether it’s the same as the humanitarian task force, or the
TCG, at this point doesn’t matter,” the ASEAN chief told Mizzima.

“Neither Myanmar nor ASEAN have the resources necessary to help the
humanitarian needs of the people in Northern Rakhine State. So an
ASEAN-led mechanism of some sort could be helpful. But we have to wait for
the evolution of the environment -- political or otherwise -- to see if
there is an opening in which we can make an offer.”

So far the Burmese government has not responded to such suggestions. It
has not even been discussed, according to the regional head of United
Nations Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok, Raymond Hall, which is
the lead agency in that area.

“It would, of course, be technically feasible to use the TCG model for
assistance in NRS,” Mr. Hall told Mizzima “The discussions that have taken
place between UNHCR and the Myanmar Government have focussed on a
strengthening of our own programme in NRS and increasing the UN country
team’s involvement.”

“Although the TCG came about in the very particular circumstances of the
cyclone, a case could be made for ASEAN, the UN and the Burmese regime to
develop a means of working together in other areas like NRS,” said Matt
MacGuire. “But we see the rather different coordination structure of the 3
Diseases Fund as the preferred model for the new livelihoods fund that’s
being set up at the moment.”

The 3-D Fund was set up primarily by the EU, several key European
countries and Australia to replace the Global Fund when it pulled out of
the country several years ago. Now the EU is putting the finishing touches
to a project to provide financial and technical assistance to poor
farmers, not just in the Delta but throughout the country.

The EU’s Livelihood and Food Security Trust Fund or LIFT aims to assist
small farmers get access to credit, through the establishment of village
revolving funds; provide technical and skills training, including fish
rearing and small scale marketing; and help improve rural households’
incomes. The scheme also wants to set up small local factories producing
items needed to improve farming yields, including producing axes, hoes,
rakes, spades, shovels, picks and sickles. Through these projects, LIFT is
expected to put a $ 100 million into the rural economy over the next five
years.

The important lesson of Nargis and the TCG, according to many aid
officials, was that it provided a forum for discussion and helped build
trust and understanding on all sides. “The TCG was extremely important
because it helped generate confidence on all sides,” said Andrew Jacobs,
who heads the regional development division in the EU’s Bangkok office.

But instead of extending the TCG, the signs are that the model has run its
course and is likely to be allowed to grind to a halt. The Burmese
government has effectively extended the TCG for another year; a decision
that was conveyed to ASEAN at their summit in the Thai sea-side resort of
Hua Hin in February. But already there are signs that not all is going to
run as smoothly as it did, even in the Delta.

Visas are now taking much longer to approve as the TCG no longer is
responsible. “It’s taking around 4 weeks for visas now, more than double
the previous fast-tracking process,” said a western diplomat based in
Bangkok who monitors humanitarian and development issues in Burma. “Most
international NGOs now have a substantial back-log of people waiting for
visas,” he said. “And permission to go to projects is also taking
substantially longer.”

Most aid workers still prefer to put a brave face on it. “The end of the
TCG would not be the end of our ability to deliver humanitarian
assistance,” Andrew Kirkwood insisted. “It would only mean that we would
have to work in the Delta under the same rules as we do in the rest of the
country. These rules are more restrictive on international staff, but not
for national staff. We would still be able to deliver assistance on a
large-scale and in an independent, accountable manner,” he told Mizzima.

“If the Myanmar Government fazed out of the TCG, it would be the end of a
successful mechanism which has brought unprecedented access in Myanmar,”
said Luke Arend deputy head of the MSF mission in Burma.

The TCG has also helped improve the confidence of the international donors
and encouraged a greater financial commitment to Burma’s humanitarian and
development needs. “Many donors remain cautious about large-scale aid
assistance to Myanmar, particularly outside of the Nargis affected areas,”
said Andrew Kirkwood. “The $70 per head of aid assistance raised for the
survivors of Nargis dwarfs the $3 per head in aid assistance allotted to
the rest of the citizens of Myanmar. But, this must be balanced by the
fact that other countries in the region, namely Laos and Cambodia, receive
net aid flows of close to $50 per head, year after year.”

Rather than extending the TCG, greater effort needs to be made in getting
the Burmese government at the highest level to discuss the country’s
overall humanitarian and development needs, a senior UN official based in
Rangoon told Mizzima confidentially. “The government thinks it knows what
its doing – by building bridges, dams and road, sustained development will
magically follow,” he said. “It won’t!”

But only the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon can have the kind of
conversation that is needed, especially with Than Shwe, said the senior UN
official. So it must be one of his priorities when he visits Burma later
this year.

Some critics suggest that actually what Burma needs for development and
the Delta’s recovery in particular, is not more financial aid, but
dramatic reform of the country’s agricultural and financial sectors.

“There little hope of the Irrawaddy Delta recovering fully in the absence
of the recapitalisation and reinvigoration of Burma's rural credit
system,” said Sean Turnell, a Professor of Economics at Australia’s
Macquarie University and a Burma expert. “Farmers in Burma have
essentially stopped using fertiliser since they lack the credit to buy it.
Yields are down. And as a consequence the possibility of widespread food
shortages looms this year,” he told Mizzima.

“Little investment or land improvement is taking place, so recovery to
pre-Nargis output in affected areas looks remote - and improvements that
would lift Burma to the place it should be (and historically was) on the
global agricultural scene, is impossible to imagine,” he added.

What Burma needs more than anything else is economic reforms, a
liberalised rice market, and a robust financial sector, including
extensive micro-credit schemes. This is clearly not on the junta’s agenda.
And the Burmese people may be better off in the future, if the
international community suspended most aid programmes until the regime
seriously considered liberal economic reforms.

____________________________________

June 4, Bangkok Post
Darkness descends on Burma's lady by the lake – Larry Jagan

Burma's charasmatic pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi is set to
remain in detention for at least another five years, according to
diplomats based in Rangoon.

Her trial will conclude later this week in yet another secret session
inside Insein prison. Meanwhile the international outcry and protests
throughout the world since she was arrested and charged last month, show
no sign of subsiding.

In fact General Than Shwe's master-plan to make sure the country's iconic
democracy leader is in no position to "sabotage" his scheme, intended to
introduce a civilian government dominated by the military after next
year's scheduled elections, has badly backfired.

Instead of a quiet trial and sentencing, the international community is up
in arms.

"With one foul swoop, Than Shwe has undermined his own strategy of trying
to sideline Aung San Suu Kyi," said a senior Western diplomat who knows
the opposition leader well. "There is now an international furore that we
haven't seen since Aung San Suu Kyi was detained six years ago. Than
Shwe's actions have proved once again that she remains in everyone's minds
inside and outside the country as Burma's real leader."

The Burmese authorities are so worried by the posisbility that the UN may
bow to Western pressure to step up sanctions and other measures against
the regime, that they have launched a diplomatic offensive at the United
Nations in New York and many of the world's capitals to deflect
international pressure.

Although the Security Council adopted a weakened press statement more than
a week ago voicing concern over Mrs Suu Kyi's trial and calling for the
release of all political prisoners, the regime knows that a guilty verdict
will only fuel demands for tougher action against them at the UN.

Already Burma's generals have realised that their treatment of the
pro-democracy leader has put increased pressure on them at international
and regional ministerial gatherings. The issue dominated the Asian and
European foreign ministers meeting in Hanoi a week ago and again at the
EU-Asean foreign ministers summit in Phnom Penh later in the week. The
Burmese foreign minister skipped both meetings, leaving his deputy to deal
with the issue. Again on the weekend, at an international defence
ministers' gathering in Singapore, Burma's deputy defence minister, Maj
Gen Aye Myint - who was attending the security conference because General
Than Shwe, who is both the country's top general and the defence minister,
has refused to attend international meetings for nearly six years now to
avoid being chastised about the situation in the country - felt it
necessary to defend his government's actions against Mrs Suu Kyi. "The
legal action against Aung San Suu Kyi is merely the internal affairs of
Myanmar, taking action through its legal system in accordance with
domestic law," Maj Gen Aye Myint told the annual forum of defence
ministers, academics, analysts and experts.

"If offenders are not [prosecuted], anarchy will prevail, and there will
be breach of peace and security," he said. She is guilty of "committing a
cover-up of the truth by her failure to report an illegal immigrant", he
added.

Mrs Suu Kyi is facing five years in prison if convicted of the charges
that she broke the conditions of her current house arrest by allowing an
uninvited visitor - the American Vietnam War veteran John William Yettaw,
who secretly swam across the lake to her back door earlier this month - to
stay and gave him food and drink. She insists she is innocent. "I am not
guilty because I have not commited any crime," said Ms Suu Kyi when she
gave her testimony to the court more than a week ago, according to her
lawyer.

"I'm sure they will jail Daw Suu," said Aung Thein, a prominent lawyer who
was helping prepare her defence when his law licence was revoked on the
eve of the trial opening a week ago.

Human rights groups believe revoking Aung Thein's right to practice law
was the latest "blatant attempt" by the regime to intimidate lawyers who
are working on political cases. More than a dozen lawyers are currently in
jail for working on "sensitive" cases, including defending top monks and
former student leaders arrested during the September 2007 protests that
were crushed by the military.

Concern over the mounting international pressure on Burma has prompted the
regime to go on a diplomatic offensive. Several spurious interpretations
are now being actively spread by the junta: the incident was organised by
"internal and external anti-government forces" - a term the junta uses to
refer to pro-democracy groups - Burma's foreign minister, Nyan Win,
informed his Japanese counterpart the day after the trial started.

"Foreign countries should realise that the present case concernrng Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi is not 'trumped up' by the government, as some have been
willing to claim," said a briefing note sent by the foreign ministry to
all Burmese embassies around the world, urging them to defend the
government's position.

"Ignorance by big countries of Myanmar's political process is tantamount
to derailing Myanmar's transition to democracy," the briefing paper
continued. "Interference in Myanmar's internal affairs amounts to
sabotaging the state constitution already approved by the people and
slowing down the measures that will enable the people to enjoy their
democratic rights."

Burma's deputy defence minister told his audience in Singapore that other
countries "should refrain from interfering in [Myanmar's] internal affairs
that will affect peace and security of the region". He went on to warn the
international community that continued interference in Burma's internal
affairs "may possibly affect mutual understanding and friendly relations
[with other countries]".

This is the crux of the Burmese government's attempt to deflect
international criticism. The military regime's real fear is the UN
Security Council. "The only body that the junta really fears is the
Security Council," the former UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma,
Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said. "I have personal evidence of this.
So the Security Council must address this immediately as matter of
absolute urgency."