BurmaNet News, June 6 - 8, 2009

[Editor]

June 6 – 8, 2009, Issue #3729


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Former Singapore PM visits Myanmar: officials
Mizzima: Constitutional loophole leaves door open for forced labor: ILO
Mizzima: Warning to members is a threat to party: Win Tin
DVB: Junta clampdown on exiled radio listeners

ON THE BORDER
BBC News: Burma's Karen flee army offensive
Irrawaddy: Another ceasefire group rejects border guards proposal

BUSINESS / TRADE
Narinjara: Sri Lankan President to visit Burma soon

ASEAN
Xinhua: ASEAN forestry-related conference to be held in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Indonesian FM: US sanctions hurt Myanmar’s people

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: The world is ready for a President Aung San Suu Kyi – Editorial
IPS: Jurists want Security Council to open war crimes probe – Marwaan
Macan-Markar
Guardian (UK): Burma plays long in trial of Aung San Suu Kyi – Mark Canning
Los Angeles Times: Myanmar democracy movement appears to be weakening –
Charles McDermid



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 8, Agence France Presse
Former Singapore PM visits Myanmar: officials

Former Singapore prime minister Goh Chok Tong visited Myanmar, officials
said, amid international pressure on the military regime to halt its trial
of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Goh was set to meet Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Than Shwe, Prime
Minister Thein Sein and other senior officials on the "goodwill" trip, a
Myanmar official and a Singaporean statement said.

The visit comes just days after the Singaporean government said that
expelling Myanmar from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
was not the way to bring about reform in the army-ruled country.

"Mr Goh Chok Tong arrived in Yangon this afternoon to start his four-day
goodwill visit," the Myanmar official, who did not want to be named, told
AFP.

"He will meet with Senior General Than Shwe and other senior leadership in
Naypyidaw (Myanmar's remote administrative capital) on Tuesday."

Singapore said that Goh was visiting Myanmar for the first time in 11
years at the invitation of Thein Sein, after the Myanmar premier visited
the island city state in March.

It said Goh would "use the visit to update himself on developments in the
country" but did not mention Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial on charges
of breaching her house arrest that could leave her in jail for up to five
years.

Goh is now a senior minister in the cabinet of his successor, Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Goh succeeded Singapore founding father Lee Kuan
Yew -- Lee Hsien Loong's father -- as prime minister in 1990 and stepped
down in 2004.

He will visit Myanmar's second largest city, Mandalay, and also officially
open a hospital in Yangon completed with Singaporean assistance as part of
a recovery plan following last year's devastating Cyclone Nargis, it said.

Myanmar has faced rare criticism from fellow members of ASEAN, including
Singapore, in recent weeks since it put Aung San Suu Kyi on trial over a
bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside house.

Last month Singapore said it was "dismayed" by the charges against her and
urged the junta to release her.

But the Singaporean government added that ASEAN should not expel the most
troublesome of its 10 member nations, saying that the bloc will have
greater influence on Myanmar by maintaining dialogue.

Myanmar's ruling generals have kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for 13
of the past 19 years since refusing to recognise her party's landslide
victory in elections in 1990.

____________________________________

June 8, Mizzima News
Constitutional loophole leaves door open for forced labor: ILO

A committee on International Labor Standards has called on Burma's
military government to both amend existing legislation and address
shortcomings in a new Constitution due to take effect next year in order
to ensure the cessation of forced labor in the country.

Referencing the Forced Labor Convention of 1930, an International Labor
Organization (ILO) expert committee ruled that the practice of forced
labor continues to prevail throughout the country, in all but one of the
14 States and Divisions – citing a lack of political will on the part of
authorities to address the problem.

The committee told the government it must amend both existing legislation
and the new Constitution to effectively ban forced labor, publicize the
ban and punish those who defy the ban – appealing to the government to
"redouble their efforts" in enacting "long-overdue steps" to stamp out
forced labor in Burma once and for all.

Disagreeing with the Burmese government's interpretation of the 2008
Constitution, the committee concluded that the text of the document
provides for the possible permission of forced labor, specifically drawing
attention to a clause referencing "duties assigned thereupon by the State
in accord with the law in the interests of the people."

Additionally, the committee voiced the opinion that "even those
constitutional provisions which expressly prohibit forced or compulsory
labour may become inoperative where forced or compulsory labour is imposed
by legislation itself."

The junta, however, rebuked the view of the committee, noting the
Constitution was approved by over 90 percent of voters in a May 2008
referendum and quoting paragraph 15 of Chapter VIII of the Constitution,
which iterates: "The State prohibits any form of forced labour except hard
labour as a punishment for crime duly convicted and duties assigned
thereupon by the State in accord with the law in the interests of the
people."

Yet, it is precisely paragraph 15 of Chapter VIII, along with the Village
and Towns Acts, which the ILO contends demands immediate attention in the
amendment or retraction of text contained therein.

Further, in response to more than 600 pages of evidence to the practice of
forced labor in Burma submitted by the International Trade Union
Confederation (ITUC), the ILO committee accused the government of failing
to address the specifics of the cases brought forward, instead merely
regurgitating previous statements to the general condition in Burma and
practices of the government without providing any proof in support of the
government's position.

Included in the transcripts provided by the ITUC was evidence of direct
demands of forced labor made by Burma's military of Karen and Chin
villagers as well as forced labor relating to the reconstruction of the
country's cyclone ravished delta region.

The committee, in justifying their verdict, reminded the government that
no military personnel have yet to be held accountable for any alleged
rights violations, with the exception of three cases which resulted in
salary reductions or loss of seniority as opposed to reprimands following
from application of the penal code.

China, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
however, all came to the defense of the Burmese regime, with China and
India opting to focus on the junta's positive achievements to date in
putting an end to forced labor, while Singapore criticized those groups
and countries choosing to raise the issue of Aung San Suu Kyi in
conjunction with that of forced labor.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is currently facing trial for breeching
the terms of her house detention; charges which many critics and observers
believe are purely political in motivation.

Burma, under the government of democratically elected Prime Minister U Nu,
ratified the Forced Labor Convention in 1955 – some fifty years ahead of
fellow ASEAN members Philippines and Vietnam.

The United States, China and Canada are three of the countries that have
yet to ratify the 1930 Convention.

The committee decided against referring the situation in Burma to the
International Court of Justice, the highest venue for dealing with forced
labor abuses.

____________________________________

June 8, Mizzima News
Warning to members is a threat to party: Win Tin – Salai Pi Pi

The National League for Democracy (NLD) is faced with a new threat with
the ruling junta having warned and restricted it from issuing statements,
an executive member of the party said on Monday.

Win Tin, a veteran journalist and Central Executive Committee (CEC) member
of the NLD, said the junta’s warning to party leaders and youths came in
the wake of a statement issued last week by the Youth Working Group. It is
a new threat to the party and also signals an increasing crackdown on
party activities.

The NLD Youth Working Group on June 2 issued a statement condemning the
ongoing trial of party leader Aung San Suu Kyi saying that the junta is
applying an ineffective law of the 1974 constitution to sue her and to
continue to detain her.

The youth group also said that the trial was not free and fair as the
defendant was only allowed one witness while the prosecution presented 14.

In a vindictive response to the statement, the junta authorities on Friday
summoned the NLD CEC members along with leaders of the Youth Working Group
and warned them. They made them sign a pledge not to repeat such
accusations.

The junta, in its mouthpiece newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, on
Saturday said the statement by the NLD youth was “misleading and was
disturbing the court’s proceedings,” in Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial.

“It is a threat to us as our members, including youths, have been warned
about issuing statements, which we as a legal political party used to
issue and have the right to,” Win Tin said.

“It is also a restriction of freedom of expression,” Win Tin added.

On June 4, the authorities called members of the NLD youth wing Hla Thein,
Myo Nyunt, Hla Oo and Aye Tun and on June 5 called CEC members Than Htun,
Nyunt Wei, Hla Phe and Soe Myint and warned them against issuing
statements.

“When we were summoned, they read out a paper the content of which was
similar to the context in the newspaper. They said, we had broken the
law,” a youth member told Mizzima.

“After they finished reading, they told us to sign the paper as a
confession that we had committed a crime,” he added.

____________________________________

June 8, Democratic Voice of Burma
Junta clampdown on exiled radio listeners – Thet Aung Kyaw

The Burmese junta has clamped down on the rising numbers of unlicensed
radio owners in a move that media experts see as restriction on the
freedom of media and access to pro-democracy broadcasts.

The ruling junta yesterday issued a warning in the New Light of Myanmar
newspaper that those listening to radio without holding a license could be
prosecuted under the Wireless Act.

The warning carried no information on why people would be prosecuted nor
why numbers of listeners are increasing, but a Burmese journalist on the
China-Burma border said the increase was linked to the political crisis.

“People tend to buy radios when there is a stir in politics,” he said.

“[The 2007 protests] was like it is now. As soon as it was like that,
people bought radios. During 2003 Depayin (massacre), people bought
[radios]."

He added that sales of shortwave radios manufactured by China, which are
used by exiled Burmese media groups to broadcast, were also on the rise.

Coverage of the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by domestic
Burmese media is heavily controlled.

Heavily censored private newspapers and journals are restricted from
publishing any information that isn't covered in the state-run
publications.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders last month criticised the trial
reporting as one-sided.

“Even with limited access, the Burmese public is not being properly
informed as the military’s prior censorship prevents any independent
coverage.”

The chairman of the exiled Burma Media Association (BMA) said the move is
an attempt to restrict the freedom of media and a means to arrest
listeners of exiled media.

"The military government's
legal actions on radio listeners who do not pay
license fees
 is an effort to hamper the people of Burma who have been
depending more and more on foreign radios lately,” said Maung Maung Myint.

“Let's say, if they want to take action on listeners of foreign radios,
they want to create a scenario in which they could arrest them not for
listening to the radio but for not licensing their radios."

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 6, BBC News
Burma's Karen flee army offensive

About 3,000 ethnic Karen villagers have reportedly fled from Burma into
Thailand in recent days because of a new Burmese military offensive.

Aid groups say the refugees are from Ler Per Her camp in eastern Karen
state, near where the Burmese army is reported to be attacking Karen
rebels.

It is thought to be one of the largest movements of refugees across the
Thai-Burma border in a decade.

Meanwhile Burma still faces pressure to halt Aung San Suu Kyi's trial.

The pro-democracy leader is charged with breaching the terms of her house
arrest, a charge that could leave her in jail for up to five years.

Former Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong visited Burma on a "goodwill
trip" on Monday, as international anger against the regime continued to
mount.

'Largest exodus for a decade'

The Free Burma Rangers aid group said refugees began streaming out of the
Ler Per Her camp on Friday and continued to arrive in Thailand throughout
the weekend.

The Karen Human Rights Group, a Thai-based humanitarian group, put the
number of refugees at about 3,000 - and so too did a Thai army official
speaking to local media.

The Burmese government has refused to comment on these reports.

The Karen Human Rights Group said the influx was "the largest exodus from
Karen state on a single occasion" since the government launched a major
offensive against the Karen rebels in 1997.

The refugees are now taking shelter about 100 km (62 miles) north of Mae
Sot, a Thai border town.

The rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide and other organisations
have called on the United Nations to intervene to prevent a humanitarian
crisis along the border.

Rebels from the Karen National Union (KNU) have been fighting for greater
autonomy from Burma's central government for more than half a century.

But the KNU is weakening under the impact of continued army offensives, as
well as divisions within its ranks and with other Karen groups.

Another group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Amy (DKBA), made a pact with
the Burmese government and is reportedly now involved in the current
fighting on the government side.

____________________________________

June 8, Irrawaddy
Another ceasefire group rejects border guards proposal – Lawi Weng

Another Burmese ceasefire group has rejected a government order to
reassign its troops as border guards.

The Kokang group, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA),
based on the Sino-Burmese border, reportedly told the Naypyidaw regime it
couldn’t accept the proposal in its present form and would wait until
after the 2010 election and the formation of a new government before
making a final decision.

The junta is pressuring ceasefire groups, especially those based on the
Sino-Burmese border, such as Kokang, Kachin and Wa, to assign their troops
for service as border guards under the joint-command of the Burmese Army.
The Wa’s United Wa State Army (UWSA) rejected the proposal in May.

According to sources at the Sino-Burmese border, the MNDAA, led by famed
warlord Jiasheng (Burmese: Phon Kyar Shin) and based in the border town of
Laogai, told the junta that it isn’t yet ready to decide on the proposal.

Kokang leaders met Burmese Military Affairs Security Chief Lt-Gen Ye Myint
on June 4 in Laogai. Sources said they told Ye Myint a decision would be
taken after next year’s election and the formation of a new government.

According to the source, Ye Myint went on to meet UWSA leaders in Pangsan,
on June 6.

Ye Myint is now at former casino hub Monglar, in the Golden Triangle area,
and expected to meet leaders from the Monglar ceasefire group, the
National Democratic Alliance Army, led by Sai Leun (aka Lin Mingxian).

The UWSA has an estimated 20,000 soldiers, the NDAA 1,200 and the MNDAA 600.

Sources speculated that the Wa and Kokang groups probably rejected the
government proposal because they did not want to be subservient to Burmese
command.

According to the Burmese regime’s guidelines, each border guard battalion
would consist of 326 troops, including 30 from the Burmese army, of whom
three would be Burmese officers with administrative positions.

The Wa and Kokang stand is not expected to lead to any confrontation with
the regime, according to sources, because of the heavy pressure it faces
from the international community over the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Seventeen insurgent groups have signed ceasefire agreements with the
ruling generals since 1989, according to official Burmese reports.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 8, Narinjara
Sri Lankan President to visit Burma soon

Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapakse will pay a three day visit to
Burma in the near future to boost bilateral ties between the two
countries, government sources said.

The visit is a first by the Sri Lankan President abroad after its troops
conquered the Tamil Tigers guerrilla force in May 2009.

Both countries have been facing long-term insurgency in their territories,
after independence from the British.

President Rajapakse yesterday said both countries had shared common
platforms at many regional and international forums.

The message was conveyed by the President to mark the 60th anniversary of
the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Burma.

During his visit, President Rajapakse will inaugurate a village re-built
after the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008. A Sri Lankan
Buddhist monk raised the funds for re-construction of the houses.

“My visit to the Union of Myanmar this month and the numerous other
activities proposed to take place in our two countries as part of the 60th
anniversary celebrations will further consolidate our bilateral
relations,” President Rajapakse said.

____________________________________
ASEAN

June 8, Xinhua
ASEAN forestry-related conference to be held in Myanmar

A forestry-related senior officials' meeting of the Association of the
Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) will be held in new capital of Nay Pyi Taw
later this month, sources with the Forestry Department said yesterday.

The meeting, the 12th of its kind, is scheduled to run from June 22 to 27,
the sources said.

Attended by senior forestry officials and experts of the ASEAN member
countries, the meeting is divided into four parts - ASEAN pharmacists
conference, ASEAN forestry products research and development-related
experts conference, seminar on international forestry issues and ASEAN
senior forestry officials conference.

Meanwhile, the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development
(ICIMOD) will help Myanmar conduct research on forestry, having agreed
with the country to train out experts in the aspects.

A related medium-term action plan is being implemented under a contract
reached between the ICIMOD and the Myanmar Ministry of Forestry in January
this year.

The ICIMOD will providing technology, assistance and advice to conduct
research, geographical information by computer, map drawing system,
workshop and training for experts from respective departments and students
from the University of Forestry and the University of Agriculture,
according to the report.

Meanwhile, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has also provided
aid for Myanmar's forestry research work since 1987 to raise the capacity
of Myanmar forestry experts.

The one-year FAO-funded technical cooperation project worth of $203,000
was implemented in 2006 by Myanmar's Forestry Research Department and the
FAO, covering the holding of workshops and training programs relating to
adoption of forestry policy, organization of research work and
administration.

Myanmar is rich in forest resources with forests covering about 50 percent
of its total land area.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 8, Associated Press
Indonesian FM: US sanctions hurt Myanmar’s people – Foster Klug

Indonesia's foreign minister on Monday expressed frustration with
Myanmar's lack of human rights and democracy but said the U.S. approach of
harsh sanctions causes hardship among the country's people.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda also called on the military
government in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, to release detained
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi immediately.

He said, however, that Indonesia believes Myanmar's neighbors should
engage with the junta even more closely, a position at odds with the
traditional U.S. policy favoring tough sanctions meant to force the
generals to respect human rights and release thousands of imprisoned
political activists.

Wirajuda's comments at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace came
as Suu Kyi faced a trial widely seen as an excuse for the ruling junta to
keep the popular Nobel Peace laureate detained through elections planned
for next year.

Wirajuda was to meet Monday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton, whose State Department is reviewing U.S. policy toward Myanmar,
where the military has ruled since 1962.

Tough sanctions, Wirajuda said, "make the local people suffer even more."
He called on the world to help alleviate their hardships. "This would
encourage Myanmar to be more open," he said.

Indonesia has been heartened, Wirajuda said, by the Obama administration's
willingness to talk with governments at odds with the United States.

Rights groups have complained about Myanmar's neighbors' traditional
aversion to criticizing the junta and have urged the 10-nation Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar and Indonesia are members, to
press the generals to end rights abuses and the detention of thousands of
political prisoners.

Wirajuda said Myanmar's elections next year must be credible and include
Suu Kyi's political party. Indonesia, he said, has told Myanmar that it
will be closely following Suu Kyi's case.

It has been 19 years since Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory at the
ballot box but was prevented from taking office. She has been detained
without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, including the last
six.

In the current trial, Suu Kyi has been charged with violating the terms of
her house arrest because an uninvited American man swam secretly to her
closely guarded lakeside home and stayed for two days.

Expectations are high that she will be found guilty since Myanmar's courts
operate under the command of the military.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 8, Irrawaddy
The world is ready for a President Aung San Suu Kyi – Editorial

In a functioning democracy facing a general election, Aung San Suu Kyi
would be president-in-waiting of a country yearning for her leadership. A
fair and free election would give her the leadership mandate she and her
party won in 1990, only to have it annulled by a regime determined to hold
on to power.

After its defeat in 1990, the regime can now be expected to use every ruse
to make sure it retains executive power after the 2010 election. The
rigged constitution forced on the country in May 2008 bars Suu Kyi from
holding high political office, while her National League for Democracy is
already experiencing pre-election intimidation.

It’s painful indeed to see a country that would benefit immeasurably from
Suu Kyi’s leadership being shoved by a frightened military regime deeper
into the abyss. That scenario, however, should not be allowed to silence
the legitimate demand for Suu Kyi to be recognized as the rightful
president of Burma. The board of The Irrawaddy wholeheartedly endorses
that demand.

She warrants that title not only through public acclaim but also because
of her outstanding leadership qualities and strength of character, which
more than 13 years of house arrest and now the additional ordeal of a
stage-managed trial have done nothing to blunt.

Despite the injustices and humiliation heaped upon her by a malicious
regime and its thuggish supporters, Suu Kyi has never shown any antagonism
towards her jailers, calling instead for national reconciliation and
peaceful political dialogue. She has coolly displayed style and substance,
winning support across the political spectrum in Burma.

Much of that support has been silenced behind prison walls where more than
2,000 political prisoners are serving draconian sentences. The country
could benefit greatly from a Suu Kyi leadership drawing on the talents of
people like the Shan leader Hkun Htun Oo, former Defense Minister General
Tin Oo who is now under house arrest, veteran journalist-activist Win Tin,
88 Student Generation leaders Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Jimmy, Nilar Thein
and Su Su Nway.

Former army officers could also be called on to help lead the country in a
new direction, while Burmese expatriates would willingly return to join in
the effort.

Realistically, Suu Kyi couldn’t be expected to have the silver bullet to
solve all Burma’s grave problems, but nobody else has the qualities
necessary to build a broad coalition, win the trust of ethnic
nationalities and open up Burma to the rest of the world. She would
recreate an untarnished international image of Burma and restore the
confidence of important countries, including China and India.

She would also clean up the image of Burma’s armed forces and their
leaders and, by virtue of her own lack of rancor, save them from the
Burmese people’s wrath.

A president Suu Kyi would be comfortable on the world stage with leaders
like US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown—both of whom have spoken out strongly on her behalf. She would speak
on equal terms with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Thai Prime Minister
Abihist Vejjajiva and restore her country’s moral authority in the region.
Burma would at last have a national leader who is assured of a warm
welcome in all the world’s capitals.

The pariah regime now ruling Burma doesn’t like to hear these truths, of
course, but its leading generals should have the sense to realize by now
that enough is enough, that only Suu Kyi can restore to the country the
dignity they seem to value so much.

The world at large and Burma’s oppressed citizens are more than ready to
welcome and extend hands of friendship and co-operation to a President
Aung San Suu Kyi.

____________________________________

June 8, Inter-Press Service
Jurists Want Security Council to open war crimes probe – Marwaan Macan-Markar

Thanks to support from China and Russia, Burma’s military regime has
escaped harsh criticism at the U.N. Security Council. But this diplomatic
deal could come under pressure following the release of a report
commissioned by leading international jurists, accusing the regime of
committing "war crimes."

"We call on the U.N. Security Council urgently to establish a Commission
of Inquiry to investigate and report on crimes against humanity and war
crimes in Burma," wrote the five jurists from Britan, Mongolia, South
Africa, the United States and Venezuela in the introduction to the report,
‘Crimes in Burma.’

"The world cannot wait while the military regime continues its atrocities
against the people of Burma," added the jurists, who include South
Africa’s Richard Goldstone, Britain’s Sir Geoffrey Nice and Venezuela’s
Pedro Nikken. "The report’s findings are both disturbing and compelling."

The report, which was released in late May, accuses the regime in Burma,
or Myanmar, of perpetrating "epidemic levels" of forced labour, the
recruitment of tens of thousands of child soldiers, widespread sexual
violence, extrajudicial killings and torture, and displacement of more
than a million people.

The scale of violence - as the Burmese military continues its decades-long
campaign to crush ethnic rebel movements in the eastern corner of this
Southeast Asian nation - has also left a trail of destruction that has
parallels with the brutal civil war in Sudan.

"One statistic may stand out above all others, however: the destruction,
displacement or damage of over 3,000 ethnic nationality villages over the
past 12 years - many burned to the ground," the report revealed. "This is
comparable to the number of villages estimated to have been destroyed or
damaged in Dafur."

Prodding the Security Council to consider the violations in Burma as it
has done with Dafur is only one part of the argument being pushed in this
initiative to trigger a probe. The other is the source of the details
revealed about the on-going violations in Burma. The information was
culled from reports submitted over the years by U.N. special envoys
assigned as part of a monitoring mechanism to inform the world body about
the situation in Burma.

"U.N. mechanisms have noted there are widespread abuses in Burma," says
Tyler Giannini, a co-author of the report that was prepared by the
International Human Rights Clinic at the law school of the U.S.-based
Harvard University. "There is a prima facie case for the U.N. Security
Council to set up a commission to investigate crimes against humanity in
Burma."

U.N. General Assembly resolutions on Burma reflect this. "Discrimination
and violations suffered by persons belonging to ethnic nationalities of
Myanmar [include] extrajudicial killing, rape and other forms of sexual
violence persistently carried out by members of the armed forces," stated
one resolution before the General Assembly in 2007.

But, for the Security Council to issue a binding resolution to establish a
special commission of inquiry is a daunting task. "It is a very tough
job," says Thaung Htun, U.N. affairs representative for the National
Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), the
democratically-elected government forced into exile.

"The Security Council is very much divided on Burma, with France, the U.S.
and U.K. in one camp and Russia and China in another," Htun told IPS.
"Russia and China continue to say that the situation in Burma is not a
threat to international peace and security."

That argument by the Burmese junta’s strongest backers in the Security
Council embodies the hurdles that have been placed ahead of any resolution
calling the regime to account for its litany of abuses. The first
breakthrough was in 2006, when the Burmese situation was placed for
discussion on the Council’s agenda.

That was followed in late 2007 by a statement released by the president of
the Council following a harsh crackdown of peaceful, pro-democracy
protesters led by thousands of Buddhist monks in September 2007.

In late May this year, the Council issued a unanimous press statement
calling for the release of the over 2,100 political prisoners in Burma -
including that of democratically-elected prime minister and pro-democracy
icon Aung San Suu Kyi. The statement also expressed concern over the
recent trial Suu Kyi has been subject to.

This slight opening in the Council to comment on Burma came after the
other available U.N. mechanisms proved ineffective. The military regime
has barely demonstrated a shift in policy since 1992, when resolutions
critical of the regime began to be placed annually at the General
Assembly. The junta responded with a similar cold shoulder when hauled up
for violations at the U.N. human rights body in Geneva.

But there was no mention of war crimes being committed by the regime in
those U.N. reports and resolutions spanning the last 16 years.
Consequently, the Harvard University report commissioned by the five
international jurists marks a watershed.

"There has been some talk within the Burmese democracy movement about this
issue of war crimes but it did not result in a report like the Harvard
one," says Khin Ohmar, foreign affairs secretary at the Forum for
Democracy in Burma, a network of Burmese political exiles. "This is the
first time such a case has been made formally."

"But we should not let this move overshadow the need for dialogue and
reconciliation in Burma," she said in an interview. "I see it as two
separate issues. This is all about justice. Seeking justice cannot be
undermined by the political process."

Another factor has also helped in placing the Burmese regime in this new
line of fire - the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
in 2002 in The Hague.

Currently the ICC - which has the authority under the international treaty
that created it to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes - is
probing violations in Northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, the Central African Republic and Dafur.

"The emergence of a new international justice order is a factor to push
for a probe into crimes against humanity in Burma," says David Scott
Mathieson, the Burma consultant for Human Rights Watch, the New York-based
rights watchdog. "And the international community now knows more of what
is now happening in Burma."

____________________________________

June 8, Guardian (UK)
Burma plays long in trial of Aung San Suu Kyi – Mark Canning

In the face of a wave of condemnation, Burma's military leaders are
bending over backwards to project an impression of openness. They have now
allowed Aung San Suu Kyi's defence team to appeal the decision of the
trial judges to disallow three of the four witnesses her team had wanted
to put on the stand.

A ruling is expected this week from a higher court, allowing for the
resumption of the trial next Friday. Nobody expects it to alter the final
verdict, but it may be that the government has come to realise the value
of playing things long as a means of dissipating criticism.

But they still find themselves in a fix, because of course nobody has
forgotten about the trial. It remains the subject of huge interest – and
anger – among the Burmese, and as soon as proceedings move back to the
courtroom in Insein that gaze will intensify once more.

The government has in the meantime lashed out at the younger members of
Daw Suu's* party – the NLD, which swept to a landslide victory in the 1990
elections – for having criticised the trial in an internet posting, and
has threatened to unleash the considerable powers of the Press and
Publications Act.

The NLD comes in for a lot of stick. It is accused in some quarters of
being behind the times, of being insufficiently strategic and wedded to a
result that is now many years distant. But the members of the party – many
of them women – are exceptionally brave people who put themselves at
constant risk of arrest and harassment and, in a failing economy, make
immeasurably more difficult the task of finding employment.

The Press and Publications Act is used in some strange ways. Anything with
a political content generally falls foul of the censors, but it's puzzling
why things that one would have thought might serve to distract the
populace from the bigger picture are also blocked.

There is nothing in the government-controlled media to suggest Burma
suffers from road accidents, crime or other nastiness. Buses tip into
ravines, natural disasters strike and lurid crimes occur, but rarely is
news of any of this carried. Were a Martian to read the New Light of
Myanmar he could be forgiven for thinking an extraordinarily successful
feat of social engineering had been achieved.

* Daw Suu is a short form used in Burma for Aung San Suu Kyi

____________________________________

June 6, Los Angeles Times
Myanmar democracy movement appears to be weakening – Charles McDermid

A mishmash of disparate anti-government groups has not been able to
persuade foreign powers to push for Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom.

Even as the trial of activist Aung San Suu Kyi approaches a predictable
conclusion in a tumbledown prison courtroom in Yangon, the verdict may
already be in for Myanmar's pro-democracy movement.

The opposition, already reeling before Suu Kyi's arrest, increasingly
appears powerless, divided and incapable of mustering the international
intervention needed to topple the country's long-ruling military
government. As one opposition leader put it, the prevailing sentiment
within the opposition is "outrage and utter hopelessness."

A mishmash of acronyms, ethnic divisions and agendas, seven alliances of
about 100 anti-government groups operate inside and outside Myanmar.
Galvanized by recent events, the disparate groups have led a chorus of
derision for the arrest and trial of Suu Kyi.

International outrage has followed, with President Obama calling the drama
a "show trial." But there have been no changes in the government's stance
that Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, violated the terms of her
house arrest by allowing an uninvited American to spend two nights at her
highly guarded compound. She faces three to five years in jail.

Hard-core activists are not impressed by the international response.

"We are very thankful the international community is on our side. But this
is only lip service," Khin Maung Swe, an executive committee member of Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy, said by phone from Yangon.

Western threats of crippling economic sanctions have yet to materialize,
and the government's closest allies, China, Russia and India, have
remained silent.

Sources in Myanmar, also known as Burma, have confirmed that officials
from China, Myanmar's biggest supplier of consumer goods and the main
investor in the resource-rich country's energy and mineral sectors, have
visited in recent days to meet with the ruling generals and hold
unofficial talks with opposition leaders.

Political scientist and author Aung Naing Oo was once foreign secretary of
the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, an armed group involved in the
violent 1988 protests that catapulted Suu Kyi to prominence. More
recently, Aung Naing Oo, who studied at Harvard and now lives in exile in
Thailand, has advocated dialogue between the regime and the opposition.

"Throwing sanctions from 10,000 miles away" won't change the xenophobic
mind-set of the regime, he said.

He blames both the opposition and the regime for stubbornness and
inaction, what he calls "old general syndrome."

"I'll give you an example: A 16-year-old fights his whole life for what he
thinks is right. Now he's a general, he's 70, that's all he knows. These
old politicians won't change their minds for the country even if they know
this is the right way," Aung Naing Oo said.

With Suu Kyi again detained and many other leaders jailed, the National
League for Democracy is facing a crisis of leadership and morale. Moral
authority, according to Aung Naing Oo and others, is not enough to carry
the day.

"Moral authority has kept the movement alive, given it a lifeline," he
said. But "you need to bring pragmatism into the game. As Bill Clinton
said, politics is rhetoric and reality. How to combine the two in Burma, I
don't know."

Meanwhile, sources in Myanmar say the streets of Yangon, the former
capital, are cloaked in a renewed reign of fear, rage and helplessness.

"In every neighborhood of Yangon, there is always one former political
prisoner or a family whose son or husband is in jail for political
reasons. People are too afraid and too poor to take risks," former
prisoner Swe Win said. "Only if someone or some group can successfully
initiate a movement so big and so strong for the ordinary people to
participate will protests erupt."

As the trial of Suu Kyi resumes, and the reeling opposition scrambles to
rally universal support, the people of Myanmar are left with little more
than a day-to-day existence and wishful thinking.

"Hope is something that keeps Burmese going," Aung Naing Oo said. "When
you are Burmese, you have to have hope; otherwise, you have nothing."

McDermid is a special correspondent.