BurmaNet News, June 18, 2009

[Editor]

June 18, 2009, Issue #3737


INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: U.N.'s Ban invited to visit Myanmar in July: diplomats
New York Times: An ancient pagoda’s collapse turns Myanmar’s gaze to the
stars
Narinjara: Arakanese youth arrested and conscripted by Burmese army

ON THE BORDER
Reuters: Myanmar troops threaten Karen rebel bases
Irrawaddy: DKBA: Burma’s second largest non-state armed group?

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: Chinese firms to have stakes in two mega dams

HEALTH / AIDS
DVB: Cholera outbreak claims five children

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Britain wants more Myanmar sanctions over Suu Kyi
AFP: Global plans for birthday of Myanmar's Suu Kyi

OPINION / OTHER
Sydney Morning Herald: Burma's generals must free Aung San Suu Kyi and
embrace democracy – Gordon Brown
New Yorker: Green and saffron – George Packer
Hueiyen News Service: How can an ADC permit foreigners to hold protest
rally at Moreh?
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (US): Matress Factory exhibit 'Gesturess' as
varied as the issues it addresses – Mary Thomas

PRESS RELEASE
Burma Info (Japan): Former Japanese Prime Minister calls for the release
of Aung San Suu Kyi; Solidarity messages pour in from Members of
Parliament and musicians





____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 18, Reuters
U.N.'s Ban invited to visit Myanmar in July: diplomats – Louis Charbonneau

Myanmar's ruling military junta has invited U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon to visit the country in early July, though it was not clear
whether he would accept, Western diplomats said on Wednesday.

The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ban was concerned
the government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, could use such a visit
for propaganda purposes.

"He doesn't want his trip to be seen as giving any kind of legitimacy to
the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi," one of the diplomats told Reuters,
referring to the imprisoned leader of Myanmar's democratic opposition.

Suu Kyi is currently on trial for allegedly violating the terms of her
imprisonment. She has been detained for more than 13 of the last 19 years.

Ban has not made a final decision on whether to visit Myanmar, said
Michele Montas, his spokeswoman.

The U.N. chief had said that he was considering a trip to Myanmar soon to
press the junta to release Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners in
the country and to keep its promises to democratize.

But it was not clear until now whether the generals would be willing to
receive him.

The diplomats said they suspected Myanmar's ruling generals want to ensure
that Suu Kyi is in detention when next year's multi-party elections take
place.

"Ban can put pressure on them to let her go," one of the diplomats said.
"We don't have many options apart from the secretary-general."

The trial of Suu Kyi and of American John Yettaw, whose uninvited visit to
her home last month was deemed a breach of her house arrest, is set to
resume on June 26. Suu Kyi faces up to five years in prison if found
guilty.

Ban and his special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, received a petition
on Tuesday signed by more than 670,000 people worldwide. It urged Ban to
make the release of Suu Kyi and more than 2,000 political prisoners his
personal priority.

Czech President Vaclav Havel, who spent many years in prison due to his
activities as an anti-communist dissident, was among the world figures who
signed the petition.
____________________________________

June 18, New York Times
An ancient pagoda’s collapse turns Myanmar’s gaze to the stars – Seth Mydans

It cannot have pleased Myanmar’s ruling family: the collapse of a
2,300-year-old gold-domed pagoda into a pile of timbers just three weeks
after the wife of the junta’s top general helped rededicate it.

There is no country in Asia more superstitious than Myanmar, and the
crumbling of the temple was seen widely as something more portentous than
shoddy construction work.

The debacle coincides with the junta’s trial of the country’s
pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, after an American intruder
swam across a lake and spent a night at the villa where Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi has been under house arrest for most of the past 19 years.

After two weeks of testimony that began May 18, the trial has been
suspended as the court considers procedural motions — and as the junta
apparently tries to decide how to manage what seems to have been a major
blunder, drawing condemnation from around the world.

The superstitious generals may be consulting astrologers as well as
political tacticians for guidance. That would not be unusual for many
people in Myanmar, formerly Burma.

Previously, currency denominations and traffic rules have been changed,
the nation’s capital has been moved and the timing of events has been
selected — even the dates of popular uprisings — with astrological
dictates in mind.

“Astrology has as significant a role in policies, leadership and decision
making in the feudal Naypyidaw as rational calculations, geopolitics and
resource economics,” said Zarni, a Burmese exile analyst and researcher
who goes by one name. He was referring to the country’s fortified capital,
which opened in 2005.

And so it seemed only natural to read a darker meaning into the temple’s
collapse.

The Danok pagoda, on the outskirts of Myanmar’s main city, Yangon, was
newly blessed May 7 in the presence of Daw Kyaing Kyaing, the wife of the
country’s supreme leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, along with an A-list of
junta society. The rite received major coverage in government-controlled
media.

In a solemn ceremony, the worshipers fixed a diamond orb to the top of the
pagoda along with a pennant-shaped vane and sprinkled scented water onto
the tiers of a holy, golden umbrella, according to the government
mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar.

Like the rest of the heavily censored press, the newspaper was silent when
it all came crashing down.

But word of mouth — and foreign radio broadcasts — spreads fast in Myanmar.

“People were laughing at her,” said a longtime astrologer, reached by
telephone in Myanmar, speaking of Mrs. Kyaing Kyaing.

“O.K., she thinks she is so great, but even the gods don’t like her —
people believe like that,” the astrologer said on the condition of
anonymity because of the danger of speaking to reporters.

“Even the spiritual world will not allow her to do this thing or that
thing,” the astrologer said. “People laugh like that.”

The ceremony was part of a decades-old campaign by the senior general to
legitimize his military rule on a foundation of Buddhist fealty —
dedicating and redecorating temples, attending religious ceremonies and,
with his influential wife, making donations to monks and monasteries.

That campaign was undermined, and perhaps fatally discredited, in
September 2007 when soldiers beat and shot monks protesting the military
rule in the streets, invaded monasteries without removing their boots and
imprisoned or disrobed hundreds of monks.

“No matter how many pagodas they build, no matter how much charity they
give to monks, it is still they who murdered the monks,” said Josef
Silverstein, a Myanmar specialist and professor emeritus at Rutgers
University, at the time of the protests.

So when the Danok pagoda suddenly collapsed May 30 as workmen were
completing its renovation — killing at least 20 people, according to
émigré reports — many people saw it as the latest in a series of bad omens
for the junta that included a devastating cyclone early last year.

The pagoda’s sacred umbrella tumbled to the ground, and its diamond orb
was lost in the rubble, according to those reports.

“The fact that the umbrella did not stay was a sign that more bad things
are to come, according to astrologers,” said Ingrid Jordt, a professor of
anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and a specialist
in Burmese Buddhism.

“It is also a sign that Than Shwe does not have the spiritual power any
longer to be able to undertake or reap the benefit from good acts such as
this,” Professor Jordt said in an e-mail message.

“In a sense, the pagoda repudiated Than Shwe’s right to remain ruler.”

As laborers began trying to rebuild the pagoda, local residents gave
émigré publications vivid accounts of supernatural happenings.

“The temple collapsed about 3:10 p.m. while I was loading bricks on a
platform around the pagoda,” a 24-year-old construction worker told The
Irrawaddy, an exile magazine based in Thailand.

“The weather suddenly turned very dark,” he was quoted as saying. “Then we
saw a bright red light rising from the northern end of the pagoda. Then,
suddenly, the temple collapsed. I also heard a strange haunting voice
coming from the direction of the light.”

Indeed, the Danok pagoda may have been a poor choice for the junta’s
ruling family to seek religious affirmation.

According to The Irrawaddy, “Several elderly locals from Danok Model
Village said that they believed that the pagoda never welcomed cruel or
unkind donors, and always shook when such persons made offerings.”

____________________________________

June 18, Narinjara
Arakanese youth arrested and conscripted by Burmese army

Three Arakanese youth who were traveling to Thailand in search of jobs
were arrested by Burmese troops in the border town of Myawaddy in Karen
State and conscripted into the Burmese military.

After their arrest they were taken to the army recruitment camp and
subsequently sent to the air force base in Metheikla in central Burma to
take basic military training.

The two youths were identified as Maung Win, the 17-year-old son of U Fru
Shay from Lone Tang Village in Rathidaung Township, Nyi Pu, the
17-year-old son of U Maung Tin Hla of Zee Kone Village in Rathidaung
Township, and Maung Saw Than, the 18-year-old son of Ma Khin Than of
Sarkprun Ward in Sittwe.

The three youths had left Arakan to search for jobs in Thailand shortly
after celebrating the traditional New Year water festival in April. They
were arrested in Myawaddy Town by army troops and conscripted, said one
relative.

"They left Sittwe on 20 April by the bus from Shwe Pray Theik bus service,
saying that they would go to Thailand. Their family members thought that
they had already reached Thailand. However, the families just received
letters from their sons and came to know that they were taking military
training in Metheikla Town. They do not think it will be easy to get them
back,” the relative added.

The three youths were arrested in Myawaddy Town and were threatened with
being sent to prison.

Because the number of young people enlisting in the army is decreasing by
the day, Burmese army troops often find ways to arrest youth and threaten
them into conscription in order to increase the army's rank and file, said
one source from inside.

It has also been learned that if a youth joins the Burmese army in Arakan
State, the local army will provide him with one lakh kyat and one sack of
rice for his family.

According to Human Rights Watch, children as young as nine are faced with
the threat of forcible recruitment by security forces in Burma, even in
public places such as bus or train stations, or markets.

In 2002, Human Rights Watch published a report that accused Burma of being
the world's leading recruiter of child soldiers.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 18, Reuters
Myanmar troops threaten Karen rebel bases

Myanmar government forces captured three Karen rebel positions on Thursday
in the latest fighting that has forced thousands of refugees to flee into
neighbouring Thailand, commanders said.

The army and their Karen allies were also threatening two bases of the
Karen National Union (KNU), the largest rebel group in the eastern former
Burma.

"We captured 3 small KNU positions and are closing in on two main bases,"
said Captain Kha Koe of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which
joined government troops in an offensive against the KNU on June 3.

There were no confirmed reports of casualties.

Earlier on Thursday, KNU Commander Kyaw Ny said his fighters were
preparing to abandon their 7th brigade base to avoid unnecessary loss of
life.

"It is a tactical redeployment. We also do not want to kill our fellow
Karens in this battle," he told reporters by telephone.

Thai army officials say some 3,000 Karen refugees have fled across the
border into Thailand since the fighting began. The U.N. refugee agency has
said it is working with the Thai government to assist the refugees.

Myanmar's state-controlled media said on Thursday those who fled to
Thailand were "insurgents" from several KNU units.

The KNU has been fighting for autonomy in the hills of eastern Myanmar for
the last 60 years, one of the world's oldest insurgencies.

Rebel leaders say the latest offensive is part of the military regime's
campaign to eliminate all opposition ahead of promised multi-party
elections in 2010.

The trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces up to
five years in jail if convicted of violating her house arrest, resumes
next week.

Critics say the trial is aimed at keeping the Nobel laureate and National
League for Democracy (NLD) leader in detention ahead of next year's polls.

The KNU are one of a handful of rebel militias not to have signed a
ceasefire with the military junta.

In February last year, KNU leader Mahn Sha Lar Phan was shot dead at his
home in a Thai border town in an assassination blamed on the regime and
its Karen allies.

Myanmar has been under military rule of one form or another since 1962,
during which time it has been riven by dozens of ethnic guerrilla wars,
funded in part by revenues from opium sales from the notorious "Golden
Triangle".

(Reporting by Somjit Rungjumratrussamee; Writing by Kittipong Soonprasert;
Editing by Darren Schuettler)

____________________________________

June 18, Irrawaddy
DKBA: Burma’s second largest non-state armed group? – Wai Moe

Ethnic ceasefire groups were upset this year when the Burmese junta
announced plans to transform them into a Border Guard Force (BGF).
However, one Karen rebel splinter group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army (DKBA), quickly joined, seeing it as an opportunity to expand its
troops and as a road to riches.

According to a DKBA report on a meeting in May on the transformation of
the Border Guard Force that was obtained by The Irrawaddy, the DKBA plans
to expand its troops from 6,000 to 9,000.

DKBA troops march in a parade. (Photo: Shah Paung/ The Irrawaddy)
At the meeting, Tun Hlaing, the DKBA commander, said that the armed group
would recruit or conscript 3,000 more soldiers.

If the DKBA reaches an armed force of 9,000 troops, it would be the second
largest non-state-armed group in Burma, after the United Wa State Army
(UWSA). The UWSA has an estimated 25,000 troops based in northern and
southern Shan State.

In 1995, Buddhist Karen rebels separated from the mainly
Christian-dominated Karen National Union (KNU) that has sought Karen
autonomy for more than six decades. Later, they formed the DKBA.

In 1995, the DKBA allied with the Burmese army, which eventually led to
the fall of the then KNU headquarters at Manerplaw.

“The [Burmese] government has had some success using religion to split the
insurgent factions,” Larry J Remon, a security analyst wrote in a bulletin
of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, while noting
that the success has been coupled with lucrative rewards for corrupt
leaders.

Maj-Gen Thet Naing Win, the commander of the Burmese army’s Southeast
Regional Command, met with leaders of the DKBA at the headquarter of the
22nd Light Infantry Division in Hpa-an in Karen State on April 18.

At the meeting, the DKBA commander, Thar Htoo Kyaw, said that the DKBA
will transform into a Border Guard Force in order to survive.

According to Thar Htoo Kyaw, the Burmese commander told them that the DKBA
headquarter will become a Border Guard Commanding Headquarter under the
transformation plan.

After transformation, the border guard forces of the DKBA will still be
under the DKBA flag.

Under a draft plan on troop transformation, DKBA commanders would be
allowed to have 22 battalions under five brigades and one central
headquarters.

Thar Htoo Kyaw said at the meeting that the DKBA will recruit between ages
18 and 50. In early fall, the DKBA will report on its armed structure to
Burmese commanders.

Since May, along with DKBA troops, Burmese forces have conducted a
military offensive against the Karen National Liberated Army, the military
wing of the KNU.

Thousands of Karen have escaped the offensive to neighboring Thailand and
an unknown number of villagers are now internally displaced persons living
in the jungle.

In the past 14 years, the DKBA, allied with the junta, several times
crossed into Thailand and burned Karen refugee camps.

Security analysts describe the DKBA as an armed group that brings in
income from drug trafficking and car smuggling activities, which are
tacitly condoned by the military junta.

Which ever side wins in the current offensive, the territory under its
control will provide lucrative income from timber, commercial trading and
taxes.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 18, Mizzima News
Chinese firms to have stakes in two mega dams – Moe Thu

Business stakeholders from Burma, China and Thailand are into discussions
for Chinese investors to involve themselves in two huge hydro power dams
in Burma, said a Rangoon-based energy expert.

The two multi-billion-dollar projects on the Salween River are being
developed by Thailand's MDX Group and Electricity Generating Authority of
Thailand, both of which have joint ventures with Burma's Ministry of
Electric Power (1).

“A few Chinese firms are holding discussions with officials concerned to
participate in the two projects -- Tasang and Hatgyi,” said the expert.

The Tasang hydropower project, worth US$ 7 billion, is the largest Thai
investment in Burma. It will generate an estimated 7,100 megawatts (MW)
and is being operated by Thailand’s MDX Group, while the US$1 billion
Hatgyi project is being developed by the Electricity Generating Authority
of Thailand (EGAT).

However, the expert, who wished not to be named for fear of reprisal,
refused to comment on how many shares the Chinese side will take.

The Tasang project, located about 75 kilometres from the Thai border, will
be 868 metres long and 227 metres high and will be the biggest dam ever
and is scheduled to become functional in 2022.

A joint venture agreement to build the dam was signed in Rangoon in April
2006 between Burma and MDX Group. The pre-feasibility study started in
1997.

The expert said the Burmese side was delaying building the Tasang project
and that the actual construction only started in early 2007 but was
suspended shortly thereafter.

The Tasang project, one of the five mega hydropower projects on the
Salween River, is being jointly developed by Burma and Thailand.

Meanwhile, the expert said China is negotiating to participate in the $1
billion Hatgyi project on Salween River in Karen State. China’s Sinohydro
Corp will be the investor in the Hatgyi project that is located in the
conflict zone between the Karen rebels and the Burmese Army.

Two EGAT technicians were killed while on a survey at the dam site in
2007, forcing the EGAT to halt the survey work.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 18, Democratic Voice of Burma
Cholera outbreak claims five children – Ahunt Phone Myat

At least eight people, including five children, have died from an outbreak
of cholera in central Burma’s Magwe division, with the father of one
deceased girl saying he could not afford her medical treatment.

Nearly 50 patients are awaiting intensive treatment at Magwe’s
Taungdwingyi town hospital. Three nearby villages have also been affected
since the outbreak began on 8 June.

The father of a girl who died from the illness said he could not afford to
take her to hospital as he didn’t have enough money to cover the medical
expenses.

“We knew she was suffering [from cholera] but business is not too good
these days so I didn’t have enough money,” he said, adding that his two
sons also have the illness.

Some locals are complaining that the government’s local health departments
are not doing enough to educate locals in stopping the disease from
spreading, with outbreaks of cholera common during Burma’s rainy season.

Taungdwingyi’s district hospital was unavailable for comment.

A senior official from the government health ministry in Burma’s capital
Naypyidaw said that the ministry is aware of the outbreak and has issued
an announcement on state newspapers.

“We are aware of the outbreak since it started on 8 June and that it’s an
emergency,” the official said, under condition of anonymity.

“We are collecting statistics of the outbreak now and also putting a
general awareness announcement in the newspapers, as well as sending
[medical] teams to cooperate with the local health departments.

“The outbreak is mainly because people are drinking water out of ponds
without boiling or purifying it. It is important to place emphasis on food
and water hygiene at this time.”

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 18, Reuters
Britain wants more Myanmar sanctions over Suu Kyi – Adrian Croft

Britain wants further targeted international financial sanctions to
increase pressure on Myanmar to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
and other political prisoners, a minister said on Thursday.

Suu Kyi, who turns 64 on Friday, is on trial for allegedly violating the
terms of her house arrest.

Her trial, set to resume on June 26, has angered Britain and other Western
countries, which say it is aimed at excluding her from elections next
year.

Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis said the European Union would consider
further sanctions against Myanmar's military government once Suu Kyi's
trial was over.

"We (Britain) continue to believe that further targeted financial
sanctions would increase pressure on the regime," he told reporters.

In April, the EU extended visa bans and asset freezes on officials and
firms linked to Myanmar's rulers for another year, citing human rights and
democracy concerns.

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

Lewis said Suu Kyi was being tried on "ridiculous and bogus trumped-up
charges." Britain wants U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit
Myanmar soon after the trial is over, Lewis said.

Ban's mission would be to send "very strong messages about what we require
of the Burmese (Myanmar) regime if there is to be any prospect in the
future of an easing of sanctions and any kind of normalization of
international relations."

Britain wants all political prisoners freed and political reforms leading
to a civilian, democratic government.

Western diplomats at the United Nations said this week that Myanmar's
rulers had invited Ban to visit in early July.

The British ambassador to Myanmar, Mark Canning, speaking by video link
from Yangon, said there was no doubt Suu Kyi would be found guilty, and
that she would probably be sentenced to a further period of house arrest,
rather than sent to jail.

He said the trial has been a disaster for the Myanmar government by
raising Suu Kyi's profile.

Countries such as Singapore and Thailand were saying that investment from
their countries would not flow to Myanmar until the situation was more
stable, he said.

Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 13 of the last 19 years. Myanmar's
junta has refused to recognize a 1990 landslide election victory by her
National League for Democracy.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

____________________________________

June 18, Agence France Presse
Global plans for birthday of Myanmar's Suu Kyi

Supporters of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi made preparations
around the world Thursday to mark her 64th birthday, with calls for her
release from jail as she faces trial by the ruling junta.

The Nobel laureate is set to spend her birthday on Friday at Yangon's
notorious Insein prison, where she is being held on charges of violating
her house arrest after an American man swam to her lakeside house.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention since the
junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy's (NLD)
landslide victory elections in 1990.

In Yangon, NLD members were making preparations at party headquarters for
a similar celebration to those in previous years, including giving
breakfast to Buddhist monks.

"We have to hold the birthday party without the host again. We would be
very happy if she could be released, we are hoping and praying for this,"
senior party member Lei Lei told AFP.

"We will offer a dawn meal to five monks early in the morning to mark Daw
Suu's birthday. After that we will release balloons, doves and sparrows
before the small party starts," said May Win Myint, another senior party
member.

She said the party's youth would honour their leader by singing the poem
"If", by Rudyard Kipling, which Aung San Suu Kyi translated into Burmese.

May Win Myint, who spent around 11 years in Insein prison for her
political activities until her release in September 2008, said "I do not
want anyone to be in that jail."

"Not only NLD members but also the people who love her are praying for her
release," she added.

Campaigners across the world will mark the day with events ranging from
live music and speeches in Malaysia, evening vigils in Ireland and
Australia and debating forums in Thailand.

The website "64 for Suu" was set up to gather birthday wishes -- including
many via Twitter and YouTube -- and has so far received around 10,000.

Famous names who have sent messages demanding her release include British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, footballer David Beckham and US actors George
Clooney and Julia Roberts.

A global petition was delivered on Monday to UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon, signed by more than 670,000 people from 220 countries, calling
for the release of all Myanmar's political prisoners, especially Aung San
Suu Kyi.

She faces five years in jail if convicted in her trial, which resumes on
June 26. The court case has provoked international outrage and has been
described as a "show trial" by US President Barack Obama.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the only winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, which she
was awarded in 1991, currently to be in detention.

Myanmar's top court agreed on Wednesday to hear an appeal by her lawyers
to overturn a ban on two witnesses at her trial, although an appeal date
has not yet been set.

Western diplomats in Yangon have said a string of delayed court dates is a
sign that the ruling generals are seeking to stall the proceedings in a
bid to fend off global outrage over the trial.

UN human rights experts in Geneva on Tuesday issued fresh condemnation of
the trial, saying that the junta was allowing "flagrant" rights violations
in the proceedings and calling for full media access to be granted at the
court.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 18, Sydney Morning Herald
Burma's generals must free Aung San Suu Kyi and embrace democracy – Gordon
Brown

Today is the 64th birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi. The fact that she remains
under arrest is tragic for Burma and for all those who believe in
democracy. The trial of Ms Suu Kyi is an absurd mockery of justice. The
real injustice was not that someone broke into her compound, but that she
was imprisoned in the first place.

Ms Suu Kyi has now been imprisoned for 13 of the past 19 years, since the
party she led won the last elections in her country.

More than 2000 others are imprisoned across Burma for sharing her
commitment to a better future for the long-suffering population.

Even in the face of such injustice, Ms Suu Kyi has always supported the
path of peace and reconciliation. But the regime has consistently spurned
her offer of dialogue and reconciliation. It wants to isolate her from the
people of Burma, for whom she has long been a symbol of hope and defiance.

Her refusal to buckle in the face of tyranny is an inspiration. But words
of support are not enough. The region, the European Union and the United
Nations are all urging the junta to release Ms Suu Kyi. So far all
requests for moderation have been spurned. In the face of such obstinacy,
the world must now act. I believe there are three things we must do.

First, we need to support the countries of the region as they step up
efforts to secure democracy and reconciliation. I have been struck by how
Burma's neighbours have led the world in calling for Ms Suu Kyi's release.
We need to translate this outrage into political pressure for change.

Second, we need the UN Security Council to reinforce its calls for Ms Suu
Kyi's release and to support the Secretary-General's efforts to bring
about political progress through an early visit to Burma.

Third, we should impose a new set of tough sanctions that target the
regime's economic interests. We will be pushing for stronger EU action in
this regard. Such a step would hit the business interests of the generals
and their cronies.

I also believe we should identify and target those judges complicit in the
recent political show trials.

The growing sense of outrage and the unity of the international community
behind this message should mark a turning point. The regime is at a
crossroads. Long-promised elections in 2010 will remain a charade while
political prisoners are being tortured, ethnic minorities are persecuted,
the media muzzled, freedom of speech and assembly are non-existent and Ms
Suu Kyi is silenced. The regime can choose to ignore the clamour for
change. But this will only condemn the country to deeper isolation,
poverty, conflict and despair.

Or it can choose the path of reform, as the region has urged. Burma is
rich in natural and human resources, at the heart of a dynamic continent.
Democratic reform would unleash the country's enormous potential. Britain
and the international community would be ready to extend the hand of
friendship. If the Burmese generals rethink their ways, we will be ready
to recognise and embrace any genuine reforms they make.

Some may question why Burma warrants so much attention. There are other
countries where human rights are ignored or people live in poverty. But
the Burmese junta stands virtually alone in the scale of its misrule and
the sheer indifference to the suffering of its 50 million people. How we
respond to this injustice will send a message about our resolution to
tackle similar injustices across the globe.

To those that stand for human rights, freedom and democracy, our message
remains clear - you are not alone.

Gordon Brown is the British Prime Minister.
____________________________________

June 18, New Yorker
Green and saffron – George Packer

Last night, before dinner with Iranian friends, the subject of the most
recent example of people power came up—Burma and its failed “Saffron
Revolution” of September 2007. What were the differences between Burma and
Iran? Are there conditions at work in the massive demonstrations in
Iranian cities that give this movement a better chance of success than the
peaceful marches of monks and ordinary civilians that were tragically and
bloodily put down in Rangoon? No one can be sure that the Iranian
nonviolent uprising won’t be snuffed out or manipulated into losing its
energy, but we concluded that there are at least these differences working
in its favor:

1. The leader of the Burmese democracy movement, Aung San Suu Kyi, was in
her fourth year of house arrest when the demonstrations began (she’s now
undergoing an absurd show trial), and the younger organizers of the first
marches in August 2007 were hauled off to prison before the protests could
become large and national enough to threaten the regime. Burmese activists
later described their leaderless, decentralized movement to me as
“post-modern,” suggesting that this would make it more difficult to be
killed off or bought off—but there’s a severe limit to what a movement
without organization and leadership can achieve. In Iran, Mir Hussein
Mousavi remains at large and able to guide and focus the gigantic energies
of the Iranians in the streets. He has proven to be the reform movement’s
first strong, capable leader.

2. For a few days, Burmese citizens with cell-phones (rare and expensive
in Burma), modems (agonizingly slow), and cameras were able to send
reports, still pictures, and video to the exile media, such as Democratic
Voice of Burma in Oslo, which in turn posted them on Web sites that people
inside Burma could read. This was how the protesters got the word out to
the world and in turn stayed informed of what was happening inside the
country (in these situations people on the inside almost always have less
information than those outside). It became a prototype of how new media
could become a powerful tool in the hands of otherwise defenseless
civilians. But far fewer Burmese than Iranians have access to these
things, and after a few days the regime narrowed the Internet bandwidth so
tightly that almost nothing could get in or out. Iran, a much more
technologically developed country, can’t afford to shut down
communications across the board. Information technology is too integrated
into the life of the country and the government for a complete news
blackout. So the demonstrators continue to figure out ways to organize
themselves, and the whole world continues to watch.

3. The regime in Burma can safely be called totalitarian, while in Iran
there has been some democratic space—expanding in the late
nineteen-nineties, severely contracting more recently—and an
intellectually vibrant civil society. Journalists get locked up all the
time in Iran, but they have been able to find ways to criticize political
players within the limits of the theocratic structure. In Burma, a large
bureaucracy is dedicated to censoring any line or image that could
conceivably be taken as criticism of the government. Iranian activists who
challenge the regime are imprisoned for a few years; Burmese activists who
organize relief supplies for cyclone victims are locked away for two
decades. Iran has been isolated and isolated itself since 1979; in Burma,
a far more severe isolation has endured since 1962.

4. Related to 3: incredible as it sounds, given the viciousness of the
riot police and basij militiamen, the Burmese authorities are willing to
be more brutal than the Iranians. In 2007, dozens of Burmese monks and
civilians were shot down (and, unlike their Iranian counterparts, they
never resorted to rock-throwing or burning). In 1988, during the biggest
uprising in Burma’s modern history, thousands were killed. In 2007, there
were no scenes of Burmese soldiers exchanging friendly words with
demonstrators, as there have been in Iran. The Burmese military brought in
units to Rangoon from distant parts of the country, where they had become
battle-hardened in the longstanding fight against ethnic insurgencies;
there were reports that some soldiers had been given drugs before being
sent into the streets of the capital. When the moment come, few of them
hesitated to shoot down monks in cold blood—an unthinkable sin for a
believing Buddhist. At some point, the success or failure of a nonviolent
uprising depends on the willingness or unwillingness of security forces to
kill their countrymen. There have been tragic deaths in Iran, but there
are also reasons to think that state violence will be more limited there
than in Burma, including reports of divisions within the hierarchy of the
Revolutionary Guards.

None of this means that the clerical-military establishment in Iran won’t
find a way, through wiles, patience, and blood, to stay in power and crush
the movement for reform, let alone an overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
But it does mean that the outcome of these moments is determined above all
by the internal nature of regimes and societies, which are different
everywhere. People in Burma live in a perpetual nightmare that never
changes: every ten years or so they try to wake up from it, only to find
they can’t. Their Iranian counterparts are not doomed to the same
existence.

____________________________________

June 18, Hueiyen News Service
How can an ADC permit foreigners to hold protest rally at Moreh?

Can an Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of a Sub-Division permit some
foreign organisations to hold a protest rally in a part of India, i.e.in
Manipur?

Yes, he can, if the case of Moreh is taken into account.

The ADC of Tengnoupal Sub-Division has reportedly issued permission to two
Burma (Myanmar) based organisations to take out a procession at Moreh on
June 19 in protest against the continued house arrest of Aung San Su Kyi
and in demand of setting her free by the Military Junta of Myanmar.

Reliable sources said, Ms Lingjakim Haokip, president of Kuki Women's
Human Rights Organisation (KWHRO), Moreh (but typed as Burma) and Ms
Ngangai Haokip, presidium board member of Women's League of Burma (WLB)
had submitted an application to the ADC, Tengnoupal Sub-Division, Moreh
yesterday requesting him to permit them to hold a protest rally in protest
against the continued detention of Aung San Su Kyi in Myanmar on June 19 .

The ADC, allegedly without consulting the DC concerned, had signed
"permitted" on the application and put a seal of his office on it.

The sources said, the protest rally is being organised in several
countries, such as Thailand, Bangladesh, India (in Delhi), etc.

to draw attention of the world community to the present predicament in
which Aung San Su Kyi finds herself in Myanmar.

However, the problem arises when the question of permitting Burmese
organisations to hold a protest rally in a small part of India, which is
Manipur, that too by an ADC, without consulting the authorities concerned.

Because it involves infringement on diplomatic relations between the two
countriesMyanmar and India.

It is not within the authority of an ADC to permit such a protest rally to
be staged by Myanmar based organisations, the sources said.

Moreh being a town bordering Myanmar, any activity such as an open protest
rally held there, aimed at criticising the ruling junta in Myanmar, is
bound to certainly provoke the junta.

Besides, such an application requesting for permission to hold a
procession or protest rally must be addressed to the District Magistrate
or Additional Deputy Magistrate.

The line dividing the authority between ADM and ADC is obvious.

Even if a single person holds both the posts, applications submitted by
citizens or groups of citizens must be addressed separately and clearly to
either ADM or ADC according to the purpose, the sources pointed out.

Over and above, when a group of people applies for permission to organise
a procession or protest rally in a particular place, the ADM or ADC alone
can not issue permission for the same.

He/she must first obtain opinions from the district SP.

If the district SP suggests that such an event is likely to create law and
order problem, the DM/ADM does not usually issue permission for the same.

However, in the case of the proposed procession of Moreh on June 19, the
district SP had not been consulted by the ADC before he issued permission
for it, the sources said.

After the procession on June 19, a public meeting is also being planned to
be held at Moreh where the board member of WLB, Ms Ngangai Haokip will be
one of the presidium members.

Legal observers pointed out that the ADC Moreh should have consulted at
least the DC, if not the district SP.

Since any protest rally or procession held at Moreh usually causes
tension, the state government needs to pay special attention to the
matter.

Another thing to be noted is that when the ADC wrote "permitted" and
signed along with a mark of seal on the application submitted by the two
bodies, he did not even write the date on which the procession is to be
held.

____________________________________

June 18, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (US)
Matress Factory exhibit 'Gesturess' as varied as the issues it addresses –
Mary Thomas

What might a brick oven, seedlings, Engelbert Humperdinck, icons and a
molecular model have in common? They're all components of various artworks
in the latest incarnation of the engaging "Gestures" exhibition series at
the Mattress Factory.

Eclectic expression risen from unharnessed imagination is a hallmark of
the North Side museum. That characteristic swells in the "Gestures" shows,
which frequently include participants who are not traditionally trained
visual artists.

The oven, for example, is the centerpiece of "Bricks for Bread (The
Pittsburgh Community Brick Oven Project)" by Ray Werner, a self-described
"writer, baker, music maker." Werner, who built a similar oven in Braddock
last year, envisions brick ovens spread throughout Pittsburgh
neighborhoods, harkening back to a time when neighbors in ethnic
communities baked bread together. Donate a brick and you can sign it in
silver.

Upon entering the exhibition, one is aurally lured to the cellar by
"Victoriana," an installation of manipulated found sound by composer R.
Weis. It's surprising that the melodically pleasing, hour-long
composition, which intensifies in speed and complexity, grew out of only
15 seconds of raw sound material (creaking and slamming doors) recorded in
the artist's 19th-century Pittsburgh house.

The majority of the 19 exhibitors are visual artists, most notably Than
Htay Maung, a Burmese installation and performance artist who makes his
U.S. debut with "The Monument." He recently moved here with his wife, Khet
Mar, the latest participant in the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh's writer
residency program.

The distinguished work, which is both sobering and celebratory, comprises
a several-foot-high tower formed of cubes made of folded newspaper pages.
The tower stands within a circle anchored at four points by stacked papers
and more cubes, an arrangement that calls to mind ancient sites that
reference the four seasons or four compass directions. More cubes are
arranged on the wall behind, the most prominent showing an image of
President Obama on his 99th day in office. Other news images and stories
are also highlighted.

The installation is on one hand a tribute to the role newspapers play in
democratic societies, and to journalists who have been imprisoned or
killed for doing their jobs. The repetitious cube folding was also a
meditative way to exorcise the sadness the artist felt due to horrific
world events.

Carin Mincemoyer's exceptional, cringe-inducing "Migrating Birds Mimicking
the Structure of Polyethylene Molecules" uses pastel craft store birds to
lure viewers to a consideration of the legacy of non-biodegradable
synthetics.

Other pieces in the exhibition set up a dialogue between one another, and
with the building itself, as with Rise Nagin's "unwritten" and "Apparition
of Our Lady of Peace, Jacksonia Street, Pittsburgh" by Stephanie Flom and
Peter Oresick. The former ethereal, the latter symbolic, the handsome
works use different vocabularies to explore two aspects of spirituality.
Both relate to William Anastasi's 1991 "Trespass," on long-term loan in
the room they share.

Switch gears again upon entering Brett Yasko's elegant "For everything
I've done and for everything I'll do," a love letter disguised as MTV, its
passion made the more compelling by the unspoken presence of mortality. A
reflective vinyl sentiment on the projection wall slips in and out of
sight like memory, its message continuing 2,485 times on small slips of
paper scattered on the darkened gallery floor (take one). The silvery
letters, segmented like the facets of a disco ball, threaten to fade like
moonlight.

Don't overlook Gregory Witt's magical, intimate "Electrical box" nearby.

For more than three decades, the internationally known museum has
sustained its commitment to large-scale, site-specific installation art,
generally created by artists in long-term residence. To stay fresh, it
instituted the "Gestures" shows in 2001, featuring less time-intensive
works -- "gestures" -- by regional artists.

Employing guest curators is another way to enliven the museum schedule,
and the current exhibition was chosen, serendipitously, by Katherine
Talcott. She was the first full-time curator of the Three Rivers Arts
Festival, which continues through Sunday Downtown. During her tenure, from
2002 until 2007, Talcott organized praiseworthy annual shows that
highlighted local artists, and instituted thought-provoking public art
projects.

"Gestures: An Exhibition of Small Site-Specific Works" is a rich and
invigorating gathering that reflects her thorough knowledge of the local
creative community as well as her well-developed critical eye. Now
administrator for the city of Ann Arbor, Mich.'s "Percent for Art
Program," Talcott will return this summer to curate the 13th "Gestures."

There is much more to discover about this exhibition than fits on these
pages, and one may well expect the next edition to similarly reward and
challenge.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

June 18, Burma Info (Japan)
Former Japanese Prime Minister calls for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi;
Solidarity messages pour in from Members of Parliament and musicians

BurmaInfo warmly welcomes a strong statement from Tsutomu Hata, former
Prime Minister of Japan, calling for the release of Burma’s democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  “I strongly protest the extended detention of
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” Hata stated.  Hata’s message, submitted in Japanese
to the “64ForSuu” campaign website (64ForSuu.org), comes amid dozens of
similar messages from other Japanese politicians from all the major
parties, as well as from prominent musicians and writers (see list below).

Such a show of solidarity is in stark contrast with the posture of the
Japanese government, which has released only mild statements of concern
since Aung San Suu Kyi was charged in May and asserts that Suu Kyi’s trial
is a “domestic judicial issue.”

“I’m encouraged by all the strong demonstrations of solidarity,” said Yuki
Akimoto, Director of BurmaInfo Japan.  “I want the international community
to know that the Japanese government’s policy does not reflect the view of
the public and many MPs.”

For more information, contact: Yuki Akimoto (Mobile: +81-80-2006-0165,
yuki at burmainfo.org)

List of selected “64 For Suu” messages from Japan

*Messages are in Japanese unless otherwise noted. [ ] indicates format of
the message.