BurmaNet News, August 13, 2009

[Editor]

August 13, 2009 Issue #3775


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: NLD protests court verdict on Aung San Suu Kyi
AFP: US Senator Webb to meet Myanmar leader

ON THE BORDER
Kaladan Press: Bangladesh to compile list of Rohingyas for repatriation:
UNHCR

BUSINESS/TRADE
RFA: Burma’s blood money

ASEAN
AFP: Myanmar antics pose new headache for frustrated neighbours

REGIONAL
AFP: Vietnam: Suu Kyi verdict 'internal' matter for Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: UN Security Council approves watered-down Myanmar statement

OPINION / OTHER
FEER: Seven steps to freedom – Ko Bo Kyi
Economist: The Burmese road to ruin
Wall Street Journal: Burmese justice – Editorial
The Nation (Thailand): No surprise at Suu Kyi's latest punishment – Editorial

PRESS RELEASE
SWAN: 10,000 Shans uprooted, 500 houses burned in Burmese regime’s latest
scorched earth campaign

STATEMENT
European Union: The Council adopts additional restrictive measures against
Burma/Myanmar; 12660/09 (Presse 249)
Indian Parliamentarians’ Forum for Democracy in Burma: Indian
Parliamentarians' statement on Burma
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Czech Republic: Statement by Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic concerning
the verdict passed over Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan: Statement by Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone,
Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the situation in Myanmar





____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 13, Mizzima News
NLD protests court verdict on Aung San Suu Kyi – Myint Maung

The National League for Democracy (NLD) reacted sharply in a statement on
Wednesday to the court’s sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in
prison with hard labour saying it is a violation of human rights and not
in consonance with the provisions of the law.

The charge of violating the terms of her house arrest was made on the
basis of fundamental rights provisions in the 1974 Constitution, which was
suspended and is not in force any longer, making it null and void, the
statement said.

“The statement said the court’s verdict is not in accordance with the
provisions of the law and the NLD strongly protests against the human
rights violation. Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers will take the next step after
meeting her,” NLD spokesman Dr. Win Naing told Mizzima.

In another statement issued by the NLD on the same day, the party urged
the military junta to grant amnesty to all political prisoners and release
them unconditionally at the earliest.

In the second statement the NLD said Aung San Suu Kyi has earned the trust
and credibility of all ethnic people and pro-democracy forces. Moreover
she has been consistently striving for a dialogue and national
reconciliation. She is capable of making compromises and usher in reforms,
the statement added.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told diplomats in court on the day the verdict was
delivered that she hoped she could work for peace and tranquillity in
Burma. She added that she hoped to get a chance to work for world peace
and development,” the statement said.

After an American sneaked into her home in early May this year when Aung
San Suu Kyi was being held under house arrest, she was charged with 
violating the terms of her house arrest under section 22 of the ‘Law
safeguarding the State from the Danger of Destructive Elements’.  She was
sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour.

But the Junta’s head Senior Gen. Than Shwe commuted half of the sentence
while the rest of the sentence was suspended. She is to serve the sentence
in her home.

Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial on May 18, this year and was held in
Insein prison before the sentence was pronounced by the court. Now she is
again under house arrest.

____________________________________

August 13, Agence France-Presse
US Senator Webb to meet Myanmar leader

Democratic Senator Jim Webb is to meet Myanmar supremo Than Shwe later
this week in the first high-level encounter between a senior US official
and the junta strongman, Webb's office said Thursday.

"Later this week, US Senator Jim Webb is scheduled to meet with leaders at
the highest levels of the national government in Burma (Myanmar),
including Senior General Than Shwe," a statement from Webb's office said.

"If the Shwe meeting takes place it will be the first time that a senior
American official has ever met with Burma's top leader," it said, noting
also that no member of Congress has visited Myanmar in over a decade.

Webb, who arrived in Laos Thursday to kick off a two-week tour of
Southeast Asia, is scheduled to visit Myanmar this weekend.

His visit comes after the Than Shwe regime was assailed by international
outrage for extending democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest for
another 18 months.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 13, Kaladan Press
Bangladesh to compile list of Rohingyas for repatriation: UNHCR

Dhaka, Bangladesh: The United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR), South and Southeast Asian representative, based in Bangkok, Kitty
McKinsey has said it is necessary for Bangladesh to have a list of the
Rohingyas living in the country, unregistered, otherwise Burma, may object
to repatriating the Rohingyas who are not registered.

UNHCR Regional Representative, Raymond Hall, said an initiative should be
taken to resolve the Rohingya issue, but cautioned that Burma may raise
objections in repatriating the Rohingyas living in Bangladesh, if they
were not registered by August 9.

“Burma has allowed UNHCR to work there. The UN body has taken initiatives
to improve the residential areas of the Rohingyas,” Hall told Food and
Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzaque.

On other hand, Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni thanked the UNHCR
representative for their support to Bangladesh, regarding the Burmese
refugees living in Bangladesh, on August 9 at the Foreign Ministry Office.
She mentioned that more than 28,000 registered refugees were living in two
camps and nearly 4,00,000 unregistered refugees living outside the camps,
were a heavy burden on Bangladesh economically, socially, environmentally
and also in terms of law and order.

Bangladesh has called on the Burmese regime to improve living conditions
for Burma’s Rohingyas in order to stem the flow of refugees. Both Dipu
Moni and Hall agreed that Burma must improve its internal environment to
stop the influx of Rohingya refugees, into Bangladesh, according to the
Bangladesh Foreign Minister’s statement after the meeting.

“They are a heavy burden economically, socially, environmentally on
Bangladesh,” Moni said. “Burma has to improve its environment to stop the
influx of Rohingya people into Bangladesh,” she emphasized.

A total of 236,599 Rohingyas have been repatriated since 1992, when an
influx of the community began from Arakan in Burma, following religious
and political persecution. But, their repatriation came to a halt since
July 2005, raising concerns for the government.

During the meeting, Dr Dipu Moni and Dr Razzaque said repatriation and
rehabilitation of the Rohingyas in their homeland, Burma, is the permanent
solution, and this must be done without delay. Bangladesh will take a
bilateral initiative to address the problem and sought UNHCR assistance in
this regard.

Regarding registering the Rohingyas, the minister said whenever any
initiative was taken to register them, they infiltrated into Bangladesh in
more numbers.

“Bangladesh has provided shelter to the Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds,
but they are spreading to different areas of the country and creating
pressure on the limited resources here and creating social problems as
well,” the Minister told the UNHCR representative.

“If the Rohingyas are registered, they will get international organization
assistance, and they would be able to go to any developed country for
permanent residence,” said the Minister.

However, the UNHCR representative said the Rohingyas enter Bangladesh
because Burma restricts their movements, marriages and sends them to jails
for violation of the restrictions.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 13, Radio Free Asia
Burma’s blood money

Residents of Mandalay say that patients needing transfusions at a main
public hospital in the Burmese cultural capital are routinely asked for
money for donated blood.

"You have to pay money at the hospital," a member of the Aung Pin-leh
district blood donors' association said.

"If you don't, they don't give you blood at all. This is how they operate."

He said that a patient named U Thaung Tun, who suffers from a circulatory
disorder, had recently asked the voluntary group for blood because he had
traveled all the way from the remote state of Kachin to seek treatment and
needed a transfusion.

"The blood donation association from the neighborhood gave as much blood
as they had," the donor said.

"The social organization donated three bottles. For the rest, they would
have to find a lot of money to receive blood at the hospital," he added.

"They would have to find about 40,000-50,000 kyat (U.S. $50)."

Mandalay residents said that people who can afford to pay are often asked
for U.S. $10 for a bottle of blood, while poorer patients might be
expected to pay half that amount.

Routine practice

One man with close ties to Mandalay General Hospital, the facility at the
center of the allegations, said that the selling of blood is tied to
corruption among hospital staff.

"Normally, if a patient needs blood while in the hospital, the patient has
to look for a donor himself," the man said.

"But if the patient is from out of town and does not have any contacts in
the city, and he needs a blood transfusion, then it is quite difficult for
him," he added.

"It is not easy for that sort of patient to get blood from the blood bank
immediately."

He said that while the sale of donated blood isn't endorsed by official
policy, payment would still ensure a swift procurement of blood for those
needing a transfusion.

While there doesn’t appear to be a wide-scale black market in blood sales
in Burma, patients are routinely asked for money to speed up the process
of transfusion.

"Depending on the how much the patient can afford to pay, the price of
payment for the blood increases and decreases," the resident familiar with
the Mandalay General Hospital said.

"If one can give money, one can get the blood quickly and
efficiently...There have been cases where they will get the blood type
needed in exchange for payment."

Charge denied

Sources close to the hospital's administration say, however, that payment
is required only for the basic cost of blood transfusions, and not for the
blood itself.

An employee who answered the phone at the Mandalay General Hospital denied
the allegations.

"We don't take money for that at all," he said. "Don't go around [saying]
these things."

"If you want to ask, ask our department head. Ask [the Ministry of Health
in] Naypyidaw, OK?"

But the employee declined to provide a telephone number for high-ranking
health officials, and then hung up.

Meanwhile, ordinary citizens who donate blood said that asking payment for
transfusions is inappropriate, especially for poorer patients.

"They shouldn't do that," the Aung Pin-leh blood donor said.

"The donor donated out of charity, and they are then selling it. Actually,
they shouldn't ask for money from those who cannot afford it."

Donor groups

A youth member of the emergency blood donor group Uni Fellas, based in
Burma's former capital Rangoon, said that while that city's hospitals
experience similar instances of corruption tied to blood transfusions, the
problem has been worse in the past.

"A number of citizen-run organizations have sprung up in the aftermath of
Cyclone Nargis, with donor groups obtaining blood for blood banks," the
youth member said.

"Instead of [donating] once every four months, youths are gathering
together to build up a supply for the blood bank instead of just for
emergencies,” he said.

“It’s easy to obtain blood as long as you have a slip of paper from the
hospital saying you need it. You can simply go to the bank and get it."

The youth member said corruption in Rangoon, a city of nearly 4 million
residents, is not as prevalent as in Mandalay, which is one-fourth
Rangoon's size.

“Most of the related costs go to testing and other equipment. If the blood
is a rare type then you would need to pay more for it," the youth member
said.

He added that is impossible to guarantee that blood will be clean, even
with citizen groups monitoring the donation process.

"We can’t always guarantee that blood will be clean. Donors are made to
answer a questionnaire before they give blood, but they have to be
truthful about whether they have any diseases. And sometimes they don’t
know," the youth member said.

"In the case of donors selling blood directly to recipients, sometimes
they could be lying to make money."

He added that while donor groups are compensated for their work, there is
no fixed amount and payments often "aren't much."

Original reporting in Burmese by Ko Ye Htet, Kyaw Kyaw Aung, and Kyaw Min
Htun. Translated by Soe Thinn. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written
for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

____________________________________
ASEAN

August 13, Agence France-Presse
Myanmar antics pose new headache for frustrated neighbours – Sarah Stewart

Myanmar's treatment of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has once again
embarrassed its neighbours, and revived calls for the military state to be
expelled from the regional bloc ASEAN.

The junta this week extended the opposition leader's house arrest for
another 18 months, drawing international outrage but underlining how
resistant the ruling generals are to outside pressure.

The case came just a month after the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) endorsed the region's first human rights watchdog and
fended off criticism it would be powerless to tackle rogue members.

"The arrest shows that the relationship between Myanmar and its ASEAN
partners is not as robust as it was in the past," said Bridget Welsh, a
Southeast Asia specialist with the Singapore Management University.

"ASEAN leaders are frustrated because they think they've engaged and
embraced Myanmar on many different levels," she said, including
unprecedented humanitarian cooperation after a devastating cyclone in
2008.

Welsh said Myanmar's insistence on putting its own domestic interests well
ahead of those of its neighbours meant it would continue to cause real
damage by constantly overshadowing the bloc.

"ASEAN does not want as an organisation to always be associated with
Burma," she said, noting that Washington's interactions with the region
have been particularly dominated by the affairs of Myanmar, which was
previously known as Burma.

"Most ASEAN countries are small and they need the organisation for global
representation, and when that talk is dominated by the actions of one
country, it prevents regional issues from getting adequate attention."

Suu Kyi's legal team is expected to appeal her latest sentence, which
stemmed from a stunt in which American man John Yettaw swam to her
lakeside house in May.

A prison court sentenced her to three years of hard labour after finding
her guilty of breaching the terms of her incarceration, but junta
strongman Than Shwe commuted the punishment to a year and a half under
house arrest.

Lim Kit Siang, vice-president of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on
Myanmar, said the junta had shown "utter contempt" for the organisation's
ideals and that regional governments must now respond with more than
words.

"The time has come for ASEAN to seriously consider expulsion or at least
suspension of Myanmar from ASEAN," he said in a statement.

Analysts said the timing of the latest drama was unfortunate as ASEAN
members had just forged agreement on the human rights body.

"The verdict is an embarrassment for ASEAN because it has been grappling
with the issue of human rights and trying to establish acceptable norms
among members," said Tim Huxley from the International Institute for
Strategic Studies.

"If political confrontation was taken to its logical conclusion, Burma
could be suspended or expelled but frankly that's not going to happen," he
said.

Myanmar's neighbours are concerned that if Southeast Asia's problem child
is ejected from the grouping, it could be driven further into the embrace
of China, which is hungry to exploit its natural resources.

There are also business interests to protect -- regional states have close
business ties with Myanmar, refusing to join the United States and
European Union in imposing sanctions on the regime which has been in power
since 1962.

And ASEAN is hamstrung by its principle of non-interference in members'
internal affairs, which during its 42-year history has prevented it from
bringing errant members into line.

Despite its consensus-based approach, some of the more democratic members
of the disparate grouping -- which also takes in monarchies and communist
states -- are becoming increasingly outspoken over Myanmar.

Malaysia led calls for an urgent meeting of ASEAN members to address the
latest crisis, deploring the sentence that prevents Suu Kyi from taking
part in general elections next year.

And Indonesia, increasingly confident on the world stage, made a strong
push to give more teeth to the new human rights body, in a stand that
nearly scuttled its endorsement last month.

"The guilty verdict... is a serious blow to the standing of ASEAN both
locally and internationally," Alistair Cook and Mely Caballero-Anthony
from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies said in a
commentary.

"If ASEAN does little to improve this situation, then its credibility will
be further undermined... It will be difficult for the association to
portray itself as providing regional solutions to regional problems."

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 13, Agence France Presse
Vietnam: Suu Kyi verdict 'internal' matter for Myanmar

Communist Vietnam Thursday called Aung San Suu Kyi's conviction an
"internal affair" for Myanmar, while backing regional calls for national
reconciliation in the military-run state.

"Vietnam closely follows recent developments in Myanmar. It's our view
that Aung San Suu Kyi's trial is Myanmar's internal affair," foreign
ministry spokesman Le Dung said.

He said that with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), Vietnam "hopes that Myanmar continues to implement the
'democracy roadmap'" in the run-up to elections due next year.

Hanoi also calls on Myanmar to "adopt measures to promote national
reconciliation and dialogue between concerned parties in Myanmar" for the
sake of both its own people and for stability in the region, the spokesman
said.

The junta this week extended Suu Kyi's house arrest for another 18 months,
drawing outrage from the United States and Europe but a mixed response
from Myanmar's partners in ASEAN.

The 10-nation bloc expressed "deep disappointment" over the democracy
leader's conviction but faced new criticism from activists after pledging
to "remain constructively engaged with Myanmar".

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 13, Agence France Presse
UN Security Council approves watered-down Myanmar statement

The UN Security Council has agreed a watered-down statement expressing
"serious concern" about the extended detention of Myanmar's democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi, diplomats said Thursday.

The sources, who spoke on condition anonymity, said the agreement was
reached following bilateral consultations Thursday.

Britain's UN Ambassador John Sawers, who chairs the 15-member council this
month, was to read the statement to reporters at 1:00 pm (1700 GMT), his
office said.

A court at Yangon's notorious Insein Prison on Tuesday sentenced Suu Kyi
to three years' imprisonment and hard labor for breaching the terms of her
house arrest following an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside
residence in May.

Than Shwe, head of the ruling junta, commuted the sentence to 18 months
under house arrest but the trial and the verdict have created
international outrage.

"The members of the Security Council express serious concern at the
conviction and sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and its political
impact," according to the council statement, a copy of which was obtained
by AFP.

It noted the decision by the Myanmar government to reduce Suu Kyi's
sentence and urged the military regime "to take further measures to create
the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and all concerned parties and ethnic groups in order to achieve an
inclusive national reconciliation."

The statement also affirmed the council's "commitment to the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of Myanmar" and reiterated that "the future of
Myanmar lies in the hands of all its people."

The agreed text waters down an earlier US-drafted version that "condemns
the conviction and sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi and expresses grave
concern about the political impact this action has on the situation in
Myanmar."

The earlier draft would also have called on the Myanmar government "to
release Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners."

But veto-wielding council member China -- a key ally and major military
supplier of Myanmar's ruling junta -- urged the international community to
"fully respect Myanmar's judicial sovereignty."

Suu Kyi has been confined for 14 of the past 20 years, ever since the
military regime refused to recognize her National League for Democracy's
landslide victory in the last elections held in 1990.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 13, Far Eastern Economic Review
Seven steps to freedom – Ko Bo Kyi

The verdict has been handed down: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is “guilty” as
charged. The scenes in court have been very dramatic. First, the long
expected three-year sentence with hard labor was read out. Next, Burma’s
home minister read out the order commuting the sentence from Senior
General Than Shwe, stating that Aung San Suu Kyi would instead serve an
18-month sentence under house arrest.

But Gen. Than Shwe—a psychological warfare expert—was not recasting
himself as a lenient or benevolent leader. He was simply attempting to
placate some of his would-be critics; but not necessarily those in the
West. This was a conciliatory gesture aimed at China, India, Asean, and
possibly even some of his own generals who were reportedly divided on how
best to deal with the problem of Aung San Suu Kyi.

A statement from Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whilst
expressing disappointment at the guilty verdict, said: "We are however
happy that the Myanmar government has exercised its sovereign prerogative
to grant amnesty for half her sentence and that she will be placed under
house arrest rather than imprisoned.”

And so there is almost a return to the status quo, with Aung San Suu Kyi
back under house arrest. But not quite: She now has a criminal record. The
regime has consistently denied the existence of political prisoners in
Burma, stating simply that there are only criminals who have broken the
laws of the country. Now they can firmly place Aung San Suu Kyi in that
category.

Burma’s political prisoners have long been pawns in an elaborate chess
game of "saving face" with the international community. In July, the
Burmese permanent representative to the U.N., U Than Swe, indicated a
planned gesture of mercy. "The Myanmar government is processing to grant
amnesty to prisoners on humanitarian grounds and with a view to enabling
them to participate in the 2010 general elections," he told reporters.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described this development as
"encouraging," but in reality it was simply another hollow promise by the
regime. Since November 2004, there have been five separate amnesties for
prisoners in Burma. According to the SPDC’s own publicly released figures,
a total of 38,681 prisoners have been released. Yet just over 1% of them
were political prisoners. Such releases are always a cynically timed
gesture to coincide with Asean meetings or other international gatherings
that matter to the junta.

Of course, recent developments have already cast doubt on the credibility
of U Than Swe’s promise. The guilty verdicts in the case of Aung San Suu
Kyi and her two live-in National League for Democracy (NLD) party members
Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma are only part of the story. In recent weeks at
least 40 NLD members have been arrested. There are now around 500 NLD
members in Burma’s jails—the largest single group of political prisoners.

The international community and the U.N. recognize the release of all
Burma’s political prisoners as the key benchmark towards democratic
progress in Burma. But how does this fit with the regime’s own so-called
Road Map to Democracy, of which the 2010 elections are the seventh step?

The international community should demand the practical implementation of
a concrete timeframe for the rapid release of all of Burma's political
prisoners as a first step in a long process to prove that the 2010
elections will be fair and inclusive. This can be considered an
alternative to the regime's seven-step plan.

Step one would be for the regime to publicly acknowledge the very
existence of political prisoners.

Step two would be to immediately release the 137 estimated political
prisoners in bad health.

Step three would be to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross
to resume its impartial mandate to inspect prisons, suspended since early
2006 because the regime wanted to accompany ICRC staff during their
confidential interviews with prisoners.

Step four would be to cease the practice of prison transfers to remote
jails, and return all political prisoners to facilities in their home
towns, to allow family members to visit easily.

These steps would cover the humanitarian grounds referred to by U.N.
Ambassador U Than Swe. The remaining steps should relate to participation
in the 2010 elections.

The U.N. and the international community need to sharpen up on the concept
of "participation." Participation must not simply mean the right to vote
in an election many analysts predict will be rigged. There are at least
2,190 political prisoners in detention centres, labor camps and prisons
across Burma today, and some former 10,000 political prisoners in the
country. Those 12,000 votes will not make much of a difference. But 12,000
pro-democracy election candidates could fundamentally change the political
landscape in Burma, if the elections were truly free and fair.

History has shown us that former political prisoners, such as South
Africa's Nelson Mandela and the Czech Republic’s Vaclav Havel, have a
vital role to play in bringing national reconciliation to their countries.

Step five would be to unconditionally release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She
has repeatedly stressed the importance of political dialogue to bring
about national reconciliation in Burma.

Step six would be for the regime to publicly declare a concrete timeframe
for the release of all political prisoners before the end of 2009.

And step seven would be to allow all political prisoners and former
political prisoners to freely participate in the country's democratization
process, without restrictions. This should include participation in a
review of the 2008 constitution; dialogue for national reconciliation; and
the right to stand in independently-monitored free and fair elections.

Only with the practical implementation of a concrete time-frame for the
rapid release of all of Burma’s political prisoners can the regime prove
that it is truly committed to the democratization process. For the sake of
its own credibility, the U.N. must support total release of all political
activists as a necessary prerequisite to any engagement with the SPDC’s
draconian road map.

Bo Kyi spent seven years as a political prisoner in Burma. He is
co-founder of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
and a recipient of the 2008 Human Rights Defender Award from Human Rights
Watch.

____________________________________

August 13, Economist
The Burmese road to ruin

Once a model for Myanmar’s generals of successful autocracy, Indonesia now
has even more to teach them

IF THERE was ever a role model for Than Shwe, Myanmar’s vicious, nutty,
reclusive “senior general”, it was Suharto, Indonesia’s late kleptocrat.
Suharto was the senior general who had everything. His fabulous wealth
made the greedy Burmese generals look like paupers. His children parcelled
out the economy as if it were the family vegetable plot. Feted rather than
shunned, he was dubbed “father of development” by his fan club, and even
many foreigners agreed: development banks needed him more than he needed
them. And he held power for 32 years. No wonder the Burmese junta gazed
admiringly at Indonesia.

The two countries do have much in common. Both are fabulously rich in
resources—hydrocarbons, minerals, timber. Both reached postcolonial
independence by way of Japanese occupation. Both are multiethnic states
haunted by the twin spectres of racial tension and a separatist periphery.
And both have armies with inflated views of their importance to national
survival.

A fine recent book on Indonesia by Marcus Mietzner of the Australian
National University* highlights five features of the Indonesian armed
forces. Four are also shown by Myanmar’s. First is the army’s (debatable)
view of itself as the main bringer of independence. Second is its disdain
for periods of civilian rule in the 1950s, dismissed as chaotic, corrupt
and, through the spread of regional rebellions, dangerous to the country’s
integrity. Out of this disdain grew a third feature, a doctrine known in
Indonesia as dwifungsi, or dual function, of running the country as well
as defending it, and a fourth, the entrenchment of the armed forces in the
infrastructure of the state. Last year Myanmar’s benighted people were
forced to endorse a dwifungsi constitution in a referendum. Under it,
ludicrously undemocratic elections are to be held in 2010, giving some
veneer of legitimacy to the soldiers’ unbudgeable heft in parliament and
government.

The fifth point, too, may yet apply to Than Shwe. What Mr Mietzner terms
the “increasingly sultanistic character” of the ageing Suharto’s rule
opened up a rift with his fellow generals. When the economy collapsed in
1998 and the threat of anarchy loomed, Suharto looked over his shoulder
and found nobody was following him. In the end, dictators, however
unpopular, despotic and incompetent, rarely fall because they have too
many enemies. They fall because they have too few friends left.

Fall, however, Suharto did, in 1998, disqualifying Indonesia’s recent
history as a serviceable model for Than Shwe. But what has happened there
since Suharto fell should still interest him for two reasons. The first is
that there has been almost total impunity both for the grasping dynasty
and the torturing soldiers who guarded it. One obstacle to political
reform in Myanmar is the generals’ fear of war-crimes trials,
truth-and-justice commissions, or perhaps lynch-mobs. Indonesia should
offer them hope that political change need not inevitably bring
retribution.

But Indonesia is an encouraging example for Myanmar for a better reason,
too. Facing multiple long-lived insurgencies, Myanmar’s generals fear for
their country’s unity. In the late 1990s, Indonesians also worried about
national disintegration and communal strife. Yet except for tiny East
Timor, the country remains in one piece. Moreover, under Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, just re-elected president, it is politically stable,
economically resilient and largely peaceful. All political transitions are
bumpy. But Indonesia’s has been surprisingly free of turbulence. And the
country is showing signs of some political self-confidence. This week it
reverted to the timid, “non-interfering traditions” of the Association of
South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), curtailing a gathering in Jakarta of
exiled Burmese opposition leaders. But at ASEAN’s summit in July, it spoke
out for more robust regional human-rights standards and against the
Burmese junta.

There are two ways, however, in which the Burmese dictatorship differs
crucially from Suharto’s. The first is that, whereas Suharto faced only
insipid opposition leaders, Than Shwe has a nemesis, Aung San Suu Kyi, who
is hugely popular at home and internationally revered. There was something
personally vindictive about the Alice in Wonderland trial to which his
junta has just subjected her. Not just the proceedings (“sentence
first—verdict afterwards”) but the supposed crime itself—in effect, being
poorly guarded—were beyond ridicule. His intervention to show “clemency”
by cutting her sentence was salt in her wounds. The whole farce speaks of
Than Shwe’s determination at all costs to keep her incarcerated during
next year’s election. The army will never forget its embarrassment in 1990
when her party trounced the army’s candidates. She was already in
detention.
The Pyongyang consensus

Second, Suharto’s claim to paternity over development was not all hot air.
Under him Indonesia achieved average annual economic growth of over 6% for
three decades. Inequality was stark, but the benefits of growth were felt
by most Indonesians. In Myanmar, a tiny, pampered middle class enjoy
luxury hotels, golf and shopping malls in Yangon; the generals bask in
comfort in the mountain fastness of Naypyidaw, their absurdist capital.
But most of Myanmar’s people still toil away as subsistence farmers.
Economic collapse is not a risk. There is nothing to collapse.

In this respect, perhaps Than Shwe has, after all, found a new role model.
That other vicious, nutty recluse, Kim Jong Il, shows the same almost
infinite capacity to let his people suffer to keep him in power and
cognac, and has an appealing knack for nukes. However, he exudes neither
the durability nor the respectability commanded by Suharto in his pomp—let
alone by the popularly elected Mr Yudhoyono, who, Than Shwe’s underlings
might like to recall, used to be one of Suharto’s generals.

____________________________________

August 13, Wall Street Journal
Burmese justice – Editorial

Smarter sanctions against the Burmese generals after their latest sentence
of Suu Kyi.

Tuesday's sentencing by a Burmese court of opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi to three years of hard labor is a fresh reminder of the ruling junta's
cruelty. That the sentence was then magnanimously reduced to an 18-month
extension of her house arrest is a reminder of its cynicism.

Ms. Suu Kyi is Burma's rightful prime minister, having been elected in a
vote overturned by the junta in 1990. The latest verdict ensures that the
regime will get through parliamentary elections scheduled for next year
without her participation. The junta's hope is to generate a chimera of
democracy on the model of Hun Sen's regime in neighboring Cambodia.

The ploy might even work. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hinted last
month at the possibility of "investment" and "other exchanges" for Burma
in exchange for Ms. Suu Kyi's freedom. Later this week, Virginia Democrat
Jim Webb will travel to Burma, the first visit by a U.S. Senator in over a
decade. Not a bad photo-op for a regime that last year impounded
humanitarian aid for the more than 100,000 victims of Cyclone Nargis.

Burma's junta has mostly shrugged off Western sanctions thanks to billions
in sales of natural gas to China and Thailand, along with sales of timber
and gems. Some of those sanctions have achieved little except to further
impoverish the Burmese people and should be lifted. But financial
sanctions targeting the junta and its associated businesses are more
effective and could be tightened. No less valuable are Burmese language
broadcasts of Radio Free Asia, which are vital in breaking the regime's
monopoly on information.

The revelation earlier this year that North Korea is supplying arms to
Burma while Russia is supplying nuclear technology means that the junta is
becoming a menace to more than its own people. For the sake of Ms. Suu Kyi
and every other imprisoned Burmese dissident, we hope the Obama
Administration doesn't conclude from this that engagement is the best
policy.
____________________________________

August 13, The Nation (Thailand)
No surprise at Suu Kyi's latest punishment – Editorial

Jail term is simply a ruse to keep Burma's opposition leader out of the
scheduled election next year.

As expected the internationally condemned trial of Burma's democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi has ended with a guilty verdict and an 18-month sentence
handed down to her for violating the terms of her previous house arrest.
Suu Kyi will now have to remain under house arrest for a further 18
months, just long enough for her to be unable to take part in the general
election set for next year.

While it is generally agreed the so-called democratisation process in
Burma is a sham, Suu Kyi's participation would have lent a degree of
legitimacy to the process.

Despite tilting the ground rules for the election absurdly on the side of
the military junta, the generals still do not want her anywhere near the
process. If anything, this illustrates the enormous fear these men in
uniform have of this lady.

The sentence has naturally provoked anger in countries all around the
world, including some Asean members who are fed up with Burma continually
dragging the regional grouping into controversy.

The court at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison sentenced Suu Kyi to a
three-year jail term plus hard labour for breaching the terms of her house
arrest following an incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside
residence in May.

John Yettaw got three years for breaching security laws, three years for
immigration violations, and one year for a municipal charge of illegal
swimming.

Burma's Senior General Than Shwe reduced Suu Kyi's sentence to 18 months'
house arrest. Is he trying to show the world that he has a heart? Two
female aides who live with Suu Kyi also had their sentences reduced to 18
months.

In a statement, Than Shwe said he had reduced Suu Kyi's sentence because
she is the daughter of Burma's independence hero General Aung San. The aim
is to preserve peace and stability in Burma and to ensure the country goes
along its "democratic path".

The 18-month sentence will ensure that Suu Kyi is not free during the
period leading up to Burma's planned general election next year, probably
in May.

"I felt bad about the trial but did not want to interfere with the legal
process," Than Shwe said in his message.

Well, whoopdi-doo! General Than Shwe feels bad!

Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the past 20 years, since Burma's
ruling military junta refused to recognise her National League for
Democracy's landslide victory in the election of 1990.

Burma's state-run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, has had the
audacity to tell the world to keep out of it and also warned its own
citizens not to cause trouble.

"The people who favour democracy do not want to see riots and protests
that can harm their goal," the government mouthpiece said.

The military has ruled the impoverished nation with an iron fist since 1962.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

August 13, Shan Women’s Action Network
10,000 Shans uprooted, 500 houses burned in Burmese regime’s latest
scorched earth campaign

Shan rights organizations today denounced the Burmese military regime’s
renewed scorched earth campaign in Central Shan State, which has driven an
estimated 10,000 villagers from their homes.

According to data compiled by the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), the
Shan Women’s
Action Network (SWAN) and other Shan community based organizations, since
July 27, 2009, the regime’s troops have burned down over 500 houses,
scores of granaries, and forcibly relocated almost 40 villages, mostly in
Laikha township.

Over 100 villagers, both men and women, have been arrested and tortured.
At least three villagers have been killed. One young woman was shot while
trying to retrieve her possessions from her burning house, and her body
thrown into a pit latrine. Another woman was gang-raped in front of her
husband by an officer and three of his troops.

“This campaign has been carried out cold-bloodedly and systematically. The
troops commandeered petrol to burn down the houses, and radioed repeatedly
to their headquarters as the buildings went up in flames,” said SHRF
Director Kham Harn Fah.

This is the largest forced relocation since 1996-1998, when over 300,000
villagers were uprooted in southern and central Shan State, most of whom
have since fled to Thailand. The villagers currently being uprooted had
already been relocated during the previous campaign. Most are now seeking
shelter with relatives and in temples in nearby towns, but are expected to
flee to Thailand in the coming weeks.

The groups, including SHRF, SWAN, the Shan Relief and Development
Committee, the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organisation, Shan Youth Power
and the Shan Health Committee, are demanding that the military regime
immediately stop their atrocities against civilians in Shan State and
allow all relocated villagers to return to their homes. They are also
calling on the United Nations Security Council to set up a Commission of
Enquiry into the regime’s crimes against humanity.

“The regime brazenly committed these crimes even as the whole world was
watching them during the trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Charm Tong
of SWAN. “They are thumbing their noses at the international community.”

The groups are also calling on Burma’s neighbours, including ASEAN, to end
their silence on the regime’s atrocities, and seriously review their
engagement with this pariah nation. Ironically, this scorched earth
campaign began precisely when ASEAN Ministers of Energy were recently
meeting in Mandalay.

For detailed information on the recent abuses, see www.shanwomen.org

Contact persons:
Kham Harn Fah + 66 86 184 2430 Charm Tong +66 81 6036655
Sai Khur Hseng + 66 84 2243748


____________________________________
STATEMENT

August 13, European Union
The Council adopts additional restrictive measures against Burma/Myanmar;
12660/09 (Presse 249)

In reaction to the verdict against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and given the
gravity of the violation of her fundamental rights, the Council today
adopted* a Common Position imposing a new set of targeted measures against
Burma/Myanmar. The renewal of the Common Position was announced in a
Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the EU on 11 August 2009, which
condemned the unjustified trial of and the verdict against Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi and urged her unconditional release.

Under the new restrictive measures, members of the judiciary responsible
for the verdict are added to the existing list of persons and entities
subject to a travel ban and to an assets freeze. Moreover, the list of
persons and entities subject to the restrictive measures is extended to
cover the assets freeze to enterprises that are owned and controlled by
members of the regime in Burma/Myanmar or by persons or entities
associated with them.

The present EU measures are the latest of a series of measures which the
EU initially adopted in 1996 (Common Position 96/635/CFSP), such as
banning arms exports, visa restrictions on members of the regime, their
allies and families, limiting diplomatic contacts and freezing officials'
offshore accounts, and suspending non-humanitarian aid or development
programmes. The EU, following closely the situation in Burma/Myanmar, has
since then updated, renewed and extended the restrictive measures against
the military regime, those who benefit most from its misrule, and those
who actively frustrate the process of national reconciliation, respect for
human rights and progress towards democracy. Thus, the new targeted
measures update and strengthen the existing Common Position
(2009/351/CFSP) which expires on 30 April 2010.

____________________________________

August 13, Indian Parliamentarians’ Forum for Democracy in Burma
Indian Parliamentarians' statement on Burma

We, the Indian Parliamentarian Forum for Democracy in Burma (IPFDB) are
shocked and saddened that the Myanmar court has convicted Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, a Nobel Peace Laureate and Jawaharlal Nehru award for International
understanding on the final day of her trial  that was condemned worldwide.

The court sentenced her to 18 months house arrest on 11 August 2009. John
Yettaw, the man who swam to her house, was sentenced to a total of seven
years hard labor and imprisonment on three separate charges.  The verdict
on Aung San Suu Kyi has revealed that there is neither justice nor process
of law in Burma. It has also thwarted to the process of national
reconciliation in Burma. It is incomplete disregarded of the international
opinion and shows the will of the junta and its determination to oppose
Democracy.

We strongly condemn the irrational verdict given on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
by the military junta in Burma.

We noted and appreciated the statement of the Government of India at this
point in time: which mentions “India has emphasized to the Government of
Myanmar the need to expedite their political reform and national
reconciliation process noting the various steps taken so far by the
Government of Myanmar in this direction.

The Government of India maintains that this process should be broad based,
including the various ethnic groups and express the hope that. In this
context, the issue of release of political prisoners will receive due
attention.”

We, the IPFDB urge and demand to the Government of India
·	To take strong and effective initiatives on regional stability and
Democracy changes in Burma.
·	To advocate for immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and to
co-operate with the United Nations and international community.


Sharad Joshi
Convenor, IPFDB
Ph: 9811 477 736

____________________________________

August 13, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Czech Republic
Statement by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Czech Republic concerning the verdict passed over Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

I consider it unacceptable that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to
18 months of house arrest. The Burmese junta repeatedly has not listened
to the appeals of the United Nations, the European Union and the member
countries of ASEAN to withdraw the stage-managed court trial with Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi. This leading representative of the Burmese opposition has
been and must be a key person of a process, which should lead to the
establishment of democracy in the country.

Today’s decision of the Burmese court only confirms a policy that we
cannot share. I consider as empty any attempts to defend the verdict or
try to interpret it in a positive way.

In this connection, I again urge immediate and unconditional release of
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners, abolition of all
restrictions imposed on political parties and initiation of an all-round
dialogue between the government and the democratic forces, including
ethnic groups.

____________________________________

August 11, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan
Statement by Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone, Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the
situation in Myanmar

1.The Special Court of Insein Prison delivered statement of 3 years of
imprisonment with labor to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whereas the Government of
Myanmar announced that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be under house arrest for
one and a half year.  Japan has been urging the Government of Myanmar to
act in an appropriate way taking into account of the voice of
international community. Japan is deeply disappointed by this statement
and, although Japan takes note of the above-said decision made by the
Government of Myanmar, deeply regrets the current situation of Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi.

2.Japan has been urging the Myanmar government to release all political
prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi immediately and proceed a
democratization process with participation of all the parties concerned.
In addition, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations,
who visited Myanmar at the beginning of July, also urged the Myanmar side
to release all political prisoners. Japan strongly expects that the
Myanmar government seriously heeds the above-stated views of international
community and conducts positively towards the democratization in Myanmar.