BurmaNet News, October 10 - 13, 2009

[Editor]

October 10 – 13, 2009 Issue #3817


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Suu Kyi back in Myanmar's political arena: analysts
Mizzima News: Trial of Burmese-American to begin

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara: Bangladesh Army Chief inspects Burma border
The Daily Star (Bangladesh): 18 Myanmar citizens arrested in Bandarban
Irrawaddy: Burmese trafficking victims freed in raid

BUSINESS / TRADE
Sudan Times: Sudan and Burma agree to boost relations

DRUGS
DVB: Burma would ‘welcome’ US anti-drugs support

REGIONAL
The Epoch Times (USA): 2010 Burma polls have no meaning without Suu Kyi,
say groups
Xinhua: Cambodia, Myanmar to strengthen military cooperation

INTERNATIONAL
The Daily Telegraph (Australia): Burmese goods out of fashion

OPINION / OTHER
Guardian (UK): Burma's exiled Muslims – Syed Neaz Ahmad
Irrawaddy: Burma's new constitution: A death sentence for ethnic diversity
– Zipporah Sein
TIME: The soldier and the state – Andrew Marshall

STATEMENT
President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste: Statement in support
of a global arms embargo on Burma – Jose Ramos-Horta



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 11, Agence France Presse
Suu Kyi back in Myanmar's political arena: analysts – Didier Lauras

Bangkok — Although still under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi has returned
to an active political role by initiating dialogue with both Myanmar's
junta and Western nations, analysts say.

In the space of seven days, after a Yangon court rejected the
pro-democracy leader's appeal against her recently extended house arrest,
her status appeared to shift rapidly from political prisoner to potential
key negotiator.

"She is politically active and significant. She still has a role in
Burma," said Win Min, an activist and scholar in the northern Thai city of
Chiang Mai, using Myanmar's former name.

Events over the past week in the military-ruled nation have moved at a
dizzying pace when compared with the stagnation of recent months.

Suu Kyi, detained for around 14 of the past 20 years, had two meetings
with Aung Kyi, the labour minister and official liaison between her and
the junta, the first such talks since January 2008.

The frail 64-year-old was subsequently granted permission by the ruling
generals to discuss Western sanctions imposed on Myanmar with top United
States, British and Australian diplomats in Yangon on Friday.

"She was very very engaged in the subject, very interested in going into
detail on what she wanted to talk about and she seemed as ever very
eloquent," said British ambassador Andrew Heyn in an interview with BBC.

Suu Kyi wrote a letter to Senior General Than Shwe at the end of September
offering her co-operation in getting Western sanctions lifted, after years
of favouring harsh measures against the generals.

Contrary to expectations, the junta chief seems to have accepted her
proposal -- at least for the time being.

"She would like to see herself as a pivotal point in the relations between
the junta and the US. They might be prepared to allow this to some
extent," said former British ambassador Derek Tonkin.

The military regime has promised elections for 2010, the first in Myanmar
since 1990, when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won
by a landslide but was never allowed to take power.

With the opposition leader set to remain out of the way next year thanks
to the recent 18-month extension to her house arrest, many observers
believe the polls are a sham that will only strengthen the junta's power.

The reclusive regime chief, according to some analysts, is likely to try
to use his opponent -- whom he loathes -- to restore his image for the
elections.

"Than Shwe is the only one who took all these decisions," said the
activist Win Min, referring to the rejection of Suu Kyi's appeal and her
various subsequent meetings in recent days.

"He decided not to release her but to give her a little bit of freedom so
that he could appear somehow as someone flexible," he added.

But Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win was confident she could play an increasingly
important part in developments over the coming months, especially
following Washington's recent decision to re-engage the junta.

"We assume that her meeting with diplomats to lift sanctions is the start
of her political role because sanctions themselves are a matter of
politics," Nyan Win told AFP.

"Aung San Suu Kyi always has the right to participate in politics. It is
not a concern whether or not she's under house arrest," he added.

Yet scepticism remains that the iron-fisted regime could repeat past
behaviour and offer goodwill gestures before violently closing all doors
to dialogue again.

One fundamental sign of progress would be a meeting between Suu Kyi and
Than Shwe himself, as the pair have not met for years. Nyan Win raised the
possibility of such talks on Friday.

But "The Lady", as she is widely known in Myanmar, would have to consult
with other NLD members first and also see minister Aung Kyi again before a
meeting with the junta leader would be possible, former ambassador Tonkin
suggested.

He acknowledged however that the two sides were at least finally
communicating.

"We don't know where this conversation is going to go. But it is taking
place. It's the best game in town at the present time and we need to see
where it goes," he said.

____________________________________

October 13, Mizzima News
Trial of Burmese-American to begin – Phanida

Chiang Mai – The trial of American citizen of Burmese origin Kyaw Zaw Lwin
(alias) Nyi Nyi Aung will begin on Wednesday, his lawyers and families
said.

Nyi Nyi Aung was arrested at the Rangoon airport while arriving from
Bangkok despite having a valid US passport and Burmese visa.

Nyan Win, one of his attorneys, said they were allowed a meeting with Nyi
Nyi Aung on Monday and was told that he was charged by the police of fraud
and forging documents.

“The trial will begin tomorrow [Wednesday] at 10 a.m. but we still don’t
know in which court he will be produced. He has been remanded twice. Now
he has to be produced in court or released,” Nyan Win, one of the lawyers,
told Mizzima on Tuesday.

“He was remanded under sections 420 (fraud) and 468 (forgery) of the Penal
Code,” Nayn Win added.

High Court Advocates Nyan Win and Kyi Win have been registered as Nyi Nyi
Aung’s attorney to defend him. Both the lawyers have earlier team up in
defending detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was charged,
tried and sentenced on August 11.

Nyi Nyi Aung, a former student activist was actively involved in the 1988
students uprising but fled the country after the military crackdown on
protesters. He fled to Thailand and later resettled to United States,
where he was naturalised as a citizen.

Burma’s state-run media, however, accused Nyi Nyi Aung of collaborating
with exiled Burmese organisations and trying to instigate unrest violent
in Burma.

He categorically denied all the allegations, his lawyer said.

Nyi Nyi Aung allege that he had been tortured and deprived of food for a
week while in detention, he is reportedly fine in health.

His family members have not been allowed to see him since his arrest but
were only allowed to hand over some parcels, his aunt Khin Khin Swe, who
visited the prison on Monday said.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 13, Narinjara
Bangladesh Army Chief inspects Burma border

Dhaka – Bangladesh Army Chief Lt Gen Abdul Mubin yesterday inspected the
tension-ridden Alikadam area, close to the Burma border, to review the
latest border situation, according to a report in today’s The Daily Star

The Army Chief undertook a surprise visit at about 3 pm and talked to army
officers in the area, but the report did not mention details about his
visit.

This is the first time a Bangladesh Army chief has visited the border area
after tension escalated with Burma.

Alikadam is opposite the Burmese town of Buthidaung where 11 battalions
have been stationed and a bridge put in place by the Burmese junta in
recent years.

Meanwhile, a frigate of the Bangladesh Navy, BNS Abu Bakar is now
patrolling the sea near the disputed area where Myanmar had tried its hand
at exploration last November, said the report quoting a naval officer
stationed in Chittagong.

“A warship is accompanying the frigate,” he said on condition of
anonymity. The situation on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border is tense, he
added.

Bangladesh has reinforced its military presence on its border as Burma
deployed a large number of troops on its side and resorted to various
provocative acts, fomenting tension.

The Burmese Army has brought in tanks, artillery, warships and a frigate
along its border with Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Army and the border
security force, the Bangladesh Rifles are on alert on the border, the
report said.

____________________________________

October 13, The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
18 Myanmar citizens arrested in Bandarban

Police in separate raids at Alikadam and Balaghata areas of Bandarban
arrested 18 Myanmar citizen including two children and four women this
morning.

Alikadam police station sources said 12 Myanmar citizen including two
children and four women were arrested from Panbazar and Amtali villages
this morning. They were handed over to the BDR for pushing them back to
Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Bandarban police raided Balaghata area in the district
headquarters and arrested six Myanmar nationals this morning. They were
also handed over to the BDR.

____________________________________

October 13, Irrawaddy
Burmese trafficking victims freed in raid – Alex Ellgee

Bangkok — Eighteen human trafficking victims were freed from captivity
this week when Thai police and human rights activists raided two boats and
broker houses in Samaesan, a fishing town in Santthip Province.

In a joint operation by the Labour Rights Promotion Network (LPN),
Seafarer’s Union Burma (SUB) and the Department of Special Investigation
(DSI), two major brokers in the region and a Thai boat captain were
arrested.
Fishing boats on the pier after returning with the day’s catch. (Photo:
Alex Ellgee)

The victims, all Burmese nationals, had been assured jobs in Thai
factories by job brokers inside Burma but instead were sold as fishermen
to two Thai boat captains.

Having passed through the hands of three different brokers, the victims
were told they would have to work without pay for seven months in order
pay off the trafficking costs, which equaled 22,000 baht (US $650).

Following a tip off from two of the fishermen working on one of the boats,
20 DSI police waited at a pier for the boat to return from its day at sea.
When the boat arrived, the police interrogated the captain while Ko Ko
Aung of the SUB, which is affiliated with the International Trade
Federation (ITF), informed the fishermen they could leave the boat if they
wished.

Meanwhile, another vessel had returned to the pier and police boarded it,
but they missed the captain who they believe had been alerted to their
presence and fled. Six fishermen on the boat asked to be freed, leaving
three who had finished their seven months indenture.

The scrawny victims, mostly barefooted, looking exhausted,  trudged ashore
with small bags carrying their belongings and sat on the pier. Their
expressions soon changed to happiness, as they realized that their ordeal
was over.

“I can’t believe it.  I thought I was going to be working like a slave on
that boat for ever. I can’t believe we have been rescued,” said one
24-year-old victim from Pego.

The fishermen were taken to Sattahip Marine Police Station and interviewed
by the Social Development and Human Security department, and later sent to
a government safe house for trafficking victims.

Sitting around outside the police station, smiling at their new freedom,
the men told The Irrawaddy how they had been regularly beaten by the
captain with an iron rod. They worked even when they were sick, and
without medicine.

The captain didn’t speak Burmese, and he couldn’t understand if one of the
fishermen had a problem, said one of the fishermen.  Instead, would just
get angry and violent. Several times they asked the captain to let them
leave, but he told them that he had bought them, and they belonged to him.

One of the victims said he was so desperate to escape that one night, in
spite of dangerous waters, he joined two others and attempted to swim to
shore. He lost the others on the way, he said, and when he arrived on land
he was quickly rounded up by brokers because of his shaved head, which all
trafficking victims share so that they can be identified by brokers. He
never saw his two friends again.

As a result of his attempted escape, and to make an example, every night
for two months the broker tied his hands together.

“It didn’t matter if my hands were tied together, we were all in prison.”
he said.

Every evening after they had unloaded the day’s catch, the brokers would
pick them up and return them to their room and then padlock the door from
the outside. The room consisted of a few rugs and one small fan. The
windows were boarded up to prevent escape.

When the victims had been interviewed, it was decided that they would lead
police to the fishing village to rescue other trafficking victims who had
been locked up for the night. A few of the fishermen led a four-car convoy
through winding streets.

Arriving at one location, the police and activists entered the broker’s
home and ordered her to open a padlock on an upstairs room. Inside the
room were four young men. They were led to cars and two more fishermen
were collected from another room on the opposite side of the road.

One of the boys, 15, was asked what he missed most while in captivity.

He told The Irrawaddy, “I couldn’t miss anything. I had so much pain and
suffering that I could only think about how to deal with the next thing.”

Two other minors were found aboard a ship, one 15, and the other 16.
Activists and police outside a room with four human trafficking victims
locked inside. (Photo: Alex Ellgee)

The oldest man in captivity on one boat was 51. He had completed a
prestigious engineering course in Burma and had worked for the government
but didn’t have enough money to survive.

“Even though I worked for my government, I didn’t have enough to take care
to my son so we came to Thailand, but we ended up like this” he said.

The broker who was arrested was known by SUB and LPN as a major human
trafficker in the region. She called her “leader” to put up bail. The man
handed over 100,000 baht, gold jewelry and his car. They will both face
trial. Human trafficking can lead to a sentence of up to 20 years in
prison.

As the police interviewed the male broker, one of the victims looked
through a window from outside and told The Irrawaddy he was happy.

”He was the one who brought us to the town in the beginning” he said. “Now
if this man is caught many people will get freedom like we have.”

Human rights worker Ko Ko Aung agreed.

“These two are leading brokers,” he said.  “Their arrest will have a big
impact on the region. Many brokers will be scared because of this and run
away and more fishermen will come forward and help us in our attempt to
stop it.

“One of the problems we need to overcome,” he said, “is the complicity of
local police. I’m happy that we can rely on the good work of the DSI.”

He said he believed 99 percent of the fishermen in the area were victims
of human trafficking.

A lot of the information in this case came from an ex-fisherman.

“I suffered like those fishermen, but I was lucky and I escaped,” he said.
 “I can’t stop thinking about how they suffer, so I will stop at nothing
to help others get freedom.”

Aung Thu Ya, the president of SUB, said the Burmese government is largely
to blame for the trafficking problem because it punishes abused Burmese
fishermen and other workers who contact trade unions. Fishermen have been
arrested in the past for seeking help from trade unions and have had their
seamen licenses revoked upon their return to Burma.

The human trafficking problem has led to an estimated 1,000 fishermen
jumping ship and living on islands in Indonesia to escape the ill
treatment of boat captains, according to activists.

The situation is so bad, said Aung Thu Ya , that,  “Thai skippers value
the fish more than they do the Burmese fishermen.”

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 13, Sudan Times
Sudan and Burma agree to boost relations

Yangon — Sudan and Myanmar (also known as Burma) agreed to boost bilateral
relations and to foster international cooperation s well as economic
exchange the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Monday.

Myanmar is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia. The country is
bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the
southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest and the Bay of
Bengal to the southwest with the Andaman Sea defining its southern
periphery.

State minister for foreign affairs Ali Karti who paid a four – day visit
to the internationally isolated country due to its bad human rights record
discussed the bilateral relations with Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U
Maung Myint.

The two sides agreed to strengthen the cooperation through international
organizations as the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Karti also met with Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win and discussed with
him joint cooperation on investment and energy sectors.

The Sudanese minister also met with officials of the Union of Myanmar
Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Yangon, where they
agreed to enhance relations between business organizations of the two
countries.

____________________________________
DRUGS

October 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma would ‘welcome’ US anti-drugs support – Francis Wade

Support from the United States in Burma’s anti-narcotics efforts would be
welcomed by the junta, state media reported yesterday.

The US “is willing to work together with Myanmar [Burma] in combating
narcotic drugs,” an article in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said,
whilst Burma is “cooperating actively with international community” on
drug eradication.

“Regarding anti-narcotic drugs, Myanmar is ready to cooperate with any
country and organization,” it said.

The US last month listed Burma as one of three countries that have “failed
demonstrably” to eradicate the production and trafficking of narcotics
over the past year.

The other two, Venezuela and Bolivia, were however issued with a “national
interest waiver”, while Burma was threatened with further punitive
measures.

Although Burma remains one of the world’s leading sources of heroin, with
output for 2008 measured at 410 metric tonnes, the production of synthetic
drugs, particularly methamphetamine, has soared in recent years.

A haul of some five million methamphetamine (or ‘yaba’) pills near to the
Thai-Burma border town of Tachilek last month brought the total number of
tablets seized by police in Burma this year to more than 10 million.

Yesterday’s newspaper report follows an announcement by the US earlier
this month that it would begin direct dialogue with Burma’s ruling junta,
after years of isolation.

The eradication of Burma’s drugs market was named a factor in increasing
US cooperation with the regime, alongside the release of political
prisoners and addressing concerns over Burma’s nuclear ambitions.

The article claimed that the government has spent more than $US250 million
on anti-narcotics programmes in the country, and $US240 million on rural
development projects to compensate poppy farmers.

Much of this has been focused on the Wa region of Burma’s northeastern
Shan state, controlled by the ceasefire group, United Wa State Army
(UWSA), who play a key role in the country’s drugs trade.

Wei Hsueh Kang, an infamous drugs baron who heads the UWSA’s southern
command, is wanted both in the US and Thailand.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 13, The Epoch Times (USA)
2010 Burma polls have no meaning without Suu Kyi, say groups – Nava Thakuria

Guwahati, India—The Burmese military junta’s 2010 elections will be
meaningless if Aung San Suu Kyi is not released and allowed to participate
in it, say pro-democracy Indian and exiled Burmese groups.

Instead, they say, the election will pave the way for a permanent
dictatorship of the current ruling generals.

‘There will be no inclusive political process or free and fair election in
2010 if Aung San Suu Kyi and over 2,100 political prisoners are not
released,” the letter said, submitted to All India Congress Committee
chief Sonia Gandhi on Oct. 2 on behalf of over 50 groups concerned with
civil rights.

“Today, October 2, 2009, on the auspicious day of the 140th birthday of
Mahatma Gandhi, also recognized as international nonviolence day, we take
this opportunity to seek your kind attention to remember Aung San Suu Kyi,
a living symbol of Mahatma Gandhi 
 a Nobel peace laureate, and recipient
of Jawaharlal Nehru’s Award for International Understanding,” the letter
said.

Since the 1990 election Burmese democracy activists have been imprisoned,
intimidated, tortured and put to death for demanding human rights and a
democratic government. There are thought to be 2,100 political prisoners,
some jailed without trial, given terms of up to 106 years.

“We recognize Aung San Suu Kyi as the true democratic leader of Burma. She
and her party won a landslide victory in the 1990 general elections but
were never allowed to rule the country. The military junta crushed the
people’s mandate and have kept her under house arrest for 14 of the past
19 years,” the letter said.

Mr. Kim, a Burmese pro-democracy campaigner living in exile in New Delhi
recalled that during the nationwide people’s uprising in Burma in 1988,
the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi not only supported the
people’s movement but also offered shelter to Burmese democracy activists.
Even the Indian Embassy in Rangoon provided financial support to activists
who were fleeing Burma to continue their struggle in India, Kim said.

Speaking to this writer from New Delhi, Dr. Alana Golmei, the coordinator
of Burma Center Delhi, a signatory of the letter, argued that the recent
verdict on Aung San Suu Kyi—to extend her sentence by 18 months— not only
shows the death of justice in Burma, but also shows the Burmese military
junta’s determination to stop her participation in the 2010 elections.

“It has obstructed the process of national reconciliation in Burma. It
completely negates international opinion and democracy. Hence, we strongly
recommend the government of India not endorse the Burmese military
regime’s sham constitution and election,” she said. “It will only lead to
further entrenchment of military rule in the country.”

Nava Thakuria is a freelance journalist based in Guwahati, northeast India.

____________________________________

October 11, Xinhua
Cambodia, Myanmar to strengthen military cooperation

Phnom Penh – Cambodia and Myanmar will work together to strengthen and
expand the military cooperation between the two countries, the local media
reported on Sunday.

Pol Saroeun, commander-in-chief of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces(RCAF) told
visiting Ye Myint, chief of security affairs department of Defense
Ministry of Myanmar that under recommendation of Cambodian Prime Minister
Hun Sen, Cambodia has purpose to build up areas along border with
neighboring countries into a peace, security, safety and development area,
the Khmer language newspaper Raksmei Kampuchea reported.

Pol told Myint that Cambodia has had the border conflict with Thailand at
area near 11th century Preah Vihear temple, and Cambodia's stance has
always been that to respect the sovereignty of neighboring countries, at
the same time, Cambodia also does not want to lose a millimeter of its
land, it added.

Ye Myint's visit is to strengthen the military cooperation with Cambodia
and exchange experiences in field of military sector, it said, adding that
Pol Saroeun will visit Myanmar in appropriate time.

Cambodia and Myanmar are members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 13, The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Burmese goods out of fashion

A TOP Australian fashion group vowed yesterday to stop sourcing products
from Burma.

Speciality Fashion Group, which owns Millers, Katies and four other
fashion brands,was among eight firms named last month in a report
commissioned by Burma Campaign Australia, which said the companies were
funding Burma's repressive military dictatorship.
``We made a decision to cease trading with Burma due to the continued
repression of the Burmese people and the ongoing presence of military
rule,'' Speciality Group company secretary Howard Herman said.

The Australian company is following insurance company QBE and engineering
company Downer EDI, which withdrew from Burma earlier this year.

Campaign spokeswoman Zetty Brake praised Speciality Fashion Group on its
decision to withdraw, and encouraged other businesses to do the same.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 13, Guardian (UK)
Burma's exiled Muslims – Syed Neaz Ahmad

About 3,000 Rohingya families are awaiting deportation in Saudi prisons,
but like the rest of their people, they have nowhere to go

They have been described as some of the world's most persecuted refugees,
and among the most forgotten, too. During my imprisonment in Jeddah I saw
and met hundreds of inmates from Burma.

Thousands of Burmese Muslims from Arakan – often called Rohingyas – were
offered a safe haven in Saudi Arabia by the late King Faisal, but with the
change in monarch the rules changed too. What was to have been a permanent
abode of peace for these uprooted people has now turned into a chamber of
horrors.

There are about 3,000 families of Burmese Muslims in Mecca and Jeddah
prisons awaiting deportation. Women and children are held in separate
prisons nearby. The only contact the men have with their wives and
children is through mobile phones.

But the interesting question is: where will they be sent when they are
eventually deported? Burma doesn't want them. Bangladesh, with a large
population and poor economy, doesn't have the inclination or the ability
to handle a refugee population of this size. The Rohingyan refugees in
Bangladesh are having a rough time as it is. Other Muslim countries play
silent spectators.

Pakistan's offer to accept some of the Rohingyas – those awaiting
deportation in Saudi prisons – is seen as a mere diplomatic exercise.
Against the background of Islamabad's shabby treatment of some 300,000
stranded Pakistanis living in camps in Bangladesh, Rohingya inmates look
at the Pakistani overture with suspicion.

The people who call themselves Rohingyas are Muslims from what is known as
the Mayu frontier area, the Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships of Arakan
(Rakhine) state, a province isolated in the western part of the country
across the Naaf river which forms the boundary between Burma and
Bangladesh. After Burma gained independence from the UK in 1948, the
ethnic and religious group first favoured joining Pakistan but later
called for an autonomous region instead.

The Burmese government, however, has consistently refused to recognise the
Rohingyas as citizens. According to Amnesty International, in 1978 more
than 200,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh, following the Burmese army's
Operation Nagamin. Most – it is claimed – were eventually repatriated, but
about 15,000 refused to return. In 1991, a second wave of about a quarter
of a million Rohingyas fled Burma to Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, it is estimated that there are more than 200,000 Rohingyas,
28,000 of them in overcrowded camps. There are a further 13,600 registered
with the UNHCR in Malaysia (although there are thousands yet
unregistered), an estimated 3,000 in Thailand and unknown numbers in India
and Japan.

Some Rohingyas have resided in Malaysia since the early 1990s, but
continue to be rounded up in immigration operations and handed over to
human traffickers at the Thai-Malaysia border. About 730,000 remain in
Burma, most of whom live in Arakan state.

Conditions in Arakan state continue to deteriorate, increasing the
likelihood of further outflows into neighbouring countries. It's an irony
that countries in Asia and elsewhere – particularly Muslim countries –
have shown little or no desire to help ease the situation.

The UNHCR spokeswoman in Asia, Kitty Mckinsey says: "No country has really
taken up their cause. Look at the Palestinians, for example, they have a
lot of countries on their side. The Rohingyans do not have any friends in
the world."

The late King Faisal's decision to offer them a permanent abode in Saudi
Arabia was a noble gesture. However, later Saudi rulers have found the
Burmese Muslims a thorn in their side. With strict regulation on their
employment and movement within the kingdom, they are easy targets for
extortion and torture.

There are said to be about 250,000 Burmese Muslims in Saudi Arabia – the
majority living in Mecca's slums (Naqqasha and Kudai). They sell
vegetables, sweep streets and work as porters, carpenters and unskilled
labour. The fortunate ones rise to become drivers.

In Saudi Arabia it is not uncommon for poor Rohingyas to marry off their
young (sometimes underage) daughters to old and sick Saudis in the hope of
getting "official favours". But this hasn't worked for many. Rohingyan
wives of Saudi men, who have to survive as second class human beings on
the periphery of society.

Those whom I met in Jeddah prisons seem to have accepted the situation as
a fait accompli. But it is unfortunate that they are being made to suffer
in a country considered to be the citadel of Islam.
____________________________________

October 13, Irrawaddy
Burma's new constitution: A death sentence for ethnic diversity – Zipporah
Sein

As Burma's rainy season draws to a close, ethnic Karen villagers in
eastern Burma are bracing themselves for a new military onslaught. It is
expected that this new military offensive will be much larger than the one
in June, which forced around 6,000 people to flee for their lives.

We already have strong indications that the new offensive will take place
in Dooplaya and Mutraw (Papun) districts, as attacks have been going on
there throughout the rainy season.  Until three years ago, the Burmese
government’s army mostly ceased operations during the rainy season, but
now civilians get no respite.

So, why this new urgency to escalate attacks? The reason is the same as
why the number of political prisoners has doubled in the past two years.
It is the same reason why Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial and her
detention extended, and why the dictatorship has broken cease-fire
agreements and demanded cease-fire groups place their soldiers under the
control of the regime’s army. All opposition and ethnic groups must be
crushed in the run up to elections in 2010.

The elections bring in a new Constitution that legalizes dictatorship
through a civilian front and a rubber-stamp Parliaments to do its bidding.
For Burma's generals this Constitution is a way of securing their rule.

Despite having been lied to so many times before, the international
community seems to be falling into their trap. Many countries have been
making the mistake of focusing on the process of the elections, whether
they can be free and fair, or at least create some political space.

How short their memories are, when only last year we saw the disgusting
spectacle of a referendum on the Constitution while millions went without
food and shelter following cyclone Nargis. No political space was created
by the referendum.

Those trying to organize a No vote were harassed, arrested or beaten. The
rigged referendum delivered an unbelievable result of "92 percent" in
favor. Yet despite all evidence to the contrary, some still argue the 2010
elections could create a new political space.

While attention has been on the elections, little attention has been paid
to the Constitution. Even those few countries which do focus on the
Constitution have mostly focused on how it is undemocratic, granting 25
percent of the seats to the military and giving the military wide veto
power over any change.

Attention has also rightly been drawn to other provisions in the
Constitution, such as the head of state having to come from the military,
400,000 monks being denied the vote and the failure to repeal any of the
existing repressive laws.

No one seems to pay much attention to what this Constitution will mean for
ethnic people. The 2008 Constitution is a death sentence for ethnic
diversity in Burma. Military appointed commanders will control ethnic
areas. There is no level of autonomy.

Our cultures and traditions are given no protection. We will be given no
rights to practice our customs, or to speak and teach our languages. The
process of Burmanization that has already been going on for decades will
be accelerated.

The Karen know from personal experience just how bad this process is.
Karen people in the Delta and Rangoon are being stripped of their identity
and younger generations can't speak, read or write our own language, don't
know our history, and even use Burman names to avoid discrimination in
employment. Our vision is for a new federal constitution that will
guarantee the rights of ethnic people.

The international community seems content to wait and see if elections in
2010 create a little political space. While they focus on the minutiae of
politics in Rangoon and Naypyidaw, all around them Burma is descending
into an even greater human rights and humanitarian crisis. They must wake
up to the urgency of the current situation.

The crisis is unfolding before our eyes. Escalating military attacks on
ethnic people are leading to a major humanitarian crisis and creating
regional instability. Already we have seen thousands more refugees arrive
in Thailand and China. More government soldiers have been sent to Karenni
and Shan states, and with the generals breaking cease-fire agreements, the
regime will soon also be on the warpath in Kachin and Mon states.

For those of us on the ground it is hard to understand why the United
Nations seems content to allow the dictatorship to follow its own agenda
in direct defiance of the Security Council and General Assembly.

Time and again the UN has said that there must be tri-partite dialogue
between the National League for Democracy (NLD), ethnic representatives
and the dictatorship.

The Karen National Union is ready to talk. Other ethnic organizations are
ready to talk. The NLD is ready to talk. It is the generals who refuse to
talk.

Luckily for them, it seems the United Nations is all talk, but no action.

Zipporah Sein is general secretary of the Karen National Union.

____________________________________

October 13, TIME
The soldier and the state – Andrew Marshall

Among Manchester United Football Club's 300 million or so supporters
worldwide are two Burmese men whose love of the game spans generations.
One is a stout, bespectacled, betel nut – chewing septuagenarian, the
other his favorite teenage grandson, and like many of their soccer-mad
compatriots they stay up late into Burma's tropical nights to watch live
broadcasts from faraway England. So far, so normal. But knowing the
grandfather in this touching scene is Senior General Than Shwe, the
xenophobic chief of Burma's junta, makes it seem all wrong. Rabidly
anti-Western, yet pro – Wayne Rooney, is this the tyrant we know and hate?

That English football is one of Than Shwe's surprise passions might seem
trivial, but it raises a serious question. With U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton saying on Sept. 24 that Washington would begin "engaging
directly" with Burma's military leaders after 20 years of American censure
and sanctions, how well do we really know the junta? "We don't understand
it very well at all, although it's not very easy to understand," says
Donald M. Seekins, a Burma scholar at Meio University in Okinawa, Japan.
Trying to fathom the regime's worldview doesn't mean we condone its
human-rights abuses; many believe that ongoing atrocities by the Burmese
military constitute war crimes. But policies based on a flawed
understanding of Than Shwe and his men will be ineffective or even
counterproductive, warn Burma experts. Now, therefore, is time to get to
know the generals — starting with the man his soldiers call Aba Gyi, or
Grandfather. (See TIME's photo essay "Burma: 19 Years of Protest.")

Loyalty — and Dishonor
Than Shwe, the junta's chief since 1992, is Burma's enigmatic but
undisputed leader. "He exercises almost absolute power," says Seekins.
"Nobody wants to challenge him, at least openly." His origins were humble.
Born in a village not far from Mandalay, Burma's last royal capital, he
dropped out of high school and worked in a post office before joining
officer-training school and rising up through the military ranks,
specializing in psychological warfare. Unquestioning loyalty was "the
secret of his success," says Benedict Rogers, co-author of a forthcoming
book called Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma's Tyrant. "He always followed
orders. He was never seen by anyone as a threat, and therefore was
rewarded with promotions, precisely because he didn't really demonstrate
any flair or initiative."

Since reaching the top, Than Shwe has shown "a talent for hanging on to
power," says Seekins. Rivals are ruthlessly purged: Khin Nyunt, his
ambitious former spy chief, has been under house arrest since 2004. Burma
watchers say loyal officers are rewarded with opportunities to enrich
themselves through graft and rent-seeking.

The West might regard him as backward, but Than Shwe, 76, sees himself as
a bold reformer who took a bankrupt nation and threw it open to foreign
investment, who built not just roads and bridges but a grand new capital
called Naypyidaw — "Abode of Kings." The reality is a little different.
Foreign trade has enriched the junta; the Yadana natural-gas project alone
has earned the regime $4.83 billion since 2000, according to the
Washington-based nonprofit EarthRights International in a recent report.
But most Burmese still live in wretched poverty. The new capital is an
expensive boondoggle.

And yet to write off Than Shwe as the deluded head of a hermit regime is a
mistake. The junta has shrewdly adapted to 20 years of breakneck growth in
Asia, first drawing investment from Southeast Asian neighbors — until a
new regional giant emerged. "In 1988, nobody in the Burmese military knew
how quickly China would grow economically," says Seekins. "But as this was
happening [the regime] took advantage of that situation to promote close
ties to China." Burma joined ASEAN in 1997, gaining further allies against
Western criticism and more trade opportunities (Thailand gets most of its
natural gas from Burma), and is improving ties with India. Even at
Naypyidaw, once a symbol of seclusion, the junta plans to build an
international airport to handle over 10 million passengers a year.
"They're much less isolationist than we think, although they choose their
friends carefully," says Rogers. "Those friends tend to be countries that
turn a blind eye to their conduct." (Read "Why Violence Erupted on the
China-Burma Border.")

Even the junta's notorious xenophobia is rooted less in a desire for
isolation than in an ingrained fear of invasion. Burma has been occupied
by many foreign powers over the centuries and riven by ethnic insurgencies
since its independence from Britain in 1948. The Burmese military's
historical role is to safeguard the country from all foes, foreign and
domestic. The generals regard a threat to their regime as a threat to the
nation. This might seem "misguided, even deluded," observes Andrew Selth,
a Burma analyst with Australia's Griffith University, but the generals'
fear of invasion is real and has been constantly stoked by Western actions
and rhetoric. During pro-democracy protests in 1988, the U.S. deployed a
naval taskforce off Burma's coast and later lumped the country with Iran
and North Korea as an "outpost of tyranny." Whether real or perceived,
Western hostility has prompted the junta to take two concrete actions:
building one of Asia's largest standing armies, and seeking closer links
with China and Russia, both permanent members of the U.N. Security
Council.

Rogues Gallery
Than Shwe is burma's paramount ruler, but he is not alone at the top.
Hard-line loyalists within the military include General Thura Shwe Mann,
his likely successor, and U Thaung, a former ambassador to the U.S., now
the Science and Technology Minister who is believed to be driving the
junta's long-held ambitions to acquire nuclear technology. Also
influential are a handful of Burmese business tycoons, many of whom — like
the generals themselves — are the subject of U.S. and E.U. sanctions that
severely restrict overseas travel and investments. Lobbying of Than Shwe
by these business cronies could explain the warm welcome accorded in
August to pro-engagement Senator Jim Webb. State-run television showed a
smiling Than Shwe pumping the former combat Marine's hand, while the New
Light of Myanmar newspaper, a junta mouthpiece, reminded its readers that
"even an influential U.S. senator opposes the economic sanctions against
our country." (Read "Burma: Virginia Senator Jim Webb Visits Junta
Leader.")

The junta has survived and prospered despite two decades of ever
tightening sanctions. Yet the years have not dimmed its desire to have
those sanctions lifted. "Many people say [Than Shwe] doesn't care what the
world thinks, but he does want pariah status removed," says Rogers. He
also wants "a veneer of legitimacy" and hopes the planned 2010 elections
will provide it. Than Shwe has vowed to create a so-called
"discipline-flourishing democracy" that will not only entrench military
rule but protect his legacy — and his skin. In 2002, suspecting a plot
against him, Than Shwe put Ne Win, the man who had first elevated him to
power, and his daughter under house arrest and jailed his grandsons. "Ne
Win died in ignominy," says Christina Fink, author of Living Silence:
Burma Under Military Rule, a landmark book about life under the junta.
"Than Shwe must be painfully aware that the same could happen to him." The
junta chief has another weakness: his family. He allows them "to run
wild," says Rogers. In July 2006, his jewel-bedecked daughter Thandar
Shwe, one of eight children, married an army major in a lavish ceremony
that angered many in this poverty-stricken nation. (See pictures of
Burma's discontent.)

Standing Alone
Many in Burma's pro-democracy movement — and in the U.S. Congress — view
any overtures to the generals as appeasement and say Than Shwe personally
has blood on his hands. Aung Lynn Htut, a former Burmese diplomat and army
major who defected to the U.S. in 2005, claims Grandfather personally
ordered the massacre of 81 men, women and children on a remote Burmese
island in 1998. Five years later, Than Shwe's thugs attacked the convoy of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at Depayin, west of Mandalay, killing
or injuring dozens of her supporters.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate remains his greatest rival. "He personally
dislikes her," says Seekins. "It's not just a political calculation. He
finds her too opinionated, too Westernized, too outspoken as a woman." In
August Suu Kyi was found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest
after an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside home. Her initial
three-year prison sentence was commuted to 18 months of house arrest
because, said the order read aloud in court, Than Shwe "desires ... to
exercise leniency upon her." (Read "Burma Court Finds Aung San Suu Kyi
Guilty.")

Military defector Aung Lynn Htut is unconvinced. He warns that his former
commander will do anything to discredit Suu Kyi, a longtime supporter of
Western sanctions. Than Shwe met Webb as part of a campaign to portray the
Nobel laureate as "the enemy of the Burmese people [who] is too stubborn
to lift sanctions," he says. But even Suu Kyi's pro-sanctions stance is no
longer a given. U.S. engagement was "a good thing," she admitted recently
through a spokesman for her National League for Democracy party.

Suu Kyi sounded cautious, and who can blame her? Than Shwe "remains
impervious to the appeal of reform or compromise with the opposition
because he wishes at all costs to maintain a personal monopoly on power,"
says Seekins. So will a fresh diplomatic onslaught work? The new U.S.
approach on Burma is the product of a White House that stresses diplomacy
over confrontation. "It's more a change in tactics than overall strategy,"
says Fink. Also driving the policy review are Washington's concerns over
China's influence over Burma and Than Shwe's apparent nuclear ambitions.
Seekins believes Washington risks overestimating the junta's willingness
to open up. "The U.S. government may find itself in the same position as
the Japanese government during the 1990s, when Tokyo believed it could get
the [regime] to mend its ways by giving it some economic incentives."

For now, at least, the junta seems to be engaging all over the place. Last
month its Prime Minister, General Thein Sein, became the highest-ranking
Burmese official in 14 years to address the U.N. General Assembly. He told
delegates that sanctions were "unjust." While in New York City, Thein Sein
conferred with both Webb and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt
Campbell. Back in Burma, Suu Kyi met a senior junta official and is
thought to have discussed the lifting of sanctions.

That won't happen anytime soon. It would send "the wrong signal," warned
Campbell. His boss agrees. "Sanctions remain important as part of our
policy," said Hillary Clinton, describing them and engagement as "tools"
to achieve the same goal: democracy in Burma. Considering Than Shwe's
nonexistent track record on reform, U.S. officials are right to downplay
the impact of engagement. Barring any real concessions from the hard man
himself — starting with the release of Suu Kyi and other political
prisoners prevented from running in next year's polls — democracy remains
a distant prospect. "Everyone is calling for reform, but I don't think
Than Shwe feels any urgency about it," says Seekins. "Nothing much will
change until he passes from the scene." One man controls everything that
happens in Burma.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

October 12, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
Statement in support of a global arms embargo on Burma – Jose Ramos-Horta

Earlier this month, Burma’s military regime provided a further example of
its extraordinary inhumanity and intransigence, with its decision to
reject the appeal by my fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi against the verdict last month which imposed a further term of
eighteen months under house arrest. I deplore this decision, and call for
her immediate and unconditional release.

The events of the past two years in Burma have shocked the world. The
military regime’s brutal suppression of the peaceful protests led by
Buddhist monks in 2007, followed by the assassination of Karen leader
Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan, the tragedy of Cyclone Nargis, the sham
constitutional referendum, the escalation in the military offensive
against civilians in eastern Burma, the famine in Chin State, attacks on
ethnic groups on the China-Burma border and the trial and continued
imprisonment of my fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
are all examples of the desperate political, human rights and humanitarian
crisis in Burma today.

The deterioration in the political and humanitarian situation calls for a
clear response by the international community. I welcome the initiatives
taken by the UN Secretary-General, and the recent statements by the US
Administration. I also welcome Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s clear reiteration of
her call for dialogue with the regime. A combination of high-level,
principled engagement with specific targeted pressure is what is required
to bring the Generals to the negotiating table.

It is time for the international community to increase and intensify its
efforts. In particular, it is time for the UN Security Council to
introduce an arms embargo on the regime. There can be no justification for
selling arms to a regime which has no external threats and uses those arms
simply to suppress its owns people. As President of the Democratic
Republic of Timor-Leste, I therefore call on all members of the UN
Security Council to give serious consideration to this question, and to
pass a resolution imposing a total, comprehensive, mandatory arms embargo.