BurmaNet News, October 15, 2009

[Editor]

October 15, 2009 Issue #3819

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Many Burmese monks arrested
DVB: Judges sacked in corruption probe
KNG: Food shortage worries indigenous Kachins in food-rich valley
Xinhua: Myanmar to introduce first largest national web portal next January

ON THE BORDER
Kaladan Press: Over 80 Arakanese Rohingyas pushed back to Burma
Xinhua: 42 trafficked Myanmar citizens repatriated from Thailand

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar to add another border trade zone in N Shan State

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Burmese activists urge Japan to increase pressure on Naypyidaw
Irrawaddy: Sanctions undermined by Burma's neighbors: US

OPINION / OTHER
UPI: Burma's ploy to escape sanctions – Zin Linn


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 15, Irrawaddy
Many Burmese monks arrested

At least 30 monks were arrested in Burma in September and October, the
two-year anniversary of the Saffron Revolution, sources said.

Sources familiar with the Sangha, the institution of monks nationwide,
said 13 monks from Meiktila and 10 monks from Kyaukpadaung townships in
Mandalay Division were arrested in late September, in an effort by the
military junta to discourage or break up potential demonstrations by
monks.

An official in Meiktila who requested anonymity said monks from the Nagar
Yone Monastery in the township were among those arrested.

A Burmese human rights group in exile, the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), confirmed that dozens of monks were
arrested in the past two months.

“More than 20 monks were detained throughout September,” Bo Kyi, the
joint-secretary of the AAPP, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “We’ve gotten
reports of seven monks arrested recently.”

The AAPP said the recent arrests took place in Arakan State, and Rangoon,
Mandalay and Magwe divisions.

There are 224 monks among the 2,119 political prisoners in Burma, said the
AAPP, not including the recent arrests.

In September, the Burmese regime announced an amnesty for prisoners. The
number of political prisoners released totaled 127, including four monks,
of the 7,114 prisoners who received amnesty.

The All Burma Monks’ Alliance, which led the 2007 demonstrations, has
renewed its call for the regime to apologize for the beating and arrests
of monks in Pakokku two years ago and to release all monks who were
imprisoned during the subsequent crackdown.

The monks set an Oct. 3 deadline for the regime to respond, saying that if
there is no apology, monks will start another boycott of alms offered by
all military and government personnel, known in Buddhism as “patta ni
kozana kan.”

Burmese authorities responded to the monks’ call by increasing security in
Rangoon early this month.

____________________________________

October 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
Judges sacked in corruption probe – Naw Say Phaw

Two senior judges and one legal advisor in Burma’s northeastern Shan state
have been sacked after government officials accused them of corruption in
a drugs trial, a court official said.

State judge Win Myint Oo was summoned to the capital Naypyidaw last month
and dismissed. Another judge, Thawtar Min from Shan state’s Taunggyi and
legal advisor Bo Min Phyu, were also dismissed.

The three men had been involved in a trial in Taunggyi in June this year
in which four individuals were charged in relation to a drugs seizure in
Rangoon. The court acquitted three of the defendants, and passed a 20-year
sentence on the final defendant.

A court official speaking under condition of anonymity said however that
the three men escaped conviction because of a 100 million kyat
($US100,000) bribe paid to the judges and the state military commander by
the owner of a local mattress shop, Chit Kabar.

The wife of Taunggyi-based military commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Maung
Maung Myint, was found dead in August after apparently committing suicide.
Her death came shortly after she was questioned by the government’s Bureau
of Special Investigation (BSI), which is investigating the corruption
allegations.

Local residents in Taunggyi said that she was suspected of playing a key
role in persuading judges to take the bribe.

The mattress-shop owner, Khin Win, is being charged for her involvement in
case and is being interrogated by the BSI, according to the court source,
who added that more people were under investigation.

“Police chief Hla Htut and a deputy chief of the [Taunggyi] Special
Narcotic Taskforce have been sacked and they are now under detention where
they are being interrogated,” he said.

The three men previously aquitted by the court have reportedly been
rearrested and are to face trial alongside Khin Win.

____________________________________

October 15, Kachin News Group
Food shortage worries indigenous Kachins in food-rich valley

Land confiscation by the Burmese military junta has left indigenous
Kachins in food-rich Hukawng (also spelled Hugawng) valley in northern
Kachin State fighting for survival, said local sources.

Now they cannot receive relatives and guests in their homes because they
are unable to serve them proper meals, according to residents of Danai
(also spelled Tanai), the main town in the valley.

Tradition demands that every family receives all guests and relatives and
serve decent and proper food because they used to harvest an abundance of
rice-paddy and crops in their farms every year, given the rich-soil for
cultivation, said natives of the valley.

Now, they have lost all their farms to the junta’s confiscation drive.
Over 200,000 acres of land in the valley were seized and handed over to
the Rangoon-based Yuzana Company in 2006, said local Kachins.

Since late 2006, the Yuzana Company has been cleaning up the deep forests
along Ledo Road on the left and right, for Cassava and Sugarcane
cultivation.  It has also constructed two large Thai-style factories and
worker’s blocks.

As a result, most indigenous Kachins, original land owners of the valley
have no more land and farms to cultivate traditional rice-paddy, fruits
and seasonal crops, said locals.  They are now working in the company,
they added.

People are now struggling to eke out a living in Kachin villages between
Namti and Danai along the Ledo Road, (also called Stilwell Road)--- Dum
Bang, Nawng Mi, Sahtu Zup, Wara Zup, Ting Kawk, Bangkok, Kawng Ra and
Danai, according to the villagers.

Quite a few villages have to cultivate some poppy for survival even as
opium demand is high in the local gold mines. A Viss of opium can be sold
for over 1 million Kyat (1Viss = 1.6 Kilograms), added locals.

Slg. Tsa Ji, General Secretary of Kachin Development Networking Group
(KDNG) who published a report called "Valley of Darkness" told KNG today,
"The sustainable living and the traditional livelihood of the indigenous
Kachins will be eliminated as long as the Yuzana Company is stationed in
the valley".

On the flip side, the valley has become one of largest gold mining areas
in the country after the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) signed a
ceasefire agreement with the junta in February 24, 1994.

Extensive gold mining and expansion of cultivation  in the  natural
forests by the Yuzana Company has been severely damaging the World’s
Largest Tiger Sanctuary in the valley recognized by the US-based Wildlife
Conservation Society (WCS) in 2004, said local Kachin watch dog groups.

Now, the Myitkyina-based World Food Program (WFP) under the United Nations
is distributing much-needed rice to Sadung areas in east Kachin State,
where the indigenous Kachins cultivate poppy rather than rice-paddy for
survival, said WFP sources.

Most people in Kachin State are farmers. But they cultivate paddy
incurring losses because they do not get any support from the military
regime and they have to sell paddy to the junta at fixed-reduced prices,
said local farmers.

The junta claims that Kachin State is fourth largest rice-bowl in the
country.

____________________________________

October 15, Xinhua
Myanmar to introduce first largest national web portal next January

Yangon – Myanmar will introduce its first largest ever national web portal
in Myanmar language next January, sources with the ICT circle said on
Thursday, quoting the Yadanapon Teleport Company.

With the website address of http://www.yadanarpon.net, the web portal,
like other search engines of Google, Yahoo and MSN, is to provide the
users with e-mail, education, entertainment, health, economic and
communication services.

In addition, it will also provide search engine, e-mail, social network
website, instant messaging system, song and video stores, free
advertisements, job vacancy announcements, online education system,
television guide in both English and Myanmar.

In cooperation with local and foreign news media, the company's website
will also carry local and international news.

Yadanarpon teleport company was formed in May last year with 40 percent of
stake shared by the government and the remaining 60 percent by local
private sector and the main office is located in Pyin Oo Lwin of the
northern Mandalay division.

In December 2007, the country's first largest ICT park, also known as the
Yadanapon cyber city, was launched in Pyin Oo Lwin.

Meanwhile, Myanmar authorities have allotted 150 hectares of land in the
soft-base factory area of the Yadanabon cyber city for 35 more local and
foreign IT companies to develop their business undertakings.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 15, Kaladan Press
Over 80 Arakanese Rohingyas pushed back to Burma

Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh – Bangladeshi authorities pushed back over 80
Arakanese Rohingyas to Burma in a week along the Bangladesh-Burma border
and Chittagong Hill Tracts.

On 4 October, four Arakanese Rohingyas were arrested from Baish Ari
village of Naikhong Chari upazila under the Bandarban district. They were
pushed back to Burma from Sacc Dalar point, said a local Hamid.

On 5 October, 18 Arakanese Rohingyas were arrested from Alikadam in
Bandarban district of Chittagong Hill Tracts, said Jaker from the area.

Similarly, on 7 October, 21 Arakanese Rohingyas, including two women were
arrested by police from Kaistoli in Bandarban district. They were produced
in court for illegally entering Bangladesh and then sent to Bandarban
jail, said a local.

On 9 October, 17 Arakanese Rohingyas were arrested by the Bangladesh
Rifles (BDR)  from Asat Toli Para of Nakhonchari upazila in Bandarban
District, and later pushed back to Burma, according to BDR sources.

On 13 October, in the morning, 12 Arakanese Rohingyas including two
children and four women were arrested by police from Panbazar and
Alikadam. The police also raided Balagata area in Bandarban district and
arrested six more Rohingyas. They were handed over to the BDR of
Naikhonchari and bushed back to Burma from Sacc Dalar border point,
sources said.

The police did not arrest all the family members, but they preferred to
arrest the male members of the family. As a result, a father left his
other family members or a mother left hers. The operation was conducted by
police in collaboration with local Awami-league (AL) leaders. The reason
for the operation is not known to the public, said a local from Alikadam.

The same day, in the morning, nine Arakanese Rohingyas from Shapuri Dip
including five women and another four Rohingas from Leda were arrested by
BDR. At about 11 am they were pushed back to Burma from Shapuri Dip, said
Habib from Shapuri Dip.

On 14 October 10 Arakanese Rohingas were also arrested from Alikadam and
pushed back to Burma through the Naikhonchari BDR from Saac Dalar border
point. The arrestees have been living at Alikadan under the Bandarban
district for over 10 years, said another local from Alikadam.

Today, the BDR started to check passengers at Dum Dum Meah, Whykong and
Mricha check-points on the Cox’s Bazaar-Teknaf Highway.  They checked
National Identity Cards on buses and cars. Those able to show their ID
cards were allowed to pass and those who failed were released after
warning.  But, the refugees were sent to refugee camps by bus guarded by
the BDR, according to Kalam, a member of the unregistered refugee
committee of Kutupalong.

____________________________________

October 15, Xinhua
42 trafficked Myanmar citizens repatriated from Thailand

Yangon – A total of 42 trafficked Myanmar citizens, trafficked to
Thailand, have been repatriated to Myanmar's eastern border town of
Myawaddy, sources with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and
Resettlement said on Thursday.

The trafficked Myanmar people, including 30 women and three children, were
handed over by the Thai Ministry of Social Welfare and Development to its
Myanmar counterpart in Myawaddy last weekend, the sources said.

The returnees have been brought to Mon state's capital of Mawlamyine and
are being accommodated in a vocational skill training school and after the
training, they will be sent back to their respective homes, the sources
added.

Meanwhile, in August this year, six trafficked Myanmar young women were
saved and repatriated back from China to Myanmar across the border
following a joint combating of human trafficking crime by special squads
of both sides

The six were handed over by the Ruili anti-human trafficking special squad
of China to Myanmar's Muse squad.

A total of 13 men brokers and seven women brokers of two human trafficking
gangs were also arrested in Ruili, a border town opposite to Myanmar's
Muse, according to Myanmar anti-drug authorities.

According to the ministry, under the government to government system, a
total of 686 victims smuggled out of Myanmar had been rescued and brought
back to the country as of 2008 and they were being kept at the
rehabilitation centers.

Of them, those who were repatriated back from Thailand were the majority
with 344, followed by those from China with 272, Malaysia with 45, Japan,
Bangladesh, Jamaica and Singapore as well as China's Macao, Chinese
Taiwan, the ministry's figures showed.

Myanmar has so far set up border liaison offices in Muse with immediate
neighbor of China and in Tachilek, Myawaddy and Kawthoung with Thailand to
promote cooperation in cracking down on human trafficking at the basic
level.

Coordination is also being made for the move involving the UNODC and UN
Inter Agency Project (UNIPA) on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong
Subregion (GMS).

The government has so far built eight rehabilitation centers offering
educational program and vocational skill training for the victims.

In the latest development, Myanmar is also planning to set up a temporary
care center in Muse for the victims with the help of GGA organization of
Japan in November this year.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 15, Xinhua
Myanmar to add another border trade zone in N Shan State

Yangon -- Myanmar will add one more border trade zone in Kokang region, in
the country's northern Shan State,to facilitate trading between the region
and neighboring China, sources with the Ministry of Border Area and
National Races Development said on Thursday.

The new border trade zone to be built in Yan Lone Chai township, which is
about 12.8 kilometers away from the Kokang capital of Laukkai, will be
another after Chinshwehaw.

Once the Yan Lone Chai border trade zone is completed, it will help
enhance the economic development of Laukkai and the Kokang asa whole as
the border trade zone can be accessible by direct road link with Lashio,
Kuttkai and Theini townships, it said.
With an area of 5,200 square-kilometers, Kokang, bordering China's
Zhenkang, Gengma, Mengding and Longling areas, has a population of about
150,000.

Myanmar has five border trade points with China, namely Muse, Lwejei,
Laizar, Chinshwehaw and Kambaiti which were established since 1998.

Myanmar-China border trade fair has been held annually and alternately in
the two countries' border town of Muse and Ruili since 2001 and the last
event was in Muse in December 2008.

Ruili remains a main border trade point of China with its border trade
volume alone accounting for 70 percent of Yunnan province's border trade
with neighboring countries.

Myanmar established the 150-hectare Muse border trade zone, the first
largest of its kind in the country, and transformation of its border trade
with China into normal trade has been underway since early 2005.

Main items that Yunnan imports from Myanmar are agricultural products,
aquatic products, minerals, rubber and its products, while main items that
Yunnan exports to Myanmar are electric and machinery, textile, chemicals,
steel, daily-used products, pharmaceuticals and so on.

According to Chinese official statistics, China-Myanmar bilateral trade
amounted to 2.626 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, up 26.4 percent. Of the
total, China's export to Myanmar took 1.978 billion dollars.

Up to the end of 2008, China's contracted investment in Myanmar reached
1.331 billion dollars, of which that in mining, electric power and oil and
gas respectively took 866 million dollars, 281 million dollars and 124
million dollars.

China now stands the 4th in Myanmar's foreign investment line-up.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 15, Irrawaddy
Burmese activists urge Japan to increase pressure on Naypyidaw – Lawi Weng

A group of Burmese pro-democracy activists urged Japan’s new Deputy
Foreign Minister Tesuro Fukuyama at a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday to
increase pressure on Burma’s military government to enter into dialogue
with their country’s opposition.

According to a trade union association leader who attended the meeting,
the group also appealed to Japan’s Foreign Ministry to put forward a plan
for Burma at the UN Security Council.

The appeals were contained in a presentation by a leader of the Burmese
group, Maung Maung, the general-secretary of the National Council of Union
of Burma.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry official told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that
Maung Maung informed Fukuyama how Burmese activists believed democratic
change could be brought about in their country.

“Our basic policy stand is to promote democracy in Burma,” the official
said. “This is why our deputy foreign minister hosted the meeting with
Maung Maung, to listen to his view s on democratization in Burma.”

The meeting in Tokyo was the first between Japan’s new deputy foreign
minister and Burmese democracy activists in Japan.

Chihiro Ikusawa, executive director of the International Department of the
Japanese Trade Union Confederation, who participated in the meeting,
reported that apart from appealing for increased pressure on the Burmese
regime by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Maung Maung proposed that Japan
should send a permanent envoy to Burma to observe the 2010 election.

Japan’s new government has asked the Burmese government to ensure a free
and fair election in 2010, and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has asked
Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win to release all political prisoners,
including Aung San Suu Kyi, before the poll.

Earlier this month, Japan embassy officials in Rangoon held a meeting with
Win Tin, an executive member of the opposition National League for
Democracy.

The newly elected Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is seen to be taking a
more active role in promoting democratization in Burma. The DPJ is
believed to be a strong supporter of the Burmese democracy movement,
unlike its predecessor, the Liberal Democratic Party, which rarely
criticized the Burmese junta.

While pressing for democratic change, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
has said it has no plans to alter its policy of direct engagement with the
Burmese regime. It has also said that it supports the recently revised US
policy, which now combines engagement with continued economic sanctions.

Japan is one of Burma’s main donor nations. Between 1999 and 2006, it
provided Burma with more than US $2.96 billion in Official Development
Assistance (ODA), according to Japanese officials.

However, Tokyo temporarily stopped its ODA to Burma after the 2007 Saffron
Revolution, when a Japanese journalist, Kenji Nagai, was killed by
security forces.

Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had a phone conversation with Suu Kyi
when she was released from house arrest in 2002.

When Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further eighteen months house arrest
earlier this year, the Japanese Foreign Minister said his government was
deeply disappointed and called on the regime to release her and all other
political prisoners.

____________________________________

October 15, Irrawaddy
Sanctions undermined by Burma's neighbors: US – William Boot

Bangkok — As Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi reviews Western
sanctions against her country and a debate opens up about their affect on
the military regime, a Washington agency has admitted that efforts to keep
Burmese gems out of the US are failing.

Gemstones such as jade and rubies are among the core targets of economic
sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union against the
military junta running Burma.
Giant stones are displayed at the gem market in Tachilek, Burma. The city
of Tachilek sits on the Thai-Burmese border in Shan State and is known to
be one of the crossing points for Burmese gems into Thailand. (Photo:
Getty Images)

But the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) says: "US agencies have
not shown that they are effectively targeting imports of Burmese-origin
rubies, jadeite and related jewelry."

GAO is a policing agency of the US Congress charged with assessing whether
laws are being effectively enforced.

"Impediments remain to restricting trade in Burmese rubies and jadeite,"
concludes a 49-page report assessing the 2008 JADE (Junta's
Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act.

The report also admits that the US has been unsuccessful in winning the
support of other countries linked to the gems industry in curbing Burmese
trade.

"Strong support and the cooperation of China and Thailand are important to
restrict trade in these items, but highly unlikely," the report said.

It said the US government has failed to put forward any United Nations
resolution on gems sanctions because "a number of countries would likely
oppose a resolution."

Burma's neighbor Thailand remains a major source of finished ruby and jade
jewelry for the US and Europe but insists that its products—although often
sourced to Burma for raw materials—are substantially finished in Thailand
and therefore not sanctionable.
Thai jewelry exports to the United States in 2008 were valued at US $8
billion, said the GAO.

The US admissions come as the new Barack Obama presidency signals changes
in Washington policy toward the Burmese junta, including more constructive
contacts and Suu Kyi's meeting in Rangoon recently with leading Western
country ambassadors to discuss the effects of sanctions.

Many campaigners for democratic change in Burma strongly support sanctions
as a means of penalizing the junta, but others argue that they are merely
hurting ordinary Burmese.

"The only perceptible effect of sanctions is that they have generally
debilitated the Burmese economy, and this stagnation has been felt by the
population at large," said the former British ambassador to Thailand,
Derek Tonkin, this week.

Tonkin heads up Network Myanmar, a Britain-based campaign for human rights
and democracy in Burma.

"The regime and its cronies have, however, been able to avoid any
significant or even measurable impact on themselves because of the total
absence of sanctions applied in the region, notably by China, India and
Russia," Tonkin said.

However, Sean Turnell, another Burma expert who tracks and assesses junta
business activities, argues that the Burmese regime itself is responsible
for trashing the country's economy and believes sanctions are a way of
curbing the generals' self enrichment.

"For the moment at least there is little substantive change in US policy
towards Burma," Turnell told The Irrawaddy.

"It's clear that some movement towards the release of political prisoners
and certain other steps that demonstrate a genuine commitment to reform
will be necessary before it does. In a sense, the bluff is now called on
Burma's generals to put their cards on the table."

Turnell is a professor at Australia's Macquarie University and co-produces
Burma Economic Watch.

The way in which the junta leaders sidestep sanctions was highlighted in a
report last month by EarthRights International (ERI).

The junta leadership has siphoned off as much US $4.83 billion from the
national budget in revenues from industrial giants Chevron and Total's
operation of the Yadana gas field, said ERI.

And that enrichment has primarily been financed by Thailand which is the
sole buyer of the Yadana gas and as a member of Asean does not apply or
support any sanctions.

US Sen. Richard Lugar Lugar Lugar this week ann..ounced plans to introduce
legislation to promote a free-trade agreement between the US and Asean.

US Sen. Richard Lugar this week announced plans to introduce legislation
to promote a free-trade agreement between the US and Asean.

He said he believed current US sanctions against Asean member Burma would
not be affected by such a development.

ERI also reported that the gas income theft by the junta was sitting in
two Singapore banks—despite US sanctions supposedly in place to curb the
international financial activities of junta generals and their proxies.

However, an economist with a Western embassy in Bangkok takes the view
that Washington's GAO appears to have been "too ready to accept some of
the submissions put to it by gem dealers and traders in Thailand, all with
a vested interest to talk up the difficulties of establishing place of
origin for Burma's gems and the damage done to small traders rather than
SPDC [junta]-connected entities."

That Burma watcher, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitive diplomatic circumstances of the issue, also noted: "The GAO
report significantly underplays the role of large established entities in
the Burmese gems trade, especially the SPDC-controlled Myanmar Gems
Enterprise which conducts periodic high profile gem auctions.

"Such auctions raise significant funds for the regime. To the extent that
entities such as the MGE are impacted, then US sanctions on Burma's gem
exports are well targeted."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 15, United Press International
Burma's ploy to escape sanctions – Zin Linn

Last week Burmese leader Than Shwe allowed detained pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi to meet Western diplomats, at her request, to talk about
the sanctions imposed on the military regime.

The Nobel Prize winner, who remains under house arrest, was driven to a
government guesthouse on Oct. 9 to meet acting U.S. Charge d'Affaires
Thomas Vajda, British Ambassador Andrew Heyn, who represented the European
Union, and Australian Deputy Head of Mission Simon Christopher Starr for
an hour to discuss the possible lifting of sanctions on Burma.

It was no surprise that the junta agreed to Suu Kyi’s request, as the
sanctions are hurting the regime, said a Burmese journalist on condition
of anonymity. Senior General Than Shwe would like to improve relations
with Western countries, both to improve the country’s economic condition
and increase his legitimacy, he said.

“However, people do not believe the affair is an honest move,” he said,
pointing out that the junta’s supreme commander wanted to get the
international community to support his so-called “discipline-flourishing
democracy.”

The surprise meeting with diplomats followed two consultation sessions
this month between Suu Kyi and the junta's liaison and Labor Minister Aung
Kyi, to discuss her Sept. 25 proposal to help end sanctions against the
regime.

On the same day, Oct. 9, Than Shwe spoke at military headquarters in the
capital, Naypyitaw, confirming the launch of general elections as
scheduled in 2010. He said he would not yield to demands from domestic and
international critics who say that the country’s military-sponsored
Constitution should be revised ahead of next year’s elections.

The 2008 Constitution, the junta said, was “approved” by more than 90
percent of eligible voters during a referendum in May 2008, just a few
days after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. The outcome of the
referendum was widely dismissed as a sham, but the regime has ignored
calls from the international community and Burma’s main opposition party,
the National League for Democracy, to review the Constitution.

Although there are 10 registered political parties in Burma, most are
inactive. An electoral law should be put in place to allow new parties to
form and register to contest the elections. The international community,
led by the United Nations, has constantly urged that the election be
all-inclusive, free and fair.

In April the NLD set forth the conditions for its participation in the
2010 elections. It requested that all provisions in the Constitution that
are not in accord with democratic principles be amended, and that the poll
be all-inclusive, free and fair under international supervision.

Rights groups have also said that the regime must release all 2,100
political prisoners, including NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, if it wants
the elections to be regarded as legitimate.

The elections, which promise to be neither free nor fair in a country long
condemned for human rights abuses, were planned following the 2008
Constitution, which in effect reinforces military control over any
democratically elected administration.

The Western democracies and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have warned
that the world community would not recognize the election results unless
the NLD participates in the polls and Aung San Suu Kyi is freed from house
arrest, where she has been kept for 14 of the past 20 years.

International sanctions have been imposed on Burma since 1988, when the
military mercilessly cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations, leaving
an estimated 3,000 people dead. The United States and the European Union
increased their sanctions after the junta refused to acknowledge the NLD's
victory in 1990 elections and then arrested opponents and suppressed every
type of opposition. Most of the sanctions target the top generals in
particular.

In addition to the U.S. and EU sanctions, the regime is presently
suffering assorted sanctions from Australia, Canada and Japan. The regime
has been left without development assistance from international financial
institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and
the Asia Development Bank.

Than Shwe hinted this year that he would be willing to open a political
dialogue with Suu Kyi if she agreed to cooperate on the sanctions issue.
However, in his speech to the War Veterans Organization, Than Shwe said
that some powerful nations were trying to force and influence Burma under
various pretexts.

“However, the military government of Myanmar does not get scared whenever
intimidated and will continue to work relentlessly for a better future of
the state and the people by overcoming any difficulties,” Than Shwe said.

There is a contradiction between allowing the Lady to meet with Western
diplomats and the heartless tone of Than Shwe’s speech at the meeting with
war veterans. People are concerned that the Lady is being exploited by the
crooked military chief. The purpose of allowing her to meet with the
diplomats seems to be to get the sanctions eased and to persuade the world
to support Burma’s version of democracy.

According to some analysts, there has been no improvement at all in the
junta’s treatment of its citizens. In 2009 there have been more acts of
aggression, more restrictions toward media and civil society, more control
over Internet users, more arrests, more political prisoners and more
military attacks in ethnic minority areas.

Sanctions are not likely to be lifted until the junta takes positive steps
such as ending aggression against the NLD and ethnic parties and allowing
freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.

The best option would be for the junta’s supreme commander to agree to
dialogue with Suu Kyi in pursuit of national reconciliation. The 2008
Constitution and the junta's unyielding adherence to its seven-step
roadmap toward the 2010 elections will create a highly unstable political
climate. Without an agreement of national reconciliation, the elections
will achieve nothing.

A sugarcoated concept like “discipline-flourishing democracy” cannot be
sold in this information age. Citizens have enough knowledge to
differentiate between sham and genuine freedom.

--

(Zin Linn is a freelance Burmese journalist living in exile in Bangkok,
Thailand. He works at the NCGUB East Office as an information director and
is vice president of Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the
Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers. ©Copyright Zin Linn.)