From editor at burmanet.org Fri Nov 20 15:55:44 2009 From: editor at burmanet.org (Editor) Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:55:44 -0500 (EST) Subject: BurmaNet News, November 20, 2009 Message-ID: <16483.63.173.78.131.1258750544.squirrel@webmail4.pair.com> November 20, 2009 Issue #3845 INSIDE BURMA Irrawaddy: Myint Swe: The Tatmadaw?s next top dog? Xinhua: Myanmar, Laos sign two MoUs on visa exemption, double taxation avoidance ON THE BORDER DVB: Burmese migrants to remit half of salaries HEALTH DVB: Burma to open private schools and hospitals REGIONAL United News of India: Zhimomi suggests 'Naga State' in Myanmar INTERNATIONAL Reuters: UN committee condemns N.Korea, Myanmar over rights Journalism.co.uk: Burmese secret cameramen 'Z' and 'T' among Rory Peck Awards winners OPINION / OTHER The Nation (Thailand): Illegal Burmese migrants: caught between hiding or becoming legal ? Jackie Pollock VOA: Obama presses Burma for reforms ? Editorial Sydney Morning Herald: Burma engagement offers false hope ? Graham Reilly Kantarawaddy Times: Burma's election: Road map to more military rule ____________________________________ INSIDE BURMA. November 20, Irrawaddy Myint Swe: The Tatmadaw?s next top dog? ? Min Lwin Lt-Gen Myint Swe is being widely tipped to succeed Snr-Gen Than Shwe as the Burmese army's next commander in chief, according to several dissidents in exile and Burma observers. Rumors have circulated that Myint Swe is junta strongman Than Shwe?s favored choice to take over from him. Myint Swe was recently promoted to quartermaster general of the Tatmadaw, According to analysts, Myint Swe?s appointment indicates that the junta chief intends to pave the way for him to assume a top-ranking position in the military's hierarchy. Traditionally, a quartermaster in the Tatmadaw is among the names in the hat who could feasibly be promoted to commander in chief of Burma?s armed forces. Myint Swe reportedly caught Than Shwe?s eye in 2002 when he was involved in the arrests of late dictator Gen Ne Win?s family after an alleged coup conspiracy was uncovered. Then, in October 2004, Myint Swe proved his loyalty to Than Shwe by heading the purge against former military intelligence chief Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt. Myint Swe became a second lieutenant officer after he graduated from the 15th intake of the Defence Services Academy in 1971. He was promoted to commanding officer of Infantry Battalion 404 and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming commanding officer of Light Infantry Division 11 overseeing security in Rangoon. He then served as commander of Southwest Military Region in Bassein, Irrawaddy Division, before moving to the War Office in the late 1990s where he worked directly under Than Shwe and Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, reputedly becoming their close confidante. In 2001, Myint Swe made brigadier-general as the commander of the Southeast Region when he succeeded Maj-Gen Thiha Thura Sit Maung who had died in a helicopter crash. As a divisional commander and a favorite of Burma?s ?first lady,? Than Shwe?s wife Kyaing Kyaing, Myint Swe took over Rangoon Command and was promoted to major-general. As a commander in Rangoon and chief of Military Affairs Security, he failed to catch the culprits when the former capital was rocked by a series of bomb blasts in 2005, which killed 21 people and injured dozens more. Nonetheless, his reputation and loyalty within the military elite went unquestioned. As chief of both the Bureau of Special Operations 5 and Military Affairs Security, Myint Swe undoubtedly played a ruthless role in the crackdown and handling of monk-led demonstrations in September 2007. ____________________________________ November 20, Xinhua Myanmar, Laos sign two MoUs on visa exemption, double taxation avoidance Yangon ? Myanmar and Laos Friday signed two memorandums of understanding in Nay Pyi Taw respectively on mutual visa exemption for holders of diplomatic passport and avoidance of double taxation, the state-run Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) reported in a night broadcast. The signing came shortly after Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith met with Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein. On the same day, Vice-Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council Vice Senior-General Maung Aye also met with Sisoulith. The Lao deputy prime minister and foreign minister began his formal official goodwill visit to the new capital of Myanmar Thursday after he attended the 9th meeting of Myanmar-Lao Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation in Taunggyi, the capital of Myanmar's Shan state, on Wednesday. That meeting was represented by Sisoulith from the Lao side, while Foreign Minister U Nyan Win from the Myanmar side. The two sides discussed matters relating to further strengthening and cooperation between the two countries as well as enhancing in mutual cooperation in regional and international forums. Sisoulith arrived Yangon on Tuesday for the meeting and then the visit to Nay Pyi Taw. ____________________________________ ON THE BORDER November 20, Democratic Voice of Burma Burmese migrants to remit half of salaries ? Aye Nai Burmese nationals working abroad have been instructed by the ruling junta to send up to 50 percent of their salary home in remittances, via a state-owned bank. According to the new regulation, enforced by Burma?s labour ministry, those who earn less than $US200 per month working abroad are to send 30 percent of their salary back to Burma, while those earning above $US400 are to send 50 percent back. The latest data available from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that remittances to Burma in 2004 totaled $US81.3 million. The announcement, made last week in several Burmese journals, said that the regulation will be enforced by government employees working abroad under departments such as the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Myanmar Women?s Affairs Federation. On top of this, all Burmese nationals working overseas are to pay 10 percent of their salary as tax to the Burmese embassy in their respective countries of employment. The announcement follows the recent granting of temporary passports to Burmese working in Thailand, although it is not clear whether these will also be scrutinised under the new regulation. A Burmese national working in Singapore said however that it would be impossible for migrant workers to follow the rule. ?Some people have their whole family here; they have kids to send to school here and families to look after. How would they be able to pay half of their salary?? Another Singapore-based Burmese national said that the regulation could force people into adopting a new citizenship to avoid paying the fee, which ?could lead educated citizens of Burma to become citizens of other countries?. Critics of the idea claim that the regulation will bring more stable foreign currency to the state-owned bank, while those who receive the remittance will be given the unstable Burmese currency, which has recently appreciated. Although the government puts the official exchange rate at six kyat to the United States? dollar, the unofficial blackmarket rate is closer to 1000 kyat per US dollar. The government has been accused in the past of using the irregularity between the official and unofficial exchange rate to hide income, particularly from sales of oil and gas. Outrage at the apparent siphoning off by the government of aid funding to Burma following cyclone Nargis last year exposed levels of state corruption in the country, which were reinforced earlier this week by a Transparency International report which ranked Burma as the third most corrupt country in the world. ____________________________________ HEALTH November 20, Democratic Voice of Burma Burma to open private schools and hospitals ? Ahunt Phone Myat Private schools and hospitals abolished under the former Ne Win regime in Burma are to reopen in an attempt to generate more revenue in the country and improve the struggling sectors. The government?s health ministry announced a 21-point criteria list for the opening of private hospitals starting from early next year. Dr Kyee Myint, deputy director of the ministry?s health department, said that candidate health centers who meet the 21 conditions will be granted permission to run as hospitals. ?We have already announced this in the news,? he said. ?This is a programme intended to bring profit to the nation by assisting in the development of private businesses.? Private schools will be allowed to open at the start of the 2010 academic year, the education ministry has announced. Guidance was recently given to private boarding tuition centres to prepare for the transition, with statistics delivered on school size, location, number of buildings and teachers, planned budget and school administration structures. ?This is only to test the capability of the candidates,? said Major Maung Latt, owner of Soe San boarding tuition in the capital, Naypyidaw, which has been flagged for consideration. ?Maybe in about one year, some government schools will be opened for auction [to replace with private schools]. Nothing is definite at the moment. ?It would be better for the education,? he added. ?Why should the private boarding tuition centers be in existence now if the government schools were good enough?? Well-known private tuition centres in Burma charge between 1.5 million and two million kyat ($US1,500 to $US2,000) per student each year. People working in the education sector in Burma have said the move could lead to the development of more education-based businesses in the country. Private schools once existed in Burma, but were abolished by former military leader Ne Win?s Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) government when it came to power in 1964. ____________________________________ REGIONAL November 20, United News of India Zhimomi suggests 'Naga State' in Myanmar Kohima -- Lone Rajya Sabha member from Nagaland Khekiho Zhimomi has suggested the Myanmar Government for an administrative state for the Nagas within Myanmar. Mr Zhimomi interacted with the Myanmar Government over the aspect of Nagas in that country and the suggestion was same as that of Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio. The chief minister and his ministerial delegation in May this year had suggested Ambassador of Myanmar to India U-Kyi Thein in New Delhi seeking an exclusive administrative status for the Myanmar Nagas. On that request, Mr Thein had assured that the matter would be taken up with Junta leaders about recognising Myanmar Nagas with an administrative or political status as a unique group within the greater Burmese stratum. Mr Zhimomi informed that he is in touch with Myanmar leaders on regular basis through various forum and platform and suggesting them about the possibility of such state for the Burmese Nagas. Lone Rajya Sabha member from Nagaland Khekiho Zhimomi has suggested the Myanmar Government for an administrative state for the Nagas within Myanmar. Mr Zhimomi interacted with the Myanmar Government over the aspect of Nagas in that country and the suggestion was same as that of Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio. The chief minister and his ministerial delegation in May this year had suggested Ambassador of Myanmar to India U-Kyi Thein in New Delhi seeking an exclusive administrative status for the Myanmar Nagas. On that request, Mr Thein had assured that the matter would be taken up with Junta leaders about recognising Myanmar Nagas with an administrative or political status as a unique group within the greater Burmese stratum. Mr Zhimomi informed that he is in touch with Myanmar leaders on regular basis through various forum and platform and suggesting them about the possibility of such state for the Burmese Nagas. Published by HT Syndication with permission from United News of India. For more information on news feed please contact Sarabjit Jagirdar at htsyndication at hindustantimes.com ____________________________________ INTERNATIONAL November 20, Reuters UN committee condemns N.Korea, Myanmar over rights ? Louis Charbonneau United Nations ? A special committee of the U.N. General Assembly condemned North Korea and Myanmar on Thursday for what it said were widespread human rights violations in the two Asian countries. The 192-nation General Assembly's Third Committee, which focuses on human rights issues, approved a non-binding resolution on North Korea 97-19 with 65 abstentions. A similar resolution on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, passed 92-26 with 65 abstentions. The North Korea resolution voiced "very serious concern" at what it said were persistent reports of "systematic, widespread and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights." Among Pyongyang's violations, the resolution said, are torture, inhuman conditions of detention, public executions, collective punishment and "the existence of a large number of prison camps and the extensive use of forced labor." North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador, Pak Tok Hun, dismissed the resolution as a political attack by its enemies. "The draft resolution is nothing more than a document of political conspiracy of the hostile forces to ... deny and obliterate the state and social system of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," he told the committee. Among the sponsors of the North Korea resolution were the European Union, the United States, Japan and South Korea. Envoys from developing nations that rights groups have also accused of having poor human rights records -- including China, Russia, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Egypt and Zimbabwe -- told the committee that they generally reject such resolutions because they oppose singling out specific countries. Assembly condemnations of the human rights situation in North Korea, Myanmar and Iran have become an annual ritual in recent years. FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS Myanmar's U.N. envoy Than Swe rejected the resolution on his country, which said the assembly "strongly condemns the ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Myanmar." It also voiced "grave concern" at the recent trial and sentencing to further house arrest of Myanmar's opposition leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and urged the military junta to release her and all other political prisoners. The resolution also called on Myanmar's military rulers to pass the necessary electoral legislation and take further steps to ensure that next year's general election is not rigged but "free, fair, transparent and inclusive." Than Swe said the resolution is "glaringly deficient" and little more than "another means to maintain pressure on Myanmar in tandem with sanctions." British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the resolution "sets out the action Burma's military rulers must take if planned elections are to have any international credibility." The Third Committee, which includes all members of the General Assembly, is scheduled to debate a resolution condemning Iran on Friday. A special General Assembly session next month is expected to formally adopt all recently approved committee resolutions. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham) ____________________________________ November 20, Journalism.co.uk Burmese secret cameramen 'Z' and 'T' among Rory Peck Awards winners ? Laura Oliver Freelance cameramen and camerawomen working in news and current affairs for Channel 4, CNN and Reuters were named winners at the Rory Peck Awards last night. Kasbek Basayev won the news prize for his coverage of the South Ossetian war in August 2008, commissioned and broadcast by Reuters. The winners of the features category were two anonymous Burmese cameramen, 'Z' and 'T' who risked imprisonment for their work if caught by authorities. The pair's prize-winning work focused on the orphans of Burma's cyclone and was shot for the Channel 4 Dispatches programme. The Martin Adler prize, set up in honour of murdered freelance photographer, journalist and filmmaker Martin Adler, was awarded jointly to three Gaza freelancers: Talal Abu Rahma, who works regularly for CNN and France 2; Raed Athemneh and Ashraf Mashharawi. The Sony Impact award, which focuses on freelance news footage that raises humanitarian issues, went to Joost Van Der Walk for his work on 'Saving Africa's Witch Children' for Channel 4's Dispatches. Clips from the finalists can be watched on the Rory Peck website. ____________________________________ OPINION / OTHER November 20, The Nation (Thailand) Illegal Burmese migrants: caught between hiding or becoming legal ? Jackie Pollock MANY OF the estimated 2 million Burmese migrants currently living in Thailand can remember the mass deportation a decade ago. With the threat of another mass expulsion looming, migrant workers are exploring their options and hoping to avoid the panic, the desperation and the dangers of November 1999. This collective memory is in itself an acknowledgement of the number of years that migrants have given to Thailand, but despite this, they still have limited options to secure their livelihood, safety and all options that render them temporary commodities. Newly arrived migrants from Burma only have one option and that is to live and work illegally in Thailand. Migrants who have missed all of the registrations offered by Thailand must also live a clandestine life. Migrants who have registered and re-registered since 2004 have the option of re-registering but this time with the proviso that their details will be sent to Burmese authorities to have their nationality verified. Those who pass this scrutiny will then be issued a temporary passport to allow them to enter Thailand legally for work. Ironically, the illegal workers may be the most permanent of all the workers. They certainly are the largest in number, currently estimated at around 1.5 million. The 600,000 registered migrants have permission to stay year by year, with a threat of deportation at the end of each 12-month cycle. Next year, all the various registration processes expire on the same date, February 28, 2010, with the threat of mass expulsion. The temporary passports being issued to migrants, who have had their nationality confirmed, are part of a process started by the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Thailand and Burma in 2003. To date, only around 2,000 Burmese migrants have been issued with passports. As the name implies, these passports are only valid for three years. Migrants with these passports can then apply for a work permit, which may be extended for a further two years. After four years of working in Thailand, the migrant will not be allowed back for three years. Many of the ethnic nationalities of Burma fear repercussions for their families if they enter the verification process and so are opting out of the whole registration process. Having read the policy and heard the threats, they are preparing to go home. They are working hard, saving money and asking around about jobs in other countries. They will require some assistance from Thai authorities to safely return to the border and bid farewell to their lives in Thailand. Others who are rejecting the verification and passport process are making preparations of a different kind. They are preparing to return to the illegal status and continue working. Many already have the experience of being considered illegal and their experience is often that legal status does not make a great deal of difference. Registering for a migrant worker's card has never guaranteed a minimum wage or proper health and safety standards or even days off. So, they will save the money they would normally have paid for registration, and instead give it under the table when demanded from the local police or immigration. They are also preparing to ward off brokers and traffickers, and to run when needed. And then there are some migrants who vacillate between getting verified or not. The right to have a nationality, passport, be legal for four years, be able to travel by local transport or drive are tempting. But the concerns about taxation, repercussions on family members, increased costs and the experience that the Burmese military regime has no qualms on backtracking on policies and promises remain strong deterrents. Maybe if the incentives were greater, more migrants would enter the process. If having a passport and work permit guaranteed regular payment of minimum wage; if it was not left up to the discretion of the employer to register workers in the social security system to ensure that workers got free healthcare and welfare benefits and rights; if the work permit did not come with the three-year ban; maybe if migrants were not classed as second-class citizens only worthy of a temporary passport; maybe if migrants could travel on a normal passport and make their own decisions regarding which country offered better conditions, more migrants would be eager to join the process. Even the previous registrations of migrant workers in Thailand in their own way provided more security and stability than the four years of the passport. Though only annual policies, they have been renewed again and again over the last 17 years. Even the current policy acknowledges the length of time migrants stay. All those migrants registering today have been in Thailand for five years. With the passport system, they would be long gone, having passed their expiry date of four years. With the ban on returning for the following three years, they will surely be off to the Middle East or elsewhere, certainly not waiting around to return to Thailand. Registration, temporary work permits, illegal status - the choices are limited. And the choices all ignore the migrants and their families, their lives, their talents, their interests and their dreams. The choices all focus only on the productivity of the migrants, on the profits for the employers and the country's economy. Woven through every policy is the discourse of illegality and impermanence. It is time that migrants were afforded identity, rights and protection as people as well as workers. A migrant's right to healthcare or to housing should not be dependent on an employer. Migrants need legal status as a people first and then as workers. "Booths on the border" is one possible solution. A migrant crosses into Thailand and immediately gets a card with a photograph, which is then entered into a computerised system. Thailand has the technology. The long porous border, supposedly impossible to man, seems a bit of a myth when one sits and watches the rubber rings floating across at Myawaddy to Mae Sot. If the border is so long and porous, why cross right in front of the immigration authorities? Land-mined and militarised might better describe the Thai-Burma border. Immediate documentation of migrants on arrival would put traffickers out of business, and brokers could only facilitate not manipulate the labour market. Migrants could travel freely to their places of work and then register with local authorities once they have found work. More migrants might come, but more migrants might also return. Research has shown that the greater the restrictions placed on migration, the longer migrants stay put. Ease the restrictions and migrants can move with the economy, the labour flows and the normal patterns of ones life. The restrictions mean that migrants risk everything to move and so will not take that risk a second time, they will stay in the country of destination despite economic downfalls or bad conditions because the risk of getting home and not being able to return is too great. If limiting the number of migrants arriving is a concern, then Thailand together with Asean countries need to address the situation in Burma. Migrants from Burma are simply looking for a chance to have a stable, secure livelihood and outlive the military regime. Asean needs to speed up the demise of the military dictatorship in Burma and give migrants the choice of living in their own country or migrating for work. There is an urgent need for review of the policies towards migrants and towards Burma. Mass expulsion and mass unemployment of migrants without temporary passports in February 2010 is a repugnant solution; collective expulsions are inherently arbitrary and thus prohibited under international human-rights law. They invariably result in accidents, abuse and the separation of families. Migrants have voiced concerns over the temporary passports, and these concerns need to be taken into consideration for future policies. The temporary passport may be one option but it is not the choice for most migrants, and would take years to implement even with full cooperation from the migrants, employers and Burmese authorities. Migrants are asking for policies which protect their rights and dignity as people, which enforce labour standards equal to their Thai counterparts, and which do not force them to live in states of insecurity, instability and dishonesty. ____________________________________ November 20, Voice of America Obama presses Burma for reforms ? Editorial President Barack Obama has become personally involved with the United States' effort to engage with the government of Burma, making a direct appeal for the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. At a Leaders meeting in Singapore, Mr. Obama reaffirmed America?s willingness to improve relations if Burma pursued democratic reforms and freed Aung San Suu Kyi and more than 2,000 other political prisoners. Existing U.S. economic sanctions on Burma will remain in place until there are concrete steps toward democratic reform, he said. South East Asian leaders joined in the President?s call for reform and said that next year?s scheduled elections in Burma must be conducted in a free, fair, inclusive and transparent manner in order to be credible to the international community. Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein also attended the meeting. Burma's military has controlled the country since 1962 and presides over one of the least developed economies in Asia. Tensions also run high between the government and the nation's many ethnic minorities. If Burma's internal problems are left unaddressed they will continue to threaten the stability of the region and erode the poor quality of life for most Burmese. Since Mr. Obama took office and the U.S. completed a review of its Burma policy, American and Burmese officials have engaged in serious discussions. The President?s comments demonstrate his interest and commitment to promoting democracy in Burma. The U.S. hopes that Burma?s military leaders will seize the opportunity to improve its relations with the international community with broad political and economic reforms. The world is eager for Burma's response. ____________________________________ November 20, Sydney Morning Herald Burma engagement offers false hope ? Graham Reilly A renewed US push seems destined to fail as the junta pursues self-interest. ONE of the few predictable aspects of Burmese politics is how the ruling military regime responds to outside attempts to influence the direction of the country's internal affairs. A good example is how it reacted to the calamitous circumstances of last year's cyclone Nargis. If there was ever a time that the generals could have relaxed their xenophobic view of the world and welcomed Western help, this should have been it. But despite the fact that Nargis devastated much of the southern part of the country, ultimately killing 140,000 people and affecting 2.4 million, the obsessively inward-looking regime refused to accept aid for three critical weeks. The callous response illustrated how suspicious the regime is of the outside world and how little it cares about criticism from it. The generals listen only to themselves (and the odd astrologer). This is a regime that is seemingly immune to pressure to change its ways and introduce political freedoms or human rights in a country that has been criminally lacking in both since 1962. The regime's primary concern is the perpetuation of its own power and wealth at the expense of ordinary Burmese. It does not accept that it should be accountable to its own people and as such has no imperative to act in their best interests. Eight days after the cyclone hit, the regime went ahead with a referendum on a new constitution, part of its much-criticised ''road map to democracy'', and announced that an unbelievable 92 per cent voted in favour. This is the context in which any renewed attempts at dialogue must be seen. Another attempt is under way to engage with the regime and nudge it along the road of democracy. It is being led by the United States, which has acknowledged that its policy of isolating Burma through sanctions alone has failed. The US is now pursuing what it calls ''pragmatic engagement'' while keeping sanctions in place. It hopes that dangling the possibility of easing economic sanctions will be incentive enough for the regime to free political prisoners (most notably democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi) and ensure next year's elections are free and fair. The regime is known to be desperate to have sanctions lifted. Earlier this month, the US Secretary of State for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, and his deputy, Scot Marciel, met Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein in Rangoon. They also met Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest for the day. Significantly, they did not meet with the senior general Than Shwe, who more or less makes all the important decisions. Campbell and Marciel are the two most-senior US officials to visit Burma since Madeleine Albright in 1995. Her visit came five years after the regime refused to hand over power to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy after it won a landslide election victory. Not long after the visit by Campbell and Marciel, Thein Sein announced that Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years, could soon be released to ''contribute to the process of national reconciliation''. What that might be remains to be seen, given that the constitution bars her from elected office. That aside, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, perhaps sensing change, then called on the regime to release Suu Kyi. Singapore is also understood to have suspended investment in Burma until after the election, in the hope that this will encourage a more democratic voting process. It has also been revealed that before the US envoys' visit, Suu Kyi wrote to Than Shwe suggesting direct talks, a move that some regional observers have welcomed as an important development. Suu Kyi, who had her house arrest extended by another 18 months in August, is understood to have last met Than Shwe in 2003. Some international observers are hoping the changed approach from the US could get results. Are there, at last, grounds to be optimistic about the future of Burma? The problem is that engagement with Burma has been tried many times before, and always without success. Nor is it the first time the regime has promised to free Suu Kyi, or that Suu Kyi has expressed her willingness to meet the generals. The patterns are all too familiar, the accommodating noises from the generals eerily similar to those uttered before. The US sees the election as the opportune time to begin a process of democratic change. But, for the generals, the election is the culmination of nearly 50 years of running the country. They have no interest negotiating their own demise. The generals want to tighten their grip on the country and they have moulded the constitution so that they can do just that. They have nobbled the media and they will not be in a hurry to free Suu Kyi so that she can arouse mass enthusiasm for another political party. And any younger army officers harbouring ideas of a more pluralistic society have been kept sweet with more privileges. The election will be a confirmation, if not a tribute, to the generals' own success. Burma might be going backwards when it comes to human rights, health and education, but for the military regime it's business as usual. Graham Reilly is a senior writer. ____________________________________ November 20, Kantarawaddy Times Burma's election: Road map to more military rule The final piece in the Burmese military regimes, 'Road Map to Democracy', is the national elections planned for 2010. As part of their 'Road Map', in May 2008, the regime held a national referendum to vote on a draft constitution. FREE and FAIR ELECTIONS?- Khun Myint Tun Labor Minister, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma and former political prisoner, served a seven year and three month jail term in solitary confinement for possession of a political booklet. (Photo: Phil Thornton)Many international observers, including the New York based Human Rights Watch, said the process was a sham. Human Rights Watch said the referendum " lack freedom of access to information, freedom of speech and expression, a free media, and freedom of association and assembly." As the 2010 election fast approaches it seems nothing has changed for the Burmese people. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the regime is still jailing people for their political activities. AAPP's website says there are a total of 2,168 political prisoners in Burma. "This is an overall increase of 49 in comparison to last month's figure of 2,119. In October, 41 political prisoners were arrested, and 3 were released." One man who knows Burma's political situation well is Khun Myint Tun. He was part of the ethnic delegation at the drafting of the national constitution, but after having his mail opened, being followed and threatened, he walked out. He was later jailed for seven years and three months for having in his possession a booklet on non-violent protest. He was also elected in 1990 in Burma's last national elections, Khun Myint Tun says. "This constitution is permanent. The military automatically get 25 percent of the seats. After the election, the new government must obey the constitution and will maintain military power. The country will never become a democracy or a federal state." AAPP says since the Saffron Revolution in 2007 Burma's military regime has been busy locking up its political opponents. " a total of 1,156 activists have been arrested [since 2007] and are still in detention," according to AAPP. Human Rights Watch said in its report on political prisoners that Burma's planned elections in 2010 would not be credible unless the regime released all Burmese prisoners. Human Rights Watch, Washington advocacy director Tom Malinowski said. "Burma's generals are planning elections next year that will be a sham if their opponents are in prison." At a village level people do not feel the elections will be fair. FREE and FAIR ELECTIONS?- Su Su Nway, labor activist was arrested on 13 November 2007 for putting up an anti-government banner near a hotel where UN Human Rights Envoy Paulo Pinheiro was staying at the time. She was sentenced to 12 years and six months, reduced to eight years and six months. (Photo: AAPP)HRW said in its report that the regime has effectively blocked discussion or debate of the national constitution by jailing its critics. This has ensured many Burmese people are not aware of the clauses that bar anyone married to a foreigner, such as Aung San Suu Kyi, from running for office and that 25 percent of seats are automatically awarded to the military. A resident from Loikaw City in Karenni State spoke to The Kantarawaddy Times. "I had never heard of this kind of constitution that the military gets this much percent of seats in the parliament? The constitution was drafted for the military regime to continue to keep their power. Although the coming election will finish successfully, any kind of human rights situation will not be better for our citizens." A young NLD member quoted in HRW 2008 report 'Vote to Nowhere' said he 'fled to the Thailand-Burma border in March 2008 after officers from the Special Branch came looking for him and his pamphlets critical of the referendum at his parents' Rangoon home'.The young NLD member said in the same report. "My father said, "Don't come home, the Special Branch is looking for you." I went into hiding. My pamphlets were about the referendum. If I got caught with the pamphlets I would get three years for criticizing the referendum or 20 years under the constitution law (5/96). I cannot go back. I worry about my friends, they have to live underground." As the 2010 election approaches nothing has changed in Burma. People are still be jailed for their political views and debate about the election has been stifled. Not only the Burmese opposition fears the election will not be free. In its editorial on 18 November The Bangkok Post used US President Barack Obama words to remind the Burmese regime if its election is serious they must release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi The Bangkok Post said. "Mrs Suu Kyi has become the symbol of the suffering and brutality caused by the military dictators since 1962. But thousands of Burmese are imprisoned today for nothing more dangerous than peaceful opposition to the army junta and its government. So long as one of them remains locked up, the planned election cannot be free."