BurmaNet News, December 4, 2009

[Editor]

December 4, 2009 Issue #3853


INSIDE BURMA
New York Times: Myanmar high court to hear dissident’s appeal
Irrawaddy: Than Shwe confounds his peers

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Indian rebels admit to Burmese hideouts

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Saudi Arabia to provide interest-free loan to Myanmar

REGIONAL
Central News Agency (Taiwan): Taiwan officials fly to Myanmar to help
detained seamen

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: EU to begin political dialogue with Myanmar: ambassador

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Goodbye, Gambari, and good luck – Editorial
Toronto Star: Light sheds on Burma – Ben Stubbs

PRESS RELEASE
PRNewswire: Chrysler brand joins effort to free 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate
in new TV film



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 4, New York Times
Myanmar high court to hear dissident’s appeal – Thomas Fuller

Bangkok — The highest court in Myanmar has agreed to consider an appeal by
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the country’s battered democracy
movement, over an 18-month extension of her longstanding house arrest, her
lawyer said Friday.

The decision by the Supreme Court is a reversal from a lower court’s
rejection in October and comes amid tentative signs of a thawing of
relations between the country’s military government and Western countries.

Lawyers will make an initial application on Dec. 21, and a judge will
decide whether to grant a full hearing in front of the Supreme Court. A
successful appeal raises the prospect that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi might be
able to play a role in elections that the military government has pledged
to hold sometime next year.

In a telephone interview, the lawyer, U Kyi Win, said the Dec. 21 hearing
was largely procedural. “It’s a very routine matter,” he said.

“It’s neither positive nor negative.”

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been confined to her home for 14 of the
past 20 years, was sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest in
August for allowing a foreigner into her home. Mr. Kyi Win said he would
argue that the laws used to convict his client, a Nobel Peace laureate,
were from the 1974 Constitution, which he claims is no longer in force, as
the country is under military rule.

If the judge refuses to allow a full hearing, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi can
take the final step of requesting a “special leave to appeal,” which is
usually heard by the chief justice, Mr. Kyi Win said.

Despite her confinement, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has in recent months been
able to meet with several visiting dignitaries, including a high-level
delegation of United States diplomats.

After years of supporting economic sanctions, she has softened her tone
toward the military government and last month sent a letter to Senior Gen.
Than Shwe, the leader of the junta, requesting permission to meet with
him.

Under the terms of the constitution due to take effect next year, Mrs.
Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be barred from holding office because her
husband, who died in 1999, was a foreigner.

But her role as a possible campaigner could change the dynamics of the
election, which, if held, would be the first since 1990, when Mrs. Aung
San Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory that was ignored by the
generals.

____________________________________

December 4, Irrawaddy
Than Shwe confounds his peers – Wai Moe

Burma's military despot Snr-Gen Than Shwe surprised and confused his
fellow generals at a four-monthly military commanders' meeting in
Naypyidaw by ignoring pressing political issues and instead devoting his
speech to the development of the country's economy in the post-election
era, according to military sources in the capital.

Than Shwe reportedly told his fellow generals at the meeting on Nov. 23-28
that Burma is ready for a new government in line with his vision of a
“disciplined democracy,” and addressed numerous economic developments and
projects for the future.

A source who provided The Irrawaddy with a document on Friday analyzing
the proceedings at the closed-door meeting said regional commanders and
top-ranking generals were caught off-guard by the dictator's lofty
aspirations and apparent far-sightedness, because he normally dwells on
petty internal matters, and methods of quelling political dissent and
securing power.

Than Shwe instead spoke of establishing solid business foundations in the
country in the post-election period, of developing Burma's human resources
and of the state's responsibility to promote a solid middle-class in the
country.

During the meeting, sources say Than Shwe spoke confidently about the
development of the national economy and effused about the prospects of
billions of dollars in investment from China, referring to the
Sino-Burmese oil-gas pipeline projects and the development of the Kyaukpyu
deep sea port off the Arakan coast and related railway systems.

At the meeting, he apparently advocated expanding industry, especially
factories related to oil and gas exploration and production. He also
alluded to the Dawei deep sea port project in southern Burma, spoke of
expanding the shipping industry and services sector, and predicted the
Burmese economy would soon be “booming,” the source said.

The military dictator reportedly went on to pledge that Burma will
furthermore be immune from electricity shortages because the country's
hydroelectric projects would soon produce some 16,000 MW of power per
year.

According to the military sources, the fact that Than Shwe did not address
the upcoming election and pending political concerns, such as Aung San Suu
Kyi's request for a meeting, suggests he is confident that his current
strategy is working and that events are playing out in his favor.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 4, Democratic Voice of Burma
Indian rebels admit to Burmese hideouts – Joseph Allchin

Members of the banned Indian separatist group, the United Liberation Front
of Assam, have alleged that they hold strategic bases across the border in
Burmese territory.

The admission came when two United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) rebels
were captured in North East India. According to the Indian newspaper, The
Telegraph, they said that more than one hundred militants were living in
camps inside Burma.

A journalist in the region, Nava Thakuria, told DVB that the UFLA’s 28th
Battalion had been “taking shelter in northern Burma
for many years”.

“I know many former ULFA boys in Guwahati [capital of Assam] who were
there in Burma for training and other activities,” he said.

While it is not alleged that the Burma’s ruling State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) is supporting the UFLA, concern surrounds
inaction after India had offered considerable aid and combined training
operations in the region.

Concern over the border was also heightened after a recent UN Office of
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report suggested that Burmese drugs and
traffickers were finding their way to fresh roots on Burma’s western
border.

This would spell worry for Delhi given the grave repercussions that
Burma’s burgeoning narcotics industry has had on Thailand.

“Why the SPDC is not taking harsh action against the ULFA rebels is
understandable as they do not have the capacity and power to do so,” said
Thakuria. “Moreover, they are playing with the government of India for
legitimate support in the time of crisis.”
Meanwhile, both Bangladesh and Bhutan, which share borders with North East
India, have made considerable efforts to combat the ULFA, a group that has
been behind bombings and other outbreaks of violence in recent years.

This stark contrast to Burma’s inaction has been alleged by observers to
reflect India’s diminishing strategic importance to Burma in the face of
growing preference for Chinese support.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 4, Xinhua
Saudi Arabia to provide interest-free loan to Myanmar

Yangon -- The Saudi Development Fund (SDF) will provide an interest-free
loan of 8 million U.S. dollars to Myanmar to help develop Myanmar's
irrigation sector, the local weekly Yangon Times reported Friday.

The loan, which is the first extended by Saudi Arabia to Myanmar, will be
used in a dam construction project of Ka Nya in Ingapul township,
Ayeyawaddy division scheduled to start early next year.

On completion of the dam project, over 10,000 hectares of farmland will be
irrigated, the report said.

Myanmar and Saudi Arabia have no official business links despite forging
of diplomatic ties more than four years ago. However, Myanmar exports
seafood, gems, wood and agricultural products to Saudi Arabia, while the
latter could potentially export to Myanmar goods such as pharmaceuticals,
canned juice, urea and petroleum products, earlier report said.

In May last year, Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Thu visited Saudi
Arabia and had discussions with his Saudi counterpart on the two
countries' trade and Myanmar workers' job opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia established diplomatic relations with Myanmar in August 2004
and opened its embassy in Yangon in December 2005.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

December 4, Central News Agency (Taiwan)
Taiwan officials fly to Myanmar to help detained seamen – Lin Ching-ping
and Y.F. Low


Bangkok – Two Taiwan officials posted in Thailand flew to Myanmar Friday
to visit four Taiwanese nationals working on fishing vessels seized by
Myamar authorities more than two weeks ago.

The officials will try to determine what legal violations were committed
by the men and provide them with the necessary assistance, according to
the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Thailand.

The crew members were working on four fishing boats that were seized by
Myanmar authorities Nov. 18, probably because they intruded into that
country's exclusive economic zone.

As soon as it was informed of the situation, Taiwan decided to send
officials to Myanmar to help deal with the incident. The trip only became
possible, however, after Myanmar authorities finally issued visas to the
officials Thursday.

Before that, the TECO in Thailand had asked Taiwanese businessmen in
Myanmar to help deliver daily necessities to the detained crew members.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 4, Agence France Presse
EU to begin political dialogue with Myanmar: ambassador

Yangon – The European Union will begin "sustained political dialogue" with
Myanmar following the thawing of relations between the junta-led nation
and the US, the regional bloc's ambassador said Thursday.

Ambassador David Lipman spoke to reporters in Myanmar's main city Yangon
after meeting with the country's leader Senior General Than Shwe to obtain
diplomatic credentials in the remote capital Naypyidaw a day earlier.

"We had a good discussion about future relations between the European
Union and Myanmar and we are looking forward," Lipman said of the
30-minute meeting.

"I think the government would like to engage with the European Union. They
are already engaging with the United States," he said.

Last month US President Barack Obama signalled a new approach with Myanmar
when he met Prime Minister Thein Sein along with other leaders of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore.

The US and EU have sanctions against Myanmar because of its human rights
record and detention of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Lipman said future engagement would follow three tracks -- general
humanitarian assistance, the giving of financial aid through
non-government organisations, and now political discussion.

"At the moment, we are working on the third track which is for political
dialogue. The third track is now very much in the process of moving
forwards," he said.

Lipman said EU officials hope to begin talks with Myanmar's foreign
minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of a climate change conference that
begins on Monday in Copenhagen.

Myanmar officials said they could not immediately confirm Nyan Win's
attendance.

"We hope to begin our dialogue by meeting with the foreign minister at the
climate change conference. So that will be the next step where we will
start a sustained political dialogue with the government," said Lipman.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.

The 64-year-old pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 20
years under house arrest. Her National League for Democracy party won
elections in 1990 but the junta never allowed them to take office.

Myanmar's leaders have promised to hold polls next year as part of their
seven-step "Road to Democracy".

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 4, Irrawaddy
Goodbye, Gambari, and good luck – Editorial

It's official: Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy to Burma, is leaving
the job that he has held since May 2007. According to recent reports, the
former Nigerian foreign minister, who has occupied various high-level
positions at the world body since serving as his country's permanent
representative there in the 1990s, is slated to become the head of the
UN-African Union peacekeeping force in the conflict-hit Darfur region of
Sudan on Jan. 1, 2010.

What will this mean for the people of Burma, who have lived through some
of the most tumultuous events of their recent history during Gambari's
tenure? Alas, precious little. Gambari—who liked to tell critics who
faulted him for a lack of results that his mission was “a process, not an
event”—often seemed a hapless bystander whenever anything actually
happened in Burma. When the world expressed outraged at the Burmese
junta's brutal crackdown on monk-led demonstrations in 2007, and again
when it was appalled by the generals' callous response to Cyclone Nargis
in 2008, Gambari proved wholly unequal to the task of channeling any of
this energy to push for genuine political change.

Last May, when Burma experienced the worst natural disaster in its
recorded history, Gambari was forced to step aside and let his boss, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, do the job of pressuring the regime to open
the country's doors to international aid. Then, when he finally visited
Burma a few months later, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's frustration
with his perfunctory “process” came to a head and she refused to meet with
him. This was an unprecedented and highly uncharacteristic rebuff from a
person who has become virtually the embodiment of the UN's professed
values, and probably a sign that Gambari should have been relieved of his
duties more than a year ago.

It was at this low point in his role as special envoy, in August 2008,
that Burma Campaign UK noted that from the time Gambari assumed his
position,

• The number of political prisoners almost doubled from 1,100 to 2,056.
• More than 130,000 people in eastern Burma had been forced from their
homes as part of the regime’s ethnic cleansing campaign.
• The peaceful pro-democracy protests of September were brutally
suppressed, with protesters fired on and thousands of monks arrested.
• Humanitarian aid was blocked following Cyclone Nargis.
• Political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, had been routinely denied access
to doctors and medical treatment.

Now, nearly a year and a half later, the situation is hardly any better.
Indeed, if anything, the regime has become even more repressive and
disdainful of the international community's concerns, as evidenced by its
farcical trial of Suu Kyi earlier this year and its continuing roundup of
dissidents ahead of next year's election.

It would, of course, be grossly unfair to lay responsibility for all of
this entirely at Gambari's feet. But the obvious shortcomings of his
approach should serve as a warning to his successor, who will need to
actually achieve something if the UN's efforts to end oppression in Burma
are not to lose what little credibility they have left.

The most important lesson to be learned from Gambari's failure is that it
doesn't pay to play it safe.

In November 2007, the UN envoy earned some rare praise when he released a
statement from Suu Kyi that she had given him during their meeting earlier
in the month. Coming soon after Burma's worst political crisis in nearly
two decades, the statement was carefully worded to avoid offending the
Burmese generals. Nevertheless, the regime latched onto Gambari's supposed
breach of diplomatic protocol to accuse the UN of taking sides. When he
returned to Burma the following March, he was roundly scolded by the
regime's propaganda minister and denied an opportunity to meet with junta
chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Sadly, this experience appears to have stayed with Gambari, weakening his
resolve to broach sensitive issues with the regime. By allowing himself to
be cowed, he lost the confidence of the Burmese people, who began to feel
that he was merely going through the motions. If, however, he had been
prepared to take more flak for the sake of fulfilling his stated mission,
he would at least have given them some hope that the UN was taking the
country's problems seriously, and might even have stood a chance of making
some headway with the generals.

Now that he is leaving Burma, we can only wish him the best of luck with
his new posting. The people of Darfur, like the people of Burma, certainly
need all the support the international community can give them. But if all
he is doing is adding another high-profile assignment to his already
impressive resume, perhaps he should consider leaving the job to someone
who has the passion to do it properly.
____________________________________

December 4, Toronto Star
Light sheds on Burma – Ben Stubbs

Kalaw, Burma –The power shuts down in Kalaw at 8 p.m. every evening. The
locals rely on cooking fires or Chinese generators to reveal the muddy
potholes and dead ends around town. The streets around the pine-studded
hills of northern Burma are cloaked in utter darkness as I head toward the
empty market. The darkness in Burma doesn't scare me though; it's the
dogs.

I round a corner as the first one appears. Black and shaggy, it approaches
slowly from the left. Another two dirty-white mountain dogs surround me
from the right, barking at my intrusion into their territory. I skip into
a half run, looking for sanctuary somewhere in this dead town.

The black dog opens its mouth in a snarl and saliva bubbles through the
gaps in its fangs. All I can think of is rabies; and the injections I
decided I didn't need before I arrived.

I'm running now, heading toward the burrrr of a generator that has kicked
in down the road. The mangy dog to my left lunges. The generator pumps and
a light bursts to life ahead. I sprint for the beacon.

The light is from a hotel. The owner welcomes me in and I greet him with
shaking hands.

"What happened to the power?" I ask.

"Government switch it off at 8 p.m. You shouldn't be outside in the dark,
it can be dangerous!"

You don't say.

"Why are you here?" he inquires.

"Trekking to Inle Lake," I reply as we close the door to the hotel and
light candles for the evening.

It takes three sweaty days to walk from the hill station of Kalaw to Inle
Lake, a 22-kilometre-long cobalt blue lake ringed by the surrounding
Burmese peaks. My dog encounter makes me want to get out of Kalaw as soon
as possible. With two Slovenian travellers I met in town, I enlist the
help of a Burmese guide to help navigate the hills to Inle Lake.

We set off in the early morning mist. There isn't a sound except for the
gusts of wind that flirt with the dust in front of us. There is something
strange about the absence of noise as we wander along, no bird calls echo
through the trees; no farmers yell at their disobedient yaks, not even my
guide makes a sound as we push through the thick green curtains of forest.

Kyin, the guide, holds his hand up as he peers through the corridor of
foliage. Military still prowl around the hills here, so it is with caution
that we head into the unknown.

Burma is a peculiar smudge on the otherwise accessible and touristy
countryside of Southeast Asia. The ruling military junta shrouds the
estimated 60 million inhabitants in a fog of oppression. Much of this goes
unspoken to the ears of the western world and as a result tourism is still
a much-debated issue.

As we forge deeper into the forest Kyin gradually becomes more animated.
He tells me he was a university student in 1988 when the ruling military
junta of Burma refused to hand power over to Nobel Prize winner Aung San
Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy after their election
victory. As a result of the protests every university in the country was
abandoned for four years and the NLD was decimated. Kyin was forced to
desert his studies and become a guide in the Burmese hills to support his
family.

He leads us along the goat tracks that fan out through the dust; a
100-year-old banyan tree dwarfs us as we approach a small Pa-O tribal
village populated by toothless farmers and kids humpbacked with piles of
firewood. He points out a tube pump that is cemented along the side of the
track giving clean water to the villagers, "The Japanese donated the pump
as part of their humanitarian efforts."

It is new and functioning, providing fresh water for the people; a
contrast to the tattered fences and dirt tracks around the town.
Unfortunately we are told that many investors have abandoned Burma,
leaving people stranded in a perpetual cycle of poverty.

The village is a dramatic change from the "authentic" tribes of other
Asian countries that accept MasterCard and have convenient gift shops and
Coca-Cola for sale. Seeing families drying chili crops on their front
porches, wild-looking farmers riding their buffalo through the terracotta
dust and little kids playing soccer is a refreshing sight, and I feel
privileged to witness this untainted slice of Burma.

The people are welcoming. The next day, we tramp through swirls of dust
and thorny terrain, 50 kilometres east of Kalaw. We follow Kyin past
deserted farm shacks and immense fields of bamboo and yellow mustard seed.
As we pause to puff on a cheroot, I hear a sound ahead in the scrub. There
is rustling from behind a stand of bamboo. I stop and look urgently at
Kyin. He holds my terrified gaze for a moment before breaking into a
cheeky grin.

The group of chirpy teenage monks he was expecting appear from behind the
bamboo and guide us up the hill to our accommodation. The majestic Shwe
Inn Thein Buddhist monastery sits in a clearing before us. Smoke escapes
from the rusted rooftop and monks flitter about completing errands.
Buddhism is the predominant religion in Burma, housing more than 500,000
monks and 50,000 temples. Reflecting their selfless nature we are welcomed
with sincerity and the young monks clear their bedrolls away to give us a
space on the floor of the monastery for the evening.

The monks rise at 5 a.m. the next morning and wake us early. They offer
their morning prayers in a cloud of incense as we get our first view of
Inle Lake flattened out in front of us.

Tracking down through the hills we pass farmers going the other way
hauling loads on their shoulders that seem more suited for one-tonne
trucks. The breeze blows off the water as we descend to the congregation
of shantytowns around the water's edge. Inle Lake looks as though it is a
bathtub with the plug partially taken out. There are 17 villages on stilts
around the lakeshore and the inhabitants have to jump in canoes to borrow
a cup of sugar because there are no connecting roads.

We scramble over the ruins of the Phaung Daw Oo Paya temples on our way to
the lakeshore. The temples are sprawled like an ancient game of dominoes
along the top of the hill. More than 1,000 crumpling Buddhist stupas line
the banks of the lake, where fishermen stand on their flat-bottomed boats,
passenger ferries plough through the weeds and ladies who sell foot-long
carp bustle across the mottled surface.

We are greeted by groups of women balancing washing on their heads as they
waddle down to the water to gossip.

Kyin helps us with our bags as we head to the shore and the waiting boat.
I notice a few skinny dogs hanging around the fish scraps that scoot off
as we near. We have been guided by the sun for the last few days and I
check my watch for the first time since Kalaw.

It's nearly 7 p.m., so I eagerly board the long boat and wave goodbye to
Kyin, wanting to be safely indoors before they turn the lights out for the
night.

Ben Stubbs is a Buenos Aires-based freelance writer.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

December 4, PRNewswire
Chrysler brand joins effort to free 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate in new TV film

Auburn Hills, Michigan – In an innovative new TV film breaking today, the
Chrysler brand has joined with Lancia Automobiles and the international
community in the movement to call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi,
Burma's pro-democracy leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who has
been in and out of house arrest since 1989.

The 30-second film was initially created as part of the Lancia brand's
sponsorship of the 10th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin
Nov. 10-11, 2009, for which the theme was "Knocking down new walls and
building bridges for a world without violence." The timing of the summit
also coincided with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The film first aired in Europe on Nov. 12.

The Nobel Peace organization has led the international effort to raise the
awareness of Aung San Suu Kyi's plight and energize the movement for her
release. Through the film, featuring the Chrysler 300, the Chrysler brand
is demonstrating its commitment to supporting social issues and defending
human rights around the world.

"We produced the TV film in honor of all those who put their lives at
stake in the hopes of making the world a better place," said Oliver
Francois, President and CEO - Chrysler Brand, Chrysler Group LLC, who is
also the Managing Director of Lancia Automobiles. "In particular, those
men and women who are still prisoners, like Aung San Suu Kyi. For
Chrysler, this is a chance to use our brand image to join with others in
the fight for peace and to knock down the walls that divide us. We at
Chrysler believe in doing the right thing and making a difference."

The film opens at the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of the reunification of
the two sides of Berlin, and continues with images of the Berlin Wall,
those sections that still exist, as a Chrysler 300 drives by on its way to
the front of the city's Town Hall, host of the summit.

The voiceover, which continues throughout the film, says:

"It is possible to build walls that separate city from city, nation from
nation, people from people.

But it is impossible to build a wall that separates man from his freedom...

Because freedom always finds a way to create peace.

This film is dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi.

Still a prisoner behind a wall of silence."

As the 300 arrives at its destination, men and women, who are the symbols
of peace and the struggle against all forms of oppression and violence,
get out of the cars. Those featured include Mikhail Gorbachev, Executive
President, Soviet Union, 1989-1991; Lech Walesa, President, Poland,
1990-1995; and Muhammed Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh
in 1983, who believes that credit is a fundamental human right.

As the music reaches its emotional crescendo, viewers see that one of the
Chrysler 300s is different from the others - it is white. The vehicle
comes to the Berlin Wall, a symbol to people around the world of liberty
denied, then smashes through it, transforming the explosion into a flight
of white doves, a universal symbol of peace.

The Chrysler 300 goes up the steps to the Town Hall, but as the car's rear
door opens, the seat is empty. Someone is missing. It is Aung San Suu Kyi,
who is still a prisoner in her own country.

The Chrysler film will initially break on the brand's Web site
(www.chrysler.com) on Dec. 3 and will then air throughout the day on FOX
News's "O'Reilly Report," "Hannity's America," and "On the Record with
Greta," and on Bloomberg's "Market Today."

In addition, visitors to the Chrysler brand site will have the opportunity
to join the movement to send a message of freedom and solidarity by
linking to YourFaceForFreedom.com. Visitors will be able to replace their
Facebook profile photo with that of Aung San Suu Kyi, which will be
available for download from the site. Then on Dec. 10 when the Nobel Peace
prize is awarded to Barack Obama, the Facebook media platform will
showcase the faces of those calling for the immediate release of the
Burmese leader.