BurmaNet News, June 24, 2010

[Editor]

June 24, 2010 Issue #3989


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: More North Korean rockets reported in Burma
Mizzima News: Starting trade union unlawful, police say
DVB: PM’s party enticing Muslims

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: No new deadline for BGF by junta

BUSINESS / TRADE
DVB: China weapons giant to mine Burma

DRUGS
AFP: Myanmar sees 'dramatic' surge in drug seizures: UN

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: Aide to US Senator John Kerry meets NLD leaders

OPINION / OTHER
Asian Tribune: Burma’s undemocratic polls will bring shame on ASEAN – Zin
Linn
New Statesman (UK): Burma: a brief history – Caroline Crampton




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 24, Irrawaddy
More North Korean rockets reported in Burma – Min Lwin and Wai Moe

North Korean-made truck-mounted multiple launch rocket systems have been
reportedly set up at Burmese army bases in northern, eastern and central
Burma, according to military sources.

The North Korean rockets were recently delivered to missile operation
commands in Mohnyin in Kachin State, Naungcho and Kengtung in Shan State
and Kyaukpadaung in Mandalay Division, sources said. Missile operation
commands were reportedly formed in 2009.

It is not clear when the multiple launch rocket systems were shipped from
North Korea. However, military sources said delivery of rocket launchers
mounted on trucks occurred several times in recent years.

The North Korean troop with M1985 multiple launch rocket system. (Source:
www.military-today.com)
Sources said they witnessed at least 14 units of 240-mm truck-mounted
multiple launch rocket systems arrive at Thilawa Port near Rangoon on the
North Korean vessel, Kang Nam I, in early 2008. Previous reports said
Burma had purchased 30 units of 240-mm truck-mounted multiple launch
rocket systems from North Korean.

According to GlobalSecurity.org, North Korea produces two different 240mm
rocket launchers, the 12-round M-1985 and the 22-round M-1991. The M-1985
rocket pack is easily identified by two rows of six rocket tubes mounted
on a cab behind an engine chassis. The M-1991 is mounted on a cab over an
engine chassis. Both launch packs can be adapted to a suitable
cross-country truck.

The Kang Nam I was believed enroute to Burma again in June 2009. However,
it reversed course and returned home after a US Navy destroyer followed it
amid growing concern that it was carrying illegal arms shipments.
However, more arms shipments from North Korea appear to have been
delivered to Burma in 2009-2010. The latest report about a North Korean
vessel's arrival was in April. The ship, the Chong Gen, docked at Thilawar
port.

Last week, the junta acknowledged that the Chong Gen was at the port, but
it denied involvement in any arms trading with Pyongyang, saying Burma
follows UN Security Council resolution 1874 which bans arms trading with
North Korea. The junta said the North Korean vessel came to Burma with
shipments of cement and exported rice.

According to reports by Burma military experts Maung Aung Myoe and Andrew
Selth, purchasing multiple-launch rocket systems is a part of the junta’s
military modernization plan. While the junta has acquired 107-mm type 63
and 122-mm type 90 multiple-launch rocket from China, North Korea has
provided it with 240-mm truck-mounted launch rocket.

Some experts have said North Korea is also involved in a secret
relationship with Burma for the sale of short and medium-range ballistic
missiles and the development of underground facilities. Other experts and
Burmese defectors claim that North Korea is also providing Burma with
technology designed to create a nuclear program.

Burma severed its relationship with North Korea in 1983 following North
Korean agents’ assassination of members of a South Korean delegation led
by President Chun Doo Hwan. The two countries restored relations in early
1990s and officially re-establish diplomatic ties in April 2007.

____________________________________

June 24, Mizzima News
Starting trade union unlawful, police say – Myint Maung

New Delhi – Aspiring trade unionists had their request to form a national
industrial and farm workers union flatly rejected yesterday by police
carrying the response from junta leader Senior General Than Shwe,
according to the workers’ representatives.

Rangoon Division Western District Police Colonel Aung Daing met seven
workers’ representatives at his station and told them forming a trade
union would be “unlawful” and that police would take action if they went
ahead.

Twenty-two trade union activists including eminent labour rights lawyer
Pho Phyu had told the junta leader in a letter that they intended to form
a “Trade Union for the Protection of National Industrial Workers’ and
Farmers’ Interests” and asked for permission to do so.

“No right at all to form such union. It’s unlawful, they told us”, Pho
Phyu said.

According to Pho Phyu, they responded to authorities that to protect the
rights of workers and farmers that they would go ahead with their plan at
the risk of being arrested and imprisoned.

“The working people and Burmese citizens have suffered bitterly for many
years, even many decades. Now it’s time for a trade union for them”, he
said.

But this was not the first rejection or fierce reaction from authorities
Pho Phyu has experienced. He represented farmers whose lands were seized
by the army and then he himself was imprisoned last March. He was released
from prison just three months ago.
If they went ahead with their trade union, it would be considered
“unlawful association” and a violation of the law. Moreover publishing and
printing about this organisation will be in violation of the printers and
publishers act and will be subjected to stern action, Aung Daing told the
workers’ representatives.

In the early morning on the same day, Labour Department Director-General
Thet Naing Oo also met trade union leaders and told them to wait until the
new government takes office after the general election.

Though it was a private meeting, about 20 intelligence personnel watched
the unionists and took photographs and video recordings.

Tin Oo, vice-chairman of main opposition party, the National League for
Democracy , said the government should not  make such a prohibition.

Other trade union leaders who met with authorities are Par Lay and Win
Naing from Taungdwingyi, Kyi Lin from South Dagon Township, Ma Nwe Yee Win
from Tharyarwady, Khaing Thazin from Hlaingtharyar and Aye Chan Pye from
Shwepyithar.

Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) joint general-secretary Dr. Zaw
Win Aung said, “The regime should enact laws permitting freedom in forming
of trade unions and they should eliminate all hurdles and obstacles in
this regard”.

Out of the more than 2,100 political prisoners behind bars, 15 are trade
union activists, based in Thailand, the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP-B) joint general-Secretary Bo Kyi said.

The successive military regimes have banned and deprived of right to
freedom of association in Burma since 1962.

But at least 10 labour strikes since last December, staged by workers
demanding for better wages and working environment have taken place at
private industries since last December.

____________________________________

June 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
PM’s party enticing Muslims – Aye Nai

Burma’s minority Muslim population will be issued with identification
cards and allowed to freely travel the country if they make the right vote
in elections, the party headed by Burma’s prime minster has reportedly
said.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has been campaigning in
the country’s western Arakan state and appears to be targeting Muslims for
votes. One man in Sandwoy town said that local authorities were urging
them to join the party.

“It is likely that [the USDP] has no chance in recruiting Buddhist
residents after the [September 2007] monk-led protests so they are now
targeting Muslims, promising them ID cards and travel permission,” he told
DVB.

Muslims are widely persecuted by the Buddhist ruling junta in Burma; the
ethnic Rohingya minority in particular is denied any sort of legal status
and thousands have now fled to Bangladesh. The government claims that four
percent of Burmese are practising Muslims, but the US state department
claims the figure could be as high as 30 percent.

He said that Muslims tired of the restrictions placed on them by the
government “very much agreed to join the party”. A USDP leader and former
government transport minister, Thein Swe, arrived in Sandwoy earlier this
month and “summoned Muslim leaders [to talk about] the ID cards and the
travel permission”.

“He assured these things will be OK because [Burmese junta chief] Than
Shwe has also given his approval. He said a minister-level discussion was
underway and told [Muslims] to wait one or two months and the travel
issues will be OK.”

But a number of Buddhists in the town have reportedly spoken of their
disappointment at the number of Muslims joining the party, which is widely
tipped to win the elections later this year. The Sandwoy man said that the
issue could trigger tension between the two religious groups.

“Burma has a majority Buddhist populaton but even [Buddhists] are being
oppressed so it will be impossible for Muslims to get more privileges than
[Buddhists],” he said.

Earlier this week the USDP was asked by an election candidate to ensure it
had severed ties with the ruling junta prior to the polls. Phyo Min Thein,
head of the Union Democratic Party (UDP), said the lines between the USDP
and the government were blurred.

Other hopefuls for Burma’s first elections in two decades have complained
that preferential treatment given to the USDP has hindered the chances of
other parties running for office. The USDP’s social wing, the Union
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), allegedly began canvassing
voters some weeks ago, while reports of coercion of civilians by the USDA
have already surfaced.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 24, Shan Herald Agency for News
No new deadline for BGF by junta – Hseng Khio Fah

Latest reports say that the ruling Burmese military junta had told the
United Wa State Army (UWSA) during a meeting in Panghsang on 22 June, that
its Border Guard Force (BGF) programme will be discussed after the new
government is formed, according to sources close to the Wa leadership.

The two sides were reported to have met on 22 June, at the Wa capital
Panghsang. The junta side was led by Brig-Gen Win Thein, Deputy Commander
of Northeastern Region Command and Tangyan Area Commander Colonel Khaing
Zaw together with 40 other members.  The Wa side was led by Xiao Minliang,
Vice Chairman of UWSA, Deputy Secretary Bao Youri, Bao Youliang, Zhao
Guo-ang, Zhao Wenguang and Li Julie aka U Aung Myint.

The junta reportedly wanted to meet Wa supreme leader Bao Youxiang. But
according to Wa authorities, he was up in Kunma, north of Panghsang.

The meeting, which was mainly about the Border Guard Force programme,
lasted for about an hour. Before meeting the group, the Burmese delegation
had met Chinese officials on 20 June, in Meng Lien (Monglem), opposite
Panghsang.

Brig-Gen Win Thein did not set any new deadline concerning the BGF
programme. “He said it will be up to the new government,” a source quoted
him as saying.

The Wa leaders, on the other hand, said they had nothing new to report at
the meeting.

This was the second meeting between the junta and Wa after Naypyitaw’s 28
April deadline. The first was in May.

Some officers from the Triangle Region Command are also expected to be
meeting with National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) known as Mongla
today.

The UWSA, MNDAA, Kachin Independent Army (KIA) and the bulk of the Shan
State Army (SSA) ‘North’, are the groups that still refuse to transform
themselves into the Burmese Army controlled Border Guard Force.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
China weapons giant to mine Burma – Francis Wade

One of China’s biggest weapons manufacturers is to begin developing a
copper mine in central Burma after agreeing to terms with the Burmese
government earlier this month.

A statement on the website of the state-owned China North Industries Corp
(or Norinco) said the project will serve the dual purpose of
“strengthening the strategic reserves of copper resources in [China], and
enhancing the influence of our country in Myanmar [Burma]”. Norinco also
bills itself as an engineering company.

At the beginning of June a top-level Chinese delegation, including prime
minister Wen Jiabao, spent five days in Burma to ink a raft of new trade
deals and mark the 60th anniversary of China-Burma diplomatic relations.
It was during this visit that Wen oversaw the agreement for Norinco to
take charge of the Monywa mine in Sagaing division.

China’s investments in Burma are soaring and will soon match those of
Thailand and Singapore, the pariah state’s two main economic backers. The
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has already begun work on the
multi-billion dollar Shwe pipeline pipeline project, while Beijing has
been busily damming Burma’s major rivers to feed its energy-hungry
population.

Investment in Burma’s mines provides the ruling junta with one of its
largest sources of legal foreign capital, behind hydropower and gas. The
Monywa area is rich in copper, and operations there had been dominated by
Canadian giant Ivanhoe Mines until it allegedly withdrew in March 2007 and
transferred ownership to The Monywa Trust. At its peak the mine had been
producing some 39,000 tonnes of copper per year.

The Norinco statement said only that the two countries agreed a
“cooperation contract” but did not mention who the other party in the
project was. The agreement was signed by Norinco general manager, Zhang
Guoqing.

Tin Maung Htoo, from the Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB), says however
that Ivanhoe transferred its lot to a blind trust who have taken
“[responsibility] for the firm’s 50 percent stake in Monywa copper
project, officially known as Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Company Limited
[MICCL],” thereby meaning that Ivanhoe has retained some presence in the
project.

The managing director of MICCL, Glenn Ford, told DVB however that MICCL
“has nothing to do with the Norinco project” and that Ivanhoe Mines had
nothing to do with MICCL, which was blacklisted in July 2008 by both the
EU and US for its “key financial backing” of the Burmese regime.

Norinco was also sanctioned by the US in 2003 for its ongoing weapons
sales to Iran, with the White House calling the company a “serial
proliferator”. Tin Maung Htoo said that the company’s contract with Burma
was an “apparent copper for weapons deal”. China also happens to be
Burma’s biggest arms supplier.

GlobalSecurity.org claims that Norinco’s “main business is supplying
products for the Chinese military”, and has a registered capital of US$30
billion. The value of China-Burma trade in the 2008-2009 fiscal year was
US$2.6 billion.

____________________________________
DRUGS

June 24, Agence France Presse
Myanmar sees 'dramatic' surge in drug seizures: UN

Bangkok— Drug seizures and cultivation have surged in Myanmar, a UN expert
said Thursday, particularly in areas where ethnic rebels are coming under
increased pressure from the junta ahead of rare elections.

Last year 23 million methamphetamine tablets were seized in the
military-ruled country, up from one million in 2008, said Gary Lewis, a
representative for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

He said the numbers were likely to reflect a surge in production, rather
than improved crime prevention.

"We believe that if you see an increase in seizure figures that is
generally indicative over the medium to long term of an increased flow of
drugs," Lewis told reporters in Bangkok.

The country has also experienced a "steep and dramatic" increase in opium
cultivation, with 31,700 hectares (78,300 acres) of land set aside for
illicit poppy growing last year, up by almost half since 2006.

This is still only a small fraction of the levels seen in the late 1990s,
when Myanmar, as part of the so-called Golden Triangle with Laos and
Thailand, produced nearly half of the world's opiates.

"We are at risk of having the situation unravel," Lewis said.

Drug production is thought to be fuelled by insurgent groups as well as by
the chronic poverty and food shortages facing many communities.

Lewis said both poppy cultivation and the huge hauls of methamphetamine
were concentrated in Myanmar's Shan State and represent "a nexus of money,
weapons and drugs".

Some minority groups are believed to be cashing in on drugs amid an
increasing sense of vulnerability in the run-up to Myanmar's first
elections in two decades.

Armed minorities in Shan and Karen states continue to fight the government
along the country's eastern border, claiming they are victims of neglect
and mistreatment.

Myanmar's military regime has stepped up its decades-long campaign against
minority groups as it strives to bring them to heel ahead of the polls,
planned for sometime this year.

Myanmar accounts for 17 percent of the world's illicit poppy cultivation,
but it is dwarfed by Afghanistan, which accounts for two thirds.

Despite greater growing areas, actual opium production in Myanmar was only
slightly higher last year than in 2006 as yields were weak, the UN said.

Lewis said while global poppy cultivation has "dramatically declined" over
the last 20 years, there has been a spike in production of
amphetamine-type drugs which can be made in small, hidden laboratories.

Across Myanmar, Thailand and China, total seizures of methamphetamine --
also known as "ice" -- have trebled from 30 million tablets in 2008 to 90
million last year.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 24, Mizzima News
Aide to US Senator John Kerry meets NLD leaders – Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – US Senator John Kerry’s assistant Robin Lerner met
senior members of the National League for Democracy on Tuesday to discuss
the party’s stance on upcoming national elections, NLD spokesman Nyan Win
told Mizzima.

Lerner, a counsel to the Senate foreign relations committee who arrived in
Burma on June 19, met NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo and central executive
committee members Nyan Win, Nyunt Wai, Than Tun, Hla Pe, Han Tha Myint,
May Win Myint and Win Myint. According to Nyan Win, the one-hour meeting
took place at the Rangoon residence of chargé d’affaires Larry Dinger, the
most senior US diplomat in Burma.

Tin Oo explained the party’s current situation, future plans and outlined
the party’s decision not to re-register with the junta’s Union Election
Commission in time for the junta’s March 29 party-registration deadline.

“In keeping with the junta’s one-sided electoral laws, if the party wanted
to contest the election, it needed to expel our members who are in
prison,” Nyan Win told Mizzima. “This would include the party’s leader
Aung San Suu Kyi. Our vice-chairman Tin Oo explained to Ms Lerner that we
can’t expel the members who are in prison, a point she understood.”

According to Nyan Win, Lerner asked the NLD how it expected to survive
after the forthcoming election and Win Tin, the elderly but spry former
political prisoner responded that as things were still up in the air the
group could not provide an answer.

He told Mizzima that the NLD leadership also told Lerner that other
opposition political parties, which have officially registered with the
junta’s Union Election Commission, were being prevented from campaigning
freely and therefore an election held this year would be far from fair.

The leaders also told Lerner unequivocally that they could not accept the
junta’s extremely undemocratic line that declared members of the military
were able to “participate in the national political leadership role of the
State”. This contentious clause appears in the first chapter of the
constitution ratified in a disputed May 2008 referendum widely viewed as
rigged. The constitutional vote was also conducted days after Cyclone
Nargis hit, as millions of Burmese struggled to cope with its devastating
impact.

John Kerry, chairman of the US Senate’s foreign relations committee, was
chosen as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 but lost to George
W. Bush. Like his fellow Democrat Senator Jim Webb, Kerry is a decorated
veteran of the Vietnam War.

Last August, former Kerry chief of staff turned pro-engagement lobbyist
Frances Zwenig told The Washington Post that a few months earlier in May,
the Burmese regime’s ambassador to the US offered Kerry, who had last
visited Burma in 1999, a chance to return. This trip never occurred and
Webb went instead in August.

Zwenig is a controversial figure in Washington, scorned by many Burma
pro-democracy activists because she used political contacts established
when she worked for Kerry to work as a pro-engagement advocate during the
1990’s. Zwenig successfully sought large amounts of corporate money to pay
for an October 1997 high-level pro-business fact-finding trip that
included three former senior government officials including two former
ambassadors and neoconservative Richard Armitage, former assistant
secretary of defence during the 1980’s. He was to become deputy secretary
of state under Colin Powell and Bush, and gained notoriety in 2003 for
leaking information to columnist Robert Novak, “outing” Valerie Plame as a
CIA agent.

According to the Post in July 1997, Zwenig’s pro-engagement organisation
received US$50,000 from Unocal to educate Washington on Burma engagement
issues. Unocal, a partner in the Yadana Natural Gas Pipeline, was revealed
in a lawsuit launched by Burmese villagers against the firm to have paid
the Burmese military to help with the Yadana project.  Earth Rights
International, the legal NGO representing the villagers documented that
battalions of Burmese soldiers hired by Unocal and its partners violently
forced the relocation of thousands and used unpaid forced labour to assist
in the pipeline’s construction. Unocal was later bought by Chevron who
took over the firm’s infamous Burma operations.

As part of President Barack Obama’s stated goal of fostering productive
dialogue with the Burmese regime, both US assistant secretary of state for
East Asian and Pacific Affairs Dr. Kurt Campbell, and chairman of the US
foreign relations subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Senator
Jim Webb, have travelled to Burma since Obama took office.

Campbell, who met Suu Kyi most recently last month, said that the
forthcoming election would be unfair and that the international community
should reject the results. He also revealed early this year that secret
deals between the Burmese junta and North Korea had violated UN Resolution
1874, which bans North Korean overseas military shipments.

Webb, who met junta leader Senior General Than Shwe last August, has
criticised US sanctions on Burma, claiming in his book A Time to Fight:
Reclaiming a Fair and Just America that more US engagement with the
Burmese regime could have prevented the September 2007 bloody crackdown
against protesting monks and citizens. When Webb abruptly cancelled his
trip to Burma early this month he cited allegations that the regime was
co-operating with North Korea to develop a nuclear programme. He still
maintains that Burma’s national election, which he predicts will happen in
October, is the best way forward for Burma and therefore the international
community should support the polls.

Shortly after Webb met Than Shwe, officials from the US State Department
were allowed to escort jailed American tourist John Yettaw back to the US.
Yettaw, whose family described him as mentally unwell, twice took it upon
himself to twice swim across Inya Lake to visit the world’s most famous
political prisoner. Following his second amphibious landing at the Nobel
Peace Prize winner’s family home, Suu Kyi was arrested and jailed for
“violating” the terms of her house arrest. Had Yettaw not intervened, Suu
Kyi’s sentence of house arrest would have expired in two weeks. After an
international outcry, the widowed opposition leader was released from
prison and taken home to serve her sentence of 18 months under house
arrest.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maung Shwe

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 24, Asian Tribune
Burma’s undemocratic polls will bring shame on ASEAN – Zin Linn

The Burmese politicians, who were eager to run in the incoming elections
hoping a political space, were in for a big shock when they saw the
'Election Commission’s Directive No.2/2010 dated 21 June, 2010' in the
state’s daily papers. The analysts view the junta’s poll process as
‘Entanglements’ for there will be more and more complicated regulations
before the unknown election date.

Political parties in Burma that want to assemble and give speeches at a
designated place must apply to the Election Commission (EC) for permission
at least seven days prior to the event, according to state-run media. The
new 'EC Directive No.2/2010 dated 21 June, 2010' was published on 23 June,
requiring political parties to provide the specific place, date, starting
and finishing time, and the name and address of speakers. The EC will
issue a permit or reject the request at least 48 hours before the
requested date.

Political parties seeking new members ahead of Myanmar's historic
elections were warned in the directive they are not allowed chanting
slogans in procession or giving talks and distributing publications
tarnishing the image of the ruling junta. The directive also says not to
disturb any public places such as government offices, organizations,
factories, workplaces, workshops, markets, sport grounds, religious
places, schools and people’s hospitals.

The restrictions are part of the 14-article directive published by the EC
that governs how parties recruit new members. All parties contesting
elections planned for later this year are required to have at least 1,000
members within 90 days of being granted registration.

The EC head, Thein Soe, pronounced last month that international monitors
would not be allowed to observe the elections. After the 2008
constitutional referendum, the junta announced the bill was allegedly
supported by more than 90 per cent of the population, despite complaints
of widespread vote rigging and bullying of voters. Candidates from some
registered parties have also complained that special privileges are being
offered to the Union Solidarity and Development Party headed by Burma’s
Prime Minister Thein Sein, while other civilian parties are being hindered
in their campaign processes.

The junta has not declared an election date. So far, out of 42 new
political parties 33 have been approved by the Election Commission and
five existing parties have re-registered to contest in the coming
elections. International criticism has not succeeded to free detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party overwhelmingly won the
last election in 1990, but was never permitted to run the office.

Under current election laws made by the military regime, Aung San Suu Kyi
and 2,200 political prisoners are totally disqualified from taking part in
the elections.

Her National League for Democracy party has criticized the laws unfair and
undemocratic and will stay away from the vote. The NLD was disbanded after
refusing to register for the elections by a deadline on 6 May, 2010.

Burma has fallen under military boots since 1962. The regime has earned
the distrustful reputation of being one of the world's worst human rights
violators.

It brutally suppressed pro-democracy movements in 1988, May 30, 2003,
Depayin conspiracy and Saffron Revolution in Sept 2007. There were many
more sporadic crackdowns. The junta has arrested around 2,200 political
dissidents including Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been
confined to her residence for 15 of the last 21 years.

The regime held a unilateral referendum at gun point on May 10 and 24. The
2008 Constitution, the junta said, was approved by more than 90 per cent
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 main opposition party, the National League for
Democracy, to review the Constitution which will cause trouble upon the
Burmese people.

The new elections planned in 2010 will legalize military rule. It is
convinced that the procedure will not be free and fair. Just like the
referendum held at gun-point.

The socio-economic atmosphere is worsening. The junta will not be able to
manage the socio-economic situation, which is failing fast. It will soon
come face-to-face with a "desolate" future if it continues to refuse the
national reconciliation process being urged by the opposition the National
League for Democracy (NLD), the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) and
the exile dissident groups.

NLD and UNA point out that the ratification of the constitution staged by
the Junta is unacceptable. Both declare that the ratification was carried
out against the will of the people and without observing internationally
known norms for referendums. The junta also does not show respect the
successive resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) calling
for return of democratic system in Burma through a tripartite dialogue
between the Junta led by Senior General Than Shwe, democratic forces led
by Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of ethnic nationalities. From turn
of events it is clear that the junta has no plan to heed the UN call and
to release political prisoners, which is a pre-condition to facilitate the
tripartite dialogue.

Looking at the fact on the ground, there is more belligerences in these
days, more military attacks in the ethnic minority areas, more arrests,
more political prisoners, and more restrictions toward media, more control
on Internet users and civil societies. So, situation needs to be very
cautious and to put more pressure on the regime until the said benchmarks
are carried out.

Today's question for regional groupings – such as ASEAN and EU - and
International Community is to think over whether Burma is planning to
become a tyrannical or a democratic state? According to a Burmese saying,
a tiger is a tiger and it never lives on grass. Then, if someone says a
dictator would build a democratic country, it may be an object of ridicule
for the Burmese populace.

There are still arguments for ASEAN to abandon its long standing policy of
non-interference in another country's internal affairs if the affairs of a
country spilled over and affected regional security. ASEAN's policy-makers
have to debate on the Burma Question in the forthcoming ASEAN meetings.
ASEAN should have a specific evaluation of its policy towards Burma under
the military dictatorship for the sake of the association's reliability in
favor of the whole region.

The UN should also urge Asean leaders to make concerted efforts on
democratization in Burma. Burma is likely to come under the international
limelight for its continued detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi
and 2,200 political prisoners ahead of its so-called elections for
disciplined democracy.

Timely on 22 June, the United States criticized that elections planned in
military-run Myanmar this year will 'lack international legitimacy'. 'US
believes elections planned for this year in Burma will not be free or fair
and will lack international legitimacy,' the State Department said on the
micro-blogging site Twitter, using Myanmar's former name of Burma.

Majority of Burmese people may definitely agree with the United States’
attitude on the junta’s upcoming elections. However they may be
disappointed with ASEAN’s passive voice and pro-junta vision towards the
sham opinion polls run by the unprincipled member of the grouping.

Zin Linn is an exile freelance journalist from Burma.

____________________________________

June 24, New Statesman (UK)
Burma: a brief history – Caroline Crampton

Later this year, Burma is expected to hold its first multi-party elections
for twenty years. We look back at the country's turbulent and oppressive
history.

Burma's ruling military junta celebrates Armed Forces Day - a
commemoration of Burmese resistance to the Japanese in 1945.

World War II

Burma was a major battleground for the British and the Japanese. Three
hundred thousand refugees fled to India, but by July 1945 Britain had
re-taken the country from the Japanese. The Burma National Army, formed by
revolutionary and nationalist Aung San in 1937, initially supported the
Japanese, but in 1943, fearful that the Japanese promises of independence
were not sincere, changed sides and joined the Allies.

Post-1945

After the war, Aung San was instrumental in restoring civilian politics
from the military administration established by the British. He also
negotiated independence for Burma with British Prime Minister Clement
Attlee.

In 1947, the first elections were held in Burma since its split from the
British Raj. Aung San's Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) won
176 of the 210 seats, but Aung San and six of his cabinet ministers were
assassinated by paramilitaries loyal to colonial era Prime Minister U Saw.
Several British military officers were also implicated in the plot, and
were tried and imprisoned. U Saw was executed.

The Union of Burma

Following Aung San's assassination, the leadership of the AFPFL passed to
U Nu, who oversaw the country's final transition to an independent Burma
in January 1948. U Nu became the first prime minister of the Union of
Burma.

Under the constitution of 1947, a bicameral parliament was elected.
General elections were held in 1952/3, 1956 and 1960, with the AFPFL
continuing to dominate both houses.

In 1961, Burmese civil servant U Thant was unanimously appointed UN
Secretary-General, the first non-westerner to hold the position. Among the
Burmese staff he took with him to the post was Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter
of Aung San. But in 1962, just two years after the republic's third
general election as an independent state, the government of U Nu was
overthrown in a coup d'etat lead by General Ne Win.

The 'Burmese Way to Socialism'

Ne Win ruled the country as a one-party state until 1988, under the
auspices of an ideology he called the 'Burmese Way to Socialism'. This
lead to economic and political isolationism, the expulsion of foreigners,
and the nationalisation of industry.

Student protests at Rangoon University in 1962 resulted in 15 deaths, and
similar student activism in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were also suppressed. In
1974, anti-government protests at the funeral of UN Secretary-General U
Thant were quickly and violently suppressed by the military.

On the 8 August 1988, frustration at economic mismanagement and brutal
oppression lead to the nation-wide protests known as the 8888 Uprising, in
which students, monks, and citizens took to the streets to protest against
the military junta.

Once again, the revolt was brutally put down, with many casualties.
Precise numbers differ, with opposition groups claiming thousands of
people were killed by the military, whilst the regime say only 350 lost
their lives.

Rule by military junta

A group which was to become the still-ruling State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), lead by General Saw Maung, seized power and declared
martial law. In May 1990, the first multi-party elections were held in 30
years.

The National League for Democracy, lead by Aung San Suu Kyi, won 392 of
the 498 seats, but the SPDC refused to relinquish power. In 1992, Saw
Maung unexpectedly resigned for health reasons, and current dictator Than
Shwe succeeded him as head of state, secretary of defence and
commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, and has
subsequently spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest.

In 2007, following the junta's decision to remove fuel subsidies, causing
the price of fuel to double overnight, demonstrations took place. After an
initial crackdown, marches continued under the leadership of thousands of
Buddhist monks. Thousands were arrested, and 14 of the leaders were
sentenced to 65 years in the infamous British-built Insein prison.

Buddhist monks have been a rallying point for opposition since the early
20th century, when riots broke out over the issue of the British colonists
refusing the remove their shoes in the temples.

Beyond the 2007 uprising

Ethnic violence continues in the country, with the Karen people of
southeastern Burma particularly prominent in their insurgency. There has
also been protracted conflict between the junta and the Han Chinese, Va
and Kachin people in the north.

The devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 in the Irrawaddy
rice-farming region was severe, with around 200,000 people estimated to
have died. However, the isolationist stance of the junta and the endemic
corruption in major industries and local government prevented either
domestic or foreign aid having much of an impact. United Nations planes
bringing food aid and medical supplies were delayed by the junta.

In 2009, an American named John Yettaw swam across Lake Inya to reach Aung
San Suu Kyi's residence for the second time (he first visited in May
2008), and was arrested and deported for breaching the terms of her house
arrest. As a result, she was given a further 18 months' confinement,
meaning that she can take no part in elections held in 2010.

Under the new constitution ratified by referendum amid the devastation of
Cyclone Nargis in 2008, the new democratically-elected assembly will
reserve a quarter of its seats for the military. Aung San Suu Kyi's party,
the National League for Democracy, has said that it will boycott the
elections because of laws that prevent their leader from participating.