BurmaNet News, August 7 - 9, 2010

[Editor]

August 7 – 9, 2010 Issue #4015


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Quiet ceremonies mark Myanmar's bloody anniversary
AP: 2 reported killed in Myanmar border town
AFP: Ethnic Shan party eyes own government in Myanmar election
Narinjara: Imprisoned Shan leader shifted to Sittwe
Mizzima: UDP still unsure whether to stand in polls: new chief

BUSINESS / TRADE
South China Morning Post: Joint pipeline project with junta sparks rights
debate
DPA: Thai-Myanmar border closure leads to shortages in Yangon
Xinhua: More people in Myanmar seek going abroad for employment

ASEAN
Xinhua: Myanmar hopes ASEAN master plan reach win-win solution within region

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Burma security threat to region: Panel
GMANews.TV (Philippines): DFA chief: Without the opposition, Myanmar polls
a farce

INTERNATIONAL
IPS: Call for war crimes inquiry foils U.N. Envoy’s trip
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (US): Burmese immigrants gather to commemorate
uprising

OPINION / OTHER
Guardian (UK): The legacy of Burma's Generation 88 – Waihnin Pwint Thon
DVB: Remembering ‘88: Voices from the streets

PRESS RELEASE
AIPMC: Anniversary of the 8th August 1988 people's uprising in Burma



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 8, Associated Press
Quiet ceremonies mark Myanmar's bloody anniversary

Yangon, Myanmar — Subdued religious ceremonies by activists and
pro-democracy politicians marked the anniversary Sunday of the 1988
uprising that was brutally crushed by Myanmar's military.

More than 1 million people rose up Aug. 8 that year to protest an
entrenched military-backed regime headed by Gen. Ne Win that had wiped out
the savings of many by a sudden demonetization of the currency.

An estimated 3,000 people were killed before the demonstrations were
crushed in September. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's detained pro-democracy
leader, rose to prominence during the uprising.

"We are holding this religious ceremony in memory of those who had
sacrificed their lives during the protest and in honor of those who are in
prison for their beliefs and for those who had taken part in the
nationwide protests 22 years ago," said Tint Hsan, a former student
activist who organized the event.

The ceremony in an eastern suburb was attended by politicians and many
activists, including some Buddhist monks recently freed from prison.

Yangon's streets were quiet and residents went about their normal Sunday
routines, with some having forgotten the anniversary date. Others gave
food to Buddhist monks to mark the protests.

Student activists from the '88 generation managed to make their voices
heard again in 2007 in an uprising led by Buddhist monks, which was also
put down violently by the military. Many of them were given prison
sentences of 65 years.

"I don't want people to go out on the streets and get killed or imprisoned
again. We believe that we can bring about a change of government through
elections," said Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, general secretary of the newly
registered Democratic Party.

The ruling junta has called for the first polls in two decades to be held
later this year, though no date has yet been set. Critics have dismissed
the election as a sham designed to cement nearly 50 years of military rule
in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party is boycotting the polls
because of what it calls unfair and undemocratic election laws. It was
disbanded in May because it refused to register.

The league swept elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take power. Suu
Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been held under house arrest by the
military government for about 14 of the past 20 years.

____________________________________

August 7, Associated Press
2 reported killed in Myanmar border town

Bangkok — A bomb exploded in a crowded market in a Myanmar border town,
killing at least two people and wounding at least eight others, an
official said.

The blast occurred Friday evening in the town of Myawaddy, across a river
from Thailand, according to the Mizzima news agency, run by Myanmar exiles
in Thailand. The explosive was believed thrown from a vehicle into the
night bazaar.

An official in Yangon, Myanmar, who demanded anonymity since he was not
allowed to speak to the press, confirmed that two persons had died and at
least eight others were injured.

The area was cordoned off immediately after the blast and victims were
taken to hospitals.

It was unclear whether the attack was related to fighting between
Myanmar's military and the ethnic minority Karen, who are seeking an
independent state, or criminal activities.

The town is a center for both a vigorous illegal cross-border trade and
smuggling of goods, drugs and people, mainly laborers seeking employment
in Thailand.

Several bomb blasts have rocked Myanmar this year, including three blasts
in Yangon that killed nine people and wounded 170. The incidents come as
the ruling junta prepares for a general election that opponents have
called unfair and undemocratic.

____________________________________

August 9, Agence France Presse
Ethnic Shan party eyes own government in Myanmar election

Yangon – Sai Aik Paung is perhaps one of only a very few independent
political figures in Myanmar who is confident of success in the country's
rare and controversial elections expected later this year.

As a prominent ethnic Shan leader, the 65-year-old believes his party can
count on the support of the vast majority of voters in Shan State in
eastern Myanmar in the country's first poll in two decades.

Such were his hopes for winning control of a newly-created regional
parliament that he decided to return to politics after 14 years, forming
the new Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) to contest the vote.

While critics have dismissed the election as a sham aimed at shoring up
the ruling junta's power, Sai Aik Paung said the SNDP has chosen to trust
the military regime.

"The government has announced that it will hold free and fair elections
and we believe and expect this," he told AFP.

"I cannot guarantee it will completely happen. We just hope, that's why we
are planning to participate."

The SNDP, widely known as the White Tiger party, believes it is supported
by 90 per cent of Shan State's six million people, which will have its own
parliament along with other states following the election.

Shan are the second largest population -- after the more than 30 million
Burmese that dominate the ruling regime -- in a country that has long
struggled with tensions and separatist movements among disparate ethnic
groups.

Sai Aik Paung was previously a senior member of the Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy (SNLD), which emerged as the second biggest party in
the country's last elections in 1990, with 23 seats.

It was the vote that saw Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD) achieve a landslide victory -- but the generals
never permitted the party to take power.

Suu Kyi has spent much of the last two decades in jail or under house
arrest and is barred from standing in the polls because she is a serving
prisoner.

The NLD is boycotting the vote because the junta's rules would have
effectively forced it to expel Suu Kyi and other members in prison before
it could participate. It has since been forcibly disbanded by the ruling
generals.

With the NLD out of the picture, the SNDP still has to contest with a
formidable opponent -- the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development
Party (USDP).

"Our rival party in the 1990 election was the NLD, but the USDP is our
rival now. They are the powerful party, but if the election is free and
fair, we will win with a majority in Shan State," Sai Aik Paung said.

He said he hoped the parliaments created in this election will be able to
work to create a democratic nation, despite the fact that the 2008
constitution that comes into force with the vote hands 25 per cent of the
legislature to the military.

"We assume that the military is now ruling the country with 100 per cent,"
he said. "In the future, civilians will participate in the administration
with 75 per cent -- and isn't getting 75 per cent better than nothing?"

Sai Aik Paung is used to negotiating with the regime from within the
approved political structure, attending the national convention off and on
from 1993 to 1996, when he retired from politics due to health reasons.

The SNDP, which includes former SNLD members, is attempting to smooth its
path into power by avoiding confrontation with the military and other
parties.

"We also do not want undisciplined democracy immediately, it's better to
go step by step gradually," Sai Aik Paung said.

But despite this appeasement the party has not been immune to the
difficulties that have beset those attempting to contest the polls because
of government rules to inhibit political campaigning.

The party intends to lodge a complaint with the authorities in the
administrative capital Naypyidaw over travel restrictions imposed on a
trip in July in Kayah State, where members were barred from entering a
town.

Sai Aik Paung, who lives in a rural mountainous area, believes agriculture
is crucial to the economic future of Myanmar, where 70 per cent of the 57
million population live in the countryside.

He wants a market-driven future and appeared to push for greater openness
-- a key issue in a country where critics accuse the junta of handing
lucrative business interests to its cronies.

"There should not be nepotism in the economy, all should be equal and
transparent," he said.

____________________________________

August 9, Narinjara
Imprisoned Shan leader shifted to Sittwe

Sittwe: Imprisoned Shan leader, 74-year-old Major-General Hso Ten, arrived
in Sittwe on Saturday from Rangoon, to be shifted to Sittwe prison, said a
source close to the prison.

"He arrived at the Sittwe airport at 1:50 pm on 7 August along with many
escorts and was taken to Sittwe prison soon after he landed," the source
said.

He was reportedly transferred to Sittwe from Khamit in Sagaing Division in
upper Burma.

The leader of the Shan State Army-North, Major-General Hso Ten was
sentenced by the junta to 106 years in prison in 2005 for defamation of
the state, association with illegal parties, and conspiring against the
state.

"He was sentenced by Naypyidaw on 3 November, 2005, along with eight other
Shan politicians," a Shan source said.

Major-General Hso Ten is reported to have been suffering from high blood
pressure since 2008 and underwent an eye problem, three years after his
arrest. He is also reported to have broken his arm when he slipped and
fell in the bathroom recently. To date he has received no treatment for
his health problems, according to the Shan Herald Agency for News.

Sittwe prison is the largest in western Burma, and held prominent 88
Generation student leader Ko Min Ko Naing when he was detained from 1989
to 2004.

____________________________________

August 9, Mizzima News
UDP still unsure whether to stand in polls: new chief

Rangoon – Union Democratic Party new chairman Thein Htay declared
yesterday the party may be at risk if it chose to take part in the
forthcoming election and expressed doubts as to whether it would stand.

His comments came on Sunday as the Shin Ardatesawuntha Monastery held a  
commemoration of the 22nd anniversary of the “8888” nationwide
pro-democracy uprising. The former UDP chairman Phyo Min Thein pulled out
of the junta’s elections and quit the party as he believed the elections
would be neither free nor fair.

“I’ve held the post of chairman since August 5. But I still have contact
with the former chairman. The forthcoming elections may be neither free
nor fair”, Thein Htay said. “But nevertheless, we will claim our rights.
We will try as hard as we can.”

“The party has become insecure and we may encounter some problems, so we
haven’t decided whether the party will contest in the elections or not”,
he added.

He expressed concerns the authorities would attack the party over its
history of criticising the electoral laws as one-sided. “I don’t want to
oppose the elections. But, I want them to be free and fair 
 supported by
just laws”, he said.

Before Phyo Min Thein quit the party, Thein Htay was second vice-chairman.

Although the party had no internal conflict, Phyo Min Thein decided to
step away from the party based on his dislike of the actions of the
electoral commission, and what he pointed out was junta bias towards the
Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which emerged from the
junta’s now-defunct and often violent nationalist social organisation, the
Union Solidarity and Development Association.

Phyo Min Thein also said that he doubted that the junta would fulfil the
criteria of holding free and fair elections, which would include he said:
allowing all people to participate in the politics freely; releasing all
political prisoners to let them participate; and permitting all political
parties to conduct their electoral campaigns freely.

Thein Htay said that the party would publish its journal, The Union, to
carry its message to the public, the first issue of which was published on
July 27. It was obtainable at bookshops across Rangoon but rumours have
recently circulated in the former Burmese capital that the next issue
would be banned, and even the party itself was unsure of whether it could
be published.

The party was granted permission to register as a political party on May
26, and its patron is prominent politician Shwe Ohn.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 9, South China Morning Post
Joint pipeline project with junta sparks rights debate – Toh Han Shih

A US$2.5 billion oil and gas pipeline being built by state-owned China
National Petroleum Corp is generating widespread concern among
international human rights and environmental groups.

Earthrights International says it has "reliable evidence" that abuses have
already occurred in connection with the pipeline, which will stretch
roughly 1,000 kilometres from the Bay of Bengal, through Myanmar and into
Yunnan province.

The pipeline will transport gas from the Shwe gas fields, Myanmar's
largest such project, as well as oil carried by tanker from Africa and the
Middle East.

The oil pipeline has a transport capacity of 22 million tonnes and the gas
pipeline 12 billion cubic metres a year, according to CNPC, China's
biggest energy conglomerate. The project includes the construction of oil
terminal facilities at Kyaukryu port on the west coast of Myanmar to cater
to the tankers.

Construction of the pipeline officially started on June 3, according to
CNPC's website. Pipe laying had commenced in Arakan state, west Myanmar,
said Matthew Smith, senior consultant of Earthrights International, which
has offices in the US and Southeast Asia.

"Land in some surrounding parts of the pipeline was forcibly confiscated
from local villagers," Smith said, citing feedback from people in the
area. "Some villagers were promised compensation, but some villagers
received far less than what was promised to them, while others have
received nothing."

China's investments in Myanmar are concentrated in the energy and resource
sectors, Sean Turnell, associate professor of economics at Macquarie
University in Australia, said.

"The most important of these investments will be the pipeline," he said.
"This project is important for both countries. For Myanmar, it will bring
large transshipment fees worth up to US$2 billion per year. For China,
these pipelines allow it to transport oil and gas.

"The construction of this pipeline will likely prove extraordinarily
controversial," Turnell said. "Neither environmental nor labour conditions
are likely to be taken much into account, and breaches in environmental
and labour standards are likely to emerge over the next few years."

Vice-president Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of contracts associated
with the pipeline in the Myanmese capital, Naypyidaw, in December and in
Beijing in June.

A CNPC affiliate, Southeast Asia Pipeline, is in charge of the design,
construction, operation and maintenance of the pipeline, the CNPC website
said. CNPC holds a 50.9 per cent stake, while the remaining share is held
by Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the country's national oil and
gas company.

Under the contracts, Myanmar's junta is to guarantee the security of the
pipeline, which will traverse areas in Shan state with a history of
tensions between the military and insurgents. Smith said this could lead
to violent abuses against villagers.

"From a business perspective, the project poses risks that CNPC and
Beijing are simply failing to comprehend," he said.

"The project is at risk of sabotage by armed non-state armies [opposed to
the Myanmese government]. Even one incident of sabotage on a project of
this magnitude could be a major setback for the company.

"Proceeding with a pipeline in partnership with the junta using the
Myanmar army as security, passing through politically contested areas, is
a reputational hazard."

The project will provide the Myanmese junta with at least US$29 billion
over 30 years, according to an estimate from Christian Solidarity
Worldwide (CSW), a human rights organisation with its headquarters in
Britain.

Smith said he is concerned that there are no checks and balances or
transparency over the massive revenues that will be generated by the
project.

"As China will become highly dependent on infrastructure developed in
Myanmar, not only for transportation of gas produced locally, but also oil
extracted in Africa and the Middle East and transported through the
pipeline, Myanmar will play a crucial role in China's energy security,"
said Cristelle Maurin, a doctoral candidate in international law at the
University of Paris.

"It is in China's interest to avoid major social upheavals in areas where
it has stakes in Myanmar. So far, there has been little evidence of China
taking an active stance in addressing the social concerns related to its
energy ventures in Myanmar."

In October 2009, 115 organisations and political parties from 20 countries
submitted an open letter to President Hu Jintao calling for the suspension
of the pipeline to prevent human rights abuses and regional instability,
and avoid financial and reputational risks to China.

"We are gravely concerned for the communities living along the pipeline,"
the letter said. "Based on experience in Myanmar, partnerships with MOGE
on infrastructure projects lead to forced displacement, forced labour and
loss of livelihood.

"The escalation of abuses around a project when Myanmar soldiers provide
security is well documented by UN agencies and NGOs," it said. "The
attacks [ last year] by the Myanmar army on the ethnic Chinese Kokang
minority are predicted to destabilise areas affecting the pipeline
construction."

So far, the letter has received no response, said Benedict Rogers, CSW's
East Asia team leader.

One positive development was the recent passing of legislation in
Washington that will require oil, gas, and mining companies registered the
United States to publish their payments to the governments of countries
where they operate, Smith said.

"This law will apply to CNPC [whose subsidiary Petrochina is listed in New
York], meaning the company will be required by US law to disclose details
of its payments to the Myanmar junta. This will contribute to combating
the corruption and impunity in Myanmar."
____________________________________

August 8, Deustche Presse-Agentur
Thai-Myanmar border closure leads to shortages in Yangon

Yangon - A month-long closure of the Thai-Myanmar border to trade has
caused a shortage of consumer items such as televisions and refrigerators
in Yangon, media reports said Sunday.

Myanmar's ruling junta last month shut down the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border
crossing after accusing Thailand of building an embankment on the Moei
River to alter the common border line.

Mae Sot, in Thailand's Tak province, is a major source of Thai consumer
goods into neighbouring Myanmar, usually transported across the
Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge.

With the route now blocked, retailers in Yangon - Myanmar's largest city
and former capital - have started to complain of shortages and rising
prices, the Myanmar Times reported.

'Television sales increased prior to and during the World Cup. I was able
to sell almost every TV set I had and I'm about to run out,' a senior
sales and marketing manager of an electronics firm was quoted as saying.

Htay Aung, a spokesman for Khit Thit Electronics Center, said the only
products his company had left were those that have been imported via
normal trade channels.

'We have run out of stock that we'd normally import via border trade,
mainly televisions and refrigerators,' he said.

Most retailers prefer importing electrical goods from Thailand via the
border because they can avoid paying taxes on them.

Appliances imported by air or sea are taxed 40 per cent of value.

'Selling electronics is a very competitive market and retailers do what
they have to do. That's why most importers mix their tax-paid televisions
with those they've bought through border trade,' Htay Aung said.
____________________________________

August 8, Xinhua
More people in Myanmar seek going abroad for employment

Yangon – The number of young people, especially university graduates
seeking to go abroad out of various reasons including employment, is
increasing in Myanmar.

According to the local Flower News Sunday, Myanmar university graduates
applying for passports are set to make compensation for the degrees they
acquire and the rate of compensation is based on their education level or
the degrees they have held.

It is prescribed that such compensation is to be made for all university
students as "education clearance" starting from the second year of their
degree courses until graduation to win a passport.

Since early this year, the Myanmar authorities have tightened formalities
for its citizens in applying for a passport by adding more complicated
procedures for the applicant to go through, according to an earlier local
report.

Yangon division's Internal Finance and Revenue Department said a passport
applicant is re-set to obtain tax clearance verification not only for
himself which was previously required but also for all other household
members with whom he is living together.
The authorities' move is said to prevent anyone of a household member from
tax evasion.

Tax clearance is one of the procedures which requires a passport applicant
to go through.

Myanmar has been taking some measures since 2006 to tighten levying of
taxes in a bid to raise state revenue, while seeking ways also to expose
those evading paying tax.

These measures include denying the biennial renewal of private business
licenses on failure to fully settle their outstanding tax payment
annually.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has started introducing passports of international
bar-code OCRB system for its citizens to replace handwritten ones in line
with the demand of International Aviation Organization which called for
stopping the use of the hand-written passports, according to the passport
issuing authority under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Such OCRB passport-readable machines are installed at the Yangon
International Airport for the move as well as to facilitate the OCRB
passport holders from the international.

Moreover, Myanmar has also introduced visa-on-arrival system for all
international visitors arriving at the Yangon and Mandalay international
airports since May this year in a bid to promote its tourism sector.

____________________________________
ASEAN

August 8, Xinhua
Myanmar hopes ASEAN master plan reach win-win solution within region

Yangon – Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe on Sunday expressed
hope that the master plan on ASEAN connectivity would reach a win-win
solution to reflect the interest of all member states and strive for
balance between regional and national interest.

Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, made the
remarks in his congratulatory message on the occasion of the 43rd
anniversary of the ASEAN Day.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have tasked
a high-level task force on ASEAN connectivity to develop an ASEAN master
plan on regional connectivity, which is expected to complete by the 17th
ASEAN Summit in October.

The master plan will focus on physical connectivity, institutional
connectivity and people-to-people connectivity.

The ASEAN leaders discussed the concept of regional connectivity and
adopted a statement at the 15th ASEAN Summit in Oct. 2009, observing that,
located at the cross-roads of an economically vibrant and growing region,
ASEAN thus had the potential to physically anchor itself as the
transportation, information and communication technology and tourism hub
of the region.

Over the last couple of years, ASEAN has made important milestones
including the enforcement of the ASEAN Charter in December 2008 and the
declaration of the roadmap for the ASEAN Community in March 2009, the
leader's message noted.

"Progress is being achieved in the implementation of the ASEAN
Political-Security Community (APSC) Blueprint, the ASEAN Economic
Community (AEC) Blueprint
and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community ( ASCC) Blueprint," the message added.

Myanmar joined the ASEAN in July 1997 which also comprises Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 9, Irrawaddy
Burma security threat to region: Panel – Wai Moe

Bangkok—The Burmese military junta’s nuclear ambitions were criticized at
a seminar held at Thailand's prestigious Chulalongkorn University, saying
it is a security threat to the region, particularly to Thailand.

The seminar on Friday on Burma’s nuclear ambitions and its planned
election was sponsored by The Institute of Security and International
Studies (ISIS), a think-tank in Bangkok.

Speakers included Dr. Zarni, a long-time Burmese expert, who is currently
an ISIS fellow; Larry Jagan, a British journalist specializing in Burma;
Kavi Chongkittavorn, an assistant editor of The Nation media group; and
Belgium ambassador to Thailand, Rudi Veestraeten.

During the discussion, Zarni first raised the issue of Burma’s nuclear
ambitions with the aid of North Korea, emphasizing that the issue has a
“regional implication” for the international community,  particularly in
terms of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the US-led
non-proliferation agreement.

In his analysis, he noted  that the junta’s desire to have nuclear weapons
can be viewed from an international perspective, but also from the
viewpoint of its two closest neighbors, Thailand and Bangladesh.

Zarni showed photos of North Korean experts in Burma who were touring the
country as well as statistics showing Burmese military officers who have
been studying nuclear science in Russia since 2001.

Based on his research, he said that North Korea, Russia, Singapore,
Poland, the former Yugoslavia, Pakistan and South Africa are possible
sources to obtain nuclear technology. He said that Russia and North Korea
are currently preferred sources because of lower costs.

He also criticized oil companies such as Total and Chevron for providing a
financial lifeline to the Burmese junta which uses the income for
militarization.

On the nuclear ambition of the Burmese junta, Larry Jargan said that
during a visit to Burma in 2003, he saw North Korean experts and diplomats
in Rangoon and Mandalay, four years before Burma and North Korea
officially had reestablished diplomatic relations in April 2007.

“At the time, I saw North Korean and South Korean delegations visiting
Burma and staying at the same hotel,” said Jagan.

Jagan said that he believed China is concerned about Burma's nuclear
ambitions, saying that China does not want another North Korea on its
southwest border. India shares the same concern, he said.

Jagan said that vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, the deputy commander-in-chief of
the Burma armed forces and the commander-in-chief of the Burma army, has
overseen the junta’s nuclear program since 2003.

Pyongyang has shipped suspected long-range missiles at least six times in
recent years, with the last known shipment in April, Jagan said.

Kavi Chongkittavorn of The Nation said the Thai security services have
followed the issue for a long time. “The information about Burma’s nuclear
program came from Thai intelligence officials in 2005,” Kavi said.

Belgium Ambassador Rudi Veestraeten said Burma's planned election is now
at a crossroads for positive progress or the country could go on as before
with a repressive military exercising total power.

 “The elections [could be an] opportunity to steer the country to the
better future,” he said, particularly if the junta releases pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners and allows them to
participate in the election.

On Burma's ethnic issues, he questioned how the elections could be held in
ethnic areas if there is no resolution between the regime and the armed
ethnic groups over the border guard force plan, which would require them
to place their troops under the regime's control.

“I know how difficult these issues are. Nevertheless, the only way to
resolve it is genuine national reconciliation and dialogue. However,
serious human rights violations against ethnic minorities have to
immediately stop,” he said.

He repeated US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement in Hanoi
during the Asean Regional Forum in July that Burma’s relationship with
North Korea is a concern, and it is being closely watched.
He called on the junta to cooperate fully with the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) and to respect UN Security Council resolution 1874.

He said people in Burma are now more open to talk about the situation in
the country.

“Even government officials, they are now willing to criticize,” he said.
“All people [there] want change.”

____________________________________

August 9, GMANews.TV (Philippines)
DFA chief: Without the opposition, Myanmar polls a farce

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto Romulo said this
year's elections in junta-ruled Myanmar would be considered a sham if
opposition members would not be allowed to participate in the process.

In an interview on Monday, Romulo said the elections would be a farce if
opposition members, including jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
would not be allowed to participate in the Myanmar election, the first
since 1990.

"All the parties should be there and not only should be there but they
should be allowed to campaign and their votes should be counted. You know
what democracy is all about," Romulo said.

Romulo has been very vocal about his concerns on the political
developments in Myanmar, repeatedly calling for the release of Suu Kyi and
other political detainees and their participation in the elections.

Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy (NLD) party won the last election
by a landslide but was never permitted to take office.

The ruling junta has imposed a law banning Suu Kyi from participating in
the polls.

Suu Kyi’s party has disbanded and opted not to take part in this year's
election, saying it will be a sham.

Suu Kyi was convicted last year for violating the terms of her house
arrest after an American man illegally swam across a lake to her
waterfront villa. The man reportedly hid in her compound for two nights.

Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years of hard labor but the court
"mitigated" the sentence to 18 months of house arrest.

Suu Kyi, 63, has spent more than 14 of the last 20 years in detention.

Doubts on credibility of polls

The United States and the European Union, Myanmar’s staunchest critics,
voiced doubts about the credibility of the scheduled elections in the
military ruled-state, formerly known as Burma.

They have been urging the junta to let the opposition and ethnic
minorities become involved in the elections.

The ASEAN’s standing policy of non-interference in their members’ domestic
affairs has constrained efforts to enforce the protection of human rights
in Myanmar.

The ASEAN has also been criticized for not exerting pressure on Myanmar’s
junta to enforce democracy and institute reforms.

The members of the ASEAN are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Amid opposition from Western countries, the ASEAN supported the entry of
Myanmar into the group as its tenth member in 1997.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 9, Inter Press Service
Call for war crimes inquiry foils U.N. Envoy’s trip – Marwaan Macan-Markar

Bangkok – When a U.N. human rights investigator for Burma called for an
international inquiry to look into possible war crimes by the country’s
military regime, he added significant weight to similar calls that had
been made in other quarters.

But that call in March by Tomas Ojea Quintana, as part of a scathing
30-page report delivered to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, has
come back to haunt the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar,
as Burma is also known.

Quintana has been denied a visa by the junta to return to the South-east
Asian nation for his fourth visit, according to diplomatic and U.N.
sources.

But Burmese pro-democracy activists in exile are hardly surprised by the
treatment given to the Argentine lawyer, who is currently on a visit to
Thailand and Indonesia ahead of preparing another report on Burma to be
presented to the U.N. General Assembly in October.

His predecessor, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, was also shut out from the country
by the junta following critical reports tabled before the world body.

"It was very clear that Quintana touched on a very sensitive issue for the
Burmese regime when he called for the setting up of an international
committee to look into war crimes," said Khin Ohmar, coordinator of the
Burma Partnership, an Asia-Pacific network of civil society groups
championing democracy and human rights in Burma. "The regime cannot
tolerate such criticism."

In fact, Quintana broke new diplomatic ground with the strong words he
said in March, added the Burmese political exile. "It was the first time
that a crime against humanity inquiry was called for by a U.N. human
rights rapporteur."

Despite being denied a visa, "he (Quintana) is still committed to pushing
the inquiry forward," revealed David Scott Matheison, Burma consultant for
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based global rights watchdog. "He is not
giving up; he wants to go back inside and engage with as many actors."

The United Nations established a mandate to look into human rights
violations in Burma in 1992. That year also saw the start of resolutions
critical of the junta being tabled during the annual sessions of the U.N.
General Assembly. But it was only in 2002 that the reports on war crimes
allegations levelled at the junta began to emerge, confirming a worsening
climate of oppression and abuse in a country that already had a growing
list of gross human rights violations. The most damning report was
‘License to Rape’, published by the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), a
group from Burma’s Shan ethnic minority.

This disturbing report documented the Burmese military’s rape of Shan
women as part of their war effort against Shan ethnic rebels.

Following that 2002 report, the U.N. General Assembly approved for the
first time a resolution calling for an independent inquiry to investigate
cases of rape and other crimes committed by the Burmese regime in the
border areas that are home to ethnic minorities where separatist battles
were being waged.

Yet the disclosures in the SWAN report changed little, as reflected in
other reports that followed. Some were published by women belonging to the
Karen minority living along Burma’s eastern borders, where a six-decades
long separatist conflict continues.

The Karen and Shan victims are among those in the north and eastern corner
of Burma, close to the country's borders with Thailand and China, where
some 500,000 internally displaced people live in dire conditions after
fleeing conflict situations in their villages.

The impacts of these conflicts on the ethnic civilian population were
exposed in a 2009 report authored by five international jurists. Over
3,000 ethnic nationality villages have been burnt to the ground by the
Burmese military regime, revealed the report produced by the International
Human Rights Clinic at the law school of the U.S.-based Harvard
University. "This is comparable to the number of villages estimated to
have been destroyed or damaged in Darfur (Sudan)."

"The world cannot wait while the military regime continues its atrocities
against the people of Burma," added the jurists from Britain, Mongolia,
South Africa, the United States and Venezuela in the report ‘Crimes in
Burma’. "We call on the U.N. Security Council urgently to establish a
Commission of Inquiry to investigate and report on crimes against humanity
and war crimes in Burma."

Quintana echoed similar sentiments in his March report: "The U.N.
institutions may consider the possibility to establish a commission of
inquiry with a specific fact- finding mandate to address the question of
international crimes."

Quintana’s report, which followed his third trip to Burma in February
following his appointment in May 2008, highlighted a litany of violations
that included deaths and torture of detainees, forced labour, arrest of
dissidents and the lack of freedom of expression and assembly.

"This report was the highest from a U.N. official and confirmed what
ethnic communities living in the war zones have been saying during the
past years," said Charm Tong, a ranking member of SWAN, which produced
‘Licence to Rape’. "The victims are still under attack and have to flee
the Burmese army."

For this suffering to end, Quintana’s concerns and his call for a war
crimes inquiry should "break the silence at the U.N. Security Council,"
the Shan activist told IPS. "We want Burma to be discussed at the Security
Council."

____________________________________

August 9, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (US)
Burmese immigrants gather to commemorate uprising – Amy Rabideau Silvers

Like Burmese refugees throughout the world, immigrants in the Milwaukee
area gathered together Sunday to remember the one date that no one from
Burma can ever forget.

It was on Aug. 8, 1988, that peaceful demonstrations for democracy - now
known as the 8888 Uprising - spread across the country. They ended the
next month with a military coup and the slaughter of thousands of
protesters by the militaryled government.

And so the day is one of pride and solidarity, sorrow and remembrance.

It is a day to dream of a Burma free from military rule. Twentytwo years
later, the Burmese people are still waiting.

"We're still fighting," said Moe Aung, 44, a case worker with the Lao
Family Center in Milwaukee and a volunteer with the Burmese Community of
Wisconsin. "Even though I am a U.S. citizen, we want to get our country to
democracy. We want to send the message throughout the world." While the
country is officially called Myanmar, its expatriates say that they are
from Burma and call themselves Burmese. They include people from all walks
of life, different ethnic groups and faiths. Refugees fled to camps in
India, Malaysia and Thailand and continue to make their way to the U.S.
and other countries.

In the Milwaukee area, there are an estimated 1, 500 Burmese people, many
from the Karen ethnic minor- ity.

"People still come every month," Aung said. "Now almost 500 come so far
this year." Life can be difficult for the refugees, already traumatized by
events at home and now strangers in a strange land. Most need to learn
English, find jobs and a hundred other things, but there is more help for
newcomers now than a decade ago, said Aung.

"I've been here for 10 years," Aung said. "When we came here, only a few
people are here before us. It's still hard for them.

Some don't even speak A-B-C or 1-2-3." Zaw Oo, 38, now a bilingual support
specialist with the International Learning Center in Milwaukee, was
another early immigrant from Burma.

In 1988, he was a 16-year-old high school student in Rangoon, where
students were involved early on in the peaceful protests.

"The government arrested me," he said. Oo was held for six months until he
promised not to be involved in politics.

"After jail, I run away in the jungle," he said, with a laugh. "And we
make up a student army." That was his life for 10 years, until he decided
to try for a new life elsewhere. He arrived in the U.S. nine years ago and
is now a citizen.

"We need democracy, human rights," Oo said. "It's still a military
government.

They never make it 'people power.' "New elections were promised for 2010,
but for many, the question of free and fair elections in their homeland is
a moot point.

In 1990, the people elected Aung San Suu Kyi, who was already under house
arrest for leading the people's movement. She is considered their
democratically elected leader. She remains under house arrest.

There is one more reason the annual event is held.

"We want the new generation to know," Aung said. "They weren't there in
1988 to know the true story.

"We do this every year," he said. "And we pray for whoever passed away
during the demonstrations and got shot and stay in the country. We do not
forget our country."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 7, The Guardian (UK)
The legacy of Burma's Generation 88 – Waihnin Pwint Thon

Tomorrow marks 22 years since the peaceful pro-democracy movement in Burma
began. I hope William Hague remembers.

"Don't worry, don't worry daughter, everything will be fine, change is
coming soon."

Tomorrow is an important day. William Hague, the UK's foreign secretary,
may not be aware of the date's significance, but August 8 should be etched
into his memory, as it is mine.

Tomorrow is my father's day. When I was very young, I was taught that my
daddy was a man in a photograph, and later I was shown he was the man in
the prison, where we visited him and where I touched his fingers through
iron bars and pretended that the armed guards surrounded him to protect
him. Now I know him to be a hero of Burma, and my greatest inspiration.

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the start of a peaceful protest movement
in Burma, protests that would end in ongoing tragedy, bloodshed and
decades of global inaction. On 8 August 1988, my father, Ko Mya Aye, led
thousands of students on to the streets of Rangoon as part of a wave of a
million people, who gathered to peacefully protest against the ruling
military junta. The protests were put down by the most brutal means, and
organisers such as my father were beaten, tortured and jailed.

These protests were repeated in 2007 by defiant individuals who desired
democracy so fiercely that they were prepared to risk their liberty and
lives a second time. Individuals such as my father who, as part of the
iconic Generation 88 students group he co-founded, again helped
orchestrate mass protests on the very same streets of Rangoon, this time
as part of the so-called "saffron revolution".

Both times the events offered hope to the long-suffering people of my
homeland. Both would end with the Burmese authorities ruthlessly quashing
dissent. By the end of the summer of 1988, more than 3,000 peaceful
protestors had been killed.

In 1988, my father was arrested and given an eight-year jail sentence. In
2007, his sentence was 65 years. Without a regime change, I will never see
him again.

Sadly, the human rights situation in Burma remains as grim now as it has
ever been. It is illegal for more than five people to gather together to
talk about politics, the internet and the media are severely restricted,
torture is routine and there are currently 2,200 political prisoners.

Yet countries such as India and China continue to cosy up to the Burmese
authorities in an attempt to tap into Burma's natural resources. British
politicians have been at the vanguard of calling for change, but they need
to go the extra mile. William Hague needs to build a global consensus that
exposes Burma's human rights violations – especially now, with elections
planned for the end of the year. And that means working hard to persuade
the likes of India and China to change their tune. After all, they
ultimately risk shooting themselves in the foot: Burma's military junta
cannot go on for ever, and any new government is unlikely to forget who
helped prop the junta up. My father will not, and nor will I.

I left Burma in 2006 to study at university. From the moment I arrived in
the UK, I talked to various media outlets about my father and his
activities. It did not go unnoticed back home. The Burmese authorities
went to my parent's home and questioned my father about me, and it was
then that my father told me it was not safe to come back. He said he did
not want to lose his daughter.

I applied for asylum in the UK in April 2007. Just a few months later, the
saffron protests started.

I remember speaking to my father over the phone on August 21. I told him
how proud of him I was to see such big demonstrations and the
international attention they were receiving, and I begged him to be
careful. He said, "Don't worry, don't worry daughter, everything will be
fine, change is coming soon." He was full of hope.

He was arrested later that night. Despite our concerns for his safety, we
expected him to get sentenced to 20 years at the most. Sixty-five years is
a death sentence.

I am 21 now and my father remains my biggest inspiration. As long as I am
in the UK, I can be his words. I just want to make sure the politicians
are listening.

____________________________________

August 8, Democratic Voice of Burma
Remembering ‘88: Voices from the streets

It is 22 years since the Burmese junta opened fire on thousands of
protestors, many of whom were young students, marching in the streets of
Rangoon and across Burma. The protests began on 8 August 1988 and troops
opened fire almost immediately, killing up to 6,000 people, while hundreds
of key players later arrested will remain in prison until they die.

Instead of transforming Burma from a military state to a democratic
society, the protests against 26 years of dictatorial rule preceded a new
era of junta dominance. But out of the rubble emerged Aung San Suu Kyi and
the National League for Democracy, a potent symbol of opposition to
military rule in Burma. And along with her, hundreds of stories of heroism
and defiance that began in ‘88 have captivated audiences across the world.
Here, we speak to three of those who played key roles in fomenting the
8888 uprising, and who continue to fight for freedom in Burma.

Thiha Yarzar, temporary secretary of the All Burma Federation of Student
Unions (ABFSU), who spent 18 years in prison:

I was actively involved in protests as a student leader since the Burmese
Socialist Programme Party brought about devaluation of currency on 6
September, 1987. On that day, I was part of a group of 21 students that
drafted a protest letter against the government’s move. We marched through
the Rangoon University and handed over the letter to our chancellor.

The chancellor warned of the outcome of this move and requested us to back
off. We further insisted that he take the letter and forward it to General
Ne Win [Burma’s then military dictator]. He finally did agree to it. All
21 of us got arrested the next day. We were released on 12 February, 1988
– Burma Union Day.

However, we continued to hold secret meetings and discuss happenings in
Burma. During one of these meetings in the run up to the 8888 peoples’
uprising, two students died after being shot at. Military brutality on
peaceful student congregations or protests continued over that period of
time. It was sad to see so many young colleagues being beaten to death. I
was lucky to have escaped with just being arrested twice before the
uprising itself.

It was after being released from prison in July 1988 that the movement
gained a lot of momentum. I, along with other students, helped stick
posters all around Rangoon in public places – on walls, buses, everywhere.

During the 8888 uprising, I was a temporary secretary of the All Burma
Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). On 8 August, I led people from
Thangangyun township. We marched downtown. Around midnight, there was
firing at the Mahabandoola Park gate. There were about 700 to 800 people,
mostly students from the [Rangoon] university and high schools. Many 13 to
14 year old students died on the spot. I fled from there to our secret
office and met my friends to plan for the next day.

On 9 August, I led people again from Thangangyun township downtown. There
was a minibus in the middle of the street. I climbed atop the bus and made
a speech. As firing started, I got shot but survived the injury to my
knee. My friends pulled me down and put me in the car. I was bleeding. I
could see other students dead on the streets. People were fighting the
police unarmed. On the contrary, the policemen were heavily armed.

I was taken to an apartment in the city, where three or four doctors took
care of me. Until mid-August I was in a room with my friends trying to
recover from the injury. By then there were more and more people on the
roads, and more firing from the military’s side.

After the coup on 18 September, I fled to Thailand but kept returning to
Burma in the following years since I was assigned the job of a messenger
by the exiled leaders. I would carry letters from pro-democratic leaders
like Aung San Suu Kyi to others hiding in Thailand.

In 1990, leaders from the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) handed me
their draft of the constitution to be taken into Burma. Unfortunately I
was caught along with those documents on January 13, 1991. After the
arrest, they took me to innumerable interrogation centres for three
months. After much torture, they put me into military trial. I was
sentenced to death on grounds of high treason. After spending 18 years in
prison, I was finally released in March 2008.

Moe Swe, organizer of the Rangoon protests and current secretary general
of Yaung Chi Oo Worker Association migrants rights group:

In 1987 we had the currency demonetarisation, and this was when I finished
my final year at RIT. But we had a student network, so in the 1988
uprising our network agreed to hold the demonstration on August 8th. I
organised students for the demonstration at Mingalardon township. Of
course I was scared about being put in prison, but at the time we saw that
we had to do something.

During our university time we studied political science; Burma was then in
socialism, so we became interested in politics. But what’s in the books,
and what’s real life, is totally different, so we started thinking
something is wrong. We began reading political literature – a library had
opened near our university so we could study this literature and we
started to realise what was wrong. It was revolutionary literature – the
biographies of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. In Burma there were many
translated books so we started to learn from these. [Castro and Guevara]
were the youth, and they were sacrificing their lives for the country. But
we didn’t just read foreign literature, we read things from inside Burma.
We read work by people like Bhamo Tin Aung [prominent leftwing politician
and writer] – he was a former political prisoner and we liked him a lot.
This inspired us.

There is still so much oppression by the military government, economic
crises and so on – so I think we could see another ‘88’ again, like we saw
in the 2007 Saffron Revolution. There will be another way.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

August 8, Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus
Anniversary of the 8th August 1988 people's uprising in Burma

In marking the 22nd anniversary of the August 8, 1988 people’s uprising
for democracy in Myanmar, the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus
(AIPMC) observes this anniversary with deep respect for those who
participated in the uprising.

However, there is also deep disappointment and concern among AIPMC members
over the political and human rights conditions prevailing in Myanmar in
the years since.

Many of the individuals who participated in the 1988 uprising are among
the 2,000-over political prisoners currently in detention in Myanmar. This
includes Aung San Suu Kyi, the widely respected leader of the nation’s
largest opposition party, the National League for Democracy.

Myanmar is scheduled for general elections this year. Recently promulgated
electoral laws have barred Aung San Suu Kyi, and all other political
prisoners, from participation in the elections. This exclusion of
opposition leaders, as both candidates and voters, undoubtedly mean that
the general elections would be neither free nor fair and serve only to
entrench the military’s rule in the country. A military state is not one
that is welcomed in a developing region.

Furthermore, the electoral laws have been designed to guarantee the
military regime control over the election process especially with its
appointed Election Commission being given wide-ranging power over party
registration, allowing them to restrict party participation in the
elections to groups deemed friendly to the military regime.

Myanmar’s new constitution, which was adopted in 2008, is also designed to
ensure the military’s continued control of government giving it free reign
to act as violently as they have often in the past, including in August
1988, in gunning down unarmed civilians and Buddhist monks when staging
peaceful protests calling for democracy and fair rights.

“The flawed constitution and electoral laws, paired with increasing
restriction on party messages and campaigning, create an atmosphere in
Myanmar that is in no way conducive to free, inclusive elections. Barring
a dramatic change, its elections will merely be a charade conducted to
lend legitimacy to a brutal military regime,” commented Kraisak
Choonhavan, AIPMC President, on behalf of members of parliament from ASEAN
nations that form the AIPMC.

AIPMC honors the dedication and sacrifice of those who bravely confronted
Myanmar’s military regime 22 years ago.

In keeping with their desire for a free and democratic homeland, we call
on Myanmar’s military regime to revise the constitution and electoral laws
in consultation with the opposition and the country’s many ethnic groups.

AIPMC further urges ASEAN to similarly advise and compel Myanmar to do and
to ensure that the electoral process are in accordance with the principles
of democracy, for which so many have courageously struggled.