BurmaNet News, November 9, 2010

[Editor]

November 9, 2010 Issue #4080

INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Myanmar army-backed party sweeps election
Financial Times: Burmese consider challenge to junta’s poll win
DVB: Cyclone starves 86,000 of income

ON THE BORDER
AP: Japanese reporter detained in Myanmar freed
Irrawaddy: Junta troops retake Myawaddy as residents return

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar, Russian companies to jointly explore oil, gas

ASEAN
AFP: ASEAN welcomes Myanmar vote as 'significant step': Vietnam

REGIONAL
DPA: Obama: Myanmar elections neither free nor fair
Christian Science Monitor: Obama presses India to become global 'champion'
of democracy

INTERNATIONAL
Australia News Network: Australia's opposition calls for tougher sanctions
against Burma
DVB: China ends blockade of UN nuclear report

OPINION / OTHER
JoongAng Daily (South Korea): Myanmar’s bogus election – Editorial
Times of India: Knight of the generals? – Shashi Tharoor
Irrawaddy: Here's the new Burma – Kyaw Zwa Moe

PRESS RELEASE
USCB: UN Commission of Inquiry in Burma necessary to prevent further
abuses by the military regime as escalation of civil war looms
BCUK: Burmese political prisoner in election protest hunger strike





____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 9, Reuters
Myanmar army-backed party sweeps election – Aung Hla Tun

Yangon – Myanmar's biggest military-backed party won the country's first
election in 20 years by a landslide on Tuesday after a carefully
choreographed vote denounced by pro-democracy parties as rigged to
preserve authoritarian rule.

Opposition parties conceded defeat but accused the military junta of fraud
and said many state workers had been forced to support the army-backed
Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in advance balloting ahead
of Sunday's vote.

U.S. President Barack Obama told a news conference in Indonesia Myanmar's
election was neither free nor fair and called on Burmese authorities to
immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners.

But China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs lauded the election as "peaceful
and successful," illustrating strengthening ties between energy-hungry
China and its resource-rich neighbor.

As the votes were counted, government soldiers cleared ethnic minority
rebels from an eastern border town after two days of sporadic clashes that
killed at least 10 people and sent about 18,000 civilians fleeing into
neighboring Thailand.

Many refugees had returned to Myanmar by afternoon as the military pushed
back the ethnic minority Karen rebels who have resisted central authority
for generations since what was then Burma won independence in 1948 from
Britain.

U.N. refugee agency UNHCR says it is helping about 15,000 refugees who
fled to Thailand from fighting in Myawaddy, and monitoring another 3,000
who fled from another area of Myanmar.

The fighters say the election and the military's continued dominance
threaten any chance of achieving a degree of autonomy.

Stacked with recently retired generals and closely aligned with
77-year-old paramount leader Senior General Than Shwe, the USDP took as
many as 80 percent of the available seats for parliament, a senior USDP
official told Reuters.

But Khin Maung Swe, leader of the National Democratic Force, the largest
opposition party, told Reuters: "We took the lead at the beginning but the
USDP later came up with so-called advance votes and that changed the
results completely, so we lost."

The second-largest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party (Myanmar),
also conceded defeat.

"I admit defeat but it was not fair play. It was full of malpractice and
fraud and we will try to expose them and tell the people," its leader, Thu
Wai, told Reuters.

At least six parties have lodged complaints with the election commission,
accusing the USDP of fraud -- a charge that is unlikely to gain traction
in a country where more than 2,100 political activists are behind bars.

FOCUS ON SUU KYI

The vote was held with Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi in detention and her party disbanded for refusing to take part in
an election it said was unfair. She had urged supporters to boycott the
poll.

With the election over, the spotlight returns to Suu Kyi, who has spent 15
of the past 21 years in detention but is due to be freed when her latest
house arrest term expires on Saturday.

The United States, Britain, the European Union and Japan repeated calls
this week to free the 65-year-old pro-democracy leader whose National
League for Democracy beat an army-backed party by a landslide in 1990, a
result ignored by the junta.

The army-backed USDP's only real rival, the National Unity Party (NUP),
also backed by the army, fared poorly in its quest for 980 seats, winning
just 54 in the bicameral parliament and state assemblies.

"Some representatives of our party filed complaints about fraud and
malpractice by the USDP," said Tin Aung, a senior NUP official. A strong
showing by the NUP would have been seen as a jab against Than Shwe since
it is thought to be closer to a different faction in the army.

By crushing the NUP, the junta reduces the chance of fissures in the
military spilling into the open in parliament.

Already, 25 percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for serving
generals. Lawmakers are expected to rubber-stamp policies by a cabinet
appointed by a president who is not elected by the people but appointed by
a parliamentary committee.

Opposition lawmakers will have little say and no chance to secure the 75
percent of votes needed to amend a constitution that favors and reserves
power for the military.

The armed forces supreme commander will choose three serving generals to
head defense, interior and border affairs ministries.

This is why critics scoff at the military junta's assertion that the new
government will reflect the will of the people. In fact, parliament will
have very limited power.

Myanmar's neighbors and partners in ASEAN have been hoping the election
would end Myanmar's isolation and remove hurdles it poses to greater
cooperation with the West.

China has built up close political and business links with Myanmar while
the West has for years shunned its leaders and imposed sanctions over the
suppression of democracy and a poor human rights record.

Russia also welcomed the vote.

"We see the elections as a step in the democratization of Myanmar society
in accordance with the political reforms taken by the country's
leadership," Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Vorasit Satienlerk, Panarat Thepgumpanant and
Somjit Rungjumratrussamee, and Lucy Hornby in Beijing; Writing by Robert
Birsel and Jason Szep; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

____________________________________

November 9, Financial Times
Burmese consider challenge to junta’s poll win – Tim Johnston

Two Burmese opposition parties are considering legal challenges to
Sunday’s elections amid signs that the pro-junta Union Solidarity and
Development party has been swept into power.

In the absence of official results, a senior member of the USDP, which is
favoured by the ruling generals, said the party won 80 per cent of seats.

Than Nyein, chairman of the National Democratic Force, the largest
opposition party, which is considering a challenge, said: “How can it be
fair? The people who monitored the result in the polling booths said we
won in an overwhelming number of constituencies.”

Latest results from the parties show the NDF won just 16 of the 161 seats
it contested.

Even the National Unity party, broadly aligned with the interests of the
regime, has said it will challenge the result, a process that costs
$1,000, twice the cost of candidate registration.

In Mandalay, the second largest city, election officials said the USDP won
96 of 97 contested seats.

Observers said junta allies used advance votes to rig the result.

One election observer said: “Where necessary, which was pretty much
everywhere, bucket loads of advance votes arrived and tipped the balance
in favour of the USDP.”

The outcome of the first election in 20 years has not come as a surprise
because the generals did not want a repeat of the poll that the opposition
National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won by a landslide
in May 1990.

The scale of the apparent victory has snuffed out any notion that the
generals wanted even a veneer of democratic legitimacy.

Barack Obama, US president, said this week it was “unacceptable to steal
elections, as the regime in Burma has done”. China, however, welcomed the
elections as a critical step in Burma’s “transition to an elected
government”.

Phone Win, an unsuccessful independent candidate in Rangoon, said: “If you
didn’t have an arrangement with the USDP, you didn’t win. They [the
generals] may give us some political space to give themselves legitimacy.
If they allow us to continue our political activities, that would be OK
but if they don’t allow this, that would be bad.”

Aung Naing Oo, a political analyst in Thailand, said the election had at
least opened gates that the generals might find hard to close again.
“People have been able to speak out and complain publicly. These are
important issues in a democracy,” he said. “There are new actors and they
will not go down quietly.”

The observer had noticed a shift among opposition voters since the ballot.
“It’s hard to describe how angry and disappointed they are,” he said. “The
frustration is palpable, and it depends on how this sense of anger plays
out on the streets.”

____________________________________

November 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
Cyclone starves 86,000 of income – Francis Wade

More than 86,000 are “without any hope of cash” in coastal areas of Arakan
state nearly three weeks after cyclone Giri flattened houses and destroyed
farmland.

According to UN estimates, at least 16,187 hectares of rice paddy were
destroyed when the cyclone slammed in Burma’s western coast on 22 October.
Initial reports put the number of those affected at around 260,000, with
more than 80,000 left homeless.

IRIN news agency quoted Sanaka Sanarasinha, deputy resident representative
at the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Burma, as saying that 40 to 50
percent of the area was no longer harvestable.

Rice is the staple crop in Burma and, despite witnessing a massive fall in
production since its heyday in the 1930s, remains a major export
commodity. The cyclone hit at the very time harvesting was due in Arakan
state, destroying the only source of income for thousands of people.

Figures released by the Burmese government’s Central Statistical
Organisation (CSO) show that rice exports fell from 750,000 tonnes in the
first six months of 2009 to just over 270,000 this year.

In contrast to scathing condemnation of the Burmese junta’s reluctance to
allow aid to the Irrawaddy delta following cyclone Nargis in 2008, there
have been no reports that food and medicine to the Arakan region have been
blocked.

Following Nargis, which destroyed an estimated 1.75 million hectares of
farmland, or 30 percent of the wet season rice area for Burma, the junta
attracted further criticism for continuing to export rice at the same
levels as prior to the disaster.

The UN Development Programme has put the figure needed for reconstruction
of affected Arakan state areas over the coming three months at $US6-7
million.

In the worst-hit town of Myebon, more than 10,000 houses were destroyed,
according to the Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU). Only 10
percent of those households are now in camps.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 9, Associated Press
Japanese reporter detained in Myanmar freed

Tokyo — A Japanese reporter arrested while trying to sneak into Myanmar to
cover its first elections in 20 years was released Tuesday and sent back
to Thailand.

Toru Yamaji, 49, a reporter with the Japan-based APF news agency, was
freed Tuesday afternoon and sent by boat back to where he entered the
military-ruled country from northern Thailand.

Foreign reporters were not granted visas to cover the Nov. 7 election,
which has been widely seen as rigged to favor the ruling junta's proxy
party. Yamaji was detained Sunday in Myawaddy, on Myanmar's eastern border
with Thailand.

APF, a Tokyo-based news organization, confirmed Yamaji's release in a
statement Tuesday. Yamaji crossed the Thai border by boat and called to
say he was in good health late Tuesday, APF said.

A Japanese diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to release the information, said Myanmar officials told his
embassy the reporter was freed in recognition of the "mutual friendly
relations between the two countries."

Myanmar has been ruled by the military near-continuously since 1962, and
rebellions by its ethnic minorities predate its independence from Britain
in 1948.

The U.N. and human rights groups have detailed killings, rape, torture,
forced labor and burning of villages in Myanmar as the regime tries to
deny the rebels support from the civilian population. Thailand already
shelters a quarter-million ethnic minority refugees from brutal campaigns
by the Myanmar army.

Anti-government parties claim Sunday's poll was blatantly rigged. Khin
Maung Swe, chief of the anti-government National Democratic Force, accused
the junta's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, of
using every possible method to steal the vote, and said it was "sure to
win 90 percent if they continue to cheat in such manner."

Though most election results had not yet been released, there was little
doubt the junta-backed USDP would emerge with an enormous share of the
seats, despite widespread popular opposition to 48 years of military rule.

____________________________________

November 10, Irrawaddy
Junta troops retake Myawaddy as residents return – Wai Moe

Mae Sot, Thailand — Burmese junta troops have retaken control of the
border town of Myawaddy after a splinter group of the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army (DKBA) launched an urban warfare offensive there on Monday,
according to Burmese officials.

The siege of Myawaddy, opposite Mae Sot on the Thai-Burmese border, sent
thousands of local residents fleeing into Thailand. According to the
latest reports, most have since returned to Myawaddy, despite concerns
that fighting could resume.

Sources in Myawaddy said that at least 800 regime troops, some in armored
personnel carriers, took part in an overnight operation to oust the DKBA
Brigade 5 rebels. They were supported by a newly formed border guard force
consisting of former DKBA troops under the command of junta allies.

“Troops of the DKBA splinter group pulled out after government troops,
supported by border guard forces, launched an operation on Monday night,”
said a government official in Myawaddy, speaking on condition of
anonymity. “But further attacks are expected in the coming days.”

He said about six people had been killed since Monday, with another 30
injured. He denied rumors circulating on Monday that 30 people had been
killed in Myawaddy since the fighting started.

The official also added that DKBA Brigade 5, under the command of Col Saw
Lah Pwe, continues to use rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers to
attack Burmese troops in the town.

“They launched dozens of RPG attacks on Monday and Tuesday morning, some
of them landing on Thai soil, and there have been at least three more
since they were forced out of Myawaddy,” said the official.

Despite claims that Burmese troops are now firmly in control of the town,
many local residents remain concerned about the security situation. On
Tuesday morning, many were still crossing the Moei River into Thailand.

“People were hiding for their lives in Myawaddy last night,” said Phyu
Phyu, a woman who fled the Burmese border town on Tuesday morning with her
3-year-old daughter. “Last night we were hiding at a monastery in the
town, along with hundreds of other Myawaddy residents.”

According to some who had crossed the border this morning, Thai security
forces were blocking newcomers after allowing around 20,000 refugees to
enter the country on Monday.

“The Thais did not accept us, so we have to go back and take refuge at the
monastery again,” said a man who crossed the river into Mae Sot at 7
o'clock on Tuesday morning and returned to Myawaddy at noon.

Although most of the refugees had reportedly returned to the town by
Tuesday evening, there were also reports that many remain stranded on the
Thai side of the river bank.

Meanwhile, sources said that DKBA Brigade 5 troops have also pulled out of
Three Pagodas Pass and positioned themselves outside of the town. The
Burmese army is still reinforcing its troops in Three Pagodas Pass, the
sources said.

Around 10,000 residents of the town have crossed the border into
Sangklaburi, in Thailand's Kanchanaburi Province. According to sources,
two refugees were injured and later died after an RPG hit them on the Thai
side of the border.

About 80 Buddhist monks in Three Pagodas Pass have requested that DKBA
Battalion 907 stop fighting, saying more clashes with Burmese troops will
only destroy property and harm lives. The monks stood guard over civilian
property on Tuesday night to prevent looting.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 9, Xinhua
Myanmar, Russian companies to jointly explore oil, gas

Myanmar and Russian oil companies will jointly explore crude oil and
natural gas in Shwe U-ru block (B-2) in Homelin township in Sagaing
region, the local Weekly Eleven News reported Tuesday.

The project will be implemented by Myanmar's private Htoo Group companies
and the Closed Joint Stock Oil Company "Noble Oil" of the Russian
Federation.

At present, there are about 47 inland crude oil and natural gas fields
with 12 others being extended.

Besides the onshore areas, Myanmar has abundance of natural gas resources
in the offshore areas.

Since 2006, other three Russian oil companies have been engaged in oil and
gas exploration in Myanmar under respective contracts. The first Russian
company, which is JSC Zarubezhneft Iteraaws along with the Sun Group of
India, has been exploring oil and gas at block M-8 lying in the Mottama
offshore area under a production sharing contract with the Myanmar Oil and
Gas Enterprise (MOGE) signed in September 2006.

The latter two Russian companies -- Silver Wave Sputnik Petroleum Pte Ltd
and the Silver Wave Energy Pte Ltd of Kalmykia have been drilling
Zeebyutaung test well-1 at the inland block B-2 in Pinlebu township of
northwestern Sagaing region under another similar contract reached in
March 2007.

There has been seven foreign companies operating onshore, including Essar
Oil Ltd, Focus Energy Ltd, MPRL Exploration and Production Private Ltd,
Goldpetrol, CNOOC, Sinopec Oil Company and Chinerry Assests, according to
statistics.

____________________________________
ASEAN

November 9, Agence France Presse
ASEAN welcomes Myanmar vote as 'significant step': Vietnam

Hanoi – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) welcomed
Myanmar's first election in 20 years as a "significant step forward",
chair Vietnam said in a statement published by state media Tuesday.

"ASEAN encourages Myanmar to continue to accelerate the process of
national reconciliation and democratisation, for stability and development
in the country," it added.

Western governments have denounced army-ruled Myanmar's poll as anything
but free and fair, following widespread reports of intimidation and other
irregularities.

The junta's political proxies are widely expected to win over an
opposition that faced serious financial and other hurdles.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 9, Deustche Press Agentur
EXTRA: Obama: Myanmar elections neither free nor fair

Jakarta - US President Barack Obama on Tuesday criticized the recent
elections in Myanmar, saying Sunday's polls had been neither free nor
fair.

He also called on the country's ruling generals to immediately and
unconditionally release all political prisoners.

Speaking after talks with his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, Obama said one of the continuing challenges for the Association
of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is Myanmar.

Both Indonesia and Myanmar, also known as Burma, are members of ASEAN, a
regional organization of 10 member states.

"Last week's elections in Burma were neither free nor fair, and we will
continue our efforts to move Burma toward democratic reforms and
protection of human rights," Obama said at a joint press conference.

"As first step, the Burmese authorities should immediately and
unconditionally release all political prisoners, including [opposition
leader] Aung San Suu Kyi," Obama said.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) boycotted the elections. It
had won the 1990 election by a landslide but was never allowed to take
power.

____________________________________

November 9, The Christian Science Monitor
Obama presses India to become global 'champion' of democracy – Ben Arnoldy

Obama says India should have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council,
but needs to use its growing global clout to boost democratic
institutions.

New Delhi — As his trip to India winds down this week, President Obama
offered to welcome India as a permanent member of the United Nations but
suggested India needed to use its power globally to champion democratic
institutions, not sovereignty for poor nations.

“I look forward to a reformed United Nations Security Council that
includes India as a permanent member,” Mr. Obama said to a joint session
of India’s Parliament Monday, drawing applause from the MPs. But, “with
increased power comes increased responsibility.”

The US has previously said it supports UN reform, but shied away from
naming India as a candidate for permanent UN fixture. Part of that was due
to the long line of American allies who are vying for permanent UN seats,
including Germany and Japan. But it also reflected US wariness with the
role India has traditionally played as a champion for Third World states
that have felt hectored and exploited by international rules set up mostly
by rich nations.

“For so long [Indians] have been knocking at the door of the great power
club and finally they are on the threshold of the doorway, and now they
don’t know what is involved,” says Sumit Ganguly, an Indian-American
regional expert on sabbatical in New Delhi. “There are certain club rules
and certain norms and expectations that that club has.”
India's changing aspirations

India’s past role as a champion for autonomy and a critic of the world
order fit a country that was both large – and largely powerless. In recent
years, however, its positions have evolved partially as its wealth and
aspirations have grown.

The change can be seen in the rhetoric of India’s naval strategists. India
used to favor extending the maritime perimeters of coastal states.
Strategists here now speak of “freedom of the seas” and view ocean lanes
as “global commons” that must be defended by large powers for the benefit
of international trade.

“Autonomy is for weak powers who are trying to insulate themselves for the
regimen defined for them by the great powers,” said strategist C. Raja
Mohan in a widely noted talk this summer in New Delhi. India’s rise now
means that “Delhi’s task will be to contribute to the management of the
international order and not seeking autonomy from it.”

Some Indian positions still rankle the US, says Dr. Ganguly, including
India’s resistance to agricultural trade liberalization in the Doha Round
and its arguments that developed nations should shoulder most of the
restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions.
What about nuclear proliferation and human rights?

While Obama did not highlight those disputes in the speech, he did lay out
in broad terms some of the “responsibilities” – what US strategist Thomas
Barnett calls “rule sets” – of powerful nations. These included nuclear
nonproliferation, trade liberalization, counterterrorism, and human rights
advocacy.

It was, to some surprise, the last responsibility – human rights – that
Obama homed in on to chide India over its soft approach to the neighboring
dictatorship of Burma (Myanmar).

“When peaceful democratic movements are suppressed as they have been in
Burma, for example, then the democracies of the world cannot remain
silent,” Obama said.

“If I can be frank, in international fora, India has often shied away from
some of these issues. But speaking up for those who cannot do so for
themselves is not interfering in the affairs of other countries 
 it’s
giving meaning to the human rights that we say are universal,” he added.

Ganguly calls the Burma criticism a “cheap shot,” noting the US subsumes
human rights for strategic considerations with China and Saudi Arabia.
India’s Burma policy reflects fears of Chinese encirclement and Burma’s
wealth of untapped natural resources.

A permanent Security Council seat for India is not imminent despite
Obama’s encouragement. It is tied up in a decades-long debate on United
Nations reform. Such changes will require full support of the Security
Council and two-thirds support of the General Assembly.

“To get a two-thirds majority would be a hard job, [and] we expect that
China would be totally against it,” says T.P. Sreenivasan, a former Indian
ambassador to the UN.

The most serious discussions about adding seats envisions a second-tier of
permanent members who do not have a veto. Ambassador Sreenivasan says that
creates some debate in India as to whether a non-veto seat is worth it, as
India would have to wade into all the world’s disputes without getting the
benefit of self-protection from a veto.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 9, Australia News Network
Australia's opposition calls for tougher sanctions against Burma

The Australian Opposition says the Government should review the sanctions
it's imposing on Burma following international criticism of the junta's
recent election.

Many countries have described the poll as a fraud, and the Greens are
calling for heavier sanctions on the country.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says the Government will
talk with other countries about whether further steps need to be taken
against the regime.

The Opposition's Foreign Affairs spokesman Julie Bishop says Burma's
military regime has contempt for human rights.

"Its behaviour in rigging this election by suppressing the Opposition has
reinforced its reputation as one of the worst regimes on earth, however we
need to be careful sanctions target members of the regime, and don't cause
unecessary additional suffering for the Burmese people."
____________________________________

November 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
China ends blockade of UN nuclear report – Naw Noreeen

China has withdrawn its opposition to a UN report suggesting that North
Korea has supplied Burma and other pariah states with nuclear material.

The report is said to be making its way to the Security Council after six
months spent in limbo due to Beijing’s opposition. “Last week, China chose
to keep silent when the sanctions committee asked its members – the 15
nations on the Security Council – if they had any objections to the
report. That allowed it to formally move to the council,” Reuters said.
The 75-page document details suspicions that North Korea, which has been
under tight UN sanctions since it carried out two nuclear tests in 2006
and 2009, has supplied banned material to Naypyidaw, as well as Syria and
Iran, according to Reuters, which has seen the report.

While the focus of the Council’s discussion will centre on how to ratchet
up pressure on Pyongyang, the passing of the report will likely strike a
blow to any nascent cooperation between North Korea and Burma.

While there is yet no hard evidence that North Korea has supplied Burma
with proliferation material, a nuclear programme was uncovered in Burma
earlier this year following a five-year investigation by DVB, which has
also monitored the steadily warming relations between Naypyidaw and
Pyongyang. This appears to have developed under the watchful eye of China,
which has rapidly become the economic and political powerhouse of the
region.

Dr Ian Storey, a China expert at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies,
told DVB that the change in tack from Beijing, which has in the past
blocked UN resolutions on both countries, may signify its growing fears
over regional security.

“It’s clearly not in China’s interest to have a nuclear power on its
borders, either North Korea or Burma,” he said. “It’s too little too late
in the case of North Korea, but maybe this is a signal to the Burmese
government that China really does oppose it going down the path towards a
nuclear weapon.”

Burma last week held elections for the first time in two decades, despite
the polls being roundly condemned by much of the international community.
China however hailed the event as a “step forward”, and will likely seek
to boost already substantial investment in the coming years.

It is the economic and diplomatic support provided by China that has
largely given the regime its political immunity, and provided a crutch for
the generals in the face of sanctions from the West.

One diplomat however told Reuters that while Burma and Syria had clearly
been happy that China had blocked the report, the latest development shows
that China now “has other priorities”.

Storey said however that Burma “is frankly an embarrassment” to Beijing,
and the nuclear threat “makes the situation worse for China,” which has
already warned Naypyidaw about border stability following the elections.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 10, JoongAng Daily (South Korea)
Myanmar’s bogus election – Editorial

Myanmar was once one of the richest countries in Southeast Asia. It was
also the biggest rice exporter in the world - thanks to its fertile soil
and a land mass almost three times as large as the Korean Peninsula - and
has a 50 million-strong population and plentiful natural resources.

But now the country has become one of the most impoverished in the world,
with a per capita income of a measly $571. Myanmar is also notorious for
some of the worst corruption in the world, along with Somalia. What went
wrong with the once-affluent country? The answer can be easily seen in the
bogus general election held on Sunday.

The election, which was the first in 20 years, was allegedly free and
fair, but actually it was devised and controlled by a military government
that has ruled since 1962. Renowned opposition leader and Nobel Peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was forbidden to cast a ballot and the
government was deeply involved in all forms of restriction. Under these
circumstances, it’s almost impossible for the people of Myanmar to get out
of poverty and move their country forward.

The junta concocted the election on the pretext of handing power to a
civilian-led government. Military leaders pretend that several political
parties participated in the election. But it turned out to be an election
aimed at prolonging government rule, and the country’s military leaders
will just doff their uniforms and change into civilian clothes.

The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won an
overwhelming victory. Meanwhile, the opposition National League for
Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, boycotted the election because it
could not accept an election held while its leader was still under house
arrest. In the previous general election in 1990, the NLD won a landslide
victory, gaining 80 percent of all seats in the parliament - until the
ruling junta nullified the results.

As voters protest the election, the situation could now be headed for
bloodshed. Refusing to accept the election results, antigovernment rebel
forces stationed along the border with Thailand have seized public
buildings, including police stations and post offices. The Army
immediately stepped in to put the rebellion down, causing many casualties
in the process. The situation is getting worse, since about 20,000 Burmese
have fled to Thailand. The junta blew a precious chance for the country to
break away from its repressive past and march toward reform, opening and
democracy.

____________________________________

November 10, Times of India
Knight of the generals? – Shashi Tharoor

As stage-managed elections ratify the consequences of three decades of
military rule in Myanmar, the perspective from its neighbour India may
help explain why there is continued international acceptance of the
country's long-ruling junta.

Burma was ruled as part of Britain's Indian empire until 1935, and the
links between the two countries remained strong after Burma gained its
independence in 1947. An Indian business community thrived in Burma's
major cities, and cultural and political affinities were well established.
India's nationalist leader and first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was
a close friend of the Burmese nationalist hero Aung San, whose daughter,
the Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, studied in New
Delhi.

For many years, India was unambiguously on the side of democracy, freedom
and human rights in Burma - and in ways more tangible than the rhetoric of
the regime's western critics. When the generals suppressed the popular
uprising of 1988, nullified the overwhelming election victory by Aung San
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in 1990, shot students, and
arrested the newly-elected leaders, India's government initially reacted
as most Indians would have wanted. India gave asylum to fleeing students
and a base for their resistance movement (along with some financial help),
and supported a newspaper and a radio station that propagated the
democratic voice.

But then reality intruded. India's strategic rivals, China and Pakistan,
began to court the Burmese generals. Major economic and geopolitical
concessions were offered to both suitors. The Chinese even began
developing a port on the Burmese coast, far closer to Calcutta than to
Canton. And the generals began providing safe havens and arms to a motley
assortment of anti-Indian rebel movements that would wreak havoc in
India's north-eastern states and retreat to sanctuaries in the
newly-renamed Myanmar.

All this was troubling enough to Indian policymakers, who were being
painfully reminded of the country's vulnerability to a determined
neighbour. The clincher came when large deposits of natural gas were found
in Burma, which, it was clear, would not be available to an India deemed
hostile to the junta. India's rivals were gaining ground in its own
backyard, while Indian businesses were losing out on new economic
opportunities. The price of pursuing a moral foreign policy simply became
too high.

So India turned 180 degrees. When Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf
travelled to Myanmar to celebrate his country's new relationship with his
fellow generals, India's foreign minister Jaswant Singh soon followed. The
increasingly forlorn resistance operations staged from Indian territory
were shut down in the hope of reciprocation from the Burmese side. And
India sweetened the generals' tea by providing military assistance and
intelligence support to their own never-ending counter-insurgencies.

India's journey was complete: from standing up for democracy, India had
graduated to aiding and abetting the military regime in Rangoon (now
Yangon). When monks were being mown down on the streets of Yangon in 2006,
the Indian government called for negotiations, muttered banalities about
national reconciliation, and opposed sanctions. India also sent its
minister for oil to negotiate an energy deal, making it clear that the
country's real priorities lay with its own national economic interests,
ahead of its solidarity with Burmese democrats. (At the same time, Indian
diplomats intervened discreetly from time to time on behalf of Suu Kyi,
though their effectiveness was limited by India's unwillingness to
alienate the junta.)

All of this was in fact perfectly understandable. Officials in New Delhi
were justified in reacting acerbically to western critics of its policy.
India needed no ethical lessons from a United States and a Britain that
have long coddled military dictators in India's South Asian neighbourhood,
notably in Pakistan.

Any Indian government's primary obligation is to its own people, and there
is little doubt that the economic opportunities provided by Burmese oil
and gas are of real benefit to Indians. There is also the strategic
imperative of not ceding ground to India's enemies on its own borders.
India confronts an inescapable fact of geopolitics: you can put your
ideals on hold, but you cannot change who your neighbours are.

India's government cannot be blamed for deciding that its national
interests in Burma are more important than standing up for democracy
there. The member countries of the Association of South East Asian
Nations, on Burma's eastern flank, have made similar calculations.

But many Indians are asking themselves what such a policy does to India as
a civilisation. If that idealistic democrat Nehru had not been cremated,
India's stance toward Burma might cause him to turn over in his grave. It
is a policy that is governed by the head rather than the heart, but in the
process India is losing a little bit of its soul.

____________________________________

November 9, Irrawaddy
Here's the new Burma – Kyaw Zwa Moe

Burma's election is over. What's new and different after Sunday? Will
Burma get a new system that reduces the rule of the military dictatorship?

Here the new Burma:

All incumbent 27 ministers and deputy ministers of the military government
reportedly won in the Sunday elections.

Of course, Prime Minister Thein Sein is among them and Foreign Minister
Nyan Win won his constituency without a contest because he was unopposed,
as were 52 candidates of the junta's party, the Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP). You'll see a new government composed of many of
these incumbent ministers in the coming months.

Now, look at the leaders on the State Peace and Development Council:
Former generals, No. 3 Thura Shwe Mann and Secretary-1 Tin Aung Myint Oo,
won in their constituencies in Naypyidaw.

The USDP has reportedly won 82 percent of the seats in parliament. No
surprise there. We've said repeatedly that Than Shwe and his team would
rig votes. Most pro-democracy and ethnic parties that contested in the
election knew the USDP would rig votes, but it was even worse than they
expected.

The USDP made a mockery of the advanced vote process. Witnesses and party
leaders said advanced votes would come in whenever a USDP candidate seemed
in danger of losing. In Rangoon, they called the advanced votes “joker
votes.”

Leaders of the National Democratic Force, a breakaway party of detained
pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, said
that in some constituencies advance ballots represented about half of the
eligible votes. As the biggest opposition party, the NDF contested 164
seats, a handful of the 1,157 seats in parliaments. It won 16 seats, the
party said on Tuesday.

NDF party leader Khin Maung Swe said that polling station officials in
many townships, such as Thanlyin and Kyauktan in Rangoon, suspended the
counting of ballots on Sunday night at a point when the count showed the
NDF leading. “Joker Votes” were rampant nationwide. In ethnic Mon State,
Dr. Min Nwe Soe of the All Mon Region Democracy Party, said, “A
suspeciously high percentage of advanced votes were cast in Mudon
Township,” in which he contested.

Than Than Nu, the daughter of Burma's first premier, U Nu, told The
Irrawaddy on Monday, “This election was the dirtiest among the elections
after Burma gained independence from the British in 1948.” She's one of
the “Three Princesses” comprised of Nay Ye Ba Swe and Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein,
daughters of former prime ministers of Burma before 1962, when Ne Win's
military government staged a coup.

“My father would say so if he were still alive,” said Than Than Nu, who
lost as a parliamentary candidate in Mandalay Division representing the
Democratic Party (Myanmar). Almost all candidates of the party, including
the other two “princesses” and party leader Thu Wai, also lost. The party
won a couple of seats out of the 48 constituencies it contested.

What else did we get out of this rare election, the first in the 20 years?
The border towns of Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass, bordering Thailand,
are battle grounds, with refugees fleeing the fighting. On election day,
an ethnic army splinter group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, engaged
government's troops and seized some government buildings, including police
stations, in the two towns. The fighting sent more than 10,000 refugees to
Thailand's Mae Sot. It bodes ill, and is a sign of the instability to come
in ethnic areas along the border.

“Is something better than nothing?” Or, is “the election an opportunity to
move towards democracy?” Those were the optimistic statements of some
people inside and outside Burma before the election. Actually, the
election may have made things worse. By now, the world has learned a
lesson, taught by the ruling generals, that many Burmese have learned
repeatedly while living under the generals' boots for five decades.

Finally, how about the junta's reclusive dictator, Sen-Gen Than Shwe? As
commander in chief, he didn't contest in the election. Will he relinquish
power? Don't forget his main motivation was to gain legitimacy while
continuing to rule the country. Thus, he may be elected president by the
new parliament. But don't be surprised if he chooses to remain behind the
scenes as the unofficial “Senior President” or “President Mentor,” the
real power behind the scenes.

So, here's a snapshot of the new Burma: the new government will be
composed of the regime's incumbent ministers; about 80 percent of the USDP
candidates will have seats in the brand new parliament; Than Shwe will be
elected president or assume the “President Mentor” role; ethnic groups who
signed cease-fire agreements are likely to fight the regime, in response
to increased pressure on them to become a border guard force.

Oh, yes. Don't expect to see the release of the more than 2,200 political
prisoners under this new government.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

November 9, U.S. Campaign for Burma
UN Commission of Inquiry in Burma necessary to prevent further abuses by
the military regime as escalation of civil war looms

Washington, DC – As fierce fighting broke out between the military regime
and some ethnic forces in Karen state recently, the possibility of an
escalation of civil war looms in ethnic minority areas. The U.S. Campaign
for Burma (USCB) calls on the UN Security Council to take effective action
to pressure the regime to pursue a peaceful solution through an
all-inclusive political dialogue and the UN General Assembly to establish
a Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against
humanity in Burma as a necessary preventative measure.

“The situation in Burma is now on the verge of chaos as the military
regime completed its sham elections on Sunday with an aim to install a
permanent military dictatorship in the country under the disguise of a
so-called civilian government”, says Aung Din, former political prisoner
and Executive Director of USCB, based in Washington, DC. Widespread fraud,
voter intimidation, cheating, and irregularities were reported throughout
the country. It is clear that the authorities, election commission and the
regime’s party the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) worked
together to secure victories for their USDP candidates. While the
‘official’ election results have not been announced, USDP leaders already
claimed that their party won over 80% of the contested seats, about 60% of
the total. Combined with 25% of the seats which will be appointed by the
Commander in Chief, the military and its proxy party the USDP will control
over 85% of the seats in the Parliaments (both national and state/regional
levels), and they will crush any voices from the so-called opposition MPs.

As expected, Burma will be under the continued military rule and
escalating violence. Those political parties, who had believed that they
could bring about change in the country by participating in the election,
have begun to say that they would not recognize the elections’ results.
The people of Burma who were forced to polling stations and whose votes
were manipulated by the regime continue to challenge military rule. Ethnic
minorities whose fundamental rights were denied by the regime’s
constitution and election are attempting to protect their population from
the regime’s abuses. On Election Day, a Karen armed group, called the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which was allied with the regime in
the past, attacked the regime’s troops in two important towns on the
Thai-Burma border, “Myawaddy” and “Three Pagodas”, and seized these towns
for two days. During the severe fighting, both sides used heavy artillery
and forced tens of thousands of residents to flee to Thailand. Several
bridges connecting these towns and other parts of Burma were destroyed by
the DKBA soldiers, who attempted to block the regime’s troops marching
toward the areas.

Other ethnic resistance groups, such as the Karen National Union (KNU),
the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Karen Peace Council (KPC) also
helped DKBA in fight the Burmese Army. Other powerful ethnic resistance
armies operating on the China-Burma border, the Kachin Independence Army
(KIA), the United Wa State Army (UWSA), and the Shan State Army (South)
(SSA-South) are also putting their troops on alert and preparing to
respond if they are attacked by the regime’s troops. They all have refused
to participate in the elections and to put their troops under the direct
command of the regime in the name of Border Guard Forces. They recently
formed a military alliance.

“This is the time for members of the United Nations to adopt a resolution
to establish a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and
crimes against humanity in Burma during the ongoing UN General Assembly.
This is essential and urgent to prevent further crimes perpetrated by the
military regime as an escalation of civil war is almost unavoidable,” said
Aung Din. “I also call on the UN Security Council to take effective action
to demand the regime stop its violence against the people and start
negotiations with democracy forces led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and ethnic
representatives for a peaceful solution in Burma,” Aung Din continues

Media Contact: Jennifer Quigley at (202) 234 8022

____________________________________

November 9, Burma Campaign UK
Burmese political prisoner in election protest hunger strike

Kyaw Kyaw Naing, a jailed member of the National League for Democracy, has
gone on hunger strike to protest against sham elections being held today
in Burma, according to Burma Campaign UK sources.

Kyaw Kyaw Naing is in Pa-an prison in Karen State, Burma, began his hunger
strike at 8am on Saturday 6th November.

No information has been received about his wellbeing since he started the
hunger strike.

Kyaw Kyaw Naing said in a message; “I will go on hunger strike to support
the Vote No campaign of the NLD, to object to the Nargis Constitution
which will maintain the dictatorship in power for the long term, and to
oppose the Giri election.”

Burma’s 2008 Constitution has been dubbed the Nargis Constitution, and
Burma’s generals went a ahead with a rigged referendum on the Constitution
just days after the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, killing around
140,00 people and affecting more than 2.5 million. Cyclone Giri hit Burma
on 22nd October and has affected 400,000 people.

Kyaw Kyaw Naing, who is around 40 years old, is serving a 14 year prison
term.

There are more than 2,200 political prisoners in Burma. Many are held in
appalling conditions, denied proper food and medical care.

“Even in jail democracy activists are doing what they can to resist the
dictatorship and its sham election,” said Mark Farmaner, Director at Burma
Campaign UK. “Now the election is over the UN should redouble its efforts
to secure the release of all political prisoners. “

For more information contact Mark Farmaner on 07941239640.