AFP – Myanmar delays Suu Kyi case for witness appeal
AP – Myanmar lawyer says US man had no criminal intent
EarthTimes – Thai parliament women speak out for Aung San Suu Kyi
CNN International News – CNN exposé on Thai refugee abuse wins award
Toledo Blade – Editorial: Myanmar misrule
Radio Australia – ?Harvard Law report calls for UN action on Burma
OpEdNews – Aung San Suu Kyi is key to reconciliation
Bernama – Former Labourers And Relatives Want Authorities To Intervene In Claims
BWFD(Weblog) – Children recruited in Burmese Army cadet
BWFD(Weblog) – Kachin student in coma after brutal assault by soldiers
Bangkok Post – EDITORIAL: Pawns in two show trials
IOL – Suu Kyi’s case ‘one-sided’
The Times of India – Myanmarese students make a peace connection
The Nation – Thailand, Bangladesh accord on repatriation of Rohingya
Mizzima News – Ivanhoe’s Burma stakes to be sold to Chinese firm
Mizzima News – Fund crunch threatens rice production in Burma: WFP
Mizzima News – Activists skeptical of release of child soldiers
The Irrawaddy – Site of Collapsed Pagoda Sealed Off
The Irrawaddy – After The Lady Is Jailed
DVB News – Monk calls for unity among religious leaders
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Myanmar delays Suu Kyi case for witness appeal
1 hr 11 mins ago

YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar’s judiciary accepted an appeal from Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers Wednesday over the number of witnesses she could call, delaying closing arguments at her internationally condemned trial.

The democracy leader’s legal team had challenged a ruling banning three out of the four defence witnesses she had asked for at the closed-door proceedings, saying it showed the military regime’s case against her was one-sided.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for her party, said a higher court would now hear from the government and the defence on the matter on Friday, when closing arguments at the prison trial were originally due to be heard.

“I think it is a positive sign, if we look at the law,” Nyan Win, who is also a member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team, told AFP.

“The Yangon divisional court accepted our revision (appeal) so both sides have to give statements to the court on Friday at 3:00pm. That means the final arguments in the trial are postponed,” he added.

The Nobel laureate faces up to five years in jail on charges of breaching the conditions of her house arrest after a bizarre incident in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside home in May.

The three barred witnesses were Win Tin, a dissident journalist who was Myanmar’s longest serving prisoner until his release in September; Tin Oo, the detained deputy leader of her party; and lawyer Khin Moe Moe.

The court previously heard from 14 prosecution witnesses, mostly policemen, while one witness was accepted for Aung San Suu Kyi’s defence.

Nyan Win also said that their preparations for final arguments in the case, to be heard once the appeal is dealt with, were “almost finished.”

“We are satisfied with our preparations, ” he said.

Myanmar’s ruling junta has already kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for 13 of the last 19 years and the latest attempt to lock her up has provoked international outrage.

US President Barack Obama has described the proceedings inside Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison as a “show trial” while Myanmar’s usually reticent Asian neighbours have expressed strong concerns.

Myanmar’s ruling generals say the case is an internal matter, accusing Aung San Suu Kyi of covering up Yettaw’s visit and suggesting that the incident was planned by “internal and external anti-government elements.”

Yettaw’s lawyer said Tuesday that the former US military veteran did not take orders or money from outside organisations before swimming across the lake — a feat he managed using a pair of home-made flippers.

He said that Yettaw, a devout Mormon, was a “sincere and pious” person who believed God had told him to warn her and the government after he had a vision that she would be assassinated.

Legal and rights experts told a panel discussion in Bangkok that the international community should use the global outrage about the trial to push for a UN inquiry over possible crimes against humanity in Myanmar.

The case has provided a “window of opportunity” to investigate Myanmar’s junta, said Tyler Giannini of Harvard Law School.

Giannini co-authored a report in May calling for the UN Security Council to follow the precedent of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, where inquiries led to special tribunals and prosecutions.

“The trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is putting additional scrutiny on Burma right now and really highlighting the lack of judicial independence, ” Giannini said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand late Tuesday.

Myanmar was formerly known as Burma and has been ruled by the military since 1962. The army refused to recognise elections won by the National League for Democracy in 1990 and crushed mass protests in 1988 and 2007.

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Myanmar lawyer says US man had no criminal intent
2 hrs 35 mins ago

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – An American facing trial for swimming to the home of Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was motivated by religious fervor rather than criminal intent and should receive a light sentence, his lawyer said Wednesday.

John W. Yettaw is being tried along with Suu Kyi, who is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest by allowing the American to stay for two days after he secretly entered her lakeside compound.

The case, which was set to conclude Friday, will push into at least next week after a Divisional Court agreed to hear a defense appeal to readmit three witnesses, one of Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Nyan Win, said Wednesday. The court will take up the appeal Friday.

The lower District Court earlier disqualified all but one defense witness – legal expert Kyi Win. Those rejected were all members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party: prominent journalist and former political prisoner Win Tin, the party’s vice chairman Tin Oo, currently under house arrest, and lawyer Khin Moe Moe.

Both Yettaw and the Nobel Peace laureate could face up to five years in jail.

“I am confident my client could face a lenient sentence. He had no criminal intent, and the only criminal charge he could face would be for lurking house-trespass, ” said Yettaw’s lawyer, Khin Maung Oo. Lurking house-trespass is a legal, English-language term used in Myanmar.

Yettaw is also being tried for violating the immigration law and swimming in Inya Lake.

The lawyer said his client was not a religious fanatic but rather a devout Mormon who “came with a mission” to warn Suu Kyi that “terrorists” were going to assassinate her and then put the blame on the government.

The lawyer said Yettaw was not engaged in a publicity stunt to reap popularity or to tarnish anyone’s image.

Suu Kyi likewise has called Yettaw sincere, and rebuked some of her followers who have called him a “fool” and a dupe for getting her into trouble.

“Mr. Yettaw was not acting on instructions by any individual or organization. He is a very religious man, and he acted on his own belief,” said the lawyer, when asked about the government’s earlier allegation that anti-government forces engineered the intrusion to embarrass the regime.

Khin Maung Oo said his client was certified 10 years ago as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He added that he has experienced several family tragedies, including the death of a son.

Yettaw was wounded while serving in the U.S. military, according to family members. He continues to draw U.S. government disability payments each month.

The trial has drawn condemnation from the international community and Suu Kyi’s local supporters, who worry that the junta has found an excuse to keep her detained through elections planned for next year.

“This show trial is the regime’s latest political play to ensure she is out of the way for the 2010 elections,” said Myanmar activist Khin Omar, of the Forum for Democracy in Burma. Omar said he hoped the Suu Kyi trial will spur the international community, and the United Nations Security Council in particular, to take action against the regime.

“It is not too late for something good to come out of this,” she said at a panel discussion in Bangkok on Tuesday night.

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EarthTimes – Thai parliament women speak out for Aung San Suu Kyi
Posted : Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:41:38 GMT
Author : DPA

Bangkok – Twenty-two female members of Thai parliament on Wednesday petitioned Myanmar’s junta to drop current charges against democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and free her immediately. “As a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and as a longstanding democracy advocate, Daw (Mrs) Aung San suu Kyi has been an inspiration not only for women MPs in Thailand but also for all adherents and participants of democratic ideals worldwide,” the 22 Thai women said in a statement.

Altogether there are 62 women MPs out of 474 total seats in Thailand’s Lower House.

Suu Kyi, who has spent the past six years under house arrest at her family’s lakeside compound in Yangon, is currently on trial for breaking her terms of detention by allowing US national John William Yettaw, 53, to swim to her home on May 3 and stay there, although uninvited, until the night of May 5.

If found guilty, Suu Kyi faces a minimum of three and maximum of five years in jail.

“We believe her action, if committed, was an act out of mercy and out of her concern for a fellow human being. The incident warrants no trial of detention,” the Thai MPs’ letter to Myanmar’s military rulers said.

“We, the undersigned women members of Thai Parliament, strongly urged the unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees,” it said.

It was the first such statement by a group of women MPs in Thai parliament on a diplomatic matter.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, in his position as current chair of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), last month issued a statement expressing “deep concern” about Suu Kyi’s latest trial and possible imprisonment.

The statement was rejected by Myanmar’s junta as interference in the country’s internal affairs. Myanmar joined ASEAN in 1997.

Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest in a country ruled by a military junta continually criticized for human rights abuses. She now faces another three to five years in jail if found guilty of breaking the terms of her latest, six-year detention.

Western leaders have criticized the proceeding as a show trial designed to keep Suu Kyi out of the political scene while the junta stages a general election next year.

Suu Kyi, her two household aides and Yettaw stand accused of breaking Suu Kyi’s terms of house arrest as a result of Yettaw’s swim to her home.

Suu Kyi, 63, is the leader of the National League for Democracy opposition party, which won the 1990 general election by a landslide, but has been blocked from power by Myanmar’s junta for the past 19 years.

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CNN exposé on Thai refugee abuse wins award
June 3, 2009

LONDON, England (CNN) — A CNN documentary that sparked worldwide condemnation of Thailand’s alleged practice of pushing Myanmar’s Rohingya boat people out to sea has won an Amnesty International Media Award.

The winning half-hour documentary, presented by CNN’s Bangkok-based correspondent Dan Rivers, highlighted the on-going persecution of the ethnic Rohingya people in their bid to escape terrible persecution and privation in Myanmar, formerly Burma, and in neighboring countries.

Jurors at Tuesday’s award ceremony in London singled out CNN’s entry for particular praise for putting the issue high on the agenda at an ensuing Southeast Asian summit meeting.

They said they were impressed by a brilliant investigation that broke new ground and secured a personal commitment to intervene from the Thai prime minister.

CNN International executive vice president and managing director Tony Maddox said: “This award is a tremendous reflection on the quality and depth of CNN’s reporting, the tenacity, bravery and resourcefulness of our correspondent Dan Rivers and an endorsement of the network’s strategy to own and create more content.

“It is a testament to CNN’s London-based managing editor Deborah Rayner and the World’s Untold Stories team in Atlanta that only the third edition of the documentary series, produced by CNN International, has won such a prestigious award so soon,” he added.

The allegations of mistreatment of the Rohingya in the neighboring country of Thailand — at the hands of the military — prompted a government inquiry.

Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva later told CNN in an exclusive interview with Rivers that he would bring those responsible to account.

The haunting pictures of Thai soldiers towing boatloads of Rohingya and cutting them adrift on the high seas — first broadcast on CNN’s World’s Untold Stories — are one of the iconic images of 2009 and are credited with bringing the practice to worldwide attention.

“This story underscores all the reasons why I became a journalist,” said Rivers. “It’s about getting the facts and using those facts to engage an audience and make a difference.”

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen, paid tribute to the winners for bringing human rights abuses to the world’s attention. She said: “In the midst of the world financial crisis it is more important than ever to celebrate the achievements of journalists whose outstanding reporting has helped throw a clear light upon human rights abuses.

“Not only is the crisis itself having an impact upon people’s human rights, there is also a real threat to investigative journalism as media outlets cut costs and reduce staff.”

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Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Radio Australia – ?Harvard Law report calls for UN action on Burma
Updated June 3, 2009 16:11:40
A new report by the Harvard Law School has called on the UN Security Council to act against the military regime.

The report – called ‘Crimes In Burma’ – says the trial of Aung San Su Kyi is an example of the junta’s disregard for basic rights.

GIANNINI: The information for this report was solely based on a review of UN documents. By that I mean General Assembly resolutions and rights council resolution. The UN has really been focused on Burma for 20 years and the latest activities around the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi just highlight again how the regime violates fundamental rights in numerous ways. And really, the Suu Kyi trial is an example of the lack of an independent judiciary in Burma. And this is very relevant to our report. Because what the report is calling for is for the UN Security Council to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes in the country. And one of the reasons they need to do that is because the Burmese regime and its culture of impunity allows human rights violators to go unprosecuted. There’s no investigations and the Suu Kyi trial really exemplifies the fact that the judiciary is not acting as it should.

LAM: Indeed, as you point out, you’ve based your report also on the personal observations of many UN rapporteurs who reported the same abuses. The UN Security Council has so far shown itself quite slow to act in Burma. Why do you think this is?

GIANNI: Well, I think what the report does is it brings together all of the different UN actors who’ve looked at this special rapporteurs’ General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights, which is now the Human Rights Council. And what it’s highlighting for the UN Security Council is they need to act. Often, some of the coalition, of the political will to act is not always there initially. But now with Burma over more than 15 years, there has been repeated calls for action at the General Assembly, and the UN Security Council now needs to take that step. And looking at other situations around the world, in Darfur, for example, this is the pattern that has happened at the UN Security Council. Once they become aware that there’s a severe humanitarian situation, then they commission an investigation, that’s what now needs to happen with Burma.

LAM: Well, what needs to happen and what will happen are two different things. And with countries like India and China being quite unsupportive of any moves against Burma, how are things different this time around?

GIANNI: Well, the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi has resulted in widespread condemnation of the Burmese regime right now, and this is one thing that needs to continue. The Security Council has already raised the issue of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and they also need to look at these potential crimes against humanity and war crimes at the same time. And so the scrutiny the regime is having right now needs to continue. Member states need to act and put this issue of crimes against humanity at this Commission of Inquiry onto the agenda of the Security Council, to have these discussions. China has in the past allowed the Commission of Inquiry to go forward at Darfur and if the situation that it’s getting from its own UN documents, UN actors are showing similar levels of abuses in Burma, then China, to be consistent and to be a leader internationally, should allow a Commission of Inquiry to go forward with regards to Burma.

LAM: And just briefly, Tyler, the Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit, who holds the current chair of ASEAN this week tried to get the ASEAN leaders together on the sidelines of ASEM to discuss a Suu Kyi trial. Do you see fresh resolve with Thailand in the chair?

GIANNI: I do see that with Thailand in the chair, this is an important time for ASEAN to again take a leadership role on human rights and to be consistent in its principles that what’s going on in Burma is not acceptable, to give you a sense of how severe the situation is again to compare it to Darfur. Since 1996, there’ve been independent and reliable sources according to the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma; of more than 3,000 villages being relocated just in eastern Burma alone. That is comparable to the number in Darfur and this means that this is a very serious situation and the situation is just as critical in Burma as it is in Darfur.

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Article published June 03, 2009
Toledo Blade – Editorial: Myanmar misrule

IT IS AMAZING the ends to which adespotic regime will go to stifle opposition.

A prime example is the trial of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the key figure in the rival movement to the generals ruling the country formerly known as Burma.

That is not to say that Ms. Suu Kyi does not constitute formidable opposition to Myanmar’s generals, ruling under the name State Peace and Development Council, in power since 1962.

Her party, the National League for Democracy, won the country’s most recent elections, held in 1990, which resulted in her having been kept under house arrest for the most part ever since.

Her father, Gen. Aung San, was considered the father of his country’s independence, although he was a controversial figure who was ultimately assassinated.

The generals have scheduled elections of a sort for next year and would like to have Ms. Suu Kyi, 63, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, off the scene.

Toward that end, they have taken a very strange incident involving an odd American as reason for putting her on trial, charging her with having broken the terms of her house arrest. On the night of May 3, John H. Yettaw, 53, swam across a lake adjacent to Ms. Suu Kyi’s residence, turning up on her doorstep saying he was too tired to swim back.

Trying to be polite, she and her staff took him in, thus opening herself up to charges that she had violated a clause forbidding “unauthorized foreign or overnight visitors” in the terms of her house arrest.

The weird part is that Mr. Yettaw had with him a collection of items, including two signal lights, Muslim women’s robes, and swimming goggles, which someone with a vivid imagination – or advanced paranoia – about the CIA might think could be used by the Myanmar opposition leader in a reverse swim across the lake to freedom. Her lawyer has described Mr. Yettaw simply as “a fool.”

The guess is that the Myanmar court will find Ms. Suu Kyi guilty and extend her house arrest by five years, until well past next year’s elections.

What the military junta, led by Senior Gen. Than Shwe, doesn’t seem to grasp is that persecuting Ms. Suu Kyi serves no purpose in terms of reducing her popularity among the Myanmar population and only improves her party’s prospects in the elections.

We have no empathy for the ruling junta, a bunch of dishonest despots with no respect for democracy or human rights, but the best outcome would be for the Myanmar government to dismiss the case, laughing the charges against her out of court.

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www.opednews. com, June 3, 2009 at 09:37:37
OpEdNews – Aung San Suu Kyi is key to reconciliation
by Zin Linn
Column: Burma Question

Bangkok, Thailand – Burma’s repugnant military junta defended its prosecution of Nobel Peace Prize winner and pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on May 31, 2009, by saying the Lady was not above the law, and warned other countries not to put their oars in its water.

It was the first comment by a top official from the reclusive regime defending publicly its actions, which have drawn widespread international condemnation, including from its neighbors in Southeast Asia.

“If offenders are not prosecuted anarchy will prevail and there will be breaches of peace and security,” said Major-General Aye Myint, Burma’s deputy defense minister, at a security conference in Singapore.

The junta has charged Suu Kyi, 63, with violating the terms of her house arrest by sheltering an uninvited American, John Yettaw, 53, after he secretly swam to her lakeside home in early May.

In fact, Aung San Suu Kyi is the key figure in any dialogue aimed at national reconciliation. Regional players in the international community should say with one voice that excluding Suu Kyi and other key ethnic leaders and stakeholders in the 2010 election planned by the regime will lead to new civil strife. Then, in cooperation with U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, regional players should press for real democratic change in Burma.

Turning back the calendar six years would reveal the “Black Friday” premeditated ambush to assassinate the Lady near the town of Depayin in military-ruled Burma, at about 8:00 p.m. on May 30, 2003. Although Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo escaped from that killing, it was confirmed that many members and sympathizers of her National League for Democracy were massacred.

Estimates range from 100 to 282 NLD members and supporters killed, with 256 democracy activists arrested, in relation to the attack and many more wounded or missing.
A report by the special rapporteur on human rights to Burma, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, said, “There is prima facie evidence that the Depayin incident could not have happened without the connivance of state agents.”

If “no one is above the law,” why didn’t authorities take to court the guilty lawbreakers of Black Friday? At the very least an independent inquiry commission should have been formed to seek the truth. However, Burma’s junta ignored repeated calls from the international community to investigate the 2003 attack. Instead, the junta incessantly blamed the NLD for the country’s miseries.

Accordingly, there are a number of questions to be asked of Major-General Aye Myint:

Why did your regime fail to take legal action against the criminals in Depayin?

Is it your regime’s intention to harm the region’s peace and security by allowing thuggish gangs to practice anarchy?

Does your junta have a policy of practicing state terrorism?

Paulo Sergio Pinero, the former U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar, wrote in the New York Times last Thursday: “It is time for the United Nations to take the next logical step: The Security Council must establish a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity and impunity in Myanmar. The Security Council took similar steps with regard to Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The situation in Myanmar is equally as critical.”

The international community, led by the United Nations, should keep in mind that in the case of Black Friday the junta’s chief Than Shwe was the key criminal and Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters were the victims. It is clear that Than Shwe was treated as “above the law,” while the military regime declared that it had put the Nobel Laureate under “protective custody.”

Since that time the Burmese people have known that the law will not protect them. The United Nations, ASEAN and the European Union all failed to show solidarity with the victims of Black Friday. Hence the Burmese people thought world leaders supported the criminal who instigated the Depayin ambush – and who is responsible for keeping the people in deep poverty in a resource-rich country.

Living in poverty for five decades, the majority of the Burmese people have a bitter hatred toward the military dictatorship and the military elite. They also have an anti-China outlook due to China’s use of its veto at the U.N. Security Council in favor of the rogue military regime and its exploitation of Burma’s natural resources.

In brief, before these dissatisfactions and bitter hatred explode, it is time for the regional players including China, Japan and ASEAN to pressure the Burmese junta to comply with the United Nations’ consecutive decisions. The world body and regional players should convince the incumbent military rulers to sit down for meaningful talks with Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic stakeholders as soon as possible.

The U.N. Security Council has called for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma. The generals should seriously consider responding to these calls if they hope for national reconciliation. It is extremely remarkable that the international community – the U.N. Security Council, the United States, the European Union, ASEAN and the East Asian countries – are currently all taking the same position on the question of Burma.

The United Nations, European Union and ASEAN should try specifically to persuade China to cooperate in finding a solution to the “Burma question.” The military regime must be persuaded to stop finding fault with the Lady and repeating its misleading anti-dialogue policy, which is prolonging the misery and hopelessness of the people of Burma.
Its current political stance is destroying whatever integrity the military itself has left. Yet it could create a win-win situation by recognizing Aung San Suu Kyi as the ideal dialogue partner for national reconciliation.

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June 03, 2009 15:55 PM
Former Labourers And Relatives Want Authorities To Intervene In Claims

KOTA BAHARU, June 3 (Bernama) — Labourers who were taken as forced labour to Burma and their next of kin who had made claims for payment of salaries from 1942 to 1946 from the Association of Forced Labour to Burma and Their Next of Kin are unhappy that the association has not kept their promise to pay the claimants.

They claimed that although the association had promised to make the payment, no one had received anything and what was more disappointing was that the former labourers and their next of kin had to fill up numerous documents and were charged a certain fee by the association.

A relative of a former labourer, Wan Ibrahim Wan Abdullah, 43, said the association only knew how to make empty promises and ‘conning’ the former labourers and their next of kin who were mostly villagers and uneducated people.

“To date, not a single payment had been made although the claims had been submitted several years ago and what is more saddening is that the fee of RM50 charged upon filling up the application forms previously has now gone up to between RM300 and RM400,” he told Bernama, here, Wednesday.

Wan Ibrahim, who is making the claim for his late father who was a member of the forced labour, said when the first claim was made in 2006, the association had promised to pay RM300,000, but recently they were told that the association would only pay RM120,000 without giving any explanation.

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Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy (Weblog) – Wednesday, June 3, 2009
BWFD(Weblog) – Children recruited in Burmese Army cadet
By Hseng Khio Fah

The Burmese Army in Shan State East has forcibly recruited children aged from 12 to 15 to its army cadet claiming it will improve education.

The Army continues to recruit despite international pressure to stop using child soldiers.

Burmese soldiers from both Mongpiang-based Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #360, led by Captain Thein Aung, and Infantry Battalion (IB) # 43, led by Lieutenant Aung Naing, recruited many children from the township, said a local resident who wishes to remain anonymous.

The recruitment, using Lahu militia units from Kawng Pat village tract, started in April.
Children from 27 villages around Pat Kang village tract, 30 miles northwest of Mongpiang, have been taken. Each village was ordered to provide five children, the source said.

On 25 May, children were taken to an army base in Nam Zarng, in Shan State South. It is not yet known how many children were taken.

A mother whose child was taken said: “I worry that my son will be sent to front line as the situation in the country is unstable. He is just 12 years old.”

Khami tribal youths from Pelatwa and Buthidaung Township on the western Burma border have also been forcibly recruited by the Burmese army, according to Narinjara report on 1 June.

According to Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2009, Burma still continues widespread and systematic forced recruitment of child soldiers.

Villagers over the age of 18 are also being ordered to attend military training, conducted at the command of the IB# 43 from May 1.

The first group of about 100 villagers has been trained and the second group is now undergoing training, say local villagers.

“After the training, those [trainee] will be sent to provide security in their area and in the military region,” the source said.

Since early 2009, the Burmese Army has been forcing villagers in several townships in Shan State to set up militia units.

Likewise, from the beginning of May, junta authorities in Chin state began military training for villagers of Paletwa Township, Khonumthung News reported on 1 June.

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Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy (Weblog) – Wednesday, June 3, 2009
BWFD(Weblog) – Kachin student in coma after brutal assault by soldiers
Written by KNG

After the brutal assault by Burmese Army soldiers, a teenaged Kachin student is in a coma for three days in hospital. He was beaten up severely at the railway station of Mayan Village in Burma’s northern Kachin State on May 31 by a section of soldiers, said local sources close to the boy.

An eighth grade student Hpuwan La San (14) was innocent but wrongly assaulted by a group of angry soldiers from the village-based Burmese Army Artillery Battalion No. 372 led by Lt-Col. Ye Yint Twe . The assault followed a dispute between the soldiers and local Kachin young men, according to the students’ relatives.

Public Hospital in Myitkyina where Hpuwan La San is moved yesterday from Namti hospital.
His relatives added that teenaged Hpuwan La San was assaulted without being asked any questions by the Burmese soldiers while he was waiting for a train to go back to his home in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. He fell unconscious on the scene of assault, said relatives.

He was first hospitalized in Namti, a small city near Mayan Village and later moved to the government Public Hospital in Myitkyina, said Namti hospital sources. He is now in a coma and vomiting blood. He has multiple fractures on his entire body following the assault, said relatives who visited him in hospital.

Besides, over four more innocent high school students from the village were also assaulted in their homes by Burmese soldiers but their injuries are not serious, said villagers.

La San was not involved in the clash between the soldiers and young men in the village. The fight took place after the young men prevented a teenage Kachin girl called Wa Sha Ki from being raped with a knife held to her throat by four Burmese soldiers in the afternoon of May 31.

The four Burmese soldiers were beaten up by a group of Kachin youths soon after they attempted to rape Wa Sha Ki. In a harsh retaliation local Burmese soldiers, led by the Artillery battalion commander Lt-Col. Ye Yint Twe went on the rampage on Kachin young men. Over 30 troops were ordered to “Kill all Kachin young men in the village.”

The army operation took place between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Burma Standard Time. The troops assaulted Kachin young men in every place in the village, said villagers.

Yesterday, a high ranking army officer from the Northern Command HQ based in Myitkyina visited the scene and met village administrators and village leaders.

He ordered that Hpuwan La San’s responsibility must be taken by both the village and the village-based Artillery Battalion. He made a simple apology for the words of the battalion commander Ye Yint Twe—- ‘Kill all Kachin young men in the village.’ He said “Don’t listen to those words. It is what wicked people say,” said villagers.

During the short visit, the army officer promised that soldiers will not assault Kachin young men in the village any more. But more than 30 young men are still hiding in the forests, said villagers.

According to villagers, severe problems in the village started cropping up after the Burmese Army’s Artillery Battalion set up base in the village in 2004. The soldiers slaughter cattle owned by villagers without paying, confiscate land and rape women.

It is at such tumultuous times that Kachin people in Burma and abroad have voiced their opinion and suggested that the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the biggest Kachin ceasefire group in the country break the ceasefire agreement and resume war with the Burmese military regime.

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Bangkok Post – EDITORIAL: Pawns in two show trials
Published: 3/06/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

In opposite corners of Asia this week, harsh and undemocratic regimes will be conducting show trials. The Burmese generals are close to wrapping up their case that charges Aung San Suu Kyi with responsibility for the failure of her jailers to guard her. North Korea is putting two US citizens in the dock on June 4, charged with committing “hostile acts”, meaning they were photographing North Korean smugglers and refugees at the Chinese frontier. The two women apparently actually crossed the border, giving the North Koreans a reason to arrest and hold them in jail for the last three months.

The Burmese regime has again increased the physical and psychological pressure on Mrs Suu Kyi. She is held almost incommunicado in the notorious Insein prison on the outskirts of Rangoon. Her lawyers have not been allowed the normal access to the prisoner. As they prepared their closing arguments yesterday, they were denied access once again.

The prisoner is a frail, 63-year-old woman who won the Nobel Prize for Peace. Yet she has frightened members of a military junta so much that they seldom let her even see her defenders, except in a tightly guarded courtroom where the regime is likely to end the show trial on Friday.

The Burmese deputy defence minister showed the sort of contempt for rule of law one has come to expect from the junta. On an official trip to Singapore, Maj Gen Aye Myint told the media there was “no doubt” Mrs Suu Kyi was guilty as charged – of a cover-up, by failing to report a foreigner had got into her compound. This statement during an ongoing trial by a top junta official, demonstrated that the actual courtroom and judges are just a show in Burma.

It leaves the world to wonder why Maj Gen Aye Myint is not on trial for dereliction of duty. His soldiers were ordered to guard Mrs Suu Kyi from all intruders and failed.

Of course, there has been no media coverage allowed of Mrs Suu Kyi’s court ordeal. The same will be true in Pyongyang tomorrow, when an equally pre-ordained trial is to get under way with, ironically, journalists in the dock – US citizens of Korean heritage, Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

The two women work for Current TV, a cable television station run by former US vice president Al Gore. They were arrested on March 17 by North Korean border guards while reporting on Korean women and children who had fled the Pyongyang regime to China.

The trial and verdict will be whatever the regime wants, but just what that might be is not yet clear. For about the same time as it has held the journalists, North Korea has taken a dangerous and belligerent course. It has fired long-range and medium-range missiles and tested the nuclear weapon designed to fit atop the rockets.

It is widely presumed that North Korea will use the journalists as pawns to put maximum pressure on US President Barack Obama. That, at least, is the latest advice from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She also told the American public they should “get busy on the internet and let the North Koreans know that we find that absolutely unacceptable” .

In both Burma and North Korea, the regimes will use their women prisoners as propaganda tools. They will hold harsh sentences over the heads of their prisoners.

Both countries deserve the harshest censure for such treatment of their helpless captives. Certainly, if either country wants international respect, they must stop such despicable show trials.

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Independent Online
IOL – Suu Kyi’s case ‘one-sided’
June 03 2009 at 10:58AM

Yangon – Lawyers for Myanmar/Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi went to court on Wednesday to challenge a ban preventing her from calling three out of four defence witnesses at her internationally condemned trial.

The Nobel laureate’s legal team said the refusal of judges to allow the witnesses to testify at the closed prison trial showed that the military regime’s case against her was one-sided.

The opposition leader faces up to five years in jail on charges of breaching the conditions of her house arrest after a bizarre incident in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside home in May.

“We will give our statement to the Yangon divisional court asking that they should accept our three defence witnesses,” Nyan Win, the spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), said.

“According to the law they should accept this revision,” said Nyan Win, who is also one of her defence lawyers.

The three barred witnesses were Tin Oo, a journalist who was Myanmar’s longest serving prisoner until his release in September, detained deputy NLD chief Win Tin and lawyer Khin Moe Moe.

Nyan Win said that their preparations for final arguments in the case, which are due on Friday, were almost finished.

“We are satisfied with our preparations, ” he said.

Myanmar’s ruling junta has kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for 13 of the last 19 years, and the latest attempt to lock her up has provoked international outrage.

US President Barack Obama has described the proceedings inside Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison as a “show trial,” while Myanmar’s usually reticent Asian neighbours have expressed strong concerns.

Kyi Win, her main lawyer, said on Tuesday that the prosecution had called 14 witnesses against one for the defence, adding: “If you look at the numbers it is one-sided, and that is why we have made this application. ”

Myanmar’s ruling generals say the case is an internal matter, accusing Aung San Suu Kyi of covering up Yettaw’s visit and suggesting that the incident was planned by “internal and external anti-government elements.”

Yettaw’s lawyer said on Tuesday that the former US military veteran did not take orders or money from outside organisations before swimming across the lake – a feat he managed using a pair of home-made flippers.

He said that Yettaw, a devout Mormon, was a “sincere and pious” person who believed God had told him to warn her and the government after he had a vision that she would be assassinated.

Legal and rights experts told a panel discussion in Bangkok that the international community should use the global outrage about the trial to push for a UN inquiry over possible crimes against humanity in Myanmar.

The case has provided a “window of opportunity” to investigate Myanmar’s junta, said Tyler Giannini of Harvard Law School.

Giannini co-authored a report in May calling for the UN Security Council to follow the precedent of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, where inquiries led to special tribunals and prosecutions.

“The trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is putting additional scrutiny on Burma right now and really highlighting the lack of judicial independence, ” Giannini said at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand late Tuesday.

He said that with political unity there was a “very good chance… that (UN) member states will consider it seriously and it has a chance to get on the agenda in the fairly near future because of this current scrutiny.”

Myanmar has been ruled by the military in 1962. The army refused to recognise elections won by the NLD in 1990 and crushed mass protests in 1988 and 2007.

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The Times of India – Myanmarese students make a peace connection
3 Jun 2009, 0120 hrs IST,

Bangalore: Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial may have begun in Myanmar, but it has its echoes right here in Bangalore. While some Myanmarese
students have completed a course on conflict here, human rights scholar-activist David Selvaraj, who co-ordinates it, is on his way to Myanmar.

Five students recently completed the course at the School of Peace, which is part of NGO Visthar. Founder Selvaraj says: “We look at transforming conflict into peace. Students learn issues relating to conflict, peace and justice. They’ve had conceptual training on conflict scenarios and should be able to train others in Myanmar.” They will now work with civil society groups back home to establish democracy.

Selvaraj will soon join the students and other peace groups to help displaced people. “Our focus is largely humanitarian. There are many people displaced within Myanmar. There are refugees in India too, mostly Mizoram. We try to create awareness on rights, sensitivity and democracy.”

Getting a visa to the military-run Myanmar is not easy. “There were questions about my earlier visit. The seminary that helped me has taken a risk. It’s not easy to get in there.”

Selvaraj conducted a week-long course on gender and rights on his earlier visit. “Such courses are risky, considering the military regime. Yangon is relatively more fortified. The army is everywhere, but rural Myanmar is less affected.”

The Myanmarese government has `worked out’ the students, he says. “They’ve set up colleges at fairly large distances from each other. They don’t want students to come together. That’s why you’ll find students even in remote places.”

`Communism made Myanmar struggle’

Photos: p4-goenka1, goenka2 by Chethan Shivakumar

Chothmal Goenka is 92 years old, but sharp, articulate and politically very aware. Born in Mandalay, former capital of Myanmar, he is now a social worker teaching meditation. “It will take time for Suu Kyi to achieve democracy. It’s never been easy in Myanmar. I support her heartily because she’s trying to get rid of autocracy. It will surely happen though we have to wait. A day will come when the dictatorship will have to surrender.”

Goenka’s family, cloth merchants, was in Myanmar for almost 125 years. In 1942, they were forced to undertake a long, arduous journey. “The Japanese came and we had to leave. We travelled to Jun Jun in Rajasthan by steamer, train, cart, bamboo carrier and walk. I won’t forget the journey.”

Goenka returned to Myanmar in 1946 and set up factories and textile units again. Then in 1964 came the coup. “U Nu, a personal friend, was overthrown and the military took over and implemented Myanmarese socialism. Everything was brought under state control. The factories closed, poverty shot up and the economy turned stagnant. There virtually was no raw material.”

Farmers lived a subsistence life. “Anyone cooking potato and onion made news. There was so little of the two because the government had priced it too low. People would hide and bring them home. It was a privilege to eat potatoes at somebody’s house.”

The Myanmarese economy has been in decline since 1964, says Goenka. “There’s an abundance of natural resources, but of what use? I’ve seen communism work on the ground. It made Myanmar suffer.”

Things won’t improve, the 92-year-old says, until a civilized government is back. “The military should go. But I know they won’t make it easy for Suu Kyi. Her father launched the struggle, now Suu Kyi should end it.”

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The Nation – Thailand, Bangladesh accord on repatriation of Rohingya
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee, Bangladesh
Published on June 3, 2009

Dhaka – Thailand and Bangladesh have agreed to help with the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to their home in Burma, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said yesterday.

Thailand and Bangladesh have agreed to help repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to their home in Burma, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said yesterday.

The two countries face a similar problem with the influx of Rohingya ethnic minorities fleeing difficulties in their home country, Burma.

Kasit discussed the issue with his Bangladeshi counterpart Dipu Moni, during an official visit to Dhaka and agreed the two countries would provide assistance for Burma to develop the state of Arakan – also known as Rakhine, the original home of the Rohingya.

Bangladesh has sheltered 250,000 Rohingya on its border with Burma. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has taken some 25,000 in two camps at the Bangladeshi port of Cox’s Bazaar.

Refugees living outside UN camps have taken boats across the Indian Ocean to seek better lives in Southeast Asia. Thailand is home to more than 20,000, while Indonesia and Malaysia have taken others.

Burma’s government has agreed to take the Rohingya back if they can be proven as Burmese citizens and their birthplace was Arakan, Kasit said.

Thai authorities are working to document their identity, a step in the repatriation programme, he said.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, who visited Burma recently, said the military junta was ready to receive Rohingya refugees back from Bangladesh.

“We have assured them we can offer and supervise development assistance since Bangladesh has experience in social sector development programmes,” she said in a joint press conference with Kasit on Monday.

The plight of the Rohingya came into the world spotlight when the Thai military was accused by international media of towing out and abandoning 1,000 of them at sea, between December and January.

The Thai government rejected the allegations and Kasit has brought the issue into the Bali process to seek multilateral cooperation to solve the problem.

The Bali meeting agreed to set up an ad hoc working group to find solutions for the migration, he said.

Kasit also discussed with Bangladesh’s Dipu Moni the possibility of joint patrols in the Indian Ocean, notably in the Andaman Sea, to cope with sea piracy and trafficking, including human trafficking.

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Mizzima News – Ivanhoe’s Burma stakes to be sold to Chinese firm
by Moe Thu
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 11:51

Rangoon (Mizzima) – A Chinese firm has technically reached an agreement with the Canadian firm Ivanhoe Mines to buy the shares of its subsidiary, active in Burma, according to a Burmese mining expert.

“Half of the stakes in the Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Company Limited (MICCL), a joint venture with the military-run Mining Enterprise (1), is to be sold to the Chinese firm, which is yet to be identified,” the expert said.

The half stake of the joint venture’s copper mine in Monwya in the Sagaing Division in Burma, is an investment project facing international criticism, he said.

The project, one of the huge copper mines in South-east Asia, produces some 40,000 tonnes of copper cathode a year.

Meanwhile, the Canadian company – listed on the stock exchanges of Toronto, New York and NASDAQ under the symbol IVN – plans to boost its production up to 200,000 tonnes a year, if the military government approves it and the required electricity supply is met.

The Monywa operation was halted last year for undisclosed reasons. However, responding to the military government’s bloody suppression of the 2007-September uprising led by Buddhist monks, Ivanhoe Mines released a statement the following month, noting that a constitutional change appeared to be jeopardised  by the military-ruled state’s reactions.

The operation has three deposits, in two of which the JV is active, namely Sabetaung and Kyeesintaung.

There are over 1,000 employees in the Monywa Copper project including a few expatriates.

In the October 2007 statement as well, Ivanhoe Mines said the ownership of its Myanmar assets was transferred to an independent third party trust.

Ivanhoe is also exploring for copper, uranium and gold in China, Mongolia and Australia.

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Mizzima News – Fund crunch threatens rice production in Burma: WFP
by Solomon
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 21:35

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Farmers in the cyclone affected areas in Burma are in acute need of cash and credit assistance to buy inputs for the ensuing monsoon planting season, the United Nations World Food Programme said.

Chris Kaye, country director of the WFP in Rangoon, told Mizzima on Wednesday, “The current priority of the assistance community generally is to help ensure small farmers have the required cash and credit to purchase inputs for the current planting season.”

While WFP is able to continue work without many problems in distributing food assistance, “food and water remains critical for cyclone survivors, in many areas of Burma’s Irrawaddy delta” he said.

But he said the current priority is to help farmers, whose farms were inundated and destroyed by the cyclone, plant crops in the current planting season.

The Irrawaddy delta, also known as Burma’s rice bowl, was laid waste by the deadly Cyclone Nargis, leaving at least 130,000 dead or missing and devastating the lives of more than 2.4 million people.

Sean Turnell, Professor of Economics in Macquarie University in Australia said in an earlier interview to Mizzima that the rural economy in Burma is on the verge of collapse due to lack of funds and micro-credit system.

Earlier, he said, most farmers rely on money lenders for loan or credit, but with the impact of the cyclone, farmers can no longer rely on money lenders as they face equal devastation.

He said farmers are facing extreme difficulties as they were unable to get enough cash from the sale of their paddy products in the last season, because of the decreasing prices caused by the global economic recession.

He urged the Burmese regime to inject money in the rural economy to help the farmers.

Meanwhile, farmers in the Irrawaddy delta complained of lack of available funds even for borrowing and are desperately in need of assistance to be able to plant in the current season.

“We are facing difficulties in starting our work because of financial problems. It is very difficult to get loans,” said a farmer who could only cultivate half an acre in the last monsoon.

“I did not get any monetary support or material for farming except tarpaulins,” he said.

He said like him, most farmers are still unable to cultivate all their farmland as they have no money to buy inputs for cultivation. And some have already stopped farming.

UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) earlier told Mizzima that shortage of fund is becoming a big challenge in continuing with the recovery work.

Shin Imao, FAO’s representative in Burma told Mizzima, rice production has drastically plummeted and the recovery of livelihoods and food security is still a big challenge.

“Production is down, so we need to have more quick responses to assist farmers to recover production,” said Imao.

Rice production in the delta dropped drastically after Cyclone Nargis struck, “with the produce 45 per cent less than previous years,” Imao said.

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Mizzima News – Activists skeptical of release of child soldiers
by Salai Pi Pi
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 22:24

New Delhi (Mizzima) – State-run newspapers on Wednesday reported that eight minors who had joined the military of their own volition were returned to their parents, a rare case in military-ruled Burma, which is often criticized for forcibly recruiting children into the armed forces.

The junta’s mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar on Wednesday stated, “The Work Committee for Prevention Against Recruitment of Minors today handed over eight minors who joined the Tatmadaw [military] of their own accord to their parents.”

The incidence, however, was received with skepticism by rights activists, believing the move a “showpiece” and accusing the junta of secretly continuing to recruit children into the military.

Aye Myint, a lawyer from Pegu town advocating and fighting against the recruitment of child soldiers said the paper’s claims were contradictory to the prevailing situation, as he has received several parental complaints of children being recruited into the military.

He said just months ago family members of a child, who had reportedly gone missing in December, approached him explaining they had received a letter from their son saying he is now in a military camp in central Burma.

While unable to confirm the facts of the missing child, he said he is working on the case and will bring it to the attention of the liaison office of the International Labor Organisation in Rangoon, through which he has been able to rescue a number of boys from military camps in the past.

“The number of children being returned back to their parents would only be a small percentage of the total children in the military,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile, Aung Myo Min, Director of the exile-based Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), welcomed the junta’s action of returning the eight kids to their parents but voiced concern for those who remain in the camps.

“Earlier the junta blatantly denied having children in their barracks, but this is a significant confession. It is definitely a progressive development,” affirmed Aung Myo Min.

He said HREIB has documented the presence and recruitment of child soldiers into the Burmese Army and expresses his hope that the junta will release additional children from their barracks.

But Aung Myo Minn said he is skeptical of the junta’s claim of the children joining the army upon their own will, because the Army is notorious for abducting children from the streets, railway and bus stations and other public places.

“We still need to raise the question on whether the children had joined the Army of their own will, as there are many incidents in which the regime has forcibly recruited children,” he said.

Additionally, Aung Myo Min expressed concern for the children’s mental and moral health due to their experiences in the military.

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The Irrawaddy – Site of Collapsed Pagoda Sealed Off
By SAW YAN NAING, Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Burmese authorities have banned the general public from entering the area of the collapsed Danok pagoda, local residents report.

People of Danok model village in Rangoon’s Dalla Township, where the pagoda is located, have also been warned not to talk about the accident. Local residents have been threatened with imprisonment if found talking to independent journalists.

Burmese authorities have also banned reports in the media about the collapse of the ancient pagoda.

The 2,300 year-old pagoda, located in Danok model village in Rangoon’s Dalla township, collapsed last Saturday, killing at least 20 people and injuring about 150.

The wife of junta leader Than Shwe, members of their family and relatives of senior military officials had attended a ceremony at the pagoda on May 7, at which a sacred golden umbrella was hoisted to the top of the structure. The association of Than Shwe’s wife, Kyiang Kyiang, and members of their family with the pagoda gave rise to a flood of speculation about the mystical significance of the accident.

The pagoda was being repaired at the time, however. The work was being carried out by the Shwe Than Lwin Company, owned by Burmese tycoon Kyaw Win.

No news about the collapsed pagoda has appeared in the official media, and one Rangoon journalist said a report written for her journal had been suppressed by the censorship board.

Local people, including family members of the victims, had been warned by the authorities not to talk to the press or even among themselves about the accident, said one resident. They were told they could face imprisonment of up to three years if they ignored the warning.

Fortune tellers were quick to find significance in the collapse of the pagoda, and elderly residents talked about the mystic powers the ancient structure was said to possess. Some said the pagoda shook when it disapproved of any visiting pilgrim. One local monk said the accident was a bad omen.

According to local lore, the pagoda was built by a Mon king. Its original name was said to be Dar Hnote, which means in Burmese “Take the knife back”-a reference to the site’s original use as a royal place of execution.

Additional reporting by Kyi Wai.

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The Irrawaddy – After The Lady Is Jailed
By YENI, Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Closing arguments and a verdict in the trial of Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi have been delayed again. But that won’t change the outcome.

Ignoring global outrage and international diplomatic pressure, the court in Insein Prison will find the Nobel Peace Prize laureate guilty of “harboring” an American tourist who allegedly swam across Inya Lake to her residence.

She will be sentenced for up to five years behind the walls of one of the world’s most notorious jails.

Assuming that imprisonment in Insein would be unbearable for anyone, we are forced to contemplate how long a frail 63-year-old woman can survive in this hell-hole.

Brought up in relative comfort, she will be in the hands of ill-mannered and thuggish prison authorities. Her living conditions could be comfortable though degrading; but they could also be inhumane. Her diet and level of physical comfort will be drastically depreciated.

By treating her as any other political prisoner, the sadistic generals of Naypyidaw no doubt hope to break her spirit as well as her health.

Already suffering from low blood pressure, dehydration and digestion problems prior to her arrest, many believe the democracy icon will suffer more bouts of ill-health in jail.
Last week, a statement by her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said it was “gravely concerned” about the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s health, saying she cannot sleep well because she was suffering from leg cramps.

“As a woman, I have concerns about her,” Khin Ohmar, a leading exiled activist, said during a recent interview with The Irrawaddy. “She is going to be 64 …I can imagine the extent to which she can receive healthcare when she has the health problems that a woman usually has. I can imagine the hatred she receives under the junta’s atrocious behavior.”

No doubt. A weakened Suu Kyi means a collapsing NLD and this is exactly what Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his gang desire.

Political observers have suggested that in prosecuting Suu Kyi on a trivial security clause, the Burmese junta has found an excuse to keep her detained through the 2010 elections and this has finished off any faint hopes of breaking the political stalemate.

In a policy statement dubbed the “Shwegondaing Declaration” released in early May, the NLD indicated that it would take part in elections next year if the junta responds positively to a set of three basic requirements: the unconditional release of all political prisoners; amendment of any provisions in the 2008 constitution “not in accord with democratic principles”; and an all-inclusive, free and fair poll under international supervision.

Now it seems clear that the party that won a landslide victory in the 1990 polls is being given no alternative but to boycott the junta’s rigged elections.

“If the military government unfairly finds Daw Aung San Suu Kyi guilty, all means and possibilities for people and political parties to participate in the 2010 election will be undermined,” Win Tin, a veteran journalist and prominent opposition leader of the NLD, told The Irrawaddy.

However, the boycott option is not straightforward-it represents a serious threat to the political parties, especially the NLD.

If the party is abolished by the military government, it is believed that most of party’s elder leaders would resign in order to avoid imprisonment while many younger members would flee into exile or face arrest.

Due to a fear that security forces will raid the party’s headquarters in Rangoon sometime soon, sources close to the NLD have said the party’s central executive members want to quickly utilize the party’s fund on anti-poverty programs, especially humanitarian projects in the delta region devastated by deadly Cyclone Nargis last year.

These days, pro-democracy supporters in Burma feel helpless and hopeless, knowing that so many would fear taking to the streets in defiant protest against the injustice perpetuated against a woman most love and respect.

In a country where torture and violence are institutionalized by ruling authorities, many people are still living in fear and are haunted by the memories of the government’s bloody crackdown against the Buddhist monk-led uprising in 2007.

A Rangoon-based businessman recalled his experience of how Burmese are afraid of the military government. He said that Rangoon used to be very noisy with car horns, but when Rangoon’s municipal authorities announced that whoever honked their horn would be “punished severely,” he said. “Immediately Rangoon fell into silence.”

According to the 1990 election law, a political party which can not provide candidates for at least three constituencies must disband. After disbanding, the military would not hesitate to crack down on the members, regardless of the reaction of the international community-the UN Security Council or anyone else.

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DVB News – Monk calls for unity among religious leaders

June 3, 2009 (DVB)-A prominent Burmese monk who organised relief efforts following cyclone Nargis last year has called for religious leaders in Burma to join hands in solving the country’s problems.

Speaking from Norway, midway through a European trip which included the Buddhist Union’s Buddha’s Day celebration in France last month, Abbot U Nyanissara called for unity amongst monks.

“We, all religious leaders, should walk together on a path that we see from the same point of view,” he said.

“If you look at all the rivers with different names in Burma and also look at the rivers in Europe, you can see they all come from the same origin.”

Buddhist religious discipline instructs monks to keep out of politics.

This has been broken in the past, however, most notably in September 2007 when monks took to the streets in Burma to protest the hike in fuel prices, triggering what has become known as the Saffron Revolution due to the colour of monks robes.

Refraining from direct political rhetoric, U Nyanissara called for calm in the face of upheaval.

“We all should take the example of water and work together with everyone to keep the minds of human beings clear and to cool down their angers,” he said, adding that he gave the same message during his speech at the Buddha’s Day celebration in Paris.

His visit to Norway, he said, was due to his wish to visit the country of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel prizes.

Reporting by Moe Aye

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