Suu Kyi ‘welcomes US engagement’
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi welcomes US plan to engage junta
US, Burma already in Diplomatic Talks
Arrested Dissident Accused of Terrorist Intentions
Exile Government, Rights Group Cautiously Welcome US Engagement with Burma
Analysts Question New U.S. Policy on Myanmar
US unveils plan to engage Myanmar
US extends diplomatic hand to Burma
US changes tack on Myanmar
US to talk to Burmese military
Junta’s 2010 Elections: Loading the Dice
S Korean film festival to be held in Yangon next month
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Thursday, 24 September 2009 13:56 UK
Suu Kyi ‘welcomes US engagement’

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (6 May 2002)
Ms Suu Kyi’s house arrest was recently extended by 18 months

Detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she welcomes US plans to engage with the country’s military rulers, her lawyers say.

But lawyer Nyan Win said that Ms Suu Kyi also wanted the US to engage with the political opposition.

It comes after the US said sanctions against Burma could be eased if the junta improved its human rights record.

Ms Suu Kyi is under house arrest and is currently preparing an appeal against an extension of her sentence.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that direct engagement is good,” said Nyan Win.

“She accepts it but she says that engagement must be with both sides,” AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said sanctions remained an important part of US policy but that “by themselves they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma”.

She said the US would be looking to employ both sanctions and engagement to “help achieve democratic reform” in Burma.

Ms Suu Kyi was sentenced in August to a further 18 months’ house arrest after a US intruder stayed at her home.

She has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention and if her appeal fails, the extension will keep her out of multi-party elections scheduled to be held next year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8272931.stm
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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi welcomes US plan to engage junta
AFP

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi welcomes US plan to engage junta AFP/File – Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, seen here in 1999, has welcomed US plans to engage diplomatically …
37 mins ago

YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has welcomed US plans to engage diplomatically with the country’s military rulers, her lawyer said Thursday.

Her comments came a day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised the possibility of an eventual easing or lifting of sanctions if US engagement produces political changes in Myanmar.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that direct engagement is good,” her lawyer Nyan Win said after meeting her at her home in Yangon to discuss her appeal against her recently extended house arrest.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090924/wl_asia_afp/myanmarusdiplomacysuukyi
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US, Burma already in Diplomatic Talks
By LALIT K JHA  Thursday, September 24, 2009

WASHINGTON — A US State Department official said on Wednesday that the US and Burma have already held talks at the diplomatic level for several months.

The official made his remarks following US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s announcement on Wednesday that the US will try to engage Burma while maintaining its current sanction policy,

He said that the Burmese expressed “an interest in engaging with us and improving relations with us.”

“We expect the Burmese will be designating someone who would be an interlocutor for us. So we have to just kind of take it one step at a time,” he said.

The senior State Department official told reporters in a late night teleconference, “We are not expecting dramatic, immediate results. This is a problem in Burma. I mean, the military has been in power since 1962.

“We have been working hard at this for many, many years. It’s not an easy situation to resolve, and it’s unlikely that there’s going to be dramatic change soon.

“But we think that going forward with a more nuanced approach that focuses on trying to achieve results and that’s based on pragmatism, it increases the chances of success over time,” the official said.

He said the new policy was based on wide ranging consultations with various stake holders, including key Burma neighbors.

“Throughout this process of the policy review, we’ve been in close consultation not only with people in the United States that follow Burma, but also with the countries in the region, as well as others who are interested in Burma,” he said.

“I would not say that the review or the results of the review are necessarily based on any change in Burma’s relations with other countries. The one thing I would note is that we have heard from the Burmese, fairly clearly over the last several months, for the first time—at least for the first time in many years—an interest in engaging with us and improving relations with us. And so it seems to us useful to see if we can use that interest to advance our goals,” said the official.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said in a statement on Thursday said that the new US approach to Burma would enable the US and the EU to have more influence in the country’s political evolution.

Speaking after a meeting of the Friends of Myanmar at UN Headquarters in New York, Yeo said that many recognize that engagement with Burma must take a longer term view beyond 2010.

“Singapore sees the [Burma] army as being part of the problem but also as a necessary part of the solution,” Yeo said, adding that “what is required is a process of national reconciliation.”

Meanwhile, Clinton repeated US demands that the Burmese junta immediately release detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, start credible democratic reforms and engage in dialogue with the opposition and ethnic minorities.

Responding to the US’s new policy, Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, welcomed the US’s decision to engage Burma.

“I personally think the new US approach will bring an improved and more transparent relation between the US and Burma,” he told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

Ko Htwe also contributed to this article.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16853
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Arrested Dissident Accused of Terrorist Intentions
By SAW YAN NAING        Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Burmese regime’s official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar accused arrested dissident Nyi Nyi Aung on Thursday of being a terrorist and planning to create unrest.

Nyi Nyi Aung (aka Kyaw Zaw Lwin) was arrested in early September after returning from exile in Thailand. A second Thailand-based dissident, Ko Htut, was also arrested after crossing separately into Burma.
Nyi Nyi Aung (aka Kyaw Zaw Lwin)

The New Light of Myanmar reported in detail on Thursday on Nyi Nyi Aung’s arrest. The report included photos of Nyi Nyi Aung, explosives and a satellite phone he was alleged to have used.

The report described underground activities allegedly undertaken by Nyi Nyi Aung and connections the paper said existed between dissidents inside and outside Burma.

The arrests of Nyi Nyi Aung and Ko Htut were followed by crackdowns on Burmese dissidents in Burma and Thailand.

Shortly after the two were taken into custody, 16 ethnic Arakan youths were arrested—seven in Rangoon and the others in Sittwe, capital of Arakan State. They were accused of maintaining links to the Thailand-based All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress (AASYC).

Activists belonging to Generation Wave and Best Manure, members of the opposition National League for Democracy and several Buddhist monks were arrested in the crackdown.

In neighboring Thailand, the offices of several Burmese exile groups were raided by Thai police— including the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, where Ko Htut used to work.

In Chiang Mai, 10 Burmese women activists were arrested and held in custody for several days. Other dissident groups closed their offices, and several remain shut in the Thai-Burmese border towns of Mae Sot and Sangkhlaburi according to dissident sources.

Sources reported that staff of Burma’s Bangkok Embassy are photographing activists attending demonstrations and other functions in Thailand.

Win Min, a Chiang Mai-based Burmese analyst, said a Burmese military attaché in Bangkok is active in requesting Thai security officials to harass Burmese opposition groups in exile.

Burmese opposition groups last faced close Thai scrutiny during the administration of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Many offices closed for several weeks, fearing official crackdowns.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16852
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Exile Government, Rights Group Cautiously Welcome US Engagement with Burma
By Daniel Schearf
Bangkok
24 September 2009

Burma’s government in exile has welcomed Washington’s plans to engage with the country’s military rulers. But exiles and activists say dialogue will only be effective if Washington stays firm on demands for democratic change.

Burma’s government in exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, says it welcomes the United States’ plans to talk directly with Burma’s government.

Zin Linn, a spokesman for the group, said Thursday it has always encouraged dialogue with Burma’s military rulers. But he says whether it is Washington, the European Union or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, others must also engage with Burma’s opposition parties.

“We are welcome anyone from the international community -the U.N., the EU, the U.S., and even the ASEAN – we are welcome to act as a facilitator between the opposition and the military junta,” he said.  “It may, we think, it may make more result.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday at the United Nations that Washington would end its policy of limited engagement with Burma.

Clinton said U.S. officials will begin meeting directly with Burma’s military leaders to push for democracy because sanctions alone had not worked.

Debbie Stothard is with the rights group Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma in Thailand. She says U.S. engagement with Burma’s military government, known as the State Peace and Development Council, could be positive, but only if Washington remains firm in pushing for change.

“We hope that the U.S. does not go down the same path as ASEAN did, which was to go down the path of unconditional engagement, which in the end dragged down ASEAN’s credibility and actually led to a worsening of the situation in Burma,” she said.  “There has to be a very clear and consistent and regular reinforcement of the message that this type of engagement does not mean a tacit endorsement of the SPDC’s crimes against humanity or its ongoing violations of human rights.”

Burma’s military has ruled the country since the 1960s and has little tolerance for dissent.

It allowed elections in 1990 but, when the National League for Democracy came out the winner, the military ignored the results. It has kept the NLD leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, locked up for most of the time since.

The U.S. and EU have economic sanctions against Burma for suppressing democracy and locking up Aung San Suu Kyi along with more than 2,000 other political prisoners.

Clinton said while the U.S. would talk with Burma’s military rulers, sanctions would remain in place until Burma shows concrete progress towards reform. http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-24-voa15.cfm
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Analysts Question New U.S. Policy on Myanmar
By SETH MYDANS
Published: September 24, 2009

BANGKOK — The United States is embarking on a more difficult and delicate policy by deciding to engage with the military junta in Myanmar and should not expect the change to have significant effects in the near term, analysts and activists said Thursday.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that the United States would maintain economic sanctions that have been put in place to punish the regime of the former Burma for its human rights abuses and restrictions on political freedom.

But she said, “Engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion. So, going forward we will be employing both of these tools, pursuing our same goals. To help achieve democratic reform we will be engaging directly with Burmese authorities.”

The announcement received the immediate support of the National League for Democracy, the country’s main opposition party, which is headed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.

“Direct engagement is very important, and more effective, I think,” said a party spokesman, U Nyan Win, speaking by telephone from Yangon, the country’s main city.

But he said he did not know the reaction of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has supported sanctions from the beginning and whom he last saw when he was permitted to visit her two weeks ago.

The shift in policy was the result of a review that was first announced by Mrs. Clinton in February when she said neither the sanctions imposed by Western countries nor the “constructive engagement” of Myanmar’s neighbors had succeeded in affecting the regime’s behavior.

It represented the most significant modification of administration policy toward Myanmar in decades. But analysts said it was likely to face opposition in Congress, where many members strongly support an unflinchingly antagonistic approach to the junta.

Speaking at the United Nations, Mrs. Clinton did not provide specifics and some analysts voiced concern that the new policy would be only cosmetic, while others said it could undermine the pressure that the West has brought to bear on the ruling generals.

“I think we have to keep our short-term expectations fairly low,” said Thant Myint-U, a Burmese historian who is the author of “The River of Lost Footsteps.”

“I don’t think talking to the generals will influence much their plans for next year’s elections or will lead anytime soon to dialogue between them and Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said. “But we have to look at the long-term picture and the more engagement there is from the outside world, especially from the United States, the more quickly we’re going to see the country move in the right direction.” Debbie Stothard, coordinator of Altsean-Burma, a regional human rights group, said many Burmese activists were concerned that the regime could take the new policy as a tacit endorsement of their current behavior, giving them “a honeymoon in terms of moving forward with reform.”

“It’s a very tough balancing act if you want to moderate between a big carrot and a big stick,” she said. “It requires a lot of mindfulness and a lot of finesse, and speaking to the generals a clear sense of principle.”

She pointed to the failed policy of engagement by Myanmar’s neighbors in Southeast Asia who in their desire to maintain a working relationship had allowed the regime to “deliver token gestures instead of genuine and irreversible reform.” Over the years, the junta has carried out a policy of promises and gestures toward the outside world while maintaining a strong grip over its own people, crushing pro-democracy demonstrations by force.

The regime has not been moved by ever-tighter economic restrictions and diplomatic pressure, which have been undermined by continuing trade from Myanmar’s neighbors and have pushed it into a closer embrace with the country’s biggest trade partner, China.

The generals clung to power in 1990 after losing a parliamentary election to the National League for Democracy and since then have jailed thousands of political opponents, including monks and their supporters who demonstrated in the streets two years ago. Washington imposed additional sanctions at that time, to little evident effect.

Most recently, the regime convicted Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi of violating the terms of her house arrest after an American intruder spent two days at her villa. She was sentenced to house arrest for the next 18 months, a period that will insure that she is out of the public eye during a parliamentary election scheduled for early next year.

Josef Silverstein, an expert on Myanmar who is an emeritus professor at Rutgers University, has grown skeptical over the years as he watched the world try one futile policy after another to influence the junta.

“How are you going to engage and whom are you going to engage and, if they can say it, what subject are they going to take up first?” he said.

“We are not going to go to war with them,” he said, “and if we are not going to war with them, we haven’t figured out a peaceful means, not only to get them to listen to us but to get them to respond in a positive way.”   http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/world/asia/25myanmar.html
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US unveils plan to engage Myanmar
AFP: by Lachlan Carmichael Lachlan Carmichael – 21 mins ago

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The Obama administration, sketching out a new policy toward Myanmar, pledged to engage diplomatically with Yangon’s military rulers in a bid to promote democratic reform there.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised the possibility of an eventual easing or lifting of sanctions if US engagement produces political changes in Myanmar, earlier known as Burma.

Clinton told reporters that “we believe that sanctions remain important as part of our policy, but by themselves they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma.”

The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Myanmar due to its refusal to recognize the last elections in 1990 and prolonged detention of the victor, democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

“So going forward, we will be employing both of those tolls pursuing our same goals, and to help achieve democratic reform, we will be engaging directly with Burmese authorities,” the chief US diplomat said.

Taking a less confrontational international approach than his predecessor George W. Bush, President Barack Obama has already taken steps or announced plans to engage hardline regimes in Tehran, Pyongyang, Damascus and Havana.

Clinton said she could “preview” the new approach toward Myanmar, because a policy review begun by the administration days after it took office in January was almost complete.

She made the information public after briefing foreign ministers from a group of countries concerned about the situation in Myanmar that was chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“2010 will be a very critical year for Myanmar,” Ban said after the meeting.

He echoed calls by other members of the international community for the release of political prisoners so that they can take part in elections next year.

Critics have dismissed the planned polls as a sham designed to entrench the military’s hold on power.

Clinton said the “basic objectives” of US policy toward Myanmar have not changed.

“We want credible democratic reform, a government that responds to the needs of the Burmese people, immediate, unconditional release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi,” she said.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention since the junta refused to recognize the National League for Democracy’s landslide victory in the country’s last elections in 1990.

The junta, Clinton added, must also engage in a “serious dialogue with the opposition and minority ethnic groups.”

A senior US official said the Obama administration sought to change its policy partly because the military rulers themselves showed signs of wanting to improve relations with the United States.

Clinton outlined the new US stand on sanctions to the foreign ministers from countries of the Group of Friends Burma, which includes a cross-section of countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, China, Britain and France.

“Lifting sanctions now would send the wrong signal, and we will maintain our existing sanctions until we see concrete progress towards reform,” according to a copy of her prepared remarks released by the State Department.

“But we will be willing to discuss the easing of sanctions in response to significant actions on the part of Burma’s generals that address the core human rights and democracy issues that are inhibiting Burma’s progress,” she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090924/pl_afp/myanmarusdiplomacy
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US extends diplomatic hand to Burma

Just days before the second anniversary of mass protests, led by monks (pictured) in Burma in 2007, the US says it will re-engage the Burmese military government to push it towards democracy. [Reuters]

The United States has changed its policy towards Burma, announcing it will engage diplomatically with the military run nation.

US President Barack Obama ordered a review of US policy towards Burma when he took office.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says sanctions have not produced the results that have been hoped for, and although they’ll be retained, the US is also going to engage diplomatically with Burma.

“”We believe that sanctions remain important as part of our policy but by themselves they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma,” she said.

“Engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion so going forward we will be employing both of those tools, pursuing our same goals. And to help achieve democratic reform we will be engaging directly with Burmese authorities.”

The foreign minister of Singapore, George Yeo, welcomed the move.

“Singapore welcomes the shift in position by the US and Europe; the decision to engage Myanmar (Burma) while keeping sanctions in place for the time being. We believe this will enable the US and Europe to have more influence in the political evolution of the country,” he said.

The United Nations special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, says, however, progress must be made.

“The release of some political prisoners last week is a step in the right direction but they fall short of our expectations. All political prisoners must be released including especially Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said.

Meanwhile, Burmese authorities have reportedly arrested a Burmese-born American who they accuse of instigating public unrest in the country.

Local media reports Kyaw Zaw Lwin, otherwise known as Nyi Nyi Aung, was arrested at the international airport in Rangoon at the beginning of the month.

The government-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar says Kyaw Zaw Lwin is accused of trying to incite Buddhist monks to engage in anti-government activities and having contact with saboteurs.

The report says four other men have also been arrested, accused of being Kyaw Zaw Lwin’s accomplices.  http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200909/2695228.htm?desktop
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US changes tack on Myanmar

By MATTHEW LEE (AP) – 1 hour ago

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that the Obama administration has decided to engage in direct high-level talks with Myanmar’s junta as part of international efforts to promote democracy in the military-run state.

Clinton made the announcement at the United Nations after meeting with her counterparts from a number of countries trying to convince the authoritarian regime to reform, allow dissent and release thousands of political prisoners, including Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

She said that U.S. sanctions against members of Myanmar’s leadership would remain in place but that those measures would now be accompanied by outreach. For months, Clinton had lamented that the sanctions alone were having little impact.

“We believe that sanctions remain important as part of our policy, but by themselves they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma,” Clinton told reporters, using the country’s traditional name.

“Engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion,” she said. “So, going forward we will be employing both of those tools, pursuing our same goals. To help achieve democratic reform, we will be engaging directly with Burmese authorities.”

The move is the latest in a series of reversals in Bush administration foreign policy by Obama’s national security team. The new administration is also reaching out to Iran and has scrapped major elements of Bush’s plan to construct a missile shield in eastern Europe.

The decision to engage Myanmar stemmed from a review of U.S. policy toward the country initiated after President Barack Obama took office. The Bush administration had shunned Myanmar in protest of multiple crackdowns on the opposition.

U.S. officials said Congress would be briefed on specifics of the new policy on Thursday.

A senior State Department official familiar with the review said the administration planned to name an envoy to deal with an “interlocutor” who Myanmar is expected to name soon to handle the dialogue with Washington.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because U.S. lawmakers have not yet been briefed on the plans, said discussions with Myanmar would now take place at a significantly higher level.

The official added that the administration did not expect “dramatic, immediate results” from engagement but hoped that over time the dialogue would help to pursuade the regime on reform, particularly in ensuring that elections set for 2010 are free and fair.

Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, currently holds almost 2,200 political prisoners, according to estimates by human rights groups. None of them, however, are as well known as pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi.

Her National League for Democracy party handily won the country’s last elections in 1990 but the military never honored the results.

She has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years, and a global groundswell of international pressure to release the 64-year-old opposition leader has kept the impoverished military-ruled country under sanctions in recent years.

Last month, Suu Kyi was sentenced to another 18-month stint under house arrest for allowing an American intruder to stay at her home, ensuring she cannot participate in next year’s election.

That intruder, John Yettaw, was freed during a rare visit to Myanmar by a top U.S. lawmaker, Sen. James Webb, a Virginia Democrat, who returned from the country advocating engagement with the military regime.

Webb was instrumental in getting the State Department to waive travel restrictions included in the sanctions and allow Myanmar’s foreign minister to visit Washington ahead of his participation in this week’s U.N. General Assembly session.

The gathering that Clinton attended Friday’s on the sidelines of the General Assembly was the second of U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s so-called “Group of Friends on Myanmar” at the foreign minister level.

Afterward, Ban issued a statement calling 2010 “a critical year for Myanmar,” in which the upcoming election will be seen as credible only if it iincludes the political opposition.

Before Clinton spoke, Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo told reporters that re-engaging “will enable the U.S. and Europe to have more influence in the political evolution of the country.”

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h0weYm95H3FkI0t9GFgH2R-5VtgAD9ATCCUO1
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Thursday, 24 September 2009 02:30 UK
US to talk to Burmese military

Hillary Clinton says the US wants “credible reform” in Burma

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Washington will engage directly with Burma’s military rulers in a bid to promote democracy there.

Mrs Clinton said sanctions alone had not changed the government’s behaviour.

The new approach follows a review of US policy towards Burma initiated after President Barack Obama took office.

Burma’s hardline regime has refused to release political prisoners, including Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, despite international pressure.

Mrs Clinton’s announcement came after talks with international diplomats on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The talks were chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“We want credible democratic reform, a government that responds to the needs of the Burmese people, immediate, unconditional release of political prisoners… serious dialogue with the opposition and minority ethnic groups,” she said.

“We believe that sanctions remain important as part of our policy, but by themselves they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma.

Aung San Suu Kyi supporter at UN in New York 23.9.09
Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi have lobbied the UN General Assembly

“Engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion,” she added.

“So, going forward we will be employing both of those tools, pursuing our same goals. To help achieve democratic reform, we will be engaging directly with Burmese authorities.”

US officials said that Congress would be briefed on specifics of the new policy of engagement on Thursday, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Next month a Burmese court is due to give its verdict on Ms Suu Kyi’s appeal against her extended house arrest.

Ms Suu Kyi was sentenced in August to a further 18 months’ house arrest after a US intruder stayed at her home.

She has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention and the extension will keep her out of elections next year.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8272055.stm
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NEWS ANALYSIS
Junta’s 2010 Elections: Loading the Dice
By WAI MOE      Thursday, September 24, 2009

Veteran politicians and daughters of former cabinet members, such as Thu Wai, Mya Than Than Nu, Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein and Nay Chi Ba Swe, announced at a press conference in Rangoon on Sept. 14 that they would found a party named the Democratic Party.

The press conference surprised Burmese political observers because it was the first public announcement of the formation of a political party for the 2010 elections while the election law has yet to be officially announced.
Burmese read the newspapers on a street in Rangoon. (Photo: Getty Images)

“It is quite strange that U Thu Wai announced the formation of political party to run in elections which have not yet been officially declared,” said a political observer in Rangoon who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Only Snr-Gen Than Shwe knows when the 2010 election law will be announced,” the observer said. “The junta is busy for the moment dealing with the tension arising with the armed ethnic cease-fire groups over the border guard forces issue.”

Under the military-backed 2008 constitution, the junta made it clear that Burma will only have a single armed force known as the Tatmadaw. The junta is attempting to disarm the militias of its former enemies that became cease-fire groups 20 years ago.

Burmese state-run newspapers are repeatedly reaffirming the junta’s policy of having a single armed force in Burma.

“According to the constitution, there shall be a single Tatmadaw in the county,” noted the junta’s mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar in a commentary on Friday. “All armed forces are to stand in accordance with the constitution.”

Another urgent item on the junta’s agenda is to ensure the participation of ethnic groups in the forthcoming election, which would give stronger legitimacy to the poll. Observers say the election law and the date for the election could be delayed until the ethnic issue is resolved.

Meanwhile, the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has called for a review of the constitution rather than participate in the elections.

“The junta is using a divide-and-rule strategy on the NLD and other dissidents with the election plan,” said a journalist in Rangoon. “The NLD leaders have been divided on the issue of whether to join the elections in 2010.”

The Burmese military have successfully used divide-and-rule tactics against its enemies during its 47 years of rule.

Apart from the NLD, other Burmese politicians are divided over the election plan. While people who want to participate argue the election is a good opportunity to promote change in Burma, others are saying the election is a trap since the 2008 constitution grants the prolongation of military rule in Burma.

Pro-military groups such as the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and the National Unity Party are preparing to take part in the election directly or through proxy parties.

Since late 2008, the USDA has selected respected figures and business people in local communities across the country as potential candidates for its proxy party. Some candidates say they are being watched by military intelligence and special branch police.

When interviewed on the election issue, Burmese political observers in Rangoon, such as veteran politician Chan Tun and Arakan leader Aye Thar Aung, said the junta will only give a limited time for opposition parties to prepare for the elections, and it is likely the election law would be announced close to the election date.

Junta officials, meanwhile, started their election campaign last year. Burma’s Industry 1 Minister Aung Thaung is in charge of the USDA in Mandalay Division. He often travels in the division, meeting local people and organizing heath care and education programs to win over rural people ahead of the election.

Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan has been doing similar things in Sagaing Division, as has Transportation Minister Thein Zaw in Magawe Division and other key officials.

The censorship board has allowed pro-government stories to be printed in some private journals, and pro-junta journalists are permitted to write political pieces related to the forthcoming elections.

For example, Snap Shot, a weekly journal run by a journalist with good connections to Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, published an advertisement announcing the launch of a sister journal called the Yangon Monitor that will report on the election.

In recent months, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division of the Ministry of Information has allowed the Voice Weekly journal to publish election-related articles, some of which are quite similar to articles appearing in state-run newspapers.

On September 13, state-run media announced that the former vice-chairman of the Kachin Independence Organization, Dr Tuja, planned to form a political party for the election, saying “Dr Tuja will build a brighter future for Kachin State by forming the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) representing Kachin nationals.”

About a week later, the censorship board permitted the Voice Weekly Journal to run an interview with Dr Tuja about the elections. Journals that regularly publish pro-junta stories never publish dissident views on the elections or government policies.

“This journal is given special privileges, but dissident opinions are not allowed. I wrote four articles arguing against their stance—all were banned,” said veteran journalist Ludu Sein Win during an interview with the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma.

Even politicians who argue the elections are providing an opportunity for a way out of Burma’s crisis are being given little space by the junta. Although authorities gave politician U Thu Wai a green light to hold a press conference announcing the launch of his party last week, the censorship board banned all news about the press conference in Burmese private journals.

“The censorship board ordered us to remove news about U Thu Wai’s press conference and his new party when we sent them the first draft of this week’s issue,” said an editor with a Rangoon weekly who requested anonymity.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=16851
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S Korean film festival to be held in Yangon next month
www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-24 20:44:29            Print

YANGON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) — A South Korean film festival will be held in Myanmar’s biggest city of Yangon next month to boost cultural exchange and cooperation between the two countries, sources with the South Korean embassy said Thursday.

The four-day film festival, which is the fifth of its kind, will run from Oct. 16 to 19 at the Thamada cinema, the sources said.

Four South Korean movies namely Summer Whispers (romance), Mom’s Way (Drama), Marathon (Drama) and Oseam (Animation) will be screened on the occasion, they said, adding that a famous South Korean actress, Lee Young Eun, who played the main role in the “Summer Whispers” and two South Korean film directors will attend the show.

South Korean film festival has been held in Myanmar since 1998 with the last being held in November 2008, in which five South Korean movies – Le Grand Chief, Hello, Goodbye, Little Brother and My Love were screened.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and South Korea are also cooperating in shooting documentary film on Myanmar’s Buddhism and natural scenery, and an agreement on the move was initiated in February this year between the Myanmar Ministry of Information and the Korea Broadcasting Institute (KBI).

The documentary film on production will be broadcast in South Korean TV channels such as KBS-1, KBS-2, MBC, and SBS, the South Korean embassy sources said.

Moreover, another South Korean TV, the KBS, has been shooting a similar documentary — Insight in Asia 2009 — since the end of last year.

The KBS group had come to Myanmar earlier in the year and video Myanmar’s ancient city of Bagan, where over 2,000 pagodas and monasteries lie.
Editor: Lin Zhi   http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/24/content_12107869.htm