According to a copy of the letter obtained by The Irrawaddy on Monday, Suu Kyi said she wants to cooperate with the Burmese regime to achieve an end to sanctions by the United States and other Western countries. She told Than Shwe she wanted to hear the opinions of these countries through their ambassadors based in Burma.

Members of the National League for Democracy Party clad with T-shirts bearing a white star and fighting peacock, a trademark of the NLD, as they line up to welcome guests during the party’s 21st founding anniversary celebration at the party’s headquarters in Rangoon on Sept. 27. (Photo: AP)

Suu Kyi also requested a meeting with senior members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) in order to negotiate an agreement for an end to sanctions.

Suu Kyi’s letter comes two days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced plans for a major US policy shift that will include engaging with Burma’s military junta as part of an effort to promote political reform in the country. Suu Kyi also has welcomed the US move.

The US has traditionally been Burma’s strongest critic, applying political and economic sanctions against the junta. But President Barack Obama’s administration says it is reviewing US policy toward the Burmese junta, which welcomed visiting US Senator Jim Webb at an unprecedented meeting with Than Shwe last month.

Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist who has written several books on Burma, commented on the latest development: “It seems to me that Burma’s close relations with China, not the lack of democracy, is the US’s main concern.”

Since the “war on terror” was launched in 2001, the US has neglected to counter the spread of China’s influence globally, according to Lintner.

“Now, in the eleventh hour, it’s waking up, so it has begun to ‘engage’ regimes such as the one in Burma. At the same time, however, the US cannot ignore its stated commitment to democracy.

“This is going to be a severe dilemma when Washington wakes up to the fact that the Burmese junta has no intention to move towards any kind of real democracy.”

Meanwhile, the NLD released a statement on Sunday demanding the reopening of the functions of its political campaigns, which have been banned by the regime for the last six years. The ban was unlawful, the NLD said.

The NLD call came on the 21st anniversary of the party on Sunday. More than 200 NLD members and diplomat guests celebrated the occasion at the party headquarters in Rangoon.

Despite being an official political party, the NLD has faced continual regime harassment and the arrest and imprisonment of several key members, NLD chairman Aung Shwe said.

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Border Guard Deadline Nears
By LAWI WENG     Monday, September 28, 2009

The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) held a meeting at its headquarter in Laiza on Monday to prepare for talks with the junta’s northern regional commander Major-Gen Soe Win, according to sources on the Sino-Burma border.

The junta expects the KIO to respond to its border guard proposal by October.

Awng Wa, a Kachin youth leader who lives on the border, told The Irrawaddy that KIO leaders will travel to Myitkyina on Tuesday  to meet Soe Win.

The KIO was told by Lt-Gen Ye Myint, the Burmese Military Affairs Security Chief, to provide an answer in October to the border guard force issue when they met in Myitkyina on Sept. 9.

KIO leaders have already rejected the junta’s demand to transform their troops into a border guard force under the command of government military officers.

Instead, Kachin leaders have proposed a Kachin Regional Guard Force in place of a government-backed border guard force. They have met junta officials at least seven times since April.

Meanwhile, the junta has mobilized more troops in Kachin State as the deadline nears and tension has increased.

Awng Wa said the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has placed its troops on alert, and soldiers completed military training courses this month, he said.

Only three ethnic ceasefire groups have agreed so far to transform their troops into border guards (the Pa-ao National Organization, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and the Karenni Nationalities Peoples’ Liberation Front).

Fourteen ethnic armed groups have refused to become a border guard force including the largest ethnic armed force, the United Wa State Army in northeastern Shan State.

Mai Aik Phone, who is close to the Wa, said that the UWSA has sent more troops to Panlong, south of Laogai Township, where an estimated 10 Burmese battalions were recently deployed.

Many residents in Kachin and Shan states fear war will break out between the junta’s troops and ethnic ceasefire groups if the junta continues to demand that they become a border guard force.

According to the Kachin News Group based in Chiang Mai, Chinese authorities have set up three refugee camps in northwestern Yunnan Province, to shelter refugees if there is fighting in Shan and Kachin states. More than 30,000 Kokang refugees fled to China after the recent clashes between junta and Kokang troops.

The Burmese authorities meanwhile have improved roads in Shan and Kachin states, in preparation for moving troops, say observers.

China has warned its citizens on the China-Burma border to return to China because the area may be subject to imminent hostilities.  There have been reports that Burmese authorities in Laogai have forced Chinese citizens to leave the area.

Meanwhile, China has asked Burmese authorities to respect the right of Chinese citizens who live in the Burma border area and has asked Burmese authorities to investigate and punish who abused or stole property from Chinese citizen in Laogai during the fighting between junta and Kakang troops.

An estimated 80 percent of Laogai market is owned by Chinese citizens, according to border sources. Many Chinese-owned properties were reportedly looted by junta troops during the August attack.

Another ethnic armed ceasefire group, Thai-Burmese border-based the New Mon State Party (NMSP), is also under pressure to transform into a border guard force. Junta’s troops are reportedly setting up a new artillery base in the border town of Three Pagodas Pass.

Burmese regime also asks to set up a check point in the NMSP-controlled area near Halockinee refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border.

According to the NMSP, if the junta sets up any military bases, the ceasefire agreement of 1995 will be broken.
http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16874
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Monk Renews Call for Apology or Boycott
By ALEX ELLGEE   Monday, September 28, 2009

MAE SOT — “I walked out and saw the Burmese military putting up barriers outside of Shwedagon Pagoda. It did not scare us though, it just made us more determined,” said King Zero, a monk who recently wrote a statement again demanding an apology from the military.

A similar statement two years ago led to the “Saffron Revolution” of September 2007.
A Buddhist monk offering prayers at Shwedagon pagoda. (Photo: Getty Images)

Two years ago this month, King Zero, a Burmese monk, was walking back from an Internet café after e-mailing photographs of the previous day’s protests to various media organizations around the world. The monks had been marching in Rangoon for five days and despite receiving information that the soldiers would shoot, they continued.

King Zero, speaking in his library in Mae Sot, Thailand, told The Irrawaddy Burmese monks will never surrender in the fight for democracy.

“The monks will never give up. We will continue to risk our lives so the people of Burma can have freedom from suffering,” he said.

King Zero works with U Gambira, who is now serving a 63-year sentence for his leadership in the uprising, which led to hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets of Rangoon and other cities in September 2007.

King Zero quietly toured the county handing out pamphlets to monasteries and encouraging monks to participate in peaceful marches. Changing monasteries every day, he worked to create an underground monk network to relay news and information around Burma.

Then on Sept. 7, King Zero wrote the statement that called on the military junta to apologize for its treatment of monks in Pakokku, where dozens were beaten by government soldiers.

Now two years later, King Zero has written another statement calling again on the military to make a public apology by October or risk another boycott of alms from members of the military. If the monks’ new demands are not met, then once again monks will turn over their bowls and refuse donations from members of the military and their families, he said.

Since the statement was announced, the government has launched a widespread crackdown on activists and monks in Burma. In recent weeks, eight monks have been arrested and surveillance has been beefed up with monks being followed and searched around the country.

Despite the current situation, King Zero remains hopeful and determined that the boycott will materialize into an uprising that can overturn the generals.

“In September 2007 they were arresting student leaders like Min Ko Naing, but we carried on. Now they are arresting our fellow monks, but again, we will carry on and never give up,” he said.

The night King Zero returned from witnessing the barricades being put up, the government launched a full scale crack down on the demonstrations. At 1 am, many monks arrested and hauled off to interrogation centers.

Ignoring the threats, thousands took to the streets the next day in defiance of the orders to stop the marches. It took the government five days to start shooting and beating protestors because the battalion stationed in Rangoon refused to attack the monks.

The junta replaced the battalion with the notorious 66th Battalion.

Defectors have reported that the generals indoctrinated the soldiers with the idea that the monks who were demonstrating were bogus and that had been given alcohol before they went into the streets. As a result, the 66th Battalion reaped havoc in the following days, killing and beating demonstrators across Rangoon and creating scenes of violence which filled newspapers and TVs screens around the world.

What had started out as a time of unity and hope, ended up showing the brutality of a dictatorship that would kill monks to hold on to power. By the end of the crackdown, the monastic order was in tatters, with thousands of people imprisoned, and many dead and many and injured.

Despite the carnage, King Zero said that good has come out of the demonstrations because the people of Burma are now more aware and interested in politics, since they saw how the government treated the monks, who enjoy widespread respect.

“Now they know that the generals are not real Buddhists. No real Buddhist can given an order to shoot or beat a monk,” he said. “The generals know in their minds they are not Buddhist, but they pretend they are. They cannot worship Buddha because they worship power and as long as they do that, they believe they can do what they want.”

The Burmese government has repeatedly criticized monks for straying away from Buddhist teachings and fostering unrest.

For King Zero, there is no doubt in his mind that monks should be involved in the struggle to bring democracy to Burma.

“In my country 90 percent of the people are Buddhist and even though they are poor, they offer a lot to the monks, and we have a responsibility to protect the people. The people’s lives are getting poorer and poorer every day. They don’t have money to eat proper food or to get proper medical treatment. We have a responsibility to protect and help the people. If we cannot change the system, then the situation will just get worse so we decided to risk our lives for the people.”

He said the All Burma Monks Alliance feels a real urgency to deliver change to the people before the 2010 elections, which they believe will only make things worse. They fear that by accepting the elections, the people of Burma will endure increased repression by the government.

King Zero deplores the election and rejects the notion that “something is better than nothing,” arguing that the opposition will be able to do less after the elections because the government will be seen as legitimate and could therefore exercise even more control on domestic and exiled opposition groups.

He said the next few months are crucial for the democracy movement. Like September 2007 took the world by surprise, maybe something will spark an uprising again, like inflation from the new 5,000 kyat note.

No one is sure whether the October boycott will turn into a full scale uprising, but one thing is certain. The Saffron Revolution lives on in King Zero and others who will continue to oppose the rule of the junta until Burma has achieved democracy.

“The Saffron Revolution is far from over,” he said.

Security Tight on Anniversary of Crackdown on “Saffron Revolution”
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RANGOON — Riot police manned the main roads in Burma’s biggest city Sunday in an apparent attempt to prevent unrest on the second anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Dozens of police and security officers were also deployed near the Rangoon headquarters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which held a ceremony to mark the 21st anniversary of the party’s founding.

No unrest was reported in the city.

In 2007, monk-led demonstrations attracted up to 100,000 people. The junta put down the protests with force, killing at least 31 people and detaining thousands, some of whom remain in jail. The country is believed to hold roughly 65,000 prisoners, including more than 2,200 political detainees, according to human rights groups.

The NLD anniversary was attended Sunday by about 300 people including party members, diplomats and reporters.

In a statement, the party reiterated its call for the release of political prisoners, including Suu Kyi—who has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention—and her deputy Tin Oo, to create a political climate conducive to national reconciliation.

The party also called on the government to allow its branches to reopen to allow its members to organize freely.

The NLD was founded in 1988 after an abortive pro-democracy uprising, and since then has faced almost constant harassment from the ruling military.

Burma has been in a political deadlock since 1990, when Suu Kyi’s party won a general election by a landslide but was not allowed to take power by the military. The army has ruled Burma since 1962. Efforts to promote a dialogue between the pro-democracy movement and the government have failed.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy. org
http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16870
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Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi pushes sanctions talks

Posted : Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:44:21 GMT
By : Lucas Wolf
Category : Asia (World)

Yangon – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has requested permission from the ruling junta to talk about lifting economic sanctions with the Australian, US and European embassies, opposition sources said Monday. Suu Kyi, who is currently under house detention, made the request in a letter sent to junta chief Senior General Than Shwe, the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party revealed.

“Let me meet with the charge d’affaires of the United States, an ambassador representing the European Union countries and the Australian ambassador to discuss lifting sanctions against Myanmar,” Suu Kyi said in a letter dated September 25, 2009.

Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest, has made it clear that she is ready to cooperate with the ruling junta to get the West to lift economic sanctions imposed on the country, as long as three conditions are met.

“Daw (Madame) Aung San Suu Kyi has written a letter to Senior General Than Shwe regarding the sanctions issue,” said Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi said last week. Than Shwe is Myanmar’s current military strongman.

He said Suu Kyi indicated she is not opposed to ending Western sanctions against Myanmar, as long as there is “engagement” on both sides.

In her letter to Than Shwe, Suu Kyi said it was necessary to discuss three points: which countries have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar, the impact of the sanctions and why they were imposed.

Economic sanctions have been imposed on Myanmar since 1988, when the military brutally cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations, leaving an estimated 3,000 people dead.

The US and European Union have increased their sanctions as the junta first refused to acknowledge the NLD’s victory in the 1990 elections, and then proceeded to arrest critics and suppress all forms of dissent.

Earlier this year, junta chief Than Shwe hinted that he would be willing to open a political dialogue with Suu Kyi if she agreed to cooperate in persuading the West to lift the sanctions.

To date, Than Shwe has refused to talk to Suu Kyi. Discussing why sanctions have been imposed on Myanmar would amount to a discussion of the NLD’s demands.

Most Western nations have demanded that Than Shwe release Suu Kyi and some 2,000 other political prisoners as a first step towards democratization in the country, which has been under military rule since 1962. Suu Kyi and the NLD demand the same thing.

Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told journalists on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that the US administration had decided on a double-pronged approach of both engagement and continued sanctions.

“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 said, referring to the South-East Asian country by its former name.

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

Congress was due to be informed about details of the planned talks on Thursday.

Washington has been calling on Myanmar’s military, which has ruled the country since 1962, to improve its human rights record, allow democratic reforms and release political prisoners, among them Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ahead of a planned general election in 2010.

Copyright DPA  http://www.earthtim es.org/articles/ show/287523, myanmar-oppositi on-leader- aung-san- suu-kyi-pushes- sanctions- talks.html
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Jetstar prepared to talk about Burma concerns
September 28, 2009
Article from:  Australian Associated Press

THE airline Jetstar says it is prepared to talk about its presence in Burma after trade unions and campaigners accused it of indirectly propping up the country’s military regime.

The budget airline was among eight firms named in a new report – commissioned by the Burma Campaign Australia – that accuses the companies of contributing funds to Burma’s oppressive regime.

Chevron, Andaman Teak Supplies, Gecko’s Adventure, Lonely Planet, Millers, Sri Asia Tourism and Twinza Oil were the other Australian-register ed firms named in the report.

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) president Sharan Burrow said all of the companies indirectly funded the Burmese military by operating in the southern Asian nation.

“The people there are subjected to the worst abuses of human rights and of course lack democracy,” Ms Burrow said.

“We say to those companies, cancel your operations. It will have a real impact.”

Macquarie University professor Dr Sean Turnell said Burma’s natural resources made it one of the richest Asian nations but its citizens still lived in poverty.

“(Burma’s leaders have) got a lot of money to make a great deal of difference for the people,” Prof Turnell told reporters.

A Jetstar spokeswoman said the company’s presence in Burma has significant humanitarian benefits but it would talk to anyone with concerns.

“Jetstar is always willing to engage with any group who has concerns with our operations and those of affiliates such as Jetstar Asia,” the spokeswoman said.

Jetstar said it believed its presence in Burma was positive because it had provided viable air links and humanitarian services, including assistance with flights for charitable organisations.   http://www.theaustr alian.news. com.au/story/ 0,25197,26135903 -12377,00. html
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Indonesia lauds US policy shift on Myanmar

Ary Hermawan ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 09/28/2009 1:36 PM  |  World

Hopeful faces: Khin Aye, a member of the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party, dances during the party’s 21st founding anniversary celebration at the party’s headquarters, on Sunday. AP/Khin Maung WinHopeful faces: Khin Aye, a member of the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party, dances during the party’s 21st founding anniversary celebration at the party’s headquarters, on Sunday. AP/Khin Maung Win

Indonesia has hailed the United States’ decision to engage the reclusive Myanmar junta, urging the latter to respond positively to the appeasing gesture from Washington.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda called on Yangon to respond to the shift in US policy by taking positive action such as reducing the jail term of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said in a text message sent to The Jakarta Post from the US.

Both Hassan and Faizasyah are in the US for the UN General Assembly, along with Myanmar Foreign Minister Maj. Gen. Nyan Win, who was granted entry to New York amid strained relations between the two countries.

“The foreign minister conveyed his message during the ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly,” Faizasyah said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced last Wednesday that Washington would pursue engagement with the generals in Yangon. But she also made clear the lone superpower would not immediately end the economic sanctions it had imposed, saying that “engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion”.

Clinton also said during the announcement that the decision for the policy shift was taken after discussing the Myanmar issue with Hassan, during the secretary of state’s visit to Jakarta in February, Faizasyah said.

However. Analysts are doubtful this new strategy will soften up the junta in the short term. Others even fear the junta will take the gesture as a tacit endorsement of its current behavior.

“While the decision is indeed a welcome breakthrough, the result will depend heavily on the way Myanmar responds to the US’s new gesture,” said Bantarto Bandoro, an analyst from the Indonesian Institute for Strategic Studies.

“The US has been using more sticks than carrots all this time when dealing with Myanmar.

“I think ASEAN has already been using the stick-and-carrot approach, only it has never used the stick in a way the US did.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon again urged Southeast Asian countries to take a tougher line with neighbor Myanmar in hopes its military junta will free political prisoners and hold fair elections, Reuters reported. He was speaking to the ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting in New York.

Ban said it was in the best interests of the rest of ASEAN to lean on Myanmar to free political prisoners.

“Our collective interest is to find ways to encourage Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners, start a genuine political dialogue, and create conditions conducive to credible elections,” Ban said.

ASEAN member states have refrained from criticizing each other, despite calls for the organization to condemn Myanmar for its mistreatment of Suu Kyi, under ASEAN’s policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of fellow member states.

Senior ASEAN officials last month recommended that their foreign ministers officially appeal to Myanmar to let Suu Kyi participate in next year’s elections, after a three-day meeting in Jakarta.

The international community says the 2010 elections – the first since the 1990 elections won by Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy – will not be fair and credible if Suu Kyi and other dissidents currently being detained by Myanmar are not allowed to take part.  http://www.thejakar tapost.com/ news/2009/ 09/28/indonesia- lauds-us- policy-shift- myanmar.html
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Joint United Nations-Association of Southeast Asian Nations press statement

Source: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); United Nations Secretary-General
Date: 26 Sep 2009
SG/2156

Following is the joint United Nations-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) press statement following the UN-ASEAN ministerial- level meeting in New York, 26 September:

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, serving as Chairman of ASEAN, and with the participation of Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of ASEAN; Ali Abdussalam Treki, President of the sixty-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly; and Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, met at the United Nations Headquarters on 26 September 2009. This meeting is an annual event which provides an opportunity for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers, the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General to exchange views on matters of mutual interest and represents the growing close cooperation between regional organizations and the United Nations.

The meeting was briefed by the ASEAN Chair on developments in ASEAN following the entry into force of the ASEAN Charter last December and on the convening of the fifteenth ASEAN Summit and related summits in Thailand next month, which will move ASEAN towards becoming a more integrated and interconnected Community. The meeting was also briefed by the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General on latest developments in the United Nations as well as the priorities and expectations of this body during this session of the General Assembly. The meeting welcomed the efforts undertaken in the area of reform of the United Nations and urged continued efforts, so that the United Nations can more effectively implement the United Nations Charter and address the global challenges facing the international community in cooperation with Member States and regional organizations.

The meeting stressed the importance of nurturing an effective partnership between ASEAN and the United Nations that will help both organizations address effectively the challenges affecting South-East Asia and the world. The meeting recalled the Memorandum of Understanding on ASEAN-UN cooperation, which has provided a sound framework for enhanced cooperation, including the successful ongoing ASEAN-UN partnership in the area of disaster management, particularly in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. There was recognition that further cooperation between ASEAN and the United Nations could be enhanced to address the various common global challenges.

The participants had a productive, frank and wide-ranging exchange of views on the key global and regional issues of common concern. The meeting stressed the importance of such frank and comprehensive exchange of views, based on mutual respect, to promote progress towards the resolution of these issues, and called on the Secretariats of ASEAN and the United Nations to work towards the development of a strategy for further enhancing cooperation.

The meeting looked forward to the convening of the Third ASEAN-UN Summit in Viet Nam in 2010 which would help maintain strong momentum in the growing ASEAN-UN partnership.

For information media • not an official record   http://www.reliefwe b.int/rw/ rwb.nsf/db900SID /MYAI-7WB2H9? OpenDocument
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September 28, 2009 13:16 PM
People Asked To Be Confident In Using Newly-Introduced Currency In Myanmar

YANGON, Sept 28 (Bernama) — Myanmar private media Monday urged people in the country to be confident in using larger-value denomination of currency notes to be introduced soon, saying that the bank authorities’ move is simply made to facilitate currency transactions and boost its flow.

According to a report by China’s Xinhua news agency, the Central Bank of Myanmar announced last Thursday that a new denomination of 5,000 Kyats currency notes will be put into circulation starting Oct. 1.

“The new currency note is issued with insurance in accordance with the limited demand of Myanmar’s monetary flow of the existing currencies along with the momentum of its economic growth,” the Weekly Eleven News quoted monetary and banking expert U Wint Kyaw as saying.

“Myanmar is a country with its people using cash currency more than cheque which is limited and private banks cannot accept cash deposit without limit. It prompted a high value of transaction as trading volume grows,” he said.

“It would not cause impact as far as monetary is concerned,” he held.

However, the expert warned people against creating panic themselves by buying this and that which will make people suffer out of rising commodity prices for the panic.

According to the bank announcement, all other legal tender currency notes and coins will continue to be in circulation.

The introduction of the new banknotes of 5,000 Kyats, which is five times higher in face value than that of 1,000 Kyats last introduced in November 1998, has drawn public concern and actual impact on the financial market and the commodity prices remains to be further monitored.

There has been 10 kinds of bank notes in circulation in Myanmar which are 50-pyas, 1-Kyat, 5-Kyat, 10-Kyat, 20-Kyat, 50-Kyat, 100- Kyat, 200-Kyat, 500-Kyats and 1,000-Kyat over the period of the past several decades.

In addition to some state banks and public banks, there remains 15 private banks so far in operation since such banks were re- allowed to operate in 1992 in accordance with the government’s market-oriented economic system.

Private banks were nationalised in Myanmar in 1963 during the previous Ne Win government and their operation had halted for nearly three decades until 1992.

– BERNAMA http://www.bernama. com/bernama/ v5/newsworld. php?id=442693
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Australia’s Jetstar defends Myanmar flights

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian budget airline Jetstar defended its flights into Myanmar on Monday after rights campaigners said the service was helping prop up the country’s military regime.

Jetstar defended its four weekly flights from Singapore to Yangon as a “positive for the people of Myanmar” and denied making payments to officials in the Southeast Asian country.

Singapore-registere d Jetstar Asia, a Jetstar affiliate, was one of eight companies named by Burma Campaign Australia — which uses Myanmar’s old name — as directly or indirectly backing the junta to the tune of up to 2.8 billion US dollars in revenue.

“Jetstar believes the provision of viable air links for the people of Myanmar and the carrier’s humanitarian contributions, including the assistance with flights for charitable organisations. .. have been a positive for the people of Myanmar,” it said in a statement.

“While Jetstar Asia is obliged to meet normal aviation and airport charges in every country it operates in, it does not make payments to officials of the government of Myanmar, and has not,” it added.

Zetty Brake, a spokeswoman for the Burma Campaign Australia, said every time the airline landed in the country it would be paying taxes which make their way back to the military regime.

Brake said most Myanmar residents would be unable to afford the flights.

“The people that are using these services from Burma are people with links to the regime,” she told AFP.

Trade unions chief Sharan Burrow said all eight companies named by the campaign were contributing to the junta.

“The people there are subjected to the worst abuses of human rights and of course lack democracy,” Burrow, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), told reporters.

“We say to those companies, cancel your operations. It will have a real impact.” http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20090928/ wl_asia_afp/ myanmarpoliticsa ustraliaairline
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Greens senator Bob Brown urges Jetstar to rethink Burma flights
* From: AAP
* September 28, 2009 2:54PM
GREENS leader Bob Brown has urged Jetstar to reassess Burma flights to avoid helping a repressive military dictatorship.

A report commissioned by Burma Campaign Australia says Australian companies could be handing the Burmese leaders as much as $US2.8 billion ($A3.2 billion) in revenue.

Budget airline Jetstar, which runs four flights a week into Burma, is one of eight Australian-owned companies named in the report, released on Monday.

Jetstar denies its flights into Burma are assisting the military junta and says it’s happy to end the schedule if it thinks it’s harming the Burmese people in any way.

Senator Brown says the airline should realise it’s helping the military leaders who have ruled the southern Asian nation since 1962.

“Jetstar should be seeing that it keeps its schedules in Australia and that it treats all its passengers well in Australia, including families, rather than serving a dictatorship like the Burmese military,” he said.

“It can’t say we are immune from politics. No, they’re not.

“They are flying into a repressive, nasty regime which locks people up who speak for democracy and it has locked up hundreds of them.”

Senator Brown suggested Jetstar contact Burma’s democracy icon, Nobel Peace winner Aung San Suu Kyi, to see what she thinks of its operation.

Suu Kyi has spent about 14 of the past 20 years in detention since the junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy’s landslide victory in the last elections in 1990.

“Maybe Jetstar should ask Aung San Suu Kyi what she thinks about it, if they are going to be decent about it,” Senator Brown said.
http://www.heraldsu n.com.au/ news/national/ greens-senator- bob-brown- urges-jetstar- to-rethink- burma-flights/ story-e6frf7l6- 1225780467539
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POLITICS-BURMA:  Monks Silent and Simmering Two Years after Revolt
By Larry Jagan

BANGKOK, Sep 28 (IPS) – Burma’s monks are silent but seething with anger two years after the brutal state crackdown on their revolution.

Although Rangoon, the South-east Asian state’s former capital, is relatively quiet at the moment, there is widespread simmering discontent that could erupt again at any time into anti-government protests. “While we cannot say anything in public, in the privacy of our own homes, we remember how the army treated the monks two years ago,” said Aye Win, a retired school teacher in Rangoon.

“We were shocked. The monks are the most trusted and revered people in our society, so we can never forget how the military treated them with such utter disdain,” he added.

The memory of the monks marching and the bloody crackdown is still fresh in many peoples’ minds. “We really feared for them when they took to the streets, but we never believed the generals would attack them so viciously,” said Min Thu, a taxi driver in Rangoon.

The events of September 2007 were a traumatic experience for most ordinary Burmese.

The anti-government protests started as small demonstrations in mid-August against rising food and fuel prices organised by the leaders of the ‘88 Generation Students Group’, who had been prominent during the mass pro-democracy demonstrations in August 1988. But these exploded into a major mass protest when the saffron-clad monks took the lead in what became known as the ‘Saffron Revolt’, a moniker coined from the color of their robes. In late September 2007, the military junta began a massive crackdown on the protesters.

“Almost all the monks marching on the streets – it had never happened before,” said Bertil Lintner, a Burma expert and author of the recent report, ‘The Resistance of the Monks: Buddhism and Protests in Burma’, issued by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“It was quite a pivotal moment in modern Burmese history when the monks started marching on the streets,” David Mathieson, the Thailand-based Burma researcher for HRW, told IPS. “They may be silent now, underground or in exile abroad, but they are still angry and unbowed by the brutal assault against them by the army.”

For the monks who have disrobed, and either forced underground or into exile, they remain monks at heart, said Lintner.

Just as in 1988, the military knew no other way to counter mass anti-government peaceful protests, and launched a violent crackdown on them, killing many and arresting thousands throughout the country. At least 120 people were killed in Rangoon alone, the former human rights rapporteur for Burma, Prof Paulo Pinheiro, told IPS shortly after his mission to Burma a few weeks after the crackdown.

More than a thousand monks were detained within weeks of the crackdown in Rangoon, according to HRW. “Hundreds of them were tortured in custody,” said Mathieson.

At least 237 monks remain in prison, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPPB), a group of former political prisoners based in Thailand.

The monasteries were closed and the novice monks forced to return to their homes. Many have been unable to subsequently go back to their monkhood because the authorities actively prevented them from returning. As a result, many monasteries are empty.

“The Yangon (Rangoon) monasteries have yet to recover from the order given in late September 2007 to disperse their monks to their hometowns,” Bejamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’ s Thailand-based Burma researcher told IPS. “Many of those monks were arrested along the way, while others were detained once they arrived. Very few have gone back.”

In the lead-up to the second anniversary of the Saffron Revolt, there has been increased harassment and intimidation of monks. Sermons of abbots and senior monks are being more closely scrutinised.

Monks returning from abroad have been detained and interrogated, according to Bo Kyi, who heads AAPPB. “This month there has also been a sweep of monasteries, and more than 20 monks were arrested,” he said.

The monks remain a potent force in Burma, and the junta fears they may again become an important focal point for future protests.

“The junta doesn’t treat the detained monks with respect. They tortured and abused them when they raided the monasteries, and have continued to mistreat them in the prisons,” said Bo Kyi. “Their only thought is that anyone who challenges them is their enemy.”

“After I was arrested, they constantly humiliated me,” one of the leaders of the monks’ movement, who declined to be identified, told IPS. “First they disrobed me and then they deliberately tried to break me by not allowing me to respect the rules of our monastic order.” After being released, he escaped to Thailand.

The monks in my monastery are still angry with the government, he said. Some abbots in Rangoon believe armed struggle may be the only answer to this authoritarian regime.

“I’m being watched all the time. I am considered an organiser. Between noon and 2 p.m., I am allowed to go out of the monastery. But then I’m followed,” the Buddhist monk U Manita told HRW recently. “We don’t want this junta. And that’s what everyone at my monastery thinks as well.”

Many analysts and diplomats in Rangoon believe the monk-led protests were an aberration and unlikely to be repeated. Some observers believe they have had an impact on the regime and the international community.

“Regardless of their eventual outcome, many changes within Myanmar (official name of Burma) itself during the past two years can be largely attributed to the Saffron Revolution: the sudden completion of the constitution and announcement of elections, the renewed engagement and confrontation with ceasefire groups, the doubling of political prisoners, and even the trial and the continued detention of (opposition leader) Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Zawacki.

The revolt also served to radicalise a new generation of young people, who had not experienced the pro-democracy demonstration 21 years ago. “Young people had given up, and were consciously staying away from politics,” Lintner said. But the events of September 2007 changed that.

According to some Rangoon residents, while they showed no interest in politics before, they suddenly were galvanised. “I fear that my children now have been radicalised, and instead of staying out of politics, have been encouraged by the example of the monks, and may do something dangerous,” said one resident.

Certainly many young people have begun to realise that political change is necessary for Burma. Several well-educated young Burmese are now planning to form a political party to contest the elections in 2010, according to one of their former teachers.

So while the monks remain a focus for future protests, they still maintain that they are non-political. “They may not be the leaders of an anti-government protest, but they are definitely a catalyst for change,” said Mathieson.

“The monks have been a force for change in the past, and because they are viewed by the people as a legitimate source of authority in Myanmar, as opposed to one that has only guns to thank for its power, they remain a potent force,” said Zawacki. “This gives hope that the latest Saffron Revolution (in 2007) won’t be the last.”

(END/2009)  http://www.ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 48614
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Talks and sanctions

Editorial Desk
The Statesman
Publication Date: 28-09-2009

There appears to be a distinct change in the United States’ policy towards Burma (Myanmar) with Hillary Clinton declaring that talks with the junta would be “stepped up” in parallel with the sanctions.

This certainly is a forward progression not least because the imprisoned democratic leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has lent support to the move. There may be hope yet that direct engagement with the rulers will provide the impetus to democratic reforms.

There is increasing realisation in the West that the sanctions regime hasn’t been effective against a ruthless junta that is even prepared to resist diplomatic isolation. There is acknowledgement too in certain quarters that the West’s hard line has been a disaster… with scarcely a change in the prolonged predicament of Suu Kyi.

Much will depend on the pace at which Burma names its interlocutor for the bilateral talks. The shift in the US style of engagement becomes clear from the Secretary of State’s address at a meeting of the Group of Friends on Myanmar in New York: “Any debate that pits sanctions against engagement creates a false choice. Going forward, we’ll need to employ both of these tools.” She has taken care to couch her prescription with the caveat: “Lifting sanctions now would send the wrong signal… But we will be willing to discuss the easing of sanctions in response to significant actions that address the core human rights and democracy issues that are inhibiting Burma’s progress”.

For both sides, it will be a very delicate balance to sustain given the country’s brutal record in stifling democracy. Yet it must be conceded that the gesture raises hope. As much is clear from the immediate response of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy: “The new US approach will bring an improved and more transparent relations.” She herself has backed the move with the very reasonable suggestion that the US dealings ought to be conducted with both the junta and the pro-democracy leaders. One need hardly add that only then will the Obama administration’ s review of its policy towards Burma be meaningful.
http://www.asianews net.net/news. php?id=7972&sec=3
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Burma’s Suu Kyi party calls for her freedom

Burma’s leading opposition party marked its 21st anniversary Sunday by calling on the country’s military regime to free its detained leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Burma’s leading opposition party marked its 21st anniversary Sunday by calling on the country’s military regime to free its detained leader, Nobel laureateAung San Suu Kyi, seen here in 1999.

Around 250 party members, diplomats and former political prisoners attended a gathering at the National League for Democracy’s headquarters in Rangoon, amid tight security, to celebrate the party’s formation in 1988.

“On our anniversary day I want to say that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be allowed to take part freely in politics. She herself is a politician and our party is acknowledged by the government,” NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.

The party also called for the release of other detained political prisoners and the reopening of its regional offices around the country.

The NLD won a landslide in 1990 elections but the junta refused to recognise the victory, and pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest or in jail.

The ruling generals extended her house arrest by 18 months in August after convicting her of breaching the terms of her detention, after an American man swam uninvited to her house.

The sentence keeps her out of the way for elections promised by the junta in 2010. The NLD has not yet said if it will take part in the polls, which critics say are a sham to legitimise the generals’ grip on power.

But Suu Kyi has written to military regime leader Than Shwe with suggestions about how to get Western sanctions against the country lifted, after years of espousing punitive measures against the junta, it emerged Saturday.

The move came just days after the United States unveiled a major policy shift that would see Washington engaging with the ruling generals in a bid to push for democratic reform in Burma.

Nyan Win said she wrote the letter “expecting to start a dialogue”.

“There can be no stability for the economic and social sectors without political stability. Dialogue is a sign of positive development,” the NLD’s anniversary statement said.

According to party sources, Suu Kyi has asked in her letter for meetings with top Western diplomats in Burma to discuss the sanctions imposed by their countries.
http://www.bangkokp ost.com/news/ asia/155400/ burma-suu- kyi-party- calls-for- her-freedom