Myanmar’s Suu Kyi plans first trip since release
By Aung Hla Tun | Reuters – 1 hour 4 minutes ago

YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will next week travel outside her home city for the first time since her release from a seven-year stint of house arrest last November, a spokesman for her former party said.

Suu Kyi plans to join her son, Kim, on a four-day pilgrimage from July 4 to Bagan, an ancient city about 700 km (435 miles) north of Yangon, where she has spent the past eight years.

“The purpose of the trip is purely religious,” Han Tha Myint, a spokesmen for Suu Kyi’s now defunct National League for Democracy Party (NLD), said on Thursday, adding she would travel by plane.

Suu Kyi, 66, was expected to go on a series of one-day trips outside Yangon next week, prompting concerns by her supporters about her personal safety. Several government-run newspapers carried commentaries on Wednesday warning of “chaos and riots” if Suu Kyi went ahead.

The Nobel laureate’s last tour in 2003 was marred by an ambush on her motorcade by thugs believed to be hired by the then ruling military junta.

More than 70 of her supporters were killed in the incident, known as the Depayin Massacre. It was widely seen as an assassination attempt on Suu Kyi, who was put back under house arrest, or what the regime called “protective custody”.

The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday the new Myanmar government was responsible for Suu Kyi’s safety everywhere in the country.

WORLD WATCHING

The charismatic figurehead of Myanmar’s fight against five decades of military dictatorships has been given unprecedented freedom by the generals who have long despised her and still control Myanmar behind a new civilian government.

Through its media mouthpieces, the government has warned Suu Kyi not to overstep the mark, saying she would meet a “tragic end” and accusing her of provocative acts.

Since her release on Nov. 13 last year, the daughter of slain independence hero Aung San has been conciliatory in her comments about the country’s rulers and has urged dialogue.

She has met regularly with diplomats and envoys and analysts expect her to play a pivotal role in the debate over whether Western sanctions on the former British colony should be lifted.

The government has not responded to her offer but has instead invited the NLD, which was disbanded for boycotting last year’s much-criticised election, to register as a social organisation, then run in the next polls in 2015.

“They still have opportunity to participate legally in the next election if they want to,” said a commentary published in three newspapers on Thursday.

“We do not want to see street politics, public panic and anarchy again.”

“If they want to serve public interests, I would like to request they be considerate towards the public and continue to do politics in the framework of the law,” it said.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Myanmar’s government to protect Suu Kyi and said the international community would be watching closely.

“I am very concerned by the menacing tone the Burmese state media has taken towards Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy,” he said.

“The authorities’ warning that she will face consequences unless she plays by their rules is at odds with their message on dialogue and reconciliation.”

Myanmar court convicts, then frees Australian publisher
By Aung Hla Tun | Reuters – 53 minutes ago

YANGON (Reuters) – A court in Myanmar sentenced an Australian publisher to a month in prison on Thursday for assaulting a Burmese woman, but granted his release for time already served.

Ross Dunkley, co-founder of the Myanmar Times newspaper, was found guilty of assaulting and immigration offences but walked free after paying a fine of 100,000 kyat ($120), his lawyer Min Sein told Reuters.

Dunkley’s was arrested in February and spent a month in one of Myanmar’s toughest jails before his release on bail in March.

Even though the 29-year-old plaintiff withdrew her complaint before the trial began, Dunkley’s case was still pursued.

Dunkley’s arrest drew attention to the risks for foreign investors in Myanmar, a country fraught with corruption and cronyism and ruled by the military for five decades until a civilian government led by retired generals took office in April.

Myanmar is rich in resources and is eager to attract foreign businesses to its tourism, energy, timber and gemstones sectors, to spur economic growth long depressed by Western sanctions.

Dunkley owned a majority stake in the newspaper, but that was reduced to a less than 50 percent share after his arrest. While in prison awaiting trial, he was replaced as the proprietor of the paper he co-founded in 2000.

Myanmar’s government maintains strict control over all media.

His lawyer said Dunkley would appeal the decision.

Jul 1, 2011
Asia Times Online – Suu Kyi on a new collision course
By Richard Ehrlich

BANGKOK – Myanmar’s government has told pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that her political party was acting “against the law” and warned her to stop its activity the same day she expressed “envy” for the Arab uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and daughter of the country’s independence hero, Aung San, has spent more than 15 years under house arrest during the past 22 years. If found guilty of any violations, the 66-year-old widow would most likely be imprisoned again in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

“Do we envy the people of Tunisia and Egypt? Yes, we do envy them their quick and peaceful transitions,” Suu Kyi said in a lecture secretly recorded by the British Broadcasting Corp and released on June 28.

“But more than envy is a sense of solidarity, and of renewed commitment to our cause, which is the cause of all women and men who value human dignity and freedom,” Suu Kyi said in the first of two 2011 Reith BBC lectures. Her second lecture is to be broadcast on July 5.

The BBC said it “smuggled her words out of Burma [Myanmar]” after evading the country’s “secret police” and gave Suu Kyi a code name “Maggie Philbin” – while arranging the two lectures in her home “under the noses of the Burmese authorities.”

Suu Kyi invited BBC’s listeners to visit her NLD offices, which may have irked the regime into warning her that the party is illegal.

“Come any week day to the headquarters of the NLD, a modest place with a ramshackle rough-hewn air of a shelter intended for hardy folk. More than once it has been described as the NLD ‘cowshed’,” she said in her lecture.

“Since this remark is usually made with a sympathetic and often admiring smile, we do not take offence. After all, didn’t one of the most influential movements in the world begin in a cowshed?” Suu Kyi said, apparently referring to the legendary birthplace of Jesus.
“I have never seen so many young people supporting the NLD. They are not necessarily members of the NLD, which is what I really like.

“They’re not members of the NLD, but they support our movement very enthusiastically and they are in many ways better qualified than the young people of the 1988 generation because they have had better access to modern education and it’s all part of the communications revolution too,” she said, referring to Myanmar’s 1988 urban insurrection which was crushed by the military, resulting in an estimated 3,000 deaths.

“We certainly feel in a stronger position [now], in spite of the fact that we’re supposed to be an unregistered party.”

Myanmar’s Home Affairs Ministry sent a warning letter to Suu Kyi the same day her first lecture was broadcast by BBC Radio and posted on Internet, but there was no immediate way to determine if the regime issued the warning in reaction to the broadcast.

The government’s warning said Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in a boycott against nationwide elections during November 2010, which military affiliated candidates overwhelmingly won.

Suu Kyi viewed the polls as undemocratic and a scam to enable the military to maintain its control over a pliant government. During the election, the military regime decreed that any party not participating in the polls would no longer be allowed to exist after 2010. A former general, Thein Sein, was elected the new “democratic” government’s president.

“The NLD did not apply for continued existence of a political party and registration … so the NLD became null and void according to the law,” the government-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Wednesday, describing the sharply-worded letter sent by the Home Affairs Ministry to Suu Kyi on Tuesday.

“It is also mentioned in the letter that despite being dissolved as a political party, the NLD is found to have kept opening its party headquarters and branches in states and regions and other towns, erecting the signboards and hoisting flags at some offices, issuing statements, publishing periodicals and videos, meeting with other organizations and holding meetings and ceremonies.

“Such acts are not only against the law but also tantamount to opposing the hluttaws [parliament's assemblies] at various levels,” the paper said. “If they really want to accept and practice democracy effectively, they are to stop such acts that can harm peace and stability and the rule of law,” it warned.

“We are deeply concerned that if Aung San Suu Kyi makes trips to countryside regions, there may be chaos and riots, as evidenced by previous incidents,” a columnist writing in the New Light of Myanmar said on June 29.

Suu Kyi had expressed interest in touring the country to meet the public, but she was wary because in 2003 her entourage was attacked in northern Myanmar, resulting in the deaths of scores of her supporters. Dissidents blamed the military for orchestrating the attack on her convoy, but the army denied involvement.

“The government has said that Aung San Suu Kyi is just an ordinary public member, so it will not restrict her from traveling and doing things in accordance with the law, but she shall honor the laws for the rule of law,” the columnist wrote.

On Thursday, Suu Kyi told reporters at NLD headquarters that she intended to proceed with the planned tour.

“I will go ahead with my plan. If they (the authorities) are worried, we will have to co-operate with them on the tour,” she said, reported Deutsche Presse-Agentur. She added that a fixture for the tour was yet to be drawn up as it largely depended on the weather.

Since her release Suu Kyi has met with several international groups and delegations. On June 2, she met US Senator John McCain in her two-story lakeside home in Yangon and they discussed ways of supporting democracy in Myanmar, she said.

McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, also met Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo and Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin.

Shortly after the November 2010 election, Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest, having completed her most recent seven-year sentence which began after her convoy was attacked. Earlier, in 1990, her NLD won a nationwide election, which should have allowed her to become Myanmar’s leader, but the military cancelled the election results.

Her party has since lost popular traction, according to certain diplomatic assessments. In 2008, the US Embassy in Yangon said her NLD party was run by a “sclerotic leadership of the elderly” members, according to a cable released by WikiLeaks.

“Without a doubt, Aung San Suu Kyi remains a popular and beloved figure of the Burman majority, but this status is not enjoyed by her party,” said the “confidential” July 14, 2008 cable entitled: “Continuing the Pursuit of Democracy in Burma.”

It was classified by the US Embassy’s political officer Leslie Hayden, who gave “her candid observations on the current political situation, and her recommendations”. It was signed by the then-US charge d’affaires Shari Villarosa.

“The way the Uncles [senior leaders] run the NLD indicates the party is not the last great hope for democracy and Burma. The Party is strictly hierarchical, new ideas are not solicited or encouraged from younger members, and the Uncles regularly expel members they believe are ‘too active’,” the US Embassy cable said. “Many of the younger political activists are turning away from the NLD.”

Suu Kyi’s party has not “made any effort to join forces with the technically sophisticated bloggers and young, Internet-savvy activists, who have been so clever at getting out the images which repeatedly damaged the regime and undermined its international credibility.

“Instead, the Uncles spend endless hours discussing their entitlements from the 1990 elections and abstract policy which they are in no position to enact,” the cable said, referring to NLD politicians who were elected to parliament in 1990 but forbidden by the military from forming a government.

“Additionally, most MPs-elect show little concern for the social and economic plight of most Burmese, and therefore, most Burmese regard them as irrelevant.”

America should offer “security guarantees” to the country’s military leaders and their families to remove them from power, the US Embassy cable suggested. “We should not expect an imminent coup to save us from the hard-line senior generals,” the cable said.

Myanmar’s military has consistently denounced Suu Kyi as a “puppet” of the US, Britain and other governments. The regime claims foreigners want to install her in power so they can gain access to Myanmar’s vast minerals and other natural resources, and occupy its strategic location bordering India, Bangladesh, China and Thailand.

The US is currently reconsidering its decades-long economic sanctions against Myanmar. Myanmar’s partners, including Beijing, New Delhi and Bangkok, have benefited from the sanctions by being able to do business in the country without having to compete against most US and other Western corporations.

Richard S Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco, California. He has reported news from Asia since 1978 and is co-author of the non-fiction book of investigative journalism, Hello My Big Big Honey! Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews. His website is www.asia-correspondent.110mb.com.

Special Reports
Democracy hopes fading in Myanmar
Published: June 30, 2011 at 10:00 AM

LONDON, June 30 (UPI) — The main opposition party in Myanmar vowed to play a role in political life, but one advocate said hopes for democracy in the country are waning.

State-run newspapers in Myanmar ran columns warning pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that her travels outside of the commercial capital Naypyitaw could stoke chaos in the country.

Mark Farmaner, an advocate at Burma Campaign UK, told The Independent newspaper in London any hopes of democratic reform in the country were fading quickly.

“Myanmar’s new dictator, Thein Sein, has revealed his true colors with these threats,” he said. “He is emerging as even less tolerant of dissent than (former leader) Than Shwe.”

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace prize laureate, led her National League for Democracy to a 1990 election victory that was never recognized. She spent much of the last decade in detention but was freed last year during the country’s general elections.

Her NLD decided against taking part in the election. Win Tin, a senior NLD member, was quoted as saying his group’s activities would carry on “according to the law.”

Myanmar touted last year’s elections, the first in nearly two decades, as a path toward civilian leadership, though the election was dubbed a sham by the international community.

U.S. says Suu Kyi should be free to travel
Published: June 30, 2011 at 7:17 AM

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar, June 30 (UPI) — Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi should be free to travel and take part in her country’s political activities, the U.S. State Department said.

Spokesman Mark Toner was responding to whether the government in Myanmar, formerly Burma, had through its state media warned Suu Kyi against traveling in the country as that might cause riots.

“Yeah. No — well, we would just call on the Burmese authorities to allow — in fact, to ensure that Aung San Suu Kyi is free to travel, free to express her views, and to fully participate in political activities, and just that we remain concerned for her safety and security, and it’s the responsibility of the Burmese authorities, in fact, to ensure both her safety and that of Burma’s citizens,” Toner said.

Myanmar state media said this week the planned trip in the country by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate could cause “chaos and riots.” There were also criticisms of Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy, which boycotted the November elections widely condemned as a sham, for involving her in political activities.

The Wall Street Journal reported the warnings have come as the country since the elections faces growing tensions as most of the candidates who won are associated with the military, which has ruled the country for years.

Suu Kyi was released after years of house arrest following the November elections, but her party remains dissolved.

The BBC reported Suu Kyi, in a BBC lecture aired on the same day she received the warning, said the recent events in the Middle East and North Africa had renewed her movement’s commitment to freedom.

Khaleej Times Online – OPINION: Plot thickens in Myanmar
Suresh Pattali (Writing on the wall)
30 June 2011

By the time the first part of this series was published, the plot thickened further in Myanmar. Here is what I wrote yesterday: So many loose ends in the regime’s accusations about the ethnic war and explosions raise the suspicion of a grand political scheme…The regime would not hesitate to use them as a pretext to unleash a wave of crackdown on democracy leaders.

And while writing this article, shockingly ominous information trickles in from Myanmar that the state media has warned pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that her plans to travel outside Yangon to meet supporters could trigger riots.

The ethnic war seemed to have served as a double-barrelled gun, also sabotaging a nationwide political tour Suu Kyi was planning to undertake. The day after she said in a BBC lecture that the recent uprisings in the Middle East have given fresh hope to people in Myanmar, the new military-backed government on Wednesday warned Suu Kyi and her party to halt all political activities.

The Home Affairs Ministry has written to the Nobel Peace Prize winner saying her party is breaking the law by maintaining party offices, holding meetings and issuing statements.

“It is a chain reaction to what she said on the BBC. Her reference to the Arab Spring seems to have shaken up the generals. They fear that any spark to the simmering anti-Chinese sentiments will trigger an uncontrollable situation,” exiled Burmese leader Nyo Ohn Myint tells me, referring to the warning letter.

According to the letter seen by Khaleej Times, the regime said Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is no longer a political party. “If NLD chairman U Aung Shwe and Aung San Suu Kyi want to do any social work, they could apply for NGO registration and the government will consider according to rules and regulations,” says the letter. So much so for the largesse for the regime!

“She has no assurance from the regime so far that there would be no copycat incident of the 2003 ambush on the Lady and her convoy. So she has decided not to make any ‘out of town’ trip until Martyrs’ Day on July 19.”

However, Nyo Ohn Myint feels the regime wouldn’t dare lock her up again. “Not right now, at least.”

Burmese, especially businessmen, are a known breed of nationalists and, unlike what the Western media believe, many generals harbour strong anti-China sentiments. At the 11th anniversary of the Eleven Media Group, CEO Dr Than Htut Aung launched war fires saying Myanmar’s Mandalay City will soon be swallowed up by Chinese activity.

“We are well aware which country will emerge as the superpower in the 21st century. We are not in a position to stand up in dignity near the superpower nation unless we have our own strength of defence. Our poor people would be helpless to respond to a wealthy and powerful nation just right next door. People will be trafficked. Girls would be sold out,” Dr Than lashed out, reflecting the anti-China tsunami emerging in the country.

“By selling out all the resources of energy, how are we to build the nation?” Dr Than asked, referring to the swelling resentment over China’s hydropower projects.

Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna’s decision not to meet iconic democracy leader Suu Kyi during his last visit speaks volumes about how keen New Delhi would be to capitalise on the strong anti-China sentiments.

In the meantime, there was a slew of visitors to Myanmar, including US Senator John McCain, European Union delegation led by Robert Cooper of Britain, UN envoy Vijay Nambiar and Japanese Parliamentary Vice-Foreign Minister Makiko Kikuta, ostensibly to keep the regime engaged.

On the outside, these visits by foreign leaders seem more like a fact-finding mission exploring the extent of change under the new civilian regime. The warm handshakes suggest they are keen to put any bad blood behind them and find out the possibilities of mediation between the regime and the Lady.

But behind the veil of diplomacy, the US seems to be more interested in getting to the bottom of rumours revolving around the regime’s nuclear ambition. Though Myanmar informed McCain that it has halted a peaceful nuclear programme supported by Russia, the revelation by the New York Times that the US Navy recently intercepted a North Korean shipment carrying missile technology to Myanmar obviously keeps the West on tenterhooks.

The NYT report said that after several days of using naval power and diplomatic pressure, the US was able to force Pyongyang to recall the ship, the MV Light, in late May. A similar shipment suspected of carrying missile parts successfully made it from North Korea to Myanmar last year before the US had time to interfere, says the report.

Quoting a defector from Myanmar, an army major and deputy commander of a top-secret nuclear facility who escaped the country with thousands of files detailing a nuclear and missile programme, ABC News also reported that with the help of North Korea, Myanmar has acquired components for a nuclear weapons programme, including technology for uranium enrichment and long-range missiles.

Are the bomb blasts, the government warning to Suu Kyi and the interception of the North Korean ship headed for Myanmar some isolated incidents? Analysts fear that if Kachin or other armed ethnic groups are actually behind the current explosions, they would pose a serious challenge to the fledgling civilian-led government. And if the regime is scheming, under the cover of the new ethinc war, to politically assassinate Suu Kyi by denying her the basic rights enshrined in democratic principles, the turn of events would bring the impoverished South-east Asian state back to square one.

Suresh Pattali is Khaleej Times  Night Editor.

Asian Correspondent – Is China quietly supporting Burma’s war against Kachin people?
By Zin Linn Jul 01, 2011 12:08AM UTC

As the war going on in Kachin State cannot reach a truce, more and more people are seeking refuge along the Sino-Burma border. According to Kachin News Group (KNG), more than 20,000 Kachin war refugees fled to China border since the conflict began, fearing torture, abuse, rape and use as porter by Burmese troops.

Meanwhile, Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Burmese army officials met Thursday morning in Lagayan town for proper talks, said the Irrawaddy News. This is the first time the two sides have sat down together since hostilities in Kachin State resumed on 9 June. The renewed warfare near the Chinese border effectively broke a 17-year-old armistice between the two sides.

Burmese military delegation, led by Colonel Than Aung, minister for border affairs in Kachin State met with Kachin officials led by General Gun Maw, second-in-command of the KIA. During the meeting, representatives of the KIA called on the Burmese government to release a reliable letter by authoritative body, such as a memo from Union Government, to back up the official promise toward a proper ceasefire, according to KIA Source. As said by Gun Maw, Thursday meeting may be a beginning but he did not know the next meeting date.

Some observers concerned the meeting might be a playful stance by the Burmese government. The reason is that the Burmese authorities do not stop preparing for fighting.   More than a hundred Chinese made military trucks were reported to have arrived in Muse, a busy border trade town on Sino-Burma border since Sunday, raising question whether they will be used in the war against Kachin Independence Army (KIA), quoting local sources Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.) said.

The six-wheel Sino trucks are produced by Japanese Howo Company in China and exported to Burma by way of Jiegao-Muse. Besides, hundreds of Burma Army soldiers are also reported to have been sent to the town to take delivery of the trucks. The arrival of both military trucks and troops has fueled fear among the populace whether the war with the KIA may spread to the area, according to Herald Agency for News.

As a result, Kachin community in United Kingdom plus others from the Burmese community and Tibetans protested during the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to London on June 27 in front of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s house, referring an activist Kachin News Group reported.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao arrived in Britain on June 25 on a three-day visit to UK and has signed a billion dollar trade agreement between the two countries. Organized by ‘Students for a Free Tibet, UK’, activists and UK-based people from the Burmese community, Kachin people and those showing solidarity demonstrated, said a participant.

Since China is an ally of the Burmese government, demonstrators protested against the military offensive on Kachin State by the Burmese Army.

Kachins people around the world like United States, United Kingdom, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Denmark and Australia held demonstrations on June 24 demanding China stop supporting the military backed Burmese government. The protestors also demanded to let Kachin war refugees taking safe haven in China. At the same time, they pressured the Burmese government to stop offensive in Kachin State and urged the international community to help thousands of war refugees, who fled to Sino-Burma border.

Refugees, who fled to Laiza headquarters of KIA told KNG they are running off for fear of forcing them as porters by Burmese armed forces in the war zone more than any other reason. KIA officials said thousands of war refugees need immediate aid and there is no organization or international aid agency on the spot.

Actually, the spillover affects of refugees into neighboring countries are caused by the Burmese government and it should take responsibility of the problem. But, the Burmese government seems no sympathy on its own ethnic people; instead it has been incessantly launching war against its own citizens who call for their equal rights.

Foreign Policy In Focus
Burma’s Ethnic Insurgencies Erupt in a Chain Reaction
By Russ Wellen, June 30, 2011

The respective rebellions of Burma’s (or Myanmar, as its government prefers it be called) three largest ethnic minorities are, for once, all aflame at the same time. At Asia Times Online, Brian McCartan writes: “Myanmar moved closer to civil war in recent weeks after fighting broke out in Kachin State,” thus breaking its ceasefire with Burma’s ruling junta.

“Myanmar’s newly elected government now faces ethnic insurgencies on three separate fronts,” thus putting at risk “Myanmar’s development and international confidence in its supposed democratic transition.”

“In the southeast,” meanwhile, a revolt by “the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) on November 7, 2010, election day, resulted in the temporary seizure of two important border towns.” What’s significant about this is that, despite the noble sentiments suggested by its name, the DKBA had been allied with the government.

McCartan again: “Although the government was able to retake the towns, fighting continued in the area and the [DKBA] allied itself with the Karen [ethnic group] National Liberation Army.” He adds: “The operations of [the] DKBA commander Major General Lah Pweh . . . have added new energy to the Karen insurgency through stepped up ambushes and attacks on army camps both in rural areas and in towns and villages.”

Meanwhile, about Shan State, the third large minority, McCartan writes that “increasing government pressure against the 1st Brigade of the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N),” with which the government also had a ceasefire, “resulted in open conflict in early March.” The government had been trying to “incorporate the military units of the ethnic ceasefire armies into the Myanmar armed forces ahead of the 2010 elections,” but the 1st Brigade, as well as other SSA-N brigades, had refused to join. McCartan again.

Indications are that if the government chooses to continue pushing these conflicts fighting could continue for years. Myanmar army casualties, if insurgent and exile media reports are accurate, have been high while insurgent casualties remain low. . . . Many Myanmar Army units have not seen combat in many years. . . . Low morale is a major problem among government troops. . . . Units are hugely under resourced and desertion is rife.

But
To continue operating, the insurgent groups will require safe havens and access to supplies and ammunition either through the direct or tacit approval of neighboring governments and militaries in China and Thailand. Thailand has increasingly turned its back on the ethnic groups along its border as it has emerged as Myanmar’s top trading partner. [Its] relationship [with China], too, may be changing as China’s investments in Myanmar expand, including strategically important energy projects such as the Shwe gas project and a vital oil and gas pipeline scheduled to run from the Indian Ocean to China’s southern Yunnan province across Myanmar.

Still
A new alliance of 15 insurgent and former ceasefire groups, including the KNU, KIA and the SSA, offers new hope. [But it] remains to be seen whether. . . . the so-called United Nationalities Federal. . . . can coordinate operations on the battlefield or maneuver politically with internal ethnic political parties or internationally.

McCartan concludes that, unless the junta, in its present form as an ostensibly elected government, “can come to a sincere agreement with ethnic insurgents, the country seems poised to spiral into the type of widespread civil war not seen in its ethnic territories for over two decades.”

Actress Michelle Yeoh says she was barred from entering Myanmar
From Sarita Harilela, CNN
June 30, 2011 9:01 a.m. EDT

(CNN) — Actress Michelle Yeoh confirmed Thursday that she had been denied entry to Myanmar.

Yeoh plays Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in an upcoming movie. She had flown to the country on June 22 and was deported on arrival, she said.

“The immigration authorities treated me cordially but deported me upon arrival for no reason and without providing any justification,” she said in a statement.

Yeoh, a Malaysian-born actress, is best known in Hollywood for her role in the James Bond film, “Tomorrow Never Dies” and in the Academy Award-winning “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

She plays Suu Kyi in director Luc Besson’s upcoming biopic, “The Lady,” about the Myanmar democracy activist and her husband, British academic Michael Aris.

Yeoh met Suu Kyi in person after the latter was released from house arrest last year.

“You feel a real sense of calm when you’re with her,” Yeoh told the Guardian newspaper in December after the meeting. “She’s a very striking figure. She is so proud of her culture and the best way to show it is with dignity and elegance. She has a glow and an aura about her.”

Suu Kyi repeatedly challenged Myanmar’s long-time military junta and promoted democracy over the years. Her efforts helped her win the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, while making her a target of Myanmar’s regime and leading to her decades-long detention.

Last November, Myanmar held its first elections in 20 years. The vote drew fire from critics who said it was aimed at creating a facade of democracy. The regime had refused to allow international monitors or journalists into Myanmar for the vote.

Members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party were among those who boycotted the vote, describing it as a sham.

But shortly afterward, on November 13, the Nobel laureate was released from house arrest — having spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest or in prison.

In her statement Thursday, Yeoh said she was “shocked and terribly saddened” by the Myanmar government’s decision to bar her entry into the country.

“I harbor no ill will resulting from this incident and continue to remain fond of Burma and the Burmese people,” she said, referring to Myanmar by its other name. “I continue to cherish hopes to see this country continue its progress towards peace and democracy and to be able to return soon.”

Brisbane Times – Bans on Suu Kyi threaten Rudd meeting
Dan Oakes
July 1, 2011

KEVIN RUDD could be flying into a diplomatic storm in Burma, with the dictatorial regime banning the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from meeting with ”foreign organisations”.

Mr Rudd touched down in Burma last night and is due to meet Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, tomorrow.

He is also scheduled to meet Burma’s President, Thein Sein, the foreign minister and speaker of the parliament.

”A meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi remains part of the minister’s schedule,” a spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said last night from Burma’s largest city, Rangoon.

However, reports this week in the regime’s Burmese language newspaper suggest Ms Suu Kyi could be stopped from meeting any foreign officials.

Ms Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention, was released from house arrest in November and immediately called for a ”peaceful revolution” in Burma, which is ruled by a nominally civilian government that is stacked with members of the former junta.

She recently announced plans to tour the country and meet with supporters of her National League for Democracy party, repressed by the junta since it won elections in 1990, but the regime is tightening the screws on the 66-year-old.

This week the regime told Ms Suu Kyi to halt all political activities and warned the proposed tour could spark riots, for which she would be held responsible. The last time she campaigned outside Rangoon, in 2003, her convoy was set upon by government-backed thugs.

Now the regime, possibly spooked by Ms Suu Kyi’s recent meetings with foreign officials such as the Japanese vice-foreign minister and former US presidential candidate John McCain, has threatened to halt the procession of foreign dignitaries trying to meet the democracy icon.

An editorial in the regime’s newspaper, translated for the Herald by Burmese activists in Australia, accused the NLD of violating the ban on its activities.

Asia Sentinel – Bombings Pick up in Burma
Written by Lawi Weng and Wai Moe, The Irrawaddy
Thursday, 30 June 2011

Some hit close to home, in the government’s new capital of Naypyidaw

Burma, despite supposedly being under the tight control of an overwhelming military that has cracked down brutally on opposition demonstrations, has become the scene of a growing number of bombings against the regime from rebel forces in recent weeks.

The latest occurred Wednesday when a powerful bomb exploded in the key Pegu Region town of Taungoo, the base of the Burmese government’s Southern Regional Military Command headquarters, while a second exploded in Mon State and two buses were set ablaze.  While no casualties were reported in the Taungoo blast, the bomb tore a hole in the front of a municipal building, witnesses said.

“The blast made a huge hole in front of the hall,” a local physician said of the Taungoo blast. “Shortly after the blast, security forces came to view the site and blocked access to the area.”

The bombings follow three others that hit major northern cities including the new capital that the ruling junta built for itself at Naypyidaw, 320 km north of the old colonial capital of Rangoon, as well as a spate of other attacks. The Naypyidaw blast injured three people and destroyed a house. The other bombs were reported in Mandalay, where a vehicle was destroyed, and in the city of Pyn Oo Lwin, 670 km north of Rangoon.

The New Light of Myanmar, considered to be a mouthpiece for the Burmese government,  accused three Shan men of responsibility for the series of bomb blasts although no one has yet been arrested.

“Sai Kyaw Myint Oo, Sai Hsam and Sai Aik rented houses and bought a cheap car without a license with the intention of detonating bombs in Naypyidaw, Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin simultaneously,” the newspaper said. “In doing so, they spent 4.74 million kyat [US $5,600] on house rentals and 6 million kyat on the car—a total of over 10 million kyat. Their aim was to cause death and panic among the public. They left the car in front of a crowded Mandalay Zaycho Market apartment; then detonated the bomb.”

The report said the individuals, described as “culprits,” had rented houses in Naypyidaw and Pyin Oo Lwin, according to testimonies given by various neighbors.  However, the chairman of the Burma Lawyers’ Council, Thein Oo, called the report  a direct insult, not only to the three men, but also their families, and their nationality.

“They can’t use the word ‘culprit’ because they haven’t arrested anyone yet,” Thein Oo said. “We have to recognize that nobody is guilty before they are charged by a court. The authorities must use the word ‘suspects’ for them, just as the international community is doing.”  He described the accusation as a political move due to a recent surge in the conflict in northern Shan State between government forces and the Shan rebels.

Whenever there is an incident such as a bomb explosion in Burma, the government and the authorities usually accuse ethnic armed groups through the state-owned media, observers say.

Because it is a Southern Regional Military Command base, Taungoo is a strategic town situated en route to Naypyidaw in the north and another key town in Pegu Region, Prome, to the west. It is also on the road east towards Karani State’s Loikaw and Karen State’s Than Daung.  On June 18, an unknown group of armed men launched a rocket propelled grenade attack on a hydropower project only 14 miles from Taungoo.

The Mon State bomb exploded behind the township authority office in the town of Thanbyuzayat at 12:30am on Wednesday morning.

“It was only one bomb and did not cause any causalities or damage,” a resident told The Irrawaddy by phone on Wednesday.  But the bomb blast was not the only recent trouble to have occurred in Mon State. Local sources revealed that an unknown armed group also torched two buses at Thar Yar Aye village between Thanbyuzayat and Lamine townships.

The buses were set afire at around 9 am on Wednesday, according to an eyewitness who was a passenger on one of the buses.

“They stopped around 20 buses at the same time and set fire to two of them. They took away six people—some of whom were bus drivers,” he said. “I did not dare to look at their faces and don’t know why they shot the buses and burned them.”

These latest bomb attacks come soon after the National League for Democracy revealed that their leader Aung San Suu Kyi had planned travel outside of former capital Rangoon this week, but has since postponed visiting regional areas until July.  The government has warned the National League for Democracy not to become too active politically.

Regarding Friday’s three explosions in upper Burma, the state media has accused three men with ethnic Shan names of being the bombers. “Sai Kyaw Myint Oo, Sai Hsam and Sai Aik rented houses and bought a cheap car without a license with the intention of detonating bombs in Naypyidaw, Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin simultaneously,” The New Light of Myanmar said.

Yet another bomb exploded on May 17 aboard a Rangoon-Mandalay train, killing two people and injuring nine others. In that explosion, the government blamed the Karen National Union. It alleged that three Karen explosive experts paid a youth to put the bomb on the train.

Portions of this article appeared in The Irrawaddy, with which Asia Sentinel has a content-sharing agreement

The Irrawaddy – Suu Kyi to Visit Pagan Next Week
By WAI MOE Thursday, June 30, 2011

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is scheduled to visit the ancient city of Pagan  in Mandalay Region next week on her first trip outside of Rangoon since her release from house arrest in November, according to her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Win Htain, an NLD leader and Suu Kyi’s close aide, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Suu Kyi will be traveling to Pagan for sightseeing rather than on party business, saying that her son, Htain Linn, also known as Kim Aris, will join her on the trip.

Although Win Htain did not provide any further details about the trip, an NLD source who spoke on condition of anonymity said it is scheduled to begin on July 4. The source added that Suu Kyi may be planning to fly to Pagan, as she attempted to buy an air ticket on Thursday.

He added that Suu Kyi got a green light for the trip from the authorities after she informed them of her plan earlier this month.

However, Burma’s state-run media warned yesterday that Suu Kyi’s travels could cause unrest in the country. “We are deeply concerned that if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi makes trips to countryside regions, there may be chaos and riots, as evidenced by previous incidents,” the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on Wednesday.

Suu Kyi’s last trip outside of Rangoon was in May 2003, when she visited Mandalay and Sagaing regions. Her trip ended when she and her supporters were ambushed by government-backed thugs in Depayin, Sagaing Region. She narrowly escaped the attack, but was later placed in detention, where she remained until her release last November.

News of Suu Kyi’s trip to Pagan comes amid concerns about security in the country, after a series of bomb blasts hit Burma’s second largest city of Mandalay, the capital Naypyidaw, and Pyin Oo Lwin, a town near Mandalay region closely associated with the armed forces, last Friday, injuring three people.

It also follows moves by the military-backed government of President Thein Sein to restrict the NLD’s political activities, which it described as illegal because of the party’s dissolution last year for refusing to take part in an election staged by the former military junta.

On Tuesday, Minister of Home Affairs Lt-Gen Ko Ko sent a letter to Suu Kyi and NLD Chairman Aung Shwe saying that the party should form a social organization if it wants to engage in social affairs.

In a letter of reply sent on Wednesday, Suu Kyi said that the NLD is not doing anything to harm rule of law, stability and unity among monks and government servants. She added that the party also wants rule of law and is always making efforts for national reconciliation.

However, on Thursday, prominent NLD leader Win Tin said that the party doesn’t have any plans at present to register as an nongovernmental organization or political party. He added that he is concerned the government could be gearing up for another crackdown on the party.

“There’s a possibility that party leaders could be arrested again, and party offices seized,” he said.

The Irrawaddy – Central Govt Retakes Control
By SAI ZOM HSENG Thursday, June 30, 2011

Many of the state and regional government ministries will from Thursday fall under the control of their Naypyidaw offices as part of a centralization plan, according to Burma’s state-run The New Light of Myanmar.

Several MPs told The Irrawaddy that emergency meetings were called for Wednesday and Thursday in several states and regions across the country.

Nyo Nyo Thin, a Democratic Party (Burma) MP for Rangoon Region, said that various local government offices, such as the Ministry of Security and Border Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and Revenue, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Breeding, will now be administered directly by the Union government [central government], and that almost every ministry would herewith be headed by representatives of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Nyo Nyo Thin said, “There are two issues at hand. First, the central government took back some ministries because the state and regional governments could not fulfill their goals. The other point is that the central government wants to be unique within the country.”

She added: “The local governments of Rangoon Region have already vowed to focus only on the economy. Other sectors, such as education, are well over budget. They cost too much for states to maintain. The central government will take responsibility for those ministries again.”

Aung Mya Kyaw, an MP from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, confirmed that in Arakan State some ministries were closing down or being made subject to central government control.

The New Light of Myanmar published on Thursday a list of reshuffled ministries in Kachin State and Sagaing Region.

Aye Tha Aung, the secretary of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament, said that if the country practiced true federalism, then the central government could not interfere in the administration of states and divisions.

“The new president can appoint whoever he wants in the ministries across the country,” he said. “We can see that the new president comes from the USDP. The people he chooses are also from the USDP. I didn’t expect a major change after the election, and it does not surprise me that Naypyidaw is going to retake control of those regional offices.”