The Born-again Spy

Intelligence Feb'08
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
February 1, 2008

Former Deputy Chief of Military Intelligence Maj-Gen Kyaw Win
Maj-Gen Kyaw Win, 63, a former deputy chief of military intelligence and once Burma’s No 2 spymaster, is now a consultant in the day-to-day operations of Burma’s security affairs and spying activities, say informed sources in Rangoon.

Sources say that the soft-spoken intellectual, a protégé of Snr-Gen Than Shwe, is believed to have been brought back into the fold for his vast experience and networking abilities, as well as to help transform the ailing intelligence services.

Kyaw Win joined military intelligence in the early 1990s and was actively involved in ceasefire negotiations with ethnic insurgents. He was also known to be one of the chief negotiators between opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the government leaders. He was sacked along with former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt in 2004. However, he has enjoyed close and cordial relations with Than Shwe and escaped the purge that removed Khin Nyunt and his supporters.

However, at the same time, Kyaw Win has been denied a passport. Analysts believe junta leader Than Shwe and senior government officers suspect that Kyaw Win would seek political asylum if he left the country. Recently, however, the Ministry of Home Affairs allowed his wife to travel to Bangkok for medical treatment.

Kyaw Win has written several essays and articles under different pseudonyms and has published a book of his photographic work. Informed sources say he owns local businesses, including the manufacture of jeeps and operates an upmarket restaurant, “Signature Kandawgyi,” in Rangoon.

Fear Comes with the Job

By SHAH PAUNG The Irrawaddy News www.irrawaddy.org February 1, 2008

The grass is greener in Thailand for migrant workers, but it’s stained with blood

Thailand offers a greener pasture for many Burmese migrant workers, but for some it can be a very dangerous place indeed.

In the middle of a September night in 2007, Thein Aung and four other Burmese laborers were taken by three Thai men from the huts where they lived at a sweet corn plantation in the village of Ban Jaidee Koh near the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot.

Burmese workers sorting the catch at a fish market in Phuket, Thailand [Photo: AFP]

The five Burmese were handcuffed and led to another village where the killing began. Four of the captives—Than Tun, 35, Kala Gyi, 27, Paw Oo, 28, and Naing Lin, 18—were shot in cold blood. The fifth man, Thein Aung, 58, feigned death and escaped.

Thein Aung made for a nearby village, where other Burmese migrants found him and took him to hospital in Mae Sot.

Thai police in Mae Sot have so far arrested four men suspected of involvement in the killings, including the migrants’ employer. Two of the suspects were Burmese migrants, who told police they had been instructed to burn the bodies of the murdered workers. The case is still being investigated.

Human rights lawyers and labor rights activists in Thailand say the murders were no isolated incident and that violence against Burmese migrant workers is on the rise. They accuse Thai authorities of doing too little to protect Burmese working in Thailand.

Complaints by Burmese workers of abuse by their Thai employers are increasing, according to Somchai Homlaor, a human rights lawyer with the Bangkok-based non-government organization Forum Asia. Thai police often accept bribes to close their inquiries, Somchai charges.

Burmese children stand behind bars with other detainees in a crowded detention cell in Mae Sot, Thailand [Photo: AFP]

Labor rights activists recall the high-profile case of an 18-year-old Burmese girl, Ma Su, who was brutally beaten and burned alive by her Lopburi employer, Col Suchart Akkavibul, a special group commander in the Royal Thai Air Force, in July 2002. He was convicted of the girl’s murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Somchai told The Irrawaddy that sometimes Thai employers kill their Burmese workers to avoid paying them. If discovered, they are often able with police assistance to buy their freedom by paying compensation to the victims’ families.

“Even if the victim’s family agrees to accept compensation the police should continue the investigation and bring the case to court,” Somchai said. “Killing is a very serious crime.”

Highly publicized cases of abuse and even murder don’t deter Burmese migrants from seeking work in Thailand, however. Ma Nge, a recent arrival in Bangkok, said: “I heard many reports of murder, and they scared me. But I have no choice.”

Ma Nge first came to Thailand in 2005, working long hours in a Bangkok food processing factory for 3,000 baht (US $90) a month. Now, on her second visit, she’s still looking for a job and is homesick, but hope and economic necessity keep her going.

“When you are starving you forget to be scared,” she said.

With the money she has saved in more than 10 years of working in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, Ma Ohn, from northern Shan State, has financed a two-storey house for her parents in Lashio. She doesn’t plan to return home any time soon, and has been followed to Thailand by a number of her relatives, who were smuggled in by a trafficking organization.

Nearly 20,000 registered Burmese migrant workers have jobs in the Mae Sot area of Thailand’s Tak border province, where cases of abuse are particularly prevalent.

Moe Swe, head of the Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association in Mae Sot, said many incidents remained unreported because migrant workers were reluctant to get involved with the police. Unregistered migrants fear deportation if they complain to the authorities about abuse by their employers, Moe Swe said.

A large Burmese migrant community also lives around the fishing ports of Thailand’s Samut Sakhorn Province, where nearly 800 cases of abuse, including murder and rape, were reported to the Seafarers Union of Burma from mid-2006 to November 2007.

Union member Ko Ko Aung said 30 percent of the reported cases involved murder.

“There’s no security and no protection for migrant workers,” he said.

“Neither the authorities nor employers can give them security.”

An estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Burmese migrants work in the fishing and seafood processing industries of Samut Sakhon Province, while less than 100,000 of them are legally registered.

Up to 2 million Burmese migrants are estimated to be working in Thailand, less than 500,000 of them legally. The numbers rise steadily—the lure of jobs is far stronger than all the uncertainty and threat of physical danger.

New Approach Needed for Aid to Burma

Editorial
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
February 1, 2008

The implementation of any aid project in Burma faces untold obstacles and restrictions. Staff from foreign NGOs traveling to project sites in the countryside require special permits from the authorities; and that’s a bureaucratic song and dance. So much so that in 2005, the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria cancelled its program in Burma.

Burma urgently needs humanitarian assistance; the country’s HIV/AIDS sufferers are dying and require medical attention.

But the generals who rule the country are not ready to acknowledge the humanitarian crisis facing the country. Worse still, they prevent aid workers from delivering assistance to the needy.

Burma’s political prisoners—including Buddhist monks and nuns—are denied proper medication and food. The International Committee for the Red Cross ceased prison visits in 2005 due to persistent restrictions imposed on them by the regime.

Around the Thai-Burmese border area, more than 100,000 refugees continue to live in camps, facing food shortages, while hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons live deep in the jungle, hiding from military offensives.

In a move to help the poor and needy in Burma, Douglas Alexander, Britain’s secretary of state for international development, recently announced that his government will double its aid to the poorest people in Burma from £9 million (US $17.6 million) in 2007 to £18 million ($35.2 million) in 2008.

Alexander made the announcement after he visited refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border and met with foreign experts and informed Burmese in Thailand.

Doubling aid to Burma, he said, “will allow us to help more children go to school, treat more people suffering from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, and tackle humanitarian needs. We will also continue to support civil society groups addressing the development needs of Burma. All our work is monitored carefully to ensure it reaches those most in need.”

Delivering humanitarian assistance to Burma isn’t an easy job—in fact, it’s a challenge. The xenophobic military rulers who fought against British colonialists have always been highly suspicious of foreign aid.

In recent years, the Burmese authorities have tightened controls on aid workers, UN agencies and civil society groups. However, in spite of the draconian Burmese laws and restrictions, some aid and assistance gets through and is transformed into useful health, education and agriculture projects.

In Rangoon, a United Nations Development Programme’s confidential report in April pointed out that since the demise of military intelligence chief Gen Khin Nyunt in October 2004, the UN has lost its access to the decision-making levels of the military regime.

The report stated that following the move of the capital to Naypyidaw, an even stricter, more centralized, “top-down” decision-making authority had emerged.

Then, in 2005 and 2006, the French medical organization, Médecins Sans Frontières, and the ICRC had their field offices closed. A report by the then head of the UNDP mission in Burma, Charles Petrie, criticized the junta’s “uncompromising attitude.”

In the eyes of many opposition groups in Burma, Petrie then began to dig his own grave. They argued that for the past few years the UNDP office in Rangoon, and Petrie in particular, had tactically nurtured a positive rapport with the regime, knowing full well that any perceived support for opposition groups, especially the National League for Democracy, would undermine their position.

Petrie sent signals to international donors claiming that there were signs of progress in the implementation of humanitarian projects in Burma.

Finally, after witnessing the regime’s brutality in the September crackdowns, Petrie realized that he could no longer paint a rosy picture of the situation and took a stance against the junta.

He publicly spoke out, releasing a statement deploring the “deteriorating humanitarian situation” in military-ruled Burma and suggesting that UN agencies could help the country address “poverty and suffering and their underlying causes.” He soon found himself unwelcome and had to leave the country.

Simultaneously, some 13 international non-government organizations operating in Burma issued a bold statement, saying “the humanitarian space for organizations to operate is frequently at risk.”

Indeed, the question is really two-fold—even when aid reaches Burma, how can it be effectively delivered to those in need?

The implementation of any aid project in Burma faces untold obstacles and restrictions. Staff from foreign NGOs traveling to project sites in the countryside require special permits from the authorities; and that’s a bureaucratic song and dance. So much so that in 2005, the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria cancelled its program in Burma.

Faced with this kind of governmental pressure, some foreign NGOs and UN agencies in Rangoon have decided to cooperate with the junta.

Of course, it is vital to provide assistance to HIV/AIDS patients and the poor.

However, the root cause of problems in Burma should not be overlooked.

The country’s humanitarian crisis is man-made; incompetent military rulers are mainly responsible. Instead of increasing its budget on health and education, the junta buys more jet fighters and military hardware. The cost of building the new capital is estimated by the International Monetary Fund at between $122 million and $244 million.

When it comes to supporting the 400,000 officers and soldiers in his military, the regime’s leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe frequently draws on a long shopping list. Over the past decade, the military government has purchased warships from China, tanks from the Ukraine, MiG-29 jet fighters and a nuclear reactor from Russia; all at an estimated cost of more than $3 billion. Some 40 percent of the national budget goes on defense.

What if that money were spent instead on health and other areas that might improve people’s lives? At present, just 3 percent of the national budget is allocated to health services.

Recently, the World Food Programme announced it would spend $51.7 million over the next three years in food aid to as many as 1.6 million vulnerable people in Burma.

It’s frustrating to see the country that was once dubbed “the rice bowl of Asia” relying on food aid from international agencies.

It is important to increase aid to people in need, but it must be done without wasting money on inflated foreign salaries, needless consultancy fees and payments into the regime’s pockets. We must be clear. The responsibility for the poverty and the health crisis in Burma lies squarely at the feet of the generals. Unless the country’s political problems and conflicts are resolved, Burma will be constantly seeking funds from the coffers of Britain and other foreign governments. The vicious cycle will go on.

While increasing assistance to Burma’s poor and needy, the international community must simultaneously maintain pressure on the regime to initiate political change.

Finally, aid and humanitarian assistance should be inclusive, also supporting Burmese groups working along the border areas with Thailand and India. Increasing numbers of schools and medical projects have been set up along the borders to serve refugees, migrant workers and their families who have fled Burma in search of greener pastures.

Refugees and migrant workers must not be left behind.

After visiting refugee camps, Douglas Alexander said: “As the leading donor, we want to understand the scale of the challenge and the capacity of aid agencies on the ground in the region that provide support to Burmese who have fled from the military regime.”

Alexander is also aware that political transition is needed. After the uprising in September, he called for dialogue between the regime and opposition groups.

He said: “We will not turn our backs on the Burmese people who have courageously stood up for their rights. The recent protests showed their deep frustration with the lack of political and economic opportunities in Burma. The UK government, alongside the international community, will continue to put pressure on the Burmese government to embrace freedom.”

We hope that Douglas Alexander’s recent visit to the border area represents a major step that will lead to reshaping the donor community’s policies and a more down to earth, effective approach to solving Burma’s humanitarian crisis.

The Need for a Growth Coalition in Burma

By MIN ZIN
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
February 2, 2008

When Indonesian dictator Suharto died last Sunday, Burmese-language short-wave radio stations and other Burmese media based abroad gave the news extensive coverage and offered comparative analyses. They attempted to draw similarities and contrasts between Suharto and Burma’s late tyrant Ne Win, and between the different directions the two countries have taken in their development.

Many experts noted that although Suharto was a vicious dictator, he raised the Indonesian economy to “Asian Tiger” status in the 1980s. Ne Win and his successors, on the other hand, have turned Burma into a failed state. All lamented Burma’s slide into its current condition of economic deprivation.

In fact, Burma introduced economic reforms after the military staged a coup in 1988. According to reports, cumulative foreign investment in the period from 1988 through early 1997 reached $6.1 billion. Some optimists even said that investors seeking the next “tiger” economy should set their sights on Burma.

However, despite the country’s opening of its economy to foreign investors, overall economic progress remained slow. Economist David Dapice attributed this to the government’s reluctance to undertake comprehensive reforms, choosing instead to implement reforms in a “half-hearted way”.

Then the 1997 Asian financial crisis struck. At first, Rangoon was unconcerned, as the country was not directly impacted by the plummeting value of a number of key Asian currencies. But when investors from other Asian countries began to shift away from high-risk ventures and started reneging on their investment promises in order to limit their losses in the crisis, Burma also got hit hard. The military regime made matters worse by failing to come up with sound economic policies in response to the crisis. The unreal economic boom went bust.

In fact, the junta has neither the capacity nor the political will to carry out far-reaching economic reforms, because they are afraid that any such move would threaten the interests of military elites, forcing them to turn their economic playground into a level playing field. They worry that allowing technocratic participation, much less public involvement, in the policymaking process would weaken their grip on power and deprive them of the prerogatives they currently enjoy.

“Technocrats and experts such as economists and respected bureaucrats need to be viewed as important human resources and [their role should be] enhanced in Myanmar (Burma),” said Khin Maung Nyo, a well-known economist and writer in Burma. “They serve to help formulate economic policies, and the availability of policy choices makes it easy for government to implement reforms to build a modern, developed nation,” the economist added.

However, military involvement in political and economic affairs has from the outset been much deeper in Burma than in Indonesia and other countries in the region, where technocrats have long played a key role in formulating economic policies and guiding subsequent growth.

Broadly speaking, the junta has failed to form a growth coalition involving the military, opposition elites, ethnic ceasefire groups, technocrats, business groups, and the bureaucracy—all of whom need to work together to shape meaningful economic reforms.

In fact, several Burmese economists abroad and inside Burma have attempted to persuade the generals to secure such broad domestic support for economic reforms. In early 2007, a well-known economist inside Burma approached late Prime Minister Gen Soe Win to set up a consultative forum. Although Soe Win was said to have supported the idea, the junta’s supremo, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, shot it down.

Business sources note that other reform plans have stalled or been aborted because of Than Shwe’s preoccupation with ensuring his own survival.

“Than Shwe calls the shots on everything,” said Sein Htay, an economist in exile. “No one dares to initiate major reforms unless Than Shwe gives the final order.”

Since 2005, dozens of business people and economists have reportedly been consulted for their input into the drafting of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Law, which will designate six main commercial cities as free-trade zones, with the aim of bringing more foreign investment into the country to revitalize its crippled economy. The much-anticipated and hyped SEZ Law, which was supposed to be enacted in 2007, has yet to come into effect, as Than Shwe continues to drag his heels.

“Than Shwe is afraid of the emergence of the Thilawa SEZ in Rangoon,” said a businessman in Rangoon. “He does not even want to bring limited liberalization to a limited zone. He is too concerned with security issues, especially after the September protests.”

Several economists suggest that the state urgently needs to readjust its role in economic policy formulation and implementation.

They say that if the state reduced its over-dominant role and allowed the private sector to play a greater part in the economy, the authoritarian regime would be able to undertake economic reforms.

“Centralization must be relaxed,” said Maw Than, a former vice chancellor of Institute of Economics in Rangoon. “A pro-business attitude should be nurtured and broader consultation should be sought after. Advice must be given serious consideration for the benefit of society.”

However, the strongman who leads the ruling junta with an iron fist cares little about what the experts have to say. The military mindset of the regime means that its decision-making process is strictly top-down. Under the leadership of Than Shwe, the Burmese economy will continue going to dogs.

Stallone challenges Myanmar junta, eyes 'Rambo 5'

Reuters/Nielsen
February 3, 2008

LONDON(Reuters) - Not satisfied with slugging it out with Myanmar's military government on celluloid in his latest "Rambo" film, Sylvester Stallone wants to go there and confront the junta face to face over human rights.

Stallone, who said he was gearing up to make a fifth and final installment in the blood-and-guts series, told Reuters that media reports of his film becoming a bootleg hit in the country formerly known as Burma, and an inspiration to dissidents, was a pinnacle in his movie career.

"These incredibly brave people have found, kind of a voice, in a very odd way, in American cinema ... They've actually used some of the film's quotes as rallying points," Stallone, 61, said in a telephone interview.

"That, to me, is the one of the proudest moments I've ever had in film."

Residents in Yangon told Reuters this week that police had given strict orders to DVD hawkers to not stock the movie -- named simply "Rambo." Locals said fans had "gone crazy" over lines in the hero's brusque dialogue such as: "Live for nothing. Die for something."

In the film, Vietnam War veteran John Rambo -- best known for mowing down enemies with an M60 machine gun in the 1980's -- comes out of retirement in Thailand to save a group of Christian missionaries from a sadistic Myanmar army major.

Stallone said that, rather than make a film about Iraq or Darfur, he focused on a lesser-known crisis before Myanmar suddenly grabbed the spotlight in September when the military junta crushed a pro-democracy campaign led by Buddhist monks.

Officials put the death toll from the crackdown at 15, but diplomats and aid groups say it is much higher and some media have reported hundreds -- or thousands -- were killed.

"People finally got the idea of how brutal these people are," said Stallone.

INVITE ME, PLEASE

Stallone's movie specifically focuses on the Karen tribe of eastern Myanmar. UK-based Christian Aid says the Karen and other groups have suffered half a million cases of forced relocation and thousands more have been imprisoned, tortured or killed.

Many ethnic rebel groups have fought Burmese governments for more autonomy since independence from Britain in 1948. Stallone said he was in communication with some, and several former freedom fighters acted in the movie.

And he hopes the film can provoke a confrontation.

"I'm only hoping that the Burmese military, because they take such incredible offence to this, would call it lies and scurrilous propaganda. Why don't you invite me over?" he said.

"Let me take a tour of your country without someone pointing a gun at my head and we'll show you where all the bodies are buried... Or let's go debate in Washington in front of a congressional hearing... But I doubt that's going to happen."

"Rambo" opened last month second in north American box office returns to the ancient Greek warrior spoof "Meet the Spartans," making $18.2 million in its first week.

Stallone said he was happy with what he described as "the bloodiest, R film (for) a generation" and hoped to make another.

"It will depend on the success of this one, but right now I think I'm gearing one up. It will be quite different," he said.

"We'll do something a little darker and a little more unexpected."

Burma has to prepare for the worst as Junta practiced deception and trickery

Zin Linn
Asian Tribune
February 2, 2008

Burma’s military regime is practicing tyranny over all aspects of freedom in the country. Intellectual freedom is completely subdued by various suppressive laws and decrees. Even the internet is subject to scrutiny. The junta has never tolerated any democratic opinion and dissent.
The opposition party NLD criticized the ruling junta on the 60th Anniversary of Independence for deceptive practices and trickery over meetings with its detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and the junta’s Labor Minister Aung Kyi have so far held 5 meetings but they have become attempts to ward off to relieve pressure on the regime.

Military junta of Burma made no sign of cooperation with the international community in the midst of worldwide pressure for political change even following the blood-shed crackdown on 2007 September Saffron Revolution.

Despite salvos of international condemnation over the lack of improvement on human rights abuses and talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, the junta envisaged to soften the pressure by holding another talk show. On 30 January, during a meeting with leading members of the NLD at a Rangoon state guesthouse, Aung San Suu Kyi apparently said that the junta was toying with the idea of giving false hope to the nation. The junta's supreme-commander, Senior General Than Shwe, never had any wish for meaningful dialogue with the Nobel laureate of Burma, arguing that the talks were only showcase to take in the global family after the September bloodbath.

It is noticeable that the military has been tightening the screws on its own citizens. According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), there are now at least 1864 political prisoners in Burma, although the group can not include all cases of confinement since the crackdown. AAPP-B also said that more than 700 people were arrested in connection with the September Saffron Revolution and they are still behind bars. Moreover, the group is aware of 84 people who disappeared during the protests.

In fact, Prime Minister Thein Sein has a promise to the UN Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari in early November in 2007 that no more arrests would be carried out. In addition, Thein Sein also signed the new ASEAN Charter that stipulated the “promotion and protection of human rights.” He was attending ASEAN's 40th Anniversary Summit.

According to witnesses inside Burma, the fresh arrests are still taking place despite the regime’s promises to the international community. It has stepped up scrutiny of the Internet, arresting Nay Phone Latt, a popular blogger, who criticized the repression of free expression in the military-ruled nation.

For instance, Burma's military junta has been going on filing lawsuits against political dissidents including members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and leading student-activists detained for organizing citizens against fuel price increases last year. Two of the most well-known pro-democracy leaders, Min Ko Niaing (45) and Ko Ko Gyi (46) were among those accused of making illegal statements.

According to a Rangoon analyst who wishes to remain anonymity, there has been a deadlock between the Lady and the senior general. Aung Kyi is the protégé of Than Shwe. He stands firmly on the draft constitution which was the product of the junta’s national convention, as genuine desire of the people. At the same time, Aung San Suu Kyi, the General Secretary of NLD, determinedly stands on the 1990 elections result or the mandates of the NLD representatives-elect. The military junta has claimed the representatives of its national convention as true delegates of the nation. But, the junta stubbornly refused to recognize the representatives-elect of the 1990 elections. The fact is that the junta does not want to allow the NLD delegates participating in the constitution drafting committee.

The information minister Kyaw Hsan spoke at 3rd December news conference about the start of work of the 54-member Constitution Drafting Commission, whose work represents the third stage of the ruling junta's seven-step road map to democracy. The junta has long-insisted it will make democratic reforms only according to its own plan. The road map's first stage -- the National Convention -- began in 1993 and was completed only in July 2007. Most political analysts around the world consider the charter drafting process is a sham, designed to keep the military in power.

Moreover, during the meeting with the SPDC Liaison Minister Aung Kyi, Aung San Suu Kyi reiterated her call to include representatives of ethnic groupings in the talks. She also expressed her dissatisfaction with the meetings with Aung Kyi and the lack of any time frame for the talks.

“Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” she said to central executive committee members of the NLD. After meeting with NLD CEC members, Aung San Suu Kyi had another meeting with Aung Kyi. 30-January meeting was the fifth talk between the two since Aung Kyi’s appointment as Liaison Minister in October 2007.

The NLD spokesperson, Nyan Win said about the Lady’s dissatisfaction in an interview.

"What I can say is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is not satisfied with the current meetings with the military junta, especially the fact that the process is not time-bound," Nyan Win said.

The military regime continues to practice tyranny over all aspects of freedom in Burma. One remarkable event was that the EU's special envoy for Myanmar (Burma) Mr. Piero Fassino urged Burma's military regime to free democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as he kicked off an Asian tour aimed at pressuring the junta for reform. Fassino, a former Italian justice minister, said he supported the junta's dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi but urged the regime to make concrete progress.

On 29 January, Mr. Fassino said that it was necessary to open real dialogue between the junta and the opposition and all different sectors of the society. Piero Fassino was appointed the EU special envoy on Myanmar (Burma) last November and said he would travel to Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Laos and Japan over the next two months in a bid to gain Asian support to press the regime for reform. The Italian diplomat also called on the regime to allow the United Nations special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, to return to the military ruled country without hindrance.

While Fassino was in Bangkok, members from “Peace for Burma”, which is a coalition of Thai and Burmese civil society organizations working to promote democratic change and the protection of human rights in Burma, offered an open letter to him.

The letter says that if the Burmese junta remains intransigent and substantial progress is not made in the near future, the group has made a request to consider the proposed steps - suspending or withdrawing existing investments in the oil and gas sector in Burma; applying banking and financial sanctions targeted on Burmese generals, their family members, and close business partners; banning new investments and the import of marine products from Burma; applying diplomatic pressure to place Burma on the UN Security Council agenda; intensifying diplomatic engagement with China, India and ASEAN in order to develop a coordinated strategy towards Burma ; extending humanitarian assistance and increasing support for programmes promoting of human rights, democracy, and national reconciliation.

In addition, UN Special Envoy Mr. Ibrahim Gambari has also made recommendations, to release all political prisoners, to begin an inclusive national reconciliation process, to cooperate fully with the UN and international not governmental organizations, to cease hostilities in conflict areas, and to establish Commissions to review the constitution and alleviate poverty.

But, the junta turns a deaf ear to the UN Envoy. It’s a sign of more gloomy weather for Burma. As Aung San Suu Kyi told her NLD central executive members, people of Burma have to prepare for the worst although they may love to hope for the best.

West beats Burma drum without purpose or strategy

LARRY JAGAN
Bangkok Post
February 2, 2008

The international community is stepping up pressure on Burma's military regime to introduce economic and political change as soon as possible. At the same time, UN envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari and the European Union are pressing Asian nations to intervene and encourage the junta to listen to the international appeals for reform.

The EU and the United States have recently renewed calls for the immediate release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Rangoon.

''I hope The Lady [Aung San Suu Kyi] can be free as soon as possible,'' EU special envoy on Burma Piero Fassino said earlier this week. ''There can be no real talks between the junta and the opposition if a key player is not free to talk to her party and the public.''

But the EU is also threatening to increase sanctions against the junta if there is no tangible progress in the next three months.

''If Mr Gambari is not allowed back into the country, or fails to achieve anything concrete when he's there, the EU will have no alternative but to consider increasing sanctions against the junta,'' Mr Fassino said.

''The West has now turned to Asia to get them out of a hole on the Burma issue,'' a senior Southeast Asian diplomat said.

''They expect us to pressure the Burmese government on their behalf, without giving us anything in return.

''Force will not achieve anything with Burma's military leaders _ they will only recede further into their shell and ignore the international appeals,'' the diplomat added. ''The West should certainly not increase sanctions at this stage, and in fact should consider easing them.''

At present, the West's main hope of engaging the junta seems to rest on the efforts of the UN secretary-general's special adviser to Burma, the Nigerian diplomat Gambari. He made two crucial visits to Burma in 2007, the last in November. The EU in particular sees its efforts on Burma as supporting the UN's plans.

''Our strategy is to promote dialogue [in Burma] that will realise national reconciliation, dialogue that will realise democratic transition,'' said Mr Fassino. ''This goal will be achieved by discussions with the countries of Asia and the promotion of the UN's initiatives through Mr Gambari.''

But despite frequent requests to return in the past 10 weeks, Mr Gambari has been continually refused a visa.

The junta has told him they are too busy and preoccupied to see him until after Thingyan, the Buddhist New Year (Burmese Songkran) in mid-April.

Many diplomats in Rangoon fear Mr Gambari may already have made his last trip to Burma _ or if he is allowed in he will not be able to achieve anything. ''If Mr Gambari is permitted to visit Burma in the next months, it's almost certain he will not meet the top general, Than Shwe, making his mission meaningless,'' according to a Western diplomat based in Rangoon.

The junta is clearly in no mood to cooperate with the UN at present. Apart from throwing the UN resident coordinator, Charles Petrie, out of the country two months ago, the regime is playing hardball with the organisation on the ground inside Burma.

Several important UN-sponsored field visits for diplomats (whose countries fund projects) have been cancelled. A trip planned for last week by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to eastern Rakhine (Arakan) state, where Burmese Muslim refugees had been repatriated after earlier fleeing to Bangladesh to escape persecution, was cancelled at the last moment _ the first time since the annual trip started more than 15 years ago.

A UNAids trip planned for later this month has also been postponed at short notice. Many UN officials who oversee programmes and projects in Burma and are based in Bangkok have been denied visas. Members of the UN's main humanitarian organisation OCHA (the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance) have been refused access to Burma for several months, ever since the crackdown on the monk-led anti-inflation protest last year.

Mr Gambari has just been in New Delhi for talks on Burma with the Indian government. He is now on his way back to New York, before heading to Beijing for further discussions with senior Chinese leaders. He had hoped to fly directly from Delhi to Beijing but the Chinese authorities postponed the trip until early February because of the Chinese New Year holiday.

But with the Gambari process almost dead, the UN will have to find another way to engage the Burmese regime.

''Clearly the junta, or particularly Than Shwe, has had enough of the UN. The only option left is for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself to visit Burma as soon as possible,'' a UN official close to Mr Gambari said.

Failing that, it is only the countries of Asia who can influence the Burmese regime.

''The nations of Asia _ China, India, Thailand and the other countries of Asean _ can play an important and strategic role,'' said Mr Fassino, the EU envoy.

''The international community must understand that we hate megaphone diplomacy and it will not encourage us to do anything,'' Maj-Gen Kyaw Win, Burma's former deputy chief of military intelligence, told the Bangkok Post several years ago when General Khin Nyunt was prime minister, before he was dismissed and put under house arrest.

The EU envoy, and for that matter the West, is engaged in megaphone diplomacy, which will only alienate the regime rather than encourage them on the path to political reform.

Burma's Most Wanted

LESLIE HOOK
Wall Street Journal
February 2, 2008

Mae Sot, Thailand

'We did not reach final victory. We were defeated in the middle of our struggle," says the young Burmese monk sitting in front of me. "It will be very hard to have another demonstration."

He should know. Ashin Kovida chaired the impromptu committee that organized last year's democracy protests in Rangoon, Burma. The marches, sparked by an economic crisis, brought more than 100,000 people to the streets to demand democracy and the release of political prisoners, including opposition leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The ensuing crackdown left at least 31 civilians dead, and thousands more beaten or jailed.

The protest leaders -- Mr. Ashin included -- fled for their lives. Exchanging his monks' robes for civilian clothes and a crucifix necklace, Mr. Ashin hid in a shack outside Rangoon for several weeks. After he made it over the border into Mae Sot, Mr. Ashin holed up in a safe house, leaving only to be shuttled to occasional meetings or interviews. Finding a safe venue for our meeting proved a challenge. We agreed I'd wait in my hotel for a phone call from a "friend," who would tell me how to proceed. "There are many different kinds of people at your hotel," Mr. Ashin said. "Maybe not safe."
[Burma's Most Wanted]

When our agreed interview time passed, I worried if he'd been snagged by the Burmese spies trawling this town. An hour later, there was a soft knock on my door. When I opened it two men scuttled inside: Mr. Ashin, a skinny 24-year-old in flame-colored robes, and Kyaw Lin, a friend and interpreter. The monk looked horrified when I shook his hand, averting his gaze. It's only afterward that I realized this violated his vows to touch a woman.

Mr. Ashin had no special preparation to become a freedom fighter; if anything, he had a typical, impoverished Burmese childhood. Born in 1983 in a village near Ann, a town in the eastern state of Arakan, he joined a monastery at age 12. His parents were farmers, and they sent him, their second son, to become a monk at the nearest monastery so that he could get an education. He lived there until 2003, then moved to Nan Oo monastery in Rangoon to pursue further monastic studies.

Meanwhile, his country was falling into grave disrepair. Since the junta took power in 1962, the generals have stripped the country for their own personal gain through a combination of brutal oppression, continuing ethnic wars, and a massive standing army of more than 400,000 soldiers. Today it is difficult for most citizens to obtain basic food and clothing. Per capita GDP is around $300, in league with the world's poorest countries.

Political activism in this environment is difficult, at best. But monks in Burma have a tradition of being involved. Their daily alms rounds keep them in touch with citizens' lives, and their vows require them to act for the well-being of their community. In 1988, when students and citizens took to the streets to protest for democracy, the monks marched alongside them. Those demonstrations ended with the massacre of several thousand demonstrators.

But the way he tells it, Mr. Ashin's activism wasn't originally part of a national movement; rather, it evolved from a grass-roots level, organically. After several monks were beaten during a Sept. 5 protest in Pakokku, a city in central Burma, Mr. Ashin and his fellow monks were so outraged that they printed and distributed pamphlets demanding an apology from the government. Mr. Ashin says he spent Sept. 10-13 wandering the streets of Rangoon with a bag full of pamphlets, distributing them to major monasteries.

"We demanded that the government apologize [for what happened in Pakokku]," Mr. Ashin explains. "If there was no apology by Sept. 18, then the monks would take to the streets. On Sept. 18 there was no response. On Sept. 19, my colleagues and I thought we needed an organization to organize the protests and keep them on the right track."

Thus the Sangha (Monks) Representative Committee -- an organization that would soon become the nexus of the demonstrations in Rangoon -- was born. The committee was composed of 15 volunteer monks, aged 24-28, who had met each other during earlier protests in August and September. "Everyone was invited," Mr. Ashin says. "I did not even know the names of the others -- most of them used nicknames for their security."

Mr. Ashin was elected chairman, and the committee agreed to meet every morning at 9 a.m. at the East gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda -- Burma's holiest shrine and the temple from which Aung San Suu Kyi addressed her followers during the protests of 1988. Its purpose?

"The committee was there to control the demonstrations and make sure they were peaceful," he tells me. They wanted "just to help the people, and to show how much people are suffering. The monks did not have any political objectives. We want for people to have a right to fight for power . . . the monks just paved the way for them."

Unlike 1988, the monks had new tools available to help their cause. Cell phones and the Internet played a crucial role in enabling the protests, and in alerting the outside world. All of the recent arrivals I met in Mae Sot, including Mr. Ashin, said they used Gmail chat ("gtalk," they call it) to keep in touch with their friends and family inside Burma. Yahoo! is blocked inside Burma.

To avoid confrontation with the government, the organizing committee asked people not to display any signs or flags other than the "sasana," a Buddhist flag used in religious ceremonies. The committee also had a practical function: to ensure that monks, who gather alms in the morning for food, could forego that duty to walk into the city center and join the marches (some walked for hours to get there). "All classes of people joined together to prepare food," he says, adding that famous Burmese actors and models pitched in, too.

It was a grass-roots political movement from the start. Mr. Ashin says none of his colleagues were members of any political groups. No one on the committee had contact with Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy until the party asked the committee for permission to display its flag, he says.

A few days after the committee formed, representatives from the NLD and some student political groups did ask. And so the yellow phoenix -- a sign of NLD unity during 1988 -- was displayed on the streets of Rangoon once again. The committee also allowed public speeches on Sept. 25.

For the military junta, that was a step too far. That night, the first of a series of brutal midnight raids on monasteries began.

The next morning, only seven of the 15 committee members showed up at their meeting place, Mr. Ashin says. As people came out to march, they found that the military had cordoned off the areas around Shwedagon Pagoda where they usually met. Disjointed groups began to coalesce, and Mr. Ashin said he found himself in the midst of about 300 people surrounded by walls and riot police. The police tried at first to persuade the protesters to let them "take them home" -- which the protesters understood to mean arrest -- and then began forcibly arresting protesters.

Mr. Ashin remembers that as a dark afternoon. He himself received several blows to the stomach before he scaled a wall to safety. "The monks and students started throwing stones at the security forces. There was a violent mood. [People from the committee] tried to convince people to stop and not be violent."

Across the rest of Rangoon similar scenes played out. In some places soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators, and day's end saw dozens dead or wounded.

On Sept. 27, the committee couldn't meet at all. Some people tried to continue the protests, but a massive security presence resulted in further violent clashes. That night, Mr. Ashin took off his robes and went into hiding.

The government didn't forget about him, though. State-run newspapers carried his photograph and labeled him a "fake monk." The junta's English mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar, accused him of being responsible for 48 cartridges of TNT found buried near a residence in Rangoon. While he was in hiding in a suburb, police canvassed nearby streets, searching for him.

Contrary to the propaganda the regime conjures up, Mr. Ashin says he was completely unconnected to the Burmese governments-in-exile that has sprung up in Thailand. He left Rangoon without a backup plan, and arrived in Mae Sot with a single phone number of a man he had never met.

Mr. Ashin is clearly devastated by what he perceives as the "failure" and the "defeat" of the protests. But most of his disappointment is directed not at the lackluster efforts of the United Nations -- "people outside seem to forget about Burma," he says -- but at his fellow Burmese.

"If the MPs had been actively involved, then our demonstrations could have changed something," he says. "It is a great loss for our struggle. But they were just watching and waiting." It's also evidence of how well the junta has done its cruel job that the massive street protests did not result in mass defections from the civil service or army, and saw almost no support from politicians in power.

Four months after the demonstrations Burma has largely fallen off of the world's radar screen. The U.S. and the EU were quick to implement tighter economic sanctions on the regime after the protests, but for Burma's major trading partners, it's been business as usual. Neighboring China, Thailand and India were all reluctant to comment on the events inside Burma, and have avoided putting pressure on the regime. The U.N. Security Council issued a statement "strongly deploring" the use of violence.

The situation on the ground in Burma is every bit as dire now as it was in September, and many say it is getting even worse, as fuel and food shortages continue.

Mr. Ashin's group, the Monks' Representative Committee, reorganized in several cities inside Burma earlier this year with 50 new members. They've issued a statement pledging to protest again this month if the government doesn't take action for political reconciliation. But with leaders like Mr. Ashin out of the picture and the junta on the lookout, it's difficult for them even to meet.

Mr. Ashin says he will be relocated to the U.S. soon, where he has been granted political asylum. He wants to continue working to bring change to Burma, but isn't sure how he will do so from a distant shore. Step one will be improving his English, so that he can tell the world what is going on.

Ms. Hook is an editorial page writer for The Wall Street Journal Asia.

Subdued but Unbowed

KYI WAI/PAKOKKU
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
February 1, 2008

Young monks offer prayers during a devotional service, a daily practice in all monasteries [Photo Courtesy: AP]

Fiery Pakokku monks who were in the forefront of anti-junta demonstrations have been under constant surveillance from authorities

A 35-year-old, slender, dark man with a long face wearing a white shirt and longyi is sitting in a teashop opposite a A-Nauk Taik, a famous monastery in western Pakokku.

Many people, including the teashop owner, notice him. They know he is an undercover police officer assigned to watch the monks’ activities in A-Nauk Taik, also known as Mandalay Monastery.

Pakokku residents said that since the September monk-led protests, the authorities have assigned various officers in plain clothes to areas surrounding Buddhist monasteries, many of which are also monastic schools that train monks in the higher Buddhist scriptures.

“They don’t come out and investigate openly, but everybody knows they are watching the monasteries,” said a neighborhood resident. “The monks know it, and everybody knows it.”

The monks here are among the most committed and well-educated in the Burmese sangha (monkhood) and they enjoy the devotion and support of the local population. For that reason, perhaps, the military and district authorities have placed heavy restrictions on the monasteries, eventually winning a commitment from the monks not to engage in public demonstrations in the future. Many monasteries have less than one-half of their former numbers.

Pakokku City lies on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River about 75 miles southwest of Mandalay. It is home to the second largest population, after Mandalay, of student-monks studying Buddhist literature. Pakokku goes back to the Pagan dynasty and is known for its historical and religious heritages, including Thi-Ho-Shin Pagoda and the ancient Shwe-Gu temple. Mandalay and Mahawri Thu-Sa-Marama monasteries are famous institutions in religious training.

Four monasteries are believed to be under heavy surveillance: A-Shay-Taik (East Monastery) near State Middle School No 3, Nar-Yi-Sin A-Lel Taik (Middle Yard Monastery), Mandalay Taik and Baw-Di-Man-Dai Taik.

Many monks from the monastic schools participated in the 2007 September protests and called on other monasteries to join them.

Since then, the military authorities have assigned police, police-informers and pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) members to watch the monasteries and local members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

The authorities also monitor guests visiting the monasteries, say local residents.

“They note down if someone goes in these monasteries and send an informer to follow them when they come out of the monasteries,” said a resident. “Sometimes they follow them to their guesthouse if they are foreign visitors.”

Authorities reportedly monitor and record phone conversations to and from these monasteries and they “eavesdrop whenever we talk on a telephone at the telecom exchange office,” said a monk at Mandalay Monastery. “We can’t say anything controversial.”

The phone line to the home of Pike Ko, a resident of Pakokku, has been cut off since October, following an interview he gave to an exiled radio station. Pike Ko, a member of the Magwe Division NLD branch, was detained and interrogated by local authorities from September 25 to October 23, 2007, and is still under surveillance, said a local source.

Even while under heavy surveillance, 150 Pakokku monks marched in the streets again on October 31, walking from Baw-di-Man-Dai Monastery through the city for one hour while chanting the “Metta Sutta.”

The march was a public rebuke to the authorities who violated an agreement between district officials and the monks. Both sides had agreed not to hold any kind of mass rally and to show restraint. But the authorities violated their promise by forcing people to attend a pro-junta rally, said a monk. Monks were also upset by official accusations in the state media that many of the monks in the September protests were bogus monks.

The monks decided to march again to challenge the authorities’ actions, said a leading monk who took to the streets on October 31.

In a trade-off following the October 31 demonstration, authorities agreed not to arrest the monks who participated in the march if they would not initiate any more demonstrations in Pakokku. An agreement was signed in front of local military authorities at the district administration office on November 5.

“The military authorities threatened that they would seize and manage monastic affairs if the Pakokku monks start another protest,” said a monk familiar with the compromise. “They threatened to arrest all the monks who participated in the protests. That is why the sangha agreed to no more protests in Pakokku.”

However, Pakokku monks have continued the Patta-nikujana protest, in which no alms will be accepted from members of the military and their supporters. Also, some small-scale protests continue to occur through anti-regime poster campaigns around the Sasana Biman halls.

Sangha indignation runs deep. When the division’s religious authorities donated rice and cooking oil to some monastic schools on December 1 as a peace offering, the monks refused the donations and threw the items on the road. The monks were also outraged by the news that Rangoon authorities had closed Maggin Monastery, which also served as a hospice for HIV/AIDS patients.

“These monks are unique,” said a resident living near the monasteries. “They are still maintaining a religious boycott. They don’t accept anything from the government. They threw all the donations from the district authorities onto the road. The local residents would not pick up the donations, even though many are very hungry. It was on the road untouched for a long time until some USDA members and municipal workers removed the items.”

In another move designed to weaken the sangha, authorities have restricted the travel of monks. A monk who wants to travel must file an application and get permission from the District Administration office.

Another serious blow came when the military authorities ordered classes to be closed and the student-monks to return to their homes. Many have not yet returned to the monasteries.

“In our monastery, about 740 monks were here last year before the demonstrations. Now, most of the monks have returned home and only about 220 monks are at the monastery,” said a monk at A-Lel Taik.

Most Pakokku monks have totally rejected the authority of the abbot of Kya-Khat-Wine Monastery in Pegu, who spoke out against a sangha protest and encouraged authorities to crackdown on protesting monks. Pakokku monks say he has committed “a colossal religious offense” called “the third Parajica.” A third Parajica means a monk has been rejected and can never return to the sangha.

A leading monk in Pakokku told The Irrawaddy that fellow monks in other locations must be bold and keep the monk-led protests alive in the country.

For now, he said, “We have struggled as much as we can.” But he added, “We still keep up the alms boycott.”

Laura Bush pushes Security Council on Myanmar

AFP-Yahoo News
February 1, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AFP) - US First Lady Laura Bush has pressed Panama, which holds the UN Security Council's rotating presidency, to help keep pressure on Myanmar's junta, the White House said Friday.

Bush, in New York for a heart disease awareness event on Thursday, met with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, who was receptive to her message, spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.

"Mrs Bush took the opportunity to remind and reinforce the importance for the UN Security Council to keep pressure on the military junta in Burma," said Fratto.

"President Torrijos said that he would of course want to keep the pressure on Burma to make the democratic changes that we all have been calling for," the spokesman said.

In mid-January, the UN Security Council bemoaned the slow progress in initiating democratic reforms in Myanmar, where the junta in September crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years.

US envoy wants int'l pressure on Myanmar

GRANT PECK
Associated Press Writer
February 1, 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand - Fresh international pressure is necessary to push Myanmar's military rulers toward reform because the momentum for change after last year's demonstrations has been lost, the top U.S. diplomat in the country said Friday.

The appeal by Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, followed signs that the ruling junta was again stepping up repression of dissidents.

It also came after Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday she was dissatisfied with the progress of her reconciliation talks with the junta, and cautioned the public to "hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

Myanmar's crisis attracted world attention when Buddhist monks last September began leading anti-government protests, the biggest in two decades. At least 30 people are believed to have been killed when the government suppressed the demonstrations, and thousands detained, though most have since been released.

Under pressure from U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, the junta appointed a "Minister for Relations" to talk with Suu Kyi, but their few meetings have borne no results, and junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe has made no further moves toward reconciliation.

"I think everybody hoped that there was genuine will on the part of Than Shwe and his senior generals to begin a real dialogue, and what is increasingly evident is that they have no intention whatsoever in engaging in a genuine dialogue," Villarosa said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Bangkok.

Earlier this week, lawyers working with the pro-democracy movement said that about two dozen members of the 88 Generation Students group, whose small protests against a fuel price hike mushroomed into last September's massive demonstrations, would face trial. They are charged with making illegal statements and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Last week, human rights group Amnesty International said the ruling military had continued to arrest political activists, despite its promise to the United Nations that it would halt arrests following September's demonstrations.

Amnesty International said 1,850 political prisoners were behind bars, including 96 imprisoned since early November when the government told the world body it had stopped all arrests.

Villarosa said it was crucial for Myanmar's fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, along with its giant neighbors China and India, to push the junta to open up to dialogue and reconciliation with its opponents. The U.N. also needs to be involved, she said.

Burmese Monks Without Shelter

Narinjara News
February 1, 2008

Dhaka: Many Burmese monks who've recently arrived in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka from Burma to apply for refugee status with the UNHCR are facing trouble with finding shelter.

Monk U Payna Dissa said, “There is no accommodation for monks in Dhaka. We have difficulties staying in Dhaka when we come here to apply for refugee status at the UNHCR."

In Dhaka, there are a few Buddhist monasteries, but the Buddhist monks are unable to stay there because they do not have valid travel documents. The monasteries in Dhaka also worry that Bangladesh authorities might take action against them if the undocumented monks take shelter there.

Many monks in Burma have recently come to Bangladesh to escape arrest by the Burmese military authorities after the monk-led protests last fall.

Some Burmese refugees requested that the UNHCR office in Dhaka set up a room for the Burmese monks to stay in when they come to Dhaka to seek asylum, but the request was denied.

In Dhaka, there are a few offices belonging to democratic activists working for the Burmese democracy movement, and all offices are now crowded with many Burmese people who have fled Burma seeking safety after the Saffron Revolution.

The director of Narinjara News also reports that the Narinjara office will have to move to another location at the beginning of March as their landlord has refused to continue renting to them after so many people have had to come and stay there.

Other Burmese democratic activists in Dhaka are facing similar problems as Burmese people come to them for shelter.

U Payna Dissa has made a plea through Narinjara to democratic activists in exile, including monk organizations abroad, to consider how they can help the Burmese monks in Dhaka in finding shelter.

Is Taunggok Following The Starlings' Theory ?

By Goldie Shwe

In Burma, where the only authority comes from the gun-toting junta and their cronies, it is unsurprising that most people just mind their own business and get on with their daily struggle to live. It is unwise to be conspicuous under the eyes of the junta gunmen and assorted thugs, unless you relish imprisonment under the slightest pretext.

So how on earth have the people of Taunggok, about 50 miles north of Thandwe (Ngapali) managed not only to make faces at the all-powerful junta gunmen but also to play cat and mouse with them?

While most people are too frightened to even look straight into the eyes of the daughter or son of the nasty 'militocracy' shopping in a big super store, Taunggok openly challenges the thugs over unbelievable stupidity in so badly mis-managing the country. It expressed the displeasure of the corrupt officials' mis-management and the force labour. While most cities and towns in Burma are still nursing the wounds inflicted by junta during the last September protest, people of Taunggok managed to plan and gathered around for fresh and renewed demonstrations. When this was forced to abandon, they started the poster war.

Where do they get the courage from? How do they manage to display this never-say-die attitudes? The answer is quite simple. They just stick to basics and apply their animal instincts in dealing with the predators of the obscenely powerful junta. The severely repressed residents of Taunggok have worked out that when you are so far from the top of the feeding chain, you must be united to survive against the shamelessly violent enemies - the junta.

Recently, researchers have discovered how vast flocks of starlings stay together when under attack by predators, never leaving any of their number isolated and vulnerable. Each starling constantly tracks seven others as they fly, to be instantly responsive to changes of direction. Cohesion may be threatened under attack, but the flock can regroup very quickly ready for the next threat.

Taunggok is doing exactly just that with the people united. Just like the starlings, they look out for each other and stick together. It is not easy to stick up a poster in the middle of the town, infested by patrolling security gunmen, without a team to support and watch out for you.

When there is a petition, everyone wants to sign and there is no hesitation to show unity and solidarity, either in print or in person. When it was agreed that it was time to demonstrate, they managed to form a group of about 200, again in the town centre. When two youths decided to go out on their own to shout out democracy slogans, many people watched them anxiously to report the situation and just like the starlings, they regrouped again very quickly.

This apparently simple starling-like behaviour has been puzzling and confusing for mono-dimensional junta. Why don't they disperse or be disloyal to each other as in some of the larger towns and cities? Why? Because the people of Taunggok have the firm belief that the only way to improve their lives is to win democratic freedoms. And for this, they understand that they have to be united, and behave as a close knit community, so that corrupt 'local authorities' cannot threaten or frighten them. Just as the starlings know their predators, the brave people of Taunggok know theirs is the junta and its cronies and corrupt followers, who can snatch them anytime to gain favour with the murdering 'authorities'. Like the starlings, they will not leave a member isolated and vulnerable.

Taunggok was seized by security troops on 17 January but people are still planning to demonstrate as soon as they have a chance. It means that the junta has to deploy many of its soldier-thugs, probably more than the population of the town itself. If every town in Burma follows the example of the courage of Taunggok, using and applying the same simply method - Starlings' Theory : keeping track of your own kind, to protect each other -what kind of effect and benefit the country will get ?

a) The people will feel the strength which comes from unity. Knowing that your life is more secure in the hands of your fellows will begin to increase resolve and strength.

b) The Junta would be faced with a physically and mentally tiring task. They may have the second biggest army (first if you count the newly recruited baby soldiers) in Asia but there is at least 50 Burmese people to every soldier/thug.

Public ridicule an extension of the internet campaign is what the junta should attract. The ridiculous strutting soldier/thugs, whose only military 'honours' have been 'won' in abusing, violating and killing their own people, have to be seen by the Burmese for what they are.

Taunggok has proved that unity and solidarity is strength. It is equally important to recognise and identify the enemy quickly so that you can deal with them. These simple and crucial lessons from the 'Starlings' Theory' appear to be working very well with people of Taunggok and so it could across Burma.

By Goldie Shwe

(You are very welcome to republish this article. If you can translate it, please do so and pass it on. To read more about how starling birds work please click here and here. )

Quote on Freedom by U Gambira

humans must be free from
livelihood menaces,
social perils and
tyrants' hazards

-Ashin Gambira

Bomb kills KNU defector's son-in-law

Saw Kanyaw
Democratic Voice of Burma
January 31, 2008

The son-in-law of a Karen National Union commander who defected to the Burmese government side was killed by a bomb yesterday in what is thought to have been a targeted assassination.

General Saw Htay Maung was commander of KNU brigade 7 before his defection in early 2007, when he founded a splinter group called the KNU Peace Council.

His son-in-law, major Saw Leh Mu, was at the communications office of the KNU Peace Council headquarters in Kawko village, Kawkareit township, yesterday when the bomb exploded.

An unidentified Democratic Karen Buddhist Army officer said that Saw Leh Mu was killed instantly by the blast.

"The bomb exploded at around 12.40am near where he and his grandmother were sleeping," the officer said.

"We don't know how powerful the explosion was, but someone who saw the bomb scene said that his body was blown into small pieces."

The officer said the attack was thought to have been an assassination, but it was not yet clear who was responsible.

Security has been tightened within Saw Htay Maung's group since the incident.

A close relative of Saw Leh Mu confirmed his death.

"I can confirm that Saw Leh Mu has been killed, but we don't know yet how it happened," he said, adding that no other people were injured in the explosion.

Saw Htay Maung's group also said they assumed that Saw Leh Mu was deliberately assassinated, but they could not yet say who was behind the attack.

Some local people have suggested that the attack could have been carried out by business rivals.

Unknown groups have previously attempted to assassinate Saw Leh Mu on several occasions.

NLD member beaten during interrogation

Aye Nai
Democratic Voice of Burma
January 31, 2008

A Magwe division National League for Democracy member who was arrested on 11 January said that he suffered beatings and ill-treatment during his four-day interrogation.

Ko Ow Wai said he was arrested on Rangoon's 46th street on 11 January, and was blindfolded and taken to Yay Kyi Ai interrogation centre in Insein township where he was questioned for four days.

"They hit me with chairs and made me do press-ups on my fists, and they hit me around the ears, on my buttocks, my arms and also on my head," Ow Wai said, adding that he had also been hit with tree branches.

"They yelled at me: 'Tell the truth!', and made me kneel down on pebbles with my hands on the back of my head while someone ran at me and kneed me in the chest," he continued.

"I am still in pain now."

After that, Ow Wai was sent to Insein prison for further interrogation before being released on 21 January.

But on 29 January, military intelligence officials came to the house he was renting near Yuzana plaza on 15th street and arrested Ow Wai again.

"[The military intelligence officials] took me to their office near Yauk Kaw bus stop and asked me all the same questions I had been asked before," Ow Wai said.

"I told them I had only just been released by the other officials on 21 January, but they told me to leave Rangoon within 24 hours or they would arrest me again."

They also told him that if he remained in Rangoon they would make things difficult for the owner of the house he was renting under the guest registration laws.

Ow Wai said his interrogators asked him about a letter he had circulated in November last year which said that the Burmese regime was planning to poison detained NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

"During interrogation, they asked if I really believed what the letter said," Ow Wai said.

"I told them that I didn't really care if it was true or not, but as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is such an important figure in our country's politics I don't want her to come to any harm," he said.

"That's why I demanded that she have a medical examination [to see if the accusations were true]."

Ow Wai was arrested along with labour rights activist Su Su Nway in August last year during protests against fuel price hikes, and suffered a broken leg during his arrest.

Detained poet denied visits and parcels

Naw Say Phaw -
Democratic Voice of Burma
Jan 31, 2008

Prison authorities have received an order stating that a poet who was arrested on 22 January for writing a controversial poem can no longer receive visits or parcels from his family, the poet's wife said.

Saw Wai was arrested after a poem he wrote with a hidden message that read "megalomaniac Than Shwe" was published in a weekly journal.

His wife, Ma Nan San San Aye, said that she received a telephone call from an official at Insein prison at around 4pm on 29 January telling her she could not visit Saw Wai.

"The official said he had been banned from receiving family visits, but that the family could still send him things."

But when Ma Nan San San Aye went to the prison the next day to give him some items, officials showed her an order letter which said Saw Wai would not be allowed to receive family visits or packages after 29 January.

"I just wanted to give him some blankets and mosquito nets," Ma Nan San San Aye said.

Ma Nan San San Aye said that she had not had any contact with her husband since speaking to him on the telephone on the day of his arrest, and she has heard nothing about him from the authorities.

Mother Meets Son in Thandwe Prison

Narinjara News
January 30, 2008

Taungup: The mother of a political prisoner in Arakan State had the chance on Monday to meet with her son at Thandwe prison, four months after he was detained by the military authority, reports a relative of hers.

"Daw Saw Pru, who is the mother of detained political prisoner Ko Min Aung, was allowed by prison authorities on that day to meet with her son," he said.

Daw Saw Pru, a native of Taungup in Arakan State, went to Thandwe prison from her hometown after authorities gave her permission to see her son.

Daw Saw Pru confirmed her visit with Narinjara over the phone yesterday, saying, "I went to Thandwe prison to meet with my son. His health is better and revived. He seemed to be enthusiastic for his activities. He told me not to worry about him even though he is now in jail."

Ko Min Aung is a township secretary of the NLD in Taungup and was arrested by the military authority after the monk-led Saffron Revolution, on allegations he had created unrest among the people during the demonstrations in Taungup Township.

A few days after his arrest, the Taungup township court sentenced him to nine and a half years and sent him to Thandwe prison in southern Arakan.

The district court reduced his jail term to two years after he appealed to the district court and asserted his innocence.

The Burmese military authorities released many senior NLD members in Arakan State who had been arrested during the Saffron Revolution, after international organizations and the UN pressured the government to do so.

The authorities have still not released two NLD members currently being held in Arakan State - Ko Min Aung and senior leader U Khin Hla from Taungup Township. Both men are currently being detained in Thandwe prison in Arakan.

Three Video Halls Shut Down in Sittwe

Narinjara News - February 1, 2008
Sittwe: Three video movie halls in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, were closed by the military authority on accusations they had displayed images of the Saffron Revolution to monks, said one owner on condition of anonymity.

"The authority closed down my own video showrooms along with the another two without notice. They also seized all equipment related to the video showroom after accusing us of displaying anti-government pictures in our rooms," said the owner.

The three closed video halls are San Htoo, Thit Ten, and Pyi Pyo, all of which are located in downtown Sittwe.

The owner said, "The authority accused us not only of displaying Saffron Revolution pictures but also distributing Saffron Revolution CDs to the public after making copies in the rooms on the video players. They could not find any evidence from us, but they seized all the equipment in our show halls."

A town elder told Narinjara yesterday over the phone that the authority publicized among the public that they had to close the video halls for illegally showing foreign movies to the people.

The authorities in Arakan have not allowed any video halls to show foreign movies to the public anywhere in the state. The authorities have never explained why foreign movies have been prohibited in Arakan State, said the town elder.

People in Arakan State are very poor and most can not afford to buy TV sets for their homes. Many people depend on video halls for entertainment to see movies and international sports competitions such as football games.

Unimportant Topics Take Up All the Time, Says Suu Kyi

Wai Moe
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
January 31, 2008

In the reconciliation talks between Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta’s liaison officer, Aung Kyi, most of the time is taken up on trivial subjects, according to sources in the National League of Democracy.

Senior members of the NLD who asked for anonymity told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that sometimes an hour- long meeting is filled up with explanations and questions, such as “What is cooperation?” and “What is collaboration?” by the junta liaison officer, Suu Kyi told a group of NLD members whom she met with on Wednesday just prior to her fifth meeting with Aung Kyi.

Suu Kyi said she has spoken to Aung Kyi about important issues, and he replies that he will report her remarks to top officials and then a month goes by with no discussions, NLD sources said.

Suu Kyi told her colleagues that Aung Kyi told her to endorse the regime’s “seven-step road map” to democracy because it’s the foundation of the junta’s plan for the country.

Instead, Suu Kyi suggested an inclusive reconciliation process that includes participation by ethnic group leaders in any talks about the country’s future.

“She [Suu Kyi] is not pleased with the talks,” said an NLD member. “She does not mean the process is hopeless, but it is being drawn out and prolonged.”

Suu Kyi’s request to meet with the head of the military junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, has received no response from the junta, and the talks are proceeding without a time frame.

Suu Kyi said she does not want to give false hope to the people of Burma, but in such conditions something positive could happen.

On Wednesday, she said she recalled her father Aung San’s famous remark before he held talks with the British government in London during the pre-independence period, “Let’s hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”

A veteran journalist in Rangoon, Sein Hla Oo, commenting on the talks, said, “She [Suu Kyi] is not satisfied with the process. She thinks meaningful dialogue is very important for the country, but others think it is not important.”

Suu Kyi reportedly told her NLD colleagues to move forward without her, said the source. Sometimes she can lead the party; sometimes she will follow others’ leadership within the party, he said.

She suggested that sometimes the party needs to push and sometime it needs to pull, and if it is necessary, everyone needs to give up everything, he said.

He said she asked authorities to allow NLD deputy leader Tin Oo to participate in the meeting on Wednesday, but the authorities rejected the proposal.