Richard Lloyd Parry: Analysis
First it was Bill Clinton in North Korea, escorting home two scared US journalists from the clutches of Kim Jong Il. Now, Senator Jim Webb returns from Burma with the hapless American eccentric, John Yettaw.
For a politician, there are few more glorious moments than jetting home from a despotic regime with imprisoned compatriots in tow. But the liberation of Mr Yettaw was the least important and interesting achievement of Mr Webb’s trip.
Whether you regard Mr Yettaw as a well-meaning buffoon or an arrogant busybody, he hardly deserved such a prompt and high-level intervention.
The ironies of his release this weekend are painful. In setting him free, the Burmese junta manages to project an image of magnanimity for cancelling a sentence out of all proportion to Mr Yettaw’s “crimes”. And, as he flies back to obscurity in Missouri, Aung San Suu Kyi and her two female companions are left to pay the price of his fecklessness.
Mr Webb did at least see Ms Suu Kyi and their conversation must have been an interesting one. For the senator is a firm supporter of an approach very different from her uncompromising idealism. In the absence of any ideal solutions for dealing with the regime, he believes in making the most of a bad lot and in engaging with the junta, dropping sanctions, and also backs participation in the bogus-sounding election promised for next year.
These would be highly risky steps, but the time is long overdue for a serious debate about alternatives to the present policies of Ms Suu Kyi and her Western supporters, which have achieved nothing very obvious other than high-minded isolation.
For encouraging such a conversation, Senator Webb deserves credit.
He would have done much to overcome stereotypes about American parochialism, and made a valuable point to the dictatorship, if he had requested Ms Suu Kyi’s release before that of Mr Yettaw, rather than vice versa.
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi Still Detained but American Freed
By REUTERS
Published: August 16, 2009
YANGON (Reuters) - U.S. senator Jim Webb said on Sunday he had asked Myanmar to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and let her take part in politics during talks that secured the release of an American jailed for visiting her.
The Democratic senator landed in Bangkok, capital of neighboring Thailand, with John Yettaw, whose swim to Suu Kyi's home in May led to her renewed detention after authorities said his uninvited stay had breached the terms of her house arrest.
He had had met junta leader Than Shwe at the remote new capital of Naypyidaw Saturday and then flown to Yangon to meet Suu Kyi at a guest house.
Suu Kyi was sentenced last week to another 18 months under house arrest, and Yettaw's action is widely seen as having given the junta a pretext to keep Suu Kyi out of politics until after an election due next year. Webb said he had raised the issue.
"I'm hopeful as the months move forward they will take a look," he said.
"With the scrutiny of the outside world judging their government very largely through how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, it's to their advantage that she's allowed to participate in the political process."
"What I said to the leaders of Myanmar is that I believe that it will be impossible for the rest of the world to believe the elections were free and fair if she was not released."
He said the United States stood ready to help Myanmar.
Yettaw was not at the news conference. He went immediately to hospital after landing in Bangkok, where he walked from the plane to a waiting vehicle with a steadying hand from officials. He spent several days in hospital this month in Yangon.
Yettaw had been sentenced to seven years' hard labor on three charges, including immigration offences.
"I believe what happened was regrettable," Webb said. "He was trying to help. He's not a mean-spirited human being."
MEETINGS WITH OPPOSITION
Webb was allowed by the military authorities to speak with Suu Kyi for about 45 minutes Saturday, after meeting members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) and other political parties who had been invited to Naypyidaw by the government.
Some in Myanmar remained bitter at the treatment of Suu Kyi.
"The most tangible outcome of his visit is the release of John Yettaw, who caused the mess," said Thakhin Chan Tun, a former ambassador to North Korea.
"However, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is completely innocent in this incident, is still under house arrest."
Suu Kyi has led the fight for democracy in the former Burma and has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.
U.S. President Barack Obama said her conviction violated universal principles of human rights and called for her release.
In May, Obama extended a ban on U.S. investment in Myanmar imposed in 1997 because of political repression. He has also renewed sanctions on imports from Myanmar.
Before Suu Kyi's trial ended, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held out the prospect of better relations but made that conditional, among other things, on the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
Webb, chairman of a Senate subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, is the first member of Congress to travel in an official capacity to Myanmar in more than a decade and the first senior American politician to meet junta leader Than Shwe.
A former Navy Secretary and a Vietnam War veteran who speaks Vietnamese, Webb favors a policy of engagement with the junta.
The United States has for years backed sanctions to persuade the generals to release political prisoners, to little effect.
Many Asian countries, including the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Myanmar is a member, argue it is better to talk and trade with the resource-rich country, which occupies a strategic position between China and India.
Thailand is asking its fellow ASEAN members to back a request to Myanmar to pardon Suu Kyi.
By REUTERS
Published: August 16, 2009
YANGON (Reuters) - U.S. senator Jim Webb said on Sunday he had asked Myanmar to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and let her take part in politics during talks that secured the release of an American jailed for visiting her.
The Democratic senator landed in Bangkok, capital of neighboring Thailand, with John Yettaw, whose swim to Suu Kyi's home in May led to her renewed detention after authorities said his uninvited stay had breached the terms of her house arrest.
He had had met junta leader Than Shwe at the remote new capital of Naypyidaw Saturday and then flown to Yangon to meet Suu Kyi at a guest house.
Suu Kyi was sentenced last week to another 18 months under house arrest, and Yettaw's action is widely seen as having given the junta a pretext to keep Suu Kyi out of politics until after an election due next year. Webb said he had raised the issue.
"I'm hopeful as the months move forward they will take a look," he said.
"With the scrutiny of the outside world judging their government very largely through how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, it's to their advantage that she's allowed to participate in the political process."
"What I said to the leaders of Myanmar is that I believe that it will be impossible for the rest of the world to believe the elections were free and fair if she was not released."
He said the United States stood ready to help Myanmar.
Yettaw was not at the news conference. He went immediately to hospital after landing in Bangkok, where he walked from the plane to a waiting vehicle with a steadying hand from officials. He spent several days in hospital this month in Yangon.
Yettaw had been sentenced to seven years' hard labor on three charges, including immigration offences.
"I believe what happened was regrettable," Webb said. "He was trying to help. He's not a mean-spirited human being."
MEETINGS WITH OPPOSITION
Webb was allowed by the military authorities to speak with Suu Kyi for about 45 minutes Saturday, after meeting members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) and other political parties who had been invited to Naypyidaw by the government.
Some in Myanmar remained bitter at the treatment of Suu Kyi.
"The most tangible outcome of his visit is the release of John Yettaw, who caused the mess," said Thakhin Chan Tun, a former ambassador to North Korea.
"However, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is completely innocent in this incident, is still under house arrest."
Suu Kyi has led the fight for democracy in the former Burma and has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.
U.S. President Barack Obama said her conviction violated universal principles of human rights and called for her release.
In May, Obama extended a ban on U.S. investment in Myanmar imposed in 1997 because of political repression. He has also renewed sanctions on imports from Myanmar.
Before Suu Kyi's trial ended, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held out the prospect of better relations but made that conditional, among other things, on the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
Webb, chairman of a Senate subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, is the first member of Congress to travel in an official capacity to Myanmar in more than a decade and the first senior American politician to meet junta leader Than Shwe.
A former Navy Secretary and a Vietnam War veteran who speaks Vietnamese, Webb favors a policy of engagement with the junta.
The United States has for years backed sanctions to persuade the generals to release political prisoners, to little effect.
Many Asian countries, including the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Myanmar is a member, argue it is better to talk and trade with the resource-rich country, which occupies a strategic position between China and India.
Thailand is asking its fellow ASEAN members to back a request to Myanmar to pardon Suu Kyi.
*************************************************************
Webb meets junta, leaves Myanmar with American
By Aung Hla Tun – Sun Aug 16, 7:59 am ET
YANGON (Reuters) – U.S. senator Jim Webb said on Sunday he had asked Myanmar to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and let her take part in politics during talks that secured the release of an American jailed for visiting her.
The Democratic senator landed in Bangkok, capital of neighboring Thailand, with John Yettaw, whose swim to Suu Kyi's home in May led to her renewed detention after authorities said his uninvited stay had breached the terms of her house arrest.
He had had met junta leader Than Shwe at the remote new capital of Naypyidaw Saturday and then flown to Yangon to meet Suu Kyi at a guest house.
Suu Kyi was sentenced last week to another 18 months under house arrest, and Yettaw's action is widely seen as having given the junta a pretext to keep Suu Kyi out of politics until after an election due next year. Webb said he had raised the issue.
"I'm hopeful as the months move forward they will take a look," he said.
"With the scrutiny of the outside world judging their government very largely through how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, it's to their advantage that she's allowed to participate in the political process."
"What I said to the leaders of Myanmar is that I believe that it will be impossible for the rest of the world to believe the elections were free and fair if she was not released."
He said the United States stood ready to help Myanmar.
Yettaw was not at the news conference. He went immediately to hospital after landing in Bangkok, where he walked from the plane to a waiting vehicle with a steadying hand from officials. He spent several days in hospital this month in Yangon.
Yettaw had been sentenced to seven years' hard labor on three charges, including immigration offences.
"I believe what happened was regrettable," Webb said. "He was trying to help. He's not a mean-spirited human being."
MEETINGS WITH OPPOSITION
Webb was allowed by the military authorities to speak with Suu Kyi for about 45 minutes Saturday, after meeting members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) and other political parties who had been invited to Naypyidaw by the government.
Some in Myanmar remained bitter at the treatment of Suu Kyi.
"The most tangible outcome of his visit is the release of John Yettaw, who caused the mess," said Thakhin Chan Tun, a former ambassador to North Korea.
"However, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is completely innocent in this incident, is still under house arrest."
Suu Kyi has led the fight for democracy in the former Burma and has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.
U.S. President Barack Obama said her conviction violated universal principles of human rights and called for her release.
In May, Obama extended a ban on U.S. investment in Myanmar imposed in 1997 because of political repression. He has also renewed sanctions on imports from Myanmar.
Before Suu Kyi's trial ended, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held out the prospect of better relations but made that conditional, among other things, on the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
Webb, chairman of a Senate subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, is the first member of Congress to travel in an official capacity to Myanmar in more than a decade and the first senior American politician to meet junta leader Than Shwe.
A former Navy Secretary and a Vietnam War veteran who speaks Vietnamese, Webb favors a policy of engagement with the junta.
The United States has for years backed sanctions to persuade the generals to release political prisoners, to little effect.
Many Asian countries, including the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Myanmar is a member, argue it is better to talk and trade with the resource-rich country, which occupies a strategic position between China and India.
Thailand is asking its fellow ASEAN members to back a request to Myanmar to pardon Suu Kyi.
By Aung Hla Tun – Sun Aug 16, 7:59 am ET
YANGON (Reuters) – U.S. senator Jim Webb said on Sunday he had asked Myanmar to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and let her take part in politics during talks that secured the release of an American jailed for visiting her.
The Democratic senator landed in Bangkok, capital of neighboring Thailand, with John Yettaw, whose swim to Suu Kyi's home in May led to her renewed detention after authorities said his uninvited stay had breached the terms of her house arrest.
He had had met junta leader Than Shwe at the remote new capital of Naypyidaw Saturday and then flown to Yangon to meet Suu Kyi at a guest house.
Suu Kyi was sentenced last week to another 18 months under house arrest, and Yettaw's action is widely seen as having given the junta a pretext to keep Suu Kyi out of politics until after an election due next year. Webb said he had raised the issue.
"I'm hopeful as the months move forward they will take a look," he said.
"With the scrutiny of the outside world judging their government very largely through how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, it's to their advantage that she's allowed to participate in the political process."
"What I said to the leaders of Myanmar is that I believe that it will be impossible for the rest of the world to believe the elections were free and fair if she was not released."
He said the United States stood ready to help Myanmar.
Yettaw was not at the news conference. He went immediately to hospital after landing in Bangkok, where he walked from the plane to a waiting vehicle with a steadying hand from officials. He spent several days in hospital this month in Yangon.
Yettaw had been sentenced to seven years' hard labor on three charges, including immigration offences.
"I believe what happened was regrettable," Webb said. "He was trying to help. He's not a mean-spirited human being."
MEETINGS WITH OPPOSITION
Webb was allowed by the military authorities to speak with Suu Kyi for about 45 minutes Saturday, after meeting members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) and other political parties who had been invited to Naypyidaw by the government.
Some in Myanmar remained bitter at the treatment of Suu Kyi.
"The most tangible outcome of his visit is the release of John Yettaw, who caused the mess," said Thakhin Chan Tun, a former ambassador to North Korea.
"However, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is completely innocent in this incident, is still under house arrest."
Suu Kyi has led the fight for democracy in the former Burma and has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.
U.S. President Barack Obama said her conviction violated universal principles of human rights and called for her release.
In May, Obama extended a ban on U.S. investment in Myanmar imposed in 1997 because of political repression. He has also renewed sanctions on imports from Myanmar.
Before Suu Kyi's trial ended, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held out the prospect of better relations but made that conditional, among other things, on the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
Webb, chairman of a Senate subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, is the first member of Congress to travel in an official capacity to Myanmar in more than a decade and the first senior American politician to meet junta leader Than Shwe.
A former Navy Secretary and a Vietnam War veteran who speaks Vietnamese, Webb favors a policy of engagement with the junta.
The United States has for years backed sanctions to persuade the generals to release political prisoners, to little effect.
Many Asian countries, including the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Myanmar is a member, argue it is better to talk and trade with the resource-rich country, which occupies a strategic position between China and India.
Thailand is asking its fellow ASEAN members to back a request to Myanmar to pardon Suu Kyi.
*************************************************************
Myanmar release of US man could thaw relations
By AMBIKA AHUJA, Associated Press Writer – Sun Aug 16, 4:00 pm ET
BANGKOK (AP) – Myanmar freed an ailing American whom it had sentenced to seven years of hard labor and handed him to an influential U.S senator on Sunday, a move that could help persuade Washington to soften its hardline policy against the military regime.
Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who secured John Yettaw's freedom, said he believes years of sanctions have failed to move the Southeast Asian country toward democratic reforms or talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Webb said he would discuss his conclusions and recommendations with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and others on his return to Washington. He declined to speculate on what the Obama administration — which is reviewing its policy toward Myanmar — would do. Webb can rally support for changes to U.S. policy in Asia as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee.
Webb flew with Yettaw to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon. Yettaw had been held at Insein Prison in Myanmar's biggest city Yangon since his arrest in early May.
The 53-year-old American was apprehended as he swam away from Suu Kyi's lakeside residence, where he had sheltered for two days after sneaking in uninvited. He was convicted last week of breaking the terms of Suu Kyi's house arrest and related charges, and sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labor.
Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years, was herself sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor for violating her house arrest conditions through Yettaw's visit, although that was reduced to 18 months under house arrest by order of junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Observers widely believe Yettaw's intrusion into Suu Kyi's home gave the junta a legal pretext to keep the Nobel laureate incarcerated through next year's general election. Yettaw testified that he had a vision that Suu Kyi was at risk from assassins, and visited her to warn her.
A pale and haggard-looking Yettaw had to be assisted as he walked off the small plane on arrival in Bangkok. He smiled and flashed 'I love you' in sign language to waiting reporters. He did not respond to questions.
In the United States, Yettaw's family said he has been hospitalized in Bangkok.
His ex-wife, Yvonne, said she had spoken to his current wife, Betty Yettaw, of Camdenton, Missouri, who said she spoke with her husband in Bangkok.
"He told her he was not treated as well as everyone there and in the press had been saying," Yvonne Yettaw, of Palm Springs, California, said.
She said Betty told her they were just running tests in the Bangkok hospital, but did not know what for. "But he is not in good health," Yvonne Yettaw said.
Yvonne Yettaw also said the family has to pay for his ticket home and there have been some complications trying to schedule a flight, so it is unclear when he will be returning to the U.S.
Myanmar state television said Sunday night that Yettaw, from Falcon, Missouri, was freed on humanitarian grounds because of his health. He reportedly suffers from diabetes, epilepsy and asthma and was hospitalized for a week during the trial after suffering seizures.
The Democrat lawmaker said at a press conference in Bangkok that Yettaw's release "was a gesture from the government of Myanmar that we should be grateful for and hopefully build upon."
He said years of Western sanctions had denied Myanmar's people "the kind of access to the outside world that is essential to their economic and political growth."
Washington has been a leader in isolating the military regime, imposing political and economic sanctions because of its poor human rights record and failure to turn over power to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party after it won a landslide victory in 1990 elections.
Clinton, on a trip through Asia in February, said neither tough U.S. sanctions nor engagement by neighbors had persuaded the junta to embrace democracy or release Suu Kyi. The junta has been able to shrug off the sanctions in large part because of support from China.
David Steinberg, a Myanmar specialist at Georgetown University in Washington, described Webb's visit as a "very important" first step.
"Of course, to see a change in U.S. policy, the junta would have to make significant reforms," he said, adding that this would happen immediately.
He said Washington's reaching-out to the junta followed approaches by the Obama administration to several states previously considered pariahs, such as North Korea and Iran. He said he was one of several international affairs experts consulted by Obama's team to present alternative views.
During last year's presidential campaign, Obama said he would be willing to talk to anybody without preconditions, referring to nations with whom the Bush administration had refused to hold discussions. Bush ceased previous U.S. efforts to engage Pyongyang to win its agreement to stop developing nuclear weapons, and likewise gave Tehran, also seeking nuclear strike capacity, the cold shoulder.
Obama has sought to engage Tehran after a nearly three-decade estrangement, declaring a willingness to talk with its theocratic regime. He has also allowed former President Bill Clinton to reopen lines of communications to North Korea with a high profile visit to obtain the release of two American journalists jailed for illegally entering the country.
Critics of Myanmar's military regime expressed disappointment at the latest developments.
Aung Din of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based pro-democracy group, said Yettaw's release was a gift to Webb from Than Shwe for opposing sanctions, and promoting engagement and increased U.S. business activities there.
"This will surely make a negative impression among the people of Burma," he wrote in an e-mail "They will think that Americans are easy to satisfy with the dictators when they get their citizens back."
Webb was allowed a rare meeting with Suu Kyi, and said he had asked the junta to release her — a long-standing demand of the United States and much of the international community.
The meeting Saturday between Webb and Than Shwe was the reclusive general's first with a senior U.S. political figure.
Webb said he was hopeful that over time the junta would realize "it is to their advantage to allow (Suu Kyi) to participate in the political process."
By AMBIKA AHUJA, Associated Press Writer – Sun Aug 16, 4:00 pm ET
BANGKOK (AP) – Myanmar freed an ailing American whom it had sentenced to seven years of hard labor and handed him to an influential U.S senator on Sunday, a move that could help persuade Washington to soften its hardline policy against the military regime.
Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who secured John Yettaw's freedom, said he believes years of sanctions have failed to move the Southeast Asian country toward democratic reforms or talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Webb said he would discuss his conclusions and recommendations with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and others on his return to Washington. He declined to speculate on what the Obama administration — which is reviewing its policy toward Myanmar — would do. Webb can rally support for changes to U.S. policy in Asia as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee.
Webb flew with Yettaw to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon. Yettaw had been held at Insein Prison in Myanmar's biggest city Yangon since his arrest in early May.
The 53-year-old American was apprehended as he swam away from Suu Kyi's lakeside residence, where he had sheltered for two days after sneaking in uninvited. He was convicted last week of breaking the terms of Suu Kyi's house arrest and related charges, and sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labor.
Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years, was herself sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor for violating her house arrest conditions through Yettaw's visit, although that was reduced to 18 months under house arrest by order of junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Observers widely believe Yettaw's intrusion into Suu Kyi's home gave the junta a legal pretext to keep the Nobel laureate incarcerated through next year's general election. Yettaw testified that he had a vision that Suu Kyi was at risk from assassins, and visited her to warn her.
A pale and haggard-looking Yettaw had to be assisted as he walked off the small plane on arrival in Bangkok. He smiled and flashed 'I love you' in sign language to waiting reporters. He did not respond to questions.
In the United States, Yettaw's family said he has been hospitalized in Bangkok.
His ex-wife, Yvonne, said she had spoken to his current wife, Betty Yettaw, of Camdenton, Missouri, who said she spoke with her husband in Bangkok.
"He told her he was not treated as well as everyone there and in the press had been saying," Yvonne Yettaw, of Palm Springs, California, said.
She said Betty told her they were just running tests in the Bangkok hospital, but did not know what for. "But he is not in good health," Yvonne Yettaw said.
Yvonne Yettaw also said the family has to pay for his ticket home and there have been some complications trying to schedule a flight, so it is unclear when he will be returning to the U.S.
Myanmar state television said Sunday night that Yettaw, from Falcon, Missouri, was freed on humanitarian grounds because of his health. He reportedly suffers from diabetes, epilepsy and asthma and was hospitalized for a week during the trial after suffering seizures.
The Democrat lawmaker said at a press conference in Bangkok that Yettaw's release "was a gesture from the government of Myanmar that we should be grateful for and hopefully build upon."
He said years of Western sanctions had denied Myanmar's people "the kind of access to the outside world that is essential to their economic and political growth."
Washington has been a leader in isolating the military regime, imposing political and economic sanctions because of its poor human rights record and failure to turn over power to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party after it won a landslide victory in 1990 elections.
Clinton, on a trip through Asia in February, said neither tough U.S. sanctions nor engagement by neighbors had persuaded the junta to embrace democracy or release Suu Kyi. The junta has been able to shrug off the sanctions in large part because of support from China.
David Steinberg, a Myanmar specialist at Georgetown University in Washington, described Webb's visit as a "very important" first step.
"Of course, to see a change in U.S. policy, the junta would have to make significant reforms," he said, adding that this would happen immediately.
He said Washington's reaching-out to the junta followed approaches by the Obama administration to several states previously considered pariahs, such as North Korea and Iran. He said he was one of several international affairs experts consulted by Obama's team to present alternative views.
During last year's presidential campaign, Obama said he would be willing to talk to anybody without preconditions, referring to nations with whom the Bush administration had refused to hold discussions. Bush ceased previous U.S. efforts to engage Pyongyang to win its agreement to stop developing nuclear weapons, and likewise gave Tehran, also seeking nuclear strike capacity, the cold shoulder.
Obama has sought to engage Tehran after a nearly three-decade estrangement, declaring a willingness to talk with its theocratic regime. He has also allowed former President Bill Clinton to reopen lines of communications to North Korea with a high profile visit to obtain the release of two American journalists jailed for illegally entering the country.
Critics of Myanmar's military regime expressed disappointment at the latest developments.
Aung Din of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based pro-democracy group, said Yettaw's release was a gift to Webb from Than Shwe for opposing sanctions, and promoting engagement and increased U.S. business activities there.
"This will surely make a negative impression among the people of Burma," he wrote in an e-mail "They will think that Americans are easy to satisfy with the dictators when they get their citizens back."
Webb was allowed a rare meeting with Suu Kyi, and said he had asked the junta to release her — a long-standing demand of the United States and much of the international community.
The meeting Saturday between Webb and Than Shwe was the reclusive general's first with a senior U.S. political figure.
Webb said he was hopeful that over time the junta would realize "it is to their advantage to allow (Suu Kyi) to participate in the political process."
*************************************************************
Myanmar migrants stuck in Malaysia detention camps
By JULIA ZAPPEI - 15, August 2009.
SEPANG, Malaysia (AP) - A growing number of immigrants from Myanmar are ending up stuck, often for months, in crowded detention centers in Malaysia designed to hold people for only a few weeks.
Almost 2,800 Myanmarese were detained at camps in July, more than double the 1,200 in January, partly because of a crackdown on human trafficking, a step-up in raids and a slow economy that leaves the migrants without jobs. People from Myanmar, a desperately poor country with a military junta, are now the biggest group among the 7,000 foreigners at detention centers in Malaysia.
At a center near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, some 120 men sat in neat rows on the floor. Many had their legs drawn to their chests, and all were barefoot. There was not enough space and not enough bedding.
"There is no soap for taking a shower, nothing. They don't give us anything," said Kyaw Zin Lin, 23, who said he fled to avoid being drafted into the Myanmar army. "Every day we eat the food just to survive. ... They treat us like animals."
"It's very difficult to stay here," said Aung Kuh The, a pale 26-year-old. "We have got a lot of problems. Some people, you know, we want to see the doctor but we don't have the chance."
One reason for the rise in detainees is a crackdown on trafficking. A report published in April by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations cited firsthand accounts of Myanmarese who said immigration officers turned them over to traffickers.
That practice has all but stopped, Myanmar community leaders in Malaysia say.
Now, though, the Myanmarese are trapped in detention. The Myanmar embassy often takes six months to register its citizens for deportation and charges them 620 ringgit ($180), much more than neighboring Indonesia. By contrast, detainees from other countries are typically deported within a week.
Calls to the Myanmar embassy were repeatedly put on hold and then unanswered.
About half the Myanmarese — those fleeing persecution — may qualify for U.N. refugee status, but that process takes up to four months. The others are economic migrants. Some 140,000 Myanmarese work in Malaysia, but foreign workers who are laid off lose the right to stay.
Some Myanmarese have spent more than six months in crowded, dirty detention centers. One man, whose brother was in detention for four months, said he would rather be sold to traffickers from whom he could buy his freedom.
"I prefer to be trafficked," said the man, who would only be identified by his nickname, Ryan, to protect his relatives in Myanmar. "I don't mind paying 2,000 ringgit ($570)."
Five of Malaysia's 13 detention centers are overcrowded; four of the five have large Myanmarese populations, according to the immigration department. Journalists from The Associated Press accompanied the human rights group Amnesty International on a rare visit recently to three detention centers just south of Kuala Lumpur, the country's biggest city.
At the Lenggeng Detention Depot, 1,400 people are crammed into dormitories meant for 1,200. Of them about 300 are from Myanmar.
Hundreds of men jostle each other for room in the bare dormitories. One sleeps on a stone ledge in a bathroom. Each dormitory is fenced by wire mesh and barbed wire, giving detainees just a few meters (feet) of space for walking.
"The detention centers we saw fell short of international standards in many respects, as the immigration authorities themselves acknowledge," said Michael Bochenek of Amnesty International. "It's a facility of such size that infectious diseases are communicated readily."
Saw Pho Tun, a refugee community leader, said some immigration officers have singled out Myanmarese detainees for rough treatment, beating them and not allowing them medical assistance. Immigration officials deny beating detainees and say everyone has access to medical care.
On July 1, detainees at another center flung their food trays and damaged some of the mesh fence. Immigration officials blamed the riot on frustration about having to stay so long, but detainees say they rioted because they were afraid of abuse.
Most of the blocks have now been shut for repairs, so more than 1,000 detainees — including 700 from Myanmar — were transferred ot other already crowded centers.
Abdul Rahman Othman, the director general of the Immigration Department, said he was taking steps to prevent his officers from being "entangled" in trafficking syndicates. He said officers would be rotated to different posts every three years and have a buddy system to supervise each other.
"Ninety-nine percent of us in immigration are good people," he said, denying the problem is widespread.
Police arrested five officers on trafficking allegations last month. They say their investigations revealed immigration officials took Myanmar immigrants to the Thai border and sold them for up to 600 ringgit ($170) to traffickers. The traffickers then told the migrants to pay 2,000 ringgit ($570) for their freedom, or they would be forced to work in the fishing industry, police said.
Myanmar community leaders said women who failed to pay were sold into prostitution.
By JULIA ZAPPEI - 15, August 2009.
SEPANG, Malaysia (AP) - A growing number of immigrants from Myanmar are ending up stuck, often for months, in crowded detention centers in Malaysia designed to hold people for only a few weeks.
Almost 2,800 Myanmarese were detained at camps in July, more than double the 1,200 in January, partly because of a crackdown on human trafficking, a step-up in raids and a slow economy that leaves the migrants without jobs. People from Myanmar, a desperately poor country with a military junta, are now the biggest group among the 7,000 foreigners at detention centers in Malaysia.
At a center near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, some 120 men sat in neat rows on the floor. Many had their legs drawn to their chests, and all were barefoot. There was not enough space and not enough bedding.
"There is no soap for taking a shower, nothing. They don't give us anything," said Kyaw Zin Lin, 23, who said he fled to avoid being drafted into the Myanmar army. "Every day we eat the food just to survive. ... They treat us like animals."
"It's very difficult to stay here," said Aung Kuh The, a pale 26-year-old. "We have got a lot of problems. Some people, you know, we want to see the doctor but we don't have the chance."
One reason for the rise in detainees is a crackdown on trafficking. A report published in April by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations cited firsthand accounts of Myanmarese who said immigration officers turned them over to traffickers.
That practice has all but stopped, Myanmar community leaders in Malaysia say.
Now, though, the Myanmarese are trapped in detention. The Myanmar embassy often takes six months to register its citizens for deportation and charges them 620 ringgit ($180), much more than neighboring Indonesia. By contrast, detainees from other countries are typically deported within a week.
Calls to the Myanmar embassy were repeatedly put on hold and then unanswered.
About half the Myanmarese — those fleeing persecution — may qualify for U.N. refugee status, but that process takes up to four months. The others are economic migrants. Some 140,000 Myanmarese work in Malaysia, but foreign workers who are laid off lose the right to stay.
Some Myanmarese have spent more than six months in crowded, dirty detention centers. One man, whose brother was in detention for four months, said he would rather be sold to traffickers from whom he could buy his freedom.
"I prefer to be trafficked," said the man, who would only be identified by his nickname, Ryan, to protect his relatives in Myanmar. "I don't mind paying 2,000 ringgit ($570)."
Five of Malaysia's 13 detention centers are overcrowded; four of the five have large Myanmarese populations, according to the immigration department. Journalists from The Associated Press accompanied the human rights group Amnesty International on a rare visit recently to three detention centers just south of Kuala Lumpur, the country's biggest city.
At the Lenggeng Detention Depot, 1,400 people are crammed into dormitories meant for 1,200. Of them about 300 are from Myanmar.
Hundreds of men jostle each other for room in the bare dormitories. One sleeps on a stone ledge in a bathroom. Each dormitory is fenced by wire mesh and barbed wire, giving detainees just a few meters (feet) of space for walking.
"The detention centers we saw fell short of international standards in many respects, as the immigration authorities themselves acknowledge," said Michael Bochenek of Amnesty International. "It's a facility of such size that infectious diseases are communicated readily."
Saw Pho Tun, a refugee community leader, said some immigration officers have singled out Myanmarese detainees for rough treatment, beating them and not allowing them medical assistance. Immigration officials deny beating detainees and say everyone has access to medical care.
On July 1, detainees at another center flung their food trays and damaged some of the mesh fence. Immigration officials blamed the riot on frustration about having to stay so long, but detainees say they rioted because they were afraid of abuse.
Most of the blocks have now been shut for repairs, so more than 1,000 detainees — including 700 from Myanmar — were transferred ot other already crowded centers.
Abdul Rahman Othman, the director general of the Immigration Department, said he was taking steps to prevent his officers from being "entangled" in trafficking syndicates. He said officers would be rotated to different posts every three years and have a buddy system to supervise each other.
"Ninety-nine percent of us in immigration are good people," he said, denying the problem is widespread.
Police arrested five officers on trafficking allegations last month. They say their investigations revealed immigration officials took Myanmar immigrants to the Thai border and sold them for up to 600 ringgit ($170) to traffickers. The traffickers then told the migrants to pay 2,000 ringgit ($570) for their freedom, or they would be forced to work in the fishing industry, police said.
Myanmar community leaders said women who failed to pay were sold into prostitution.
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Thai elephant takes 1st steps with artificial leg
By APICHART WEERAWONG – 9 hours ago
LAMPANG, Thailand (AP) - Motola, an elephant who lost a foot and part of her leg when she stepped on a land mine 10 years ago, happily if tentatively stepped out Sunday after being fitted with an artificial limb.
In her first stroll with the permanent prosthesis, the 48-year-old female walked out of her enclosure for about 10 minutes, grabbed some dust with her trunk and jubilantly sprayed it in the air.
"It has gone very well — she has walked around twice," said Soraida Salwala, secretary general of the Friends of the Asian Elephant, a private group. "She has not put her whole weight on it yet but she's OK."
Motola was injured in 1999 while working at a logging camp near the Myanmar border, a region peppered with land mines after a half-century of insurgency. Her mangled left front foot was subsequently amputated.
Motola had been wearing a temporary device for three years to strengthen her leg muscles and tendons and to prepare her for the permanent prosthesis. Soraida said Motola has otherwise been in fine health and that her once bony frame now weighs more than 3 tons.
Motola's initial operation used enough anesthetic to floor 70 people — a record noted in the 2000 Guinness Book of World Records.
The artificial leg was made by the Prostheses Foundation, which also makes artificial limbs for human amputees.
Soraida's group established the Elephant Hospital in northern Thailand, where Motola was being treated, in 1993. The world's first such facility, the hospital has treated thousands of elephants for ailments ranging from eye infections to gunshot wounds.
Mine injuries are only one of many problems facing the domesticated giant, whose numbers have dropped from 13,400 in 1950 to today's estimated 2,500. The number of wild elephants has also dropped dramatically.
Traditionally the truck, taxi and logging worker of Thailand, the elephant's role has been eroded due to modernization. One saving grace has been tourism, which employs many elephants for trekking and other activities.
By APICHART WEERAWONG – 9 hours ago
LAMPANG, Thailand (AP) - Motola, an elephant who lost a foot and part of her leg when she stepped on a land mine 10 years ago, happily if tentatively stepped out Sunday after being fitted with an artificial limb.
In her first stroll with the permanent prosthesis, the 48-year-old female walked out of her enclosure for about 10 minutes, grabbed some dust with her trunk and jubilantly sprayed it in the air.
"It has gone very well — she has walked around twice," said Soraida Salwala, secretary general of the Friends of the Asian Elephant, a private group. "She has not put her whole weight on it yet but she's OK."
Motola was injured in 1999 while working at a logging camp near the Myanmar border, a region peppered with land mines after a half-century of insurgency. Her mangled left front foot was subsequently amputated.
Motola had been wearing a temporary device for three years to strengthen her leg muscles and tendons and to prepare her for the permanent prosthesis. Soraida said Motola has otherwise been in fine health and that her once bony frame now weighs more than 3 tons.
Motola's initial operation used enough anesthetic to floor 70 people — a record noted in the 2000 Guinness Book of World Records.
The artificial leg was made by the Prostheses Foundation, which also makes artificial limbs for human amputees.
Soraida's group established the Elephant Hospital in northern Thailand, where Motola was being treated, in 1993. The world's first such facility, the hospital has treated thousands of elephants for ailments ranging from eye infections to gunshot wounds.
Mine injuries are only one of many problems facing the domesticated giant, whose numbers have dropped from 13,400 in 1950 to today's estimated 2,500. The number of wild elephants has also dropped dramatically.
Traditionally the truck, taxi and logging worker of Thailand, the elephant's role has been eroded due to modernization. One saving grace has been tourism, which employs many elephants for trekking and other activities.
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US senator meets Myanmar's democracy leader
AP - Saturday, August 16
YANGON, Myanmar — Witnesses say U.S. Senator Jim Webb is meeting with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her first talks with a foreign official since being sentenced this week to more house arrest.
The witnesses said Suu Kyi was driven Saturday to a government guest house not far from her residence for a meeting with Webb, who is on a three-day visit to Myanmar.
The witnesses declined to be identified by name, fearing reprisals in the military-run state.
AP - Saturday, August 16
YANGON, Myanmar — Witnesses say U.S. Senator Jim Webb is meeting with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her first talks with a foreign official since being sentenced this week to more house arrest.
The witnesses said Suu Kyi was driven Saturday to a government guest house not far from her residence for a meeting with Webb, who is on a three-day visit to Myanmar.
The witnesses declined to be identified by name, fearing reprisals in the military-run state.
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The Independent - Fresh bid to debate Burma travel ban
US prisoner release brings calls for West to rethink sanctions on Rangoon regime
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent
Monday, 17 August 2009
When John Yettaw boarded a plane in Rangoon yesterday morning, the American senator who secured his release hailed the moment as a possible first step towards better relations between Burma and the West. But as the man whose exploits gave the junta an excuse to further detain Aung Sun Suu Kyi headed away from the notorious Insein prison, a fresh debate began on whether the West should pursue greater engagement with the country.
The haggard-looking 53-year-old, whose night-time swim to Ms Suu Kyi's lakeside house led to her detention being extended, headed to Thailand yesterday with the US Senator Jim Webb. Mr Webb, the first Congressman to visit Burma for a decade, had secured Mr Yettaw's release after meeting Senior General Than Shwe. He was also allowed to spend 45 minutes with Ms Suu Kyi, who was sentenced last week to a further 18 months under house arrest.
After Mr Webb arrived with Mr Yettaw in neighbouring Thailand, the senator said he had asked the junta to release the opposition leader ahead of an election scheduled for next year.
"I'm hopeful as the months move forward they will take a look," he told reporters. "With the scrutiny of the outside world judging their government very largely through how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, it's to their advantage that she's allowed to participate in the political process. I believe that it will be impossible for the rest of the world to believe the elections were free and fair if she was not released."
Months ago, President Barack Obama extended a ban on US investment in Burma imposed in 1997. Yet there are a voices who believe that closer engagement, including the lifting of a de facto travel boycott, would achieve more.
Derek Tonkin, a former British ambassador who chairs the Myanmar Network, said Mr Webb believed that sanctions had been counter-productive, a view he shared. "His view is that sanctions have been harmful," he said. "He believes the policy has had the opposite outcome than was intended."
Since 2003, when Aung San Suu Kyi said it was not the right time for tourists to visit Burma, there has been a strong campaign among activists in the West to deter travellers from visiting the country, arguing that such trips provide money to the regime and benefit only a small number of ordinary citizens. That year, the bespoke tour operator Abercrombie and Kent was among several organisations that halted tours to Burma.
It was reported over the weekend that the opposition leader had since reversed her view on the travel boycott, though campaigners said there was no evidence to support this.
Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK, said releasing Mr Yettaw had been an easy decision for the regime after they had used him as an excuse to keep Ms Suu Kyi detained until after the election. "Than Shwe is looking for closer contact with Webb," he said. "He knows Webb is opposed to sanctions and wants to have a softer approach."
Mr Farmaner, whose organisation backs effective sanctions against Burma and supports a travel boycott, added: "We see sanctions as being one of the tools in the tool box. People say that sanctions don't work but we have ineffective sanctions."
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, recently said the US's relationship with Burma could only improve once the Nobel laureate and an estimated 2,000 other political prisoners were released from jail.
Mr Webb also said he believed in closer engagement, saying: "I have long believed that if certain obstacles are removed, there is a natural friendship between the US and the people of this country, and it is toward that end I came here and I will be working toward that solution."
US prisoner release brings calls for West to rethink sanctions on Rangoon regime
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent
Monday, 17 August 2009
When John Yettaw boarded a plane in Rangoon yesterday morning, the American senator who secured his release hailed the moment as a possible first step towards better relations between Burma and the West. But as the man whose exploits gave the junta an excuse to further detain Aung Sun Suu Kyi headed away from the notorious Insein prison, a fresh debate began on whether the West should pursue greater engagement with the country.
The haggard-looking 53-year-old, whose night-time swim to Ms Suu Kyi's lakeside house led to her detention being extended, headed to Thailand yesterday with the US Senator Jim Webb. Mr Webb, the first Congressman to visit Burma for a decade, had secured Mr Yettaw's release after meeting Senior General Than Shwe. He was also allowed to spend 45 minutes with Ms Suu Kyi, who was sentenced last week to a further 18 months under house arrest.
After Mr Webb arrived with Mr Yettaw in neighbouring Thailand, the senator said he had asked the junta to release the opposition leader ahead of an election scheduled for next year.
"I'm hopeful as the months move forward they will take a look," he told reporters. "With the scrutiny of the outside world judging their government very largely through how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, it's to their advantage that she's allowed to participate in the political process. I believe that it will be impossible for the rest of the world to believe the elections were free and fair if she was not released."
Months ago, President Barack Obama extended a ban on US investment in Burma imposed in 1997. Yet there are a voices who believe that closer engagement, including the lifting of a de facto travel boycott, would achieve more.
Derek Tonkin, a former British ambassador who chairs the Myanmar Network, said Mr Webb believed that sanctions had been counter-productive, a view he shared. "His view is that sanctions have been harmful," he said. "He believes the policy has had the opposite outcome than was intended."
Since 2003, when Aung San Suu Kyi said it was not the right time for tourists to visit Burma, there has been a strong campaign among activists in the West to deter travellers from visiting the country, arguing that such trips provide money to the regime and benefit only a small number of ordinary citizens. That year, the bespoke tour operator Abercrombie and Kent was among several organisations that halted tours to Burma.
It was reported over the weekend that the opposition leader had since reversed her view on the travel boycott, though campaigners said there was no evidence to support this.
Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK, said releasing Mr Yettaw had been an easy decision for the regime after they had used him as an excuse to keep Ms Suu Kyi detained until after the election. "Than Shwe is looking for closer contact with Webb," he said. "He knows Webb is opposed to sanctions and wants to have a softer approach."
Mr Farmaner, whose organisation backs effective sanctions against Burma and supports a travel boycott, added: "We see sanctions as being one of the tools in the tool box. People say that sanctions don't work but we have ineffective sanctions."
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, recently said the US's relationship with Burma could only improve once the Nobel laureate and an estimated 2,000 other political prisoners were released from jail.
Mr Webb also said he believed in closer engagement, saying: "I have long believed that if certain obstacles are removed, there is a natural friendship between the US and the people of this country, and it is toward that end I came here and I will be working toward that solution."
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Yettaw's actions in Myanmar 'regrettable'
updated 9:57 a.m. EDT, Sun August 16, 2009
(CNN) -- An American sentenced to seven years hard labor in Myanmar after he sneaked into the home of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, arrived in Thailand on Sunday with the U.S. senator who secured his release.
John William Yettaw was taken to hospital in Bangkok shortly after arriving aboard a military aircraft with Sen. Jim Webb.
"I believe what he did was regrettable. I believe it was hurtful to the person that he thought he was trying to help," Webb told reporters in Thailand.
"But at the same time, on humanitarian grounds, I feel fortunate that the government honored my request to allow him to come back here to Thailand with me. "I believe that this was a gesture from the government of Myanmar that we should be grateful for and hopefully build upon."
After arriving in Bangkok, Yettaw, a diabetic, was taken to a hospital for observation.
"He was not a well man. He had a medical emergency this morning when they read him his orders of deportation," Webb said, without elaborating.
Yettaw, 53, a former military serviceman from Falcon, Missouri, was sentenced last week for a May 3 incident when he swam across a lake to the house of Suu Kyi and stayed, uninvited, for two days.
Myanmar's government said Yettaw's presence at Suu Kyi's compound violated the terms of the house arrest she was under at the time.
Yettaw testified in court that God had sent him to Myanmar to protect the opposition leader because he dreamed that a terrorist group would assassinate her.
He was convicted of violating immigration laws, municipal laws and Suu Kyi's house arrest terms.
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, told the court during her trial that she doesn't know Yettaw, did not know of his plans and denied any wrongdoing.
She said she did not report the intrusion because she did not want Yettaw or anyone else to get in trouble.
The court initially sentenced Suu Kyi to three years in prison for the incident. It was later commuted to a year-and-a-half of house arrest. Her two housekeepers also received the same sentence.
On Saturday, Webb -- who chairs the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- held separate meetings with Suu Kyi and Myanmar's top official, junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Webb is the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar in more than a decade -- and the first American official to meet with Than Shwe.
In his meeting with the junta leader, Webb said he requested that Suu Kyi be released from her 18-month house arrest.
"I don't think Sen. Webb can be proud for the release of Mr. John Yettaw, while our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the real victim of this conspiracy and injustices, and two women colleagues are still under detention," said Aung Din, executive director of the Washington-based U.S. Campaign for Burma.
"This will surely make a negative impression among the people of Burma. They will think that Americans are easy to satisfy with the dictators when they get their citizens back."
Myanmar's military junta, which has ruled the country since 1962, changed the English translation of the country's name from Burma in 1989, but Suu Kyi's supporters and several governments still use the older name.
updated 9:57 a.m. EDT, Sun August 16, 2009
(CNN) -- An American sentenced to seven years hard labor in Myanmar after he sneaked into the home of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, arrived in Thailand on Sunday with the U.S. senator who secured his release.
John William Yettaw was taken to hospital in Bangkok shortly after arriving aboard a military aircraft with Sen. Jim Webb.
"I believe what he did was regrettable. I believe it was hurtful to the person that he thought he was trying to help," Webb told reporters in Thailand.
"But at the same time, on humanitarian grounds, I feel fortunate that the government honored my request to allow him to come back here to Thailand with me. "I believe that this was a gesture from the government of Myanmar that we should be grateful for and hopefully build upon."
After arriving in Bangkok, Yettaw, a diabetic, was taken to a hospital for observation.
"He was not a well man. He had a medical emergency this morning when they read him his orders of deportation," Webb said, without elaborating.
Yettaw, 53, a former military serviceman from Falcon, Missouri, was sentenced last week for a May 3 incident when he swam across a lake to the house of Suu Kyi and stayed, uninvited, for two days.
Myanmar's government said Yettaw's presence at Suu Kyi's compound violated the terms of the house arrest she was under at the time.
Yettaw testified in court that God had sent him to Myanmar to protect the opposition leader because he dreamed that a terrorist group would assassinate her.
He was convicted of violating immigration laws, municipal laws and Suu Kyi's house arrest terms.
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, told the court during her trial that she doesn't know Yettaw, did not know of his plans and denied any wrongdoing.
She said she did not report the intrusion because she did not want Yettaw or anyone else to get in trouble.
The court initially sentenced Suu Kyi to three years in prison for the incident. It was later commuted to a year-and-a-half of house arrest. Her two housekeepers also received the same sentence.
On Saturday, Webb -- who chairs the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- held separate meetings with Suu Kyi and Myanmar's top official, junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Webb is the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar in more than a decade -- and the first American official to meet with Than Shwe.
In his meeting with the junta leader, Webb said he requested that Suu Kyi be released from her 18-month house arrest.
"I don't think Sen. Webb can be proud for the release of Mr. John Yettaw, while our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the real victim of this conspiracy and injustices, and two women colleagues are still under detention," said Aung Din, executive director of the Washington-based U.S. Campaign for Burma.
"This will surely make a negative impression among the people of Burma. They will think that Americans are easy to satisfy with the dictators when they get their citizens back."
Myanmar's military junta, which has ruled the country since 1962, changed the English translation of the country's name from Burma in 1989, but Suu Kyi's supporters and several governments still use the older name.
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Six trafficked Myanmar women repatriated from China
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-16 12:14:30
YANGON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Six trafficked Myanmar young women have been saved and repatriated back from China following a joint combating of human trafficking crime by special squads of both sides, according to the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control Sunday.
The six were handed over by the Ruili anti-human trafficking special squad of China to Myanmar's Muse squad recently, the sources said.
A total of 13 men brokers and seven women brokers of two human trafficking gangs were also arrested in Ruili, a border town opposite to Myanmar's Muse, the sources said.
The trafficked women were quoted as saying that they were smuggled in different ways including persuading them to work in a garment factory in China, while others being forced to marry citizens of that country.
According to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, a total of 686 victims smuggled out of Myanmar have been rescued and brought back to the country as of 2008 and they were being kept at the rehabilitation centers.
Myanmar has so far set up border liaison offices in Muse and in Tachilek, Myawaddy and Kawthoung bordering Thailand to promote cooperation in cracking down on human trafficking.
Coordination is also being made for the move involving the UNODC and UN Inter Agency Project (UNIPA) on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
The government has so far built eight rehabilitation centers offering educational program and vocational skill training for the victims.
In the latest development, Myanmar is also planning to set up temporary care center at the Muse for the victims with the help of GGA organization of Japan in November this year.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-16 12:14:30
YANGON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Six trafficked Myanmar young women have been saved and repatriated back from China following a joint combating of human trafficking crime by special squads of both sides, according to the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control Sunday.
The six were handed over by the Ruili anti-human trafficking special squad of China to Myanmar's Muse squad recently, the sources said.
A total of 13 men brokers and seven women brokers of two human trafficking gangs were also arrested in Ruili, a border town opposite to Myanmar's Muse, the sources said.
The trafficked women were quoted as saying that they were smuggled in different ways including persuading them to work in a garment factory in China, while others being forced to marry citizens of that country.
According to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, a total of 686 victims smuggled out of Myanmar have been rescued and brought back to the country as of 2008 and they were being kept at the rehabilitation centers.
Myanmar has so far set up border liaison offices in Muse and in Tachilek, Myawaddy and Kawthoung bordering Thailand to promote cooperation in cracking down on human trafficking.
Coordination is also being made for the move involving the UNODC and UN Inter Agency Project (UNIPA) on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
The government has so far built eight rehabilitation centers offering educational program and vocational skill training for the victims.
In the latest development, Myanmar is also planning to set up temporary care center at the Muse for the victims with the help of GGA organization of Japan in November this year.
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First int'l level shopping center opens in Myanmar new capital
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-16 19:58:19
NAY PYI TAW, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The first private-run international-level shopping center, "Junction Center Nay Pyi Taw" opened in Myanmar's new capital Nay Pyi Taw Sunday.
Jointly inaugurated by First Secretary of the State Peace and Development Council General Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, Nay Pyi Taw Mayor Colonel Thein Nyunt and Nay Pyi Taw Commander Major-GenerealWai Lwin, the biggest shopping center in the city was built by the Shwe Taung Development company.
The two-story shopping center, comprising Ocean super-center, Game City amusement center, Fashion shops, electronic and computer related accessories, Sports accessories Coffee and bakery shops, is also attached with a mini theater which can accommodate 200 audiences.
The attachment of the mini theater to the shopping center is the first of its kind, aimed at raising the standard of Myanmar motion pictures as well as upgrading levels of cinemas in Myanmar in providing local people with higher entertainment facility, according to the Shwe Taung company.
The Junction Center was built on a land area of over 5,500 square meters and the first two similar centers -- Junction 8 and Junction Zawana are located in the former capital of Yangon.
Myanmar moved its administrative capital from Yangon to Nay PyiTaw in November 2005 which is located between middle mountain range of Bago Yoma and eastern mountain range of Shan Yoma.
It covers an area of 7,054.37 square-kilometers and has a population of 924,608.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-16 19:58:19
NAY PYI TAW, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The first private-run international-level shopping center, "Junction Center Nay Pyi Taw" opened in Myanmar's new capital Nay Pyi Taw Sunday.
Jointly inaugurated by First Secretary of the State Peace and Development Council General Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, Nay Pyi Taw Mayor Colonel Thein Nyunt and Nay Pyi Taw Commander Major-GenerealWai Lwin, the biggest shopping center in the city was built by the Shwe Taung Development company.
The two-story shopping center, comprising Ocean super-center, Game City amusement center, Fashion shops, electronic and computer related accessories, Sports accessories Coffee and bakery shops, is also attached with a mini theater which can accommodate 200 audiences.
The attachment of the mini theater to the shopping center is the first of its kind, aimed at raising the standard of Myanmar motion pictures as well as upgrading levels of cinemas in Myanmar in providing local people with higher entertainment facility, according to the Shwe Taung company.
The Junction Center was built on a land area of over 5,500 square meters and the first two similar centers -- Junction 8 and Junction Zawana are located in the former capital of Yangon.
Myanmar moved its administrative capital from Yangon to Nay PyiTaw in November 2005 which is located between middle mountain range of Bago Yoma and eastern mountain range of Shan Yoma.
It covers an area of 7,054.37 square-kilometers and has a population of 924,608.
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21 infected with H1N1 flu in Myanmar
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-16 11:14:26
YANGON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of H1N1 flu-infected patients has reached 21 in Myanmar, according to the Health Department Sunday.
A 21-year-old woman who returned from Singapore by flight No. MI-518 on Thursday was the latest confirmed case of the new flu.
Four family members of the patient are being kept under home quarantine, while a total of 94 passengers and 135 airport staff are under surveillance.
Of Myanmar's 21 flu patients, 15 have fully recovered and been discharged from hospitals, the sources said.
Myanmar reported its first case of flu A/H1N1 on June 27 with a13-year-old girl developing flu symptoms after coming back home from Singapore a day earlier.
The authorities continue to take preventive measures against the possible spread of the global human flu pandemic, advising all private clinics in the country to report or transfer all flu-suspected patients, who returned from abroad, to local state-run hospitals or health departments for increased surveillance.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-16 11:14:26
YANGON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of H1N1 flu-infected patients has reached 21 in Myanmar, according to the Health Department Sunday.
A 21-year-old woman who returned from Singapore by flight No. MI-518 on Thursday was the latest confirmed case of the new flu.
Four family members of the patient are being kept under home quarantine, while a total of 94 passengers and 135 airport staff are under surveillance.
Of Myanmar's 21 flu patients, 15 have fully recovered and been discharged from hospitals, the sources said.
Myanmar reported its first case of flu A/H1N1 on June 27 with a13-year-old girl developing flu symptoms after coming back home from Singapore a day earlier.
The authorities continue to take preventive measures against the possible spread of the global human flu pandemic, advising all private clinics in the country to report or transfer all flu-suspected patients, who returned from abroad, to local state-run hospitals or health departments for increased surveillance.
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CNA - S'pore supports Thai ASEAN chairman's statement on Myanmar
By Bhagman Singh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 15 August 2009 2156 hrs
SINGAPORE: Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya is in Singapore for a two-day visit.
In his meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo on Saturday, they discussed regional developments, including the recent trial verdict of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi.
An MFA statement said Mr Yeo affirmed Singapore's support for the Thai ASEAN chairman's statement on Myanmar, which was released on August 11.
He also expressed Singapore's support for Mr Kasit's proposal for a joint appeal letter from ASEAN foreign ministers to the Myanmar government, asking them to grant Ms Suu Kyi amnesty for the remainder of her sentence and to allow her to decide for herself whether to participate in the General Elections scheduled for 2010.
The ministers touched on bilateral relations as well and reaffirmed the excellent cooperation between the two countries.
Mr Yeo said he is looking forward to welcoming Mr Kasit back to Singapore from October 13 to 14 to co-officiate the opening of the 9th Coordinating Meeting of the Thailand-Singapore Civil Service Exchange Programme (CSEP).
By Bhagman Singh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 15 August 2009 2156 hrs
SINGAPORE: Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya is in Singapore for a two-day visit.
In his meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo on Saturday, they discussed regional developments, including the recent trial verdict of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi.
An MFA statement said Mr Yeo affirmed Singapore's support for the Thai ASEAN chairman's statement on Myanmar, which was released on August 11.
He also expressed Singapore's support for Mr Kasit's proposal for a joint appeal letter from ASEAN foreign ministers to the Myanmar government, asking them to grant Ms Suu Kyi amnesty for the remainder of her sentence and to allow her to decide for herself whether to participate in the General Elections scheduled for 2010.
The ministers touched on bilateral relations as well and reaffirmed the excellent cooperation between the two countries.
Mr Yeo said he is looking forward to welcoming Mr Kasit back to Singapore from October 13 to 14 to co-officiate the opening of the 9th Coordinating Meeting of the Thailand-Singapore Civil Service Exchange Programme (CSEP).
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The Canadian Press - Senator keen to ease US sanctions on Myanmar after visit secures release of ailing American
Sun Aug 16, 3:28 PM
By Ambika Ahuja, The Associated Press
BANGKOK - Myanmar freed an ailing American whom it had sentenced to seven years of hard labour and handed him to an influential U.S senator on Sunday, a move that could help persuade Washington to soften its hardline policy against the military regime.
Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who secured John Yettaw's freedom, said he believes years of sanctions have failed to move the Southeast Asian country toward democratic reforms or talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Webb said he would discuss his conclusions and recommendations with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and others on his return to Washington. He declined to speculate on what the Obama administration - which is reviewing its policy toward Myanmar - would do. Webb can rally support for changes to U.S. policy in Asia as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee.
Webb flew with Yettaw to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon. Yettaw had been held at Insein Prison in Myanmar's biggest city Yangon since his arrest in early May.
The 53-year-old American was apprehended as he swam away from Suu Kyi's lakeside residence, where he had sheltered for two days after sneaking in uninvited. He was convicted last week of breaking the terms of Suu Kyi's house arrest and related charges, and sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labour.
Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years, was herself sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour for violating her house arrest conditions through Yettaw's visit, although that was reduced to 18 months under house arrest by order of junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Observers widely believe Yettaw's intrusion into Suu Kyi's home gave the junta a legal pretext to keep the Nobel laureate incarcerated through next year's general election.
Yettaw testified that he had a vision that Suu Kyi was at risk from assassins, and visited her to warn her.
A pale and haggard-looking Yettaw had to be assisted as he walked off the small plane on arrival in Bangkok. He smiled and flashed 'I love you' in sign language to waiting reporters. He did not respond to questions.
Myanmar state television said Sunday night that Yettaw, from Falcon, Missouri, was freed on humanitarian grounds because of his health. He reportedly suffers from diabetes, epilepsy and asthma and was hospitalized for a week during the trial after suffering seizures.
The Democrat lawmaker said at a press conference in Bangkok that Yettaw's release "was a gesture from the government of Myanmar that we should be grateful for and hopefully build upon."
He said years of Western sanctions had denied Myanmar's people "the kind of access to the outside world that is essential to their economic and political growth."
Washington has been a leader in isolating the military regime, imposing political and economic sanctions because of its poor human rights record and failure to turn over power to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party after it won a landslide victory in 1990 elections.
Clinton, on a trip through Asia in February, said neither tough U.S. sanctions nor engagement by neighbours had persuaded the junta to embrace democracy or release Suu Kyi. The junta has been able to shrug off the sanctions in large part because of support from China.
David Steinberg, a Myanmar specialist at Georgetown University in Washington, described Webb's visit as a "very important" first step.
"Of course, to see a change in U.S. policy, the junta would have to make significant reforms," he said, adding that this would happen immediately.
He said Washington's reaching-out to the junta followed approaches by the Obama administration to several states previously considered pariahs, such as North Korea and Iran. He said he was one of several international affairs experts consulted by Obama's team to present alternative views.
During last year's presidential campaign, Obama said he would be willing to talk to anybody without preconditions, referring to nations with whom the Bush administration had refused to hold discussions. Bush ceased previous U.S. efforts to engage Pyongyang to win its agreement to stop developing nuclear weapons, and likewise gave Tehran, also seeking nuclear strike capacity, the cold shoulder.
Obama has sought to engage Tehran after a nearly three-decade estrangement, declaring a willingness to talk with its theocratic regime. He has also allowed former President Bill Clinton to reopen lines of communications to North Korea with a high profile visit to obtain the release of two American journalists jailed for illegally entering the country.
Critics of Myanmar's military regime expressed disappointment at the latest developments.
Aung Din of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based pro-democracy group, said Yettaw's release was a gift to Webb from Than Shwe for opposing sanctions, and promoting engagement and increased U.S. business activities there.
"This will surely make a negative impression among the people of Burma," he wrote in an email "They will think that Americans are easy to satisfy with the dictators when they get their citizens back."
Webb was allowed a rare meeting with Suu Kyi, and said he had asked the junta to release her - a long-standing demand of the United States and much of the international community.
The meeting Saturday between Webb and Than Shwe was the reclusive general's first with a senior U.S. political figure.
Webb said he was hopeful that over time the junta would realize "it is to their advantage to allow (Suu Kyi) to participate in the political process."
Sun Aug 16, 3:28 PM
By Ambika Ahuja, The Associated Press
BANGKOK - Myanmar freed an ailing American whom it had sentenced to seven years of hard labour and handed him to an influential U.S senator on Sunday, a move that could help persuade Washington to soften its hardline policy against the military regime.
Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who secured John Yettaw's freedom, said he believes years of sanctions have failed to move the Southeast Asian country toward democratic reforms or talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Webb said he would discuss his conclusions and recommendations with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and others on his return to Washington. He declined to speculate on what the Obama administration - which is reviewing its policy toward Myanmar - would do. Webb can rally support for changes to U.S. policy in Asia as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee.
Webb flew with Yettaw to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon. Yettaw had been held at Insein Prison in Myanmar's biggest city Yangon since his arrest in early May.
The 53-year-old American was apprehended as he swam away from Suu Kyi's lakeside residence, where he had sheltered for two days after sneaking in uninvited. He was convicted last week of breaking the terms of Suu Kyi's house arrest and related charges, and sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labour.
Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years, was herself sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour for violating her house arrest conditions through Yettaw's visit, although that was reduced to 18 months under house arrest by order of junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Observers widely believe Yettaw's intrusion into Suu Kyi's home gave the junta a legal pretext to keep the Nobel laureate incarcerated through next year's general election.
Yettaw testified that he had a vision that Suu Kyi was at risk from assassins, and visited her to warn her.
A pale and haggard-looking Yettaw had to be assisted as he walked off the small plane on arrival in Bangkok. He smiled and flashed 'I love you' in sign language to waiting reporters. He did not respond to questions.
Myanmar state television said Sunday night that Yettaw, from Falcon, Missouri, was freed on humanitarian grounds because of his health. He reportedly suffers from diabetes, epilepsy and asthma and was hospitalized for a week during the trial after suffering seizures.
The Democrat lawmaker said at a press conference in Bangkok that Yettaw's release "was a gesture from the government of Myanmar that we should be grateful for and hopefully build upon."
He said years of Western sanctions had denied Myanmar's people "the kind of access to the outside world that is essential to their economic and political growth."
Washington has been a leader in isolating the military regime, imposing political and economic sanctions because of its poor human rights record and failure to turn over power to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party after it won a landslide victory in 1990 elections.
Clinton, on a trip through Asia in February, said neither tough U.S. sanctions nor engagement by neighbours had persuaded the junta to embrace democracy or release Suu Kyi. The junta has been able to shrug off the sanctions in large part because of support from China.
David Steinberg, a Myanmar specialist at Georgetown University in Washington, described Webb's visit as a "very important" first step.
"Of course, to see a change in U.S. policy, the junta would have to make significant reforms," he said, adding that this would happen immediately.
He said Washington's reaching-out to the junta followed approaches by the Obama administration to several states previously considered pariahs, such as North Korea and Iran. He said he was one of several international affairs experts consulted by Obama's team to present alternative views.
During last year's presidential campaign, Obama said he would be willing to talk to anybody without preconditions, referring to nations with whom the Bush administration had refused to hold discussions. Bush ceased previous U.S. efforts to engage Pyongyang to win its agreement to stop developing nuclear weapons, and likewise gave Tehran, also seeking nuclear strike capacity, the cold shoulder.
Obama has sought to engage Tehran after a nearly three-decade estrangement, declaring a willingness to talk with its theocratic regime. He has also allowed former President Bill Clinton to reopen lines of communications to North Korea with a high profile visit to obtain the release of two American journalists jailed for illegally entering the country.
Critics of Myanmar's military regime expressed disappointment at the latest developments.
Aung Din of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based pro-democracy group, said Yettaw's release was a gift to Webb from Than Shwe for opposing sanctions, and promoting engagement and increased U.S. business activities there.
"This will surely make a negative impression among the people of Burma," he wrote in an email "They will think that Americans are easy to satisfy with the dictators when they get their citizens back."
Webb was allowed a rare meeting with Suu Kyi, and said he had asked the junta to release her - a long-standing demand of the United States and much of the international community.
The meeting Saturday between Webb and Than Shwe was the reclusive general's first with a senior U.S. political figure.
Webb said he was hopeful that over time the junta would realize "it is to their advantage to allow (Suu Kyi) to participate in the political process."
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The Chronicle journal
Canadian gov’t halts deportation order of former child soldier from Burma
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Saturday, August 15, 2009
OTTAWA - The federal government has stayed the deportation of a Burmese refugee who fled his country because he was he was forced into the military when he was a child.
The Canadian Friends of Burma says Nay Myo Hein was supposed to be deported to his homeland, also known as Myanmar, on Tuesday after his application to the federal Immigration and Refugee Board for refugee status was rejected.
But the group says Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan intervened and have agreed to let the 25-year-old Saskatoon resident stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds.
Friends executive director Tin Maung Htoo called is a "compassionate gesture" by Canada and thanked the ministers for their actions.
The group says it independently verified that Hein escaped at age 13 from forced service in the Burmese military and spent the next eight years in hiding before coming to Canada two years ago.
The group says Hein would be in "grave danger" if he had to return because he has participated in demonstrations against the Burmese military and has become an active member of the exiled Burma democracy movement.
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Saturday, August 15, 2009
OTTAWA - The federal government has stayed the deportation of a Burmese refugee who fled his country because he was he was forced into the military when he was a child.
The Canadian Friends of Burma says Nay Myo Hein was supposed to be deported to his homeland, also known as Myanmar, on Tuesday after his application to the federal Immigration and Refugee Board for refugee status was rejected.
But the group says Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan intervened and have agreed to let the 25-year-old Saskatoon resident stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds.
Friends executive director Tin Maung Htoo called is a "compassionate gesture" by Canada and thanked the ministers for their actions.
The group says it independently verified that Hein escaped at age 13 from forced service in the Burmese military and spent the next eight years in hiding before coming to Canada two years ago.
The group says Hein would be in "grave danger" if he had to return because he has participated in demonstrations against the Burmese military and has become an active member of the exiled Burma democracy movement.
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Scoop - Burma: Redirect Outrage Over Suu Kyi Trial
Monday, 17 August 2009, 1:00 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission
Burma: Global Community Should Redirect Some Outrage Over Suu Kyi Trial Onto Itself
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has closely followed the trial of democracy party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and three other persons in Burma, and has earlier pointed to the defects that marred the process from its inception in May 2009 (AHRC-UAC-060-2009). It shares the heavy frustration and disappointment felt worldwide over the sentences handed down on August 11.
It was clear from the start that this was not a legal trial. Nor was it intended as one. It was a political trial, and the outcome was predetermined, even if the details only emerged with the verdict and subsequent revisionary order. The intention of the charge and sentence is to ensure that Aung San Suu Kyi is not free to move about in the run up to and during the holding of some kind of election in 2010. Everybody knew this beforehand and the result in this respect was a surprise to no one.
Although the result of the trial was a foregone conclusion, world leaders feigned shock at the result and pledged new resolve to do something about the situation in Burma. Such outrage has been voiced on a number of occasions in recent times, such as after the crackdown on the September 2007 protests, and after the rebuffing of offers to assist cyclone victims in the first days after the tragedy of May 2008. Courts have since sentenced hundreds, possibly thousands of people who were involved in the protests--and some who assisted cyclone victims--to lengthy periods of imprisonment. The trial process in most of those cases, dozens of which the AHRC has studied and documented in detail, has been much the same as that in the case of Aung San Suu Kyi; but very few of those cases have obtained outside attention, let alone indignation, even though diplomatic missions and international agencies in Rangoon are aware of them.
Some of the global community's intense outrage at the verdict now needs to be redirected back onto the global community itself. Moral anger can serve a useful purpose where it generates meaningful resolve and leads to action to produce results, but where it is all that there is, again and again, it can have the opposite effect, sapping and demoralizing the very people whom it should bolster. That is the problem now for Burma. People who once had high expectations in the work of the United Nations and the global community have for the most part given up on them. The idea that international agencies and high-profile individuals from abroad could contribute something towards change in the country has gone from being an objective to a pipedream. This unfortunate circumstance is largely of the international community's own doing. Time after time an impression has been created that expressions of moral outrage would be backed by firm action, only to have them come to naught.
On the conviction of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her co-accused, the Asian Human Rights Commission expresses its solidarity with the people of Burma and its determination to continue work as best as it can to explore and expose the abuses of human rights there not simply as manifestations of a long-standing dictatorship but also in terms of their deep institutional features. One purpose of this work is to better inform outside agencies and individuals about what is going on in Burma so as to enable more effective responses and to encourage more intelligent strategies. It is hoped that the international community will with this trial have gotten some sense both of the role that the entire infrastructure of state plays in protecting the army's hold on power, and of the role that the rest of the world needs to play in addressing that hold, rather than merely making statements of condemnation every time that the regime affronts global sensibilities and violates international law. If not, the only place left that the global community should direct its outrage is against itself, at its own failure to do anything, as if expecting that outrage alone will achieve results, which in the case of Burma it most obviously does not.
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
Monday, 17 August 2009, 1:00 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission
Burma: Global Community Should Redirect Some Outrage Over Suu Kyi Trial Onto Itself
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has closely followed the trial of democracy party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and three other persons in Burma, and has earlier pointed to the defects that marred the process from its inception in May 2009 (AHRC-UAC-060-2009). It shares the heavy frustration and disappointment felt worldwide over the sentences handed down on August 11.
It was clear from the start that this was not a legal trial. Nor was it intended as one. It was a political trial, and the outcome was predetermined, even if the details only emerged with the verdict and subsequent revisionary order. The intention of the charge and sentence is to ensure that Aung San Suu Kyi is not free to move about in the run up to and during the holding of some kind of election in 2010. Everybody knew this beforehand and the result in this respect was a surprise to no one.
Although the result of the trial was a foregone conclusion, world leaders feigned shock at the result and pledged new resolve to do something about the situation in Burma. Such outrage has been voiced on a number of occasions in recent times, such as after the crackdown on the September 2007 protests, and after the rebuffing of offers to assist cyclone victims in the first days after the tragedy of May 2008. Courts have since sentenced hundreds, possibly thousands of people who were involved in the protests--and some who assisted cyclone victims--to lengthy periods of imprisonment. The trial process in most of those cases, dozens of which the AHRC has studied and documented in detail, has been much the same as that in the case of Aung San Suu Kyi; but very few of those cases have obtained outside attention, let alone indignation, even though diplomatic missions and international agencies in Rangoon are aware of them.
Some of the global community's intense outrage at the verdict now needs to be redirected back onto the global community itself. Moral anger can serve a useful purpose where it generates meaningful resolve and leads to action to produce results, but where it is all that there is, again and again, it can have the opposite effect, sapping and demoralizing the very people whom it should bolster. That is the problem now for Burma. People who once had high expectations in the work of the United Nations and the global community have for the most part given up on them. The idea that international agencies and high-profile individuals from abroad could contribute something towards change in the country has gone from being an objective to a pipedream. This unfortunate circumstance is largely of the international community's own doing. Time after time an impression has been created that expressions of moral outrage would be backed by firm action, only to have them come to naught.
On the conviction of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her co-accused, the Asian Human Rights Commission expresses its solidarity with the people of Burma and its determination to continue work as best as it can to explore and expose the abuses of human rights there not simply as manifestations of a long-standing dictatorship but also in terms of their deep institutional features. One purpose of this work is to better inform outside agencies and individuals about what is going on in Burma so as to enable more effective responses and to encourage more intelligent strategies. It is hoped that the international community will with this trial have gotten some sense both of the role that the entire infrastructure of state plays in protecting the army's hold on power, and of the role that the rest of the world needs to play in addressing that hold, rather than merely making statements of condemnation every time that the regime affronts global sensibilities and violates international law. If not, the only place left that the global community should direct its outrage is against itself, at its own failure to do anything, as if expecting that outrage alone will achieve results, which in the case of Burma it most obviously does not.
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
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Sunday, August 16, 2009
Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy(Blog) - Investigation on Yettaw's involvement with SPDC
By BDC, Burma Democratic Concern
An investigation of Yettaw’s involvement in a possible conspiracy is needed!
The Burmese people are calling for the investigation of Yettaw's involvement in a possible conspiracy against Aung San Suu Kyi as well as Webb's possible business tie with the junta. John William Yettaw was the intruder of Aung San Suu Kyi’s residence. Because of him Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to 18 months house arrest. We strongly believe that there is a conspiracy behind Yettaw’s illegal entry into Aung San Suu Kyi residence.
Webb is boosting his name to promote his profile by giving in to the Burmese junta in an effort to free Yettaw. But, his showboating efforts to free Yettaw are an insult not only to our noble leader Aung San Suu Kyi but also to 50 million Burmese people. Webb is dreaming of a hero’s welcome in US after surrendering to the junta. Webb’s visit is endorsing the criminal regime and aiding them in their effort to legitimize their sham 2010 election.
If the Obama administration fails to investigate the Yettaw accident, then it will be tantamount to endorcing and supporting the military junta and their crimes against the people of Burma. We want to know the truth. Submission to the junta is not the answer. We want to know the link between the Yettaw, the junta and the third party who plotted this ploy behind the scenes.
The John Yettaw incident reeks of conspiracy. The Junta, Yettaw & unknown coconspirators have manipulated the crisis in Burma; they conspired to have Aung San Suu Kyi taken out of the political picture before the 2010 election. We can see clearly through the smoke screen already.
Obama must prove that he is a man of action.
Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy(Blog) - Investigation on Yettaw's involvement with SPDC
By BDC, Burma Democratic Concern
An investigation of Yettaw’s involvement in a possible conspiracy is needed!
The Burmese people are calling for the investigation of Yettaw's involvement in a possible conspiracy against Aung San Suu Kyi as well as Webb's possible business tie with the junta. John William Yettaw was the intruder of Aung San Suu Kyi’s residence. Because of him Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to 18 months house arrest. We strongly believe that there is a conspiracy behind Yettaw’s illegal entry into Aung San Suu Kyi residence.
Webb is boosting his name to promote his profile by giving in to the Burmese junta in an effort to free Yettaw. But, his showboating efforts to free Yettaw are an insult not only to our noble leader Aung San Suu Kyi but also to 50 million Burmese people. Webb is dreaming of a hero’s welcome in US after surrendering to the junta. Webb’s visit is endorsing the criminal regime and aiding them in their effort to legitimize their sham 2010 election.
If the Obama administration fails to investigate the Yettaw accident, then it will be tantamount to endorcing and supporting the military junta and their crimes against the people of Burma. We want to know the truth. Submission to the junta is not the answer. We want to know the link between the Yettaw, the junta and the third party who plotted this ploy behind the scenes.
The John Yettaw incident reeks of conspiracy. The Junta, Yettaw & unknown coconspirators have manipulated the crisis in Burma; they conspired to have Aung San Suu Kyi taken out of the political picture before the 2010 election. We can see clearly through the smoke screen already.
Obama must prove that he is a man of action.
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Monday, August 17, 2009
Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy(Blog) - Burma-Thailand border tensions has advantageous hidden benefits
By Don Talenywun
A scorched-earth sweep through a strategically-critical border zone by the armed forces of Burma’s ruling military junta has benefits for both the pariah regime and neighboring Thailand, writes Don Talenywun
Burma-Thailand border tensions, rewarding hidden benefits
The dislocation of between 5,000 and 6,000 people from Burma to Thailand in the past two months has so far been reported as a military thrust against the Karen National Union by Burma’s Army.
Coverage has largely focused on refugees, people fleeing forced conscription, forced labour, murder and rape.
Video footage of militia armies torching people’s modest bamboo homes and the schools and churches the inhabitants relied upon for their sense of community are widely available on the internet.
Free Burma Ranger medical teams shot close footage as community centers and schools built by villagers with material cropped from the surrounding jungle were razed to the ground.
Now, sent packing to Thailand, the people eat from communal kitchens on donated rice rations and sleep under plastic sheets.
On the surface this offensive, which involved a force of 1,700 junta-aligned soldiers, could be interpreted as a State Peace and Development Council (the ruling junta) bid to wipe out dissent before controversial elections planned for next year.
For 60 years the KNU has fought to defend human rights, people’s land rights and to establish its say in how its people are governed.
The Karen people have a population conservatively estimated to be about seven million, their own flag, their own songs, and their own culture.
Since Burma’s independence in 1948, shortly after which military offensives began against the Karen people, soldiers of the KNU have stood as a symbol of rejection of centralised rule by the majority Burman race.
Without the KNU, the oldest representative body of the ethnic nationalities defying successive illegitimate military regimes, other people’s bids for recognition would be dealt a severe psychological blow.
A simple conclusion to draw is that what happened during June and July opposite northern Thailand’s Tha Song Yang district is just another incident, albeit severe, in the world’s longest-running conflict.
Untold benefits
Yet there are untold benefits to be shared between Thailand and Burma.
The planned 33m-high Hat Gyi Dam will span a river the World Wildlife Fund describes as supporting “possibly the world’s most-diverse temperate ecosystem”.
It will produce 1,200 megawatts of power per hour, or 7,335 giga-watts (Gwh) annually, a giga-watt being the production of one million kilo watts for the period of an hour.
Burmese, Thai and Chinese interests will all play roles in funding and construction of the dam.
The Hat Gyi Dam is the smallest of five planned for the Salween River, but the first of which construction is proposed.
The Karen National Union has personally asked Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to halt construction.
And representatives of 19 villages that will be flooded on the Thai side have asked that the project be halted.
The dam will be built just to the north of where thousands of Karen people lost their homes to the Burma Army in June and July.
Po Luang Nu Chamnankhiripai, the local leader of the Thai group in Mae Hong Song province protesting the dam’s construction, told the government last month that the dam would mean more armed conflict on the Burmese side of the border.
And that, he predicted in a written plea to stop the dam project, would mean more refugees in Thailand.
“The construction of the Hat Gyi Dam will exacerbate human rights abuses against the Karen people and Thailand is bracing herself for more refugees and enormous burden,” he wrote.
Sealing the road to human rights abuses
The access road to the dam on the Burmese side runs straight through the Karen National Liberation Army’s (the KNU’s army) Seventh Brigade region.
At the moment it is a fair-weather road, meaning for about six months of the year it can barely be traversed in a four-wheel drive, let alone trucks moving heavy machinery.
And so the process of sealing the road must begin, raising once again the spectre of forced labour, a crime Burma has been accused of so often that the junta’s continual denials of such practices ring hollow, to say the least.
In the real world, people forced to abandon their homes and their ancestral lands to make way for major state infrastructure projects would be compensated.
But in Burma they have been pushed out of the KNLA Seventh Brigade area by a major military thrust and ended up in Thailand as refugees with nothing.
Back at home their houses have been burned to the ground.
Their farms now go unattended, barring some cross-border sorties by desperate villagers to harvest produce from their subsistence farms so their family can eat.
But even the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which since 1994 has sided with the military junta and needs to supply workers to help build the road, has warned farmers not to go back.
The DKBA has suffered massive casualties to landmines and surgeons at Thai hospitals have been busy amputating the limbs of foreign soldiers.
But the job of clearing the area of civilians and the guerilla armies they help nourish is getting done and the population forced from their homes.
For now the KNLA has no base camps in Seventh Brigade, has lost its general headquarters and is waging a guerilla war with soldiers sleeping rough in the jungle, sometimes with not even a pair of boots to their name.
The Eden Valley Academy School
It was a surprise to international aid workers stationed along the border when Thai authorities agreed in principle to bringing all of the Seventh Brigade refugees together at one site.
The argument put forward was that they would be far easier to care for and supply logistics simplified if everyone was in the same place.
So the hunt for a place where refugees could be housed began.
It wasn’t long before the deserted Eden Valley Academy School was proposed and all non-governmental organisations based out of the bustling town of Mae Sot agreed that 2,300 people could be housed there.
The site had buildings, most with walls and some with roofs. Of the buildings in structural disarray, at least bare concrete slabs and footings remained.
It was by no means perfect, prone to some flooding, needing a footbridge to link it to another area of flat land, some construction and general maintenance.
But it was a beginning, an opportunity to get everyone to a single location.
But when the NGOs raised the most-pressing issue – security - they drew a blank.
DKBA patrols were known to pass through the area regularly, despite the site being well inside Thailand.
Thai authorities said they were unable to provide security.
Too many of their soldiers, they said, had been sent to the south, where a Muslim insurgency grinds away against the Malaysian border.
Eventually plans to inhabit the Eden Valley Academy School were abandoned – the refugees were granted permission to stay where they were, or return home.
But Thai authorities insisted that anyone returning to Burma would have to declare it was their own decision and sign a form to that effect.
They did not want media allegations they were forcing people back across the border into a war zone.
Sharing Benefits
Thailand and Burma signed a memorandum of understanding to build the Hat Gyi Dam in 2006 and mutual benefits are assured.
But on the Burmese side the benefits seem mostly financial and therefore destined for the junta, which is widely estimated to spend 40 per cent of its national budget on its formidable military force.
Thai government officials told a July gathering representing the 1,800 people who will be officially relocated that Thailand would receive 90 per cent of the power generated by the dam, but were quick to add the project could yet be cancelled.
Much of Burma’s population relies on diesel-powered generators for electricity, one of the reasons escalating fuel prices acted as a catalyst for the 2007 “Saffron Revolution”, in which Burmese citizens were executed, beaten and jailed by their own army.
For Burma to “receive” just 10 per cent of the new dam’s power load suggests there is not much benefit pending for inhabitants of Karen State - a land kept isolated - and certainly none for those who will lose their homes and livelihoods.
Thailand’s current National Energy and Development Plan, which pledges to both diversify energy supply by buying from foreign countries and to reduce national dependence on energy imports, was implemented in late 2006.
Even at this stage, almost two years after construction had been planned to begin, Thai officials are publicly hedging their bets on whether the project will go ahead.
The Wild Salween River
The Salween is Southeast Asia’s longest river that has not yet been dammed.
It was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003 and is home to 80 endangered animal species.
Eventually, after wending its way through 2,815 kilometres from the mountains of Tibet to Moulmien in Burma, the river spills into the Andaman Sea.
It is a wild river – just 89km of its course, through a series of gorges as much as a kilometre deep, is navigable.
ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Co-Op and the Environment
On July 30, at the 27th Association of South East Asian Energy Ministers’ meeting, representatives of the 10-member bloc agreed on a plan drafted by Thailand.
The plan, to be known as the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation 2010-2015, includes development of the Hat Gyi Dam.
Sometime this month a committee established by the Thai government, at the behest of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, is to recommend whether or not to go ahead with the dam.
ASEAN ministers are backing the project as an integral part of the region’s power grid.
Burma’s ruling generals are hungry for more foreign revenue and looking to cement their place as Burma’s legitimate rulers, while ingratiating themselves with their ASEAN partners.
Abhisit, in forming a committee to recommend to the government whether or not to go ahead, has distanced himself and his shaky coalition government from the decision.
There will be a maelstrom of international criticism if the Thai government goes ahead with damming the only major river in South East Asia that remarkably still follows its natural course.
But it is no secret that “development” and securing future energy reserves take precedence over protecting the environment in most of the world.
But what of human rights? Will the Hat Gyi Dam form the Salween’s first loch, and will there be more to follow?
And what of the proposed benefits for Burma?
Only the Thai government at this stage can answer these questions and it is due to do so this month.
In the aftermath of ASEAN’s salute to Thailand and Burma’s plans, environmental and Burma’s ethnic groups, not to mention Thai residents who will lose their homes and communities reliant on the river for their existence, issued statements condemning the project.
But Ethnic Community Development Forum representative Sai Khur Seng summed it up best:
“Energy projects in Burma should be for the benefit of the Burmese people and not at their expense.”
Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy(Blog) - Burma-Thailand border tensions has advantageous hidden benefits
By Don Talenywun
A scorched-earth sweep through a strategically-critical border zone by the armed forces of Burma’s ruling military junta has benefits for both the pariah regime and neighboring Thailand, writes Don Talenywun
Burma-Thailand border tensions, rewarding hidden benefits
The dislocation of between 5,000 and 6,000 people from Burma to Thailand in the past two months has so far been reported as a military thrust against the Karen National Union by Burma’s Army.
Coverage has largely focused on refugees, people fleeing forced conscription, forced labour, murder and rape.
Video footage of militia armies torching people’s modest bamboo homes and the schools and churches the inhabitants relied upon for their sense of community are widely available on the internet.
Free Burma Ranger medical teams shot close footage as community centers and schools built by villagers with material cropped from the surrounding jungle were razed to the ground.
Now, sent packing to Thailand, the people eat from communal kitchens on donated rice rations and sleep under plastic sheets.
On the surface this offensive, which involved a force of 1,700 junta-aligned soldiers, could be interpreted as a State Peace and Development Council (the ruling junta) bid to wipe out dissent before controversial elections planned for next year.
For 60 years the KNU has fought to defend human rights, people’s land rights and to establish its say in how its people are governed.
The Karen people have a population conservatively estimated to be about seven million, their own flag, their own songs, and their own culture.
Since Burma’s independence in 1948, shortly after which military offensives began against the Karen people, soldiers of the KNU have stood as a symbol of rejection of centralised rule by the majority Burman race.
Without the KNU, the oldest representative body of the ethnic nationalities defying successive illegitimate military regimes, other people’s bids for recognition would be dealt a severe psychological blow.
A simple conclusion to draw is that what happened during June and July opposite northern Thailand’s Tha Song Yang district is just another incident, albeit severe, in the world’s longest-running conflict.
Untold benefits
Yet there are untold benefits to be shared between Thailand and Burma.
The planned 33m-high Hat Gyi Dam will span a river the World Wildlife Fund describes as supporting “possibly the world’s most-diverse temperate ecosystem”.
It will produce 1,200 megawatts of power per hour, or 7,335 giga-watts (Gwh) annually, a giga-watt being the production of one million kilo watts for the period of an hour.
Burmese, Thai and Chinese interests will all play roles in funding and construction of the dam.
The Hat Gyi Dam is the smallest of five planned for the Salween River, but the first of which construction is proposed.
The Karen National Union has personally asked Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to halt construction.
And representatives of 19 villages that will be flooded on the Thai side have asked that the project be halted.
The dam will be built just to the north of where thousands of Karen people lost their homes to the Burma Army in June and July.
Po Luang Nu Chamnankhiripai, the local leader of the Thai group in Mae Hong Song province protesting the dam’s construction, told the government last month that the dam would mean more armed conflict on the Burmese side of the border.
And that, he predicted in a written plea to stop the dam project, would mean more refugees in Thailand.
“The construction of the Hat Gyi Dam will exacerbate human rights abuses against the Karen people and Thailand is bracing herself for more refugees and enormous burden,” he wrote.
Sealing the road to human rights abuses
The access road to the dam on the Burmese side runs straight through the Karen National Liberation Army’s (the KNU’s army) Seventh Brigade region.
At the moment it is a fair-weather road, meaning for about six months of the year it can barely be traversed in a four-wheel drive, let alone trucks moving heavy machinery.
And so the process of sealing the road must begin, raising once again the spectre of forced labour, a crime Burma has been accused of so often that the junta’s continual denials of such practices ring hollow, to say the least.
In the real world, people forced to abandon their homes and their ancestral lands to make way for major state infrastructure projects would be compensated.
But in Burma they have been pushed out of the KNLA Seventh Brigade area by a major military thrust and ended up in Thailand as refugees with nothing.
Back at home their houses have been burned to the ground.
Their farms now go unattended, barring some cross-border sorties by desperate villagers to harvest produce from their subsistence farms so their family can eat.
But even the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which since 1994 has sided with the military junta and needs to supply workers to help build the road, has warned farmers not to go back.
The DKBA has suffered massive casualties to landmines and surgeons at Thai hospitals have been busy amputating the limbs of foreign soldiers.
But the job of clearing the area of civilians and the guerilla armies they help nourish is getting done and the population forced from their homes.
For now the KNLA has no base camps in Seventh Brigade, has lost its general headquarters and is waging a guerilla war with soldiers sleeping rough in the jungle, sometimes with not even a pair of boots to their name.
The Eden Valley Academy School
It was a surprise to international aid workers stationed along the border when Thai authorities agreed in principle to bringing all of the Seventh Brigade refugees together at one site.
The argument put forward was that they would be far easier to care for and supply logistics simplified if everyone was in the same place.
So the hunt for a place where refugees could be housed began.
It wasn’t long before the deserted Eden Valley Academy School was proposed and all non-governmental organisations based out of the bustling town of Mae Sot agreed that 2,300 people could be housed there.
The site had buildings, most with walls and some with roofs. Of the buildings in structural disarray, at least bare concrete slabs and footings remained.
It was by no means perfect, prone to some flooding, needing a footbridge to link it to another area of flat land, some construction and general maintenance.
But it was a beginning, an opportunity to get everyone to a single location.
But when the NGOs raised the most-pressing issue – security - they drew a blank.
DKBA patrols were known to pass through the area regularly, despite the site being well inside Thailand.
Thai authorities said they were unable to provide security.
Too many of their soldiers, they said, had been sent to the south, where a Muslim insurgency grinds away against the Malaysian border.
Eventually plans to inhabit the Eden Valley Academy School were abandoned – the refugees were granted permission to stay where they were, or return home.
But Thai authorities insisted that anyone returning to Burma would have to declare it was their own decision and sign a form to that effect.
They did not want media allegations they were forcing people back across the border into a war zone.
Sharing Benefits
Thailand and Burma signed a memorandum of understanding to build the Hat Gyi Dam in 2006 and mutual benefits are assured.
But on the Burmese side the benefits seem mostly financial and therefore destined for the junta, which is widely estimated to spend 40 per cent of its national budget on its formidable military force.
Thai government officials told a July gathering representing the 1,800 people who will be officially relocated that Thailand would receive 90 per cent of the power generated by the dam, but were quick to add the project could yet be cancelled.
Much of Burma’s population relies on diesel-powered generators for electricity, one of the reasons escalating fuel prices acted as a catalyst for the 2007 “Saffron Revolution”, in which Burmese citizens were executed, beaten and jailed by their own army.
For Burma to “receive” just 10 per cent of the new dam’s power load suggests there is not much benefit pending for inhabitants of Karen State - a land kept isolated - and certainly none for those who will lose their homes and livelihoods.
Thailand’s current National Energy and Development Plan, which pledges to both diversify energy supply by buying from foreign countries and to reduce national dependence on energy imports, was implemented in late 2006.
Even at this stage, almost two years after construction had been planned to begin, Thai officials are publicly hedging their bets on whether the project will go ahead.
The Wild Salween River
The Salween is Southeast Asia’s longest river that has not yet been dammed.
It was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003 and is home to 80 endangered animal species.
Eventually, after wending its way through 2,815 kilometres from the mountains of Tibet to Moulmien in Burma, the river spills into the Andaman Sea.
It is a wild river – just 89km of its course, through a series of gorges as much as a kilometre deep, is navigable.
ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Co-Op and the Environment
On July 30, at the 27th Association of South East Asian Energy Ministers’ meeting, representatives of the 10-member bloc agreed on a plan drafted by Thailand.
The plan, to be known as the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation 2010-2015, includes development of the Hat Gyi Dam.
Sometime this month a committee established by the Thai government, at the behest of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, is to recommend whether or not to go ahead with the dam.
ASEAN ministers are backing the project as an integral part of the region’s power grid.
Burma’s ruling generals are hungry for more foreign revenue and looking to cement their place as Burma’s legitimate rulers, while ingratiating themselves with their ASEAN partners.
Abhisit, in forming a committee to recommend to the government whether or not to go ahead, has distanced himself and his shaky coalition government from the decision.
There will be a maelstrom of international criticism if the Thai government goes ahead with damming the only major river in South East Asia that remarkably still follows its natural course.
But it is no secret that “development” and securing future energy reserves take precedence over protecting the environment in most of the world.
But what of human rights? Will the Hat Gyi Dam form the Salween’s first loch, and will there be more to follow?
And what of the proposed benefits for Burma?
Only the Thai government at this stage can answer these questions and it is due to do so this month.
In the aftermath of ASEAN’s salute to Thailand and Burma’s plans, environmental and Burma’s ethnic groups, not to mention Thai residents who will lose their homes and communities reliant on the river for their existence, issued statements condemning the project.
But Ethnic Community Development Forum representative Sai Khur Seng summed it up best:
“Energy projects in Burma should be for the benefit of the Burmese people and not at their expense.”
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The Nation - US senator calls for pressure on China
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
Published on August 17, 2009
US Senator Jim Webb, who helped free an American from Burma over the weekend, yesterday called for diplomatic pressure on China to nudge the military-ruled country towards democracy and national reconciliation.
"I believe that China has an obligation to use its influence to resolve the situation," Webb said.
He arrived in Bangkok from Burma with the American, John Yettaw, who caused trouble for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by swimming across a lake to her home in May.
Suu Kyi was detained 18 months under further house arrest and Yettaw was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and hard labour.
Webb said what Yettaw did was regrettable but he asked the junta to deport him on humanitarian grounds. Yettaw was not well and was taken for a medical examination at a Bangkok hospital upon landing on the same plane with Webb.
During his visit to Burma, Webb met with the junta's paramount leader, Than Shwe, and Suu Kyi. He said he told the junta to free Suu Kyi from her current term of house arrest and allow her to participate fully in the political process leading towards the election next year.
He also encouraged Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy Party to find a way to work inside the political process.
To achieve the goal of both sides, Webb called upon the United States government, the European Union and Asean to bring more diplomatic pressure on China by asking Beijing to act responsively with its role as the superpower over Burma.
Webb disagreed with the sanctions on Burma, saying that over the past years they have served to amplify its isolation from the West and allow China to dramatically increase its economic and political influence.
He said he told Suu Kyi that sanctions only work when all the countries potentially involved participate in imposing them.
The current sanctions have essentially driven Burma closer to China, making the country more vulnerable, he added.
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
Published on August 17, 2009
US Senator Jim Webb, who helped free an American from Burma over the weekend, yesterday called for diplomatic pressure on China to nudge the military-ruled country towards democracy and national reconciliation.
"I believe that China has an obligation to use its influence to resolve the situation," Webb said.
He arrived in Bangkok from Burma with the American, John Yettaw, who caused trouble for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by swimming across a lake to her home in May.
Suu Kyi was detained 18 months under further house arrest and Yettaw was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and hard labour.
Webb said what Yettaw did was regrettable but he asked the junta to deport him on humanitarian grounds. Yettaw was not well and was taken for a medical examination at a Bangkok hospital upon landing on the same plane with Webb.
During his visit to Burma, Webb met with the junta's paramount leader, Than Shwe, and Suu Kyi. He said he told the junta to free Suu Kyi from her current term of house arrest and allow her to participate fully in the political process leading towards the election next year.
He also encouraged Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy Party to find a way to work inside the political process.
To achieve the goal of both sides, Webb called upon the United States government, the European Union and Asean to bring more diplomatic pressure on China by asking Beijing to act responsively with its role as the superpower over Burma.
Webb disagreed with the sanctions on Burma, saying that over the past years they have served to amplify its isolation from the West and allow China to dramatically increase its economic and political influence.
He said he told Suu Kyi that sanctions only work when all the countries potentially involved participate in imposing them.
The current sanctions have essentially driven Burma closer to China, making the country more vulnerable, he added.
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The Nation - Opinion: Time for Asean to denounce Burma
Published on August 16, 2009
The vile pantomime that has been tediously parading as a legal system and which has now handed down the laughable sentence on Aung San Suu Kyi is nothing more than the pathetic puppet of the murderous thug who thinks he will be seen as compassionate in commuting the court's sentence.
The regime in Burma is nothing more than a dysfunctional aberration on the face of civilisation; it is an insult to all decent human beings. That it continues to be tolerated in Asean shows what appallingly low standards that organisation maintains.
It is time for Thailand as the chair to show a sliver of moral courage and denounce this nonsense now for what it is, a show trial and a farce, or accept the judgement of world opinion as being nothing more than a group of shallow self-serving hypocrites trying to play in the real world but being critically lacking in the most basic standards of morality and decency.
If silence is, as I suspect, all that rings out from Government House then shame on this government and shame on Thailand! For all that is happening is more sickening kowtowing to this loathsome, murderous regime.
JOHN PATTERSON
BANGKOK
Than Shwe only the root of a progression of evils
Burma's General Than Shwe remains one of the most appalling individuals in the world, a first-rate genocidal dictator. Equally disturbing are the cowards who refuse to criticise the Burmese regime for fear of exposing themselves to similar scrutiny. But worse yet, almost incomprehensible, are those who defend such evil for profit. It is no longer acceptable to hide behind the preposterous group-speak of Asean. Thailand, what have you to say for yourself?
J W JACOBS
USA
Abhisit, Kasit blot their copy books over Suu Kyi
Re: "Suu Kyi verdict sparks outrage", News and "No surprise at Suu Kyi's latest punishment, Editorials, August 12.
It is really pathetic for our PM Abhisit Vejjajiva not to make any comment on the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi because he had to be "careful with the issue". Also our FM Kasit was quoted as having to "get a report from our embassy first and would take a day or two to think about it" before he could say anything. Wow! Now I can see that these two deserve each other. While the world was outraged, they procrastinate.
Even Singapore expressed its disappointment over the punishment when it is one of the foremost economic animals of Asia. It is doubly painful for me to know that Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia could also be so noble in condemning Burma while our two leaders twiddled their thumbs whether to state the obvious reactions.
Therefore my suggestion to PM Abhisit and FM Kasit is not to express any feeling about the suffering of Aung San Suu Kyi and her people since any expression from either of you now would be viewed as calculated and insincere anyway.
SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT
BANGKOK
Published on August 16, 2009
The vile pantomime that has been tediously parading as a legal system and which has now handed down the laughable sentence on Aung San Suu Kyi is nothing more than the pathetic puppet of the murderous thug who thinks he will be seen as compassionate in commuting the court's sentence.
The regime in Burma is nothing more than a dysfunctional aberration on the face of civilisation; it is an insult to all decent human beings. That it continues to be tolerated in Asean shows what appallingly low standards that organisation maintains.
It is time for Thailand as the chair to show a sliver of moral courage and denounce this nonsense now for what it is, a show trial and a farce, or accept the judgement of world opinion as being nothing more than a group of shallow self-serving hypocrites trying to play in the real world but being critically lacking in the most basic standards of morality and decency.
If silence is, as I suspect, all that rings out from Government House then shame on this government and shame on Thailand! For all that is happening is more sickening kowtowing to this loathsome, murderous regime.
JOHN PATTERSON
BANGKOK
Than Shwe only the root of a progression of evils
Burma's General Than Shwe remains one of the most appalling individuals in the world, a first-rate genocidal dictator. Equally disturbing are the cowards who refuse to criticise the Burmese regime for fear of exposing themselves to similar scrutiny. But worse yet, almost incomprehensible, are those who defend such evil for profit. It is no longer acceptable to hide behind the preposterous group-speak of Asean. Thailand, what have you to say for yourself?
J W JACOBS
USA
Abhisit, Kasit blot their copy books over Suu Kyi
Re: "Suu Kyi verdict sparks outrage", News and "No surprise at Suu Kyi's latest punishment, Editorials, August 12.
It is really pathetic for our PM Abhisit Vejjajiva not to make any comment on the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi because he had to be "careful with the issue". Also our FM Kasit was quoted as having to "get a report from our embassy first and would take a day or two to think about it" before he could say anything. Wow! Now I can see that these two deserve each other. While the world was outraged, they procrastinate.
Even Singapore expressed its disappointment over the punishment when it is one of the foremost economic animals of Asia. It is doubly painful for me to know that Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia could also be so noble in condemning Burma while our two leaders twiddled their thumbs whether to state the obvious reactions.
Therefore my suggestion to PM Abhisit and FM Kasit is not to express any feeling about the suffering of Aung San Suu Kyi and her people since any expression from either of you now would be viewed as calculated and insincere anyway.
SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT
BANGKOK
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The Nation - 5 Asean countries get their act together
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma seek system
By ACHARA PONGVUTITHAM, PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
THE NATION ON SUNDAY
Published on August 16, 2009
Major Asean rice-producers Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma plan to form an association to create a sustainable system for trading and production.
The plan was unveiled yesterday following Cambodian leader Hun Sen's initiative at the Asean Summit in Cha-am in late February. It focuses on price stabilisation, food security in the region and rice development. It aims for price stability next year.
It comprises the five countries of the Ayeyawady-Chao Praya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (Acmecs) and will set up an Acmecs Rice Traders Association.
Thailand, Laos and Cambodia have agreed in principle and plan talks with Cambodia and Burma during the Asean Economic Ministers Meeting, which ends today.
For some years Thailand and Vietnam have cooperated to curb price-cutting in the export market through data exchange.
A Thai source close to the negotiations said they solved Thailand's major problem on circumvention by neighbouring countries, diluted price-cutting in the region and stabilised prices.
"It will create a supply chain in the region which will strengthen bargaining power in the world market," the source said.
Chaiya Yimvilai, adviser to the commerce minister, said yesterday that Laos proposed Thailand and Vietnam draw up the plan.
Thailand and Vietnam are white-rice producers while Laos focuses on sticky rice.
Laos has approached Thailand as a partner in a joint venture with Kuwait to grow rice in Laos.
The Lao government has allocated 200,000 hectares.
Laos has 2 million hectares set aside for rice, but only 900,000 are actually under the crop.
Meanwhile, the Asean-Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Agreement comes into force on January 1.
Australia and New Zealand are important trade partners of Asean, with bilateral trade in 2008 valued at US$67.2 billion (Bt2.3 trillion). They were the seventh largest export market of Asean.
Asean exports to Australia and New Zealand reached nearly $44 billion last year. Major goods were fuel, machinery, automobiles, gold and electrical appliances.
Chaiya added that Thailand and Australia would increase trade in services under the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Australia wants to see more business-to-business trade.
Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said the Asean-Australia and New Zealand Closer Economic Relations (CER) pact would benefit trade and investment growth during the global economic downturn.
"The pact will not only open market access between the two regions but also capacity-building and integration among us," he said, and though technical details remained to be worked out, it should be implemented on schedule early next year.
Crean also strongly supported Asean's bilateral pacts with six trading partners forming the Asean+6 group.
Asean and its partners must create a framework for East Asian integration, he said.
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma seek system
By ACHARA PONGVUTITHAM, PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
THE NATION ON SUNDAY
Published on August 16, 2009
Major Asean rice-producers Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma plan to form an association to create a sustainable system for trading and production.
The plan was unveiled yesterday following Cambodian leader Hun Sen's initiative at the Asean Summit in Cha-am in late February. It focuses on price stabilisation, food security in the region and rice development. It aims for price stability next year.
It comprises the five countries of the Ayeyawady-Chao Praya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (Acmecs) and will set up an Acmecs Rice Traders Association.
Thailand, Laos and Cambodia have agreed in principle and plan talks with Cambodia and Burma during the Asean Economic Ministers Meeting, which ends today.
For some years Thailand and Vietnam have cooperated to curb price-cutting in the export market through data exchange.
A Thai source close to the negotiations said they solved Thailand's major problem on circumvention by neighbouring countries, diluted price-cutting in the region and stabilised prices.
"It will create a supply chain in the region which will strengthen bargaining power in the world market," the source said.
Chaiya Yimvilai, adviser to the commerce minister, said yesterday that Laos proposed Thailand and Vietnam draw up the plan.
Thailand and Vietnam are white-rice producers while Laos focuses on sticky rice.
Laos has approached Thailand as a partner in a joint venture with Kuwait to grow rice in Laos.
The Lao government has allocated 200,000 hectares.
Laos has 2 million hectares set aside for rice, but only 900,000 are actually under the crop.
Meanwhile, the Asean-Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Agreement comes into force on January 1.
Australia and New Zealand are important trade partners of Asean, with bilateral trade in 2008 valued at US$67.2 billion (Bt2.3 trillion). They were the seventh largest export market of Asean.
Asean exports to Australia and New Zealand reached nearly $44 billion last year. Major goods were fuel, machinery, automobiles, gold and electrical appliances.
Chaiya added that Thailand and Australia would increase trade in services under the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Australia wants to see more business-to-business trade.
Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said the Asean-Australia and New Zealand Closer Economic Relations (CER) pact would benefit trade and investment growth during the global economic downturn.
"The pact will not only open market access between the two regions but also capacity-building and integration among us," he said, and though technical details remained to be worked out, it should be implemented on schedule early next year.
Crean also strongly supported Asean's bilateral pacts with six trading partners forming the Asean+6 group.
Asean and its partners must create a framework for East Asian integration, he said.
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The Irrawaddy - Behind the Scenes of Webb’s Visit
By AUNG ZAW - Sunday, August 16, 2009
US Sen Jim Webb’s timely visit to Burma has secured the release of the American intruder John William Yettaw, but the overall mission has received mixed reactions from observers and campaign groups.
The visit must not lend any legitimacy to the repressive dictatorship and even more pressure must be applied on the generals, say opposition groups.
Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Southeast Asia-based Altsean Burma, said the junta’s leaders granted Webb face-to-face meetings with Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Aung San Suu Kyi only because of unprecedented international and regional pressure.
“It is ironic that Sen Jim Webb is allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and [Snr Gen] Than Shwe because of pressure and sanctions,” Stothard said, while Webb himself opposes the US sanction policy. He is chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Well-informed sources told The Irrawaddy that before Webb’s non-official visit, Snr-Gen Than Shwe authorized secret discussions between Burmese and US representatives in a calculated diplomatic maneuver to deflect international pressure stemming from the sentencing of Suu Kyi.
The Burmese side gave the green light to the senator’s visit shortly after her bizarre trial ended last week. Webb arrived days after the conviction, and Yettaw’s release came a few days later.
In the past, the regime has played similar tactical maneuvers to dilute international pressure. Burma watchers recall that in February 1994, US Rep Bill Richardson was allowed to meet Suu Kyi for more than five hours at her house.
This newest gesture comes at a moment when the Obama administration is set to release its new Burma policy, following rising signals that US officials are open to new approaches on Burma, including, perhaps as a first step, the lifting of visa bans on Burmese officials and restoring the post of ambassador in Burma. Yettaw’s release sends a conciliatory signal to the US and European Union and carries the potential to deflect stronger sanctions. The US expanded its sanctions only last month.
Than Shwe, who granted Webb a personal audience in the fortress capital of Naypyidaw, also allowed him to meet Suu Kyi, the detained Nobel Peace Prize winner who last week received an additional 18-month suspended sentence and is now under house arrest in her lakeside home.
Burma watchers warn that Yettaw’s release is purely superficial because Suu Kyi and 2,100 other political prisoners remain in prison. Real substance is needed to justify US, or international, policy changes, and yet there’s a danger that the regime could manipulated the event to its advantage.
The Democratic senator, who noted that he asked for the release of Suu Kyi, said in a press statement: “It is my hope that we can take advantage of these gestures as a way to begin laying a foundation of goodwill and confidence-building in the future.”
A senior US security official said last week that Webb did not carry a message from the US administration, but the White House followed the visit closely and welcomed it.
“It is important for the Burmese leadership to hear the strong views of American political leaders about the path it should take toward democracy, good governance and genuine national reconciliation,” said Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
On Saturday, Fred C. Lash, a state department spokesman, reiterated that Yettaw’s release was a welcome step but more is needed.
“We also call on Burmese authorities to release unconditionally Aung San Suu Kyi and all of Burma’s more than 2,100 political prisoners in order to begin a process of national reconciliation and inclusive political dialogue,” he said.
Chiang Mai-based Burma analyst, Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist and author of several books on Burma, said, “It is naïve to expect these generals to listen to America and change their course.”
Regime watchers noted that a background drama involving Burma and China was also unfolding during Webb’s visit.
China’s unchallenged economic influence in Burma is growing, and Asia’s largest power clearly enjoys a regional strategic advantage in its unchallenged relationship.
Webb noted in an earlier statement: “As the United States continues its attempt to isolate Burma due to the human rights policies of its military regime, China’s influence has grown exponentially.”
However, Lintner said, “There’s no way that Burma will give up China because of America.”
Burma’s main concern, he said, is to maintain its good relationship with China and India, its two powerful neighbors, followed by Asean and a good relationship with the rest of the world including the U.S and EU.
A veteran Burmese journalist told The Irrawaddy that the regime’s relationship with China is deeply rooted, but even so Than Shwe and other top leaders are unhappy that China lends its political support to ethnic armed groups along the Sino-Burma border, in fear that clashes between the junta’s troops and ethnic armies could unleash a wave of refugees seeking safety in China, much like what has happened on the Thai-Burmese border.
Only this month, about 10,000 people, including Kokang and Chinese migrants, sought shelter in China after tensions increased between government troops and the Myanmar [Burma] National Democratic Alliance Army, a Kokang ceasefire group.
“Than Shwe is a clever chess player, and he may want to send a signal to China that he could have better relations with America,” said the Rangoon-based journalist.
However, considering the regime’s heavy reliance on China in terms of military hardware, trade and investment, plus a planned gas pipeline into Yunnan Province, he said, “The 20-year-old girl [Burma] is now pregnant, and she is not going to leave her husband [China] anytime soon.”
By AUNG ZAW - Sunday, August 16, 2009
US Sen Jim Webb’s timely visit to Burma has secured the release of the American intruder John William Yettaw, but the overall mission has received mixed reactions from observers and campaign groups.
The visit must not lend any legitimacy to the repressive dictatorship and even more pressure must be applied on the generals, say opposition groups.
Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Southeast Asia-based Altsean Burma, said the junta’s leaders granted Webb face-to-face meetings with Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Aung San Suu Kyi only because of unprecedented international and regional pressure.
“It is ironic that Sen Jim Webb is allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and [Snr Gen] Than Shwe because of pressure and sanctions,” Stothard said, while Webb himself opposes the US sanction policy. He is chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Well-informed sources told The Irrawaddy that before Webb’s non-official visit, Snr-Gen Than Shwe authorized secret discussions between Burmese and US representatives in a calculated diplomatic maneuver to deflect international pressure stemming from the sentencing of Suu Kyi.
The Burmese side gave the green light to the senator’s visit shortly after her bizarre trial ended last week. Webb arrived days after the conviction, and Yettaw’s release came a few days later.
In the past, the regime has played similar tactical maneuvers to dilute international pressure. Burma watchers recall that in February 1994, US Rep Bill Richardson was allowed to meet Suu Kyi for more than five hours at her house.
This newest gesture comes at a moment when the Obama administration is set to release its new Burma policy, following rising signals that US officials are open to new approaches on Burma, including, perhaps as a first step, the lifting of visa bans on Burmese officials and restoring the post of ambassador in Burma. Yettaw’s release sends a conciliatory signal to the US and European Union and carries the potential to deflect stronger sanctions. The US expanded its sanctions only last month.
Than Shwe, who granted Webb a personal audience in the fortress capital of Naypyidaw, also allowed him to meet Suu Kyi, the detained Nobel Peace Prize winner who last week received an additional 18-month suspended sentence and is now under house arrest in her lakeside home.
Burma watchers warn that Yettaw’s release is purely superficial because Suu Kyi and 2,100 other political prisoners remain in prison. Real substance is needed to justify US, or international, policy changes, and yet there’s a danger that the regime could manipulated the event to its advantage.
The Democratic senator, who noted that he asked for the release of Suu Kyi, said in a press statement: “It is my hope that we can take advantage of these gestures as a way to begin laying a foundation of goodwill and confidence-building in the future.”
A senior US security official said last week that Webb did not carry a message from the US administration, but the White House followed the visit closely and welcomed it.
“It is important for the Burmese leadership to hear the strong views of American political leaders about the path it should take toward democracy, good governance and genuine national reconciliation,” said Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
On Saturday, Fred C. Lash, a state department spokesman, reiterated that Yettaw’s release was a welcome step but more is needed.
“We also call on Burmese authorities to release unconditionally Aung San Suu Kyi and all of Burma’s more than 2,100 political prisoners in order to begin a process of national reconciliation and inclusive political dialogue,” he said.
Chiang Mai-based Burma analyst, Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist and author of several books on Burma, said, “It is naïve to expect these generals to listen to America and change their course.”
Regime watchers noted that a background drama involving Burma and China was also unfolding during Webb’s visit.
China’s unchallenged economic influence in Burma is growing, and Asia’s largest power clearly enjoys a regional strategic advantage in its unchallenged relationship.
Webb noted in an earlier statement: “As the United States continues its attempt to isolate Burma due to the human rights policies of its military regime, China’s influence has grown exponentially.”
However, Lintner said, “There’s no way that Burma will give up China because of America.”
Burma’s main concern, he said, is to maintain its good relationship with China and India, its two powerful neighbors, followed by Asean and a good relationship with the rest of the world including the U.S and EU.
A veteran Burmese journalist told The Irrawaddy that the regime’s relationship with China is deeply rooted, but even so Than Shwe and other top leaders are unhappy that China lends its political support to ethnic armed groups along the Sino-Burma border, in fear that clashes between the junta’s troops and ethnic armies could unleash a wave of refugees seeking safety in China, much like what has happened on the Thai-Burmese border.
Only this month, about 10,000 people, including Kokang and Chinese migrants, sought shelter in China after tensions increased between government troops and the Myanmar [Burma] National Democratic Alliance Army, a Kokang ceasefire group.
“Than Shwe is a clever chess player, and he may want to send a signal to China that he could have better relations with America,” said the Rangoon-based journalist.
However, considering the regime’s heavy reliance on China in terms of military hardware, trade and investment, plus a planned gas pipeline into Yunnan Province, he said, “The 20-year-old girl [Burma] is now pregnant, and she is not going to leave her husband [China] anytime soon.”
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The Irrawaddy - Are Monks Preparing to Return to the Streets?
By MIN LWIN, Saturday, August 15, 2009
Buddhist monks, angered by the Burmese junta’s decision to place democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi under a further 18 months of house arrest, may be preparing to take to the streets again in protest, according to sources in Rangoon.
Burma’s monasteries, some with as many as a thousand monks, have been largely silent since a crackdown on monk-led protests nearly two years ago. But some monks say that simmering resentment could come to a head again over the August 11 court ruling, which found Suu Kyi guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest.
“We can’t accept the court’s shameful verdict,” said a monk from a monastery near Rangoon’s famous Shwedagon Pagoda. “The military government has angered us again.”
Local residents said they have seen a handful of monks gathering near Shwedagon and Sule pagodas, two of the focal points of massive pro-democracy demonstrations in September 2007. Both locations have been under close surveillance in recent weeks as the Rangoon Northern District Court prepared to pass sentence on Suu Kyi.
Security has also been tight in other parts of the former capital.
“Local authorities are closely watching young monks and their monasteries,” said a resident of North Okkalapa Township, on the outskirts of Rangoon. “There are plainclothes security forces keeping an eye on them. I’m not sure if the monks will take to the streets again or not.”
There are more than 400,000 monks in Burma—roughly equal to the number of personnel in the armed forces of the military-ruled country. They have always played an important role in Burma’s social and political affairs, often in opposition to oppressive regimes.
Since the 2007 uprising, dubbed the Saffron Revolution, the Burmese authorities have applied pressure on senior monks to control younger monks.
“Local authorities and the township Sangha Mahanayaka Committee [the state- sponsored Buddhist monks’ organization] have asked monasteries to submit the personal details and three photos of every monk,” said a monk from Zabu Aye Monastery in North Okkalapa Township.
“The authorities have also warned senior monks that if any monk from their monastery becomes involved in anti-government demonstrations, the senior monks will be either disrobed or sentenced to three years in prison,” said the monk.
The monk also said that the authorities have strictly restricted travel by monks, who are no longer allowed to go anywhere without a letter of recommendation from their monastery.
By MIN LWIN, Saturday, August 15, 2009
Buddhist monks, angered by the Burmese junta’s decision to place democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi under a further 18 months of house arrest, may be preparing to take to the streets again in protest, according to sources in Rangoon.
Burma’s monasteries, some with as many as a thousand monks, have been largely silent since a crackdown on monk-led protests nearly two years ago. But some monks say that simmering resentment could come to a head again over the August 11 court ruling, which found Suu Kyi guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest.
“We can’t accept the court’s shameful verdict,” said a monk from a monastery near Rangoon’s famous Shwedagon Pagoda. “The military government has angered us again.”
Local residents said they have seen a handful of monks gathering near Shwedagon and Sule pagodas, two of the focal points of massive pro-democracy demonstrations in September 2007. Both locations have been under close surveillance in recent weeks as the Rangoon Northern District Court prepared to pass sentence on Suu Kyi.
Security has also been tight in other parts of the former capital.
“Local authorities are closely watching young monks and their monasteries,” said a resident of North Okkalapa Township, on the outskirts of Rangoon. “There are plainclothes security forces keeping an eye on them. I’m not sure if the monks will take to the streets again or not.”
There are more than 400,000 monks in Burma—roughly equal to the number of personnel in the armed forces of the military-ruled country. They have always played an important role in Burma’s social and political affairs, often in opposition to oppressive regimes.
Since the 2007 uprising, dubbed the Saffron Revolution, the Burmese authorities have applied pressure on senior monks to control younger monks.
“Local authorities and the township Sangha Mahanayaka Committee [the state- sponsored Buddhist monks’ organization] have asked monasteries to submit the personal details and three photos of every monk,” said a monk from Zabu Aye Monastery in North Okkalapa Township.
“The authorities have also warned senior monks that if any monk from their monastery becomes involved in anti-government demonstrations, the senior monks will be either disrobed or sentenced to three years in prison,” said the monk.
The monk also said that the authorities have strictly restricted travel by monks, who are no longer allowed to go anywhere without a letter of recommendation from their monastery.
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DVB News - Burma’s political turmoil runs ever deeper
Pascal Khoo-Thwe
Aug 14, 2009 (DVB)–It is hard to imagine what kind of life Aung San Suu Kyi would now be leading had she not taken the decision to plunge headlong into the brutal world of Burmese politics in 1988.
More than twenty years ago, she was leading the quiet and stable life of an academic and loving mother to two young children, and would have been likely to follow that trajectory, with its own achievements and satisfactions, had circumstances not forced her to choose a very different path. Now that path is again barricaded, and beyond the walls her future is equally uncertain.
Whether she has taken the right or wrong decision for herself and her family, most of the time her life story is less to do with her but more about the mentality and desperation of her supporters and her opponents. Many people who support her cling on to her name with desperation in an effort to further their fight for freedom and democracy while ignoring the needs for discipline, tolerance and consistency that she advocates. On the other hand, her critics, mostly people who supported her when the going was good, cite her lack of flexibility on political matters.
It all comes about because both have been unable to persuade or shift the generals whose grip on power has been consolidated by the monetary and military support of opportunistic nations and conglomerates. Moreover, with bickering rife among opposition groups, not many people seem to consider the fact that infighting is part of the process before 'victory' is achieved, and this is made worse by the ‘winner-takes-all’ politics.
One thing for sure, her name is often used and misused by both political activists and the military, in the same way that previous rulers of Burma used her father, Aung San's memory, after his assassination. Choosing her cause is as easy as picking fallen fruits on the ground, but it is not easy to fight for it. At the same time, criticizing her is as easy as shooting a bird in a cage.
She was regarded by almost the whole of Burma as the saviour of the nation when she came into the Burmese political scene in August 1988. Now, however, she is seen as the victim of ruthless generals, and some former supporters even go so far as to blame her for the troubles she is facing, because she has been unable to deliver them the 'democracy' they expected.
Similarly, her role as the daughter of the national hero has been overtaken imperceptibly by her own acquired status as the lone freedom fighter, but neither her supporters nor opponents have been able to accept the subtle differences between the two roles. Many would still like to think that she is the only person who could save the country single-handedly, thus ignoring many opportunities to solve some of the real problems for our country in the process. We just hope and pray too much with too little prepared plans and actions. We just like other people to do it for us but criticize them if they make mistakes.
Even if she is allowed to take part in political activities in the future, there would still be problems for Suu Kyi when it comes to tackling the intricate and deep-rooted problems of the country, either in her capacity as a figurehead of the nation or leader of a political party. Burma has never matured to a stage where a head of state can act solely in the interests of the whole nation without implicating his or her political influence and affiliation. Many old political figures were in politics solely because they were involved in the struggle for the country's independence, not because of their ability to rule the nation or run a government. The situation is not much better at the moment.
The turmoil has been compounded and complicated by support for the junta from allied countries. Currently, the army attempts to possess nuclear weapons with the help of North Korea as a way frightening its neighbours into submission, but it could also attract more aggressive foreign intervention which could fracture the army and the nation further.
Despite the dangers, the junta is likely to use the strategy as the bargaining chip in its dealings with the international community in the same way that North Korea has been doing, having already jeopardised the option of using Suu Kyi's release as political currency.
Now that Aung San Suu Kyi will be imprisoned for the coming future, opposition groups, supporters and detractors have to think hard about the best way to push the junta into negotiations. But without coordinated international or at least regional efforts, it would be a long time before the country could enjoy real freedom. It would not be the end of the problems for the generals either, even if they could get rid of her and her supporters. Burmese politics can mutate into various 'unpleasant' forms as long as the people are regarded as the enemy by the government, be it military or civilian.
Burma’s ruling generals, who believe in many kinds of prophecy, necromancy and numerology, would be wise to heed Suu Kyi’s late husband, Michael Aris' warning, quoting the Burmese proverb, 'Touch my wife, watch my knife'. Domestic and international anger towards them is growing ever more palpable, and various minor concession from the junta are an acknowledgement of this, but anger and infighting often blurs the potential for a clear-cut strategy to tackle them with. Superstition and threats alone will not shift the generals, but pragmatism from their opponents can be a lethal weapon
Pascal Khoo-Thwe
Aug 14, 2009 (DVB)–It is hard to imagine what kind of life Aung San Suu Kyi would now be leading had she not taken the decision to plunge headlong into the brutal world of Burmese politics in 1988.
More than twenty years ago, she was leading the quiet and stable life of an academic and loving mother to two young children, and would have been likely to follow that trajectory, with its own achievements and satisfactions, had circumstances not forced her to choose a very different path. Now that path is again barricaded, and beyond the walls her future is equally uncertain.
Whether she has taken the right or wrong decision for herself and her family, most of the time her life story is less to do with her but more about the mentality and desperation of her supporters and her opponents. Many people who support her cling on to her name with desperation in an effort to further their fight for freedom and democracy while ignoring the needs for discipline, tolerance and consistency that she advocates. On the other hand, her critics, mostly people who supported her when the going was good, cite her lack of flexibility on political matters.
It all comes about because both have been unable to persuade or shift the generals whose grip on power has been consolidated by the monetary and military support of opportunistic nations and conglomerates. Moreover, with bickering rife among opposition groups, not many people seem to consider the fact that infighting is part of the process before 'victory' is achieved, and this is made worse by the ‘winner-takes-all’ politics.
One thing for sure, her name is often used and misused by both political activists and the military, in the same way that previous rulers of Burma used her father, Aung San's memory, after his assassination. Choosing her cause is as easy as picking fallen fruits on the ground, but it is not easy to fight for it. At the same time, criticizing her is as easy as shooting a bird in a cage.
She was regarded by almost the whole of Burma as the saviour of the nation when she came into the Burmese political scene in August 1988. Now, however, she is seen as the victim of ruthless generals, and some former supporters even go so far as to blame her for the troubles she is facing, because she has been unable to deliver them the 'democracy' they expected.
Similarly, her role as the daughter of the national hero has been overtaken imperceptibly by her own acquired status as the lone freedom fighter, but neither her supporters nor opponents have been able to accept the subtle differences between the two roles. Many would still like to think that she is the only person who could save the country single-handedly, thus ignoring many opportunities to solve some of the real problems for our country in the process. We just hope and pray too much with too little prepared plans and actions. We just like other people to do it for us but criticize them if they make mistakes.
Even if she is allowed to take part in political activities in the future, there would still be problems for Suu Kyi when it comes to tackling the intricate and deep-rooted problems of the country, either in her capacity as a figurehead of the nation or leader of a political party. Burma has never matured to a stage where a head of state can act solely in the interests of the whole nation without implicating his or her political influence and affiliation. Many old political figures were in politics solely because they were involved in the struggle for the country's independence, not because of their ability to rule the nation or run a government. The situation is not much better at the moment.
The turmoil has been compounded and complicated by support for the junta from allied countries. Currently, the army attempts to possess nuclear weapons with the help of North Korea as a way frightening its neighbours into submission, but it could also attract more aggressive foreign intervention which could fracture the army and the nation further.
Despite the dangers, the junta is likely to use the strategy as the bargaining chip in its dealings with the international community in the same way that North Korea has been doing, having already jeopardised the option of using Suu Kyi's release as political currency.
Now that Aung San Suu Kyi will be imprisoned for the coming future, opposition groups, supporters and detractors have to think hard about the best way to push the junta into negotiations. But without coordinated international or at least regional efforts, it would be a long time before the country could enjoy real freedom. It would not be the end of the problems for the generals either, even if they could get rid of her and her supporters. Burmese politics can mutate into various 'unpleasant' forms as long as the people are regarded as the enemy by the government, be it military or civilian.
Burma’s ruling generals, who believe in many kinds of prophecy, necromancy and numerology, would be wise to heed Suu Kyi’s late husband, Michael Aris' warning, quoting the Burmese proverb, 'Touch my wife, watch my knife'. Domestic and international anger towards them is growing ever more palpable, and various minor concession from the junta are an acknowledgement of this, but anger and infighting often blurs the potential for a clear-cut strategy to tackle them with. Superstition and threats alone will not shift the generals, but pragmatism from their opponents can be a lethal weapon
*************************************************************
DVB News - White Campaign launched for Suu Kyi
Aug 15, 2009 (DVB)–A five-day public movement known as the White Campaign has been launched in Burma following the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi and will be carried out across four of Burma’s principle divisions.
The campaign was organiseed by a group who have continually held prayer ceremonies every Tuesday since Suu Kyi’s first incarceration, and includes members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Myint Myint Aye, NLD secretary in Mandalay division’s Meikhtila township, who is one of the organisers of the campaign, urged the public to join.
“From 15 to 19 August, we will be wearing white and holdng prayers at pagodas,” he said. “This is to peacefully express our will to bring our leader to freedom. We urge our NLD members [across Burma] to join in with the campaign.”
Anyone can join in with the campaign by wearing white, offering white flowers at pagoda and by painting houses and fences with the colour white, she said.
The campaign will be carried out in around 20 different townships in Bago, Mandalay, Magwe and Rangoon divisions.
Bago NLD women’s wing leader Khin Nyunt Mu said the campaign “is not a demonstration, this is not an act against the government – we are to only show our will from inside the law.”
“We urge the people to use everything white during the campaign – wear white, ride white and also offer white flowers at the pagoda as well as painting your house white or hang white plastic bags by your doors.”
On Monday Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further 18 months under house arrest, following a visit by US citizen John Yettaw to her compound in May.
The verdict, although short of the anticipated five years in detention, has brought worldwide condemnation. Thailand said today that it was looking for a consensus among regional leaders to call for a pardon for Suu Kyi.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
Aug 15, 2009 (DVB)–A five-day public movement known as the White Campaign has been launched in Burma following the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi and will be carried out across four of Burma’s principle divisions.
The campaign was organiseed by a group who have continually held prayer ceremonies every Tuesday since Suu Kyi’s first incarceration, and includes members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Myint Myint Aye, NLD secretary in Mandalay division’s Meikhtila township, who is one of the organisers of the campaign, urged the public to join.
“From 15 to 19 August, we will be wearing white and holdng prayers at pagodas,” he said. “This is to peacefully express our will to bring our leader to freedom. We urge our NLD members [across Burma] to join in with the campaign.”
Anyone can join in with the campaign by wearing white, offering white flowers at pagoda and by painting houses and fences with the colour white, she said.
The campaign will be carried out in around 20 different townships in Bago, Mandalay, Magwe and Rangoon divisions.
Bago NLD women’s wing leader Khin Nyunt Mu said the campaign “is not a demonstration, this is not an act against the government – we are to only show our will from inside the law.”
“We urge the people to use everything white during the campaign – wear white, ride white and also offer white flowers at the pagoda as well as painting your house white or hang white plastic bags by your doors.”
On Monday Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further 18 months under house arrest, following a visit by US citizen John Yettaw to her compound in May.
The verdict, although short of the anticipated five years in detention, has brought worldwide condemnation. Thailand said today that it was looking for a consensus among regional leaders to call for a pardon for Suu Kyi.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
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