http://www.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=14315
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By AUNG ZAW Thursday, September 25, 2008
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The surprise release of a number of prominent political prisoners on Tuesday, including one of Burma’s most famous detained dissidents, Win Tin, has many political pundits asking if the country’s supreme leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, is finally ready to make further concessions to placate his international critics.
It was not lost on anybody that the move came just as world leaders were gathering in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The Burmese junta has often been censured by the world body for its egregious abuses, and it knows that the only way it can get itself off the hot seat is by taking some of the heat off of its domestic opponents.
But even as Than Shwe was giving the order to release some 9,002 prisoners (just a few of whom were political detainees), his goons were rounding up other dissidents. Just two weeks ago, they finally caught one of their most wanted: activist Nilar Thein, who had been in hiding for more than a year, separated from her 16-month-old daughter and imprisoned husband because of her role in last year’s protests.
The release of Win Tin and a handful of other political prisoners is welcome news, but it isn’t going to change the image of the Burmese regime, which still holds more than 2,000 pro-democracy activists and political leaders in its prisons.
If Than Shwe wants to show the world that he is sincere about improving Burma’s repressive political climate, he should set a timeframe for the release all of these prisoners and make his seven-step political “road map” more inclusive. But don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.
To understand what the regime is trying to achieve with this latest conciliatory gesture, we need to put it into the context of the junta’s long-term game plan, which is to advance the road map by making it seem more credible in the eyes of the international community.
The state-run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, hinted at this objective when it announced the “amnesty,” saying that the release of the prisoners would “enable them to serve the interests of the regions and … the fair election to be held in 2010 … after realizing the government’s loving kindness and goodwill.”
Besides trying to win support for the planned election, the regime may also be obliquely responding to the demands of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, without whose support the road map is unlikely to win much recognition among the junta’s staunchest foreign critics.
Although Than Shwe has so far shown no willingness to give in to Suu Kyi’s appeal for an end to her detention, which was illegally extended in May, his decision to free Win Tin and a few other political prisoners may be a signal that some compromise is possible.
For her part, Suu Kyi may also be sending more conciliatory signals to the regime. After refusing to accept food deliveries for several weeks from mid-August, she started accepting them again after the authorities agreed to allow her more contact with her doctor and her lawyer.
Her lawyer, Kyi Win, told The Irrawaddy recently that Suu Kyi was planning to continue with her legal challenge to the junta’s decision to extend her house arrest, and that she recently sent a letter to the regime as part of her appeal. Although he declined to disclose the contents of the letter, he indicated that it showed she was willing to set aside some differences for the sake of progress in resolving certain issues.
Some political observers believe that Suu Kyi requested the release of political prisoners, including Win Tin, who has been held in Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison for the past 19 years. Suu Kyi has repeatedly called on the regime to free the 79-year-old veteran dissident, and was no doubt delighted to hear of his release and his determination to continue with his struggle.
But even the ever-defiant Win Tin, a left-leaning political activist and former political editor of the Hanthawaddy newspaper, said that he bore no grudge against the regime. That was a smart move, as it keeps the door open for future dialogue that could lead to further prisoner releases.
Win Tin and the other political prisoners who were freed on Wednesday are all regarded as “hardliners” in Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). Win Tin is particularly well known internationally as Burma’s longest-serving political prisoner. His release would not have been possible without careful consultation with Than Shwe, who must have calculated that it would bring him some political advantage.
Now that Than Shwe has made his play, it is up to the international community to decide how to respond. Most notably, this raises the stakes for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been contemplating a return visit to Burma sometime later this year.
Ban’s last trip to the country in May was a desperate bid to break the deadlock over the regime’s refusal to allow international aid workers into the country in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. He succeeded in winning some degree of cooperation from the junta, but efforts to end the country’s longstanding political impasse were put on the backburner. If he returns, he will have to address some of the political issues that have had such a devastating effect on the country over the past two decades.
On the face of it, Than Shwe’s decision to release a handful of political prisoners should make Ban’s job easier, as it can be held up as evidence of progress. But just as no one was particularly impressed by his deal with the junta in May, which brought limited benefits to ordinary people but won no significant guarantees from the regime, critics are likely to decry any sign that Ban is prepared to settle for token gestures instead of insisting on real concessions.
This means that the UN chief may be forced to push for nothing less than the release of Suu Kyi. Some pundits suggest that there is a real possibility that Than Shwe might even accept this demand, if the NLD and the regime can reach some sort of agreement on the upcoming election and amendments to the new constitution.
Such a development would make the road map more inclusive and more credible at home and abroad, but don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen. Former senior intelligence officers who have worked with Than Shwe say that he is just up to his old tricks, and isn’t likely to give in to any demands as long as he can string the UN along with empty promises and misleading signs of “progress.”
However this plays out, it is obvious that Burma’s paramount leader is under intense pressure. Than Shwe does not make any move lightly, and now that he has released a handful of political prisoners, he will be watching the world’s reaction carefully before he decides if it’s necessary to take any further risks.
The greatest mistake the world could make right now is to give Than Shwe any undeserved credit for his latest move. Only when he sees that the international community is serious about demanding real progress will he even consider releasing Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Than Shwe’s Gambit
Analysis: First debate produces night of contrasts
Analysis: First debate produces night of contrasts
By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Liberal and Democrat vs. conservative and Republican. Taller, younger and black vs. shorter, older and white.
It was a night of contrasts as Barack Obama and John McCain shared a stage in their first of three presidential debates.
The only similarities: a lack of specifics, a reliance on campaign-trail sound bites and an inability to answer a question directly.
Who won? The scoring is done at home by voters and the outcome depends on how they judged each candidate's temperament and tone.
When McCain's voice rose with indignation over Iraq, Iran and the U.S. financial bailout, did he come across as passionate or intemperate? When Obama delivered a studious answer about meetings with foreign leaders, did viewers see a thoughtful candidate or a detached Democrat?
This debate, primarily focused on foreign policy, was supposed to be McCain's sweet spot and a stiff challenge for Obama. But the first-term Illinois senator held his own, displaying a comfortable understanding of what was considered his toughest policy subject. So did McCain — but the four-term Arizona senator was expected to.
Appearances were striking from the time the two walked onto the stage at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
Obama, age 47, 6-foot-1 and black, glided; McCain, age 72, 5-foot-9 and white moved with a quick gait. The rivals shook hands and took their positions behind a pair of podiums.
As the debate opened, moderator Jim Lehrer prodded the two to directly engage with each other and encouraged skirmishing. This was, after all, the first time each was able to answer the other's months of criticisms directly.
It took a few questions, but then the charges and counter charges came easily to both. The back-and-forth gained intensity throughout the 90-minute debate, though civility was never lost.
Both landed their punches and stuck to their playbooks.
McCain repeatedly found new ways to label his rival a liberal, while Obama kept calling McCain an extension of George W. Bush.
"It's hard to reach across the aisle from that far to the left," McCain said of Obama. On Iraq, Afghanistan and other issues, Obama mentioned "Senator McCain and President Bush" in one breath.
At times, both candidates struggled to keep their composure, and their dislike for each another showed through.
When Obama assailed McCain's tax proposals and accused him of wanting to give another $4 billion in tax breaks to oil companies, McCain smiled tightly, chuckled and said: "With all due respect, you already gave them to the oil companies."
And, as McCain criticized Obama's position on last year's troop increase strategy in Iraq, Obama smirked, pursed his lips and muttered repeatedly: "That's not true."
Each took shots at the other.
In an exchange with Obama about meeting with foreign leaders, McCain said: "I'm not going to set the White House visitors schedule before I'm president of the United States. I don't even have a seal yet." It was a reference to an Obama campaign crest, modeled after the White House seal, that made a brief appearance on a podium at an Obama event.
Obama, in turn, agreed with McCain that presidents must be prudent in what they say about foreign policy. Then he questioned the credibility of McCain on that principle, given that he "has threatened extinction for North Korea" and "sung songs about bombing Iran." In 1994, McCain said that he knew what North Korean leaders understood "and that is the threat of extinction." He also once answered a question about military action against Iran with the chorus of the Beach Boys classic "Barbara Ann."
On questions of international affairs, McCain showed his mastery of facts and names and history, while Obama was crisp and commanding.
It was McCain who struggled with the name of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, even though he clearly knows the pronunciation and spoke it flawlessly minutes later.
Given the stakes for Obama, what would the fallout had been had he stumbled?
McCain poked fun at his age; he'd be the oldest first-term elected president. He said the financial crisis was the greatest in "our time" — and added: "I've been around a little while." At another point, after Obama repeated a comment: "Were you afraid I couldn't hear you?"
The Republican also frequently provided a history lesson, talking of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower before the D-Day invasion, President Reagan's decision in the 1980s to keep troops in Lebanon, Richard M. Nixon's outreach to China in the 1970s, and his own Vietnam service.
Such comments were a double-edged sword: they underscored his experience but also reminded people of his senior citizen status.
Obama, too, addressed a weakness in hopes of putting skeptical voters at ease. He noted his father came from Kenya and said: "That's where I get my name."
Both were playing their own games; neither was outside of their comfort zones. Each repeated phrases made repeatedly on the campaign trail. It was, however, the first time many of the tens of millions of TV viewers had heard the lines.
____
EDITOR'S NOTE — Liz Sidoti covers the presidential campaign for The Associated Press and has covered national politics since 2003.
SKN on UN Committee to review Burma’s membership
http://sunstkitts.com/paper/?asknw=view&asknw=view&sun=494418078207132005&an=151458109209262008&ac=Local#StoryTop
Friday September 26 2008
St. Kitts/Nevis has been appointed to a nine-member United Nations Credentials Committee set up to review a challenge to the Burma’s membership.
The 63rd UN General Assembly appointed the Credentials Committee comprising Botswana, China, Cyprus, United States, Russia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Mozambique and St. Kitts/Nevis.
The Burmese opposition groups in exile, which have launched the credential challenge to oust the junta at the UN, argue that as the generals have been forcibly retaining power and have ruled the country illegally, the UN should review its credential.
The credential challenge will be first reviewed and discussed by the committee before taking a decision on it.
Only if the committee decides to put it forward, will it be submitted to the general assembly for a final decision.
Burma became a UN member state in 1948 and from 1961 to 1971, U Thant, a Burmese diplomat served as the third general secretary.
Burma enjoyed a brief period of parliamentary democracy following its Independence from British rule in the period 1948 to 1962. But in March 1962, the military led by former general, Newin, grabbed power in a coup and transformed the country into a socialist state.
In 1988, Burmese people rejected the socialist form of governance and ousted Newin and his one party system in a mass protest. But the legacy of the military went on when the current batch of generals assumed power in a coup in September 1988.
The junta in 1990 held general elections, where detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory.
However, the junta refused to hand over power and continued to rule the country with an iron grip.
Burma: The revolution that didn't happen
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7635419.stm
By Kate McGeown
BBC News
It was dubbed the Saffron Revolution. Last September thousands of monks marched down the streets of Rangoon to call for democratic change.
They pledged to "wipe the military dictatorship from the land of Burma", and as the days went by increasing numbers of civilians joined their cause.
Hope began to flicker that the repressive military regime, which had been in power for more than 40 years, would finally be overthrown.
Then, on 26 September, the military's patience ran out. It launched a brutal crackdown, shooting and beating the protesters into submission.
By the end of 27 September at least 30 people were dead and thousands of monks were imprisoned or fled the country. The dream of a revolution was over.
Muted opposition
A year on, people are still trapped under the same dictatorial regime.
Other than a small demonstration in Sittwe, no other attempt to mark the anniversary of last year's protests has been reported.
No-one dares to even say the word democracy
The government has increased its vigilance, curtailing the freedom of both monks and civilians, and BBC News website users inside the country tell us that although people are still talking about what happened last September, they are too scared to do anything about it.
"The junta has reduced the number of monks in each monastery. The monks dare not go out now," said Aung in Rangoon.
"No-one dares to even say the word democracy," added J, also from Rangoon.
Many would-be BBC News website users probably cannot reach us at all, because internet speeds have slowed dramatically, preventing people from uploading photos or videos as they did last year to tell the world what was happening.
Some dissident websites had to shut down completely for a few days last week, because of what they claim was interference by government computer experts.
Meanwhile the military appears to be continuing with its political plans as if the protests had never happened.
It is pressing ahead with its new constitution and so-called "roadmap for democracy", which promises an eventual elected government but has already been labeled a sham by the international community.
Despite the devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis in May, the government pressed ahead with a referendum on its plans just weeks after the disaster.
It is even carrying on apace with construction of its new capital, Nay Pyi Taw.
While millions are still suffering from the cyclone, or battling to pay the increasing cost of food and fuel, glistening new offices are being built, along with six-lane highways, golf courses and even a zoo with an air-conditioned penguin house.
'Wake-up call'
Given all this, it would be tempting to assume that last year's protests achieved nothing.
But U Kovida, one of the monks who led the demonstrations, disagrees.
He managed to escape from Burma by growing his hair so he could pass as a civilian and crossing the Thai border, and can never go back to his homeland - but he still has no regrets.
"I'm glad I did it, despite everything," he said. "We have to stick to our cause, we need human rights."
Dr Aung Kin, a Burmese historian, says the protests had a "ripple effect" among the overseas community, galvanizing them into action to help people still in the country.
"It was a wake-up call," he said.
The brutality of the crackdown also piled international pressure on the government to bring about serious democratic change.
This pressure was undoubtedly a major factor in the government's decision to let UN envoy Ibrahim Gabari back into the country, and allowed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet him and members of her party, the National League for Democracy, for the first time in three years.
But, as ever with the Burmese military, this was little more than a token gesture.
Mr Gambari has now visited several times, and his trips have achieved little. In fact Aung San Suu Kyi is said to have refused to see him in August, with her party describing the visit as a "waste of time".
"The government knows how to play the game now," Dr Aung Kin said. "There hasn't been any real change."
There are still a few glimmers of hope on the horizon, though. The government has recently freed a key dissident figure, Win Tin, as well as a few other political prisoners, and there is talk of UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon visiting Burma later this year.
The South East Asian regional grouping Asean has started to get tougher on Burma than it ever has in the past, and the UN and EU are trying to persuade other nations, principally China and India, to take a more resolute stance.
But looking at the junta's past record of intransigence, few people are optimistic of significant change any time soon.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7635419.stm
Published: 2008/09/26 15:05:18 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
NLD to Celebrate 20th Anniversary
http://www.irrawaddymedia.com/article.php?art_id=14330
The National League for Democracy will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Saturday in Rangoon with newly released political prisoners.
Win Tin, a founder of the NLD, was released on Tuesday along with six other NLD members.
Filipino protesters display photos of Burma's last year protests led by Buddhist monks during a silent protest outside the Burmese Embassy at the financial district of Makati city of Manila on Friday. (Photo: AP)
The NLD is the main opposition party which won a landslide victory—392 out of 492 seats—in parliamentary election in 1990. However, the current Burmese government led by Snr-Gen Than Shwe ignored the election result and refused to transfer power to the parliament.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the NLD was warned by the head of Burma’s police, Brig-Gen Khin Yi, to withdraw a statement it made following the release of the political prisoners, said party spokesperson Nyan Win.
The statement called for a review of the junta’s constitutional process. The regime saw the statement as potentially motivating citizens to undertake activities critical of the military government.
Nyan Win said, “They [Burmese authorities] said our earlier statement can motivate people to launch a movement against them. So, they asked us to withdraw our statement.”
“We replied that our statement contained credible information, and we have proof for it. So, we can’t withdraw it,” he said
The NLD statement urged Burmese authorities to reconsider the state constitution, calling the draft constitution one-sided and lacking the participation of the 1990 elected members of parliament.
A lawyer, Thein Nyunt, who is also a member of the NLD information department, said, “It is necessary to review the constitution before it becomes legitimate.”
Burmese authorities unofficially warned opposition leaders that action could be taken against them if they continued to make such statements.
Six members of the NLD’s Central Executive Committee met with Brig-Gen Khin Yi at the Ministry of Home Affairs for about one hour on Thursday, said Nyan Win.
He said Burmese authorities are trying to pressure NLD leaders to stop public criticism of the military regime.
In May, the NLD dismissed the national referendum on the draft constitution, calling it non-inclusive, non-transparent and undemocratic.
The party’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been detained under house arrest for more than 13 of the past 19 years. The latest round of her house arrest began o¬n May 30, 2003, following the ambush of her motorcade by a government-orchestrated mob in Depayin in Burma’s northwest Sagaing Division.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Frightened Myanmar protesters stay away for anniversary
Photo: AFP
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/080926/afp/080926080744asiapacificnews.html
Friday September 26, 4:07 PM
YANGON (AFP) - Armed police in trucks patrolled Myanmar's main city on Friday as frightened protesters stayed home on the anniversary of last year's brutal military crackdown on mass anti-government protests.
Few worshippers turned out to pray at the famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, a rallying point for the protests that saw thousands of people led by Buddhist monks march against the military junta in the biggest uprising since 1988.
A spokesman for Myanmar's pro-democracy party said people were too scared to take to the streets this year to commemorate the uprising, amid tightened security over the past month in the run-up to the anniversary.
"My feeling on the anniversary is that I saw people completely show their desire last year, but because of the tight security this year people cannot demonstrate like this," National League of Democracy's (NLD) Nyan Win told AFP.
A small bomb injured seven people on Thursday and another was defused in front of Yangon's City Hall, another venue of last year's protests, state media and police reported.
"People are frightened now because of the bomb blast yesterday. I do not think protests like last year will happen again because of the security," a taxi driver said.
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The protests began sporadically in August 2007 over a hike in fuel prices, and slowly escalated, with 100,000 people led by the revered monks eventually staging what was dubbed the "Saffron Revolution," because of the colour of their robes.
The military regime finally launched a crackdown on September 26, opening fire on the crowds, killing 31 people according to the United Nations, including one Japanese journalist who was shot at close range.
Another 74 people remain missing and thousands more were arrested.
Security has been tightened around Yangon, with army trucks and police posted at intersections across the city and night patrols outside monasteries.
On Friday, about ten armed police trucks carrying about 200 police circled near the Shwedagon Pagoda's eastern gate.
"People are frightened. I'm praying that nothing will happen," a shopkeeper near the pagoda said.
Political repression by the junta has also increased in the past year and international diplomacy has failed to bring about change, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).
While the United Nations Special Advisor on Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, has visited the country four times, he has won only "fruitless dialogue," it said.
On Tuesday, Myanmar authorities freed seven political prisoners, members of the NLD, including the well-known journalist Win Tin, 79, who had been imprisoned since 1989.
But a day later, one activist was rearrested according to Myanmar exiles in Thailand. "I also heard he was rearrested. We still do not know the reason," Nyan Win also said.
HRW said 39 political arrests had been made in August and September alone.
On Thursday, the national police chief, Khin Yee, met for the first time with six members of the NLD's executive committee to ask for a retraction of their latest statement, Nyan Win said, adding that the request was refused.
The statement called for a review of the junta's new constitution which was issued after a referendum held in May.
Myanmar's junta, which has ruled the country since 1962, was criticised for holding the referendum just days after a cyclone left 138,000 people dead or missing across the country.
Pro-democracy activists said the vote was neither free nor fair, but the military says the new constitution has paved the way for multi-party elections to be held in 2010.
The rules render Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi ineligible to stand for election. Her NLD party won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
Call to raise Burma issue at UN
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hS9whEkyXSwndVzWEI-c0WYvXJKg
Call to raise Burma issue at UN
Irish campaigners for democracy in Burma urged the Foreign Affairs Minister to raise the issue at a United Nations summit on Monday.
Minister Micheal Martin is due to deliver a wide-ranging address in front of world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York. Burma Action Ireland held a silent demo in Dublin to remember the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy marches led by Buddhist monks in Burma a year ago.
The Remember the Brave Monks of Burma demo on Grafton Street marked the first anniversary of the so-called Saffron Revolution in the Asian country.
Monks protest in Sittwe, western Burma
စစ္ေတြကသံဃာေတာ္ေတြကေတာ့စံျပဘာဘဲလို ့ျပည္ပေရာက္ဒီမိုကေရစီေရးလွဳပ္ရွားသူေတြႀကားထဲေလးေလးစားစားေျပာေနတဲ့အသံ
ေတြက်ယ္က်ယ္ေလာင္ေလာင္ကိုႀကားေနရပါတယ္-သံဃာေတာ္အရွင္ျမတ္မ်ားမွတပါးကိုးကြယ္ရာအျခားမရိွပါဘုရား။
ုဘုန္းလိွဳင္-fwubc
Mizzima News
Saturday, 27 September 2008 21:38
New Delhi - About 150 Buddhist monks in Sittwe town in western Burma's Arakan state staged a protest march on Saturday morning to observe the first anniversary of last year's 'Saffron Revolution', eyewitness said.
Than Hlaing, a local resident of Sittwe town who witnessed the protest march told Mizzima that about 150 monks began marching from the Sittwe main road at about 10 a.m. (local time). The demonstration was peaceful.
"The monks were marching silently. Police and other officials in several cars and motorcycles followed them and asked them why they were marching," Than Hlaing said.
"People on the road were bowing and paying obeisance to the marching monks," he added.
The monks, he said, took the right side and continued marching on to U Ottama till the end of the road. They dispersed peacefully later.
"As soon as the first batch dispersed, another group of about 100 followed them and dispersed at the same point," said Than Hlaing adding that the monks ended the march at about 10:30 a.m. (local time).
While the authorities did not disrupt the procession, officials, however, followed the monks, Than Hlaing said. He was told that a monk, Shin Thawbanah, of the Ashokayone Monastery was taken away by the police.
"I was told that he [Shin Thawbanah] was taken to the police station for interrogation," said Than Hlaing, adding that he was unaware of the details.
The monks, according to Than Hlaing, were marching along the street in commemoration of the first anniversary of last year's monk-led protests, that was brutally crushed by the ruling junta.
According to the UN, at least 31 people were killed while thousands of monks and activists were arrested and detained. But activists and opposition political groups said, the number of deaths following the junta's brutal crackdown could be hundreds if not thousands.
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