News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 23 November, 2010

News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 23 November, 2010
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Suu Kyi Reaches Out to World Leaders
SPIEGEL Interview with Aung San Suu Kyi
Tearful reunion: Suu Kyi sees son for first time in a decade
Court rejects appeal over NLD ban
Frida Ghitis: Generals see Suu Kyi release as beneficial
American predicts killing of Suu Kyi
BURMA: Forces for democracy growing stronger
Aquino backs Suu Kyi's struggle for democracy
Aquino backs Suu Kyi's fight
Burma army threatens all-out assault
Editorial | Burma's small step
Philippine leader vows more support for democracy leader Suu Kyi
Myanmar rulers ban magazines with Suu Kyi photos
Suu Kyi reunited with son after a decade
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Reunites with Younges
Warnings Silence Opposition Candidates
KIO Liaison Offices Ordered to Close
Burma lifts ban on 7 Thai products
HIV/AIDS Patients Refuse to Leave Shelter
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Suu Kyi Reaches Out to World Leaders
By BA KAUNG Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Is Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi becoming her country's unofficial foreign mission chief? It's certainly beginning to look that way.

Since her release a little more than a week ago, she has spoken with a number of foreign leaders, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) said, however, that Suu Kyi is especially keen to reach out to leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Burma's other neighbors. According to NLD officials, they are currently arranging a phone conversation between the Burmese democracy icon and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva next week.

“With the help of President Aquino, we will try to arrange contacts between Daw Suu and the other Asean leaders,” said Nyo Ohn Myint, head of the foreign affairs office of the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area).

“On Monday, Aquino told Daw Suu that he witnessed martial law in his own country and that he and his country's people stand firmly behind her democratic struggle,” he added.

The 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate's first conversations with foreign leaders have been casual, according to party sources in Rangoon. But in the coming weeks, Suu Kyi is expected to reach out to more foreign leaders in an effort to rally their support for her goal of achieving national reconciliation through dialogue with the country's military rulers.

So far, with the exception of the Philippine president, all of the foreign leaders Suu Kyi has spoken with directly were from Western countries, but she has also asked her party's leaders to try to strengthen the NLD's relationship with Asean members and Burma's giant neighbors, China and India.

“Daw Suu has asked me to reach out to Chinese diplomats so that meetings with them can occur at the party office,” said Win Tin, one of Suu Kyi's closest colleagues. “She also said that of all the Asean members, the Philippines has been the most welcoming toward her and the party.”

India, China and Vietnam, the current chair of Asean, have all welcomed Burma's recent election as an important step forward for the country, but have said little about Suu Kyi's release from house arrest less than a week after the election. However, together with other foreign diplomats, the Chinese ambassador in Rangoon paid Suu Kyi a rare visit at the NLD's office the day after her release.

“There is no option for us but to be friendly with all the neighboring countries. This is what Daw Suu has said and what we are trying to achieve now,” said an NLD official.

Given her increased global popularity, Suu Kyi's role would be more than that of an informal emissary. But it remains unclear to what extent her diplomatic efforts will be able to shape the relationship between foreign countries, especially in the West, and Burma's new parliamentary government, which will remain under the control of the same military generals who have ruled for the past 22 years.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, who spoke with Suu Kyi by phone last week, said Canberra's increased engagement with Burma will be guided by the dialogue between the country's democracy activists and its new government.

According to Win Tin, however, it is uncertain how much Suu Kyi will be able to influence Western governments' approach to the ostensibly civilian regime.

“Many countries, including the United States, have said they will engage with the new government, even though they have denounced the election as a sham,” he said.

“Personally, I am not pleased with that, because they should wait and see first. But since Daw Suu is just out and our party, having been disbanded, is in a fragile state, we cannot hold high hopes that she will be able to have a big effect on how foreign governments relate to the new government in our country.”

However, in the coming months, Suu Kyi's diplomatic input will likely be a critical factor in determining whether Western economic sanctions against Burma should be lifted or not. She has said that she will first try to find out what the public thinks about this.

Some observers also say that Western democracies could use Suu Kyi to balance their engagement with the regime.

Much will depend on how the regime responds to Suu Kyi's efforts to reconnect with the Burmese people and the outside world. So far, it has not imposed any restrictions on her movements or harassed her supporters, although it did order the closure of an HIV/AIDS clinic in a Rangoon suburb soon after Suu Kyi visited last week.

Party officials said they are not particularly worried about the regime accusing Suu Kyi of following the orders of Western governments, as it did when it alleged that the NLD's decision to walk out of the National Convention to produced a new Constitution was the result of a personal meeting between Suu Kyi and Madeleine Albright in 1995, when the latter was the chief US representative to the UN.

Instead, they said they are more concerned about Suu Kyi's personal safety, adding they hope that her close friendships with foreign leaders will deter the regime from planning acts which would endanger her life.

“Using all our networks, we have been urging the international community to call on the junta to ensure Daw Suu's safety,” Win Tin said.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=20164
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11/22/2010
SPIEGEL Interview with Aung San Suu Kyi
'We Have to Tackle This -- With Peaceful Means'

By Thilo Thielke
In a SPIEGEL interview, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi discusses her house arrest, which lasted for more than seven years, overcoming fears of the military regime and her continuing fight for freedom.

SPIEGEL: Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, you were kept isolated for over seven years; you were not allowed to leave your home. How did you pass the time?

Suu Kyi: You have a great many things to do when you are under house arrest. On the one hand, it is more comfortable than sitting in prison; on the other hand, you have to look after a household, which is strenuous under such circumstances. Of course I had access to radio and books. I felt that it was my duty not to senselessly waste my time. And since I didn't want to waste my time, I tried to accomplish as much as possible.

SPIEGEL: What did you do? What kind of books did you read?

Suu Kyi: Oh, about politics, economics, novels, poems, history -- every single book that I could get my hands on.

SPIEGEL: Your lawyer told us a few weeks ago that he brought you a copy of "Harry Potter" to read.

Suu Kyi: Yes, that's right; I try to keep up with my grandchildren. That way I will know who Harry Potter is if I can ever meet them.

SPIEGEL: What opportunities did you have to maintain contact with people on the outside? Were you able to send them messages?

Suu Kyi: No, none at all. I had no Internet, no mobile phone and no satellite dish. It was only a few days ago that I even used a mobile phone for the first time. The most important contact to the outside was my radio. I sat in front of it for five, six hours a day and followed what was happening in the world. Furthermore, my doctor was allowed to visit me once a month, and sometimes my lawyers came by. During these talks, we focused primarily on my court cases.

SPIEGEL: How did you get along with your guards?

Suu Kyi: They have treated me very well. Of course they had their rules and orders that they were not allowed to break. They were friendly and helpful.

SPIEGEL: You have been able to move about freely since Nov. 13. How does it feel to be free?

Suu Kyi: Whether you believe it or not, I have always felt free inside. Being outside primarily used to mean for me: working, speaking and more people. That is also exactly how my schedule looks again now, totally different from over the past years. By the way, I feel no difference. I am fairly tired, though.

SPIEGEL: Over the past few days, you have met with political friends and diplomats, granted interviews and given a speech to your supporters. At all of these events, the regime's informers have followed your every step and monitored the people you have spoken with. How is it even possible to feel free in a state like this?

Suu Kyi: I think that freedom is sometimes a state of mind. Sometimes, mind you, but not always. I don't think that the people in this country feel free. From a legal perspective, what is happening here is unacceptable. Fundamental violations of human rights always lead to people feeling less and less human. And when something like this continuously happens in your country, then you no longer feel comfortable. You, for instance, will leave Burma again in just a few days. But for those of us who have to spend the rest of their lives here, life can be very arduous.

SPIEGEL: You once said that fear itself can be a kind of prison. The people in this country have been terrorized by a military junta for decades. How can they come to terms with the constant pressure?

Suu Kyi: I'm not telling people that they can flee the fear. It is important, however, that they don't allow fear to control their lives. You have to maintain control. If, in addition to an external force, you are also ruled by an inner one like fear, then you are even less free. Then you are totally paralyzed.

SPIEGEL: Isn't it true that you could be arrested again at any time? In the past, the junta has never had any trouble finding a reason for this.

Suu Kyi: I am not afraid of that. But I accept it as a possibility. As long as there is no law in Burma, any individual here can be arrested at any time. You could also be immediately arrested and deported. They don't even have to give you a reason for why they are doing this.

SPIEGEL: Have you ever thought that you personally pay too high a price for your political struggle? You have spent the better part of the past 20 years in isolation. For years, you haven't been able to see your sons, who live abroad.

Suu Kyi: No. What I have experienced is nothing compared to what political prisoners in prisons suffer ...

SPIEGEL: There are currently over 2,100 political prisoners in Burma who are being detained under horrendous conditions ...

Suu Kyi: ... and I would like to urgently draw the world's attention to their plight. We must do everything to secure their release.

SPIEGEL: Ever since you were released again, many people in Burma have found renewed hope. Do you experience these high expectations of you as a burden?

Suu Kyi: I see them as an incentive to work even harder. But it is also necessary to make it clear to the people that they have to do something for themselves. People shouldn't expect that I can do everything for them.

SPIEGEL: Would you, in order to move closer to achieving your objectives, also speak with the leaders of this junta?

Suu Kyi: Of course. There are many things that we have to discuss with them. We need a change in this country. Burma's economy is in ruins. Ethnic tensions are increasing. There are so many political prisoners. There are too many refugees leaving the country. There is a huge business with human trafficking. There are so many things that need to be remedied. And we have to tackle this -- with peaceful means.

SPIEGEL: But what means are available to the opposition to bring about such a change?

Suu Kyi: I can't exactly say. One thing is for sure: It certainly can't be done overnight.

Part 2: 'It Is Essential that People See What Is Happening in this Country'

SPIEGEL: On Nov. 7, parliamentary elections were held in Burma, which the military junta maintains it won by a landslide. Hardly anyone in the world believed that these elections were free and fair. The opposition was divided over whether or not it should participate or boycott them.

Suu Kyi: We have boycotted these elections and we are standing by this position.

SPIEGEL: A number of members of the opposition, including former members of your National League for Democracy, have established a new party and taken part in the elections. By contrast, the NLD is banned. The official reason given at the time was not taking part in elections. Has this weakened the movement?

Suu Kyi: There were people who believed in these elections, and they ended up losing them. We, on the other hand, have never believed in these elections, and we don't believe in them now, either. This of course doesn't mean that we cannot work together with other groups and individuals in order to advance the democratic process.

SPIEGEL: How do you propose to shape relations to influential countries like China and India, which are relatively close to the regime and do business with it? Neither country has criticized the elections.

Suu Kyi: It is important that we maintain good relations with these neighboring countries. But it would be better if India and China would support us rather than this government. We can work on this.

SPIEGEL: In the West there have been heated debates for years over whether sanctions against the military regime in Burma would be constructive or not.

Suu Kyi: This issue needs to be constantly re-examined. We are currently doing this. I don't have a final opinion on this.

SPIEGEL: In the past, you asked Western tourists not to travel to Burma because this would only support the regime. Do you still stand by this statement?

Suu Kyi: I was informed that the European Union has debated this issue. It has spoken out against group tours where Burmese government facilities are used. It endorses individual trips, however, which could benefit private companies. I haven't had an opportunity to speak with the European Union about this. But it is essential that people see what is actually happening in this country.

SPIEGEL: Will you continue your political struggle?

Suu Kyi: Of course. We have established political goals and we intend to achieve them.

Interview conducted by Thilo Thielke in Rangun, Burma http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,730390-2,00.html
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Tearful reunion: Suu Kyi sees son for first time in a decade
Youngest child granted visa 10 days after pro-democracy leader's release

Aung San Suu Kyi welcomes her son Kim Aris at Yangon International Airport on Tuesday. Just before walking into the airport terminal, the 65-year old democracy leader, who was released Nov. 13 after more than seven years under house arrest, told reporters, "I am very happy."
Image: Aung San Suu Kyi and Kim Aris
Nyein Chan Naing / EPA

Aung San Suu Kyi welcomes her son Kim Aris at Yangon International Airport on Tuesday. Just before walking into the airport terminal, the 65-year old democracy leader, who was released Nov. 13 after more than seven years under house arrest, told reporters, "I am very happy."
The Associated Press
updated 8 minutes ago 2010-11-23T10:29:01

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was reunited Tuesday with her youngest son she last saw a decade ago, in an emotional moment at the Yangon airport 10 days after she was released from detention.

Kim Aris, 33, was finally granted a visa by the military regime after waiting for several weeks in neighboring Thailand. Just before walking into the airport terminal, the 65-year old Suu Kyi, who was released Nov. 13 after more than seven years under house arrest, told reporters, "I am very happy."

Tears welled up in Suu Kyi's eyes when she first saw her son. A smiling Suu Kyi slipped her arm around his waist as the two posed briefly for photographers and then they walked out of the airport holding hands.

Clearly showing support for his mother's cause, Aris bared his left arm before airport security and the public to reveal a tattoo of the flag and symbol of Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. Suu Kyi looked at it closely and smiled. The flag and symbol feature a fighting peacock and a star.

Through her lawyer Nyan Win, Suu Kyi thanked the authorities for issuing the visa to her son, who resides in Britain and last saw his mother in December 2000. He has repeatedly been denied visas ever since by the ruling junta.

'I knew there would be problems'
Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her nonviolent struggle for democracy, was first arrested in 1989 when Kim was 11 and elder son Alexander 16. She has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years.

"I knew there would be problems," she said of her mid-life decision to go into politics. "If you make the choice you have to be prepared to accept the consequences."

Suu Kyi, who was largely raised overseas, married the British academic Michael Aris and raised their two sons in England.

But in 1988, at age 43, she returned home to take care of her ailing mother as mass demonstrations were breaking out against military rule. She was quickly thrust into a leadership role, mainly because she was the daughter of Aung San, the country's martyred founding father.

Elder son Alexander accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on his mother's behalf in 1991 — while she was serving an earlier term of house arrest — and reportedly lives in the United States.

Michael Aris died of prostate cancer in 1999 at age 53, after having been denied visas to see his wife for the three years leading up to his death. Suu Kyi has never met her two grandchildren.

While her family supported her, she said her sons had suffered particularly badly.

"They haven't done very well after the breakup of the family, especially after their father died, because Michael was a very good father," she said. "Once he was no longer there, things were not as easy as they might have been."

But she added that she always had their support: "My sons are very good to me," she said. "They've been very kind and understanding all along."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40330482/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
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Court rejects appeal over NLD ban
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 23 November 2010

Burma’s Supreme Court has refused to hear democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawsuit against the junta for dissolving her party ahead of elections, an official in the army-ruled country said Monday.

“The case was rejected by the Supreme Court in Naypyidaw,” a government official, who did not want to named, told AFP.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy was disbanded for boycotting the 7 November vote in response to rules that seemed designed to bar the dissident from taking part.

Her legal team said it would discuss its next move with the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

“We have to see whether we can go for a special appeal to take it further,” said one of her lawyers, Kyi Win.

Court verdicts in the army-ruled country rarely favour opposition activists.

Suu Kyi, who co-founded the party, unsuccessfully filed an earlier lawsuit with the Supreme Court aimed at preventing its abolition.

Her lawyers filed the second suit on her behalf in October, aimed at reversing the dissolution.

Burma’s courts also rejected a series of appeals against her house arrest before it expired just over a week ago, resulting in her release after seven straight years of detention
http://www.dvb.no/news/court-rejects-appeal-over-nld-ban/13007
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Frida Ghitis: Generals see Suu Kyi release as beneficial
Frida Ghitis • November 23, 2010

When generals in Burma (now called Myanmar) decided to free the world's most famous prisoner, they gave their country and supporters of human rights across the planet a reason to celebrate. Few people alive today embody courage, integrity and devotion to a cause the way Aung San Suu Kyi does.

In a time when the word "hero" has lost much of its meaning from overuse, Suu Kyi's life, and the choices she has made over the last 21 years, show exactly what the word means. She has paid what would seem an unbearable personal price, but her focus remains on her countryman's suffering. "If my people aren't free, how can I say I'm free," she asked after ending yet another term of house arrest.

Precisely because Suu Kyi's bravery knows no bounds, there is a good chance that, like her previous releases, this one will prove short-lived.

If there is a dark lining clouding this joyous moment it is knowing that the generals freed her because they feel so strong. They believe they can hold on to power even if Suu Kyi is free. The junta expects to reap benefits not only from freeing Suu Kyi but also from their recent sham election.

The Burmese military, which has ruled the country since 1962, just pulled off an electoral charade in which its own parties — laughably — won 80 percent of the vote. The election rules were so outrageous that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, the most popular party in the country, decided to boycott the vote. As a result, it was forced to disband, at least in theory. But the NLD remains a force for change, as Suu Kyi has made clear.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner could have walked free a long time ago, had she agreed to leave the country. The generals — who renamed the country Myanmar, renamed the old capital Rangoon Yangon and then moved the government to the heart of the jungle to protect themselves from a population that despises them — would like nothing more than to see Suu Kyi disappear.

"The Lady," as she is known, commands the hearts of her people. But getting rid of Suu Kyi is not so simple. She became an accidental leader after traveling from her home in England to visit her dying mother in 1988. The tide of a student movement against tyranny swept her up. After all, her name alone conjured freedom. Her father was the hero of independence, the George Washington of Burma. But her power went beyond her name. Suu Kyi's hold on the Burmese hearts was earned by personal sacrifice, intelligence and charisma. In 1990, Burmese overwhelmingly voted for her NLD. She should have become prime minister. Instead she became a prisoner, spending most of the last two decades in captivity.
Some of the most powerful experiences of my life occurred in Burma, seeing the electrifying reaction of everyday people at my efforts to see Suu Kyi, or at the mere mention of her name.

The Burmese are rightly terrified of the brutal military regime that has ground a once-prosperous country into misery over its half-century of misrule, putting thousands in prison, forcing many more into slave labor and leading millions into exile while the generals plundered the country's natural resources. But Suu Kyi's release filled the people with courage. They wore T-shirts with her picture even as government thugs ominously filmed the crowds.

An earlier stint of freedom ended in 2003 when her motorcade was attacked by government thugs, probably an assassination attempt. She was put back under arrest "for her own protection."

The generals fear the Lady with good reason. Within moments of gaining her freedom, the slender woman with the core of steel demonstrated she has not been beaten. She called for revolution, peaceful revolution, but revolution nonetheless. Showing no sign of ill will toward her tormentors, she also said she wants dialogue with the military.

What the military wants is a way to protect and perpetuate its rule under the cover of the new "elected" parliament. The generals want to ease the pressure on themselves and on the Asian countries, China and others, that trade with them despite Western objections.

If the West wants to help Suu Kyi and her people succeed in their quest for freedom, it must make it clear that freeing her was only one step in what remains a very long road to true justice in Burma.

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ASIA TIMES:Nov 24, 2010
American predicts killing of Suu Kyi
By Richard S Ehrlich

BANGKOK - The American who swam across a lake in 2009 and illegally spent two nights with Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in her home, resulting in an extension of her house arrest, said now that she is free, she will be "assassinated" as a pawn to topple the junta.

"I'm not talking about the [Myanmar] junta killing her," said John Yettaw, a Mormon from Missouri, in a phone interview. Instead, an "expendable" Suu Kyi will now be assassinated by anti-junta forces to spark the regime's collapse, Yettaw warned.

Yettaw's dream in September 2009 compelled him to swim across Inya Lake in Yangon to reach Suu Kyi's two-storey villa, to show her that killers could use that relatively unguarded route, enter her lakeside home, and easily murder her.

Yettaw was arrested after he swam back across Inya Lake from Suu Kyi's home in May 2009, put on trial, jailed for three months, and finally expelled from Myanmar.

Suu Kyi was also put on trial and had her existing house arrest extended for 18 months, for illegally allowing a foreigner to stay at her home without notifying the authorities - a crime for any Myanmar citizen.

She was finally released from house arrest on November 13 after her latest stretch of seven years. She has spent 15 of the past 21 years locked in her home after her National League of Democracy won 1990 elections - military rulers never let the party take power.
"The other part of the dream was that there was a team that was going to go and kill her," Yettaw said in the interview on November 20, one week after her release.

"It was a recurring dream: they were going to come in and - not shoot her with a weapon - but shoot her with a chemical to induce a heart attack, or cerebral, natural death. And there was this quick funeral, no autopsy, boom, she's gone."

Yettaw's intervention in 2009 possibly delayed that plot from being carried out, he said. "I had another dream after that: the place [Myanmar] was secured, she was OK, then she was eventually released, and they shot her to death.

"In the dream, she represented a sacrificial lamb, dead. That by her being assassinated, there would be UN [United Nations] intervention - there's a more global picture here - the junta would be shut down.

"And it was all, 'she's expendable, unfortunately'. I mean, it's not like they wanted it. It's just like, 'the greater good', so to speak. That's the impression that I got."

Throughout his life, Yettaw's ominously predictive dreams all came true, he said.

"I couldn't not follow the dream," he said. "I saw myself at night, in a lake, going over a fence, and standing at the back side of a house," which he later realized was Suu Kyi's villa in Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar.

"I thought, what can I do to help? What can I do?"

Today, Yettaw is certain he did the right thing to warn her, even though it resulted in an 18-month extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest, which he regrets.

"I wouldn't change a thing. It was the greatest spiritual experience of my life," he said, quoting inspirational scripture from the New Testament.

Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party boycotted the November election which was won, as expected, by the military's candidates but denounced by the US, Europe and other countries as a fraud.

Now a widow with two adult children who live in the West, Suu Kyi was not eligible under the military's constitution to be a candidate in the election, because she was married to a British citizen.

Yettaw denied international media reports which portrayed him as mentally unstable, or that God was directing him through dreams.

He has suffered from grand mals, a serious form of epilepsy seizure which includes muscle spasms and a loss of consciousness.

"I had grand mal seizures," Yettaw said. He described his intense dreams as "learning experiences. There are warnings. There are premonitions.

"I got a premonition about my son dying, and a week later, he was dead. I've had premonitions about every family member of mine who has died.

"Think about the statistics of being able to pick out a particular day - name the date - and then my son died on that day," he said.
"I can tell you one thing, the junta didn't want me there. The junta was afraid of me. I was told ... the junta is afraid of me because of my predictions," Yettaw said.

"I'm not a fortune teller. I just had dreams," he said. "I don't prophesize. I just have premonitions."

While he was locked in Yangon's Insein Prison in 2009, some guards treated him well, holding his hand, tucking him in at night, saying they loved him, and kissing his forehead when he was ill with fever, he said.

During his imprisonment, his son Shawn died of a heroin overdose in the US, worsening the grief he felt after another son, Clint, 17, died in a motorcycle accident in 2007, he said.

When Yettaw was 13, his only brother committed suicide in Michigan's Ionia State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, he said.

Richard S Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco, California. He has reported news from Asia since 1978 and is co-author of the non-fiction book of investigative journalism, Hello My Big Big Honey! Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews. His website is www.asia-correspondent.110mb.com http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LK24Ae01.html
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BURMA: Forces for democracy growing stronger
Tuesday, 23 November 2010 09:49

The release of Aung San Suu Kyi from more than seven years of house arrest by the Burmese government has taken place after the military regime concluded a farcical general election on November 7, writes Kenny Coyle.

While few will be taken in by the State Peace and Development Council's electoral ploys, freeing Aung San Suu Kyi is a high-profile gamble for military leader Than Shwe. It seems to have been taken in the belief that this will further undermine the faltering sanctions campaign against Burma and that the anti-regime forces are too weak and divided to provide an effective challenge to the military dominated government.

This strategy may yet backfire on the regime.

As leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi has been a courageous and outspoken critic of the military junta that has ruled the country in various guises since 1962. Having led her party to overwhelming victory in a 1990 election, in which the NLD was estimated to have won around 80 percent of the vote, she has spent most of the past two decades in detention. There is little doubt that in free and fair elections Aung San Suu Kyi would be the country’s leader. The boycott of the regime’s poll by the NLD strips the results of any meaning.

According to initial results, the regime’s Union Solidarity and Development Party won 883 of the 1,154 seats contested in the election, while a second pro-regime group, the National Unity Party came second with 63 seats. Three national minority parties won seats. The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party and the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, took 57 and 35 seats, respectively while the All Mon Regions Democracy Party, won 16 seats. The National Democratic Force, formed by a breakaway faction of the NLD, also won 16 constituencies. Most of these parties intend to take their seats despite reporting widespread fraud.

State-controlled media has had to print corrections to results in some constituencies, where the initial reports had announced voter turnouts in excess of 100 percent. The regime’s media even reported the landslide victories of USDP candidates in two ethnic Kachin seats, despite the fact that there was no election in the districts, as the government had previously cancelled polling there due to security concerns.

Nonetheless Aung San Suu Kyi has called for dialogue with Than Shwe and the release of all remaining political prisoners, estimated at just over 2,000.

While the NLD’s programme for political democracy would represent an enormous step forward for the long-suffering Burmese people, its economic programme, outlined in a 2009 Proposal for National Reconciliation drafted with its allies, is fraught with danger.

The proposals call for opening the country up to foreign capital in areas such as banking and integrating the country into both the World Trade Organisation and regional economic bodies such as the southeast Asian community ASEAN, a free floating national currency, the establishment of a stock exchange, privatisation of unprofitable state concerns, the reduction of import tariffs and the lifting of virtually all restrictions on the activities of private banks.

These policies sit rather uneasily alongside positive proposals to support farmers, reduce poverty, develop national minority areas, and modernise infrastructure.

While an overhaul of the country’s state sector - currently subordinated to narrow interests of the military clique - would be unavoidable, experience in Asia especially in states such as China and Vietnam, is that a strong state sector is essential for development, national sovereignty and for keeping the market in check. Throwing open the doors to unrestricted foreign capital inflows would result in asset stripping. A free floating currency combined with unregulated banking activity in the current global financial climate runs counter to economic sanity.

One of the most powerful arguments against the current regime has been its failure to develop the country and lift its people out of poverty. According to figures from the Asian Development Bank from 2009, agriculture dominates the economy, contributing 44 per cent and services sector 36 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP)

respectively. Industry, including natural-gas exports, makes up about

20 per cent of GDP. Average per capita income is estimated at around #685 [pounds] a year.

Yet although Burma has formidable natural resources in minerals, oil, gas and timber, its real value to outside powers has simply been its location.

Britain fought three bloody wars in the 19th century, launched from British India, to subjugate Burma. Burmese resistance was protracted, the British response murderous. Hundreds of villages were torched and thousands of rebels were brutally killed. The brother of Aung San Suu Kyi’s own grandfather was among those beheaded for their defiance.

The Tory secretary for India, Viscount Cranbourne, later Lord Salisbury, said in the 1860s: “It is of primary importance to allow no other European power to insert itself between British Burmah and China. Our influence in that country ought to be paramount. The country itself is of no great importance, but an easy communication with the multitudes who inhabit Western China is an object of national importance. No influence superior to ours must be allowed to gain ground in Burmah.”

Much of Aung San Suu Kyi’s status derives from her father Aung San, the most revered political figure in modern Burmese history. She was just two years old when the independence leader was assassinated by a right-wing death squad.

She consciously draws upon the myth of a father she scarcely knew.

Aung San belonged to a generation of eager radical nationalists. He was the first leader of the fledgling Communist Party of Burma, soon breaking with the CPB to work with the Japanese against the British only to later turn against the Japanese and build the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League an alliance that included Communists and right-wing Socialists. Although Aung San Suu Kyi acknowledges her father’s radicalism, she disavows his communism as merely a passing phase.

She may be right that her father’s own communism was mercurial, but this glosses over the deep roots the CPB had in resistance and postwar Burma. Her uncle Thakin Than Tun took over the leadership of the CPB and was for a time the general secretary of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League. Aung San Suu Kyi’s long family connections with the CPB have often been used by the military regime to portray her and the democracy movement as a tool of communist subversion.

In the post-war period, Aung San attempted to bridge the gulf between the Communists and the Socialists as well as to integrate the many national minorities in an inclusive and democratic Union of Burma. Had it not been for the assassin’s bullets, this could have provided the country with a progressive framework for development.

As it turned out, the loss of Aung San as a mediator emboldened the right-wing Socialists to attack the CPB, burning its offices, raiding its press and smashing their legal mass organisations.

The CPB went underground in the cities and regrouped in the country’s hill regions, conducting a 40-year-long armed struggle against successive Rangoon regimes.

The forerunner of the current regime nationalised almost all businesses following a 1962 military coup against the civilian Socialists. However, far from creating the conditions for socialism, the state-run economy instead provided the basis for the creation of a bureaucratic bourgeoisie, a parasitic stratum that did little to stimulate the country’s development but which enriched itself on the back of government contracts and state monopolies.

In truth, there was little progressive about the Burmese junta. During the 1960s, illusions were rife that the sole ruling party, the Burmese Socialist Programme Party, was genuine about its “Burmese Way to Socialism”. Soviet scholars categorised Burma as an example of non-capitalist development, alongside states such as Algeria, Nasser’s Egypt and even Iraq. They compared the BSSP’s ideology, a hodge-podge of quasi-socialist rhetoric, virulent anti-communism and a nationalism tinged with Burman chauvinism, with currents such as Nasserism and Ba’athism.

Today the socialist rhetoric has been jettisoned and state-owned assets are being steadily transferred into private hands, hands connected to the country’s crony capitalists.

Much has also changed in the balance of forces in Asia, and it is no longer Victorian Britain’s fear of France or Cold War paranoia about Soviet influence but the West’s discomfort with China that complicates Burma’s position.

Senator Jim Webb, the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told Foreign Policy magazine recently that there was a “big division” within the US State Department on how to deal with Burma.

“We are in a situation where if we do not push some sort of constructive engagement, Burma is going to basically become a province of China,” Webb was quoted as saying.

“We all respect Aung San Suu Kyi and the sacrifices she has made. On the other hand… How does the US develop a relationship that could increase the stability in the region and not allow China to have dominance in a country that has strategic importance to the region?” Webb said.

There seems to be a growing realisation among some sections of the Washington elite that not only have sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union failed to dislodge the regime, but that in the 20 years since 1990, the regional balance of power in parts of Asia has shifted dramatically, and they fear perhaps irreversibly.

China’s influence has expanded substantially, but India too is increasingly self-confident and Burma nestles next to these two giant Asian powers, not off the coast of Florida.

Western media coverage often focuses on Chinese trade relations with Burma, presenting China as single-handedly responsible for shoring up the military regime.

The two countries are currently building a major oil pipeline from the Burmese port of Sittwe to the Chinese city of Kunming. The port will unload oil tankers from the Middle East and Africa to feed China’s energy-hungry economy. Chinese oil firms are also involved in joint ventures with Burma in oil and gas fields off the Burmese coast.

But behind the clumsy attempt to single out China is the US fear that Burma, regardless of the character of its government, will increasingly be drawn into the orbit of its northern neighbour.

Today’s Chinese foreign policy is largely guided by two principles, non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and mutually beneficial trade. This would not change if the NLD was in power.

Unlike Western countries, China has a permanent stake in Burma. They are neighbours sharing a 2000km common border. Having strongly supported the Communist insurgency until the 1980s, China has since sought to normalise relations with its neighbours.

However, it is not only China that takes such a position. Most of Burma’s Asian neighbours have flouted the US sanctions.

Thailand’s biggest construction firm, Italian-Thai Development has agreed plans to build a new port and industrial estate at Tavoy on Burma’s far southwestern coast, which could become a major regional oil refining and petrochemical centre. Japan, which has no oil resources of its own, is tipped to become a major investor.

Malaysian companies too have expanded trade with Burma and Indian energy firms are working in the same oil and gas fields as their Chinese counterparts.

French oil company Total owns 31 percent of a project in the Yadana gas fields in the Andaman Sea along with Thailand’s PTT and Burma’s state-run Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise. The fourth partner is US oil giant Chevron, which owns 28 percent of the project. Chevron, whose recent former directors include Republican Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Barrack Obama’s former National Security Adviser James L Jones, has been given special dispensation by the US government to continue operations in the country.

Business and geo-strategic interests may yet dictate a “constructive engagement” between the West and the regime. Clearly Than Shwe feels confident enough that the NLD will be unable to bring out the same numbers of people that nearly toppled the junta before. This is a high risk strategy, given the resilient popularity of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Claiming the mantle of a martyred parent, or being the biological child of the father of a nation is a powerful political platform in many Asian societies, think of Indonesia’s Megawati Sukarnoputri, India’s Nehru-Gandhis, the Philippines’ Aquino clan, or North Korea’s Kims. Turning that paternal link into an effective social and economic programme is something altogether different.

Denied her opportunity to amass the experience of actually running her country, Aung San Suu Kyi is already 65 and there is no comparable leader of similar stature within the opposition. While the current economic orientation of the dominant opposition forces offers little hope of the transformation that the Burmese people need, a successful struggle for political freedom might nonetheless revive a mass movement for the democratic, independent and socially just Burma that her father fought and died for. http://www.communist-party.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1125:burma-forces-for-democracy-growing-stronger&catid=130:analysis-a-briefings&Itemid=164
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Aquino backs Suu Kyi's struggle for democracy
Agence France-Presse
Posted at 11/23/2010 5:58 PM | Updated as of 11/23/2010 5:58 PM

MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino said Tuesday he promised Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that he would support moves to spread freedom in her country.

The Philippines has been the most outspoken among Southeast Asian nations in calling for the release of Suu Kyi and for greater democracy in Myanmar.

Aquino said he expressed his support for her struggle in a telephone conversation with her on Monday.

"I promised that because the stability of Myanmar would stabilize the region, the Philippines would join in that effort... to work for a more inclusive democracy to achieve stability in Myanmar," Aquino told reporters.

Aquino said Suu Kyi thanked him for his support but warned that her party was still far from attaining power.

"I extended to her our hopes that there would be a spread of democracy in Myanmar," he told reporters.

Manila's posture has been a departure from the policy of non-interference usually observed by member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes the Philippines and Myanmar.

In March, the Philippines said that the Myanmar elections would be a "complete farce" unless Aung San Suu Kyi was freed and her party allowed to participate.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/23/10/aquino-backs-suu-kyis-struggle-democracy
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Nov 23, 2010
Aquino backs Suu Kyi's fight

MANILA - PHILIPPINE President Benigno Aquino said on Tuesday he promised Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that he would support moves to spread freedom in her country.

The Philippines has been the most outspoken among Southeast Asian nations in calling for the release of Suu Kyi and for greater democracy in Myanmar.

Mr Aquino said he expressed his support for her struggle in a telephone conversation with her on Monday.

'I promised that because the stability of Myanmar would stabilise the region, the Philippines would join in that effort... to work for a more inclusive democracy to achieve stability in Myanmar,' Mr Aquino told reporters.

Mr Aquino said Suu Kyi thanked him for his support but warned that her party was still far from attaining power.

'I extended to her our hopes that there would be a spread of democracy in Myanmar,' he told reporters. -- AFP http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_606453.html
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Burma army threatens all-out assault
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 23 November 2010

Five army battalions are ready and waiting in eastern Burma after the ruling junta yesterday set a deadline for a renegade Karen commander to lay down his arms.

The breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) has been given until 31 December to either surrender their weapons or transform into a government-controlled border militia.

“We will be attacked by five army battalions if we fail to comply,” Na Kham Mwe, head of the group’s 5th Brigade, told DVB. “If they will attack us then we’ll have to fight back, but we will only target [junta] officials.”

A meeting was held yesteday in Myawaddy between the Burmese army’s Bureau of Special Operations-4 commander, Thet Naing Win, and senior members of the newly-transformed Border Guard Force (BGF), comprised of former members of the DKBA.

“They said they would welcome peace and that we would have to surrender arms if we refuse the BGF transformation,” said Na Kham Mwe. “They promised to give me everything I ask for.”

He added that his troops, thought to number close to 1000, “don’t even dream about surrendering arms but would like to cooperate with the [Burmese] army for development work”.

The DKBA last week cemented an alliance with their former foes, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), whom they split from in 1994 when the DKBA allied with the junta.

Colonel Ner Dha Mya, head of the KNLA’s 6th Brigade, said that the two groups had “put the past behind” them and would now unite in their battle for autonomy from the Burmese government, which has pledged to rout ethnic armies who refuse the transformation.

Conflict in Karen state, which borders Thailand to the east, has stretched over more than 60 years and caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Critics accuse of junta of an attempted ‘Burmanisation’ of the country where its 135 ethnic minority groups are altogether sidelined.
http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-army-threatens-all-out-assault/13000
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Courier-Journal.Com
Editorial | Burma's small step
November 23, 2010

Days after the military junta that oppresses Burma staged yet another fraudulent election, the generals surprised almost everyone recently by releasing the country's leading political dissident and pro-democracy advocate, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest.

The jubilation among her followers was understandable. But Mrs. Suu Kyi, who has been under house detention since 2003 and for 15 of the past 21 years, emerges to face a changed and more complex domestic and international situation.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who deserves praise for his relentless condemnation of Burma's tyranny and for his support of Mrs. Suu Kyi, is right to applaud her release. But he is also on target to emphasize that Burma would have to take many other steps to truly begin moving toward democracy.

Within Burma, Mrs. Suu Kyi may find herself dealing with a largely new cast of generals. As part of the political fix of which the recent elections were a part, many senior generals were forced to resign in order to run as civilians for a new, subservient parliament. Younger officers have taken their place, and Mrs. Suu Kyi will have to determine how they would likely deal with any challenge to their authority.

Outside the country's borders, both China and India are shamefully competing for a close relationship with the junta. China views Burma as a potential outlet to the Indian Ocean; India, which previously supported Burmese dissidents, wants to blunt Chinese influence in South Asia, and both countries are eager to have access to Burma's oil and natural gas reserves.

What happens in Burma is important. The generals have formed a close and potentially dangerous relationship with North Korea, for example, and they harbor a large narcotics trade and offer safe havens to rebel groups from neighboring countries.

While the United States and its allies should hope that real change is afoot in Burma, they must be prepared to press hard to keep Burma isolated if Mrs. Suu Kyi's release proves to be only a brief public relations stunt.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101123/OPINION01/311230022/1055/OPINION/Editorial+|+Burma+s+small+step
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Philippine leader vows more support for democracy leader Suu Kyi

Nov 23, 2010, 7:27 GMT

Manila - Philippine President Benigno Aquino III vowed Tuesday to push for more inclusive democracy in Myanmar after the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aquino said that while Myanmar's junta leaders partially gave in to international pressure by freeing the Nobel Peace Prize laureate from house arrest, there was more work to be done to attain democracy in the reclusive South-East Asian country.

He said he told Suu Kyi in a phone conversation Monday that the Philippines was committed to helping the people of Myanmar in ensuring that democratic reforms were implemented.

'We expressed to her our hope that true democracy will be attained in Myanmar and that the Philippines will continue to work for more inclusive democracy in Myanmar to ensure its stability,' he said.

Aquino said Suu Kyi thanked the Philippines for its unwavering calls for her release November 13. She had spent 15 of the past 20 years in detention.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1600884.php/Philippine-leader-vows-more-support-for-democracy-leader-Suu-Kyi
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Myanmar rulers ban magazines with Suu Kyi photos
Tue, 2010-11-23 13:37 — editor
From R. Vasudevan - Reporting from New Delhi
New Delhi, 23 November (Asiantribune.com) :

Government censors in military-ruled Myanmar have ordered nine magazines to suspend publication for not following regulations.

The magazine Weekly Eleven reports in its latest issue that the Press Scrutiny board did not say how the privately owned local magazines violated regulations.

However, all nine printed photos of recently released pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in inserts that were used as wraparound covers when the magazines were on sale.

Suu Kyi was released from house arrest Nov. 13 after 7 1/2 years of continuous detention. Her political movement won elections in 1990, but the military did not allow it to take power.

- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/11/23/myanmar-rulers-ban-magazines-suu-kyi-photos
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Suu Kyi reunited with son after a decade
Published: Nov. 23, 2010 at 1:20 AM

YANGON, Myanmar, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's pro-democracy champion, was reunited Monday with her younger son for the first time in 10 years.

Suu Kyi met her son, Kim Aris, at Yangon airport, where he had traveled from Thailand, the BBC reported.

Kim had traveled to Thailand from his U.K. home after his mother was granted her freedom Nov. 13. He repeatedly had been denied a visa to visit his mother since he last saw her in 2000.

Suu Kyi has not seen her elder son, Alexander, for a decade as well, and she has never met her grandchildren, the BBC said.

The opposition leader's house arrest was lifted less than one week after the first election in the country in two decades.http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/11/23/Suu-Kyi-reunited-with-son-after-a-decade/UPI-96091290493250/
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NEW YORK TIMES
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Reunites with Youngest Son
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: November 23, 2010

BANGKOK — Myanmar’s leading dissident, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was reunited with her youngest son on Tuesday after a decade-long separation during which he was not allowed to enter the country.

The decision by the military government to grant Kim Aris a visa was a symbolic gesture of leniency by the junta which released Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest 10 days ago and has allowed her to meet with supporters and give interviews to the foreign media.

Television footage from the airport in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, showed Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and her son in a brief embrace before walking out of the terminal together.

Mr. Aris, 33, lives in Britain and has been repeatedly been denied visas since his last visit in 2000, according to news reports. One of the first things he did after greeting his mother on Tuesday was showing her a red tattoo bearing the symbol of the National League for Democracy, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party that won elections two decades ago, a result ignored by the military.

Tuesday’s reunion underlined the personal toll of the political campaign Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has waged during the past two decades. During that period she was detained for 15 years and only rarely allowed visitors or communication with the outside world.

She has always been free to leave Myanmar, according to her lawyers, but chose to stay because she was afraid she would be denied re-entry.

In 1991, her eldest son, Alexander Aris, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of his mother. Her late husband, Michael Aris, raised their two children in Britain. He was unable to visit with his wife before his death a decade ago at the age of 53.

Myanmar’s military has sent conflicting signals of liberalization and continued repression in recent weeks. Elections on Nov. 7 were criticized by most Western governments as designed to favor military-backed party, which won a landslide victory. Then the release of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is widely admired in the country, raised hopes of reconciliation between pro-democracy forces and the junta.

But the government has allowed only limited coverage of her release in both the state and local private media. Censors banned most photos of the large crowds that came to greet Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi when she was released, local journalists say. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/world/asia/24myanmar.html?_r=1&ref=asia
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Warnings Silence Opposition Candidates
By LAWI WENG Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Many of the candidates who complained of widespread vote-rigging in Burma's Nov. 7 election appear to have fallen silent on the issue since the country's Union Election Commission (EC) warned them last week that they could face severe penalties for questioning the outcome of the vote.

On Nov. 17, the EC told candidates who planned to challenge the election results because of alleged irregularities that they could be fined 300,000 kyat (US $340) and sentenced to three years in prison if their accusations are deemed to be unfounded.

Two days later, a group of candidates from three different parties—the Union Democratic Party (UDP), the National Democratic Force and the New Era People's Party—as well as several independent candidates held a press conference in Pegu to highlight cheating in the vote.

However, only 10 candidates attended the press conference, while around 30 others stayed away because of fears of punishment by the authorities.

“They are threatening our parties not to say anything about their unfair voting system, but we will continue to tell voters about how the EC has taken unfair votes,” said UDP Chairman Thein Htay, one of the participants in the press conference.

“If we keep quiet, the people will suffer and no free and fair system will emerge in this country,” he added.

Burma's state-run media has also moved to silence domestic critics of the election, which has been widely denounced as a sham by most Western countries because of the absence of independent observers.

On the same day that the EC issued its warning to candidates who expressed a desire to challenge the vote results, the official press accused some political parties of making fraudulent complaints about the polls or reporting unfounded allegations to overseas media.

However, despite growing pressure on the opposition to avoid any public discussion of alleged vote-fixing, some parties continue to air their grievances.

“They don't want us to talk to the [foreign] media, but if we stop talking about this, only they [the regime] will benefit from this election,” said Nai Ngwe Thein, the chairman of All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP), on Monday.

He added, however, that his party does not have enough money to pay the one million kyat ($1,136) that it would cost to legally contest the election results, saying that all 34 of the AMDP's candidates have exhausted their campaign funds. He said that each of the party's candidates spent at least 1.3 million kyat ($1,477) on the election, including the 500,000 kyat ($568) registration fee.

Before the election, many ethnic party candidates predicted that they would win the majority of votes in their states. Party leaders also believed that the election would be free and fair, despite the decision of the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to boycott the election because of stringent election laws that heavily favored the junta-backed the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

China's official Xinhua news agency, citing the EC's final figures, reported that the USDP won 76.5 percent of the seats in the election.

“I think they planned before the election which seats they would give to the ethnic party candidates and which they would take for themselves,” said Nai Ngwe Thein. “Whenever they didn't get the seats they wanted, they just used advance votes to beat the opposition candidates.”

Other parties also complained that advance votes were used to prevent opposition candidates from winning in constituencies where they were clearly leading.

“The USDP claimed nearly 80 percent of the seats and the pro-democracy parties won only a few seats because of the advance votes,” said Hlung Ce, the chairman of the Chin Progressive Party. “It was very unfair. It was meaningless to hold the election.”

Now that the opposition parties have been denied any legal recourse to challenge the election outcome, some said they hope to work together with NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi to advance the cause of democracy in Burma. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20160
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KIO Liaison Offices Ordered to Close
By SAW YAN NAING Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Burma's military authorities have ordered all liaison offices run by the Kachin cease-fire group, the Kachin Independence Organization, to shut down as tension between the government and KIO remain high. Observers believe that more restrictions on the KIO will come.

James Lum Dau, the KIO’s deputy chief of foreign affairs, said that the regime ordered the KIO to shut down its liaison branch offices.

However, the KIO’s main liaison office in Myitkyina, one in Lajarya and the KIO-run Buga Company office are excluded from the closure order.

There are at least 30 KIO liaison offices and most of them are located in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, said Lum Dau.

He said that KIO officials will hold a meeting at their headquarters in Laiza on the Sino-Burma border and will reply to the authorities after the meeting.

Awng Wa, a Kachin source who follows issues on Sino-Burma border, said the deadline for the KIO to close its liaison offices is Thursday.

He said the order significantly increases the restrictions on the KIO following its rejection of the regime's order to form a border guard force (BGF) under the military government. More restriction on the KIO will likely come in the near future, he said.

In October, the regime described the KIO as “insurgents” instead of the usual “cease-fire” group when discussing the KIO in the state-run newspaper regarding a mine which exploded in Kachin State on Oct. 13, killing two people and injuring a third.

Meanwhile, military exercises within KIO have reportedly increased. The KIO has moved its weapons and arms to safer strategic areas.

Recently, KIO members have undergone increased inspections at government checkpoints in Kachin State.

The Junta has been pressured the KIO to close its offices since September. .

Observers said the KIO will likely be designated as an illegal organization if it continues to reject the BGF order.

The KIO’s military wing, the Kachin Independence Army, estimated to have 10,000 fighters, signed a cease-fire agreement with the regime in 1994.
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20159
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Burma lifts ban on 7 Thai products

* Published: 23/11/2010 at 04:07 PM
* Online news:

Burma has lifted its ban on seven out of 15 Thai products, Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot said on Tuesday.

Mr Alongkorn said the seven items are apples, Chinese pears, grapes, cherries, monkey apples, oranges and durian.

The Thai government had asked Burma to consider lifting the ban on four more items - rambutan, mangosteen, guava and longgong. Burma should lift the ban on longgong since it did not produce them, he said.

The Burmese government said it will continue to ban beverage and instant noodle products because it wanted to protect its consumers. The country will allow Thai beverages to be sold in tourist hotels.

Burma says Thai seasoning products are not allowed to be sold in the country as they are harmful to people's health. Hotels and duty free shops in Burma can import canned products, chocolates, bubble gum, alcoholic drinks, cakes, waffles and crackers from Thailand.

Mr Alongkorn said the ban on the 15 items had not significantly affected trading between the two countries.

"We should promote exports of cement, tiles and construction materials to Burma since the country is in the process of development and the demand for these items is high," the deputy minister said. http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/207773/burma-lifts-ban-on-7-thai-products
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HIV/AIDS Patients Refuse to Leave Shelter
By KO HTWE Tuesday, November 23, 2010

More than 80 people with HIV/AIDS who are living at a “safe house” run by the National League for Democracy (NLD) in South Dagon Township, Rangoon will not leave the shelter despite being ordered by Burmese government authorities to vacate.

A day after a visit to the shelter by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, township authorities said on Thursday that they would not renew the permit for guests to stay in the safe house and said that those who remained would face legal action.

In Burma, a host must receive permission from authorities for overnight visitors.

Yarzar, one of the organizers of the shelter and an NLD youth member, said he will request permission from township authorities on Thursday, but the guests will stay regardless of whether a permit is granted.

“The patients will continue to live in the safe house whether they get a permit or not. It is not appropriate for HIV/AIDS patients to stay in a hospital. We need to think of a better way,” said Yarzar.

Shelter organizers said that officials from the Ministry of Health told them to transfer some patients to the government's Tharkayta Township clinic because the NLD-run safe house is too small for the number of patients living there and therefore diseases like tuberculosis can easily infect the residents.

“I went to see the new clinic myself, but I think it is worse than our current place. This place is a place where we can survive. So we don’t want it being destroyed,” said Htin Aung, a resident of the safe house.

HIV/AIDS patients living at the shelter told The Irrawaddy that none of them wanted to relocate because they did not believe that assistance at the new location would be as good as that provided by HIV activist Phyu Phyu Thin with the support of Suu Kyi.

“We feel like this is our house. We receive care and warmth. We feel like we are family. We can also share our feeling with each other. We are happy with our current place. We were very sad when we heard that we have to move,” said Win Win Naing, 31, a resident of the safe house.

“We feel she [Phyu Phyu Thin] is our sister and we are very happy to stay with her. We will not move even though they try to force us to move. We will continue to stay here,” she said. “We don’t want this house to be destroyed and we don’t want to go to Tharkayta clinic. We think they [government authorities] want to make this aid group disappear.”

The HIV patients also worry that they will be required to buy their own food and drinking water at the Tharkayta clinic, Win Win Naing said.

Kyaw Thu, the founder of the Free Funeral Services Society and one of Burma's best-known actors, visited the safe house and donated food and clothing along with Burmese writer Than Myint Aung, film director Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, popular singer Than Thar Win, punk-rock singer Kyar Pauk and rapper Annaga.

“Patients want to live happily before they die, so patient relocation should be decided with the spirit of humanity,” said Kyaw Thu.

On Monday, Win Tin, a leading member of the NLD, Dr Phone Win, an independent political candidate, Yuna Maung Tun and Tint San met with diplomats and provided information about the shelter. The diplomats included officials from the US, British and Australian embassies in Burma and the Philippines ambassador to Burma.

Phone Win and Yuza Maung Tun requested that the diplomats be aware of social welfare issues in Burma and donate aid directly to concerned organizations.

According to the United National General Assembly Special Session on AIDS report, in 2009 there were 238,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in Burma.

The Irrawaddy reporters SAW YAN NAING and SAI ZOM HSENG contributed reporting to this story. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20162

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