News & Articles on Burma-Friday, 14 October, 2011-uzl

News & Articles on Burma
Friday, 14 October, 2011
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Marty Natalegawa to Visit Burma to Assess Democracy
Burma to up Thailand migrant assistance
Surprises in Burma's guided democracy
India and Burma expand trade ties and sign gas deals
India offers large loan and praise for Burma reforms
A small amnesty is no proof that the Burmese regime has changed
Burmese amnesty does not yet represent break with past
Burma's 'air of hopeful expectation'
Burma pressured to release all political prisoners
Myanmar's President in India to improve relations, business
"The Lady" Opens Rome Film Festival
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The Jakarta Globe
Marty Natalegawa to Visit Burma to Assess Democracy
October 14, 2011

Myanmar female prisoners walk out of the Insein central prison in Yangon on Wednesday. Myanmar started to free roughly 2,000 political detainees including pro-democracy campaigners, journalists, monks and lawyers that is a key demand of Western powers that have imposed sanctions on the country also known as Burma. (AFP Photo) Myanmar female prisoners walk out of the Insein central prison in Yangon on Wednesday. Myanmar started to free roughly 2,000 political detainees including pro-democracy campaigners, journalists, monks and lawyers that is a key demand of Western powers that have imposed sanctions on the country also known as Burma. (AFP Photo)

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Friday he would visit Burma at the end of the month to assess the country's reform efforts.

Burma is seeking to be the chair of the 10--member Association of South--East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2014, but a decision on the proposal has been deferred pending an assessment of its progress towards democratization.

"In line with the mandate given to me by ASEAN, I will visit Myanmar at the end of this month to assess developments in Burma," Natalegawa said "It looks like there have been positive developments in Burma," he said. "There's a momentum for democratization and it is in our interest to maintain the momentum." Indonesia is the current chair of ASEAN.

Laos has offered to allow Burma to take its scheduled place as ASEAN chair in 2014, since the country missed the opportunity in 2005, due to widespread condemnation of the regime's poor human rights record and refusal to implement political reforms.

Western countries have imposed economic sanctions on Burma since 1988 when an army crackdown on pro--democracy demonstrators killed an estimated 3,000 people.

Last year, Burma held its first elections in 20 years, bringing in a government led by former generals, and released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after years of house arrest.

The government said this week it had released 6,359 prisoners on humanitarian grounds.

DPA http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/marty-natalegawa-to-visit-burma-to-assess-democracy/471650
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Imagining a Censorship-free Burma
By THE IRRAWADDY Friday, October 14, 2011

Last week, Tint Swe, the director of the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), surprised Burma watchers by telling the Washington-based Radio Free Asia that the notorious censorship board he heads should be abolished as part of the country's moves toward reform.

“Press censorship is non-existent in most other countries as well as among our neighbors, and as it is not in harmony with democratic practices, press censorship should be abolished in the near future,” he said.

Tint Swe's remarks have raised hopes that a new era of press freedom could be coming to Burma in the near future. Below is a sampling of responses to his comments from some leading members of the country's media community.

Ko Ko, CEO of the Rangoon Media Group


I welcome U Tint Swe's comment that there shouldn’t be a censorship board. Without censorship, we can work freely, as long as we stay within the bounds of ethics and journalistic integrity. We will have to take responsibility for what we write, but we won’t have to worry if we respect the law and the principles of journalism.

If there’s a new media law, more daily newspapers will be published. Actually, daily newspapers are necessary for the country to achieve democracy. Without a strong fourth pillar, the other three pillars of society will lack support. Burma needs more privately owned media, because unlike the state-run media, it is free.

Thiha Saw, chief editor of Open News Journal and Myanma Dana Economic Magazine

I think getting rid of censorship is a very good idea. There will be a lot more freedom, but we will still have our responsibilities. We've also heard that the government has started working on a new media law, but we don’t know yet what it will entail.

Maung Wun Tha, editorial adviser to Pyithu Khit Journal
Maung Wun Tha
I think it's very good news for journalists and people in the media community. Of course, there will definitely be some challenges and difficulties if we change from the current system to a new one. But we will never achieve anything if we just worry about this and cling to the old system. The main thing is to prepare for and face the challenges.

The more daily newspapers there are, the better it will be for the people. The newspapers will be able to convey information to the public much more quickly, and it will be easier for the people to offer their criticism than it is now. It is good not to have censorship.

The government will still exercise control over some matters, to prevent publication of anything that violates religious or cultural values, for example. The government will still need to warn or take action against them those who violate these things.

Thaung Htike, CEO of True News Journal

It is good to hear that U Tint Swe has said the PSRD should be abolished. We welcome his words. We also hope that they will come true.

Aunt Min Khaung, assistant editor of the Hot News Journal

It is a very good sign that the head of the PSRD has admitted that there should be no censorship. Everyone wants freedom of press and expression. I think that there will be no censorship in near future. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22262
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Burma to up Thailand migrant assistance
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 14 October 2011

Burma will greatly increase its assistance to migrants working in Thailand, following three days of talks in Bangkok between a delegation of Burmese officials and Thailand’s labour minister, Phadoemchai Sasomsap.

Speaking to DVB at the close of play yesterday, Burmese Deputy Labour Minister Myint Thein, who led the delegation, said that the two sides discussed a raft of issues related to the rights of up to three million Burmese migrants living in the Kingdom, many of whom struggle with healthcare and legal assistance.

“We are here [in Thailand] to coordinate with [Thai authorities] to go through procedures such as migrants’ national identification and issuing temporary passports inside Thailand, as well as on issues such as their visa fees and job finding.

“For the latest, we have requested the Thai government to provide assistance to our migrants being affected by recent flooding and they’ve pledged to do so.”

Andy Hall, from the Thailand-based Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF), said that the meeting also resulted in the addition of a labour attaché at the Burmese embassy in Bangkok, whilst regional centres would be set up to make it easier for migrants to complete the registration process.

Chin Sein, part of the Burmese delegation, said: “We were negotiating to set up five more offices on top of already existing ones in areas including Mahachai-Samut Sakorn, Bangkok metropolitan area, and in north and south Thailand.”

The move was “cautiously welcomed” by HRDF, with Hall adding that many migrants feel that the embassy under the previous junta “didn’t care”.

The meeting also established that Burma would “also send five teams of … delegates to install online shared data system between Myanmar [Burma] and Thailand in order to reduce working procedures and time,” according to a Thai government press statement.

There are between two and three million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, whose total migrant population accounts for some five percent of the Thai work force, and seven percent of GDP. They invariably occupy the most undesirable and dangerous professions.

The Thai government press statement further noted that the Burmese delegation “also asked the Thai government to permit those accompanying Myanmar workers to legally be in Thailand”, likely referring to the family members who join their relatives working in Thailand. “And after they are nationality verified and legally employed, Thai employers should be responsible for Social Security contribution of Myanmar workers.”

Thailand’s former Democrat government had sought to exclude foreign workers from a national workers’ compensation fund, which would see migrant workers rely on their employers for insurance in the result of injury in the workplace. But the Abhisit administration’s refusal was deemed by critics to be a contravention ofThailand’s treaty obligations in lieu of discriminating on the basis of nationality.

The Thai government has also been desperately attempting to regularise the large numbers of workers who travel with little or no documentation. http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-to-up-thailand-migrant-assistance/18199
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THE NATIONAL TIMES
Surprises in Burma's guided democracy
October 15, 2011

When generals take off their uniforms, put on civilian suits and then get themselves voted into a new government with the most proven popular alternatives disqualified from running, there is bound to be scepticism that it means any real change.

The elections held last November by the Burmese military, which has been the power running the country since 1962, struck many analysts as an anachronistic effort to copy Indonesia's late General Suharto in camouflaging army rule with civilian clothes and manipulated elections - an advance certainly, but still 40 years behind the current Jakarta model.

Yet the new Burmese President, Thein Sein, a former general and prime minister in the old junta, has delivered some stunning surprises in the past month, half a year after being sworn in to office.
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They amount to a studied rebalancing of Burma's relationships in its region and with the rest of the world, including Australia.

The most discomfited is China, which until now seemed able to use Burma as an extension of its own territory, preparing to pipe its natural gas into its southern Yunnan province, damming its rivers for electricity feeding into Chinese grids, using its land to grow food, and developing ports on its coastline as alternatives to the tenuous raw material supply line around Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, all potentially hostile nations.

Thein Sein's boldest step was his announced suspension two weeks ago of the massive Myitsone dam project on the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River, a $US3.6 billion construction headed by a state-owned Chinese company. The dam was displacing about 15,000 people and had reopened an armed insurgency by an ethnic Kachin army previously in a truce with the government.

Sein instructed his parliament to act ''according to the desire of the people'' - itself a novel concept in a country where the government has tended to tell the population what it should want.

His Foreign Minister was sent off to Beijing, getting very high-level attention in the form of a meeting with the Vice-President, Xi Jinping, who is expected to take over from Hu Jintao as state President and Communist Party head a year from now. Official statements said the two governments had agreed they would ''properly settle'' the issue. A Burmese adviser to Thein Sein said other resource deals would be forthcoming to replace Myitsone's electricity that was to be transmitted to China as repayment for loans.

Any view this might have been just a hasty step to avoid the Kachins joining in the increasingly co-ordinated campaigns by Wa, Shan, Karen and other ethnic minorities against the Burmese government is dispelled by comments from the adviser, Nay Zin Latt.

''It is not good for Burma or any other nation to rely too much on relations with just one country,'' he told the Thai website The Irrawaddy this week, describing the Myitsone decision as a bold step taken in the national and public interest. ''We must forge friendly ties with all nations.''

The Burmese President has now followed this up with a visit to his country's other big neighbour, India, this week, his second foreign trip as President after going to Beijing in May. He started at Bodh Gaya, where Siddartha Gautama found enlightenment about 2500 years ago, and yesterday was due to meet Indian leaders for some decidedly more earthly concerns such as trade, investment, cross-border links and security.

In New Delhi, he comes on the heels of President Truong Tan San, of Vietnam, whose growing closeness with other powers is being watched with concern by China. In late July, a Chinese warship challenged an Indian Navy ship travelling between Vietnamese ports in the South China Sea, warning it was ''entering Chinese waters''.

The President's moves in domestic politics also have important ramifications for Burma's international relations. The freeing of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest soon after the elections, and Thein Sein's recent opening of direct talks with her, have been followed by the inclusion of about 100 political prisoners in a mass release of 6359 prisoners on Wednesday, the same auspicious day in the Buddhist calendar that the President was visiting Bodh Gaya.

The gesture has met a guarded response from dissident groups and human rights organisations, who point out Burma has about 2000 political prisoners and many younger figures likely to present a strong popular challenge to the government, such as the leaders of the 1988 student uprising, do not so far appear to be included in the release.

Still, it has led to Washington's most senior diplomatic official for Asia, Kurt Campbell, promising the US will ''match their steps with comparable steps", suggesting the releases will be followed by the easing or lifting of some of the sanctions targeted against senior Burmese army commanders and their civilian business partners.

Campbell, an assistant secretary of state, told an audience in Bangkok on Monday the Myitsone Dam suspension was one of several developments that "demand closer attention", and the US was "looking forward in the course of the next several weeks to continuing a dialogue that has really stepped up in recent months''. He described Thein Sein as ''a serious interlocutor'' and said his discussions with Suu Kyi were "very consequential".

The new Burmese government is also reaching out to the country's often embarrassed fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose annual summit it hopes to hold in three years. Cleaning up its act in human rights will make this more likely.

Nay Zin Latt, the presidential adviser, has been in Jakarta recently, saying Burma could learn from Indonesia's peace deal in Aceh province for its minorities and from the lessons of the transition from Suharto's rule - and even putting the best spin on the realities of Burmese power. ''Burma's style is a top-down change,'' he told a Radio Free Asia interviewer. ''We may go faster [in adopting changes] than Indonesia.'' http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/surprises-in-burmas-guided-democracy-20111014-1lp1s.html
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14 October 2011 Last updated at 14:01 GMT
India and Burma expand trade ties and sign gas deals

India and Burma have agreed a series of measures to boost trade and co-operation during Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein's state visit to Delhi.

India has promised Burma $500m (£316m) credit for infrastructure projects and they will expand co-operation in oil and gas exploration and border trade.

The visit came as Burma released about 200 political prisoners, the latest in a series of steps towards reform.

But India has been sharply rebuked in the past for hosting Burmese leaders.

Human rights groups and activists condemned last year's five-day visit to Delhi by former military ruler General Than Shwe, aimed at deepening trade links.

Correspondents say that with a rapidly growing economy India is desperate to access any major source of energy and will also be keen to offset China's influence in the region.

Burma has huge natural gas reserves in its western province of Arakan and the adjoining seaboard, estimated at more than 30 trillion cubic feet or more.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Burmese counterpart issued a joint statement which emphasised the need for energy security.

The deal between India and Burma agreed on Friday also includes speeding up the construction of natural gas pipelines. The infrastructure projects for which India has extended credit include roads, inland waterways and ports.

In a further sign that Burma's new leadership may be considering wider public opinion, the president recently suspended construction of the controversial Chinese-backed Myitsone hydroelectric dam.

But Indian officials played down any economic rivalry with its Chinese neighbour.

"We have an important relationship with Myanmar [Burma]. And we have an important relationship with China. There is no competition," external affairs ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.

There are already substantial trade links between Burma and India. Indian energy companies are already investing in Burma's energy sector. The $500m of credit comes on top of $300m (£190m) of credit extended last year. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15304791
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India offers large loan and praise for Burma reforms
FRANK JACK DANIEL NEW DELHI, INDIA - Oct 14 2011 16:16

India promised Burma a $500-million credit line to improve infrastructure on Friday and praised steps towards democracy by its reclusive neighbour, which is tentatively opening up after half a century of harsh military rule.

The money and warm words came as Burma campaigns to shed its pariah status. It began releasing 6 300 convicts on Wednesday in its latest liberalising move, but kept some political detainees behind bars, dampening hopes for a broader amnesty.

It was not clear how many of the country's estimated 2 000 political detainees were included in the amnesty -- one estimate said only 206 of them were freed. But the released included ailing Shan Army commander Hso Hten and comedian Zarganar, who was imprisoned after criticising the government's response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

The former British colony has large undeveloped gas reserves and straddles busy Bay of Bengal shipping lanes, making it strategically important for energy-hungry emerging power neighbours India and China.

Burma President Thein Sein met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi during a four-day state trip, spending two days visiting religious sites.

Hours after the prisoners' release, Burma's first civilian president in nearly 50 years flew to India's Bihar state to pay homage at the site where the Buddha is said to have reached enlightenment.

"The prime minister of India congratulated the president of Burma on the transition towards democratic government and offered all necessary assistance in further strengthening this democratic transition," they said in a joint statement.

India has long weathered criticism from international partners for its accommodating stance to Burma's junta, which was dissolved in April. New Delhi feels the signs of reform vindicate its policy of engagement.

The United States, Europe and Australia are unlikely to soften sanctions on Burma unless nearly 2 000 more political prisoners are released. Other Asian countries, however, are keen to access resources in the mainly Buddhist nation.

New Delhi put aside concerns about human rights in the early 1990s for fear of losing access to oil and gas as China stepped in with military assistance and loans to help the regime withstand sanctions.

India's efforts have only been partially successful, with planned roads and ports behind schedule. India part-owns two natural gas projects off Burma's coast in the Bay of Bengal but the gas is sold to China.

The $500-million credit line follows a similar $300 million scheme last year. The money will be used on infrastructure projects, particularly irrigation, the statement said.

India buys most of Burma's agricultural exports and wants its neighbour to raise output further by planting on idle land. – Reuters http://mg.co.za/article/2011-10-14-india-offers-large-loan-and-praise-for-burma-reforms/
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OCTOBER 14, 2011.Burma's Prisoner Shell Game
A small amnesty is no proof that the Burmese regime has changed
By DAVID SCOTT MATHIESON
Chiang Mai, Thailand

The Burmese government freed more than 200 political prisoners this week, a move many in the West are hailing as a sign it's time to repeal economic sanctions. Their argument is that the regime needs encouragement to continue the embryonic and fragile reforms put forward this year.

But the release is not as significant as it first appears. First of all, an estimated 1,900 political prisoners remain. And the political showmanship is consistent with the regime's ongoing strategy of using thousands of dissidents, Buddhist monks and nuns, artists, labor activists, writers, and hip hop stars as human bargaining chips to repress Burmese society and negotiate with the international community.

The use of mass amnesties of prisoners, in which thousands of common criminals and only a handful of dissidents are freed, is a longstanding practice. In the 10 amnesties since 2004, 60,000 people have been freed, but only 600 were political prisoners. After they are released, many dissidents are soon back in prison.

Burma's most famous comedian, Zarganar, is a case in point. Released this week, he has been in and out of prison since the 1980s, banned from public performances. In 2009, he was sentenced to an astonishing 59 years, later reduced to 35, after he criticized the government's incompetent response to 2008's Cyclone Nargis.

Mr. Zarganar's pugnacious attitude hasn't been dulled by prison, though. In one of his first interviews after his release he called for all political prisoners to be released and said "art and politics are interrelated, I will continue to do both of them."

Critic Zarganar, freed this week, has been in and out of prison for decades.
.Likewise, labor rights advocate Su Su Nway has been amnestied before. She was imprisoned in 2005 for lodging a formal complaint against an official who had made her perform forced labor. She was released but participated in peaceful protests in Rangoon in 2007, and raised a banner critical of the government at the hotel where then U.N. Special Envoy on Human Rights in Burma Paulo Pinhiero was staying. For these acts, a Burmese court sentenced her to 12.5 years in prison, later reduced to 8.5 years.

But we should not forget the prisoners who weren't released. For example, Min Ko Naing and other leaders of the 88 Generation Students Group, student activists from the 1988 uprising, have spent much of the past two decades in prison, using their fleeting freedoms to call for dialogue with the government. All have been sentenced to 65 years in prison, and there have no signals so far that any of this group will be released.

As the experience of many political prisoners makes clear, and as I have seen in the 15 years I have studied the human rights situation in Burma, the Burmese judicial system is used for control, not justice. The evidence is starkly apparent in the astonishing sentences handed down in recent years—65 years for marching peacefully in a call for lower commodity prices, 20 years for blogging about protests, and other long terms for writing poems or sending information to exile Burmese news organizations.

The release of this group of political prisoners as part of an amnesty of 6,300 can be seen as a gesture, perhaps encouraging but very limited, on the part Burma's new nominally civilian government of President Thein Sein. It comes after years of international pressure to free dissidents. More releases are expected, but nothing short of the total and unconditional release of all political prisoners should be acceptable.

The new government, largely led by senior figures of the previous military dictatorship, has promised bold economic, political and legislative reforms, softened their Stalinist rhetoric with references to human rights and democracy, and loosened censorship. The official mantra is "good governance, clean government, flourishing of democratic practices, ensuring rule of law [and] making economic reform." Officials have invited exiled dissidents to return.

Outside observers are both bewildered and encouraged by the prisoner releases. But even if Burma's leaders release every unjustly jailed prisoner—which would be wonderful—that would still not be a "reform." Reform requires changes in laws and institutions. The government needs to repeal the repressive and vague laws used to stifle dissent. Bills in the national parliament that guarantee freedom of assembly and the ability to form unions, and the formation of a national human rights commission sound promising, but fall short of international standards.

One test of whether releasing even this small group of dissidents means anything will be the quality of their freedom. Will they be subjected to the same vicious cycle of freedom, activism, repression and arrest they have endured for decades?

The onus is on the government to prove it is serious by allowing the freed dissidents the basic freedoms of speech, assembly and participation in public affairs they have long called for, and sacrificed so much to realize. This amnesty should be viewed as an opportunity for the government to bring about genuine national reconciliation. Mr. Zarganar and his contemporaries will continue to risk their new-found freedom to press for real change, and the international community should back them up.
Mr. Mathieson is a senior researcher in the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.
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The Financial Times : October 14, 2011 2:32 am
Burmese amnesty does not yet represent break with past
From Mr Ron Brewer.

Sir, Your editorial “Change in Burma” (October 13) suggests that the new Burmese leadership contains reformist elements, whose gaining influence was most recently dramatised by the announcement of a prisoner amnesty, and that the west has the responsibility to encourage them. However, assessments of the trajectory of the current regime may benefit from consideration of the following issues.

You contend that the government’s plan for the mass release of more than 6,000 inmates is a sign of change. However, the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners Burma, a non-governmental organisation based in Thailand, confirms that to date only 206 of the estimated 2,000-plus political prisoners have been released. A closer reading of contemporary Burmese political history reveals that the well-timed release of political prisoners was a routine practice of the military regime to alleviate international pressure. The recent amnesty does not yet represent a departure from past behaviour, but appears to be more of the same. It is also noteworthy that the new government continues to deny the existence of political prisoners, but instead justifies the recent release in humanitarian terms for inmates who are old, disabled, sick or who had shown good “moral behaviour”.

Your editorial echoes a recent, important turn in Burmese policy debate positing that it is incumbent on the west to bolster the newly “elected” reformers through some form of accommodation. Clearly, time-tested, ineffective policies of sweeping financial sanctions imposed by the west need to be swept into the dustbin of history and more forward-thinking policies require consideration. However, although you contend that while “the west could be taken for a ride ... doing nothing would be riskier”, this does not justify carte blanche accommodation with the allegedly ascendant reformist clique. Effective policy requires thoughtful consideration of the bona fides of the leadership, such as meeting benchmarks for reform. The release of all political prisoners and the revocation of the authoritarian legal framework justifying their detention are important steps in that direction. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f7f393da-f4fb-11e0-9023-00144feab49a.html#axzz1adTk6Y7i
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THE TELEGRAPH: 14 Oct 2011
Burma's 'air of hopeful expectation'

Teresa Machan found Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's most famous dissident, filled with optimism.

It’s the oldest trick in the book. Find the address, knock on the door and hope they’ll talk. Number 54 University Avenue is one of the most famous addresses in the world – this is where Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, spent almost two decades under house arrest. Located on a busy thoroughfare in the Kamayat district of Rangoon and flanked by National League for Democracy (NLD) banners, it’s not difficult to find – but it’s by no means a tourist attraction.

Most Burmese won’t loiter here – the road was closed off for the duration of Suu Kyi’s house arrest and one taxi driver who dropped a Westerner off in its vicinity was allegedly hauled off for questioning.

But the guide who met us at the airport had welcomed us to the “new Burma”, and I couldn’t leave Rangoon without paying a visit. Next morning we bought flowers from the Hledan market, including her favourite, fragrant champaca, and nine (auspicious number) pieces of fruit in a presentation crate and turned up in the spirit of Harvest Festival to pay homage at the bright yellow gate of Daw Suu (Auntie Suu, as she is affectionately known). Surmounted above is a black-and-white photo honouring Suu Kyi’s father, the revered independence hero, General Aung Sang.

“She’s not here,” said the boys who opened the gate just wide enough for them to clock our gifts, and for us to register their startled expressions. Just leaving flowers would have been enough, but after a brief exchange it transpired that Daw Suu was at her office, a mere 10-minute drive away.

Reclaiming our offerings, including an increasingly comedic pomelo (citrus maximus), we scooted off to the National League for Democracy offices, leaving two pairs of eyes peering through the letterbox. Inside what was essentially a large wooden lean-to with a corrugated iron roof, it was clammy, and crowded with devoted NLD workers. Heroic pictures lined the walls. According to an elderly gentleman who spoke excellent English (as many Burmese do), Daw Suu was upstairs. We did our Harvest Festival routine, and waited.

We were in luck. Daw Suu was on her way out and within minutes she was descending the stairs in a turquoise silk top and traditional lyongi – dignified, demure and even slighter than she appears on television. There was little time for dialogue, but no matter.

I had come to Burma on her say-so – lifting a self-imposed travel ban after seeing an interview in May with a British journalist in which she gave her blessing to intelligent tourism to the country on a small scale: “Come, but visit Burma with your eyes open.”

It’s very early days, but there’s at least an air of hopeful expectation in Burma. The day before we arrived a law had been passed permitting peaceful demonstrations. Bigger news still was the halting of a hugely unpopular $3.6 billion Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam project, a rare snub by the government to its northern neighbour. The day we left, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper announced an amnesty for more than 6,000 prisoners. I had found a genuine spirit of optimism during my short stay, but what, honestly, were her own hopes for the future?

“It’s the beginning of the beginning,” she said. “We’ve got a long way to go and we will have to work very hard, but I really believe the government is prepared to listen.”

Polite but firm, Daw Suu told us she had to go. As we posed for a photo, one of our group absent-mindedly put a protective hand on her back, and found it quickly shoved away by a supporter.

As we made our way out, cameras flashed from the tea-shop opposite. Government spies, according to an expatriate who accompanied us and who recognised the photographers’ motorbikes. But I was too busy watching the lady in blue inch herself gracefully into the back of a white Toyota Carbriolet with her small bunch of wilting flowers and, somewhere in there, three oranges, a couple of pears, three apples and a citrus maximus. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/burma/8826438/Burmas-air-of-hopeful-expectation.html
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RADIO AUSTRALIA NEWS:
Burma pressured to release all political prisoners

Burma's President Thein Sein have arrived in India's capital New Delhi amid criticism by exile groups that his government doesn't genuinely represent the nation's people.

Hundreds of pro-democracy activists from Burma held a protest march ahead of the president's arrival in the Indian capital on Thursday.

His visit comes a day after authorities freed 200 political detainees on Wednesday, under a general amnesty for over 6,000 prisoners.

However 2,000 political prisoners are still in prison.

Thein Sein's visit is his first to India after assuming the presidency earlier this year.

He's expected to hold talks with top Indian leaders, including the prime minister today to consolidate the growing economic and political ties between the two countries.

Opposition

Burma's opposition has called on the government to free all political prisoners.

The release of about 200 political detainees on Wednesday, under a general amnesty for over six-thousand prisoners, follows more dialogue with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

They include journalists, pro-democracy activists, government critics, monks involved in anti-government protests and members of Burma's ethnic groups fighting for greater autonomy.

"Each one of them has priceless value," she said. "Freedom of a person is priceless."

However 2,000 political protesters are still in prison.

Foreign support

The United States, Europe and Australia say the freeing of political prisoners is essential to considering lifting sanctions.

The European Union welcomed the release, but says it will judge the move based on how many are eventually freed.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she is encouraged by promising signals of reform, but that it is too early to announce steps Washington might take in response.

Prominent satirist and vocal government critic Zarganar was among those released on Wednesday.

Geeral Hso Ten, a prominent ethnic Shan leader sentenced to 106 years for charges including high treason, has also reportedly been released.

The UN has called on the military-backed government to hold by-elections by the end of the year.

"Our disappointment is not only about the number... We are not satisfied because the government never recognises the existence of political prisoners," Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners' Khaing Min said. http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201110/3339651.htm
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International Relations | 14.10.2011
Myanmar's President in India to improve relations, business

Myanmar's President Thein Sein is on a visit to India. The Indian government is looking forward to furthering ties with the country, which has been traditionally a close ally of China.

A former general in Myanmar's junta and the country's new president, Thein Sein, has been touring Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India since Wednesday. The President is accompanied by 13 senior colleagues from Myanmar and will hold a series of talks with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.

The discussions are expected to be focused on bilateral, regional and international issues. The countries also expect to sign agreements on science and technology with New Delhi likely to extend a line of credit and assistance to projects in Myanmar.

Thein Sein's visit follows his government's decision to suspend construction of a Chinese-backed 3.6 billion-dollar dam after protests from people living in the area affected by the project. Beijing has expressed its displeasure at the Myanmar government's decision.

Leader of Myanmar's military junta, Than Shwe, visited India in 2010Leader of Myanmar's military junta, Than Shwe, visited India in 2010

However, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that India was not in competition with China. There was room for both India and China to grow and "relationships between countries are not a zero-sum game," according to the ministry.

Security and energy issues

India began engaging the Myanmar junta in the mid-1990s on security and energy issues and as a counter to China's growing strategic influence in the Southeast Asian nation, formerly called Burma.

Both countries have placed emphasis on upgrading border roads and maritime transport along the Kaladan River in western Myanmar's Rakhine state. The project involves the Indian Inland Waterways Authority and the ESSAR Projects (India) Company. It is expected to be completed in June 2013, according to the Indian foreign ministry.

India's policy towards Myanmar has invited criticism from the international community. US President Barack Obama, who visited India last year in November, expressed his disapproval with New Delhi for collaborating with the Myanmar junta, which had been accused of severe human rights abuses.

Agencies: AFP, PTI (mg)/ Editor: Grahame Lucas http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6637941,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-asia-5133-rdf
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"The Lady" Opens Rome Film Festival
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Friday, October 14, 2011

ROME — French director Luc Besson's "The Lady," about Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, will open this year's Rome Film Festival, organizers said Thursday.

The Oct. 27-Nov. 4 festival will feature 15 in-competition films and conclude with a screening of a restored "Breakfast at Tiffany's" to mark the classic's 50th anniversary.

"The Lady," which stars Michelle Yeoh and Daniel Thewelis, is being shown out of competition.

Films vying for the Marc'Aurelio prizes include US director Tanya Wexler's "Hysteria," about the invention of the vibrator in Victorian England; "Hotel Lux" by German director Leander Haussmann and Norwegian director Pal Sletaune's "Babycall."

Richard Gere is to receive a special actor's prize, while directors Wim Wenders and Michael Mann are expected to be on hand for audience talks.

The jury of the sixth annual Rome Festival is headed by Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone and features Roberto Bolle, a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, and actresses Debra Winger and Carmen Chaplin.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22256

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