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Members of Burma's opposition party National League for Democracy, wear traditional costumes of ethnic nationalities, stand in front of the party headquarters in Rangoon during the Union Day ceremony on Tuesday. (Photo: AP)

Union Day Protest in Rangoon
By SAW YAN NAING
Tuesday, February 12, 2008.

More than 30 protesters dressed in the blue uniforms worn by prison inmates staged a protest in Rangoon on Tuesday, demanding the release of political prisoners and respect for UN resolutions on Burma.
The protesters gathered for about 40 minutes outside the Rangoon headquarters of the opposition National League for Democracy, where Union Day ceremonies were being held. Riot police and plain clothes security officials were deployed outside the building and took pictures of the protesters on film and video, but no arrests were made.
An eyewitness said the protesters held posters and flags of ethnic groups. They voiced dissatisfaction with the pace of national reconciliation and accused the regime of wasting time in arranging talks between NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a government mediator, Aung Kyi.
Hundreds of people, including NLD leaders and prominent ethnic leaders such as Cin Sian Thang and Aye Thar Aung took part in the Union Day celebrations, one of the participants reported.
Union Day marks the date of the Panglong Agreement signed by Burma’s central government and representatives of various ethnic groups, such as Shan, Kachin and Chin nationalities, on February 12, 1947. Burma subsequently gained independence from Britain on January 4, 1948.
The Burmese regime’s observance of Union Day took place in Naypyidaw, where junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe urged people to work for the emergence of a lasting State Constitution laid down by the National Convention.
Than Shwe also urged people to supports implementation of the “seven-step road map.” The third stage of the “road map”—drafting a state constitution—was under way, he said.
In a Union Day statement issued by the 88 Generation Students group on Tuesday, the regime was accused of violating the fundamental rights of Burmese and ethnic people and civilians in Burma even though the country had won its independence from colonial rule more than 60 years ago.
Soe Htun, a leading member of the 88 Generation Students group, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the military government had ignored the crisis affecting the Burmese people, who lacked democracy, equality, self-determination and a federal union.
Soe Htun accused the regime of trying to implement a “one-sided constitution.” He urged the Burmese people to “cooperate in order to gaining democracy, equality and a federal union.”
The 88 Generation Students group pointed out that a three-way dialogue was the best way to solve the Burma crisis.
Last week, the Burmese military regime announced that general elections will be held in 2010 following a referendum this May on a new constitution being written under the junta's guidance and expected to entrench its role in government.

Asean Chief: Burma Charter Vote a First Step
By NOPPORN WONG-ANAN / REUTERS WRITER/ BANGKOK
Tuesday, February 12, 2008.
Burma's ruling generals should be given the benefit of the doubt if they are serious about moving the country toward democracy, Surin Pitsuwan, chief of Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said on Tuesday.
"It has to begin somewhere and now it has a clear, definite beginning," Surin said of the junta's planned May referendum on an army-written constitution, followed by elections in 2010.
"I think it is a development in the right direction," the former Thai foreign minister told Reuters on the sidelines of a business seminar in Bangkok.
The announcement by the military, which has ruled Burma in various guises since 1962, has been derided as a "sham" by the United States and pro-democracy activists who say the vote will be held in a "climate of fear."
Surin said the international community's growing frustration at Burma's intransigent generals was understandable, but he said they should be given a chance to fulfill their pledges.
"Everybody has their own agenda on the issue," said Surin, who leads one of the few international groupings that allow Burma into the club.
"We have to wait and see how things are going to develop and unfold. Whether these steps are going to lead to true national reconciliation which is what people inside have been asking for and the international community has been waiting for," he said.
The army held elections in 1990, but refused to hand over power to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which boycotted the constitution-drafting process while its leader remained under house arrest.
Although not yet completed, snippets of the charter revealed in state-controlled media suggest the army commander-in-chief will be the most powerful figure in the country, able to appoint key ministers and assume power "in times of emergency."
Surin said Burma's announcement would be discussed by Asean foreign ministers meeting in Singapore later this month.
"I am sure they will be very keen to ask some questions and to consult among themselves how they can contribute or help," said Surin, who was critical of Burma when he served as Thailand's foreign minister from 1997-2000.
Western governments have called on Burma's neighbors—Asean, India and China—to put pressure on the generals after they ordered the army to crush the biggest pro-democracy protests in 20 years last September.
Despite rare expressions of discomfort at last September's crackdown, in which at least 31 people were killed, Burma's neighbors refuse to contemplate sanctions, saying words are more effective tools.