CPTC2

Suu Kyi ‘Not Satisfied’ in Talks with Junta

By Wai Moe January 30, 2008
Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed to meet with senior members of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), for about 90 minutes on Wednesday.
After the meeting, the party’s spokesperson, Nyan Win, told reporters that Suu Kyi was “not satisfied” with her on-going talks with the junta.
“Mainly because there is no time frame,” Nyan Win quoted her as saying.
She said, “Let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” according to Nyan Win.
Nyan Win said Suu Kyi has told the junta’s liaison official that any talks must include representatives of the ethnic groups.
Following her talk with NLD members, the junta’s liaison officer Aung Kyi, and Suu Kyi met again on Wednesday, the fifth time since the September mass uprising.
The junta appointed Labor Minister Aung Kyi as a "relations minister" to represent the military government in preliminary talks with the Nobel Peace Prize winner, following repeated calls for a dialogue by the international community.
Meanwhile, the United States condemned the junta’s decision to charge 10 pro-democracy activists for their activities in the September protests. The US State Department reiterated its call for the military government to release all political prisoners, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
On Tuesday, the European Union special envoy to Burma, Piero Fassino, said at a joint press conference with outgoing Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram in Bangkok that the EU wants to work with Thailand to promote a positive solution in Burma. Fassino said he was working with the UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari.
Gambari arrived in India on Tuesday, where he was scheduled to consult with Indian officials on ways to resolve the Burma issue. His request to return to Burma has been delayed by the regime until April.

A Fight for Dignity

By Aung Zaw January 30, 2008
I recently met a group of influential monks from Burma. I immediately asked them about the monk-led uprising in September.
One respected monk said the demonstrations were not entirely about the hike in fuel prices or the economic hardships. It was also not only about the fight for the democracy. There was one underlying cause that pushed the people to take to the streets, he said.
“It was the fight for dignity. People want to restore the dignity we have lost,” he said.
Under the military regime, the country is demoralized and lacks respect in the eyes of the international community, he said.
The monk continued, “I don’t think our problem is about the economy and poverty alone. I think many people in Burma have lost their dignity and self-respect. Burma is becoming a morally bankrupt society. It is a very dangerous trend.”
I could not agree more. Burma could have been one of Asia’s economic tigers in the 1950s and 1960s, but its leaders didn’t take advantage of the opportunities.
After regaining independence under the late Prime Minister U Nu, the country lost its way. U Nu lacked a clear vision and was a weak leader.
Then strongman Gen Ne Win, a member of the Thirty Comrades who were trained by the Japanese, entered the political scene. Compared to U Nu, Ne Win was an outgoing and charismatic leader, but he had no interest in seeing Burma prosper and become a part of the global community. With the support of the army, he quelled the rebels and insurgents in the mountains. But then, he put Burma under lock and key. It was a nation cut off from the rest of the world.
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s elder statesman, met with Ne Win several times and encouraged Ne Win and his cabinet members to open up the country and develop tourism. Ne Win was not interested.
And then events began to take control. Ne Win once told journalists that ruling the country was like catching hold of a tiger’s tail. There was nothing he could do but hang on to it. Under Ne Win, Burma became a failed state.
Lee continued to engage other military leaders, who were protégés of Ne Win.
After the Western economic sanctions and visa bans imposed by the United States and the European Union, Singapore has remained a destination for Burmese generals and their family members. But I wonder what do the generals learn from the city-state?
Lee continued to urge the leaders to open up the country. Among them, he said, he was impressed by Gen Khin Nyunt, the former intelligence chief.
“He's the most intelligent of the lot,” Lee once said of Khin Nyunt, who was purged in October 2004 and is now under house arrest serving a 44-year suspended prison sentence.
Previously, Singapore invested millions of dollars into Burma’s tourism industry, but the hotels and resorts never really prospered and tourism has floundered.
Recently, Lee changed his tune about the generals, speaking out more honestly. After the crackdown in September, he said, “These are rather dumb generals when it comes to the economy.”
“How can they so mismanage the economy and reach this stage when the country has so many natural resources?”
That question is constantly asked by Burmese at home and abroad.
At a recent dinner hosted by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, Lee said the Burmese generals are "people with very fixated minds—quite convinced that they will have the natural resources to weather any sanctions."
On the regime’s decision to build a new capital in Pyinmana, Lee said, "I mean, [building a] new capital from ground zero? I ask myself, what rational government would do this?"
Lee predicted, “We will see how it is, but whatever it is, I do not believe that they can survive indefinitely.”
Many Burmese now living and working in Singapore got the message, but not Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his junta.
The Burmese community in Singapore may not like Singapore’s draconian laws and authoritarian government, but they admire the Lion City’s economic success.
It is quite common to hear Burmese say that Singapore is not a democracy, but they would like Burmese leaders to develop an open market economic policy like Singapore.
If Burma could achieve economic success like its neighbors Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, the generals might not need to lock up Aung San Suu Kyi and dissident leaders anymore. But Than Shwe is no Lee Kuan Yew.
Than Shwe, officially at age 75, has no interest in seeing Burma become an economic tiger. It is too late for him to change his direction. He too has caught hold of a tiger’s tail and will hang on to it to the end.
Than Shwe doesn’t trust the Burmese people, and he cares nothing about their dignity.

UN Report Accuses Regime,

Armed Ethnic Groups of Recruiting Children

By Lalit K Jha/United Nations January 30, 2008
A United Nations report released on Tuesday accused the Burmese armed forces, the country’s Tatmadaw, and armed ethnic groups of recruiting children to serve as soldiers.
The groups named in the report are the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), Karen National Union-Karen National Liberation Army Peace Council; Kachin Independence Army (KIA); Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), Karenni Army (KA), Karenni National People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Shan State Army-South (SSA-S).
This is more than double the number of armed ethnic groups named in last year’s “Children and Armed Conflict” report, which listed only three—the KNLA, KA and United Wa State Army.
In the 45-page report, submitted to the UN Security Council and General Assembly, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon alleged that the Burmese armed forces have also been responsible for killing and maiming children and denying humanitarian access.
Besides Burma, the report said child soldiers were being recruited in recruitment in Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nepal, the Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Uganda.
The report recommended the use of a range of measures, including bans on military aid and travel restrictions, against parties to armed conflict who continued to systematically commit grave violations against children.
It also urged the Security Council to refer violations against children in armed conflict to the International Criminal Court.
The report said that, despite regime denials, reliable reports from UN partners indicate that attempts to recruit children forcibly for Tatmadaw service were still occurring. “It is difficult to systematically verify the extent of recruitment or the number of children in military camps owing to access limitations,” it added.
The report said the UN had not received any reports of new recruitment of children by the KNLA, KA or KNPP in the period under review.
However, the limitations imposed by the junta on UN access to areas of operations and on dialogue with the KNLA and KA hampered efforts to verify whether those groups had in fact stopped recruiting children.
Reports had been received indicating that a breakaway faction of the KNU, the KNU-KNLA Peace Council, had recruited children from the Mae La refugee camp and villages in the border areas.
“Sources suggest that several boys were deceived into crossing the border by promises of pay and participation in celebrations but were subsequently coerced into joining the armed group,” the report said. “While most of the children have returned, four boys are reportedly still missing. It is not known whether the KNU-KNLA Peace Council continues recruitment, and the UN has not been able to verify the reports of recruitment.”
Reports had been received of a “one child per family” recruitment policy by the KIA. In early 2007, the UN verified a report of a 15-year-old girl recruited by the KIA when she returned to her home village from school in Myitkyina, Kachin State. “To date, the girl remains with KIA,” the report said.
Eyewitness accounts had been received of children serving with the United Wa State Army in northern Shan State, despite the UWSA’s recent statement to the UN special representative that no children had been recruited since the ceasefire agreement reached by the group with the Burmese regime.
“There are reports of Shan State Army-South recruiting children as part of a new mandatory recruitment policy,” the report said. “Children are also recruited and used by Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (Kokang) in northern Shan State.”
Information had also been received that children were serving with the KNPLF and DKBA. “However, in-depth monitoring is hampered by access limitations to areas of operations of these groups,” the report said.
Meanwhile Maj-Gen Thura Myint Aung, who heads a panel charged with ending the practice of forcing minors into the army, told that from 2002 to 2007, officials had returned 792 children from the military to their parents.
The junta's mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar quoted him as saying the authorities had "taken action" against 43 military personnel, including some officers. The paper, however, gave no details on the punishments.

Junta Charges More Political Prisoners,

Others Seriously ill

By Saw Yan Naing January 30, 2008
Burmese authorities have charged seven more political prisoners who took part in the September uprising, including prominent activist Htay Kywe, Su Su Nway and Mie Mie, say sources in Rangoon.
Htay Kywe and Mie Mie are leading members of the 88 Generation Students group.
Su Su Nway won the John Humphrey Freedom Award and is a youth member of the National League for Democracy.
Win Maung, the father of Pyone Cho, an 88 Generation Students group member who recently visited Insein Prison, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that Htay Kywe and Mie Mie were charged under section 17/20 of Burma’s Printing and Publishing Act.
Su Su Nway was reportedly charged under article 124, 505 and 125 of the penal code. Win Maung said he could not identify the names of all seven activists who were charged.
According to Aung Thein, a lawyer in Rangoon, article 505 concerns a threat to the government’s stability—a charge that could result in three years imprisonment; article 124 reportedly relates to acts that could destabilize the government and could result in life imprisonment.
Su Su Nway is scheduled to go on trial on February 6 in Rangoon’s Bahan Township, Win Maung said.
A fourth political prisoner, pro-democracy activist Win Maw, was charged under article 5 (J)—which involves a threat to the security or stability of the country, which could lead to seven years imprisonment.
A popular Burmese musician, Win Maw was arrested in November along with two friends, Myat San and Aung Aung, as they sat in a Rangoon teashop.
Win Maw, the lead guitarist in the Shwe Thansin group, one of Burma’s top bands in the 1990s, was sentenced in 1997 to seven years imprisonment for writing songs in support of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He was released in 2003.
Meanwhile, Myo Yan Naung Thein, a member of 88 Generation Students who was arrested in December, is now in poor health, according to his brother, Myo Hteik, who recently visited him in Insein Prison.
“Someone must help him when he tries to walk,” he said. “He can’t move his body on the left side. I am really worried about his health. I want the authorities to give him a chance to get a medical checkup in a hospital outside of the prison.”
According to reports, Myo Yan Naung Thein was tortured and beaten when he was held in the interrogation center for one week. In 1996, he was imprisoned for seven years.
Meanwhile, other political prisoners are in poor health, according to NLD spokesman Nyan Win.
They include Win Mya Mya, an organizer of the Mandalay branch of the NLD; Than Lwin, the vice-chairman of the NLD’s Mandalay Division; and Shwe Maung, an NLD member. All are detained in Mandalay Prison.
According to London-based Amnesty International, some 1,850 political prisoners are currently held in Burmese prisons, and 96 persons remain unaccounted for following the September demonstrations. An estimated 700 political activists were arrested in September 2007.