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HEADLINES
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AP - Suu Kyi party: UN trip yields no results
AP - US concerned about Myanmar's opposition leader Suu Kyi
AFP - ASEAN again seeks funds for eight-nation rail link
IRIN - MYANMAR: Small-scale livestock farmers feel the pinch
Scoop - Free trade including Myanmar dictatorship
Scoop - Union criticizes Myanmar connection in trade deal
MorungExpress - India’s Myanmar Policy An Alternative Roadmap
Mizzima News - 88 Gen students on trial inside prison
Mizzima News - Twenty seven children poisoned by physic nuts
The Irrawaddy - Soldiers Still Watch Suu Kyi
The Irrawaddy - Detained Activists to Appeal for Open Trial
DVB News - Rangoon authorities collect monks’ personal data
DVB News - Security stepped up in Pakokku

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Suu Kyi party: UN trip yields no results
AP - Saturday, August 30

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's main opposition party lashed out Friday at U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, saying his visits to Myanmar have failed to produce positive developments.

A statement by the National League for Democracy said Gambari, who visited Myanmar Aug. 18-23 to call for the release of political prisoners, including detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and to urge the junta to hold meaningful dialogue with her and others, has not produced tangible results.

Gambari ended his six-day mission without meeting Suu Kyi.

Her refusal to meet Gambari was the latest stumble in the U.N. envoy's bid to promote democracy in Myanmar and secure her release from house arrest.

Gambari has met with Suu Kyi on previous visits, but his trips have resulted in little more than photo opportunities.

"No positive developments regarding Mr Gambari's missions to call for the release of political prisoners, to start talks between the junta and democratic forces and to promote democratic process can be seen from Mr. Gambari's visits," the party statement said.

The party said the U.N. envoy wasted his time by following the schedule given by the military government and also criticized Gambari for offering to help the junta prepare for 2010 elections.

Suu Kyi's party has criticized the planned polls, which follow a constitutional referendum earlier this year that critics say was neither free nor fair. The new constitution guarantees 25 percent of parliamentary seats to the military, and allows the president to hand over all power to the military in a state of emergency.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been in a political deadlock since 1990, when Suu Kyi's party overwhelmingly won a general election but was not allowed to take power by the military.

The United Nations has tried with little success to nudge the regime toward talks with the opposition, hoping the top generals would respond to international pressure to embrace national reconciliation following its violent suppression of massive, anti-government protests in Yangon last year.

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US concerned about Myanmar's opposition leader Suu Kyi
AP - Friday, August 29

WASHINGTON - The United States said Thursday that it was concerned that Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi may not be retrieving food delivered to her home but has not been able to confirm such reports.

Suu Kyi's supporters believe the Nobel Peace Prize laureate may be on a hunger strike to protest the military-run government's refusal to hold talks on democratic reforms. They said Tuesday she has failed to retrieve food for nearly two weeks.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters that Suu Kyi and other political prisoners in the military-run country, also known as Burma, should be released.

Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years, relies on her National League for Democracy party's food deliveries for sustenance. In 2003, there were reports that were never confirmed that Suu Kyi staged a hunger strike to protest her detention conditions.

Suu Kyi repeatedly canceled meetings with UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari during his six-day visit to Myanmar that ended Saturday. Supporters have speculated that she has grown more frustrated with the UN failure to bring about change in the military-ruled nation.

Wood said in a statement that the US is "deeply disappointed" that the Myanmar government failed to cooperate with Gambari. He did not mention Suu Kyi's reported complaints with the UN

Wood called on Myanmar's generals to "live up to agreements made with UN representatives during prior trips. Improved relations between Burma and the international community depend on the Burmese regime taking concrete and sincere steps in this direction."

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ASEAN again seeks funds for eight-nation rail link
AFP - Saturday, August 30

SINGAPORE, Aug 29, 2008 (AFP) - The ASEAN bloc will try again to spark investor interest in a much-delayed railway link from Singapore to the Chinese city of Kunming, officials said Friday.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic ministers said they will convene a conference and exhibition in early 2009 to "publicise, promote and attract investments" for the Singapore-Kunming Railway Link, a joint statement said.

A special working group on the railway project will meet in November in Malaysia, it said.

ASEAN ministers made a similar call at their annual meetings last year, when they also said they were seeking to generate investor interest through a special "high profile seminar" later that year.

To complete the link, 550 kilometres of "missing links" still need to be built at an estimated cost of two billion US dollars, at 2006 prices, the ministers said.

The railway line, spanning 5,000 kilometres (3,000 miles) and eight countries, aims to link Singapore with the Chinese city as part of efforts to bring economic development to the bloc's poorest members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The project, which includes constructing railway stations and related infrastructure, has been hobbled by lack of funds and other technical issues.

ASEAN's more developed member states are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The grouping's economic ministers ended five days of meetings in Singapore on Friday.

During the week, they announced the conclusion of free trade accords linking ASEAN with India as well as with its Pacific neighbours Australia and New Zealand.

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MYANMAR: Small-scale livestock farmers feel the pinch
28 Aug 2008 12:42:55 GMT

KUNCHANGONE, 28 August 2008 (IRIN) - For 42-year-old Than Than and her husband, making ends meet has never been harder.

Their main source of livelihood took a direct hit when Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar's Yangon Division in May, sweeping away their 200 ducks and five water buffaloes valued at over US$1,000.

Unable to sell eggs or rent out her buffaloes to plough her neighbour's rice fields, her plight is indicative of many small-scale livestock farmers.

"I can barely make 1,200 kyat ($1) per day out of my livestock business now… Before the cyclone, I could make over 5,000 kyat ($5) per day," the mother-of-three said, waving her arms at some ducks swimming nearby.

"Those ducks are not mine. They belong to my friend," Than Than said.

She has borrowed 40 ducks to help sustain her family, and hopes to be able to buy her own ducks soon.

There are tens of thousands of small-scale farmers like Than Than in need of assistance in the aftermath of Nargis - now described as Myanmar's worst natural disaster ever, leaving almost 140,000 people dead or missing and affecting over two million people.

Livestock losses force change of tack

The loss of livestock in the storm was significant: In addition to over 300,000 buffaloes and cattle, in the most affected 11 townships of Yangon and Ayeyarwady divisions, about 66,000 pigs, over one million chickens, and around 500,000 ducks, were killed in the cyclone, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)  reported.

According to the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) [http://www. asean.org/ 21765.pdf] report released in July by the Myanmar government, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the UN, total losses and damage as a result of Nargis run into billions of US dollars.

Unassisted and unable to cope, many small-scale livestock farmers have switched to fishing instead [ http://www.irinnews .org/Report. aspx?ReportId= 79866]

"It's not so bad. I can earn enough household income from this job [fishing]… But, I would prefer to run my backyard livestock business again, Daw Mya Khin, a 46-year-old widow from Thonegwa village said.

FAO efforts

The cyclone-hit area is a key livestock producing region - accounting for roughly 50 percent of national poultry production and 40 percent of pig production. Yangon, the largest city, was heavily dependent on surplus livestock production from the area.

To jump-start the sector, FAO plans to distribute draught cattle, goats, pigs and poultry to replace lost, sold or consumed livestock, and supply veterinary medicines and vaccines to improve animal health and protect livestock - in collaboration with the Myanmar Livestock Federation and the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department.

In late July, FAO donated 600 buffaloes to needy households in Myanmar's badly affected Ayeyarwady Delta.

It has also been working to assist a large number of small-scale rice farmers prepare their paddy fields in time for this year's planting season.

"We also have a plan to help the poor farmers in terms of backyard livestock," Ye Tun Oo, a livestock consultant within FAO's Emergency & Rehabilitation Coordination Unit in Myanmar, said.

"Provided we receive funds from our donors, we will implement our plan to distribute livestock animals like chickens and pigs to the poor cyclone-hit farmers," he said.

As part of its relief and early recovery effort, FAO has appealed for $33.5 million to provide immediate aid to over 50,000 small-scale farming households and 99,000 landless rural households.

Myanmar Livestock Federation

The Myanmar Livestock Federation has its own plans to assist cyclone-hit farmers re-establish their backyard livestock.

Starting in September, some 50,000 livestock animals will be distributed to needy families free of charge, one senior official from the Federation told IRIN.

"We're going to hand over those livestock animals via the township authorities… I hope this will help the cyclone survivors to restore [their livestock] quickly," said the official, who was not authorised to speak on the record.

Included in this effort would be some 2,000 pigs, 20,000 chickens and 30,000 ducks, he said.

However, despite these efforts, and in the short to medium term, cyclone survivors will remain largely dependent on outside assistance to get by: "It will take 2-3 years for the farmers to restore their backyard livestock," Ye Tun Oo said.

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Free trade including Myanmar dictatorship
Scoop - Friday, 29 August 2008, 4:11 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Alliance Party

Free trade including Myanmar dictatorship is a slow motion disaster for workers and democracy in both nations

Alliance Party media release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday 29 August 2008
The Alliance Party says the news that New Zealand has negotiated a free trade deal with ASEAN nations that include the fascist dictatorship of Myanmar is a disgrace of historical proportions and is a slow motion disaster for workers in New Zealand and in Myanmar.

"Free trade here will mean choice New Zealand products will be served at the tables of the fascist junta of Myanmar, while we get cheap products produced by slave labour in Myanmar destroying jobs in New Zealand. This is what Labour and National regard as a win win situation under free trade."

Alliance Party national spokesperson Victor Billot says decisions on free trade have a massive influence on the future of our society, but were decided behind closed doors by state and corporate elites.

"Have the people of New Zealand ever been told the full implications of free trade? How it means essentially joining our economy and our destiny to nations under the grip of dictatorship, placing labour conditions, secure jobs and national sovereignty in jeopardy? No, just an ongoing propaganda campaign that unites the Labour-National Party into one happy relationship with the worst thugs and crooks on the world stage."

He says eventually goods, services and human beings may flow freely between New Zealand and Myanmar, regardless of how brutal and callous the Myanmar Government acts.

"Free trade is an ongoing process," says Mr Billot. "There is no place where it must end. The trend of importing short-term, casualized workers between countries is increasing and how long will it be before employers are working with Myanmar as a new source of cut price workers?"

He says that Myanmar enjoys a "competitive advantage" with New Zealand.

"If you disagree with the Government in Myanmar, you get shot. That must assist employment relations with the Myanmar working class no end. No negotiations, no strikes, and the ultimate flexible labour force. It is indeed a model of how free trade and free markets can operate more successfully without democracy, trade unions or basic humanity."

He says the hypocrisy of the Government was staggering and says New Zealand trade unions needed to stand up and be counted.

"They have an obligation to the international workers movement to represent the interests of the workers of Myanmar to our Labour Government."

"While we make a huge noise about Zimbabwe and the Mugabe regime, on the other hand we are moving further down the path of integrating our economy with dictatorships closer to home like Myanmar. The difference seems to be its OK when there is money in it for us. The generals of Myanmar will be laughing all the way to the bank."

Mr Billot says that Labour Party has traditionally stood up on moral principle such as its stand against apartheid and nuclear weapons, but was tripping over itself in its haste to join our economy to free trade agreements with corrupt and evil regimes.

"This must be what Mr Goff means when he talks about New Zealand longer term strategic engagement with the Asia Pacific region."

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Union criticizes Myanmar connection in trade deal
Scoop - Friday, 29 August 2008, 5:27 pm
Maritime Union criticizes Myanmar connection in free trade deal
Maritime Union of New Zealand media release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says a free trade deal signed with ASEAN nations including the military dictatorship of Myanmar is bad for workers.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says a free trade deal including Myanmar will boost the violently anti-worker regime in Myanmar and threatened workers rights.

He says the Maritime Union has many concerns about the treatment of Burmese maritime workers, some of whom work in New Zealand waters, and who have been mistreated and abused in the past.

The Maritime Union has previously spoken out about the murder of Ko Moe Naung, a Seafarers' Union of Burma (Myanmar) organizer in the Ranong region, who was killed by Burmese military forces on 19 May 2005.

The Seafarers' Union of Burma is a fellow affiliate with the Maritime Union of New Zealand to the International Transport Workers' Federation.

Ko Moe was tortured to death over three hours during interrogation at 8-Mile Village Army Base LIR 431 in Kawthaung, Burma.

Ko Moe was targeted by the Myanmar regime as he was a dedicated trade union leader, who was organising Burmese fishermen and migrant workers from Burma at the Ranong area.

Mr Hanson says free trade deals mean that New Zealand is now effectively endorsing dictatorships such as Burma which murder workers such as Ko Moe Naung.

He says the Maritime Union has a long history of opposing repressive regimes, refusing to work on American nuclear warships in New Zealand harbours and supporting the struggle against apartheid.

"New Zealand waterfront workers refused to load pig iron for Japan before World War 2, which they were denounced for, but shortly afterwards the pig iron was coming back towards us as bullets."

Mr Hanson says sometimes doing the right thing comes with a cost.

He says the Maritime Union is extremely concerned that free trade deals will mean the use of short term, casual labour imported across borders to drive down wages and conditions, a problem that is now occurring around the world.

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India’s Myanmar Policy An Alternative Roadmap
MorungExpress - Ann Koppuzha
30 August, 2008 08:39:00

Saffron was the color of the month as thousands of civilians and monks clad in orange robes dramatically protested in Rangoon last August. Amidst the ensuing civil disturbance, the Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee commented, rather anti-climatically, that, “As a close and friendly neighbor, India hopes to see a peaceful, stable and prosperous Myanmar... Myanmar’s process of national reconciliation initiated by the authorities should be expedited.”

The above quote exemplifies India’s policy of “pragmatic engagement” which, for strategic reasons, entails engaging, rather than condemning and isolating the Burmese junta. However, those who agree with this position fail to realize that India’s cooperation with Burma has yet to yield tangible benefits for New Delhi and may even be hurting India’s long term goals. What should be India’s interest in Myanmar? To maintain the status quo, or to reform the Burmese government gradually?

INDIA’S MYANMAR POLICY:  A PROFILE

Initially, India strongly supported the pro-democracy movement in Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi.  In the mid-1990s, it changed course and began to provide weapons and tacit support to the Burmese junta. India’s about-face regarding its policy toward Burma was driven by four motivations: access to natural resources, desire to expand Indian influence in Southeast Asia, combat insurgencies in north east India, and balance against growing Chinese influence.

India’s attempts to access Burma’s natural resources and counter China’s influence have been unsuccessful thus far and are unlikely to succeed due to Burma’s security considerations. Access to Burma’s oil and gas reserves is probably the most important consideration in Indo-Burma relations.

Yet despite the fact that India has ignored pressure from Western powers to speak out and take action against Myanmar, the A-1 and A-3 blocks of gas off the coast of Burma were awarded to China. The concession went to China, because in January 2007, China exercised the almighty scepter of international relations, its Security Council veto, against a joint United States and United Kingdom resolution to condemn the Burmese government’s human rights violations, urge them to release Suu Kyi, and encourage the junta to begin the process of democratic transition.

Although Rangoon’s leaders are known to be suspicious of Chinese influence over their country, they are also primarily concerned with regime survival and India does not have the international political influence that China has to stifle claims for regime change. Therefore, India will never be able to provide Burma with the security guarantees that China can, so long as the junta is in power. As a result, it is unlikely that in a competition over resources or political influence between India and China, Burma would choose India. In such a situation, India’s interest is in seeing a more politically open and less repressive Burma, which has fewer reasons to rely on China politically.

Another reason why India believed it was worthwhile to bolster its relations with Burma is because New Delhi wants to expand its political, economic, and cultural relationship with Southeast Asia. Building physical links between India and the region will assist the transportation of goods, services, and people, which in turn, will strengthen India’s presence in the region. One step toward this goal was the 2001 opening of the Moreh-Tamu-Kalemyo road, which connects India and Burma.

India has also initiated and agreed to finance the entire Kaladan multi-modal project, which aims to develop the Sittwe port in Myanmar’s south-west as well as waterways and highways along the Kaladan River to receive goods from India. In the future, India plans to continue expanding its road and rail links with Southeast Asia through Burma.

However, the problem is that many of the transportation links that India proposes run through areas controlled by ethnic groups and militants that demand autonomy or a separate state. Consequently, these groups can disrupt any peaceful India-Burma transportation and India’s desire to use Burma as a conduit for Southeast Asia will not be secure as long as the military junta refuses to accommodate the various ethnic groups within its national framework. If India does seek to use Burma as a passageway for its expanded presence in south-east Asia, it has a stake in ensuring that Burma is less repressive of its ethnic communities and more open to political compromise.

The Indian government also believes that it needs to engage the military junta and provide weapons that the Burmese government can use against Indian secessionist groups, such as the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) that are seeking safe haven in Burma. At least twelve groups are believed to have bases in Myanmar. India has already provided Burma with military equipment but Burma has also requested helicopters, submarines, and surveillance aircraft. The arms vending has not been entirely successful because despite joint India-Myanmar cooperation in 1995 to evict insurgency groups from Myanmar, the majority of insurgents still live freely within Myanmar’s borders.

Furthermore, other activists claim that they have witnessed Indian rebels using Burmese weapons. Such weapons are usually strictly regulated by the Burmese military, indicating some collusion between the two groups. Moreover, the Burmese junta has an incentive to continue the north-eastern guerilla campaigns in order to guarantee that India will supply weapons that it can use both to minimally fight guerilla groups and oppress its own people. In this situation the Indian government’s interest is not in supporting the Burmese dictatorship but in political reform that would allow a government to come to power that had little reason to support an internal conflict in India.

Thus, India’s current policy toward Burma does not withstand careful analysis. India has only made minimal, if any, progress at achieving its goals.

MYANMAR: INDIA’S LONG TERM GOALS

India’s support for the Burmese military undermines the country’s long term foreign policy goals. In a speech given in October 2007, Indian Foreign Secretary Shri Shivshankar Menon outlined India’s foremost foreign policy goals. According to the Foreign Secretary, these goals were to help India secure an external environment conducive to internal economic development. They are, “Firstly, ensuring a peaceful periphery; secondly, improving relations with the major powers; and, thirdly, issues of the future namely food security, water, energy and environment.” On all three of these issues, however, India’s current position toward Burma goes against its stated objectives.

When Menon emphasized the importance of creating a neighborhood of peace and prosperity, evaluated the various paths to political stability taken by India’s neighbors, and discussed India’s role in these processes, he conveniently ignored Burma. It is the only country that shares a border with India that goes without mention. This is because Indo-Burmese relations are obviously a direct challenge to the Indian government’s goal of building a peaceful and prosperous South Asia. Under the current military junta, Burma is neither peaceful nor prosperous. Rather, relations between the junta and the population are tense because the people are suffering. Nearly one third of children under five are malnourished and malaria and tuberculosis are rampant.

In such a climate, India should fear the same problem that China fears from Burma: an influx of refugees. Already many Burmese workers seeking work cross into North East India and there are officially 70,000 Burmese refugees in India. Authorities speculate that unofficially the number is twice as many. If the situation in Burma worsens politically or economically, refugees from Burma could seek shelter in India where they share cultural ties with Indians in the North East. Since the North East is also not a peaceful and prosperous region, an influx of refugees, bringing with them disease and other problems, could threaten the tenuous cease-fire that has recently been reached in the region with many insurgent groups. Creating additional problems in the seven sister states is obviously against India’s efforts to develop internally. Hence, India should not risk this possibility and should work with the Burmese government to ease the humanitarian situation in Burma.

The second of India’s preeminent foreign policy concerns is strengthening India’s relationship with the major powers. India’s refusal to budge from its Burma position has not earned it any friends in the west. Instead, working to bring about a change in Burma, will win India respect from the major powers. Portraying itself as a responsible and benign power could even bolster India’s argument for a permanent Security Council seat.

Furthermore, if India desires to see itself as a major global actor and not just a second rate nation that is unsuccessfully trying to catch up with China, India should take strong offensive measures to shape the world according to its interests. Changing Indian policy toward Burma and leading the reform process would heighten India’s international prestige exponentially. Any success that India can achieve in Burma will demonstrate the nation’s political prowess and thus will only ease India’s acceptance into the elite power club.

Another aspect of this larger goal is improving India-China relations. Currently, India is pursuing a policy of engaging China rather than directly competing with it. In Burma, however, India is directly competing with China both over resources and political influence. India has the opportunity to alter this relationship by recognizing that China and other major Asian nations such as Thailand and Japan have an interest in preventing a human crisis in Burma and making this the basis of dialogue between these nations.
The last goal that Menon mentioned was securing India’s access to natural resources. As mentioned earlier, as long as the junta invokes the West’s disapproval, it will rely on China to wield its political power to protect it from Western military action, additional UN sanctions, or UN resolutions. In return, China will demand access to Burma’s resources, assuring that India will lose the battle for resources and influence.

Similar is the situation with Chinese construction of naval bases in Burma as part of the Chinese plan to establish a naval presence throughout the Indian Ocean. As long as the Burmese feel that they need the Chinese, they will continue to favor China over India.

Menon also mentioned food insecurity as a problem facing India. At the time of Independence, Burma was one of the world’s leading rice producers. Since then poor policies have led to a sharp fall in rice production. Supporting the generals and their pitiful economic management has hurt, not helped, India’s food needs.

THE ROAD AHEAD FOR INDIA

In order to achieve its economic and political goals, India should work to change the status quo of the Burmese government and persuade them that it is in their best interest to slowly, gradually, initiate the process toward economic improvement and democratic transition and avoid a human crisis. As of yet, most of the economic activity in Burma is strictly controlled by the generals to their benefit. Perhaps a starting point for reform would be encouraging the military to reform their economic policies to give average citizens access to economic opportunity or improve the nation’s agricultural production, both to feed their hungry population and to sell to neighboring India.

Another starting point could be persuading the Burmese government to reach an understanding with the multiple ethnic groups that are fighting the military junta. India can argue that problems with these groups must be resolved before the Burmese and Indian governments can discuss transportation and economic linkages.

To incite Burma to cooperate with India on transportation and economic issues, the Indian government should exploit the xenophobia and suspicion of China that characterizes Rangoon’s leaders. India should stress the extensive control that China has now gained over Burma and reiterate that China favors political and social stability to ensure its economic interests and fears an influx of Burmese refugees and the spread of diseases into neighboring Chinese provinces.

India can counsel Burmese leaders that if China thinks that the junta cannot stabilize the country and prevent a human catastrophe, it will not hesitate to cooperate with Western nations and allow a regime change in Burma. Such an action will only augment China’s prestige within the international community and would be in line with Beijing’s recent efforts to develop a positive image of itself within the international community.

Cooperating with India on infrastructure projects and gradual economic deregulation and openness will help the regime maintain stability in Burma by improving the standard of living of citizens, temper calls for a regime change from Western nations, and counter China’s domineering relationship with the junta.

At the same time, India should also initiate multiparty dialogues with other Asian nations, particularly China, to coordinate pressurizing the Burmese junta toward reform. This action will create a basis of commonality from which India could enhance its cooperation and downplay its competition with China. If the efforts of these nations are successful in pursuing gradual economic and political reform, the Burmese government will have less of a reason to rely on Beijing. This will give India a chance to access Burma’s natural resources and limit the construction of Chinese naval bases in Burma. Additionally, initiating regional cooperation over Burma will demonstrate to the international community that India is a capable and willing regional power that should be consulted for the resolution of regional problems.

Regional cooperation does entail a prisoner’s dilemma where the greatest good to the parties involves cooperation but each party has an incentive to ignore the others and preserve its own interests. In an attempt to counter this prospect, India should emphasize that the current situation is not sustainable and it is only a matter of time before Burma threatens the stability in Asia. Change is required and since no one nation can urge Burma to change, regional cooperation is the option that favors the interests of neighboring states. Perhaps India can try pursing regional cooperation first, and if it fails, move on to using the xenophobia of the Burmese generals against them.

Ideally, after gradually making economic reforms, the Indian government should encourage political reform, bearing in mind that an immediate democratic transition would be unsustainable since there is no group of individuals in Burma, aside from the junta, who are trained adequately in governance.

Ann Koppuzha is a Research Intern at the IPCS

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88 Gen students on trial inside prison
Mizzima News - Phanida
Friday, 29 August 2008 22:54

Chiang Mai – A total of 35 student leaders of the 88 Generation Students were produced for trial inside Rangoon's notorious Insein prison for the first time on Wednesday.

The student leaders, who were arrested and detained since August last year, have been continuously remanded on different charges under various sections.

"The hearing has not yet started. The accused have been brought to court. This is the time they are being produced in court," lawyer Aung Thein, who has been following the case closely, said.

Aung Thein said, the student leaders have demanded for a free and open trial, according to international standards, allowing media to be present at the court, and requested not to handcuff them during the court proceedings.

"On Wednesday, I visited the prison and came back at about noon. Then I heard that over 30 accused were brought to court at about 3 p.m. the same day. Their judicial remand is due on that day," a family member of Ko Ko Gyi, one of the student leaders, said.

Reportedly, lawyers Kyi Win, Nyan Win and Aung Thein will act as the defence counsels for most of these student leaders.

Besides, a few other lawyers will also defend Saw Myo Min Hlaing a.k.a. James, Nyan Lin and Min Han from among the 88 Gen students, another lawyer Pho Phyu said.

The 35 accused that were produce before the court today were student leaders Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Pyone Cho, Jimmy, Mya Aye, Min Zeya, Aunt Phwe Kyaw, Kyaw Kyaw Htwe, Panneik Tun, Thet Zaw, Nyan Lin Tun and Zaw Zaw Min. All them were arrested in August 2007, after marching in protest against the sudden hike in fuel and commodity prices.

"I learnt that there are even women and 28 men among the 35 accused brought to court on Wednesday. We will know in detail on Monday," a man who visited the prison said.

The 88 Gen students were remanded with a new case under section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act last July. The student leaders were remanded under section 17/20 of the Printers and Publishers Act and later they were remanded with new cases under Law No. 5/96 (Endangering National Convention), section 33(a) of the Electronic Act.

If convicted, the student leaders will face up to three years in prison under section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, five to 15 years in prison under 'Endangering the National Convention Law' (Law No. 5/96) and five to 15 years under section 33(a) of the Electronic Law, another advocate Khin Maung Shein, who also follow on the case, said.

Min Ko Naing and 13 other student leaders had spent at least 10 years in prison in their previous prison terms.

Meanwhile, Burma's prominent comedian Thura a.k.a. Zarganar and Reverend abbot Ashin Gambira were also produced before the court on Thursday inside the Insein prison but the trial was fixed for September 4, as the judges fail to turn up, Khin Maung Shein said.

"The judges had a meeting yesterday and could not hear the case. So comedian Zarganar cracked jokes in court all day and they were taken back in the evening," a friend of Zarganar, who was present at the court, said.

Nyan Win, spokesperson of Burma's main opposition party – National League for Democracy – said, "This is a continuous crackdown on political activists and the NLD. It is clear that they are continuing with their repression."

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Twenty seven children poisoned by physic nuts
Mizzima News - Than Htike Oo
Friday, 29 August 2008 18:42

Chiang Mai – Twenty seven Burmese children fell ill from food poisoning after eating physic nuts in 2007, a Rangoon based weekly journal reported.

Dr. Kyi Kyi Thin from the Institute of Medicine 1 (IM 1) revealed this in a lecture on 'World Crises in Food, Water and Energy' held at the Myanmar Medical Doctors Association.

"The children fell ill from food poisoning after eating physic nut planted in their residential areas to produce bio diesel. The children like to eat them as it looks like betel nut and has a sweet taste. After the food poisoning they suffered from diarrhea, vomiting and low blood pressure. Some children had to be admitted to hospitals and clinics," the 29th August issue of 'Weekly Eleven' reported quoting Dr. Kyi Kyi Thin.

The severity of food poisoning suffered by the children was in varying degrees. Some recovered from the illness within 48 hours. About 56.5 per cent of 27 children who suffered food poisoning from physic nuts were in the age group of 10 to 15, the journal reported citing medical records.

The regime ordered the whole country to grow physic nuts in December 2005. It was a brainchild of Snr. Gen. Than Shwe for fuel self-sufficiency. In this nationwide campaign, physic nuts were grown on seven acres of land in all 14 States and Divisions.

The concerned regional military command commanders put pressure on the people to grow physic nuts. But the extraction of bio-diesel from physic nuts has not yet materialized significantly but the planting of saplings continue in some areas.

Destruction and removal of physic nut plantations around the Mandalay palace moat was witnessed in early August. But government officials usually avoid commenting on this sacred physic nut plantation project.

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Soldiers Still Watch Suu Kyi
The Irrawaddy - By MIN LWIN - Friday, August 29, 2008

Although the Burmese generals don’t want military personnel to show interest in domestic politics, detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s surprise snub of the UN special envoy last week has become a popular talking point among soldiers and officers in Burma, according to several military sources.

“We are interested to know why Suu Kyi did not meet Gambari,” said an officer based in Naypyidaw military region command who declined to be identified for security reasons.

“We were surprised that the officials were so impolite—shouting with a loudspeaker outside the gate of Aung San Suu Kyi’s residence,” he said, referring to an incident last week when two of Gambari’s aides, accompanied by Burmese officials, stood outside her house at Inya Lake in Rangoon and called in vain for her to come out and greet the UN envoy.

The officer told The Irrawaddy that most soldiers believe that the political situation in Burma cannot improve without Suu Kyi’s involvement and that even officers admire her as the daughter of independence hero Gen Aung San, who was the founding father of the Burmese armed forces.

The officer said that many Burmese soldiers pay attention to the news, either from state-run media or through foreign-based radio stations. However, senior generals don’t usually allow military personnel to listen to or watch Suu Kyi’s political speeches.

 

“During the 1990 election, we recorded Suu Kyi’s speeches and secretly listened to them,” said a retired army captain.

In the 1990 general election, polls showed that soldiers and their family members throughout Burma voted for her party, the National League for Democracy, despite its anti-military stance.

Nowadays, most soldiers are still suffering from economic hardships: the government has suspended rations and stipends to family members of soldiers and officers.

“Like many people, we also are facing hard times,” said the 24-year-old son of a warrant officer in the 77tth Light Infantry Division. “Military personnel and their families also want political and social changes,” he added.

Meanwhile, VCDs of a well-known comedy troupe, Thee Lay Thee & Say Young Sone A-Nyeint, are widely available in military barracks and among soldiers’ family members. The VCDs of the troupe’s political satire performances both inside Burma and in exile are very popular among troops.

A sergeant in his early 30s from Rangoon regional military command said that soldiers made copies of the comedy performances and distributed them among themselves, despite a ban on Thee Lay Thee & Say Young Sone A-Nyeint VCDs.

In November 2007, the comedians performed at Rangoon’s Kandawgyi Lake drawing a large audience, including military officials, intelligence officers and police, all of whom seemed to enjoy the show. 

Jokes about the junta, Burma’s increasing economic hardships and UN envoy Gambari’s failed mission were generally well received by audiences, the officers said.

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Detained Activists to Appeal for Open Trial
The Irrawaddy - By LAWI WENG
Friday, August 29, 2008

Detained leaders of Burma’s 88 Generation Students group will appeal for an open trail when they next appear in court on Tuesday, according to one of their lawyers, Aung Thein.

Aung Thein, a central court lawyer, told The Irrawaddy that the movement’s 35 detained members, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Min Zeya, would also request not to be handcuffed when they appear before the court.

The activists were arrested during and after protests last August against fuel price hikes, which led to mass demonstrations led by Buddhist monks.

Aung Thein and two other Burmese lawyers Kyi Win and U Nyaung will act as their defense lawyers, although they have not yet met their clients.

Aung Thein also serves as defense lawyer for the prominent monk Gambira and 10 others monks of the All Burma Monks’ Alliance (ABMA), who appeared in court on August 20 charged with immigration law transgressions, contacting banned organizations, illegal contacts with foreign organizations through the Internet and other offenses.

At least 2092 Political Prisoners are currently being held in detention across the country, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), or AAPP.

The imprisoned activists are suffering "prolonged and unlawful detention, no access to proper legal counsel, no free or fair trials," AAPP said.

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Rangoon authorities collect monks’ personal data

Aug 29, 2008 (DVB)–Authorities in the four Dagon townships in Rangoon have begun collecting the full personal details of monks staying in local monasteries, according to residents.

There are hundreds of monasteries in the four townships, including Myin Chan and Ywar Ma lecturing monasteries, each of which houses hundreds of monks.

A local resident said it was usual for the authorities to collect the monks' personal details every year, but this year they have been collecting more detailed information from each monk.

"Normally, a [government- nominated] Sangha leader would just sign a notification of the monks staying in the monastery for Buddhist lent and that would be it – but this year, they are collecting more thorough personal information, " said the resident.

"They are making profiles of each monk with details such as where their families live and what they do and if they have any political background."

He claimed the process is also taking place in many townships across Rangoon including South Okkalapa, Tharkayta, Daw Pon and Shwe Pyi Thar.

Meanwhile, security has been tightened in Rangoon with military units circling the city in trucks late at night and troops patrolling the streets.

Rangoon residents have speculated that the increase in security is to prevent public demonstrations commemorating the one-year anniversary of last year's September protests which ended in a violent crackdown.

Reporting by Aye Nai

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Security stepped up in Pakokku

Aug 29, 2008 (DVB)–Barbed wire barriers erected by armed government soldiers on the streets of Pakokku in an effort to prevent demonstrations have brought traffic to a standstill, local residents said.

Authorities have stepped up security out of concern that monks will stage protests on the streets as the first anniversary of last September’s Saffron Revolution approaches.

This latest increase in security by soldiers came as monks from lecturing monasteries continued to maintain their religious strike by refusing donations from the Ministry of Communications, Post and Telegrams.

Last Monday, communications minister major-general Thein Zaw came to donate materials to some teaching monasteries but the monks at Anauk-taik threw away all the donations, leaving them in a pile outside the monastery compound.

Even local residents refused to take the rejected donations and the authorities had to come and collect them, eyewitnesses said.

Donations were only accepted by Ashayt-taik monastery, which is inhabited by members of the official Naingngandaw Sangha Mahayaka, while Aleh-taik monks also refused to accept any offerings, local residents said.

Since the monks began their religious boycott, they have completely refused to accept government donations and have thrown away any donations from ministers which they were forced to accept.

The day after Thein Zaw’s visit to the area, two army trucks packed with soldiers arrived at Pakokku police station and intelligence agents have also been keeping a close watch on religious colleges since then, local said.

The troops are particularly concentrated in the Khantaw market are near Anauk-taik and have taken up positions at temporary checkpoints set up around the town.

“[The soldiers are being] positioned at the exit of Pakokku and Shwechaung village. That’s why no one is going out after ten,” a local resident said.

The tightening of security coincides with the run-up to the first anniversary of the violent suppression of monk-led protests in Pakokku.

On 5 September last year, Pakokku monks came out of their monasteries and took to the streets in a protest against rising commodity prices.

As the monks marched, chanting prayers, armed government troops fired warning shots into the air and beat, arrested and disrobed three monks.

Locals said the latest security measures are aimed at the monks from carrying out memorial protests.

Reporting by Aye Nai

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