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HEADLINES
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AP - UN seeks US$60 million for North Korean food aid
Reuters - India eyes L. America, Myanmar land for oilseeds
Reuters - Qatar, Vietnam set up $1 bln fund, eye agriculture -paper
NAM - The Fourth Estate, Alluring though Dangerous
Merinews - Mounting concern over Aung San Suu Kyi's health
Kangla Online - 15 Myanmar nationals released after a year in Imphal jails
Bangkok Post - COMMENTARY: Right and wrong and ridiculous
The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Continues Legal Battle
The Irrawaddy - U Gambira to Snub Military Court
Mizzima News - Township police stations told not to release crime information
Mizzima News - Old problems to revisit new gas pipeline
DVB News - Commentary: Burma must stand on its own two feet
DVB News - Security tightened in Bago ahead of protest anniversary

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UN seeks US$60 million for North Korean food aid
By GILLIAN WONG,Associated Press Writer
AP - Tuesday, September 2

BEIJING - The U.N. food agency urged donors Tuesday to separate politics from humanitarian aid as it appealed for US$60 million to help North Korea avert its worst food crisis since the 1990s.

The World Food Program said it needed the funds urgently for an emergency program to feed 6.3 million vulnerable North Koreans as food security in the impoverished country worsened.

The WFP needs a total of US$503 million to fund the 15-month operation _ but requires US$60 million immediately to run the program until the end of the year, the agency's Asia director, Tony Banbury, told reporters in Beijing.

"We need the checks flowing to the banks today," Banbury said. "We sure hope that donors, as many have in the past, will look at this operation from a purely humanitarian point of view."

Political issues surfaced again last week when North Korea said it had stopped disabling its nuclear reactor and threatened to restore its plutonium-producing facility. The move jeopardizes a six-nation agreement requiring Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programs in return for energy aid and political concessions.

South Korea has said it will not tie the food issue to the North's nuclear disarmament, but a Seoul official said last week that South Korean public opinion is a consideration in deciding whether to accept the WFP's request for contributions.

On Tuesday, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said Seoul is still considering the appeal and will make a decision based on its assessment of the North's food situation while monitoring "various situations." He did not elaborate.

In Beijing, Jean-Pierre de Margerie, the WFP's country director for North Korea, said the financing issue was "extremely pressing."

"In some cases, it's probably a question of life and death if we cannot mobilize enough money to cover the minimum needs," de Margerie said.

Over the past year, there has been a "significant deterioration" in food security in North Korea, particularly among children, the elderly, and pregnant or nursing women, Banbury said.

Food rations in the country in June were less than a third of what they were at the start of the year, he said.

Banbury said the WFP's latest assessment, conducted over three weeks, showed that more than half of the households in the country were surviving on two meals a day, with very limited consumption of meat. Many people were relying on relatives to supply food or scavenging for wild foods.

Flooding, poor harvests, and a drop in imports and food aid have caused North Korea's worst food crisis since the late 1990s and have put millions at risk, the agency says.
Communist North Korea has relied on foreign assistance to feed its 23 million people since the mid-1990s, when its economy was hit by natural disasters coupled with the loss of the regime's Soviet benefactor. As many as 2 million people are believed to have died of famine, exacerbated by a centrally controlled agriculture sector saddled with outdated farming methods.

The U.S. has pledged 400,000 tons of food to this operation together with 100,000 tons for a separate operation implemented by U.S. non-governmental organizations, Banbury said.

China is North Korea's leading source of food and fuel aid. But difficulties in obtaining food export licenses from China have hampered the WFP's efforts to procure food to be sent to North Korea as well as to Myanmar, the agency said, adding it was in talks with Chinese officials. It has asked the Chinese government to allow the agency to buy 50,000 tons of cereals and export it to their operations in either country.

"We understand the priority is to take care of the Chinese population first but (to) a modest request, we're hoping, very hopeful, for a positive answer," said Anthea Webb, the WFP director in China. "It's clear that the need is as urgent as ever now."

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India eyes L. America, Myanmar land for oilseeds
Tue Sep 2, 2008 4:38pm IST
By Mayank Bhardwaj

NEW DELHI, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Some of India's top vegetable oil firms plan to lease or buy land in Paraguay, Uruguay and Myanmar to grow oilseeds and lentils as farmland shrinks in the South Asian nation, a top trade official said on Tuesday.

Despite being the world's second-biggest grower of rice and wheat and the leading importer of vegetable oils after China, India has recently been pinched by rising global food prices.

Policy makers fear climate change could squeeze the amount of land available to farmers even further.

"We have formed a consortium of 14 vegetable oil companies which is in talks with the governments of Paraguay, Uruguay, and Myanmar for buying large tracts of land for cultivating soybean, sunflower and pulses," Ashok Sethia, president of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India, told Reuters.

India banned exports and cut import taxes on a clutch of farm products to ensure supplies for its more than one billion people when food prices soared globally last year and early in 2008.

Analysts say factories and property developers are buying up farmland, while farm output is also restricted by the poor development of irrigation facilities across much of the country.

In a sign of its vulnerability when things go wrong, hot weather in 2006 cut wheat output and forced India to import more than 7 million tonnes of the grain over two years at high prices.

"There is too much pressure on our farmland and the government knows it has a difficult task ahead in maintaining food supplies," Sethia said.

Conservationists and scientists have expressed concern the diversion of vegetable oils for biofuel is speeding up deforestation in southeast Asia and South America, as farmers cut down trees to expand oil palm plantations and soy fields.

GROW OVERSEAS, SHIP HOME

India consumes 18 million tonnes of lentils and imports from Myanmar, Tanzania, Australia, Canada and Ukraine to bridge a shortfall of about 4 million tonnes of the protein-rich food.

It also imports almost half of the 11 million tonnes or so of edible oil it consumes, and buys palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia and soyoil from Brazil and Argentina.
Sethia said some importers were buying oil palm plantations in Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer.

"Growing rice and wheat overseas does not seem feasible. Growing oilseeds and lentils is. Do not be surprised to see more of this in the days to come," he said.

"We have formed a special purpose vehicle and earmarked an initial 2 billion rupees ($45.25 million) to begin the project," Sethia said.

He said Indian firms would have to move quickly because land prices have started rising there as countries like Japan were also buying farmland."

"We have the option to either own or take the land on lease in these countries. We will prefer to own. We will cultivate there and bring back the produce to India for refining and crushing," said Praveen Lumkar, convenor of the Latin American project.

He said state-owned trading firm State Trading Corp of India Ltd (STCI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) is among the 14 firms in the consortium, and a delegation would visit these countries next week to take the talks forward.

"Our government is also instrumental in the project, lending us the support in our negotiations with authorities there," Lumkar said.

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Qatar, Vietnam set up $1 bln fund, eye agriculture -paper
Reuters - Tuesday, September 2

DUBAI, Sept. 2 - Natural gas exporter Qatar and Vietnam have set up a $1 billion fund to invest in sectors including agriculture, a Qatar-based newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority will provide 90 percent of the fund's equity, Gulf Times reported, citing Phung The Long, Vietnam's Ambassador to Doha.
"We have exchange ideas about setting up an animal farm for breeding cattle and lambs," The Long said.

"We like to have cooperation in this field. Qatar can provide the finance to grow food grains in our land and these can be exported to Qatar."

Gulf government funds, with windfall income from oil and gas exports, have set up several joint funds, some designed to improve access to food supplies.

The desert states in the world's top oil-exporting region rely on imports of food -- a factor that has stoked inflation to multi-decade highs this year as global commodity prices soared.

Last month, the QIA set up a $1 billion fund with Indonesia to invest in energy and infrastructure, and possibly agriculture. [ID:nLH88440] Saudi Arabia's BinLadin Group plans to invest at least $4.3 billion in Indonesia's agriculture, an Indonesian official said in August.

Kuwait also said last month it was talking with Asian countries including Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar about securing food supplies and investing in agriculture.

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The Fourth Estate, Alluring though Dangerous
New America Media, Commentary, Mark Schurmann, Posted: Aug 31, 2008
Editor's note: On the eve of his trip to Myanmar, NAM contributing writer wonders if he has to courage to go after a good stories, like Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana did, even if at the risk of losing life and limb.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A few nights ago, I saw a profile of Fadel Shana, a young Reuters cameraman, on Al Jazeera TV, in a segment called “Shooting the Messenger,” a four-part series about the risks faced by reporters.

“I can’t give up journalism,” said the 24-year-old Palestinian in one interview. “Only two things can stop me.” Death or losing his legs.

The last thing Shana captured on his camera was the Israeli shell that shattered his jeep and his body in early August while on assignment in the Gaza strip.

Sitting in the comfort of my hotel, I asked myself, “Can I do this?”

Watching the footage of Shana’s camera going black as the shell explodes overhead was eerie. It felt as if weeks later, far from the Gaza Strip, and in the darkness of my room, I'm being told: ‘Turn away viewer. This conflict is none of your affair.’

Re-enforcing this sense is the list Al Jazeera runs at the end of the segment of journalists killed worldwide since January 2007. Like rolling credits in a movie, the names of the dead seem endless. Most of them, by far, are Arabic.

On the plane from Hong Kong to Thailand, I decided to list my occupation as teacher, rather than journalist, on my customs form. I wanted to avoid any complications while going through Bangkok customs.

I had gone into the closet because I couldn’t shake the feeling that journalists, foreign correspondents in particular, are often seen as meddlers. rather than objective observers. I still can’t shake the feeling.

Case in point. As I write this, hundreds of anti-government protesters have stormed Thailand’s NBT, a state owned news agency in Bangkok, ransacking offices and forcing out employees, a prelude to occupying the government offices of prime minister Samak Sudaravej.

Anchormen and reporters are roughly escorted through the mob, with one reportedly having been punched in the face. Surrounded by angry protesters, they look scared and thoroughly miserable.

It isn’t hard to see why the media have become a target for mistrust and resentment. They are often accused --sometimes deservedly -- of carrying agendas and having biases. Papers take sides in their editorials, and often reflect conservative or liberal angles and national interests in reporting and opinion. Reporters have been known to exaggerate, or even lie outright.

Even when doing their jobs right, journalists open closets, air out dirty laundry and tell secrets. Someone is always bound to be upset.

A few weeks ago reporters for news outlets like CNN and the BBC were harassed and threatened by Russian soldiers and Ossetian irregulars while looking for access into Georgia. Weeks later, details are still emerging on the damage and casualties committed by both sides in the conflict.

In places like Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia, Mexico and Zimbabwe, journalists are heavily regulated, threatened or denied access at all. Those who are embedded risk much. Those that arenี’t, risk more. Cross the lines in pursuit of a story, and you are subject to detention, kidnapping and death, as was the case with New York Timeีs reporter Stephen Vincent while pursuing a story in Basra, Iraq.

The United States is no exception. Last year reporter Chauncey Bailey was shot and killed in downtown Oakland, Calif., in broad daylight while investigating a story on local corruption.

Given the stereotypes and the risks, I ask myself, “Why be a journalist?”

Because I was a fish-monger on the docks of San Francisco when Katrina struck New Orleans and ruptured the levees. I felt helpless as two friends, reporters and future colleagues, made their way down to the gulf while I went home to bed.

I was compelled to document the neglect that caused the flood and act as witness to the suffering, survival and heroism of people down on the gulf. Four years later, I'm living abroad as a journalist and the risks of reporting scare me, largely because it seems to have become so much more dangerous.

In a few days, I'll travel to Myanmar, ostensibly to renew my visa for Thailand but also to pay my respects to slain journalist Kenji Nagai, the Japanese photographer shot to death by a Burmese soldier while covering the military crackdown in Myanmar last year.

These are the places no one wants to go, but some one has to go, said Nagai to his publisher at APF news agency in Tokyo before leaving for Yangon, the Burmese capital.

Printing, which comes necessarily out of writing, is equivalent to democracy, wrote essayist Thomas Carlyle. But before printing or writing, and perhaps democracy, there have to be Nagais willingness to go. Without it, there’s only rumor and silence -- as there was during the Holocaust.

I confess that I struggled to hold back the tears when I watched the profile on Fadel Shana. It seems a cruel irony when a journalist is killed while covering a story, especially when the killing is intentional. Media credentials are no longer a shield. Shana’s jeep was clearly marked “Press.”

After the moment of impact that takes his life and the black screen that follows, an anonymous reporter captures footage of Fadelี’s broken body. Someone has already taken his place.

I admire his courage. I hope I have it.

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Mounting concern over Aung San Suu Kyi's health
There is mounting concern round the world over reports of Noble Peace Laureate and Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi continuing to refuse food supplies. She has lost weight, her lawyer said. Her doctor will conduct a check-up on September 4..
Merinews - CJ: Shyamal Sarkar ,  Sep 2, 2008

NOBLE PEACE Laureate and Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's health is causing concern. She has thinned down having lost weight, her lawyer, who was allowed to meet her by the military junta has said. Her lawyer Kyi Win met her for half-an-hour yesterday (September 1) at her lake side villa in Yangon.

Speculation has been rife that the National League for Democracy general secretary has stopped receiving supplies of food as of August 15, and is on hunger strike. While the ruling junta has said these are rumours, her party leaders in exile insist that something is grossly wrong. Her lawyer, however, told her party leaders that she is in good health but had lost weight and needed rest.

An NLD spokesman told the Myanmar media in exile that her family doctor Tin Myo Win will be allowed to visit her on September 4, and will undertake a health check-up.

There seems to have been an agreement where the junta will allow her doctor to visit her for a health check-up once a month. The doctor had last visited her on August 17.
Reports of her going without food has been doing the rounds since the last week of August once it was learnt that she has told youth activists of her party not to bring her food supplies after the last time she received it on August 15.

The conflicting reports emanating from Myanmar and from supporters in exile regarding her purported hunger strike and her health, has raised serious concerns among Myanmarese civil organisations across the world, who have called on the international community to immediately intervene.

Many feel that she could be in danger if reports that she has stopped accepting food supplies and is on huger strike are correct. There have also been demands that the junta allow physicians, visitors and diplomats and members of her party to visit her, reports added.

The rumours that she is not accepting food supplies started doing the rounds last week soon after the UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari left the country after a six–day visit without being able to meet Suu Kyi, who refused to meet him in what is being called her expression of dissatisfaction with the way the envoy has been going about his mission for national reconciliation in Myanmar.

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15 Myanmar nationals released after a year in Imphal jails
Kangla Online - The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, Sep 1: Fifteen Myanmar nationals lodged in the Manipur Central jail and Sajiwa jail have been released by an order of the state government and sent to the Myanmar refugee camp at Leikul in Chandel district, an official source said Monday.

The 15 Myanmar nationals were picked up from Pangal Basti, a Muslim colony in the border town of Moreh in Manipur around a year back on August 17 and brought to Imphal for interrogation.

The discovery of foreign currency in their possession led the paramilitary forces to suspect that they had links with the terrorist group al Qaida, but subsequent interrogations yielded no evidence of this. However, they were put in jail under other offences.

The arrested men also claimed that they were labourers. The Assam Rifles set to rest rumours about them being al Qaida activists by turning them over to the police and clarifying that they were only migrant workers.

The men were charged under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, which deals with offences related with foreign nationals entering India without valid documents.

They were released from jail following an order of the state home department issued on Saturday and sent to the Myanmar refugee camp, the official source said today.

Currently, there are 32 Myanmar nationals taking shelter at the Myanmar refugee camp at Leikul in Chandel.

The Manipur government issued the order for release of the 15 Myanmar nationals in compliance of the order of the Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench. In a ruling of the court on August 26 the Manipur government was directed to release them.

The released Myanmar nationals are Md Nassen alias Nasim, Faizu Rahaman, Said Aslam, Md Rehan alias Mongla, Md Abdul Hussain, Mahabu Bashar alias Fijho, Md Abdul alias Rahul Arin, Md Bashar Ahamad, Md Junet, Sah Ahamad, Md Salim, Md Shabbir Ahamad, Md Rohit and Abdulla. The men are aged between 18 and 42 years.

They will remain at the Myanmar refugee camp located at Leikul till word comes from the Union ministry of home affairs on their deportation to Myanmar.

The men were lodged in jail after the chief judicial magistrate, Chandel district, Brajakumar Sharma, fixed the hearing on October 5, 2007 after examining the chargesheet framed by Moreh police. The chargesheet was submitted to the court on September 5, 2007.

At the time of arrest Major General BK Chengappa had said that they could not establish any link between the apprehended persons and any terrorist organization like al Qaida but picked them up for entering and staying in Manipur without valid documents.

The 15, all Muslims, and from Arakan province of Myanmar, spent some time working as labourers in Imphal before shifting to Moreh.

The Assam Rifles personnel found US dollars and currencies of Thailand and Myanmar on them. The troops also found Thailand work permits in their possession.

The chargesheet claimed that prima facie evidence of violation of Section 14 of the Foreigners Act had been well established, and if convicted, they could spend upto five years in jail.

Mention may be made the court fixed the hearing on October 5, 2007 after the authorities of Sajiwa jail failed to produce the accused on two occasions. The jail authorities could not produce them on September 7, 2007 and again on September 21, 2007, saying the jail did not have adequate number of policemen to guard the prisoners on those dates.

The release order of the state government issued on August 30 directed the state DGP and all concerned not to allow them to move about beyond the refugee camp without prior written permission of the district magistrate, Chandel and inspector general of police (intelligence) , Manipur.

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Right and wrong and ridiculous
Bangkok Post - COMMENTARY: SARITDET MARUKATAT
Tuesday September 02, 2008

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej made two serious mistakes last week.

The first has already become a hot topic. Last Tuesday he urged the media to make a decision between staying with the government side, or with the People's Alliance for Democracy camp.

For him the answer to his call might appear simple, given what the PAD was doing - occupying Government House for eight days now. The prime minister on Sunday questioned the media about the principle of balanced reporting, which he said should not apply to street gangsters like the PAD.

But the press, like many people on the streets, will be very uncomfortable when it comes to picking either one: the elected government or the PAD. Mr Samak has said time and again that his work is supported by a mandate from voters who selected the People Power party as their No. 1 choice in the Dec 23 elections. The government is a legitimate body running the country. So why does he have to listen to the voices of those PAD members shouting for his resignation?

The prime minister is right. The government has come about through the democratic process. But this does not mean he can do anything at will. The mandate should be used to serve the public interest. But the faces in his cabinet clearly show that public benefit comes after his own survival, as he has to keep all factions in the PPP happy by rewarding them with cabinet portfolios.

What the PAD has been doing is also disappointing. It is ridiculous to consider the seizure of Government House as showing the "progress of democracy". PAD members would also be happy to see army generals intervene by staging another coup, so long as it is aimed at kicking Mr Samak out of office.

So far, the anti-government group cannot supply a rationale for its decision to keep the rally going - even though its demands, particularly the one for the government to step back from any attempt to kill the charter, have been met. The PAD is showing that it is good at making both friends and foes. Those siding with the PAD are praised for their courage and fighting spirit. Anybody complaining about the PAD rally - from students fed up with noisy campaigns, to drivers tired of traffic jams - are branded as immature because they lack the spirit of democracy.

Another mistake of PM Samak is his idea for restoring democracy in Burma. He told visiting UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari on Aug 25, that Aung San Suu Kyi should be put aside if other countries want to see a return of democracy to Burma. "Aung San Suu Kyi is one thing. The international community should talk about how to bring about democracy in Burma and focus on the constitution and the elections," he said.

Mr Samak will try to sell this idea to the United Nations this month, when he takes the podium at the UN General Assembly in New York. And as chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to what extent will his idea shape the direction of the regional grouping, remains to be seen.

Thinking about what the prime minister plans to do with this idea is already scary and should be good news for the Burmese military generals. The reality is that it is not logical to separate the Nobel peace prize laureate from democracy in Burma, just like it does not make sense trying to separate ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from the PPP. Mrs Suu Kyi is the symbol of democracy in Burma. She led the National League for Democracy to a landslide victory in the 1990 elections. But 18 years later, she is still under arrest.

As long as she is not included in talks about democracy in Burma, the problem will never end.

In fact, it is very surprising to see Mr Samak think the way he does. The prime minister should have more understanding and should sympathise with Mrs Suu Kyi, instead of alienating her from the political picture in Burma.

Mr Samak complains about the threat from outside parliament against his government, which was elected under the democratic process. Mrs Suu Kyi was also democratically elected, but the Burmese generals intentionally ignored the poll results.

Saritdet Marukatat is News Editor, Bangkok Post.

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Suu Kyi Continues Legal Battle
The Irrawaddy - By WAI MOE
Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Burma’s detained democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, met with her lawyer yesterday to discuss a legal challenge to the ruling junta’s decision to extend her house arrest earlier this year.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy on Monday that Suu Kyi’s meeting with her lawyer—the third since early August—concerned a lawsuit that she is mounting against her continuing detention, which was extended in May. She has been under house arrest since May 2003.

Nyan Win said that time constraints made it impossible for Suu Kyi and her lawyer to finish their business.

“Her discussions with her lawyer couldn’t conclude because the meeting was limited to just 30 minutes,” he said, adding that it was not clear when the authorities would allow Suu Kyi and her lawyer to meet again to discuss her case.

Political observers in Rangoon noted that this was the first time that to keep her under house arrest. Some also said that she was in touch with members of her Suu Kyi had attempted to use the courts to challenge the junta’s right party and the authorities to discuss the case.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic source suggested that Suu Kyi could be released before the end of this year. However, other sources said that Suu Kyi would also demand the release of all political prisoners if the junta decides to free her.

Suu Kyi’s meeting with her lawyer came amid rumors that she had begun a hunger strike.

Her lawyer, Kyi Win, said that Suu Kyi made no mention of a hunger strike, and in response to questions about her condition, quoted her as saying: “I am well, but I have lost some weight. I am a little tired and I need to rest.”

This was not the first time that Suu Kyi was rumored to be on a hunger strike. There were reports in September 2003 that she was refusing food. Those rumors proved to be inaccurate.

Observers suggested that the current rumors were also unlikely to be true, since the junta wouldn’t allow her to meet with her lawyer if she were staging a hunger strike.

Suu Kyi’s colleague, veteran journalist Ohn Kyaing, said that she takes meditation and other Buddhist practices seriously, and may be losing weight because she is abstaining from eating dinner for religious reasons during the three-month Buddhist Lent.

Thakin Chun Tun, a veteran politician in Rangoon, said Suu Kyi needed to be healthy so she could engage in a genuine dialogue with the regime to break the ongoing crises in the country.

“Burma’s crises can only be resolved through a genuine dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Snr-Gen Than Shwe, head of the ruling junta,” he said. “I hope she will take care of her health.”

The veteran politician said that while hunger strikes were an effective non-violent tactic during the country’s colonial period, they are less likely to succeed today.

“The current political environment is totally different from the colonial period,” he said.
“Burma is now ruled by the military—human life has less value now than under British rule.”

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U Gambira to Snub Military Court
The Irrawaddy - By MIN LWIN
Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Ashin Gambira, the detained leader of the All Burma Monks’ Alliance (ABMA), will not appear for trial on Thursday if the Burmese military authorities do not accede to his request to be tried under Buddhist law, his lawyers and relatives in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

“Ashin Gambira has stated that he refuses to wear handcuffs,” Aung Thein, one of his lawyers, said. “In accordance with Buddhist law he should also be allowed to wear his monk’s robes when he appears for trial.”

However, his requests were denied by Insein prison court on Monday, his lawyer said.

Aung Thein told The Irrawaddy that Ashin Gambira had been charged with nine separate criminal offenses by the military court. The alleged offences include: State Offence Act 505 A and B, Immigration Act 13/1, Illegal Organization Act 17/1, Electronic Act 303 A and Organization Act 6.

Ashin Gambira was one of the monks who spearheaded last year’s pro-democracy uprising. After security forces brutally suppressed peaceful demonstrations on September 26-27, the head monk was arrested and subsequently disrobed by the authorities without consultating the Sangha, the institution of the Buddhist monkhood.
 
“We appealed to the military court to try Ashin Gambira before a Buddhist system of justice,” Aung Thein said. “The authorities have no right to disrobe him or to charge him with criminal offenses.”

Ashin Gambira’s legal adviser added that the army has its own code of military discipline, as does the national police. In turn, the law of the Sangha should be equally recognized, he added.

“The state’s senior monks should be permitted to hear the case against Ashin Gambira, because he is a monk,” Aung Thein said. “There is no law in Burma forbidding persons to chant the Metta Sutta [the Buddha’s words on loving kindness].”

The ABMA led thousands of monks and civilian protesters in street demonstrations last year. The military authorities’ bloody crackdown left at least 10 persons dead, although human rights groups claim up to 31 protesters may have been killed while thousands of monks and civilians were arrested and detained.

The Thailand-based Burmese Lawyers’ Council released a statement on Tuesday calling for the Burmese military government to immediately cease bringing Buddhist monks before a military court.

Meanwhile, the state-run Burmese State Sangha Nayaka Committee has begun eliciting signatures from monks at Zayawaddy monastery in Rangoon as guarantees that they will refrain from involvement in political affairs, according to a monk close to the monastery.

The monk said that 70 monks are studying at Zayawaddy monastery and that most monks had already signed the pledge.

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Township police stations told not to release crime information      
Mizzima News - Tuesday, 02 September 2008 19:18

Rangoon – Burmese junta authorities in former capital Rangoon have stopped township police stations from disseminating information on crimes since the end of August, sources said.

The new instruction to township level police stations says reporters and journalists will not be able to obtain information from the police station but will have to approach Divisional Police headquarters, according to the source.

The media community said the new restriction came after Rangoon Divisional Police headquarters summoned Chief Reporter Saw Myint Than of Pauktaw from the Rangoon based weekly 'Flowers News Journal' and took him to task for reporting the murder of a couple in Thingankyun.

"The restriction is mainly on murder cases. Now the township police stations refer to divisional police headquarters when reporters ask them about information on crime," a Rangoon based reporter, who wished not to be named, said.

Earlier, government departments occasionally invited reporters and released information but now these departments will also stop the practice, the source added.

The new restrictions come as residents of Rangoon face rising crimes including murders in recent months.

The source said the murder in Green Bank in March, where five people were killed, is still shrouded in mysterious as the police failed to find any clues regarding the murder case.

Though Police Chief Brig. Gen. Khin Yi reportedly told the 'The Voice' weekly journal in its June 26 issue that he will have something to tell reporters as soon as possible after cracking the case, no further information has been released so far.

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Old problems to revisit new gas pipeline
Mizzima News - Tuesday, 02 September 2008 15:20

The spectre of severe environmental and ecological imbalance, forced labour and displacement of villagers, looms over Karen State and Taninsarim Division with the construction of the third Thai-Burmese gas pipeline to begin soon.

An engineer close to Thailand's PTTEP said construction of the new gas pipeline is expected to begin in the coming dry season. The pipeline will transport natural gas from the newly discovered gas project in M-9 block in Mattaban Gulf of Burma to Thailand.

But a Rangoon-based observer said there would be hundreds of thousands of villagers who will be displaced again and there will be massive deforestation along with pronounced forced labour to pave the way for the construction of the new pipeline.

"Like in similar infrastructure developments done earlier, the military government and interested partners such as the Thai state-own PTTEP are committing horrific human rights abuses on the population," said the observer, who requested anonymity.

The 65-kilometre new pipeline is being built along the two existing Yadana and Yetagun gas pipelines.

The proposed natural gas pipeline will carry 300 mmcfd, of which 240 mmcfd will be transported to Thailand and the rest 60 mmcfd will be for domestic consumption, according to a PTTEP announcement released during the end of July.

The observer's concerns echoes human rights activist's claims of rampant human rights abuses including forced labour, forced relocation and environmental devastation on earlier pipelines sites constructed to export gas from the Yadana and Yetagun gas fields.

The M-9 block, located about 300 kilometres south of Rangoon, is one of Burma's latest discovery of natural gas reserves by the PTTEP in early 2007.

The company is expected to spend about US$1 billion to develop the M-9 gas field and will begin production in 2011 or 2012 for both domestic use and export to Thailand.

PTTEP is also the operator and sole shareholder of five potential offshore oil and gas blocks in Burma's M3, M4, M7, M9 and M11, which are all located in the Gulf of Mattaban.

PTTEP is currently buying about 1,000 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcfd) from Myanmar's Yadana and Yetagun gas field along pipelines to Thailand.

According to data from the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, Myanmar exported natural gas valued at US$ 2.56 billion in the fiscal year 2007-2008, which ended on March 31. Gas sales were the single largest source of foreign exchange for the military regime.

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Commentary: Burma must stand on its own two feet
Zin Linn

Sep 2, 2008 (DVB)–The Burmese opposition and pro-democracy forces have lost faith in the good offices of the United Nations after Gambari's latest futile mission and its exploitation by the military regime.

Burma's key opposition party, the National League for Democracy, spoke out against UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, stating that his mission to Burma has failed to accomplish anything. People will not rely on the UN as a trustworthy body if they become too accustomed to hearing nothing but rhetoric.

On 29 August, the NLD released a statement criticising the six-day mission of Gambari to Burma from 18 to 23 August. The party states that Gambari has a mandate to realise the resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly between 1994 and 2007, namely “the implementation of the 1990 election results, the establishment of a democratic Burma, the inauguration of meaningful political dialogue and the release of all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi”. The statement also says that the recent mission of the UN special envoy has not brought about any tangible political improvement.

It is clear that Gambari's recent mission to resolve the political impasse between the military junta and detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi seems to be slowing to a complete standstill. His efforts to create reconciliation talks between the junta and the opposition have fallen apart.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the key stakeholder in the Burma issue, refused to see Gambari during his six-day trip, although he met her on his previous visits. However, the special envoy also failed to meet the senior general or vice-senior general of the country's ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council. Gambari’s total failure to accomplish anything at all during this fourth visit now raises grave uncertainties about the future of his mission and about the UN's arbitration efforts in Burma as a whole.

It is not clear that why Gambari, as a special envoy of the UN, did not follow his own agenda during his fourth trip. It was shameful to see how he danced to the SPDC's tune – meeting scores of people chosen by the junta to converse with him – but could not persuade the regime to grant him meetings with any of the regime’s decision makers.

Senior General Than Shwe – who hides entrenched in the new capital Naypyidaw some 400 kilometers north of Rangoon – has been using Gambari as a pawn in his time-buying game.

Than Shwe has continued to be too pigheaded to accept the dialogue process and refuses to meet anyone who raises the issue of reconciliation talks with the Lady, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Although Gambari sought a meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, he was unable to fulfil his mission as a result of following the junta's schedule. Instead he met only with puppet ministers who have no authoritative power and dishonest pro-junta agents who have no real role in politics.

The UN envoy originally planned to meet the Lady at the State Guesthouse in a meeting organised by the junta for 20 August, but she did not show up. Obviously, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi did not want Mr Gambari to overplay the impression that his mission was gradually improving. Many people also take the Lady's refusal to meet the special envoy as a signal to the nation not to depend too much on international intervention. It was a call to fellow citizens to stand up in unity on their own feet.

However, the junta's mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar exploited the event in its coverage, claiming that the UN special envoy had voiced his support for the junta's seven-step roadmap and urged the Burmese regime to ensure free and fair elections in 2010.

According to some analysts, the Nobel laureate refused to see the UN envoy before he had seen the man who calls the shots in the SPDC. She may perhaps be of the opinion that meeting with Gambari in any other circumstances would be futile as he would have no assurances from the senior general of any intention to commence a reconciliation process.

Burma has been under military rule since 1962. The regime has earned the shameful reputation of being one of the world's worst human rights violators. It brutally suppressed pro-democracy movements in 1988, on 30 May 2003 in the Depayin conspiracy and during the Saffron Revolution in September 2007. There have been many more intermittent crackdowns. The junta has arrested over two thousand political dissidents including the Nobel laureate of Burma, who has been confined to her residence for 13 of the last 19 years. Furthermore, the junta has been intensifying its crackdown on democracy supporters to protect its undemocratic 2010 elections.

Amid the disaster wrought by Cyclone Nargis, the regime held a referendum at gunpoint on 10 and 24 May this year and unilaterally declared a popular mandate for the charter which makes the military the final arbiter of the destiny of the Burmese people. The new elections planned for 2010 will legalise military rule. Needless to say, the processes will not be free and fair any more than the referendum held at gunpoint.

The socio-economic situation is deteriorating fast, and the junta is not able to cope. It will soon come face to face with a depressing future if it continues to reject the national reconciliation process being urged by the opposition National League for Democracy and United Nationalities Alliance.

The NLD and the UNA both point out that the “ratification” of the constitution staged by the junta was invalid. Both assert that it was carried out against the will of the people and with no regard for international norms for referendums. The junta has also ignored the presidential statement of the UN Security Council issued on 11 October 2007.

The regime has turned a deaf ear to successive resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly calling for a return to democracy in Burma through a tripartite dialogue between the junta led by Senior General Than Shwe, democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and representatives of ethnic nationalities. From the turn of events so far it is clear that the junta has no plans to heed the UN call or to release political prisoners, a precondition to facilitate a tripartite dialogue.

Many a pro-democracy citizen in Burma no longer trusts the UN envoy or his facilitation process. Quite a lot of Burmese democrats believe that the Lady's latest political stance may effectively encourage Gambari to find a way of seeing Than Shwe. It seems to be a pragmatic approach by the Lady to show her annoyance at the protocol of the generals who had arranged a meeting with her for the UN envoy while he was only allowed to see non-authoritative, low-ranking members of the regime.

More to the point, the junta put on a show of Gambari's meeting with the infamous Union Solidarity and Development Association – a bunch of hooligans similar to Hitler's "Brown Shirts" who carried out an assassination attempt on Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on 30 May 2003 and during the course of that premeditated attack slaughtered scores of NLD supporters.

The worst is that when Gambari met with NLD members, he tried to encourage them by suggesting measures to ensure that the 2010 elections would be free and fair. But when asked about the 1990 elections he would not give an opinion. Furthermore, he did not even focus on resuming political dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the generals.

Burmese people inside and outside the country are beginning to infer that the United Nations and its special envoy Ibrahim Gambari are preparing to support the 2010 elections, with or without the participation of key political parties such as the National League for Democracy, Shan National League for Democracy and other important ethnic parties. Such an act by the UN would mean effectively approving the seven-step roadmap strategy of the military regime.

Consequently, a question has been emerging for the world body: Will the UN recognise the 2008 military-dominated constitution unilaterally approved by the junta and its consequences?

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Security tightened in Bago ahead of protest anniversary

Sep 2, 2008 (DVB)–As the first anniversary of the September protests approaches, security has been tightened around pagoda compounds in Bago and police have been patrolling the town.

Armed security personnel have been deployed around the famous Shwe Mawdaw pagoda, where many other pagodas are situated, and three police cars have been patrolling the town day and night, locals said.

One Bago resident said there was a noticeable security presence with personnel equipped with shields and batons.

“They are quite numerous near the pagoda where last year’s September protest started and there are many monasteries around the pagoda,” the resident said.

“Three cars packed with police have been patrolling and there are two other cars, one positioned at the top of the pagoda road and one at the entrance to the pagoda, and police are placed at every street junction,” he went on.

“Nothing is happening. It looks as if they are just watching to see what will happen.”

Teashops and restaurants have also been ordered to close before 10pm, and potential flashpoints are being kept under close watch.

“Restaurateurs and trishaw drivers told me that they have been ordered not to open their shops after ten and not to pick up passengers,” the Bago resident said.

“It is not happening in the whole town, just here and there, at the spots they are worried about.”

Security is being stepped up around the country as a precaution against commemorative protests one year after mass public demonstrations were brutally crushed by the military regime.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

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