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HEADLINES
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AFP - Myanmar opposition vows to continue fight for Aung San Suu Kyi
AFP - Myanmar frees at least seven political prisoners: NLD
AFP - Laura Bush: India, China must help on Myanmar
AFP - US welcomes release of political prisoner in Myanmar
AFP - Freed Myanmar dissident calls for more releases
AFP - Myanmar man arrested for Japan media extortion: police
Reuters - Myanmar author beats censors after decade-long battle
CNN News - U.N. head welcomes Myanmar dissidents release
Monsters and Critics - Ban urges release of all political prisoners in Myanmar
IRIN - MYANMAR: Mass clean-up brings confidence over water supplies
UN News Centre - Hailing release of political prisoners, Ban urges further steps by Myanmar
Mizzima News - Junta lambasted by Shans over 'sham amnesty to prisoners'
Mizzima News - Freedom short lived for released political prisoner
Mizzima News - Prominent authors, journalists, rights experts honour Burmese writers
The Irrawaddy - Burmese Monks, Dissidents Targeted by Junta
DVB News - Freed political prisoner tells of prison abuses
DVB News - U Win Tin says he was ‘evicted, not released’

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Myanmar opposition vows to continue fight for Aung San Suu Kyi
Wednesday September 24, 3:01 PM

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's pro-democracy party on Wednesday vowed to continue pushing for their leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release after several of her close confidants were freed from prison by the ruling junta.

Seven dissidents from the Nobel peace laureate's party were among the 9,002 prisoners freed Tuesday in an amnesty that state media said was ordered so they could take part in elections promised by the ruling generals for 2010.

The most prominent was 79-year-old journalist and activist Win Tin, Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner, who spent nearly two decades behind the bars of Yangon's feared Insein prison.

National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win said that although they welcomed the amnesty, they would continue to fight for the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 19 years under house arrest.

"We will send an appeal for her release from detention this week to the cabinet in Naypyidaw," Nyan Win told AFP, referring to the nation's capital.

"We are always hoping for her release. There are still many long-serving political prisoners ... All should also be released," he added.

The release of Win Tin and the six other NLD members was immediately hailed by the United Nations, the United States and rights groups around the world.

"We worked together to defend Win Tin's innocence and we are immensely relieved that he has finally been freed," press freedom organisations Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association said in a joint statement.

"We hope other journalists and prisoners of conscience will also be freed and that Win Tin will be able to resume his peaceful struggle for press freedom and democracy in Burma," they added, using Myanmar's former name.

Win Tin was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment on July 4, 1989 for acting as an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi and writing letters to the then-United Nations envoy to Myanmar.

Upon his release Tuesday, Win Tin, still dressed in a blue prison-issue outfit but looking strong and healthy, vowed to journalists that he would continue to fight the ruling generals.

Human rights groups estimate that about 2,000 political prisoners are locked away in Myanmar.

Aung Naing Oo, a Myanmar analyst based in Thailand, welcomed the release of Win Tin and other colleagues of Aung San Suu Kyi but said the move showed the junta believed its hold on power was secure.

"I think the military is more confident now than before by releasing some key prisoners, including the longest-serving prisoner," Aung Naing Oo told AFP in Bangkok.

"Maybe they think he's no longer relevant or can no longer muster support," he added.

Myanmar's military government has said it will hold multi-party elections in 2010 but critics say the polls are just a way for the generals to solidify and legitimise their power.
Other dissidents confirmed released Tuesday were Aye Thein, Khin Maung Swe, Win Htein, Than Nyein, Aung Soe Myint and May Win Myint.

All are senior NLD members arrested for political activities and many were elected to Myanmar's legislature in 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a sweeping election victory in 1990 but the junta never allowed her to take office, instead keeping her locked away in her Yangon lakeside home.

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Myanmar frees at least seven political prisoners: NLD
Wednesday September 24, 12:54 PM

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's junta has released at least seven political prisoners as part of an amnesty for more than 9,000 inmates, officials from detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party said on Wednesday.

National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win confirmed the release of the party members, who included 79-year-old journalist and prominent dissident Win Tin.
Win Tin's release Tuesday after nearly two decades behind bars in Yangon's feared Insein jail was hailed internationally by pro-democracy activists.

"I've got confirmation of the release of seven long-serving political prisoners, including Win Tin," Nyan Win said.

The spokesman said party members Aye Thein, Khin Maung Swe, Major Win Htein, Than Nyein, Aung Soe Myint and May Win Myint had also been released.

State media announced Tuesday that 9,002 prisoners would be freed so they could take part in elections promised by the ruling generals for 2010. The move comes on the one year anniversary of massive anti-junta protests.

Human rights groups estimate that about 2,000 political prisoners are locked away in Myanmar and the NLD spokesman vowed the party would appeal this week to the junta for the release of party leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We are always hoping for her release," Nyan Win said.

Myanmar's military government has said it will hold multi-party elections in 2010 but critics say the polls are just a way for the generals to solidify and legitimise their power.

Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a sweeping election victory in 1990 but the junta never allowed her to take office, instead keeping the Nobel peace prize winner locked away in her Yangon lakeside home.

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Laura Bush: India, China must help on Myanmar
Tue Sep 23, 4:55 PM ET

NEW YORK (AFP) - Against the backdrop of the sun-washed Statue of Liberty, US First Lady Laura Bush on Tuesday implored China and India to help push for democratic reforms in military-ruled Myanmar.

"I want to urge all the neighbors of Burma -- China and India and other neighbors -- to continue trying to talk to the Burmese General, Than Shwe, to see if he can't do what all the world, the international community wants him to do," she said.

The junta must "start respecting the rights of the people of Burma, start a real dialogue for a transition to democracy" and talk with opposition leaders including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, said the US first lady.

"Bring everyone to the table so that the country can start to rebuild and be the country that the people of Burma want," said Bush. Washington does not recognize the country's name change.

Laura Bush spoke as US President George W. Bush met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly with critics of the governments of Russia, China, Venezuela, North Korea, Myanmar and other countries.

Among them was a monk from Myanmar who helped lead who helped lead massive anti-government protests in September last year, drawing a government crackdown.

At the event in New York, chess legend turned Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov gave the US president his book on chess and leadership, entitled "How Life Imitates Chess."

Other attendees included Lodi Gyari, special envoy of the Dalai Lama; Cuban journalist Omar Pernet Hernandez; and Sang Hak Park, president of "Fighters for Free North Korea," according to the White House.

Other guests included Gameela Ismail, wife of jailed Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour; Belarus opposition leader Alexander Kozulin; former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky; and Sierra Leone Foreign Minister Zainab Hawa Bangura.

Radio Caracas Television chief Marcel Granier of Venezuela; Ausama Monajed for the Movement for Justice and Development in Syria; and founder of the outlawed China Democracy Party Xu Wenli also were on hand.

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US welcomes release of political prisoner in Myanmar
Tue Sep 23, 2:26 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday welcomed the release of Myanmar's longest serving political prisoner but said it would press for the freedom of all jailed dissidents.

The release of 79-year-old journalist and prominent dissident Win Tin was "long overdue but a very positive development, " Robert Wood, a spokesman for the US State Department, told reporters.

"We hope it's a first step in a process."

But it remained unclear if the release signalled a shift in the Myanmar government's approach to dissent, he said.

Earlier Tuesday, Myanmar's junta released Win Tin who had been behind the bars of Yangon's feared Insein prison since 1989.

He was released along with a handful of other dissidents as part of an amnesty granted by the junta to 9,002 inmates, not all considered political prisoners.

State media announced Tuesday the prisoners would be freed so they could take part in elections promised by the ruling generals for 2010. The move also comes on the one year anniversary of massive anti-junta protests.

Human rights groups estimate that about 2,000 political prisoners are locked away in Myanmar, including the country's most prominent dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy -- who has been detained for most of the last 19 years.

Wood said the United States wanted to see the release of all remaining dissidents.

"We continue to call on the Burmese regime to release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi and to move the country down the path towards democracy."

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Freed Myanmar dissident calls for more releases
Wednesday September 24, 1:39 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - Freed Myanmar dissident Win Tin said Wednesday two decades of torture and isolation in jail had not dented his determination to fight on for the political prisoners held by his country's military regime.

"It's not enough, this release of political prisoners, because there are some 2,000 prisoners," the 79-year-old journalist and activist said, in an interview with Radio France International one day after his release.

Until Tuesday, when the military junta released more than 9,000 prisoners from its jails in an amnesty ahead of elections promised for 2010, Win Tin had been the longest serving political prisoner in Myanmar.

Campaigners say few of those released were political prisoners, and Amesty International shares Win Tin's estimate of 2,000 imprisoned dissidents.

Speaking with good humour and in fluent English, Win Tin described his harsh treatment and his plans to resume a political career cut short in 1989 when he was arrested for advising opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Asked how he was feeling, he said: "Not too bad altogether, 19 years and three months. See, I'm now 79 and that's rather old for a Burmese. So I try to be healthy, I try to be normal.

"I tried to survive by keeping some political convictions. That is: the release of political prisoners, the convention of parliament and political dialogue between us and the goverment," he said.

"There were many tortures and mistreatments in the prison," he said.

"I was interrogated for five days at a stretch. Sleep deprivation, that was very hard. I was hooded and I was interrogated and somebody hit me. I was beaten many, many times.

"And of course from 1996 until now I was kept in solitary confinement, but it wasn't too bad," he added, explaining that he had no contact with other prisoners but could see his family for 15 minutes per fortnight.

Asked whether he thought Myanmar was ready for democratic reform, he said he would attempt to play a role, but warned: "I'm rather pessimistic because the army is so big in every structure of Burmese life."

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Myanmar man arrested for Japan media extortion: police
Tue September 23, 4:06 AM ET

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese police said Tuesday they had arrested a Myanmar man for allegedly trying to extort cash from a Tokyo news agency that had hired a journalist who was later shot dead.

The Tokyo police on Monday arrested Win Min Htun, 31, who had allegedly threatened a journalist from the Tokyo-based video news service APF News to pay cash in exchange for missing belongings of the late journalist.

Kenji Nagai, 50, was killed in Yangon on September 27 last year while covering a military crackdown on mass anti-government protests.

Myanmar leaders, who told Japan that the fatal shooting was an accident, have refused to return the tape and the video camera that Nagai clutched in his hand as he was shot and fell to the ground.

The suspect knew APF News was investigating the case and offered to get the camera and tape back for money, a police spokesman said.

"As soon as the company refused to take the offer, he allegedly threatened to do harm," he added.

Win Min Htun demanded one million yen (about 9,500 US dollars) for the cost of travelling to Myanmar to get Nagai's missing camera and tape back, according to APF News.

The news service, which specialises in reports from dangerous areas, denounced the suspect for taking advantage of Nagai's plight.

"We didn't think his offer was credible enough and rejected the demands," said APF employee Hiroshi Koyama. "He then said we would be at risk if we don't even pay him 500,000 yen."

Myanmar's junta faced strong international condemnation for crushing the protests, led by Buddhist monks and in response to a sharp hike in fuel costs.

The UN estimates 31 people were killed and thousands arrested.

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Myanmar author beats censors after decade-long battle
By Gillian Murdoch
Wed Sep 24, 1:17 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters Life!) - Nu Nu Yi, the first author living in army-ruled Myanmar to have a book published outside the country, battled censors for more than a decade to get her voice heard. Now, she wants other Myanmar writers to follow her.

Yi, whose book "Smile as They Bow" was nominated for the Asian Booker prize last year, is determined to help create a canon of Burmese literature that will fill its own shelves at English-language bookshops, and not be filed under Thailand.

She spoke to Reuters after the publication of the English translation of her novel, a gritty portrayal of the raucous week-long Taungbyon festival, which celebrates spirits known as "nats" who are believed to shower luck on people they favor.

Q: "Smile as They Bow" is the first book by a writer living in Myanmar to be translated into English. Is this a milestone?

A: When I was at Oxford in 1998, I saw Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's "Letters from Burma" at Blackwell's bookstore. It was the only book from Myanmar -- on the Thailand bookshelf -- they didn't even have a Burma bookshelf.

No one knows the tears I shed there at Blackwell's. I wanted to see Myanmar writers and Myanmar bookshelves in international bookstores. There are many writers, and even more unpublished manuscripts. But there are very few translators and no connections to foreign publishers.

So for me personally, and for Myanmar literature, the U.S. publication of "Smile As They Bow" is very important.

Q: Can you explain why the book took three years to research and write -- and then 12 years to be published?

A: Initially, the censors totally banned the novel. I remember the reason they gave was that it was "unsuitable for the times," a phrase they often use.

Q: Why was the story, set at one Myanmar's most famous spirit festivals, deemed so sensitive?

A: One very funny thing I remember, they said my mentioning the two Taungbyon Brothers, younger and elder, was obviously aimed at Secretary One and Secretary Two of the Military Council.

They also disallowed all references to homosexuality, which are in the English version, and did not even permit a beggar character. I tried to appeal that she's a singer, not a beggar.

Q: But you feel secure, as a writer, despite this?

A: I feel perfectly safe, because I am not political. Risk largely comes from writing open provocation. Most writers are experts at hidden meanings.

There are other writers with more government leanings, who definitely do no like the fact that I was translated and nominated for an international prize. They even say an American should not have translated it. But I do have a popular following and somehow manage to make a living.

Q: Why do spirits and superstition loom so large in your book, and other accounts of life in Myanmar?

A: Myanmar is largely pre-modern and such beliefs are very traditional. As the situation inside the country gets more and more dire, people grasp for quick desperate solutions, they want to believe in some kind of hope, anything.

Many authors write about the supernatural to escape from censorship because so many things are prohibited, both explicitly and by unwritten rules. One cannot write about poverty, beggars, sex, rape, and, of course, politics or anything positive about other countries.

Q: Do you read foreign books and reports about Myanmar?

A: We get almost no news from other countries inside Burma, except via BBC and VOA radio. I only can read journalism about my country when I am abroad. Of course such journalism is inaccurate and oversimplified to black-and-white. The situation is very complex, with many shades of gray.

Q: What do you hope overseas readers take from your work?

A: I want to give my country a human face. A real place with real people, not just an exotic tourist postcard.

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U.N. head welcomes Myanmar dissidents release

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday applauded the release of several political prisoners by the government of Myanmar, including the nation's longest-serving political prisoner.

"The Secretary-General reiterates that all political prisoners should be released and that all citizens of Myanmar should be able to enjoy political freedoms, as necessary steps towards the process of national reconciliation and dialogue," said a statement issued by a spokesperson for Ban.

Amnesty International announced Tuesday Myanmar had released seven dissidents.

Among them was U Win Tin, 78, a journalist and senior official in the opposition National League for Democracy. He had been imprisoned for 19 years.

"While the release of U Win Tin and his fellow prisoners is certainly the best news to come out of Myanmar for a long time, unfortunately they don't even represent one percent of the political prisoners there," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty's Myanmar researcher.

"These seven people should never have been imprisoned in the first place, and there are many, many more who should also be released."

The releases came on a day when the ruling military junta freed more than 9,000 prisoners for "good conduct and discipline," the government-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

Myanmar's military rulers have been widely condemned for their human rights abuses.

Pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has been confined in her home for 12 of the last 18 years. Her latest house arrest began in 2003 and has been periodically renewed.

One year ago this week, clashes erupted between pro-democracy demonstrators and government security forces. As many as 110 people are believed to have been killed in that crackdown, including 40 Buddhist monks.

The protests were sparked by a huge fuel price increase imposed by the military government, and quickly escalated. Myanmar's military junta said in mid-October that it had detained more than 2,900 people during the crackdown.

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Ban urges release of all political prisoners in Myanmar
Monsters and Critics - Asia-Pacific News
Sep 24, 2008, 16:41 GMT

New York - The government of Myanmar should release all political prisoners after deciding to set free several of them this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.

Among those released was U Win Tin, who spent 19 years in jail, and six members of the National League for Democracy, which is headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi has been put under house arrest for more than 10 years by Myanmar's military government for challenging the military leaders to undertake democratic reforms. The UN has been calling for her release to no avail.

Ban renewed his demand in a statement that 'all political prisoners should be released and that all citizens of Myanmar should be able to enjoy political freedoms, as necessary steps towards the process of national reconciliation and dialogue.'

'I look forward to any further action by the Myanmar government in this regard,' Ban said.

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MYANMAR: Mass clean-up brings confidence over water supplies

THONEGWA, 24 September 2008 (IRIN) - One of the chief concerns among aid workers in the wake of Cyclone Nargis was polluted ponds, the only source of drinking water for many villagers.

However, Lwin Maung, in Thonegwa, in Yangon Division, told IRIN he was confident that despite the approaching end to this year's rainy season, residents had already cleaned and refilled enough ponds to provide the household needs for the village's 700-plus inhabitants for the next six months.

Many ponds became contaminated in May when Cyclone Nargis struck. A 3m high tidal surge inundated much of the low-lying area with sea-water and debris, prompting strong warnings from health officials.

'Unless traditional potable water ponds are cleaned and refilled in time, people will have no option to get clean water during the dry season as the water ponds are their traditional potable water source,' one official from the World Health Organization (WHO) told IRIN at the time, citing concerns over water-borne diseases, including diarrhoea and dysentery.

According to estimates, 1,500 ponds - 13 percent of ponds in Yangon division and 43 percent of ponds in the badly affected Ayeyarwady Delta - were contaminated.

In July, the UN reported that 74 percent of people in the affected areas had inadequate access to clean water, with rainwater collection seen as critical in reducing the risk of disease outbreaks.

Government records show there were at least 4,550 water ponds in the affected areas (1,578 ponds in Yangon; 2,972 ponds in Ayeyarwady). Yet even before Nargis, securing clean drinking water had been a challenge.

Few people have access to piped water, with most residents reliant on rainwater harvesting tanks, communal rainwater ponds, open wells, tube wells and rivers.

And though access to water did not present a serious problem during this year's rainy season (from mid-May until end-October) , some parts of the storm-ravaged region still faced shortages.

In a bid to address that, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), with its partners, has been working to clean up contaminated ponds, as well as provide water-storage containers.

According to its report released this month, UNICEF provided 30,000 plastic water-storage containers (90l), more than 40,000 jerry cans (10-20l) and 130,000 plastic buckets (14l).

It also provided water purification chemicals to approximately 200,000 people, along with more than 22,000 bottles of waterguard, a water purification agent, and 4.5 million chlorine tablets.

Successful intervention

According to UNICEF, to date some 1,500 contaminated ponds have been cleaned up, as well as another 300 as part of a preventative measure.

Based on that, Waldemar Pickardt, chief of water and environmental sanitation at UNICEF/Myanmar, told IRIN the agency now had enough time to prepare to provide people with adequate water should the ponds run out during the dry season.

The agency had installed eight water treatment plants in Bogale, Pyapon, Labutta, Mawgyun and Dala in the cyclone-affected area, each capable of producing between 4,000 and 15,000 litres of safe water per hour.

Moreover, UNICEF was able to relocate those water treatment plants to other areas at risk of a water shortage during the dry season.

'We will relocate water treatment plants by the river or stream where fresh water is available,' said Pickardt. 'These machines will treat the fresh water for the needy cyclone-hit families.'

As for the ponds that still need refilling, weather indicators suggest lower than normal precipitation this year.

Labutta, which was badly affected by the cyclone, received about 43cm of rain in July, against 80cm in the same month of 2007, according to government figures.

The August figure was 46.2cm compared with 64.3cm of rainfall in the same month last year.

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Hailing release of political prisoners, Ban urges further steps by Myanmar
UN News Centre –

24 September 2008 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has once again called for the release of all political prisoners in Myanmar, following yesterday’s “welcome” move by the Government in freeing several detainees as part of an amnesty procedure.

Those released included the country’s longest-serving political prisoner, U Win Tin, and six other senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.

The other six are Dr. May Win Myint, U Aung Soe Myint, U Khin Maung Swe, Win Htain, Dr. Than Nyein and U Thein Naing.

“The Secretary-General reiterates that all political prisoners should be released and that all citizens of Myanmar should be able to enjoy political freedoms, as necessary steps towards the process of national reconciliation and dialogue,” his spokesperson said in a statement.

“He looks forward to any further action by the Myanmar Government in this regard.”

The release of political prisoners was one focus of discussion between the Secretary-General’ s Special Adviser, Ibrahim Gambari, and the Myanmar Government during his latest visit to the country in August.

The head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has expressed his “immense joy” at the release of the 79-year-old U Win Tin, a writer and former newspaper editor who was detained for nearly 20 years, and the laureate of a press freedom prize instituted by the agency.

“In freeing U Win Tin and other prisoners, the authorities have taken a wise and positive step towards respecting the fundamental human right of freedom of expression, an indispensable component of democracy and rule of law,” UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said.

U Win Tin was arrested in July 1989 and was accused of belonging to the banned Communist Party of Myanmar. Sentenced to 14 years jail, he received an additional term of five years in 1996 for breaking prison regulations prohibiting the possession of writing materials.

In 2001, he was honoured with the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize, named after the Colombian newspaper publisher assassinated in 1987 for denouncing the activities of powerful drug barons in his country.

News of the release of the seven prisoners was also welcomed yesterday by the independent UN expert on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, who said he hoped the move “would be the first in a series of releases of other prisoners of conscience, some 2,000 of whom are currently estimated to be still detained in Myanmar.”

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The lonely death of Cycle Maung Maung
Asia Times - Sep 25, 2008
By Norman Robespierre

YANGON - Although the Buddhist monks and thousands of ordinary citizens who marched in last September's "Saffron" revolution seemed powerless against its brutal suppression by the Myanmar military junta, the cautionary tale of one belated casualty hints that karmic retribution may yet prevail. This is the story of Maung Maung.

Maung Maung passed away late last year while just in his late 40s, leaving behind a wife and a couple of grown children. Premature deaths are hardly news in Myanmar, which consistently ranks at the bottom in global health care rankings. But Maung Maung was not an ordinary citizen; and his was not an ordinary death.

Unlike most Myanmar citizens, Maung Maung was an ardent supporter of the military regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). He befriended policemen and soldiers and dutifully attended pro-regime rallies. He became a member of the "Swan-ar-Shin" , a civilian extension of the regime's uniformed forces that assists in controlling the populace.

Maung Maung's ties with the police and loyalty to the regime brought him some perks. One was that he could drive a motorcycle in Yangon, a privilege reserved for a select few, mostly military, police and intelligence officials, and Maung Maung wore the privilege as a badge of honor. He was often seen on his motorcycle, earning him the moniker, "Cycle Maung Maung" from his neighbors in the dusty working-class Paukan ward of Insein Township.

Aside from the motorcycle, catchy nickname and the modest wage of a Swan-ar-Shin member, Maung Maung received other special considerations from the authorities. Cell phones were issued to select Swan-Ar-Shin, a benefit beyond the reach of most ordinary citizens, and one Maung Maung conspicuously enjoyed. Approval for a new cell phone line can take months and cost over US$2,000, a hefty sum in a country with a gross domestic product per capita of only $1,900.

The selective enforcement of the law in favor of regime supporters allowed him to avoid the difficulties and bribes that others without strong government connections habitually endure. He avoided forced conscription into work parties for road repair and other manual labor often demanded by the authorities from ordinary citizens.

He also readily received recommendations from the ward and township that, among other things, allowed his family members to apply for phone lines and receive the necessary police certification to process paperwork through the bureaucracy - recommendations that others would find nearly unobtainable without an obligatory bribe.

These benefits did not come without a cost, however. Cycle Maung Maung was, as a member of the Swan-ar-Shin, frequently required to carry out orders in support of the regime. In September 2007, as part of the regime's combined force to suppress popular demonstrations, Cycle Maung Maung found himself in the middle of the government's battle against protesting monks. He and other Swan-ar-Shin members in civilian clothes and armed with clubs and truncheons formed a rank immediately behind policemen wielding police batons and riot shields.

Immediately behind the Swan-ar-Shin was the backbone of the force, soldiers with automatic weapons and sharpened bayonets. While numerous police in the front ranks, because of their Buddhist upbringing, hesitated to physically engage the monks, the politically motivated Swan-ar-Shin and members of the army - perhaps believing themselves to be true defenders of the nation - were more eager to attack.

Whether Maung Maung shared the reluctance shown by some police officers to charge the crowd or whether he eagerly plunged into the fray is unknown. What is known is that the regime's efforts to quell the protests turned violent, fatally so. Police, army and the Swan-ar-Shin engaged the peaceful protestors with fists, kicks, batons and, in some instances, bullets. According to people from his neighborhood, Cycle Maung Maung, armed with a baton, brutally battered a monk, who later died.

Karmic justice

There are no official accounts of the violence, and if there were, it's unlikely Maung Maung would have ever been tried or convicted in Myanmar's military-controlled courts. Nobody has ever been brought to trial for the government-orchestr ated attacks on hundreds of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators in 1988, or the assault on opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade and her supporters that left scores dead in 2003.

The violent act widely attributed to Maung Maung, however, propelled him from local obscurity. People from his neighborhood said his notoriety even gained international stature through a satellite television news clip which apparently showed him beating Buddhist monks. Overseas Myanmar activists based in South Korea who saw the footage promised justice for the "monk beater" should they ever gain power.

At home, notoriety brought social isolation. In fervently Buddhist and often superstitious Myanmar, he was viewed by neighbors who spoke with this reporter as a pariah for allegedly killing a monk. His social network quickly deteriorated to immediate family and other ardent supporters of the military regime, whose numbers grew even scarcer following the outrages against the monks.

Neighbors in his district found it difficult to comprehend how a fellow Buddhist could kill an unarmed monk. Rumors spread to explain his alleged actions: he was possessed by a demon, or the regime gave drugs to the police, soldiers and Swan-ar-Shin to make them more violent and the narcotics fueled Maung Maung's cruelty. True or false, his neighbors avoided him and few set foot into his house after the Saffron revolution crackdown.

But Cycle Maung Maung was not ostracized for long. Nearly six weeks after he killed the monk, either tormented by guilt or, as neighbors believe, haunted by ghosts, Cycle Maung Maung fell ill. He felt dogs biting him and yelled at them to leave him alone; those who were by his bedside saw no dogs.

According to his neighbors, in the middle of the November night before Cycle Maung Maung died, screams were heard from his house. He cried out, "M'kou net!" "M'kou net!", which translates as, "Don't come for me! Don't come for me!" The next morning he was found dead in his bed.

There were no marks on his body and there was no readily apparent cause for his death, according to those familiar with his last earthly night; his neighbors assume his demise was related to his alleged slaying of the Buddhist monk.

His family sought monks from the local monastery to perform traditional rites and ceremonies for his cremation and seven days after his cremation, but the monks at the monastery would not preside. The family tried in vain at several other monasteries, but Maung Maung's notoriety was too widespread.

After days of searching, the family finally found monks from a monastery in a distant township willing to perform the ceremonies, apparently because they were unaware of his history. Unlike most Myanmar funerals, which are attended by virtually the entire neighborhood, Cycle Maung Maung's funeral crowd was sparse.

He died a lonely soul, based on the accounts of his passing and the isolation he endured during the last month of his life.

While Cycle Maung Maung's death didn't bring back the life of the monk he purportedly murdered, it did have a positive upshot. In a land where the population lives under institutionalized injustice, those aware of the circumstances surrounding Cycle Maung Maung's passing sensed that karmic justice had prevailed.

One year after the government's brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks, there at least remains faint hope that the same karmic force that some believe took Maung Maung's life will eventually also visit SPDC Senior General Than Shwe and other senior members of his military regime.

Norman Robespierre, a pseudonym, is a political scientist specializing in Southeast Asian affairs. He may be reached at normanrobespierre@ gmail.com.

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Junta lambasted by Shans over 'sham amnesty to prisoners'  
Mizzima News - Nem Davies  
Wednesday, 24 September 2008 21:48

New Delhi – The Burmese military junta has been roundly criticized for what is being described by Shan leaders as a sham amnesty to prisoners to appease the international community.

Ethnic Shan organisations in exile have lambasted the military regime for continuing to detain Shan political leaders, while it released 9,002 prisoners on Tuesday.

Eleven Shan organizations in exile on Wednesday said the regime's amnesty to 9,002 prisoners including a few political prisoners, is a mere stunt to ease international pressure.

Charm Tong, an advocacy team member of the Thailand based Shan Women's Action Network, said, "We think, this is just a stunt by the regime to ease pressure mounted by the international community."

The regime does not have any intention of ushering in changes in the country, as it has deliberately ignored the need to release ethnic political leaders as well as pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, she said.

"If they really desire changes, they must release Hkun Htun Oo and other Shan leaders, who are suffering ill health and are being denied proper treatment. The regime should also immediately release Daw Aung San Su Kyi and all other political prisoners in Burma," she added.

The statement released by Shan organisation also urges the international community to continue to apply pressure on the regime, and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Burma.

Burma's military rulers in November 2005, sentenced nine ethnic Shan leaders, who were charged with 'defaming the state' and 'illegal association with enemies', to appallingly long terms in prison.

Hkun Htun Oo, the 65-year old leader of the Shan National League for Democracy was sentenced to 93 years in prison and is being detained in Putao in Kachin State while the ailing Shan leader Sao Hso Ten, who is 73, was sentenced to 106 years and sent to Hkamti Prison in Sagaing division. The junta also sentenced six others Shan leaders to long prison terms.

Both Hkun Htun Oo and Sao Hso Ten, according to the Shan groups, are critically ill but are being denied proper treatment by the authorities.

"If the military regime wants to change the political environment, they must release all political prisoners, not only 9,002 prisoners it has freed," Charm Tong said.

According to the Thailand based Assistance Association of Political Prisoners in Burma, over 2,000 political prisoners are still languishing in prisons across Burma. The group also demanded that the junta release all political prisoners.

The regime's mouth piece 'New Light of Myanmar' on Tuesday said the government had released the prisoners as part of its effort to build a democratic nation and provide a chance to those released to participate in the ensuing 2010 elections.

Shan organizations on the contrary believe, that it was purely an act to dilute mounting international pressure on the regime and is aimed to present a benevolent face to the international community and gain support for its roadmap to "disciplined" democracy in Burma.

On Tuesday, seven long serving political prisoners were also freed along with the 9,002 prisoners from across the country.

Burma's longest serving political prisoner, veteran journalist Win Tin (79) Captain Win Htein, in-charge of  Aung San Suu Kyi's office, Khin Maung Swe, elected MP from San Chaung Township, May Win Myint, elected MP from Mayankone Township, Aung Soe Myint, elected MP from Taungoo, and Aye Thein, member of the National League for Democracy, Thabeikkyin Township, were among those released.

However, on Wednesday Burma's major opposition party – the National League for Democracy – said the junta had reportedly re-arrested Captain Win Htein, who was freed on Tuesday from Katha Prison and sent back to the same prison.

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Freedom short lived for released political prisoner  
Mizzima News - Wednesday, 24 September 2008 19:57

Captain Win Htein, a member of Burma's opposition party – National League for Democracy – who was among those prisoners freed on Tuesday from Katha Prison in Northern Burma, was reportedly re-arrested on Wednesday morning, according to a NLD spokesperson.

While the reason for his re-arrest is unclear, family members, who were overjoyed to hear of his release, had reportedly left Rangoon and are traveling to northern Burma under the assumption that they can take him home.

Nyan Win, the NLD spokesperson, said the retired captain was staying at a guest house in Katha after his release when local police came on Wednesday morning and re-arrested him.

"The latest information that we get is that captain Win Htein is back in Katha Prison. But we don't know the reason for his re-arrest," Nyan Win told Mizzima by telephone.

Win Htein was one of seven political prisoners included among the 9,002 prisoners that the junta released on Tuesday. Other political prisoners released included veteran journalist Win Tin, Dr. May Win Myint, Aung Soe Myint, Khin Maung Swe and Dr. Than Nyein.

Win Htein served as personal assistant to the NLD's Vice-Chairman General Thura Tin Oo as well as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in 1988 during the peoples' protests against the government.

He was arrested briefly in 1989 and was severely tortured by the then military intelligence. He was arrested for a second time in 1996 under charges of providing fabricated news and information.

Win Htein, a 1963 graduate of the Military Academy, served for five years in the Ministry of Defense. But he was forced to resign after he was found to be involved in an attempted coup within the military.

While serving in the military, Win Htein was the personal assistant to General Thura Tin Oo, who himself was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on charges that he failed to provide information on an attempted coup by Captain Ohn Kyaw Myint. With the failed coup attempt, Ohn Kyaw Myint was sentenced to capital punishment.

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Prominent authors, journalists, rights experts honour Burmese writers  
Mizzima News - Solomon  
Wednesday, 24 September 2008 22:20

New Delhi – The first anniversary of the monk-led protests in Burma in 2007 was marked with prominent authors, journalists and human rights experts hailing Burmese writers at a ceremony held in New York on Tuesday.

Nobel Literature prize winner Orhan Pamuk, Booker prize winners Salman Rushdie and Kiran Desai, human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Lelyveld and others joined Burmese monks in New York in the ceremony called 'Reading Burma'.

U Sandaw Batha Sara, representative of the International Buddhist Monks Organisation, said, the event is to honour Burmese writers whose work has been suppressed by the military regime and to support victims of the recent devastating cyclone. It included readings of the works of Burmese writers.

In addition to the works of Burmese writers, Joseph Lelyveld the 1986 Pulitzer Prize winner, Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie and Kiran Desai who have written stories on Burmese monks spoke at the anniversary.

"The event is to talk about the situation of Burma and the history of military oppression on the people of the country," U Sandaw Batha Sara said.

With the military ruling in Burma since 1962, human rights violations and repressions have been wide spread. Despite standing up against the junta, the people including Buddhist monks have been brutally repressed by the regime.

The junta further revealed its ugly face to the international community, when in May it restricted international aid to flow into the country, when it was devastated by Cyclone Nargis which killed at least 80,000 and left more than 50,000 missing.

At the Tuesday ceremony well-known authors and human rights experts discussed the subjects of the banned and controversial Burmese writings in honour of Burmese writers, monks and civilians who stood up to the regime and expressed their solidarity with victims of the cyclone.

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Burmese Monks, Dissidents Targeted by Junta
The Irrawaddy - By SAW YAN NAING
Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Several active youth members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Rangoon have gone into hiding in fear of arrest by Burmese security forces while Buddhist monks traveling in Sittwe have reported that they have been targeted for interrogation by the authorities, according to sources.       

An NLD youth member in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that certain other NLD youth members are now too afraid to stay at home and have gone into hiding to avoid the military authorities.

Dissident sources have said that security has been tightened over the last few weeks, especially in the areas that were scenes of last year’s demonstrations, including Rangoon, Pegu, Sittwe Township in Arakan State and Pakokku Township in Magwe Division.      
 
Meanwhile, a Buddhist monk in Sittwe who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity said that monks who travel outside their monasteries face intense questioning by the Burmese authorities. 

“Monks are being stopped and questioned by the authorities,” he said.

Security guards have been deployed in downtown Sittwe and at major places such as pagodas and public areas, said the monk.

The security measures come ahead of the anniversary of the September 26- 27 crackdown on peaceful protesters in Rangoon last year.

Fourteen Burmese activists in Rangoon and Meiktila in Mandalay Division have been arrested since September 9, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP). 

Meanwhile, eight Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, released a joint-statement on Tuesday marking the anniversary of the “Saffron Revolution” by urging the people of Burma to “maintain nonviolence, determination and vigilance—despite the odds.”
 
The Nobel laureates said they were observing a “dark anniversary” because the Burmese regime has resisted change and continues a daily repression of activists, monks and members of the opposition political parties.

In the statement, the Nobel Prize winners also urged the Burmese regime to create a genuine process of national reconciliation which includes all stakeholders and leads toward true democracy, as well as calling for the release of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners. 

“We will not be silent while Burma suffers … We stand with all our Burmese sisters and brothers. They are ever in our hearts and minds,” the laureates said.  

The Nobel Prize winners also criticized the Burmese authorities for neglecting responsibility in helping people recover from the cyclone which killed more than 130,000 people in May, and for conducting a “sham referendum” to advance their seven-step “road map” agenda despite the disaster.

The laureates also said the Burmese generals and their cronies had “greedily lined their pockets, manipulating currency exchanges with international organizations mandated to bring in disaster relief.”

In London, Burmese dissidents plan to commemorate the first anniversary of the crackdown by holding a demonstration on September 26 calling for the release of all political prisoners in Burma.
 
According to Burma Campaign UK, as Thailand holds the current chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), protesters will also hold a demonstration outside the Thai embassy in London calling for Asean to use their influence to push for the release of Burmese political prisoners.

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Freed political prisoner tells of prison abuses

Sep 24, 2008 (DVB)–National League for Democracy member U Aye Thein, who was released at noon yesterday from Kalaymyo prison, has spoken out about the mistreatment of prisoners he witnessed while in detention.

U Aye Thein, 38, the Thabeikkyeen township NLD organising committee secretary, was one of a small number of political prisoners among the 9002 inmates released as part of a government amnesty.

Although Aye Thein was arrested on criminal charges, he was placed among political prisoners in the jail and said he suffered mistreatment by the authorities.

He said that he and other prisoners were kept in isolation in dark cells up until the time of his release.

Pakokku township MP-elect U Hlaing Aye, who was transferred to Kalaymyo jail on 22 September, was also sent directly to an isolation cell.

Aye Thein said he had also witnessed harsh treatment of other prisoners during his time behind bars.

U Michael Win Kyaw from Kalaymyo, who was imprisoned for his role in the Saffron Revolution, was beaten up by prisoners serving criminal sentences on the orders of the prison authorities, Aye Thein said.

On 5 September, Maung Win Cho from Kalaymyo township's Kokeko village, who had been imprisoned for two months on drug charges, was beaten to death in front of inmates to set an example, drawing protest from political prisoners.

Aye Thein said he intended to report the incidents he had witnessed in prison to the authorities, NLD headquarters and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Several political prisoners including solo protester U Ohn Than, U Sai Nyunt Lwin of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, Ko Aye Aung, U Nyo Mya, U Aye Ko of Pyawbwe, U Kyaw Swe of Madaya and U Min Aung from Arakan State, U Ba Min and U Ba Thin from Kalaymyo are currently languishing in Kalaymyo prison.

Reporting by Khin Maung Soe Min

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U Win Tin says he was ‘evicted, not released’

Sep 24, 2008 (DVB)–Long-term political prisoner U Win Tin has said he argued with prison authorities against his release, in an interview conducted shortly after he was freed yesterday.

U Win Tin, a veteran journalist and National League for Democracy member, was among 9002 people released yesterday as part of a government amnesty.

He was freed at around 3.45pm after more than 19 years in prison.

U Win Tin said that he was not released from prison but evicted.

"The others were released with restrictions. As for me, I was not allowed to see anyone or speak to anyone and I didn't know what was happening,” U Win Tin said.

“I don't accept this release. I came out under duress. That's why I am still wearing prison clothing even though I am outside,” he said.

“I told them, ‘I will only leave the prison when you drag me out’. This is because I don't accept the way they have released me. This is not a good sign. Nothing good can come of it.”

U Win Tin had previously stated that he did not want to be released for reasons of age of health, according to his friend U Maung Maung Khin.

“U Win Tin said he would only accept being released on political grounds because he was arrested on political grounds, and he wouldn’t agree if the government wanted to release him just because he is old," U Maung Maung Khin said earlier this year.

U Win Tin pledged to continue to work for democracy and spoke out against the constitution adopted by the military regime.

"My attitude is, I can't accept the recent national convention – basically, I can't accept the constitution,” he said.

“Article 6 says the army must take a leading role in national politics. I can't accept that article, and so I can't accept the constitution. "

Among those released yesterday were Rangoon’s Mayangone township MP Dr May Win Myint, Kyauk Tan township MP Dr Than Nyein, Sanchaung township MP U Khin Maung Swe and U Win Htein of the NLD.

Taungngu township MP U Aung Soe Myint was one of 39 people released from Thayet prison, while Thabeikkyeen township NLD organising member U Aye Thin was among the over 70 people released from Sagaing division's Kalay prison.

At Bago division's Thayawaddy prison, 160 were released and only one political was among them.

No political prisoners were among the 72 released from Mandalay's Meikhtila prison or the 80 released from Myitkyina prison in Kachin state.

Reporting by Aye Nai

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