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HEADLINES
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AFP - Thai premier banned from politics, ruling party dissolved: court
AFP - Two-thirds of Myanmar HIV cases involve youths: UNICEF
AFP - Prepare for disasters despite downturn: UN
AFP - ASEAN summit in Thailand postponed until March: govt
AFP - Myanmar leader says 2010 election plans on course
AP - Myanmar PM says farm sector can absorb unemployed
AP - Journalists caught in crackdown by Myanmar junta
CSM - Opinion: The unquenchable fire in Burmese hearts
IHT - Thousands die because Myanmar's junta spends too little on AIDS, group says
Bernama - Myanmar man found dead at rubbish dump
Sun Star - Zero tax on Myanmar, Cambodia goods
The Boston Globe - An unnatural disaster in Burma
Xinhua - China, Myanmar cities establish friendship relationship
China Daily - Myanmar chief of staff visits China(Xinhua)
Mizzima News - Junta begins dam construction amid protests in Kachin state
Mizzima News - Film on Burmese video journalist wins international award
The Irrawaddy - NLD Leaders Discuss Role in 2010 Election
DVB News - Rights activists given life sentences

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Thai premier banned from politics, ruling party dissolved: court
AFP - Tuesday, December 2

BANGKOK, (AFP) - - Thailand's constitutional court on Tuesday banned Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years and dissolved the ruling party over a case of voting fraud.

"As the court decided to dissolve the People Power Party, therefore the leader of the party and party executives must be banned from politics for five years," said Chat Chonlaworn, head of the nine-judge court panel.

"The court had no other option," he said.

The verdict came amid a confrontation between Somchai, the brother-in-law of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and anti-government protesters occupying Bangkok's airports.

Somchai was elected by parliament on September 17 after his predecessor, Samak Sundaravej, was forced from office last month for appearing in television cooking shows.

The judge, wearing a black robe with a scarlet collar, read the order live on national television.

"No matter whether you are satisfied or not with the verdict, we ask you to accept it," he said.

The verdict said the party must be disbanded because PPP executives had been convicted of vote fraud after elections in December 2007.

"Although some party executives had no knowledge of the election fraud, the law stipulates clearly... the party must scrutinise its executives thus the party cannot deny responsibility, " Chat said.

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Two-thirds of Myanmar HIV cases involve youths: UNICEF
Mon Dec 1, 12:19 pm ET

YANGON (AFP) – Youths in Myanmar are particularly at risk from HIV, with almost two thirds of the near quarter million people living with the virus in that country aged under 24, the UN Children's Fund said Monday.

About 100,000 women are also living with HIV in Myanmar and many newborns are at risk of being infected, Ramesh Shrestha, the UNICEF representative in Myanmar, said in a statement for World AIDS Day.

"Young people have a higher propensity for risk-taking behaviour which exposes them to avoidable risks including exposure to HIV," Shrestha said.

"It is estimated that there are approximately 240,000 people living with HIV in Myanmar, of which almost two thirds are young people under 24 years of age," the statement said.

International humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres has said that about 76,000 of those living with HIV in Myanmar are in urgent need of antiretroviral treatment (ART).

A senior Myanmar health ministry official said more funding was needed to prevent HIV spreading inside the country.

"More funds are needed not only ART for AIDS patients but also for prevention projects," Kyaw Nyunt Sein told AFP.

About 11,000 AIDS patients around the country are getting ART from the government and international NGOs, he said.

Only 170 administrative regions out of 325 around the country can implement 100 percent condom promotion to prevent the HIV virus spreading because of funding shortages.

"We cannot give complete prevention. The disease mostly occurs through sexual contact, that's why we want to do 100 percent condom promotion for youths," he said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and the impoverished nation's healthcare system is in poor condition.

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Prepare for disasters despite downturn: UN
Tue Dec 2, 1:20 am ET

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – UN officials meeting in the Malaysian capital Tuesday warned Asian countries not to cut funding for disaster preparations, despite the global economic downturn.

Philippine senator Loren Legarda, the UN's newly-appointed "champion" for disaster risk reduction said countries in the region must spend to reduce risks in a natural disaster.

"We are hoping (budgets) will not be affected because disasters will continue to happen, just like 22 typhoons come to the Philippines every year... whether there is a global crisis or not," she told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day UN conference on disaster risk reduction.

"We must make (governments) aware that we are cutting losses by being prepared," she said.

Asia is already home to most of the world's natural disasters -- 75 percent of all people killed last year from calamities attributed to rising sea levels including floods and storms lived in the continent, global charity World Vision said in September.

In May, Cyclone Nargis left about 138,000 people dead or missing when it hit Myanmar, while an earthquake in southwestern China in the same month killed more than 87,000.

An earthquake-triggere d tsunami in 2004 killed 168,000 people in Indonesia alone, with tens of thousands more dead in other nations.

Malaysia's deputy premier Najib Razak said his country would set up a regional disaster relief centre in a tie-up with the UN World Food Programme to coordinate humanitarian relief operations in Asia.

The centre will be built in Subang, in central Selangor state north of the capital Kuala Lumpur next year, and will serve as an operations centre to distribute food aid and relief work in disaster-struck nations in the region.

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ASEAN summit in Thailand postponed until March: govt
Tue Dec 2, 6:40 am ET

BANGKOK (AFP) - Crisis-hit Thailand has postponed a summit of the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN scheduled for mid-December until March, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

News of the delay came shortly after the country's constitutional court dissolved Thailand's ruling party and barred Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years.

"The ASEAN summit has been postponed to March next year," government spokesman Nattawut Saikaur said after Somchai's final cabinet meeting in the northern city of Chiang Mai.

The summit had been scheduled for December 15-18, also in Chiang Mai. It had already been moved out of Bangkok due to the turmoil, which has seen protesters occupy both of the capital's airports.

Protesters said later Tuesday they would lift the airport siege, which has cost Thailand economically and in terms of its international image both as a tourist haven and a beacon of stability in the region.

The ASEAN charter, which commits the bloc's 10 member nations to promote democracy and human rights and was due to be signed at the summit, will now be adopted in Indonesia.

"The cabinet agreed to the foreign ministry's proposal to declare the ASEAN charter in Jakarta and the ministry will write a letter to inform group members," Nattawut said.
Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and a former Thai foreign minister, said he had not yet been informed of the decision.

"I am not yet aware of it. I am still waiting for the decision," he told AFP by telephone from Hong Kong. "But so far I am aware there is no government in Thailand now, therefore the foreign ministry must handle this issue."

Thailand holds the rotating chair of the association.

ASEAN leaders had been set to be joined at the summit by heads of government from East Asia as well as the heads of organisations such as the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade organisation.

Surin said Sunday that time was "running short" for Thailand to hold the summit, adding that a delay would enable better preparations.

The statement said Surin had "reassured" Thai authorities "that a postponement will not negatively affect ASEAN work plans too much."

Member nations Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam had called for a postponement while others had expressed concerns over the situation in Thailand.

In 2006, the Philippines rescheduled a December summit for the following month after two powerful storms threatened to batter its central region, although some sources said it was linked to security threats.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Myanmar leader says 2010 election plans on course
Sat Nov 29, 3:23 am ET

YANGON (AFP) – The head of Myanmar's military regime has told supporters plans for elections in 2010 under a controversial "road map" to democracy are well under way, state media reported on Saturday.

Senior General Than Shwe's comments to a pro-junta group followed a number of heavy jail sentences handed down by the country's courts, including the lengthening of a prison term given to Myanmar's most famous comedian.

"The state's seven-step road map is, indeed, the only way to smooth (the) transition to democracy as well as (its) own transitional work programmes," Than Shwe was quoted as saying by the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

"The government and the people have to materialize in harmony," he told the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a pro-military social organisation, the paper said.

Authorities say the group has 24.6 million members, about half of the country's 57 million population. Analysts have said the junta could turn the USDA into a political party ahead of the elections which are due in two years.

"Now, plans are well under way to see to the remaining steps including the 2010 transition work programme. So, it is fair to say that the future of the state structure is certain to materialize, " Than Shwe said.

Than Shwe described a widely criticised national referendum held in May on a new constitution as a crucial step for the so-called road map.

The referendum was held a week after Cyclone Nargis hit, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing. Authorities said the poll, carried out without independent monitoring, was backed by 92.48 percent of voters.

The United States, European Union and United Nations have dismissed the lengthy "road map" in Myanmar, formerly Burma, as a sham due to the absence of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

"Despite various disturbances and pressure of those who do not want to realise the objective conditions of the nation, the goal of the state is drawing near," Than Shwe said.

Than Shwe's speech came in a month when more than 160 activists have been given long jail terms by the military regime, according to opposition sources, after protests led by the nation's revered Buddhist monks last year.

At least 31 people were killed in a brutal crackdown that followed the demonstrations, according to the United Nations.

Myanmar's most famous comedian Zarganar was sentenced to 45 years in prison earlier this month, while sports writer Zaw Thet Htwe was handed a 15-year jail term.

Both were arrested in June after organising deliveries of aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis.

The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta did not allow them to take office.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.

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Myanmar PM says farm sector can absorb unemployed
AP - Wednesday, December 3

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's prime minister has said that the country's economy can provide jobs for returning migrant workers who lost their jobs due to the global financial crisis.

All three state-run daily newspapers on Tuesday published the remarks by Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein, made at a meeting with ministers, government officials and businessmen in the capital of Naypyitaw. It was the first public comment from the government on how the global crisis might affect the country.

In the remarks, made Monday, Thein Sein said that should workers overseas lose their jobs, Myanmar's agricultural sector by itself could employ millions.

Thein Sein said there are 46,057 Myanmar workers legally working abroad, but statistics from other countries and organizations estimate that more than 2 million are working abroad illegally, the New Light of Myanmar and other newspapers reported.

Thein Sein said millions of workers are needed in palm oil plantations, rubber plantations and teak plantations, and for timber extraction. Fisheries and the salt industry are also ready to hire workers, he said.

The foreign, labor and agriculture ministries all stand ready to help Myanmar workers who lost their overseas jobs, he added.

The prime minister conceded that the global economic crisis could have an indirect impact on Myanmar and destabilize local markets even though the effect on the monetary sector should be minimal because Myanmar's currency is not freely convertible so money transactions are not closely linked to foreign banks.

Thein Sein said Myanmar, which faces U.S. and European economic sanctions by the West because of the ruling junta's poor human rights record and failure to restore democracy, has no relations with Western monetary institutions. He also said Myanmar's foreign loan burden is insignificant compared to other countries, the New Light of Myanmar reported.

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Journalists caught in crackdown by Myanmar junta
Sun Nov 30, 11:01 pm ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – A court in military-controlled Myanmar has imprisoned two journalists for seven years each for undermining the country's ruling generals after being caught with a U.N. human rights report.

The court in a northeastern suburb of Yangon on Friday sentenced Thet Zin, editor of the local Myanmar-language journal Myanmar Nation, and Sein Win Maung, the paper's manager, after convicting them of undermining the government under the country's draconian Printing and Publishing Law.

The convictions were part of a renewed crackdown by the regime in the past month that has led to more than 100 people — including activists, writers, musicians and Buddhist monks — receiving jail sentences as long as 68 years. Many were transferred to prisons in remote regions.

The journalists' sentencing came the same day a court inside Yangon's Insein prison sentenced 13 members of the 88 Generation Students, a group at the forefront of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, to six years for undermining stability, family members said.

 

The 13 activists were among 37 from the group handed long prison sentences for their roles in nonviolent protests, including pro-democracy demonstrations in September 2007 led by Buddhist monks that were violently suppressed.

Myanmar's military, which has held power since 1962, tolerates no dissent. It frequently arrests artists and entertainers regarded as opposing the regime.

The lengthy prison sentences have been condemned worldwide by Western governments and human rights organizations, who charge that the heavy-handed tactics makes a mockery of the ruling junta's professed plan to restore democracy through elections in 2010.

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Opinion: The unquenchable fire in Burmese hearts
Christian Science Monitor
By Karen Zusman Karen Zusman – Mon Dec 1, 3:00 am ET

New York – Eleven hundred years and counting. That's the cumulative time in prison sentences given last month to a handful of people expressing political dissent in Burma(Myanmar) .

The news gives me particular pain.

In August 2007, the Burmese regime eliminated fuel subsidies, causing the price to rise by 500 percent. Food costs spiked enormously overnight. A few weeks later, Buddhist monks took to the streets in nonviolent protest and many of them were shot or beaten by the junta. Understanding the significance of these events, I felt compelled to visit so I could bear witness.

What struck me as much as the horror of their stories was the fact that the Burmese people were willing to tell them. This was in stark contrast to my previous trip in 2004, when no one dared to speak about anything remotely political. Now, emboldened by the world's gaze, there was the hope that by sharing their stories they might keep that window of attention cracked open a little longer.

Much of what I learned, I heard from taxi drivers, flower vendors, waiters, students, housekeepers. Our conversations posed a difficult riddle: Each time I let anyone confide in me, I potentially endangered them. As one of the few white faces to arrive in Rangoon, just postprotests, there was strong reason to believe I was being watched.

Yet despite my caution, it seems I was sought out everywhere I went – people felt the need to express themselves at last. Behind closed doors with the shades pulled down and the music turned up, I sat with a group of students cross-legged on the floor. I pressed them before we began, "Are you sure you want to speak?"

Aung Soe (not his real name), a slender man in his mid-20s, jumped at the question. He shook his fist in the air.

"If we don't talk to you maybe we are cowards. I was downtown where the monks were shot just outside our Sule Pagoda. I was marching, too. In some ways it was the best day of my life. They can't take that away from me. From now on I speak the fire in my heart!"

By the time I returned home in November 2007, Burma had faded fast from the news.

Then, tragically, cyclone Nargis hit this past May and again the troubled nation held the world's attention. Yet despite repeat visits by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambiri, negotiations with the junta's generals have been a dismal failure.

Today, the sentencing in Burma reads like ticker tape: 65 years, 45 years, 20 years, 2.5 years, 12 years, 14 years, extending its reach beyond the "Generation 88" student activists (leaders of the 1988 protests against the junta that resulted in thousands of deaths) to include comedians, poets, bloggers, even a rap star.

It is my belief that the Burmese with "fire" in their hearts will continue to speak out and plan further protests despite the terrible price it is exacting. Yet the success of their sacrifices seems tragically compromised as long as there are countries that support the junta's oppressive regime by selling it weapons. That's why these three actions must be taken:

•First, the US Senate must immediately confirm Michael Green to fill the newly created position of Special Envoy to Burma. Having a regional specialist installed in a dedicated post will bring focus to what has been a largely uncoordinated effort by advocacy, human rights, and UN groups.

•Second, the US delegation to the UN Security Council must pressure China, India, and Russia to uphold the arms embargo against Burma that is already observed by the European Union and the US.

•Third, we will all need to press President-elect Obama and his future administration to honor the platform that he ran on, which included strong support for human rights.
Just a month ago at the UN, 147 states voted to move forward on the creation of an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Only the US and Zimbabwe voted against it. The US must not only reverse its vote but also work to ensure that the ATT includes language curbing arms sales to countries that commit egregious human rights violations against their own people. This would be a giant step forward in honoring Mr. Obama's commitment and would reassert America's role as a leader in the promotion of human rights.

By taking these steps, we could begin to usher in change for the people that, in the words of Mr. Green, "languish in the shadows as the rest of the world concentrates its energies elsewhere."

And we could satisfy the plea of my own Burmese friends, one of whom implored: "Please, Sister, do not let the world forget us." As Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's detained pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate, once said: "Please use your freedom to promote ours."

• Karen Zusman is a New York-based writer who travels to Burma as a student of Theravadan Buddhism.

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Thousands die because Myanmar's junta spends too little on AIDS, group says
The International Herald Tribune
By Donald G. Mcneil Jr.
Published: December 2, 2008

Thousands of people in Myanmar are dying needlessly of AIDS each year because too little money is allocated to treating them, the international charity Doctors Without Borders said last week.

About 240,000 people in Myanmar are infected with the virus that causes AIDS, and about 76,000 are sick enough to need antiretroviral treatment, the group said. But only about 15,000 are getting it, and Doctors Without Borders is paying for 11,000.

The nongovernmental organization, which is allowed to work in only some parts of the country, is overwhelmed and is having to turn new patients away.

"It is unacceptable that a single NGO is treating the vast majority of HIV patients in a crisis of this magnitude," said Joe Belliveau, the charity's operations manager for Myanmar.

Many Burmese cannot afford the $30 a month for the cheapest antiretroviral regimen from private doctors. Myanmar's government, run by a secretive military junta, has a long record of watching indifferently as its citizens die. In May, after a cyclone swept through the Irrawaddy Delta, leaving up to one million people homeless, it refused to let foreign aid workers in. Last year, it brutally put down antigovernment demonstrations by monks.

According to Doctors Without Borders, the Myanmar government spends only 70 cents per citizen for health care each year. Money for AIDS drugs is available from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, but governments, not charities, must apply for it, and they must prove that the money will not be diverted to corrupt ends.
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Myanmar man found dead at rubbish dump
Bernama - Monday, December 1

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- A Myanmar national, believed to be in his 30's, was found dead with a slash wound on his neck at a rubbish dump in Taman Nirwana, Ampang, near here, today.

Ampang Jaya deputy police chief Supt Amiruddin Jamaluddin said police received a call on the discovery of the dead body at 7.45pm.

He said the body, which was found lying underneath a motorcycle, was then sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

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Zero tax on Myanmar, Cambodia goods
Sun Star - 02:08:21 AM Wednesday, December 03, 2008

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered that zero tariff be imposed on imported items from Myanmar and Cambodia in accordance with the Asean Integration System of Preferences package.

This is to narrow development gap between older and newer members of Asean and to enhance the new members' integration with the rest of Asean.
What's your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers

Arroyo, in signing Executive Order 768, directed the elimination of the tariff on certain products from Myanmar such as women's or girl's suits, ensembles, jackets, blazers, dresses, skirts, divided skirts, trousers, bib and brace overalls, breeches and shorts (other than swimwear), knitted or crocheted.

Also to be given zero tariff are trousers, bib and brace overalls, breeches and shorts, other textile materials, other than ramie, linen, or silk, and men's or boy's shirts, knitted or crocheted from Cambodia.

The elimination of tariff on such products was based on the decision of the Asean heads of government and the Asean economic ministers, at a meeting in Cambodia.

The preference is a unilateral offer made by preference-giving countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) to the preference-receivin g countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam). (JMR/Sunnex)

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An unnatural disaster in Burma
The Boston Globe - By Chris Beyrer and Frank Donaghue
December 2, 2008

IN THE FIELD of disaster relief studies it is a truism that the first responders, whether in an earthquake or a cyclone, are generally ordinary people in the affected area who have survived. They are the first to start digging out the rubble or tending the wounded. Civilian volunteers are the backbone of the later phases of emergency responses too - people who bring food and water, volunteer at shelters, give what they can. Only in a system as profoundly inhumane as Burma would such good Samaritans be punished for their compassion. But that is precisely what happened last week.

At least four civilian volunteers who tried to help the victims of Burma's ferocious Cyclone Nargis were sentenced to 15- to 59-year prison terms for their efforts. Among those jailed was the beloved comedian and satirist Zarganar, who was sentenced to 59 years in some of the world's most deadly prisons. Burmese journalists reporting on the cyclone were also sentenced.

These sentences have come among a wave of others, including decades-long sentences for monks who led last year's Saffron Revolution demonstrations; members of the National League for Democracy, the party that won Burma's last elections but was never allowed to govern; and the leaders of the 88 Generation, the students who supported Aung San Suu Kyi in her nonviolent struggle for social change.

Why imprison civilian volunteers in the midst of a humanitarian crisis? Before his arrest, Zarganar said, "I want to save my own people. But the government doesn't like our work. It is not interested in helping people. It just wants to tell the world and the rest of the country that everything is under control and that it has already saved its people."

Perhaps the clearest indication of the junta's priorities was its insistence on holding a national referendum on the new constitution in the still-devastated Delta region less than three weeks after the storm. The ruling generals placed survival of military rule over saving Burmese lives. This is tragically consistent with their past behavior: Burma has among the lowest levels of public funding in healthcare worldwide, less than $1 per person in 2006, according to the World Health Organization. The people of Burma are impoverished, but the junta is rich and richly armed.

Despite these harsh realities and the extraordinary price Burmese citizens who oppose the generals must pay, many in the international community have called for expansion of aid to Burma. The International Crisis Group said last month, "Aid should rather be seen by international policymakers as valuable in its own right as well as a way of alleviating suffering, but also as a potential means of opening up a closed country, improving governance and empowering people to take control of their own lives." But with their show trials and these latest brutal prison terms, the generals have made it clear that improving governance and empowering the people of Burma is precisely what they are most unwilling to do.

Of course aid should be increased to the people of Burma, but not on the generals' terms, which include tight control on information, the denial of Burmese citizen participation in the response, and markedly limited access to the rest of the impoverished country not affected by the cyclone.

Those arguing that stepped-up international aid can deliver on political change have precious little evidence for this, especially since the political space has just abruptly narrowed. The incoming Obama administration may well increase assistance to Burma, but this should be coupled with more pressure on the junta and its allies, especially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, and Russia, for political reform.

The longer-term development and well-being of the Burmese people is not simply dependent on levels of foreign aid, but on true political development and a return to democratic rule. There can be no "apolitical" humanitarian aid in places like Burma, however much we'd wish to see it. Just ask Zarganar.

Chris Beyrer is director of the Center for Public Health and Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Frank Donaghue is CEO for Physicians for Human Rights.

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China, Myanmar cities establish friendship relationship
www.chinaview. cn  2008-12-01 23:37:44

YANGON, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Municipal authorities of Kunming of China and Yangon of Myanmar signed an agreement here Monday on establishing friendship-city relationship between the two cities of the two countries.

Kunming is the capital of China's southwestern Yunnan Province, while Yangon is Myanmar's former capital and now a commercial city.

On behalf of the respective sides, Qiu He, secretary of the Communist Party of China Kunming Municipal Committee of Yunnan Province, and Yangon Mayor Brigadier-General Aung Thein Lin, signed the agreement.

Attending the signing ceremony were Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Guan Mu and high-ranking officials of two municipal authorities.

Speaking at the ceremony, Qiu said the friendly exchange and cooperation between Kunming and Yangon continued to strengthen in recent years laying down a firm foundation for the forging of the friendship-city relationship through exchange of visits of personnel of the two sides, project exchange and joint seeking of ways of cooperation and development.

The signing of the agreement has opened a new page of friendly cooperation between Kunming and Yangon, he said, adding that after the establishment of friendship-city relationship, the two sides will take stronger measures to further enhance the cooperation between the two cities in the fields of economy, trade, culture, education, health, technology, and tourism, among others, to realize a win-win situation for the well-being of the peoples of the two cities.

On the occasion, Aung Thein Lin said the Kunming municipal goodwill delegation's visit is significant to the relationship between Myanmar and China, especially between Myanmar and Yunnan Province which share a common boundary of thousands of kilometers.

The signing of the agreement would bring about further consolidation of the friendly ties between the two cities, he added.

Qiu, who leads a 24-member goodwill delegation on a visit to Myanmar, arrived here Sunday.

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Myanmar chief of staff visits China(Xinhua)
China Daily - Updated: 2008-12-01 15:42

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met with Thura Shwe Mann, member of the ruling Myanmar State Peace and Development Council and the Myanmar military's chief of staff on Monday.

Liang said that China and Myanmar witnessed continuous growth of friendly relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties, and China is ready to work together with Myanmar side to promote relations between our two nations and peoples.

"We will continuously adhere to the principle of building friendship and partnership with neighboring countries and the policy of fostering an amicable, peaceful and prosperous neighborhood. We respect choices of Myanmar government and people, " Liang said.

Shwe Mann said said Myanmar and China have been friendly neighbors for generations, and that his country would like to work with China to strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields.

Shwe Mann thanked China for supporting Myanmar on issues that have to do with the latter's sovereignty. He added that the Myanmar government will firmly adhere to the one-China policy.

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Junta begins dam construction amid protests in Kachin state  
Mizzima News - by Solomon  
Tuesday, 02 December 2008 20:21

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Despite protests by local residents and environmental groups regarding the negative side effects that would befall the local community, Burma's military authorities and a Chinese corporation have begun constructing dams on rivers in Burma's northern Kachin state, sources said.

Led by the China Power Investment Cooperation (CPI), work has begun on the construction of a small hydroelectric project on the Chiphwi River, about 70 miles northeast of Kachin state's capital of Myitkyina.

The dam, which is expected to produce approximately 980 kilowatts of energy, will be used to supply electricity for the construction of other hydroelectric projects including one at the confluence of the Nmai Hka (May Kha) and Mali Hka Rivers, about 28 kilometers north of Myitkyina.

An official with Asia World Company Ltd. (AWC) who is working at the construction site said, "This dam is a small one and is purposely being built to produce electricity to be used in major dam construction along the Nmai Hka and Mali Hka Rivers, including the Myintsone dam [at the confluence of the two rivers]."

Burma's military government, in collaboration with CPI and AWC, plan to construct at least seven dams on the Mali Hka and Nmai Hka Rivers, in addition to the one at the confluence of the two rivers, and will sell the electricity generated from the dams to China.

Local Kachin in Myitkyina, as well as environmental groups including the Kachin Development Network Group (KDNG), have strongly protested against construction of the dams, saying there will be little benefit for the local community while the devastation caused by the construction will take a heavy toll on their livelihood.

According to the Thailand-based KDNG, the planned hydroelectric projects would destroy at least 47 villages and threaten over 10,000 lives by inundating about 766 square kilometers of farmland with water.

A local resident from Myitkyina told Mizzima that there is a lot of concern among the people over dam construction, as they fear the dams will threaten their homes and destroy their livelihood.

"People do not like the project. They have voiced their objection since the beginning, but their voices fall on deaf ears," he added.

According to the KDNG, the Burmese government's Ministry of Electric Power No.1 and CPI have agreed to generate at least 3,600 megawatts of electricity from the hydroelectric projects in Kachin state.

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Film on Burmese video journalist wins international award  
Mizzima News - by Mungpi  
Monday, 01 December 2008 19:04

New Delhi - A film on a Burmese video journalist's reporting of the September 2007 uprising against the country's military dictators was Saturday named winner of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam's 'Joris Ivens' prize.

'Burma VJ – Reporting from a closed country', by filmmaker Anders Østergaard, which tells the story of how a Burmese video journalist reported during the September 2007 protests sparked by a sudden rise in the cost of fuel, was also awarded the 'Movies That Matter Award', for the best documentary on human rights and dignity.

The Burmese journalist whom Anders Østergaard follows in his film is a video reporter of the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), who secretly filmed the protests which later came to be known as the 'Saffron Revolution' after the Buddhist monks' leading role in the uprising.

According to Toe Zaw Latt, Chief of DVB's Chiang Mai bureau, the journalist later fled to neighbouring Thailand after he was detected by authorities and targeted for arrest.

"Østergaard took more than a year [to finish his work] and filmed about the journalist's live [coverage of the events]," said Toe Zaw Latt.

In addition, the film also incorporates video footage and clips of the protests taken by undercover reporters of the DVB, including protest marches led by Buddhist monks, their preparations and the military's crackdown.

"I think about 80 percent of the film is clips and footage from DVB's TV reporters inside Burma, though there are some constructed scenes to make it into a movie," Toe Zaw Latt said.

He added that the constructed scenes include taking pictures of houses in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to represent some of the homes in Rangoon, though the story is to tell the struggles of how a reporter covered the unfolding events in Burma.

In August and September 2007, hundreds of thousands took to the streets and held protest marches demanding a change in politics as well as a decline in commodity prices. The demonstrations were sparked when the government, in mid-August, suddenly raised the prices of petrol, diesel and gas.

But Burma's military rulers, who have a tradition of brutally suppressing any dissent, on September 27, began violently crushing the protestors. But unlike the previous nationwide protests in 1988, the September 2007 protests were widely disseminated to a global audience through the web pages of Burmese news agencies as well as radio stations and bloggers.

"We are glad that our footage and clips are being used for the film, as it will educate more people on the situation in Burma, that's why we have fully cooperated with him [Anders Østergaard]," Toe Zaw Latt said.

"We want to expand in the area of TV reporting, we want to show how powerful the images are," Toe Zaw Latt explained.

According to him, the 120-minute film will continue competing in various film festivals in Europe and will later be released for screening in theatres around the world.

"I am sure this will enable more people to be aware of the situation inside Burma," he added.

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NLD Leaders Discuss Role in 2010 Election
The Irrawaddy - By WAI MOE
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Deciding whether or not to participate in the forthcoming 2010 Burmese election is now one of the issues being discussed by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), say party sources.

Khin Maung Swe, an NLD executive member, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that in recent weeks, the NLD has held executive meetings focused on its strategy in the 2010 general elections.

“At the moment, the NLD stands on the party’s special political statement, issued on September 22,” said Khin Maung Swe. “The statement called for the government to review the constitution within six months and to conduct an inclusive process in Burmese politics. We think reviewing the constitution is an important step for national reconciliation.”

If the junta ignores the NLD’s call for a review, the crisis in Burmese politics will continue, he said.

He added that whether the NLD joins in the election depends largely on whether the junta will allow a constitutional review and permit all political parties to function freely.
He said, however, the NLD is keeping all of its options open depending on the political situation.

This weekend, the NLD met with an Italian diplomat, Attilio Massimo Ianucci, and discussed Burmese politics.

Khin Maung Swe said the NLD and the diplomat traded views. “He asked us if the NLD would take part in the election, but there was no urgency or call for the NLD to take part.”

Deutsche Press-Agentur (DPA) reported on November 29 that the Italian diplomat urged the NLD to participate in the election. Quoted in the report, Win Tin, a veteran journalist and a NLD executive, said: “He said at the present, the military occupied 100 percent of the government and after 2010, there would be only 25 percent. It is much better than the current situation.”

“We told him that 25 percent would be just a word and in practice the military would dominate. We said the constitution must be amended before the election.”

According to DPA, Win Tin told the press that within the NLD there were different views about the election. “Some [members] want to participant and some do not,” he said.

However, Aye Thar Aung, the secretary of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP), an umbrella opposition group, said he recently met with NLD leaders and his understanding is that NLD policy is to review the junta-backed constitution first rather than to join the election.

“If some of the NLD take part in the election, they might do it individually,” he said.

He said the CRPP’s stand on the election is that it will not take part unless the junta opens up the political process. The CRPP was formed in 1998 by the winning parties in the election, including the NLD and ethnic opposition parties.

Meanwhile, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the head of the ruling junta, reaffirmed on November 28 at a meeting of the junta’s mass organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, that the regime’s “Seven-step Road Map” is the only way to a smooth transition to democracy.

“Now, plans are well under way to see to the remaining steps including the 2010 transition work programme,” Than Shwe was quoted as saying, according to state-run media.

Political analysts said there could well be more restrictions placed on political parties in the 2010 election laws, which the junta has yet to announce. Some rumors say the election law will be made public early next year, while others say the junta has postponed the announcement until June.

“Unlike the 1990 elections, we expect more restrictions,” said Aye Thar Aung.

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Rights activists given life sentences

Dec 1, 2008 (DVB)–Northern Rangoon Provincial court handed down life sentences to Human Rights Defendants and Protectors network member Myint Aye and two of his colleagues on Friday.

Judge Thaung Nyunt sentenced Myint Aye to life imprisonment, equivalent to 20 years, plus eight years under the Explosives Act, Immigration Act and Unlawful Association Act.

Zaw Zaw Aung, one of Myint Aye’s two co-defendants, also received a life term plus eight years, while Yan Shwe was given a life term and 13 years.
Pho Phyu, the lawyer for the three men, said the decision was not fair.

Burmese authorities also extended the jail terms for several 88 generation student members and a university student activist on Friday, according to their lawyers and families.

The activists were sentenced to six more years each for three counts of inciting offences against the public tranquility.

88 generation student members Thein Than Htun, Zaw Htet Ko Ko. Chit Ko Linn, Lay Lay Mon, Noble Aye, Nwe Hnin Yee, Tharaphi Theint Theint Htun and Aye Thida, who had already been given five-year jail terms, are now to serve 11 years in total.

Thaw Zin Htun, Kyi Than, Saw Myo Min Hlaing, Aung Thike Soe and San San Tin had their terms extended from three to nine years.

De Nyein Linn, a student from western Rangoon university who had been sentenced to six and a half years in prison was given four more years by Htantabin township court.

His family said he was still awaiting sentencing on other charges.

Reporting by Nan Kham Kaew

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