Myanmar joins Malaysia in internet crackdown.

Myanmar, seems is taking cues from the Malaysian government in cracking down on internet freedom.

The dictatorship there has taken it upon themselves to decide, what is supposed to go online and what is not. This has led to sites and blogs being shut down and online dissidents being silenced. Raids on internet cafes have risen alarmingly.

A young Burmese blogger, a valuable source of information during the bloody repression of monks in September of 2007, has been sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison. According to the official charges, he is guilty of slandering a high state official.

28-year-old Nay Phone Latt was arrested on January 29, 2008, and found guilty by a tribunal set up in the prison of Insein, in Yangon, where he is currently detained; he is accused of publishing a cartoon considered "offensive" toward the head of the military junta, General Than Shwe, on his blog. The newspaper The Irrawaddy reports that Nay's colleague and friend, Thin July Kyaw, has been sentenced to two years in prison, while two weeks ago three defence lawyers were sentenced to between four to six months in prison. The latest episode of repression by the ruling dictatorship has been denounced by Nay Phone Latt's mother, Aye Than.

In September of 2007, on the pages of his website, the young man recounted the massacres carried out by the junta against Burmese monks, becoming a valuable source of information for the international media.

On September 26, 2007, the decision of military leaders to attack the protagonists of the "saffron revolution" left 31 dead - according to official estimates, although many more were killed - including a Japanese journalist, who was shot to death. Another 74 people are still "officially disappeared," in addition to thousands of arrests among monks and activists.

Sources in Yangon also reveal that the military regime has sentenced the dissident poet Saw Wai to two years in prison: he was accused of publishing a poem mocking Than Shwe in the weekly Love Journal. At the beginning of each stanza was the line "General Than Shwe is mad with power."

A GROUP of bloggers from Yangon have formed an online community called the Myanmar Bloggers Society with the aim of organising blogging enthusiasts both within the country and abroad.

The group is currently developing its own site, www.myanmarblogger.org, which members expect to come online soon.

Meanwhile, in a statement in Washington, the US State Department criticized the imprisonment of the four defense lawyers and urged the Burmese regime to drop all charges and release them.

Deputy Spokesman Robert Wood called on the junta to stop harassing and arresting citizens for peacefully practicing their internationally recognized human rights, to release all political prisoners, and to start a genuine dialogue with democratic forces and ethnic minority groups for democratic reform in Burma.

Read "The Irrawaddy - " Young Burmese Blogger Sentenced to more than 20 Years in Jail"

Nargis survivors can live on frogs !!

Myanmar's ruling junta lashed out at foreign aid donors Friday, saying cyclone victims did not need supplies of "chocolate bars" and could instead survive by eating frogs and fish.

Myanmar state media resumes its attack on western nations: they are without humanitarian spirit if they continue to link economic aid to relief workers access to the worst hit areas. The government censures all information relating to Nargis.

Myanmar’s survivors of cyclone Nargis “do not need foreign food aid; they can feed themselves on frogs and fish that abound in the worst hit areas”. The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a government mouthpiece, has re-launched its attack on foreign relief workers and condemned donors for “linking aid money to full access to the hardest-hit regions in the Irrawaddy Delta”.

After several days of praising the work of the United Nations and charities, the regime's official newspaper renewed its attacks on foreign aid and insisted “Burmese people can survive without outside help”. In all probability the regime did not appreciate the “modest” results of the donor’s conference which took place in Yangon on May 25th. Myanmar needs 11 billion dollars to recover from the storm, but donors have pledged just 150 million dollars so far, and have demanded greater transparency on the part of the military who usually pocket the donations destined for the people. Donor nations say that most of the funds will only be handed over if the Naypydaw regime concedes access to the Delta, which has been virtually off-limits to the media and relief workers.

"Myanmar people are capable enough of rising from such natural disasters even if they are not provided with international assistance," the newspaper said.

"Myanmar people can easily get fish for dishes by just fishing in the fields and ditches," the paper said. "In the early monsoon, large edible frogs are abundant."

"The people (of the Irrawaddy delta) can survive with self-reliant efforts even if they are not given chocolate bars from (the) international community," it added.

No aid agencies are known to have provided chocolate bars to victims of Cyclone Nargis, which struck the impoverished country four weeks ago.

The New Light of Myanmar has also attacked nations which have maintained their economic sanctions against the regime, despite the destruction caused by the cyclone. "Do such countries really have humanitarian spirit?" the paper said. It is a clear reference to the United States, the harshest critic of the Burmese junta.

The regime’s propaganda machine has also restarted one of its favourite instruments: the National censorship board, according to Mizzima News, has banned some Yangon magazines from publishing stories on the devastation caused by cyclone Nargis and on the subsequent crises in the price of rice caused by the destruction of the crops in the Delta. According to the director of one of the magazines, they are only permitted to cover news stories on “the governments’ reconstruction program”.

Read AFP:"Myanmar lashes foreign aid, says survivors can eat frogs"

Myanmar activists demonstrated in Malaysia

Image Source

About 500 Myanmar activists demonstrated Saturday outside their country's embassy in Malaysia, demanding that Myanmar's military regime call off its constitutional referendum even as voting began despite a devastating cyclone.

The protesters, who included dozens of women and children, waved placards saying "We want democracy", "No is our vote", "Stop the junta" and "Don't hold the referendum during mourning days."

The one-hour rally was peaceful and the crowd dispersed after handing over a protest note to an embassy staff member. Dozens of riot police stood guard but took no action against the crowd.

Myanmar held a rare election on Saturday to approve a new army-drafted constitution, ignoring calls from the outside world to postpone the vote amid the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Nargis.
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More than a week after Nargis (Daffodil) tore through the Irawaddy Delta, packing 190 kph (120 mph) winds that whipped up a wall of sea-water pulverizing everything in its path, aid was barely dribbling to 1.5 million increasingly desperate survivors.

The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded with aid, though the junta took over its first two shipments. The government agreed to let a U.S. cargo plane bring in supplies Monday, but foreign disaster experts were still being barred entry.

The military government of Burma (Myanmar), in a dramatic turnaround, has offered to cooperate with the United Nations in its massive relief efforts in the cyclone-devastated country where the death toll could exceed 100,000.

"Our frustration levels have been going up and down,"

U.N.Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told reporters Friday.

"We were badly frustrated yesterday, we are a little less frustrated this afternoon, and we hope it will be better tomorrow," he added. "But we cannot afford to give up."

Myanmar's military regime distributed international aid Saturday but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.

State-run television continuously ran images of top generals — including the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe — handing out boxes of aid to survivors at elaborate ceremonies.

One box bore the name of Lt. Gen. Myint Swe, a rising star in the government hierarchy, in bold letters that overshadowed a smaller label reading: "Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand."

"We have already seen regional commanders putting their names on the side of aid shipments from Asia, saying this was a gift from them and then distributing it in their region," said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, which campaigns for human rights and democracy in the country.

"It is not going to areas where it is most in need," he said in London.

So far, relief workers have reached 220,000 cyclone victims, only a small fraction of the number of people affected, the Red Cross said Friday. Three Red Cross aid flights loaded with shelter kits and other emergency supplies landed Friday without incident.

But the government seized two planeloads of high-energy biscuits — enough to feed 95,000 people — sent by the U.N. World Food Program. Despite the seizure, the WFP was sending three more planes Saturday from Dubai, Cambodia and Italy, even though those could be confiscated, too.

Burma devastated--help now

In the wake of a massive cyclone, at least 22,000 Burmese are dead. More than 40,000 are missing. A million are homeless.

But what's happening in Burma is not just a natural disaster--it's also a catastrophe of bad leadership.

Burma's brutal and corrupt military junta failed to warn the people, failed to evacuate any areas, and suppressed freedom of communication so that Burmese people didn't know the storm was coming when the rest of the world did. Now the government is failing to respond to the disaster and obstructing international aid organizations.

Humanitarian relief is urgently needed, but Burma's government could easily delay, divert or misuse any aid. Today the International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma's powerful grass roots network of monasteries--the most trusted institutions in the country and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities.





Giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma's people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face cahllenges--they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta's rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort--housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck. The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls.

Last year, more than 800,000 of us around the world stood with the Burmese people as they rose up against the military dictatorship. The government lost no time then in dispatching its armies to ruthlessly crush the nonviolent democracy movement--but now, as tens of thousands die, the junta's response is slow and threatens to divert precious aid into the corrupt regime's pockets.

The monks are unlikely to receive aid from governments or large humanitarian organizations, but they have a stronger presence and trust among the Burmese people than both.

- Ricken Patel, Avaaz.org

(ABOUT AVAAZ: Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.)


Read also:

"Burma's firewall fighters" -CPJ
BURMA:"Junta Gives Referendum Priority Over Cyclone Relief"- IPS

Death toll from Myanmar cyclone soars

The death toll in Myanmar from Cyclone Nargis reached 22,464 on Tuesday, Myanmar state media reported, putting the number of missing at 41,054 and those injured at 6,708.

Myanmar's military regime on Tuesday appealed for international aid amid the rising death toll in the wake of the cyclone, which smashed the country's central region over the weekend.

The death toll is the latest in a steadily escalating official count since the Cyclone Nargis struck early Saturday, devastating much of the fertile Irrawaddy River delta and the nation's major city, Yangon.

At a news conference in Yangon, the minister for relief and resettlement, Maung Maung Swe, said 41,000 people were still missing in the cyclone, which triggered a surge of water inland from the sea.

"More deaths were caused by the tidal wave than the storm itself," he said, in the first official description of the destruction. "The wave was up to 12 fee (3.5 meters) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages. They did not have anywhere to flee."

The Irrawaddy Delta before the cyclone hit (left) and after (right) [Image: Nasa]

The two satellite photos above from the US space agency Nasa show the devastating affect of Cyclone Nargis which swept over the Irrawaddy delta region of Myanmar on Saturday. (Image source)


Up to 1 million people may be homeless after Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma.

Information Minister Kyaw Hsan told a press conference in Yangon early Tuesday that the death toll in Bogalay township in the Irrawaddy region was close to 10,000 while the toll on Haing Kyi Island was 975, on Mawlamyaing Island 1,835 and in Laputta township about 1,000.

In Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and its chief commercial hub, the cyclone killed 59 people, the brigadier general said.

The minister reiterated the government's appeal for foreign aid.

'We need aid from both local and foreign sources,' Kyaw Hsan said. 'It is welcome.'

Cyclone Nargis has shattered the isolated country at a sensitive time politically as the ruling military junta is preparing to hold a national referendum Saturday to win the approval of a constitution that would essentially cement the military's dominance in Myanmar's future elected governments.

Critics of the referendum and the military-drafted constitution have called on the government to postpone the vote to better cope with the humanitarian challenge that it faces in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, international relief operations are slowly beginning to get access to Myanmar.

The first emergency flight from Thailand was expected to land in Yangon on Tuesday afternoon; the European Union has pledged just over $3m in aid; while China has also said it is ready to offer assistance.

China has long been a staunch diplomatic ally of Myanmar's military government, which is regarded as a pariah in the West because of its human rights record.

The US has also pledged emergency aid, but said more would only be forthcoming once Myanmar allows international assessment teams into the country.

Cyclone Nargis wreaks havoc in Myanmar

At least 4,000 people are now believed to have been killed and about 3,000 more are missing after cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, the country's state media has reported.

The death toll from the cyclone that hit over the weekend has officially reached 3,969 but with so many people missing is expected to rise, state television said on Monday.

Residents in this sprawling river delta city hacked their way through downed trees and trudged through knee-deep swirling brown waters Monday as they tried to pick up the pieces of their lives.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it has released 200,000 Swiss Francs (about $190,000) to help with the aftermath.

"I think one of the biggest needs right now is to stave off disease," said spokesman Eric Porterfield. "We will be helping with the distribution of clean drinking water and setting up shelters."

Working with the Myanmar Red Cross agency, the International Red Cross is distributing drinking water, plastic tarps to cover roofs and blankets, among other items.

The UN says the government has not responded to its offer to help after the storm destroyed communities and left thousands of people homeless.

UN disaster experts said it could be days before the extent of the damage is known because of the government's tight control of communications.

The UN office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said that the government - which has indicated it will press ahead with a referendum on a new constitution on Saturday - was "having as much trouble as anyone else in getting a full overview" of the destruction.

"Roads are not accessible and many small villages were hit and will take time to reach," Terje Skavdal, the regional head of UNOCHA, said.

Residents of a slum of about 20,000 people said they were unlikely to receive help because the military government is not allowing NGOs to assist.

The U.N. office in Yangon said there was an urgent need for plastic sheeting, water purification tablets, cooking equipment, mosquito nets, health kits and food.

It said the situation outside Yangon was "critical, with shelter and safe water being the principal immediate needs."

Thailand responded to the disaster, sending a C-130 transport plane loaded with 9 tonnes of food and medicine to Yangon after the airport reopened on Monday.

Myanmar: While Gambari continues talks, junta continues arrests and torture

UN envoy starts a new tour of the region, seeking support against the junta. New reports talk about more arrests and continuing torture. Burmese pro-democracy activists are disappointed with deadlocked diplomacy. EU adopts new, mostly symbolic sanctions.
- AsiaNews

In visit to Thailand UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari said that arrests by the military junta over the week-end of student leaders and pro-democracy protesters are “extremely disturbing.” Increasingly, people feel isolated and are desperate as they realise that world diplomacy is essentially at a deadlock.

Last Friday the UN Security Council adopted a resolution strongly deploring the junta’s repression urging it to engage the pro-democracy opposition in a dialogue.

In a statement broadcast on TV and attributed to Colonel Thant Shin, Myanmar’s military government dismissed the UN intervention, insisting on the country’s right to pursue its own slow path to democracy without any set timetable.

“We deeply regret that the UN Security Council has issued a statement contrary to the people's desires,” the junta’s statement said.

“China and Russia blocked the attempt for a binding resolution on Burma,” said Han Thar Myint, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy, the country’s main opposition party. But even as the Security Council passed the resolution, the junta was arresting, imprisoning and torturing non-violent protestors, he added.

Soe Tun, a leader of the 88 Generation Students group, said the Security Council resolution doesn't offer the Burmese people any legal protection against state-backed violence and people are increasingly afraid of the junta.

“Dissidents, including monks, are brutally tortured at detention centres and even the International Committee of the Red Cross cannot visit them,” he said. Rumours are circulating that some female detainees, including nuns, have been raped by soldiers at such places.

European Union foreign ministers are for their part discussing harsher sanctions and are expected to ban imports of gemstones, timber and metals from Burma. They will also voice support for the efforts of UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

Burma's generals already face an EU travel ban and a freeze on assets.

The new measures will not however prevent the French energy giant Total from developing the country’s gas resources.

Junta chief willing to meet with Suu Kyi

Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Than Shwe has agreed to meet with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, but only if she stops calling for confrontation, 'utter devastation' and economic sanctions against the regime, state-media said on Friday.

'If she declares to give them up, the senior general will personally meet with her,' said a government announcement published in The New Light of Myanmar.

Burma’s top general, Senior General Than Shwe, told a visiting United Nations envoy this week that he was willing to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel prize-winning democracy advocate, if she gives up her “confrontational attitude,” Burma’s state broadcasters reported on Thursday night.

Gen Than Shwe, the most powerful figure in the ruling military junta, was reported to have told Ibrahim Gambari that Ms Suu Kyi should also give up her calls for economic sanctions.

He told Mr Gambari that “in her dealings with the government, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has called for confrontation, utter devastation, economic sanctions and all other sanctions”, the state media reported.

“If she abandons these calls, Senior Gen Than Shwe told Mr Gambari that he will personally meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” the newscast continued.

Meanwhile, the sense of vulnerability conveyed contrasts with the mood on the streets over a week ago. There was a feeling of euphoria and release as tens of thousands of people, led by young monks in crimson and saffron robes, marched in a protest the likes of which have not been seen in Burma in nearly 20 years. People who stood on the sides of the streets and on the balconies of nearby buildings clapped and cheered.

But then came the brutal crackdown, as Burma’s military regime ordered heavily armed troops, riot police and a pro-government militia to crush the peaceful protests. Bullets and batons were used by the junta’s troops to silence the monks and civilian protestors who had come out to express their rage on unbearable economic hardship and object to the regime’s grip on power.

brahim Gambari, a Nigerian diplomat, spent four days in Burma, beginning Saturday, Sep. 29. He met Senior General Than Shwe, the junta’s strongman, and Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader currently under house arrest, during his mission. Gambari was expected to convey the international outrage that followed the junta’s bloody crackdown and to begin a ‘’constructive dialogue’’ with the military regime.

But it is clear that the junta, which has changed the country’s name to Myanmar, is in no mood to give in. One clue was the view made known to the international community by Burma’s foreign minister Nyan Win while Gambari was in his country. ‘’Normalcy has now returned to Myanmar,’’ Nyan Win said this week during his speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

Yet barely 24 hours after Gambari left Burma, another sinister side of the regime was on display, undermining claims of ‘’normalcy’’ and Burmese soldiers and riot police exercising ‘’restraint.’’

For two consecutive days, the junta’s forces mounted search-and-arrest missions, targeting scores of people living and working in and around areas where the protests were held, including the famous Shwedagon and Sule pagodas. Buddhist monks have not been spared, either.

‘’The crackdowns this week are more serious. They are going around with individual photographs of people they want to target,’’ Soe Aung, foreign affairs spokesman for the National Council of the Union of Burma, an umbrella body of Burmese political groups, told IPS correspondent Marwaan Macan-Markar in Bangkok. ‘’They are threatening many people who they suspect were involved in the protests.’’

Free Burma !

Free Burma, now!

Burmese junta increases censorship, violence and propaganda to quell largest protest in two decades

The Burmese junta has stepped up censorship and violence against journalists who are trying to cover the rare mass protests gaining momentum across the country, while deepening their own propaganda in state media, report Mizzima News, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), ARTICLE 19, other NGOs and Burmese exile-run news sources.

Protests that started on 19 August against soaring fuel prices have sparked the detention of at least 100 activists and a crackdown on the media and lines of communication. The authorities have repeatedly warned journalists as well as the thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns who have recently joined and led the protests - including the largest demonstrations in nearly two decades - that they would "take action" against them. In its latest effort to quell the growing demonstrations, Burma's military government imposed on 25 September a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Rangoon and Mandalay, according to local news reports.

Despite fears of a repeat of the state violence that happened during the 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations, which left more than 3,000 people dead, demonstrators have largely ignored the threats.

On 22 September, in an extraordinary move, hundreds of monks marched to the house of Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Laureate and leader of the opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD). Suu Kyi greeted them from her gate, which was heavily guarded by police officers bearing shields, in her first public appearance in more than four years. She has been held under house arrest for 11 of the past 17 years. Today (25 September), Reuters reports that Suu Kyi has been moved to the notorious Insein prison.

Last week, some journalists were prevented from documenting the daily marches of the monks, which began on 18 September after the junta failed to apologise for injuring several monks at a protest in Pakokku. Three Burmese journalists covering a demonstration by monks in Rangoon on 18 September were arrested and questioned, and their cameras and/or memory cards were confiscated by plainclothes police, report Mizzima News and SEAPA.

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA), an international organisation of exiled journalists, noted at least 24 serious violations of the freedom to report news and information since the day protests started.

The junta has also used a range of measures to terminate the flow of information, including blocking websites and blogs and disconnecting telephone lines belonging to politicians and activists. YouTube, the popular video-sharing site, has been blocked since 3 September, while news sites such as CNN and Mizzima remain among the hundreds of sites banned.

According to BMA, a number of reporters have experienced either permanent or recurring cuts of their cell phone services by government authorities since 11 September. Around the same time, the telephones of 50 government opponents were disconnected to prevent them from talking to Burmese and foreign journalists about the latest threats against the demonstrators. The junta has also been tapping land lines of journalists and democracy activists since 8 August, say Mizzima News, SEAPA and BMA.

Meanwhile, the military government has stepped up its propaganda in state media and has ordered private media to only publish articles favourable to the government. Initially the authorities ordered a 10-day blackout on the protests in local news, but now news reports are allowed if they portray the demonstrations as a threat to national security, according to an informal Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) survey of Burma's local press.

Despite the numerous tactics, a new group calling itself the Association of Journalists and Artists has been set up to give support to journalists and artists sympathetic to the protests. According to BMA, the Information Ministry hastily reacted to the new group, demanding that all journals and periodicals announce they are not part of the association and are not interested in taking part in the protests.

Although world leaders, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and British Prime Mnister Gordon Brown, have warned the regime would be held accountable for any violent crackdown on protesters, Dr. Agnès Callamard, ARTICLE 19's executive director, says the international community has failed to bring an end to the dictatorship and restore human rights in Burma. "It is this failure, the product of a deadly combination of indifference, complicity, tactics, perhaps even loss of confidence that has allowed the regime to continue its oppression of the people of Burma and the unrelenting detention of Aung San Suu Kyi," she says.

ARTICLE 19 calls on the international community to rally for Suu Kyi's release and the end of Burmese repression as they did for Nelson Mandela's freedom and the end of apartheid; on the European Union to impose full economic sanctions and dialogue with regional superpowers China, India and Russia; and on the UN Security Council to adopt an immediate and binding resolution on Burma which includes proactive dialogue with the Burmese junta to secure the release of Suu Kyi and a process leading to the establishment of democracy.

An emergency petition in support of the peaceful protests will be delivered this week to the UN Security Council meeting in New York. Sign here: http://tinyurl.com/293qj3
Visit these links:

- IFEX alerts on Burma: http://tinyurl.com/2voc8y
- Mizzima News: http://www.mizzima.com/
- SEAPA: http://www.seapabkk.org/
- ARTICLE 19: http://www.ipys.org/alertas/atentado.php?id=1271
- BMA: http://www.bma-online.org/
- Democratic Voice of Burma: http://english.dvb.no/index.php
- Free Burma: http://freeburma.org/
- BurmaNet News: http://www.burmanet.org/news/2007/09/
- "The Irrawaddy": http://www.irrawaddy.org/
- Reuters: http://tinyurl.com/36hg4g

Time for Asean to kick Burma out

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) notes with grave concern that the violence in Burma continues unabated despite international condemnation. As neighbours, Malaysians can empathise with the despair of the Burmese people, and no one should bear seeing the sufferings of millions continue.

This year, I had visited the Burmese refugee camps at the Thai-Burma border together with other Asean parliamentarians and personally witnessed the desperate conditions there. In this day and age, no one should have to live in such places, not especially in a prosperous region such as Asean.

Every Burmese refugees and democratic activists whom I had met had appealed to our compassion and solidarity. They have placed enormous hope on us, their neighbour. to support their struggle to restore peace and democracy, to use our liberty to speak for them.

We must not fail them today.

PKR unites with the international community in urging the immediate cessation of violence. We also call on the United Nations to redouble its efforts to restore democracy and secure the release of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

We welcome Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's condemnation of the Burmese junta in New York last week. We are satisfied that the Malaysian government has long last acknowledged PKR's basic assertion that Asean's policy of constructive engagement had failed to bring peace and freedom in Burma.

We call upon the Malaysian Foreign Ministry to immediately support the United Nations in stepping up the pressure on the Burmese junta to stop the brutal violence and to immediate facilitate dialogue between the military junta and democrats, including Suu Kyi, under its auspices.

Should there be no improvement on the part of the Burmese junta to end the vicious suppression of the Burmese people, we believe that Burma should not only be barred from attending the Asean summit in Singapore this November, but that the Malaysian government should lead the rest of the region by tabling a resolution to expel Burma from Asean immediately, and in addition to apply trade sanctions on the recalcitrant junta.

Only such direct steps will prove our resolute firmness in indicating to the Burmese military junta, that state violence against people who long only for freedom, democracy and peace, is absolutely unacceptable in Southeast Asia.

-Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail,via Malaysiakini

(The writer is PKR president and deputy chair of Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar.)


Appeal to all Burmese staying overseas

Following paragraphs show the typical character of the chief of the evil that we are facing right now!

Than Shwe, a former postal clerk who began his army career fighting insurgencies by Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, has had an iron grip on power since 1992, having ousted or co-opted any challengers within the military.

Not well educated, he rarely makes public appearances, and there is no record of him traveling to a Western country.

Diplomats who have met him say he has a streak of xenophobia common to Myanmar’s military and an almost visceral hatred of Suu Kyi, who has become an international symbol of the yearning for democracy in Myanmar.

In 2004, Than Shwe ousted his main rival, Gen. Khin Nyunt, the powerful head of intelligence, who favored some dialogue with Suu Kyi.

He has also been reported to be deeply attached to the predictions of astrologers and views himself as a throwback to the old kings of Burma. Now in declining health at 74, he suffers from hypertension and diabetes.

People in Burma could not do more than what they have done in the last few weeks. They have demonstrated their courage, discipline and sacrifice to the free world through TV, Internet blogs, and web sites. We were witnessing the modern day barbaric brutality, on time line, or live over the BBC,CNN, and Aljazeera and all other international news.

Why Burmese people seems to be giving up again?

1. They were facing not the rubber bullets, but Automatic machine guns.

(AK47/ G3 Machine Guns that Burmese Army used against protesters, effective killing range is one to one and a half mile)

2. They are poor, demoralized by the Junta’s prolonged suppression.

3. The ray of hope, Daw Aung San Su Kyi is under house arrest. Other hope, the Monks have been systematically disrobed, detained, and tortured.

4. Most of the 8888 student leaders were arrested.

This is the high time for all of us, lucky enough to be in the free world, not to satisfy with your own successful life abroad. Please stop the attitude of “What else we can do?”

We could do a lot, if all of us are united and rise up against the tyrants. Just remebber

“How brave are the civilian reporters using cell phone, and Internet to report the Military Brutality. ”

“How brave are the Monks to face the Automatic Guns by reciting peace and continue marching”

“How Brave are the 8888 students, fully aware of the consequences, but instigate the revolution”

So,all of us should take our own responsibility for the real Independence of our Mother Land . As you have read the above paragraph, Than Shwe and his regime are not genius.

They survive because there rule of law comes from the barral of the Automatic Machine Gun.

All, who loves Burma. who want to see Burma as it used to be , an Indepandant, prosperous , beutiful Mother Land. Please come and join your nearrest Democratic Movement. What we are doing is National Politics, not power or party politics. So, all of us has to shoulder the responsibility.

- BURMA SITMONE Weblog

(This blogger is a Burmese Medical Doctor, staying in an Asian country for almost two decades. But still waitng for the time to go back home once Burma is liberated from Milatary Boots.

SitMone means in Burmese Sit = Army, Mone = hate or hatred. This blog is dedicated to all Burmese who hate MilataryGoverment.)

Read Also :

Help Myanmar, boycott the Beijing Olympics, say young Burmese - AsiaNews.it

Buddhists don't kill

For the past 45 years that is the most devastating thing for the country. And how do they get the common soldiers and the rank and file to shoot and harm? By indoctrination and brain washing. Early on I still remember the huge bill boards all over the country saying "Soldier you will not die. If you die you will not go to hell." Which probably play an enormous part in programming the military into this image of invincibility and gives false credibility into using force. For the common Buddhists in the country the hellish realm is the last thing a good Buddhist would like to go after death.

There is also the prevalent idea of Burmese nationalism which supercedes the teachings of Buddhism. The rigid discipline and regimentation has a very powerful effect diluting the influence of Buddhism on the individual soldier.

Actually Buddhists don't kill; only soldiers who appear to be Buddhists do.

- By Myat Thu Pan, Mizzima News

In a surprise development the UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari today met detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon.

The visiting envoy met the Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate for ninety minutes at the State guest house in Rangoon.

The UN envoy, who led a three-member delegation, met the Burmese opposition leader on his return from Nay Pyi Taw after a meeting with Burma's military officials on Sunday.

The acting Prime Minister and Secretary 1, Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, Information minister Brigadier General Kyaw San, Cultural minister Major General Khin Aung Myint and Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Thu met the UN envoy.

Than Shwe, the hard-line junta leader passed the message to the UN envoy that the Road Map would be finalized within one and-a-half years, sources said.

Small groups of pro-democracy protesters ventured onto the streets of Rangoon on Sunday but were chased away by troops as United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari held talks with Burmese military leaders.

Mr Gambari arrived in Rangoon after an overnight stay in Naypyidaw, the Burmese capital.

One opposition Web site, Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com), reported on activities in the northern part of the country in the city of Mandalay on Sunday afternoon. Click here to see www.mizzima.com

All eyes on Myanmar now

United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari flew into Myanmar on Saturday carrying worldwide hopes he can persuade its ruling generals to use negotiations instead of guns to end mass protests against 45 years of military rule.

"He's the best hope we have. He is trusted on both sides," Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said. "If he fails, then the situation can become quite dreadful."

Before heading to Yangon, Gambari said in Singapore he was going "to deliver a message from the secretary-general to the leadership, a message that is very much by the Security Council."

"I look forward to a very fruitful visit so that I can report progress on all fronts," Channel News Asia quoted him as saying.

Burma's military leaders locked down monasteries, arrested dissidents and set up barricades across Rangoon yesterday in an attempt to suffocate the waves of street demonstrations calling for an end to their rule.

They also tried to cut off ordinary people's communication with the outside world, heightening fears that the crackdown that appears to have knocked the wind from the demonstrations could become more violent.

Yet, despite the regime's best efforts, a day after security forces killed at least nine demonstrators – dissident groups say the total could be as high as 200 – hundreds again risked their lives to defy the government in small but angry protests across Burma's main city.

日本摄影记者疑被缅甸士兵射杀

At the same time, a disturbing picture was emerging of Thursday's crackdown. Bob Davis, Australia's ambassador to Burma, said he had unconfirmed reports the death toll after two days of violence was "several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities". The Washington-based dissident group, US Campaign for Burma, said around 200 protesters had been killed.

A Burmese journalist who gave her account to The Independent, said: "The police were shooting everything – houses, trees, anything. The bullets were flying over our heads. It was as if they were on drugs and were crazy." Seven young people ran from the protest in Thanwe and tried to hide in long grass, the 23-year-old journalist said. "Informers were pointing to the grass, people got up and ran, but the police just fired into their backs. Four were gunned down straight away. Shot dead."

For years, Asean used gentle diplomacy on maverick member Myan­mar but Thursday’s rebuke over the military-ruled state’s bloody suppression of pro­democracy protests may be unprecedented, experts and diplomats say.

The unusually sharp words used by foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) demanding the military junta in Yangon immediately stop using violence against protestors also herald a shift away from its rigid, consensus-based decision-making process.

“It is definitely the strongest political written statement by Asean not only on Myanmar but on any single issue in the last 30 years or so,” a senior Asean official told AFP.

The ministers, who met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, expressed their “revulsion” to their Myanmar counterpart Nyan Win, after nine people, including a Japanese journalist, were killed and hundreds arrested in the brutal crackdown.

“They were appalled to receive reports of automatic weapons being used and demanded that the Myanmar government immediately desist from the use of violence against demonstrators,” Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said after chairing the meeting.

The Asean ministers also expressed concern that the turmoil had “a serious impact on the reputation and credibility of Asean,” Yeo said, with his counterparts in the group, including a representative from Myan­mar, beside him.

The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session next week to discuss the bloody crackdown on protests by the military regime in Burma, which has left an unspecified number of Buddhist monks and other demonstrators dead and injured this week and hundreds under arrest.

The decision by the highest U.N. human rights body was the finishing touch to its three-week ordinary session, which was largely dedicated to procedural matters.

Malaysia Najib Tun Razak has advised Malaysians in Burma not to meddle in the internal affairs of the troubled nation including participating in the pro-democracy street demonstrations.

'More bloodshed' in Myanmar chaos

Shots fired to clear crowds defying a brutal crackdown in Myanmar Friday have killed more protesters, witnesses said as authorities reportedly cut Internet connections and graphic new video footage showed troops using deadly force.

A day earlier, soldiers with automatic rifles fired into crowds of anti-government demonstrators, reportedly killing at least nine people in the bloodiest day in more than a month of protests demanding an end to military rule.

The governemt also cut Internet connections Friday, according to reports, severing a vital information link that has been used to digitally smuggle images of the violent suppression out of the secretive state.

The death toll from anti-government protests in Myanmar is ``significantly'' higher than the military junta revealed, an Australian envoy said, as the U.S. and Southeast Asian nations demanded an end to the violence.

``Several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities'' have been killed, Ambassador Bob Davis said in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio today from the former capital, Yangon. ``We're appalled at the violence by the military and thugs against peaceful demonstrators.''

Buddhist monks have led nearly two weeks of mass demonstrations against the ruling junta, but after a series of raids on monasteries and arrests of dozens of monks, there were few, if any, in the crowd on Friday.

"The monks have done their job and now we must carry on with the movement," a student leader told the protesters near Sule Pagoda, who clapped and shouted slogans.

"This is a non-violent mass movement," he shouted as the protesters tried to move towards the pagoda, one of several in the centre that have been cordoned off as part of a suffocating security presence.

In a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, they moved as close as possible before being confronted by advancing police and soldiers, only to scatter and then regroup and try to advance again.

Police and soldiers have unleashed two days of violent retaliation against the protest movement, using weapons, tear gas and baton charges. At least 13 people have been killed, including a Japanese journalist.

At least two monasteries were raided Wednesday night, including one in the northeastern satellite town of South Okkalapa, where about 100 Buddhist monks were arrested and eight people shot dead after protesting the action.

Several countries on the United Nations Human Rights Council have begun making consultations to propose a special session to study the brutal crackdown this week by the military regime in Burma/Myanmar on young Buddhist monks and other demonstrators.

The Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) wants Myanmar to be expelled from Asean if its military junta continues to use brutal force to break up peaceful protests in the country.

AIPMC president Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said it was not enough for Asean to merely issue statements as its credibility and integrity were at stake.

"Asean must go one step further to dissociate itself from Myanmar as previous actions to persuade the regime have not brought positive results," he told a news conference here Friday.

But Zaid admitted that Asean on its own could not achieve much as long as the big powers, including the United Nations Security Council members, continued to regard Myanmar as a non-security issue.

He said that unless the world took action now, the unrest in Myanmar could escalate into a humanitarian crisis and a repeat of the 1988 tragedy where more than 3,000 protestors were killed by the military junta.

According to Malaysiakini report,about 2,000 people flooded the Burmese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur this morning in protest against the violent military crackdown in Burma.

A massive crowd of 2,000 protesters, all clad in red shirts, swarmed the Burmese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur this morning calling for democracy in the troubled state of Burma.

Myanmar junta intensifies crackdown

Beginning the second day of their crackdown on nationwide protests in Myanmar before dawn today, security forces raided at least two Buddhist monasteries, beating and arresting dozens of monks, according to reports from the capital, Yangon.

Facing its most serious challenge since taking power in 1988, the ruling junta is attempting to contain the uprising by tens of thousands of monks who have been at the heart of more than a week of huge demonstrations against economic hardships and the political repression of the military junta.

Media reports said demonstrators were given an ultimatum by the military to disperse within ten minutes or face extreme action.

Speaking from a hotel 19 floors above the face-off, Johan Hallenborg, a Swedish embassy official in Yangon, told CNN the protesters in the country's biggest city were dispersing, as military trucks filled with soldiers rolled through the streets shouting through megaphones.

"From what we've seen, the main avenue is now empty," he said.

Meanwhile, witnesses told CNN's Dan Rivers that security forces were firing warning shots and tear gas near two major pagodas in Yangon's city center.

Christopher Hill, US Assistant Secretary of State, in Beijing for talks on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear programme, called for the junta to exercise restraint and pressed China to help stop the crackdown on protesters.

”I think all countries need to use all the influence that they have. I think every country has some influence with Burma, and I think China is certainly one of those,” he told reporters.

In its strongest words on the upheaval to date, China on Thursday publicly urged restraint.

”As a neighbour China is extremely concerned about the situation in Myanmar (Burma),” Jiang Yu, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told reporters in Beijing. ”We hope all sides in Myanmar will maintain restraint and properly handle problems so they do not become more complicated or escalate and effect Myanmar’s stability or the peace and stability of the region.”

She refused to condemn or acknowledge the deaths of peaceful protesters during the crackdown but did condemn ”numerous untruthful reports” from international media that ”defamed” China for its role in Burma.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said in New York yesterday that Malaysia did not believe in imposing economic sanctions on Myanmar as they would usually hurt ordinary citizens.

The minister was commenting on calls by certain countries that economic sanctions be effected against Myanmar for alleged human rights abuses and its relatively slow process towards democracy.

The head of Myanmar's information agency has lauded Malaysia's stand to reject calls for economic sanctions on his country.

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING:

In the last week Burma has seen unprecedented history unfold with the protests 100,000 people strong led by Burmese Buddhist monks, sparked by the fuel increase last month. The military regime have responded that they will take action if their rules and regulations aren't adhered to. The SPDC has declared Rangoon a restricted area, applied a curfew from 9pm to 5am and reinstated the rule forbidding gatherings of more than 5 people. Witnesses have reported monks being beaten by police and the use of tear gas near Shwedagon Pagoda. Late yesterday shots were fired to disperse monks, and it's estimated that 3 monks have been killed.

If you are thinking about travel to Burma, please contact your country's foreign affair department and seek further advice.

For more information on the events unfolding in Burma, please click here to go to our People Power page. We are updating with news as it occurs.

From: Voices of Burma

At least 5 dead in clash between troops, monks inYangon

Myanmar troops used batons, tear gas and bullets Wednesday to keep tens of thousands of marching monks and layman protestors out of Yangon's holiest shrines in a confrontation between rifles and rust-coloured robes that claimed at least five lives.

Police and soldiers at barricades beat monks and laymen back from the east gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda with batons and tear gas twice Wednesday afternoon, leaving at least five people dead, including monks, a former high-level government official said.

At least 30 monks and 50 civilians were taken away in military vehicles to an unknown destination.

Monks have used the Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon's most revered temple, as a launch pad for their peaceful anti-government marches for the past nine days. The show of force, however, failed to stop the monks from marching elsewhere.









Analysis by Burmese exile

This analysis is by Dr Zarni from the Free Burma Coalition on the recent developments in Burma.


My message is simple - bloodshed must be avoided at all costs.

Here are the likely consequences if the generals choose to react the
way the previous military leaderships - from General Ne Win onward -
reacted - violent, uncompromising, and lacking foresight and
compassion.

1). Roadmap for Democracy will be completely derailed.

2). Absolutely no chance of winning any referendum or elections by
any military-initiated political process against the backdrop of a
public with seething rage and deep and widespread sense of injustice

3). The crumbling of ceasefire arrangements (and return to the old
paradigm of armed resistance)

4). Radicalization of all opposition elements, including the
moderates, and increase in the last resort - violence.

5). Possible abstention of Russia and China at the Security Council
for the next round - this time - binding resolution to push for
non-military, humanitarian intervention

6). Strong support for all kinds of radical initiatives by the
anti-SPDC elements, both within and without the country

7). Irrepairable reputational damage and loss of prestige and any
legitimate influence and role in society, for the once venerable
institution of Tatmadaw or the Armed Forces

8). Western powers tightening exponentially the screw on the regime
FINANCIALLY, putting pressure on various international financial
institutions to freeze all accounts held by Myanmar nationals

9). The loss of validity of any argument that the current military
government can be reasoned with or deserves the benefit of the doubts
or that even the evolutionary and incremental change - under military
- is possible and preferable.

10). The continuation of the vicious cycle of violence, poverty and
conflict, all parties resorting to ZERO SUM game.

11). National nightmare and tragedy since independence repeats itself
for the next several generations while China and India, two giant
neighbors, continue on the path of increasing prosperity and
stability.


More updates on Myanmar

Irrawaddy
Zin Media
Mizzima News.
Matthew Weaver
Voices for Burma

When the 'Monks' Go Marching In

Open challenge: monks march against the armoured tanks and threats of the military junta



For the first time soldiers in uniform appear, after yesterday’s warning not to demonstrate. The international community fears a bloodbath and appeals to the Junta not to use force.

Thousands of monks challenged the stern warnings issued by the military junta, as they began a fresh day of protests marching towards the Shwedagong pagoda, surrounded by the army and military tanks.

After yesterdays massive demonstration which gathered between 50 and 100 thousand participants, military trucks took to the streets of the city threatening repressive measures against anyone who dares to take further part in the protests: “ We are warning the monks and the civilian population to stop protest marches…. we will take measures in conformity with the law”. The warnings and threats have been carried by International press controller by the junta.

These messages however fail to explain the form these measures will take, even if all involved fear that they will replicate ’88 when the military violently attacked a pro-democracy demonstration killing 3 thousand people.

Myanmar’s military junta on Tuesday threatened military force to disperse what it called unlawful protests and parked military trucks at Rangoon’s Shwedagon Pagoda, the assembly point for the country’s biggest anti-government demonstrations in 20 years.

Nevertheless, protesters led by about 10,000 Buddhist monks chanting ”democracy, democracy” marched out of the Shwedagon Pagoda, now the symbolic heart of a growing campaign against 45 years of unbroken military rule in Myanmar.

”The streets are lined with people clapping and cheering them on,” but there was no sign of any soldiers, a witness told Reuters.




Earlier on Tuesday, loudspeaker vehicles cruising the streets of Rangoon, Myanmar’s biggest city, announced that monks had been ordered to stay out of politics.

”People are not to follow, encourage or take part in these marches. Action will be taken against those who violate this order,” the broadcasts said, invoking a law allowing the use of military force to break up illegal protests.

Myanmar ruling junta on Monday threatened to ”take action” against Buddhist monks who led the biggest protest in Rangoon in nearly 20 years, state media reported.

In the first official reaction to a week of escalating protests, it was reported that Brig Gen Thura Myint Maung had met senior clergy to deliver the warning.

According to state television, the minister said: ”If the monks go against the rules and regulations in the authority of the Buddhist teachings, we will take action under the existing law.”

In response to the demonstrations, the US is set to announce new sanctions against Myanmar’s military dictatorship and step up pressure for tougher action by the UN Security Council.

President George W. Bush will unveil the sanctions in a speech at the UN on Tuesday, said Stephen Hadley, White House national security adviser.

“He is going to announce that there will be additional sanctions directed at key members of the regime and those that provide financial support to them,” Mr Hadley told reporters.

As many as 100,000 people on Monday took to the streets of Rangoon in the largest demonstration seen in the country since the August 1988 pro-democracy protests that ended in a bloody crackdown.

Calls grew for the generals who govern Myanmar to maintain the restraint they have shown over the past week as daily protests against the economic hardship facing ordinary Burmese have grown.

”The government has so far behaved with commendable restraint,” Mark Canning, the British ambassador in Rangoon, told the Financial Times. But he added: ”This is gaining real momentum. There are some very powerful factors driving what is going on.”