BURMESE OPPOSITION LEADER WEAK AFTER REFUSING FOOD FOR FOUR WEEKS

Detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is malnourished after having refused food supplies for over four weeks in protest against her unlawful detention, sources from her party, the National League for Democracy party (NLD), report, writes Zin Linn, a former political detainee in Burma is presently the media and information director of the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma. In this analysis, Linn writes that the military junta that rules the country has stated that she is not staging a hunger strike, while the NLD has stopped short of using the term. The leader of the NLD, which swept the 1990 parliamentary elections, Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest. The junta refused to accept the results of the vote. There is clear evidence of growing divisions among Burma\'s military brass over the treatment of Suu Kyi and how to protect the army\'s future political role in Burma. The split is largely between pragmatists who understand the need for political and economic reform, and the hardliners who want to hang on to power regardless of the pressure for change from inside and outside of the country. Suu Kyi knows that time is running out. Her current protest is a brave wake-up call to the whole nation, especially the men in uniform who support a pragmatic approach to rebuilding the ruined nation.

BURMA JUNTA EXPLOITS DISASTER TO ADVANCE ITS INTERESTS

Burma\'s military junta is exploiting cyclone Nargis to advance its interests and annihilate supporters of democracy, writes Zin Linn, a former political detainee in Burma who now lives in exile and is presently the media and information director of the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma. Unconcerned by the deaths of thousands of citizens, the military leaders\' only want to hold on to power. The people are starting to think that the UN and other international organisations will not be able to help them achieve basic freedoms. Some analysts argue that the UN and ASEAN failed to help the people of Burma in time, instead soothing the generals, who never had any respect for human rights or humanitarian principles. The UN cancelled its planned weekly press briefings at the Bangkok-based Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand because of pressure from the junta. The demeaning of human values so common still in Burma will cause substantial social unrest and political volatility for years to come.

BURMA: JUNTA LEADERS POWER-HUNGRY AS PEOPLE STARVE

Rather than lessening the misery wrought by Cyclone Nargis, the Burmese military regime has made things worse. Burma\'s xenophobic military chief continues to hold up issuing visas for UN teams and other foreign aid workers, writes Zin Linn, a former political detainee in Burma and now, in exile, the media and information director of the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma. In this article, Linn writes that because of the unfairness of the May 10 referendum on the new constitution, the political scenario is quickly changing. The people have clearly seen how the junta operates. The regime is attempting to legalise military dictatorship with a sham Constitution and multiparty elections. Further political unrest may be unavoidable due to the military-privileged sham constitution. Burma\'s newer generations learned of the junta\'s inhumane and irresponsible behaviour on the Internet and have made up their mind to overthrow the regime at any cost. Protests are sure to happen before the 2010 elections.

ASEAN NEEDS TO TAKE A STAND ON BURMA

ASEAN\'s refusal to take a firm position on Burma has become its Achilles\' heel, writes Zin Linn, a former political detainee who now lives in exile and is presently the information director of the National Coalition Government (in exile) of Union of Burma. In this analysis, the author writes that ASEAN recently cancelled UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari\'s scheduled briefing on the political situation of Burma at the ASEAN Summit in Singapore. ASEAN member countries\' lack of collective will to take a strong position against Burma is very disappointing and makes a mockery of the ASEAN Charter, which states that the region must be more responsive to human rights issues. According to Amnesty International, there have been fresh arrests by the junta-led Burmese government despite its promises. To date, up to 700 people arrested during and following the September protests remain behind bars, while 1150 political prisoners held prior to the protests have not been released. It is the responsibility of the international community, especially regional players like China and India, to press the ruling junta to make changes and recognise the Burmese people\'s fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of expression.