By Zin Linn and - -
BANGKOK, Jun 1 2009 (IPS)

The 15-member UN Security Council issued a press release on 22 May expressing concern “about the political impact of recent developments relating to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi”. The council members reiterate “the importance of the release of all political prisoners” as well as the need for Burma’s military leaders “to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue” with Daw Suu Kyi and other opposition and minority groups in order “to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation”.

Burma’s state-run media reported on 23 May that on the fifth day of the trial, after the witnesses for the prosecution had all been heard, the junta-appointed chief judge Thaung Nyunt stated that the court found Aung San Suu Kyi had breached the terms of her house arrest because of the entrance into her compound in early May of an American man who swam across the lake in front of her house and stayed uninvited for two days. Now 63, Daw Suu Kyi has been in custody without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years.

The court’s action came after the military regime’s foreign minister alleged that the foreign intruder, John Yettaw, was part of an anti-government plot. Roadblocks near Daw Suu Kyi’s residence have been removed, an indication she may not be returning anytime soon.

Burma’s courts operate under military supervision and almost always deal mercilessly with political dissidents. British Ambassador Mark Canning described the trial as “a story where the conclusion is already scripted”.

Critics have accused the junta of using the incident as a pretext to prolong custody of Daw Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the National League for Democracy party (NLD), for the duration of 2010 elections, the climax of the junta’s “roadmap to democracy”, which has been criticised as a stratagem for continuation of military rule.

She had been scheduled to be freed on May 27 after six consecutive years under house arrest, although it was expected that the junta would try to find a fault to extend her detention, as happened in the past. Now she is being placed in solitary confinement in the notorious Insein Prison.

To the military dictators of Burma, Daw Suu Kyi is a menace to peace and stability; to the mainstream population of the country, she embodies the hope for change. Her unacceptable incarceration is not merely a matter of law and order but also evidence of the autocracy annihilating the political aspirations of people of Burma, who overwhelmingly support change.

Although the NLD swept the 1990 parliamentary elections, the junta, which sponsored them, has refused to recognise the result. It has also clearly indicated that it does not want any of the NLD representatives-elect to participate in the drafting of a new constitution or in the reform of Burma.

Daw Suu Kyi’s detention is in plain violation of the Burmese State Protection Law under which she is being held. The law states: “The duration of such restriction shall be kept to a minimum” and “only necessary restriction of fundamental rights shall be decided”. Nonetheless the generals usually react with hysterics to calls to free her, which come frequently from around the world.

One can confidently presume that the outcome of the trial was prearranged: indeed the screenplay for this drama was on paper long before the American swimmer came into view. The junta always finds an excuse, reasonable or not, to keep Suu Kyi, the key stakeholder in the Burma’s political crisis, behind bars.

A top NLD figure and prominent former political prisoner, U Win Tin, has already summed up the trial as a predictable mockery staged to keep the NLD leader out of politics. “Allowing the diplomats and journalists into the courtroom doesn’t mean the trial has been transformed into a free and fair one. This is merely the usual showcase to convince them they are doing things properly,” he said.

The trial is simply a tool used by General Than Shwe to exclude from the political arena this threat to protracted military rule.

Which leads us to the important question: Will the UN flex its muscles to stop the military’s ongoing unilateral proceedings against the Nobel Peace laureate in lawless Burma? And has the world body already planned to address the disagreeable political circumstances there? (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

(*) Zin Linn, a former political detainee in Burma, now lives in exile and is presently the media and information director of the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma.

Excerpt:

By Zin Linn and - -
BANGKOG, Sep 18 2008 (IPS)

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.

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. According to the NLD sources, Suu Kyi’s refusal to receive food, ended on September 16.

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.

Suu Kyi’s lawyer, U Kyi Win, said that during their two-hour meeting on 11 September he and his client discussed filing a legal appeal of her current sentence of house arrest. The charge against her carries a maximum of five years detention, but Suu Kyi is now entering her sixth year of house arrest for this incidence.

Suu Kyi’s detention is in violation of the Burmese State Protection Law under which she is being held. The law stipulates: “The duration of such restriction shall be kept to a minimum,” and “Only necessary restriction of fundamental rights shall be decided.”

The opposition leader had been demanding better conditions for her house arrest, including access to information, deliveries of private mail, and monthly visits by her physician. Her party spokesperson, U Nyan Win, said that she had also asked for permission of Internet access, but it was undisclosed whether the authorities registered the claim.

On January 30, 2008, during the fifth meeting with the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) Liaison Minister Aung Kyi, appointed as mediator between Suu Kyi and senior general Than Shwe, the opposition leader called again for the inclusion of representatives of ethnic groups in the talks. She also articulated her dissatisfaction with the previous meetings with Aung Kyi and the fact that no time frame had been set for the talks.

“Let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Suu Kyi told NLD central executive committee members. She made it clear to them that the junta would not take into account the people’s political aspirations. Political unrest may not be avoidable in the near future.

For Suu Kyi, the will of the people was unequivocally expressed in the 1990 elections. The junta clearly does not want any of the NLD delegates-elect to participate in the drafting of a new constitution or the restructuring of Burma.

United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s August 18-23 mission to resolve the political impasse between the junta and Suu Kyi accomplished nothing. Gambari failed to meet with the senior general. Moreover, at the August 20 meeting with Suu Kyi arranged by the junta, in protest the NLD leader refused to show up, sending a clear signal to the people.

She subsequently refused to meet both her doctor and Aung Kyi, agreeing only to see her lawyer. To the military junta that runs Burma, Suu Kyi is a threat to peace and stability; to the majority of the population of the country she is an icon of change. Her indefinite incarceration is not merely a matter of law and order; it is an emblem of the suppression of the political aspirations of the Burmese people, who overwhelmingly favour change.

The generals that make up the junta usually react with hysterics to calls to free her, which come frequently from around the world. Her plight has been more in the public eye since she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Suu Kyi is also calling attention to the lack of law and order in the country and in particular the crimes committed by military authorities in recent years, the most atrocious of which was the assassination attempt on Suu Kyi and her entourage at Dapeyin in northern Burma on 30 May 2003.

The Dapeyin events had repercussions among the top generals. 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 against the junta is a brave wake-up call to the whole nation, including the men in uniform who support a pragmatic approach to rebuilding the ruined nation. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

Excerpt:

By Zin Linn and - -
BANGKOG, Jul 15 2008 (IPS)

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.

Of the five divisions and states hit by Nargis on May 2 and 3, Irrawaddy and Rangoon suffered the heaviest casualties and huge infrastructure damage. The latest official report issued by the military junta that controls the country states that the cyclone killed 84,537 people, left 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured, caused USD 10.67 billion in losses and damage, and affected 5.5 million people.

A tripartite core group comprised of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Burma (Myanmar), and the United Nations has claimed that its efforts to bring relief items into Burma have reached over 1.3 million victims.

But, according to certain reliable local journalists, junta authorities have only pretended to help, providing small amounts of aid in front of state television cameras. There are more than a million homeless survivors, yet the junta reported in the state media -The New Light of Myanmar- that they will build 6,000 houses for victims.

Survivors in flattened villages are struggling to rebuild their homes using bamboo and debris. For shelter, several families pack together in a single tent. For drinking water, they collect rain from strung-up tarpaulins. For food, they share meals of rice, beans or vegetables, and oil from private donors.

Relief workers say they have to work under inconsistent and continuously changing restrictions imposed by ministries and local authorities, while aid agencies have to seek government approval before taking any action. Making access to the delta even more problematic is the fact that even World Food Programme helicopter shipments can be cancelled without justification by authorities. The logistical challenges remain severe in the rush to give away seed, tractors, and tillers to farmers before the rice-planting season ends this month. The junta will only provide farmers these necessities if they pay it back in instalments within two to three years -a clear example of how the junta itself is exploiting the international relief items donated to the country. The cyclone flooded over one million acres (405,000 hectares) of farmland with sea water, killing over 200,000 cows and cattle. There are 52,000 farmers in the delta.

While the state-run media have been broadcasting propaganda overstating the junta’s relief and reconstruction plans, the junta has been cracking down on well-known relief volunteers. Ko Thura, who is known nationwide as Comedian Zarganar, was the first victim of the crackdown. The next were scores of amateur photo-journalists or civilian-reporters who provided information to foreign news agencies. The Burmese generals’ short-sighted policy on press freedom has further worsened the situation for the cyclone victims.

Subsequently, journalist Zaw Thet Htwe and several altruistic citizens were arrested as they supported the relief efforts in cyclone-hit villages where the authorities failed to help. Zarganar and Zaw Thet Htwe had also given outspoken interviews to foreign media.

One of the most despicable action of the junta was the arrest on June 14 of seven volunteers of a team known as “The Group that Buries the Dead” following their efforts to bury victims in the delta.

The truth is that the junta is exploiting cyclone Nargis to advance its interests and annihilate supporters of democracy. It has extended the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the democratic opposition and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, declared victory after a flawed and unfair referendum, blocked civilian journalists from working, and cracked down on social activists.

Unconcerned by the deaths of thousands of citizens, the military leaders’ only interest is holding 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 (FCCT) because of pressure from the junta.

The UN agencies and international NGOs should pressure the junta to work with local volunteer and civil society organisations (CSOs) as partners and extend them financial resources and technical skills. Local volunteers believe that strengthening and improving “civil society” can pave the way for participation, responsibility, and peaceful coexistence. Civil society represents a sphere of human activity separate from the state. Without local volunteer and civil society organisations, international relief agencies and NGOs would be unable to effectively help the victims in remote areas.

The demeaning of human values so common still in Burma will cause substantial social unrest and political volatility for years to come. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

Excerpt:

By Zin Linn and - -
BANGKOG, May 13 2008 (IPS)

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.

Eyewitnesses tell of unburied dead bodies everywhere, contaminating water supplies. Outbreaks of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and cholera have already been reported, and people are starting to starve. Ten days after the cyclone, emergency aid has only barely begun to reach this suffering province.

In a telephone interview with Australia’s ABC Radio, chief executive of World Vision Tim Costello said that his local staff were returning from the Irrawaddy Delta in tears because there are corpses still unburied and people who have gone for five days without food and water since the May 2-3 cyclone.

“The greatest risk, the nightmare scenario, is waterborne epidemics as the water recedes,” Costello said. “Then you get dysentery, malaria, skin infections. If it tips over the edge into cholera and typhoid, then it really is lethal in … a population already weak and frail.”

Costello, an Anglican priest, urged the world not to succumb to frustration and abandon the people of Burma, which has been under military rule since 1962.

And yet rather than lessening the misery wrought by Cyclone Nargis, the junta has made things worse. Burma’s xenophobic military chief, Senior-General Than Shwe, continues to hold up issuing visas for United Nations teams and other foreign aid workers. He has no concern for the cyclone victims and is instead focused only on staying in power. All dissent is ruthlessly suppressed.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), the leading opposition group, has appealed to the international community to use all means available to help Burma immediately, without waiting for permission from the military regime. The NLD has called on the UN to protect civilians and take immediate steps to save lives and provide humanitarian assistance.

The junta, though, has kept its focus firmly on its seven-step roadmap to maintain power through multi-party elections in 2010. The regime is attempting to legalise military dictatorship with a sham Constitution and multiparty elections. A referendum was held on 10 May on the new Constitution, but thus far state media have released nothing about the outcome. For areas severely hit by the cyclone, voting has been postponed until 24 May.

Than Shwe says passage of the new constitution will pave the way for democratic elections in 2010, but critics say it will accelerate and prolong the ongoing civil strife.

The new constitution, drafted by the military, does not reflect the will of the political parties who participated in the 1990 elections. Nor does it reflect the political aspirations of genuine ethnic leaders and in general ignores the will of the people. The NLD criticised the charter as an obstacle to national reconciliation.

Observers and critics consider the proposed constitution unfair and undemocratic, and asserted that the authorities deliberately violated their own referendum law by using illegal practices.

Because of the unfairness of the May 10 referendum, the political scenario is quickly changing. The people have clearly seen how the junta operates. Most people see the junta’s new Constitution and the new elections as a challenge to their will. The regime continues to hold more than 2,000 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the NLD Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest on and off since 1990.

Revelations of referendum fraud have also pushed newer generations closer to the NLD and other anti-junta groups. If the stakeholders cannot afford to solve this 46-year-long crisis, violence may revive. The young generations has been losing their patience with the military dictators.

As a result, further political unrest may be unavoidable due to the military-privileged sham constitution. Burma’s newer generations devotedly seek change through the mass media and the Internet, through which they became aware of the junta’s inhumane and irresponsible behaviour. They made up their mind to overthrow the regime at any cost.

The failure of the United Nations, ASEAN and even China to prevent the inhumane deeds of the Burmese regime has made them lose face. Apart from obligation to practice non-interference, the UN and the international community ought to make a concerted effort to push for constant reform, reconciliation, and democratisation in Burma. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

Excerpt:

By Zin Linn and - -
BANGKOK, Dec 4 2007 (IPS)

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.

ASEAN recently cancelled United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s scheduled briefing on the political situation of the country at the ASEAN Summit in Singapore. This unexpected deletion from the summit agenda stopped UN efforts in their tracks and dashed expectations for a solution to Burma’s political problems.

ASEAN’s capitulation to the whims of Burma’s prime minister Thein Sein, who staged a protest against the briefing, is unfortunate. It was lieutenant general Thein Sein who promised Gambari in early November that no more arrests would be carried out in Burma and who attended ASEAN’s 40th anniversary summit and signed its new charter, committing the body to the ”promotion and protection of human rights”.

But 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.

Singaporean MP Charles Chong made a bold prediction last August at the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in Kuala Lumpur that all of ASEAN, including China and India, ”will suffer if Burma’s situation continues to deteriorate”. The assembly was held mainly to discuss the country’s problems and included more than 20 national legislators from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

At the same meeting, Chong said that the Burmese military’s choke-hold on power has hurt the region, especially with the flight of refugees to neighbouring countries and the spread of narcotics in the region. All of this has undermined ASEAN’s efforts to be seen as an influential regional body, said Chong.

On September 27, the day that Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai was shot dead in Rangoon at the height of the crackdown, ASEAN foreign ministers held an open discussion at UN headquarters in New York about the situation in Burma. Astounded by reports of the brutal crackdown and numerous fatalities, including of monks, they released a statement urging the junta to end the violence against the demonstrators.

The statement also included a forceful call for a political solution and a genuine national reconciliation among the parties concerned. It also called for the release of all political prisoners including National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But as usual, the body’s statement was for naught. 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.

The Charter was intended to transform ASEAN into an institution similar to the European Union and to entrust members with strengthening democracy, enhancing good governance and the rule of law, and promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.

ASEAN deserves to be recognised internationally not only as a cohesive alliance of economically developed nations but also as a regional body that is ethically and politically responsible.

The organisation needs to begin a process of rigorous and coordinated commitment both for the benefit of the people suffering under tyranny and for peace and stability in the region. To do so, member countries must adopt a multilateral approach.

Apart from reassessing their historical commitment to the policy of non-interference, ASEAN members must agree to work towards a common goal of persistent reform, reconciliation, and democratisation in Burma.

Of course, change will eventually come to the country. But without the cooperation of the concerned regional players, that change will come at a great cost. The international community must take into consideration the long-suffering Burmese people, who have been under military rule for the last 45 years. Positive changes there will definitely increase stability in the region.

Although ASEAN leaders have adopted a landmark Charter that endorses democratic standards, it does not have the means to enforce them.

Singapore’s foreign minister, George Yeo, defended the final document, saying, ”I’m not sure if it will have teeth but it will certainly have a tongue. It will certainly have moral influence if nothing else.”

But for the people of Burma, the lies a tongue can create far outnumber one good promise. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

Excerpt: