Burma Dialogue

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi once stated

I have always asked for dialogue..But dialogue is not a debate. There will be disagreements and arguments. Dialogue does not involve winners and losers. It is not a question of losing face. It involves finding the best solutions for the country.

After a rare meeting with fellow NLD members this week Daw Suu Kyi expressed dissastifaction over the current level of progress toward reformation. She was taken on Wednesday at approximately 1 p.m. from her lakeside villa on Rangoon's University Avenue to a military guest house. She last meet with fellow NLD members in Novermber.

She stated she was dissatified with the currect pace of talks. They reportedly meet for 90 minutes.

Aung San Suu Kyi said, while the meetings, both with the NLD leaders and Aung Kyi, do not show any sign of progress, "Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst,"

The government has also further tightened restitricted on NGO's and relief organization attempting to operate in Burma. A "new directive literally controls the movement of aid groups". All visits by expatriats must be monitered by liasons as all times. The efficiency of these organizations has been greatly compromised.

As stated in a new report on the September Uprising

The international community has no serious intentions and [...] serious intervention will not be fortcoming.

The report goes on to state

People throughout Myanmar are acutely aware of any sort of international interest in, and support for, their struggle for basic human rights. Yet time and again they have been let down by the global community.

At the closeing of the report,

The notion of "contructive dialgoue" is anyhow spurious.

The Myanmar government accelerated continuous arrest since the September Uprising according to a recent Amnesty International report. They state that there have been 96 arrests since 1 November 2007. At least 700 were arrested in connection with the uprising adding to more than 1,150 arrest before the demonstrations

Western leaders will try to address the problem,

In a joint appeal, foreign ministers from the US, UK and France said the need for "progress towards a transition to democracy and improved human rights in Burma" would be a priority at this years' World Economic Forum in Davos.

After his last visit to Myanmar in early November, U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari said he had received assurances the crackdown which outraged the world and triggered tougher Western sanctions would stop.

During Ibrahim Gambari's last visit to Myanmar he was assured the arrest would stop under the threat of tougher Western sanctions but typically the junta continued their routine of arbitrary arrest and seeking out political activist to silence and voice of dissent.

Amnesty International has confirmed the following arrests in the months after the uprising

November arrests - 45 total

On 2 November, National League for Democracy (NLD) members Aung Kyaw Moe and Tin Yu were arrested.
On 4 November, NLD member Zaw Zaw was arrested at a coffee shop in Yangon's Kyeemyindaing Township.
On 4 November, U Gambira, head of the newly-formed All-Burma Monks Alliance and a leader of the protests, was arrested and reportedly charged with treason, while two of his family members previously detained as 'hostages' in an attempt to force him out of hiding, have been kept in detention.
On 5 November, U Khaymarwuntha, a 20-year-old monk from Yangon's Zantila Kamahtan monastery, was arrested for his involvement in the September demonstrations.
On 12 November, four women and an elderly man were arrested for campaigning against the dam project on the Irrawaddy River in Kachin State. They were freed from a police station two days later.
On 13 November, Su Su Nway, a member of the youth wing of the main opposition NLD party, was arrested during the visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar to the country. Fellow youth activist Bo Bo Win Hlaing was arrested along with her while putting up anti-government posters.
On 14 November, at least three people were arrested in a fruit and vegetable market in Yangon for passing out anti-government pamphlets.
On 15 November, authorities raided a monastery in Sittwe, located in western Rakhine State, and arrested monk U Than Rama, wanted for his involvement in the September protests there. He was reportedly beaten during the raid and his whereabouts remains unknown.
On 15 November, a monk was beaten and taken into custody when the Aung Dhamma Pala monastery in Yangon was raided.
On 19 November, Ray Thein (alias Bu Maung), an NLD Secretary in Rakhine State, was re-arrested after being briefly detained in September for holding an anti-junta demonstration.
On 20 November, senior NLD member Myint Naing was detained.
On 20 November, politician Soe Win was arrested.
On 20 November, ethnic Arakanese leader U Tin Ohn was detained and his whereabouts remains unknown. Other ethnic leaders, including Arakanese Cin Sian Thang and U Aye Thar Aung; Naing Ngwe Thein from the Mon National Democracy Front; and Kachin political leader U Hkun Htoo, were rounded up as well on 20 and 21 November but were released after questioning.
On 24 November, eight members of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) were arrested, likely due to KIO's refusal to accede to the government's demand that they publicly renounce the November statement by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
On 26 November, Aung Zaw Oo, a member of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters group, was arrested while sitting in a teashop in downtown Yangon, likely on account of his involvement in planning events for International Human Rights Day on 10 December.
On 26 November, Rakhine State NLD chairman San Shwe Tun was re-arrested after being released from Akyab prison on 5 November after serving a three-year jail term.
On 27 November, Win Maw, lead guitarist in the popular Shwe Thansin band, Myat San, a former long-term political prisoner and a member of the Tri-Colour Students Group and Aung Aung, a friend of the two men, were arrested in a Yangon tea shop.
On 27 November, Win Maung, an SPDC village secretary from Rakhine State, was arrested for his involvement in the September protests.
On 28 November, U Tin Hla, member of the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma (FTUB) and the Burma Railway Union, was arrested along with his family for allegedly organising railway workers and encouraging them to join the rallies in September. His wife and two children were released after five days.
On 28 November, U Khin Hla, an NLD secretary in Rakhine State, was arrested.
In November, a Burmese rapper was arrested for paying tribute at a concert to the monks who led September's demonstrations.

December arrests - 29 total

On 2 December, Hajee Amir Hakim, a 52-year-old man from Rakhine State, was arrested for writing a letter to the BBC detailing SPDC human rights abuses against Rohingya minority. He was released the following day after his relatives bribed a police officer.
On 2 December, Aung Zaw Win, a lay person, was arrested while inquiring about evicted monks.
On 14 December, Khin Moe Aye, Kyaw Soe, Zaw Min, Min Min Soe, Htun Htun Win and Myo Yan Naung Thein, all former political prisoners and current members of the 88 Generation Students groups, were arrested for being linked to the activists who filmed the September protests and spoke to exiled media.
In mid-December, seven activists, including former political prisoners Aung Aung, Aung Gyi, Myat Hsan and Win Maw, were arrested for trying to send video footage of the September demonstrations to international media.
On 17-18 December, five NLD members were arrested in Rakhine State for organizing poster and graffiti campaigns against the government.
On 18 December, nine members of the Shan State Nationalities Liberation Organisation, including battalion commander major Bar Pray (alias Ye Naing), were arrested, reportedly for political reasons.

January arrests - 22 total

On 2 January, former student activists Ko Ko Maung and Ko Min Han was arrested.
On 2 January, NLD members Dr. Aung Moe Nyo, Htay Myint, Sein Win, Than Htun, U Ko Oo and Nay Myo Kyaw were arrested in Magwe division, reportedly to stop them from attending independence day celebrations in a nearby township.
On 3 January, two NLD youth members were arrested.
On 3 January, a monk and two laymen were arrested in Yangon during a house raid in search of an activist.
On 4 January, Htet Htet Aung, Ko Kyaw Kyaw and Kyaw Zin Win, all NLD youth members, were arrested.
On 13 January, U Par Lay and U Maung Soe were arrested.
On 15 January, two NLD youth wing members, Soe Min Oo and Kalar Shae, were arrested in Rakhine State after shouting slogans such as 'Restore Democracy', 'Release political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi', and 'Reduce Commodity Prices'.
On 15 January, Saw Wai, poet and leader of an organization established by artists to care for orphans of AIDS victims, was arrested after authorities deciphered part of his "February 14" poem that contained a hidden message criticizing Senior General Than Shwe.
In January, Ko Aung Gyi, former editor of the sports magazine 90 Minutes, was arrested in Yangon.

UNICEF's new State of the World's Children 2008 report states that some 400 children die everyday in Burma from preventable diseases

The figures are the second-worst mortality rate for children in Asia except for Afghanistan.

Dr Osamu Kunii, a nutrition expert in Burma for the UN, said there were between 100,000 to 150,000 child deaths per year in the country - or between 270 and 400 daily.

He was speaking at a briefing by Unicef of its annual report - The State of the World's Children.

The mortality rate is a critical indicator of the well-being of children.

About 21% of child deaths in Burma are caused by acute respiratory infection, followed by pneumonia, diarrhoea and septicaemia.

A recent report also revealed Burma is now suspected of having the largest amount of child soldiers in the world. Just yesterday four children were sold to an army recruiter.

Myanmar is going "downhill on all fronts,"

Says a senior US diplomat

"The regime in Burma is absolutely refusing to take any positive steps at all, either in response to its own people or to the international community," said US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel.

"It should be a cause of concern for everybody because the way Burma is going under this regime and its policies is sort of downhill on all fronts," he told a media briefing during a Hanoi stop on a regional tour.

"We talk about it mostly in terms of human rights and democracy and that's critically important to us, but it's beyond that," he said. "The economy is going downhill, the education system is getting ruined.

"The health care system isn't functioning, ... you're getting more and more cases of resistant strains of tuberculosis and malaria out of Burma. You've got refugee flows out of Burma. It's just a whole series of problems."

Burma's military junta is one of the world's most brutal authoritarian regimes. The government of Burma routinely and systematically violates the human rights and civil liberties of its citizens. Yet it would not have survived this long without assistance from other nations. The People's Republic of China, which has provided massive military and economic aid, and Russia, which has provided cover at the U.N. Security Council, are the junta's primary enablers.

In addition to strengthening U.S. unilateral sanc­tions against the military junta, the United States should lead an effort to isolate Burma diplomatically at the United Nations and should encourage the Asso­ciation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to act against the regime. Until China, Russia, and the ASEAN nations make democratic reconciliation in Burma a priority in their relations with the junta, the situation in Burma will not improve.

Last week Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was permitted out of her home and meet with government appointed liaison Aung Kyi for the first time in nearly two months. Segments of the meeting were televised by the details of what took place at the meeting were not released. This was their fourth meeting. Daw Suu Kyi was allowed to meet with NLD members in November but not since.

Suu Kyi has said her previous meetings with Aung Kyi were constructive and she was ready to work with the military to establish proper negotiations.

But critics say the regime is sending mixed signals.

Than Shwe has repeatedly insisted the only path to political reform is via the junta's own "roadmap to democracy," suggesting that any talks would have to take place within that framework.

The World Food Program is reporting that Burma's food shortage is due to the military governments restrictions on transportation.

"The transportation system is very much a closed...state-regulated, state-administered program," he said. "So much of our food is transferred and transported by companies and transport companies that are owned by the government and the ruling elite."

Burma pro-democracy organizations are saying they are extremely underfunded.

During the "Saffron Revolution" in September, several dissident groups based on the Thai border faced serious funding shortages, he said. Worse still, no emergency funds were available to border pro-democracy groups that have connections with activists and monks inside Burma. ... During the crisis, some activists inside Burma said they could accomplish more if they had much needed assistance. In the past, some prominent activists were arrested simply because they could not afford transportation fees or money to rent a safe place to hide.

In the past two months the Burmese Army's presence in Karen state has gone up to over 90 battalions.

With the number of soldiers ranging between 11,000 to 14,000 operating in three Karen districts - Papun, Nyaunglebin, and Taungoo - the number of internally displaced persons in the three districts have gone up to 25,000, the report said.

The FBR said with the increase of Burmese Army battalions in Karen state since 2006, human rights violations have escalated and landmines have filled the area, causing uncalled for destruction in the villages and killing local residents.

According to Saw Hla Henry, secretary of the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), over the last two months the number of internally displaced people has increased to 10,000.

It is sad that there is no sign of freedom even in time of 60th Independence Anniversary. The Junta controls everything now. In these days, because of the experiences of the September Saffron Revolution, all news media in Burma is strictly censored and tightly controlled by the military junta. All daily newspapers, radio and television stations are under regime's supervision.

The 60th Independence Anniversary in Burma was just like any other day. Six members of the NLD were detained to repress true rememberence of Gen. Aung San who is all but written out of the history books in Burma.

As Kyaw Zwa Moe, a journalist from Irrawaddy magazine, puts it

"Independence didn't bring liberty, prosperity or happiness to the Burmese people," he said.

"When we talk to young people in Rangoon and in the country, they don't even notice today is Independence Day."

There is truly nothing to celebrate and the restrictive military government is closing off it's people from the world more and more every day.

Prior to the Independence Day, Burma's military junta surprisingly made a futile attempt to control sources of information that the country's general public keep going to access. Without earlier warning, the military junta has instructed to the satellite dish owners to follow a verbal order imposing a huge amount of 1 million kyat for the annual satellite television tax. The order has been taken place as an observable jab to prevent people watching international news broadcasts. The action signals that Burma's Independence is non-existing now.

Dish owners who have to pay a 6,000 kyat ($ 5) license fee in last year were informed that the fee for dishes had been unexpectedly raised to 1 million kyat, about ten times average income of a government senior officer.

Last week a newly formed umbrella group, the Steering Committee of Mass Movement or SCMM, issued an open letter to the government calling for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners including those arrested during the September uprising.

"If we start genuine dialogue one day earlier, the country will benefit by one day; but the country will fail if the talks are delayed," said the umbrella group in the open letter. "So we are willing to work together with a constructive attitude and approach to meaningful and inclusive dialogue as soon as possible."

The group is comprised of 12 pro-democracy and professional groups, including the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks, the 88 Generation Students group, the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, the Burma Muslim League for Peace, the Burma Lawyers' Union, the New Generation Journalists Union (Burma), the Organizing Committee of Mass Movement (Mandalay), the Committee of Mass Movement (Rangoon Division), and The Association of Writers and Artists.

There is still some Burmese language radio stations - BBC, VOA, Radio Free Asia and Democratic Voice of Burma. Ironically cheap radio's from China make these programs easily available in Burma.

Gen. Than Shwe did not attend ceremonies but ordered a message to be released to the public calling for unity under the "roadmap to democracy". A plan which only tightens the generals grip on power while pacifying international critics lacking a backbone to take more serious action, or who have willingly put themselves in a position to have their hands tied by Russian and Chinese veto's on the floor the of the United Nations Security Council.

"This time we will demonstrate - the government dare not kill all the people," he says. "So maybe 10,000 people - if 10,000 people were killed - will be killed, we will get democracy. Surely, we hope so. If necessary I'm ready to sacrifice my life, really. Me, including other monks, same."

Quietly sentiments such as this are slipping out of Burma through various reports.

The Shwedagon pagoda, a ralling point for protesting monks during the September uprising is blocked off my the military. Many monasteries are empty but the zeal is not forgotten,

"Nobody has dared to touch the monks before," he says. "Now this thing has happened - the monks were beaten, the monks were shot at, the monks are imprisoned. Well these things are very, very serious to us and nobody is going to forget the whole thing easily."

In a statement released this week, the All-Burmese Monks Alliance called for renewed support but without violence.

"If the public and monks join forces, we can resolve all our problems,"...."We must take responsibility for our own future, but avoid all violence," the statement said

But the monks are still targets for the junta who aim to suppress any further uprising. Many have been imprisoned or have fled to their own villages. The level of organization going on here is still unknown as it should be if it were to work.

There is some public organization, posters are being placed calling for rallies during Burma's 60th anniversary celebrations on Jan. 4 2008. Though this seems too soon and too sudden to retrieve the desired response. Still, a lack of action tomorrow should not be mistaken for reticence.

The Chinland Guardian is reporting that an organization called the Ethnic Nationalities Council of Union of Burma (ENC) took the floor at the United Nations Security Coucil earlier this month and called for the USDA (Union Solidarity and Development Association) in Burma to be classified as an terrorist organization. Those familiar with the workings of this "social organization" will agree this is well over due.

Dr. Sui Khar foreign affairs secretary for the Ethnic Nationalities Council of Union of Burma (ENC) took the floor introducing his organization to the UN Human Rights Council saying that the ENC is representing seven ethnic states in the Union of Burma to establish democratic federal union based on equality, and that ENC is legitimate and credible organization to speak on behalf of all ethnic states in Union of Burma because the ENC members includes all groups in each state.

Taking up the floor on behalf of Netherlands based International Work Group for Indigenous Peoples (IWGIP), Dr. Sui Khar, made a statement at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council urging that the United Nations Security Council must brand the USDA as state sponsored terrorist organization based on their involvement in the past and recent military crackdown on peaceful demonstrators in Burma.

The USDA is a played off as a "social organization". It is really a citizen's wing of the military that conducts activities in the junta's interest. It was formed in 1993 and head by Senior General Than Shwe. Many joined to escape forced labor. Others to avoid harassment form the police when they travel. Some want to take advantage of classes specialized training that came along with membership.

The USDA is used as a force to oppose the NLD (National League for Democracy) and the influence of democratic ideas in Burma. They organize rallies in support of the regime in such a way that it appears as though they were citizen rallies. They at times force citizens to take part in these pro-junta rallies.

In 2003, during a period when Aung San Suu Kyi was temporarily freed from house arrest, her motorcade was confronted by such rallies during a speaking tour. It was on such an occasion when an assassination attempt was made on her life. She was spared but many of her supporters who with her were killed. She was immediately placed back under house arrest for what the regime called "protective custody".

Young people in Burma, even high school age children are pressured to join the USDA or face an unpredictable future. The chances of receiving higher education are more likely under membership.

The USDA is not unlike the military in Burma.

In the military income is supplemented through corruption which is tolerated and condoned across the board. An arrest might be made for corruption if a higher ranking officer wasn't paid off for a particular business deal.

What other reasons are there for joining the military? Poverty. For many the military may seem to be their own way to escape.

There is also a sense of empowerment that comes with being above the ordinary citizen. Soldiers are, for obvious reasons, considered more eligible marriage partners.

A draw back for many, newly enlisted men can find themselves doing slave labor for senior officers, on plantations or "various commercial enterprises".

Then there is the order to execute civilians many soldiers will face, or die themselves.

Though it should be mentioned in the 1988 uprising, many soldiers joined in the protest

My Letter to the Editor published at Irrawaddy

We are put in an irreconcilable position concerning the future of Burma. There is little hope the Burmese junta will hold talks with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi or any other interested party in the coming year. 2008 will be another stifle hold on an already limping movement. I only say the movement is limping because it is being held back in every direction. The UN Security Council cannot pass any measures due to China and Russia. Asean will not take firm steps to deal with the junta for fear of trade fallouts as well as the fear of the organization falling apart at the seams. The US does not wish to get too deeply involved other than more rhetoric from a lame-duck State Department and the EU would just as easily prefer to trade with Burma if they could escape the public outcry for doing so. So, where does that leave us for 2008?

Unfortunately it seems it is up to the people and the organizations skills of laymen, monks and the NLD [National League for Democracy] members who have managed to escape imprisonment. They and they alone can help bring democratic reform to Burma. The reason this is a bad thing is because they will no doubt pay the price with their lives. The rest of the world will stand behind them, not alongside them, and watch and as they valiantly march towards their fate--prison, labor camps and even death.

The rest of us outside Burma must help the cause by educating anyone who will listen. Only by striking a blow against ignorance can we render the lack of knowledge of what is going on in Burma as no longer an excuse for it to continue for another year. We must speak for those who are unable to speak for themselves. This seems to me our best option at this time.

As an American, this is difficult. Our nation is preoccupied with Iraq and the war on terror. Look at us. We even left Afghanistan behind in our march to war. It seems to me half the nation is too war weary to hear about another oppressed nation, BUT the other half wants to know more, wants to do more, wants to do something to make a difference. This is where we can make a difference.

This is where we can make our stand. Martin Luther famously said, "Here I stand." And the writer Erasmus answered back, "I stand here and here and here."

Well, I too stand here and here and here. I stand for the people of Burma across the entire nation facing a varied sort of oppression and violent abuse on a day-in day-out basis.

But there is hope. The struggle for democracy and individual freedom does not end with any one individual. We have many to look up to who have each in their own way given something up for the cause of the people of Burma. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Gambira, Ko Min Ko Naing, Su Su Nway, Dr Cynthia Maung, Ko Htay Kywa, U Win Tin, the 88 Generation Students group leaders inside and outside of Burma. We have many heroes to look up to: The survivors who escaped the burning of Karen villages, the women of Chin State, the Free Burma Rangers. The list goes on and on and on.

How can we be lacking in inspiration? We, being the average individual who watches and mourns for the Burmese and ethnic people of Burma. How can we let 2008 be like 2007? We must not wait for the people to rise. We must prepare the world for their rise. We must let the world know. I once told myself, we must help the people to help themselves. But really we must help ourselves to help the people. That is where the truth stands.