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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- November 30, 2002.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------ AFP - China opens groundbreaking
self-help group ahead of World AIDS Day
ST - Myanmar drags its feet over
political reforms
Bkk Post - Burmese held, pills seized
Asian Tribune - List of Political
Prisoners released by the Burmese Junta on 21 November.
Asian Tribune - Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
in Rangoon
Asia Times online - The Iron Road. A
Stand for Truth and Democracy in Burma by James Mawdsley
Xinhuanet - Asian experts on
gem, jewelry call for elimination of tariff
Channel NewsAsia - Tough
gal Suu Kyi: NLD leader must stand firm that 1990 polls result is
honoured
------------------------------------------------------------------------ China opens groundbreaking
self-help group ahead of World AIDS Day
BEIJING, Nov 30 (AFP) - China announced Saturday ahead of World AIDS Day that it was setting up its first officially sanctioned self-help group for HIV carriers, marking a further official move towards facing up to the deadly disease. The "Mangrove Forest" group, named after the sturdy plant's ability to survive under harsh conditions, had formally opened its Beijing office within the capital's Zuoan Hospital, the China News Service reported. The four organizers of the group, all carriers of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, planned to establish a nationwide self-help network using funding from several sources including the United Nations, it said. China, which faces accusations it has failed to properly respond to a rapidly spiraling HIV crisis, is likely to be a major focus of Sunday's World AIDS Day. In recent months, Beijing has shown a greater willingness to tackle the disease following a series of UN reports urging it to take drastic measures to control an epidemic which threatens to multiply greatly in coming years. The number of Chinese people with HIV/AIDS could soar from an estimated 1.5 million to more than 10 million by the end of the decade, the latest UN report issued Tuesday, said. "Serious localized HIV epidemics" were occurring among intravenous drug users in nine provinces as well as in Beijing, it warned. "There are also signs of heterosexually transmitted HIV epidemics spreading in at least three provinces (Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong) where HIV prevalence in 2000 was as high as 11 percent among (street prostitutes)," it said. China has been criticized for not doing enough to educate its people about the dangers of HIV and of trying to play down the threat it faces from the virus. In particular, it has been accused of ignoring the plight of many thousands of rural people who contracted HIV from blood collectors using appallingly insanitary methods during the 1990s. Although Beijing appears to be becoming increasingly open about the problem, many official statistics remain noticeably low. According to government figures, by the end of 2001 there were just under 31,000 documented HIV carriers in China and only 1,594 documented cases of AIDS, with 684 of those patients having already died. In a separate report Saturday, the China News Service said that in the drug-hit southwestern province of Yunnan -- known to be the worst hit region in China by HIV -- local hospitals had recorded the deaths of just 433 AIDS patients since 1989, when records began to be taken. Most of the carriers in the province, which borders the "golden triangle" opium growing region also covering Myanmar and Laos, were intravenous drug users, said the service, citing a recently published report by the provincial health department. Another 230 people in the province are afflicted with AIDS, while nearly 12,000 carriers of HIV have been documented in the province during since 1989. "Experts believe that the findings of the (health department) report is far below the actual figure," it added. Meanwhile, the Beijing Youth Daily Saturday carried a report predicting that the number of "AIDS orphans" in China could reach up to 260,000 by 2010 if drastic efforts to address the disease are not taken. According to a recent study of 143 HIV carriers in China, nearly 17 percent of the afflicted had children under five years of age, the report said. If the numbers of HIV carriers in China grows to 10 million by 2010 as has been predicted, then the number of AIDS orphans could grow to between 138,000 to 260,000 depending on what measures are taken to curb the spread of the disease, warned the report, citing expert predictions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Straits Times -
NOV 30, 2002 SAT
Myanmar drags its feet over political reforms BANGKOK - Six months after releasing pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest amid a fanfare of promises, Myanmar's military rulers seem to have lost interest in political compromise. They have released only a trickle of political prisoners from among more than 1,000 who are behind bars. And they have dragged their feet on a pledge to open substantive talks with Ms Suu Kyi and her political party, the National League for Democracy. In place of the upbeat words that accompanied the announcement of her release on May 5, government officials have settled back into a familiar refrain: give us time. 'The process is moving forward,' said Lt-General Khin Nyunt, one of the country's top generals. 'But such movement can only occur at a pace with which we are comfortable.' He added: 'Much has been achieved already this year, and people have to understand the process may be slow because it is complicated.' After 19 months under house arrest, Ms Suu Kyi was granted the most freedom of movement and political activity she has had in more than a decade - but this has not been accompanied by the sort of cooperation and political accommodation she said the government promised her. In fact, on Thursday, her party the National League for Democracy complained about the excessive surveillance during her two-week political trip in Shan state in north-east Myanmar. 'We have been reading too much into her release,' said Irrawaddy magazine editor Aung Zaw. 'I think it was just part of their regular routine practices, to release her into a larger cage,' he said. -- New York Times, AFP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post -
Saturday 30 November 2002
Burmese held, pills seized Preeyanat Phanayanggoor and Theerawat Khamthita A Burmese woman was charged with possessing 300,000 methamphetamine pills following her arrest on Thursday in Chiang Mai's Chiang Dao district. Police said Aju Yang, 34, was arrested as she and her two accomplices were crossing the Thai-Burmese border on foot with four bags stuffed with methamphetamine tablets. The two accom-plices escaped back into Burma, police said. The woman was charged will illegal entry and drug possession. The arrest resulted from close collaboration between the Narcotics Suppression Bureau and the Third Army, said Pol Lt-Gen Chareomdech Chompunuch, head of the NSB. He added that Thailand would also work closely with Burma to fight drugs. Meanwhile, state officials in Chiang Rai will need fellow officials to verify that they are not involved in drug-dealing, according to a plan to clean up government agencies' backyards. Chiang Rai governor Narin Panichkij said officials would require colleagues to vouch for their conduct. Those without ``guarantors'' might not be considered for promotion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-11-30 List of Political Prisoners released by the Burmese Junta on 21 November. The names of all those Burmese political prisoners released is now given in this report. Out of those released on 21 November - 7 of them were females and all the others males. Yesterday, Asian Tribune reported that only 60 political prisoners were released on 21 November and not 115, as declared by the Burmaâ??s Military regime - Burma Military Junta released only 60 Prisoners and not 115 as claimed ? NLD The names of those political prisoners released on 21 November, are as follows: Female 1. Kyu Kyu Mar 2. Le Le Lin, Rangoon 3. Ma Aye Than 4. Ma Po (aka) Win Win Htay, Kyauk Tadar (NLD Youth) 5. Myint Myint Aye, Rangoon 6. Thidar Htwe, Phyu 7. Thida Win, Mon Ywa Male 1. Ar Tha Ya, U - monk (Unknown) 2. Aung Kyaw Soe, (La Put Tar Tsp) 3. Aung Shwe, U (Sagaing Division) 4. Aung Than @ Aung Myint (North-Okkalarpa Tsp) 5. Aye Min, U (Myit Kyi Na Tsp) 6. Han Zaw @ Mut Kha Lay (Unknown) 7. Htin Kyaw, U (Kamayut Tsp) 8. Kaung Nyunt, U (Moe Kaung Tsp) 9. Ko Ko Naing @ Myint Naing (Pegu Division) 10. Kyaw Htike (Mandalay Division) 11. Kyaw Khin, U (Chairperson) (Moe Kaung Tsp) 12. Kyaw Swe, U (Mattayar Tsp) 13. Kyaw Thaung (Bahan Tsp) 15. Kyaw Wonna (Tha Ke Ta Tsp) 16. Kyi Ba @ Tin Hlaing (Pabedan Tsp) 17. Kyi Han (La Put Tar Tsp) 18. Lay Win @ Htay Aung (Kyauk Tadar Tsp) 19. Maung Maung (Kamaryut Tsp) 20. Maung Maung @ Aung Tun (La Put Tar Tsp) 21. Maung Maung Aye (Mandalay Division) 22. Maung Maung One (Yay Nan Chaung) 23. Moe Kyaw Aung (Yan Kin Tsp) 24. Myat Tun (Kamayut Tsp) 25. Myint Oo (La Put Tar Tsp) 26. Myint Swe (Mingalar Taung Nyunt Tsp) 27. Myint Swe, U (Mingalar Taung Nyunt Tsp) 28. Myint Thein (San Chaung Tsp) 29. Myo Myint (Pegu Division) 30. Myo Zaw Oo (Kyi Myin Tai Tsp) 31. Myo Zaw Thein @ Bo Bo (Bahan Tsp) 32. Naing Win Tun @ Thein Latt (North-Okkalarpa Tsp) 33. Ngwe Soe (San Chaung Tsp) 34. Nyan Win, Ko (Kaw Hmue Tsp) 35. Oakka Hta, U - monk (Unknown) 36. Phoe Toke @ Khin Maung Cho, (Yan Kin Tsp) 37. Phoe Yin, U (Kyauk Padaung Tsp) 38. Pyin Nyar Wada, U - monk (Unknown) 39. San Thein @ Aung Kyaw Nyein (Insein Tsp) 40. San Win, U (Nyaung Tone) 41. Sein Maung, U (Taung Twin Gyi Tsp) 42. Soe Moe Aung (Yan Kin Tsp) 43. Than Oo (Pegu Division) 44. Than Wa Ya @ Thein Win, U (Mandalay Division) 45. Thar Thana, U - monk (Unknown) 46. Thaung Kyi, U (Insein Tsp) 47. Thet Htwe, (Rangoon Division) 48. Tin Aung (Thin Gan Kyune Tsp) 49. Tin Mya, U (Mandalay Division) 50. Tin Myint,U (Mattayar Tsp) 51. Tint Lwin, U (Thayawaddy Tsp) 52. Tun Aye @ Tin Soe, U (North-Okkalarpa Tsp) 53. Win Maw, U (Ta Mwe Tsp) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-11-30 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon Bangkok Nov. 29 : Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in Rangoon last night at 11 o'clock from her 15-day trip to the Shan State. She took a short rest and attended a farewell party for an ambassador last night with the NLD spokesman U Lwin. According to him, the Shan State is the biggest area of Burma she'd been to in terms of size and ethnic diversities. She was also able to discuss matters with local NLD leaders and people, and plan for the future with them properly. And the journey was fairly a safe one. He also added that there are some successes more than she had expected in some matters. As for the matters of obstructions and harassments of local authorities, U Lwin said that there is some elements of the abuses of power from their part and incidents are being reported to relevant authorities. The people who videotaped and photographed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi came to apologise her personally. The news of the local authorities and the USDA banning people from welcoming Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in some cases, it's true and in some, not true. The incident in Kyaukme in which some intelligence members disguised themselves as NLD members and tried to disrupt a public meeting was solved at the scene by telling them not to deceive people like that. If they wanted, they could come and take part in the meeting as intelligent personnel and the like. U Lwin also added that there are approximately 110 NLD political prisoners still languishing in prisons. The health conditions of the released 51 NLD members are being tested. The remaining released prisoners are from other organisations and nobody seems to know exactly who they are and only the military authorities know who they are. He admitted that the NLD is only able to confirm its members. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asia Times
online
BOOK REVIEW Reclaiming Burma The Iron Road. A Stand for Truth and Democracy in Burma by James Mawdsley Reviewed by Sreeram Chaulia "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke James Mawdsley was introduced to me in a crowded London pub last year as a "human rights activist" who shook the Burmese military junta. I accepted that description, having only a sketchy knowledge of details. However, after completing The Iron Road, I am inclined to think that rights activist is too narrow a tag for him. He is a seeker of truth, inner truth, in the Gandhi mould. His duel for the past several years against the totalitarian Burmese junta is not merely for physical and political freedom, but "a still more vital one - inner freedom ... to do right, to obey God, to love". (p.380) Mawdsley's Herculean one-man defiance of a bloodthirsty genocidal regime is made possible by a deeply spiritual mind which has abjured violence and learnt to love the entire human race as belonging to one family. Even in the darkest hours of torment and torture, he is conscious of countering the evil in the perpetrators and not the individuals per se. A strong sense of duty and responsibility for maintaining good in the world, coupled with genuine sensitivity for the sufferings of the Burmese people, make Mawdsley a real hero who sacrifices to attain personal happiness. His contribution towards reclaiming Burma for humanity springs not from the altruism of a do-gooder philanthropist or the cold calculation of a politician, but from a pursuer of personal happiness and peace. Mawdsley's epic tryst with Burma began in 1995, when he read news reports of forced labor, conscription for fighting and minesweeping, and scorched earth policies of the military junta. Like all conscionable people, he felt the urge to "do something", but what won the day was a thorough reading of Aung San Suu Kyi's Freedom From Fear. Mawdsley sunk into the book and imbibed the vital message: "To allow oneself to be trapped by fear is a fatal mistake." (p.23) He went to Thailand and contacted the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) and pleaded to be given a chance to stage a symbolic protest inside Burma. He was smuggled to Minthamee camp in the bordering Karen state and appointed "English teacher" for the pro-democracy students who escaped from the military's massacres in central Burma. Mawdsley being Mawdsley, he learnt more from his pupils than vice-versa. In a country where all forms of free literature and university learning are banned, there was a "natural thirst for education sharpened by years of deprivation". Bright young students and deserters from the Tatmadaw (Burmese army) knew what was needed when democracy came and saw Mawdsley as a window to the wider world. "Having a big white clown blundering around the camp is a sure sign to them that the outside world has not forgotten them." (p.41) This idyll came to a sudden end when the Tatmadaw launched a fierce offensive on Minthamee. The generals spared not even Mawdsley's primary school. He was whisked back across the Thai border and left pining for another opportunity to enter Burma. "What I really wanted was to take up the fight where extra people were most needed - in Burma itself." (p. 51) He returned to Thailand in no time and contacted Burmese refugees at Maneeloi camp and leaders of the Karen National Union who were waging an armed insurgency against the State Law and Order Restoration Council, as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) was then known. He begged to be allowed to go to Rangoon to make a "simple demonstration in support of democracy", pacifying doubting Thomases by suggesting "as soon as I am arrested, the world press will know all about it and the junta will not be able to make me disappear". (p.64) Once they realized that the world was watching an Englishman's detention, the generals would not resort to the casual brutality which Burmese people were subjected to, he reasoned. In Rangoon, Mawdsley dramatically chained and padlocked himself to the gates of a school opposite the government building where Aung San was assassinated in 1947. He drew curious onlookers' attention by shouting democracy slogans, distributing fliers and demanding the release of all political prisoners and the opening of universities. Arrested immediately, he was put on a plane and deported after the intervention of British and Australian consular officials. One of the guards at the airport surreptitiously stole up to him when his superiors were not watching and said, "Thank you for what you have done. I really never forget you [sic]." (p.86) This was a manifestation of the extreme cruelty and coercion culture in the Burmese army which had driven subalterns and lower-ranked men into a state of vegetation, suicide or silent acceptance of fate. Mawdsley would come back for them and millions of others. Inspired further by reading Vaclav Havel's writings, the author reasoned that "by asserting the values of truth, by defying the regime's wicked manipulations and continuing to defy them, you call into question their power". (p.93) He returned to Thailand and requested the Kayin National Union, Burma's largest anti-government ethnic armed group, to arrange for his escort deep into Burmese territory. In a magical trek through the jungles of Karen state, he encountered burnt villages and terrified civilians everywhere. "The deal for the locals is that they either inform the Tatmadaw of everything or be executed for withholding information." (p.118) On reaching Moulmein, Mawdsley walked to the town center and nonchalantly distributed pro-democracy tapes, stickers and leaflets, shouting at the top of his lungs before audiences for the release of Min Ko Naing and other student leaders. Taken into custody, Mawdsley refused to divulge any details. His face was blindfolded with a cloth dipped in petrol. "Could I hold out under torture? Shall I tell them my name or risk having my face burnt off?" (p.134) Illegal detention and harassment continued for days at Insein, with exasperated and bewildered policemen applying the favorite tactic of Burma's military intelligence (MI), the "Iron Road", a painful rolling of iron rods up and down the shins of the victim until they strip one to the bone. What kept Mawdsley going were prison trusties and guards tiptoeing up to him late at night and sympathetically whispering, "I am sorry", ashamed of what their regime was doing. Forty handpicked uniformed goons watched Mawdsley's mock trial where he was arbitrarily sentenced to five years imprisonment on charges of being a "mercenary" and an "insurgent terrorist". Jail life was predictably horrific. Mawdsley called for a doctor when he collapsed from malnutrition or got infected by scabies, shocking the authorities. "The notion that a prisoner has rights made no sense to them. If I was starving to death, that was my business." (p.159) The MI were used to doing anything they liked with Burmese citizens, but were perplexed how to deal with an assertive foreigner. Within months, it was decided to release him and send him back to Britain. Mawdsley's best was yet to come. "As I thought about Burma by day I also dreamt about her at night." (p.184) His restless soul wanted more battle with deceit and untruth. Campaigning and lobbying against the junta in the West did not satisfy him. The prodigal son returned to Thailand and hooked up this time with the Karenni National Progressive Party and extracted a promise to be taken across the Salween river and the legendary impassability of northern Burma's landscape. Convinced that "fearlessness, and public displays of fearlessness, are the greatest threat to a regime that rules by fear" (p.12), Mawdsley got to Tachilek in eastern Shan state by August 1999 and redid the symbolic protest. A kangaroo court sentenced him to 17 years in solitary confinement on a series of trumped up charges. "The court is not a court, the judge is not a judge, yet they are dressed up as such. Merciless men sit behind it all saying they have a judicial system." (p. 218) Incarcerated in Kengtung, Mawdsley did not despair at the length of the sentence and went about practicing his trade of non-violent disobedience. Prison officials could not overtly show their approbation, but they found other ways to repay him for his extraordinary stoicism. These small gestures in a Gulag-like ambience sustained him. "You do not need praise or back-patting; you need to be reminded that there is a truth and a truth worth suffering for." (p. 232) Since Burma itself was a macrocosmic prison, Mawdsley was happy to be in a real prison. When the MI sleuths were distracted, some jailors came to him to shake hands and confess, "we are on the same side". He observed how rational and reasonable individuals had been subdued by incessant propaganda and bootstrapped to servitude by Than Shwe and his entourage in power. Burmese police, soldiers and bureaucrats had not lost their conscience, but they were not willing to openly declare that either, for fear or reprisal. Mawdsley drew on his spiritual strength to tide over crisis after crisis, shedding any remnants of fear inside him inch by inch. "Ninety percent of my struggle was against myself." (p. 284) Determined to expose the deceit and fraud of his sentence, Mawdsley went on hunger strike for 20, one day each for the 20-year sentence passed on Min Ko Naing. "If he must do another year in a solitary cell, can I not do another day without food?" (p. 307) Hundreds of letters of support poured in as news of his strike was communicated to the media by British consular officials. Mawdsley rejoiced at the outpouring of concern by his fellow prisoners too and at the wider publicity his actions were generating. As more and more spoke up around the world, he noted with satisfaction, "We gain nothing at all by buttoning our lips in the face of injustice. We put the brakes on progress every time we fall for self-censorship." (p. 338) Enterprising lawyers took Mawdsley's case to the US Senate, the British parliament, the European parliament and the United Nations. News of more savage beatings meted out to him outraged thousands. The UN working group on arbitrary detention found the Burmese junta in violation of 10 points of international law and declared that Mawdsley's detention was from the beginning arbitrary and illegal. Under intense diplomatic pressure, the SPDC released him in October 2000, after undergoing 411 days of prison. Mawdsley believes that what brought about his unshackling is the same medicine needed for democracy and truth to prevail in Burma: "A resonance between the forces within the borders and the forces without." (p. 350) Forty-five million Burmese people are resisting the onslaught that has never ended since the coup de tat of 1962, but the skill with which the junta has rewritten history, brainwashed young people and policed the entire country will make it a long walk to freedom. Aung San Suu Kyi may be out of jail through UN mediation, but she is virtually in house arrest again. Neighboring big powers have turned "realist" and are cooperating with the junta in spite of its horrendous domestic and foreign policy record. The superpower is chasing oil in Iraq and has no interest in a forbidden land called Burma that no longer figures in balance of power games of the mighty. But Burma will not give up. Nor will James Mawdsley. When "demokrasi" comes, he will be one of the first to break into a dance on the streets of Rangoon. The Iron Road. A Stand for Truth and Democracy in Burma by James Mawdsley. North Point Press, New York, 2002. ISBN: 0-86547-637-3. Price: US$16.00, 397 pages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asian experts on gem, jewelry
call for elimination of tariff
Xinhuanet 2002-11-29 01:28:16 COLOMBO, Nov. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Experts on gem and jewelry trade and industry in five Asian countries called for the elimination oftariff on the import and export of raw materials or finished goodsamong member nations, an action plan released Friday said. The action plan also urged all five countries -- Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand -- to lobby for concessionary value added tax from the European region, as the present rates varying from 14 percent to 20 percent plus have a stifling effect on trade from poor countries. Recommendations of the experts, expected to be submitted to BIMST-EC ministerial conference in December, came at the end of a two-day meeting here to map out a common strategy for the gem and jewelry trade of BIMST-EC or Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar,Thailand Economic Co-operation grouping. The Colombo joint declaration adopted by experts, which stressed the pressing need to enhance cooperation, urged private sectors of each country to sponsor the identified collaborative initiatives while calling on the governments to identify sources of funding to support such collaborative process. Elaborating on intra-regional cooperation, participants at themeeting suggested forming a group of experts on geological, geophysical and geochemical investigations from the member countries to share the available equipment, facilities and expertise. Exchange of student trainees as well as professionals already employed has also been recommended. BIMST-EC was set up in July 1997 in Bangkok with a membership confined to countries having a direct access to the Bay of Bengal.Aimed at fostering socio-economic progress in the member countries,the sub-regional economic body has identified main sectors of trade and investment, technology, transport and communication, tourism, energy and fisheries. In view of the broad spectrum of activities it envisages, the trade and investment sector has been divided into eight sub-sectors, one of which is gem and jewelry sector. Sri Lanka, one of the five most important gem bearing countries in the world along with Myanmar, Brazil, South Africa and Thailand, assumed the chair of the gem and jewelry sub-sector at the Colombo meeting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tough gal Suu Kyi: NLD leader
must stand firm that 1990 polls result is honoured
By Roger Mitton Channel NewsAsia - Friday, November 29, 2002 Earlier this month, Malaysia's Razali Ismail, the United Nations special envoy to Myanmar, visited Yangon to try to advance the political peace process.Unfortunately, his trip, the ninth since reconciliation talks began in October 2000, was not auspicious. Things got off to a bad start right after he met National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi on his first day. When their chat ended, she took off promptly on a tour of NLD offices in north-eastern Shan state. What on earth prompted her to leave town for almost the entire duration of Mr. Razali's visit? Two reasons. First, her swing through Shan state was highly sensitive.It is potentially the most volatile part of Myanmar and, at the junta's insistence, she agreed to keep it low-key.That is why there was no press coverage of the trip. Having Mr. Razali in Yangon at the same time ensured that media attention was on him, not on Ms Suu Kyi being feted by the party faithful in Taunggyi, Lashio, Kengtung and elsewhere. The second reason was because Ms Suu Kyi felt that the continued refusal of the junta leader, General Than Shwe, to meet her meant that little would be achieved in the reconciliation talks.Indeed, Gen Than Shwe is rarely even accessible to Mr. Razali. That is why the UN emissary told the media that he might quit if progress in the talks did not come more quickly.He wanted to jolt the regime and make sure that this time he did get to see its leader, Gen Than Shwe, the only one who can really make decisions. Well, Mr. Razali did get to him and, though their meeting was short, there was time for him to stress how each side must calibrate its actions in response to the evolving dialogue. After Ms Suu Kyi's release from house arrest in May and her subsequent trips around the country, this process had been going well. Ms Suu Kyi herself was optimistic, if not exuberant, and spoke of being willing to compromise. However, dating from the time of Mr. Razali's previous visit in August, things began to go downhill and her optimism dissipated. Two things caused this. One: The regime's continuing delay in releasing political prisoners. And two: Gen Than Shwe's refusal to meet Ms Suu Kyi to discuss substantive issues leader to leaderã?» Replying, Gen Than Shwe said the release of prisoners had been continuing since the talks began and would continue at a pace that would not threaten national security.As if to reinforce this point, days later, another 115 prisoners were freed. As for seeing Ms Suu Kyi, Gen Than Shwe said that several of his senior colleagues had been liaising with her and discussing serious topics.Among this core liaison group are Labour Minister U Tin Win, a former Ambassador in Washington, and Brigadier-General Thein Zaw, the influential Telecommunications Minister.Ms Suu Kyi had also met Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Khin Maung Win and Major-General Kyaw Win, the deputy head of military intelligence.Along with Mr. Razali's favorite, Colonel Tin Hlaing, the bold Home Affairs Minister, these are the men driving the talks.In Gen Than Shwe's view, they should continue to do so on his behalf. Mr. Razali wanted to fly up to Shan state to report all this to Ms Suu Kyi.But officials warned him that it would attract too much attention to her presence in the restive region and might cause unrest.Instead, he wrote her a note explaining what had happened and urging her to continue meeting the liaison group.He sent his Yangon point man, Mr. Leon de Riedmatten, to speak to her.The outcome was not good. Ms Suu Kyi, annoyed by the note, said Mr. Razali should not be counselling her to meet lower-ranked ministers but rather urging Gen Than Shwe to meet her. Rightly, she contends that as leader of the NLD ã?»which won the 1990 elections with more than 80 per cent of the vote and is thus a government-in-waiting ã?»she must meet the leader of the transitional military regime, Gen Than Shwe, on equal terms. For the moment, however, Gen Than Shwe feels no pressure to do so. Despite reports to the contrary, the economy is in no danger of collapse.With new oil discoveries, booming tourism and soaring trade with China (and, increasingly, with India and Russia), the economy may even be growing stronger.Certainly, it can withstand misguided ã?»and faltering ã?»Western sanctions. So where does Ms Suu Kyi go from here? Well, she will have to swallow her pride and agree to meet with the liaison group, rather than Gen Than Shwe himself.Provided they have a mandate to deal with key issues, it should not be a great hurdle. In fact, her initial pique against the group members may have been tactical.She needs to constantly reassure her party that she is not compromising too much, as many NLD members had begun to think.The release of the 115 detainees will help. She must now insist that the rest are released soon and that the 1990 election result is honoured.In short, she must hang tough.She has no other choice. The writer, a foreign correspondent based in Bangkok, has been covering South-east Asian affairs for the past 15 years. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |