EXIT 2008 ENTER 2009

Exit 2008 without any fruitful result for Burma. The world body cannot do anything to get rid of the military regime in Burma. Nor the people and religious monks who had taken to streets in September 2007. Another bloodshed in the troubled country and many more to come in the near future. The new year 2009 ushered in but the country is still under the boots of merciless military regime. Run by a handful of top brass, the country is still in the list of poorest countries of the world. However, by robbing, bribing and confiscating properties of people the ruling generals have turned themselves into billioners overnight. While the top generals are accumulating their wealth when time is ripe and during power is in their hands, poor people become poorer than before. Now the unscrupulous group and criminals of the century again preparing for the next election which is to be held in 2010 nationwide. Another cheating game. People have enough bluffing stories and they are undoubtedly fed up of going to the poll stations if the elections is going to take place as scheduled by the regime. They believe that only the army will going to take power again whoever win the coming elections and nothing will be changed for the country and people. The military regime has tried every means and ways to erase the internationally recognized election result of 1990. It even attempted to assassinate the democratic icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It hamper party activities of NLD that are in accordance with the rule of National Election Commission. The regime arrested hundreds of protester who participated in the Saffron Revolution that took place in September 2007. Many are sentenced up to 60 years meaning that they are going to rule for the next 60 years. Are they going to rule?

Former World Leaders Rally for Burma’s Political Prisoners,
Call for UN Action

(OSI News Coverage: December 3, 2008)

In recent weeks, the Burmese military has sentenced over 200 students and labor activists, Cyclone Nargis relief workers, monks—and even their lawyers—to draconian prison terms. The venerable U Gambira, a leading monk of last year’s popular protests, was sentenced to 68 years.

The Soros foundations network partnered with grantees and the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights and Freedom to garner presidential signatures calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners currently being held by Burma’s junta. Over 100 former presidents and prime ministers representing more than 50 countries wrote to the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon: “If the Burmese junta continues to defy the United Nations by refusing to make these releases by the end of the year, we urge you to encourage the Security Council to take further concrete action to implement its call for the release of all political prisoners.

Letter to UNSG

Mr. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General
United Nations
New York, New York

Dear Mr. Secretary-General:

We write this letter to applaud your public consideration of traveling to Burma, also known as Myanmar, before the end of the year. We encourage this trip because it would illustrate for the world whether or not the Burmese military regime is serious about making changes called for by the United Nations Security Council and your good offices.
As you are aware, on October 11, 2007, the United Nations Security Council issued a presidential statement calling on the Burmese military junta to release all political prisoners in Burma, including the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.
We are heartened that you have taken up this issue and reiterated in your budget request for your Special Envoy's office to the UN General Assembly that a key benchmark to measure progress in Burma is whether all political prisoners in Burma, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are released by December 31, 2008. To date, in direct defiance of the United Nations Security Council and your good offices, the Burmese military junta has instead continued a major crackdown, increasing the number of political prisoners from 1,200 to over 2,100 since June 2007.
We urge you to make it clear that all political prisoners in Burma must be released by the end of this year, regardless of whether you travel to Burma. If the Burmese junta continues to defy the United Nations by refusing to make these releases by the end of the year, we urge you to encourage the Security Council to take further concrete action to implement its call for the release of all political prisoners. The Burmese people are counting on the United Nations to take the required action to achieve the breakthrough they desperately need to both restore democracy to their country and address the serious humanitarian and human rights challenges that they face.

Sincerely,

1. The Honorable Giuliano Amato
Former Prime Minister of Italy (1992–1993, 2000-2001)

2. The Honorable Halldór Ásgrímsson
Former Prime Minister of Iceland (2004-2006)

3. The Honorable Corazon C. Aquino
Former President of the Philippines (1986-1992)

4. The Honorable Patricio Aylwin Azócar
Former President of Chile (1990-1994)

5. The Honorable Hrant Bagratyan
Former Prime Minister of Armenia (1991, 1993-1996)

6. The Honorable Jan Krzysztof Bielecki
Former Prime Minister of Poland (1991)

7. The Honorable Valdis Birkavs
Former Prime Minister of Latvia (1993-1994)

8. The Right Honourable Tony Blair
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1997-2007)

9. The Honorable Kjell Magne Bondevik
Former Prime Minister of Norway (1997-2000, 2001-2005)

10. The Honorable George H.W. Bush
Former President of the United States of America (1989-1993)

11. The Right Honourable Kim Campbell
Former Prime Minister of Canada (1993)

12. The Honorable Ján Čarnogurský
Former Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic (1991-1992)

13. The Honorable Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Former President of Brazil (1995-2003)

14. The Honorable Ingvar Carlsson
Former Prime Minister of Sweden (1986-1991, 1994-1996)

15. The Honorable Jimmy Carter
Former President of the United States of America (1977-1981)

16. The Honorable Joaquim Chissano (1986-2005)
Former President of Mozambique

17. The Honorable Carlo Azelio Ciampi
Former President of Italy (1999-2006)
Former Prime Minister of Italy (1993-1994)
Senator for Life (2006-Present)

18. The Honorable Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Former Prime Minister of Poland (1996-1997)

19. The Honorable Emil Constantinescu
Former President of Romania (1996-2000)

20. The Honorable Roberto Dañino
Former Prime Minister of Peru (2001-2002)

21. The Honorable Joseph Deiss
Former President of Switzerland (1994)

22. The Honorable Philip Dimitrov
Former Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1991-1992)

23. The Honorable Abdou Diouf
Former President of Senegal (1981-2000)

24. The Honorable Jacques Delors
Former President of the European Commission (1985-1995)

25. The Honorable Mikuláš Dzurinda
Former Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic (1998-2006)

26. The Honorable Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin
Former Prime Minister of Mongolia (1998, 2004-2006)

27. The Honorable José María Figueres
Former President of Costa Rica (1994-1998)

28. The Honorable Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Former President of Iceland (1980-1996)

29. The Honorable Vicente Fox
Former President of Mexico (2000-2006)

30. The Honorable César Gaviria
Former President of Colombia (1990-1994)

31. The Honorable Eugenijus Gentvilas
Former Prime Minister of Lithuania (2001)

32. The Honorable Árpád Göncz
Former President of Hungary (1990-2000)

33. The Honorable Mikhail Gorbachev
Former President of the Soviet Union (1990-1991)

34. The Honorable Inder Kumar Gujral
Former Prime Minister of India (1997-1998)

35. The Honorable Václav Havel
Former President of the Czech Republic (1990-2003)

36. The Right Honourable John Howard AC
Former Prime Minister of Australia (1996-2007)

37. The Honorable Anneli Jäätteenmäki
Former Prime Minister of Finland (2003)

38. The Honorable Thorbjørn Jagland
Former Prime Minister of Norway (1996-1997)

39. The Honorable Lionel Jospin
Former Prime Minister of France (1997-2002)

40. The Honorable Kim Dae-jung
Former President of South Korea (1998-2003)

41. The Honorable Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar
Former President of Chile (2000-2006)

42. The Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser AC CH
Former Prime Minister of Australia (1975-1983)

43. The Honorable Osvaldo Hurtado
Former President of Ecuador (1981-1984)

44. The Honorable Jarosław Kaczyński
Former Prime Minister of Poland (2006-2007)

45. The Honorable Girija Prasad Koirala
Former Prime Minister of Nepal (1991-1994, 1998-1999, 2000-2001, 2006-2008)

46. The Honorable Junichiro Koizumi
Former Prime Minister of Japan (2001-2006)

47. The Honorable Wim Kok
Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1994-2002)

48. The Honorable Ivan Kostov
Former Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1997-2001)

49. The Honorable Milan Kucan
Former President of Slovenia (1990-2002)

50. The Honorable Vytautas Landsbergis
Former President of Lithuania (1990-1992)

51. The Honorable Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
Former President of Sri Lanka (1994-2005)
Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (1994)

52. The Honorable Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Former President of Poland (1995-2005)

53. The Honorable Mart Laar
Former Prime Minister of Estonia (1992-1994, 1999-2002)

54. The Honorable Zlatko Lagumdžija
Former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001-2002)

55. The Honorable Lee Hae Chan
Former Prime Minister of South Korea (2004-2006)

56. The Honorable Lee Hong-Koo
Former Prime Minister of South Korea (1994-1995)

57. The Honorable Ruud Lubbers
Former Prime Minister of The Netherlands (1982-1994)

58. The Honorable Ferenc Mádl
Former President of Hungary (2000-2005)

59. The Right Honourable Paul Martin
Former Prime Minister of Canada (2003-2006)

60. The Honorable Pandeli Majko
Former Prime Minister of Albania (1998-1999, 2002)

61. The Right Honourable Sir John Major, KG CH PC
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1990-1997)

62. The Honorable Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Former Prime Minister of Poland (1989-1991)

63. The Honorable Péter Medgyessy
Former Prime Minister of Hungary (2002-2004)

64. The Honorable Rexhep Meidani
Former President of Albania (1997-2002)

65. The Honorable Aleksandër Gabriel Meksi
Former Prime Minister of Albania (1992-1997)

66. The Honorable Ilir Meta
Former Prime Minister of Albania (1999-2002)

67. The Honorable Konstantinos Mitsotakis
Former Prime Minister of Greece (1990-1993)

68. The Honorable Benjamin Mkapa
Former President of Tanzania (1995-2005)

69. The Honorable Alfred Spiro Moisiu Former President of Albania (2002-2007)

70. The Honorable António Manuel Mascarenhas Monteiro
Former President of Cape Verde (1991-2001)

71. The Honorable Mike Moore
Former Prime Minister of New Zealand (1990)

72. The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney
Former Prime Minister of Canada (1984-1993)

73. The Honorable Fatos Thanas Nano
Former Prime Minister of Albania (1991, 1997-1998, 2002-2005)

74. The Honorable Odvar Nordli
Former Prime Minister of Norway (1976-1981)

75. The Honorable Davíð Oddsson
Former Prime Minister of Iceland (1991-2004)

76. The Honorable Karl Auguste Offmann
Former President of Mauritius (2002-2003)

77. The Honorable Viktor Orbán
Former Prime Minister of Hungary (1998-2002)

78. The Honorable Andres Pastrana Former President of Colombia (1998-2002)

79. The Honorable Göran Persson
Former Prime Minister of Sweden (1996-2006)

80. The Honorable Lojze Peterle
Former Prime Minister of Slovenia (1990-1992)

81. The Honorable Petr Pithart
Former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (1990-1992)

82. The Honorable Romano Prodi
Former Prime Minister of Italy (1996-1998, 2006-2008)
Former President of the European Commission (1999-2004)

83. The Honorable Fidel V. Ramos
Former President of the Philippines (1992-1998)

84. The Honorable Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
Former President of Chile (1994-2000)
Senator for Life (2000-Present)

85. The Honorable Konstantinos Simitis
Former Prime Minister of Greece (1996-2004)

86. The Honorable Konstantinos Stephanopoulos
Former President of Greece (1995-2005)

87. The Honorable José Ramos-Horta
Former Prime Minister of Timor-Leste (2006-2007)
President of Timor-Leste (2008-Present)

88. The Honorable Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
Former Prime Minister of Denmark (1993-2001)

89. The Honorable Mary Robinson
Former President of Ireland (1990-1997)

90. The Honorable Roh Moo-Hyun
Former President of South Korea (2003-2008)

91. The Honorable Arnold Rüütel
Former President of Estonia (2001-2006)

92. The Honorable Michel Rocard
Former Prime Minister of France (1988-1991)

93. The Honorable Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé
Former President of the Republic of Bolivia (2005-2006)

94. The Honorable Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
Former President of Bolivia (1993-1997, 2002-2003)

95. The Honorable Amos Claudius Sawyer
Former President of Liberia (1990-1994)

96. The Honorable Jennifer Shipley
Former Prime Minister of New Zealand (1997-1999)

97. The Honorable Vladimír Špidla
Former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (2002-2004)

98. The Honorable Levon Ter-Petrossian
Former President of Armenia (1991-1998)

99. The Honorable Malam Bacai Sanhá
Former President of Guinea-Bissau (1999-2000)

100. The Honorable Petar Stoyanov
Former President of Bulgaria (1997-2002)

101. The Honorable Andres Tarand
Former Prime Minister of Estonia (1994-1995)

102. The Right Honourable Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1979-1990)

103. The Honorable Alejandro Toledo
Former President of Peru (2001-2006)

104. The Honorable Ung Huot
Former Prime Minister of Cambodia (1997-1998)

105. The Honorable Cassam Uteem
Former President of Mauritius (1992-2002)

106. The Honorable Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
Former President of Latvia (1999-2007)

107. The Honorable Richard von Weizsäcker
Former President of Germany (1984-1994)

108. The Honorable Abdurrahman Wahid
Former President of Indonesia (1991-2001)

109. The Honorable Lech Wałęsa
Former President of Poland (1990-1995)

110. The Honorable Kåre Willoch
Former Prime Minister of Norway (1981-1986)

111. The Honorable Albert Zafy
Former President of Madagascar (1993-1996)

112. The Honorable Ernesto Zedillo
Former President of Mexico (1994-2000)

FOR WHOM THE AID COMES IN

The victims of the cyclone Nargis in the delta region, Lower Burma are facing problems of lack of food, water, shelter and clothing. They do not receive aid materials sufficiently. Neither do they get treatment for cyclone-borne injury. Also they are suffering from disease relevant to contaminated water resulted from delaying of removing and destruction of the human corpses and dead animals. Although it is desperately needed to save the people, to cleanse the water by removing dead bodies – or it may effect harmfully the environment – to distribute relief materials from both national and international communities to the victims, the Junta is deliberately disturbing local aid volunteers and blocking international relieve experts.

Not only that Burmese Junta is trying to delay the process of receiving international aid and aid workers, but also that China is opposing in the UN Security Council Meeting against the plan to invade Burma to distribute necessary aid to victims effectively. Whereas, China received international aid for their victims of recent earthquake that shook in Sichuan Province, central China, only one week after the cyclone Nargis. We are wondering why China is trying to hamper the world’s humanitarian effort towards Burmese people who are under horrendous catastrophic disaster. Why are they supporting inhuman military Government without any regard, any sympathy and any empathy to the Burmese people? What is benefit to them for such evil doing? It is humiliation to our people. Also I think it is a criminal. Yet they are not shy in the face of international community.

Now we have learnt that relief teams from the UN, US, Britain and France are standing by in the Thailand water that shares border with Burmese territorial water. They are waiting for permission to enter Burmese water. In such a situation of catastrophic disaster, does it necessary to get permission from such useless and illegal Government, the Junta? I think saving peoples’ life is more important than the Junta’s approval.

Is the UN a nominal organization without practical work? Is it not a trusty-worthy and dependable organization for all people of the world? In stead of being an organization to observe justice among member countries and to assist necessarily with humanitarian aid to all people of the world, it is now just hesitating and wavering to walk along the right way. The UN and international community are negotiating with Burmese authority – just time consuming – to save the people while the death toll increasing day by day due to lack adequate aid materials. Useless organization!

Objection by China in the UN Security Council Meeting against such a humanitarian relief effort is shameful. Its donation to Burma is just a couple of million US$ worth; a paltry sum; at near base in the donation graph. Why do they want to interfere into other country’s internal affair which does not concern with politics? All of our people except the malignant Junta and its colleagues want invasion of the US, the UN and international community into the country to save victims.

They always use the word “internal affair” over Burmese issue. This is just a pure internal and humanitarian affair. Why did they object the international relief efforts for Burmese catastrophe while accepting donation from abroad for their earthquake disaster? Ridiculous! Two situations are completely contrary. This is Chinese policy revealing low morality, low attitude of it. We accuse the Chinese Government of killing our people together with Burmese slaughter Generals. The Chinese Government also must pay back later for it a lot like Than Shwe and his followers. Who can say there will not be a overwhelm boycott of the world to their 2008 Olympic? This will be under nature’s process. Bad deed begets misery and ruins.

Now, it was more than two weeks away that the cyclone Nargis hit the Delta region. Since then, a considerable amount of relief aid from abroad could not arrive at the hands of the victims. Victim’s situation is deteriorating; more and more people will die under insignificant change of international relief policy. Death toll will, according to the UN and other organizations’ prediction, swell over 220,000 – more than that of Bangladesh cyclone that hit in 1991 losing just over 138,000 lives – and it is the worst devastating situation in Burmese history.

We, Burmese people, ask international community for urgent relief efforts including relief experts and workers to enter Burma so that they can distribute necessary aids effectively and save our people from extremely dangerous situation resulting from a lack of food, clean water, proper treatment, medicine, shelter and clothing. Otherwise, great tragedy will happen in this civilized world because of irrational beings, the Burmese Junta.

Shwe Sea Sar (Yangon)

(COURTESY OF DR. LUN SWE IN MAE SOT, THAILAND)

"The downpour is ours"

The first cut of the monetary donations go to the military junta and the Army members received the second cut. The third cut is for cronies of the junta. How much do you think the survivors of the Nargis Cyclone get? The cartoon shows the donation which is meant for them has been robbed by the junta and its followers.

REFERENDUM BEFORE RELIEF

The paranoid military regime in Burma is going too far and degrade itself again by revealing its true nature. This time the military thieves irresponsibly ignore the survivors of Nargis Cyclone and shamelessly collecting ballots from people in the light of people mourning for victims of the castastrophe. To make it worst, in some locations the axe handles (cronies of the regime such as Kyantphut and Sunareshin members) are using force to obtain "Yes" vote to the ridiculous constitution drawn by the regime. They even beat and threaten the people who are reluctantly giving votes to them in the time of mourning for the death of thousands of people whose lives were taken away by the recent cyclone. The authorities also robbed the relief aids that was given by foreign organizations. They hoard the relief goods in the warehouses of military units and later distributed to Army members. Quality and nutritous food go to Tamadaw members and for the survivors of cyclone the authorities provide unqualified local food. manufactured by the government factories, to the survivors who are mostly farmers by profession. These farmers are paddy growers of the delta and the rice have to be handed over to the government depots after the harvest. Then the junta exports to foreign countries in order to get hard money. Finally, all the profits went into the pockets of top brass. As a gesture of gratitude to the farmers the junta is refusing most external aids that is meant for the survivors. The junta also ban journalists and relief aid workers to go to the cyclon-affected areas. It is ridiculous that donors inside as well as outside have to plead the regime in order that their relief goods go through. Worst of all, the UN is calling for an emergency meeting to make convince the mily. government for accepting the aids that are flowing in from many countries. The regime does not care about the people. What they care is only for their own interests and to stay long in power. They are regarding their own people as enemies because people have demanded freedom and human rights in last September. The regime responded them with bullets and many people, including students and monks were crushed down in the Saffron Movement. With the firm backing of Chinese government, the military regime is running amok and creating chaos and killing fields in the midst of pleading by the UN and international community. All the leaders of resistance movements are now in the prison and the opposition leader is under house arrest. What can people do now? They would not risk their lives as they believe nothing will be changed. As China becomes one of her important economic allies, the United States can only pay lip services in supporting Burmese people who are in distress. Also what can the UN do? Nothing more than passing a resolution (like previous years) that cannot remove the regime that gives trouble not only to its own country but also to the regions. The military junta will never pay attention to the UN or international community. Unless Burmese people cannot remove the military junta by themselves (as nobody from outside is going to help effectively) let the devil continue ruling the country until the entire nation faces the utter destruction.

BOYCOTT BEIJING 2008 OLYMPICS