Interesting Times in Burma

Tuesday, 11 September 2007, 11:19 am
Column: Scoop Blogwatch
Scoop Blogwatch: Burmese Dayze

http://burmesedayze.blogspot.com/

Further Goings-On in the Golden Land

Sunday, September 9

The past week has seen a series of developments in the ongoing protests at the fuel price increases announced 3 weeks ago. Some of the news might be construed as hopeful, but much of it is going to be bad news for the long-suffering people of Burma.

First of all, the manhunt for various members of the 88 Generation student movement (OK, they're not students anymore, they're approaching 40 years of age) continues. The government press is vilifying them, trying to implicate them in a series of bombs that went off 2 years ago in Yangon, and saying that Htay Kywe, one of the 88 Generation leaders, is being hidden by agents of "a powerful country" (step forward the United States). I'm amazed and heartened by the fact that anyone has escaped the dragnet. Aung San Suu Kyi is being demonized as well for "destabilizing" the country. Her house, on the other hand, is sporting some fresh paint and NLD flags on its outer compound walls, so somebody is willing to risk arrest by showing support for her.

Meanwhile, rumour has it that one of the arrested 88 Generation dissidents, Kyaw Min Yu, otherwise known as Ko Jimmy, has died as a result of being tortured in police custody. As well, Kyaw Kyaw Htwe and Min Zeya, prominent dissidents arrested at the outset of the protests, are said to be in hospital as a result of the torture they've received. One protest leader, Ye Thein Naing, whose leg was broken during his arrest was released two days ago after a hunger strike by his fellow arrestees.

In an unrelated development, 6 young labour organizers were just sentenced on Saturday to long jail terms for organizing a seminar at the American Center in Yangon in May. Thurein Aung, Wai Lin, Myo Min and Kyaw Win were sentenced to 28 years in prison. Nyi Nyi Zaw and Kyaw Kyaw were given 20 years in jail. The government hates the American Centre and has accused the English teachers there of interfering in internal affairs by teaching courses in "Journalism and Ethics" and allowing members of the National League for Democracy to take courses at the Centre.

In other news, apparently 4 home-made primitive bombs were found last week at Yangon's central Bogyoke market. They were crude flour-and-cotton contraptions, but the authorities banned taxi traffic into the market for a while in order to lessen the chances of more bombs being brought in. There were a series of bomb attacks two years ago at shopping centres, but nothing more of that sort since then.

There have been no new protests in Yangon this week, but protests have spread around the country. The most spectacular protest was in the central town of Pakkoku, near Bagan. On Wednesday, 100 monks marched to protest the fuel price increases, and police and army units fired shots over their heads to disperse them, while beating three monks severely. Beating up monks is a big no-no in such a devoutly Buddhist country, so the next morning 20 government and army officials went to the monastery to apologize. The monks dragged the officials inside and held them hostage all day, burning the officials' vehicles to punctuate their protest. Apparently townspeople came to the monastery and shouted slogans supporting the monks. The officials were released unharmed late in the afternoon. The next day (Friday) a group of monks went into downtown Pakokku and smashed up a shop owned by a government official, so tensions remain high in Pakokku.

An unconfirmed rumour I heard on Saturday is that Pyay, a city on the Irrawaddy River halfway from Pakokku to Yangon, is under martial law, with troops patrolling the streets, after protests on Friday. I don't know if it's true, but it would be nice to know that protests are continuing and not dying out. Another report culled from the Internet says that 50 people have been arrested for their role in protests in various towns in central Myanmar.

I'll do my best to keep posting snippets of information here on the blog as things develop.

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Interesting Times in Burma

Rangoon, September 2, 2007

I feel as though I’m living in a Chinese curse: may you live in interesting times. The last couple of weeks have been full of interest on the political and economic front, although little of it seems to affect my everyday existence here. There actually seems to be more news about Burma and local goings-on in the international media than is noticeable to the casual observer on the street.

It had been a quiet few months here, ever since some tension in May at the time of the renewal of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest. The monsoon rains arrived and kept people off the streets and out of politics for a while. Even the August 8th anniversary (it was 19 years since the popular uprisings of 8-8-88 which started the process that resulted two years later in the National League for Democracy winning the elections which were ignored by the generals) passed fairly uneventfully, although communications did become much dodgier than usual for a day or two beforehand. I think that most people, although they despise the government for its brutality, kleptocracy and economic incompetence, have resigned themselves to their inability to influence political events in any way. It’s not that people are apathetic; they simply make the informed decision that political activity is not worth the personal risk.

Often, in history, popular uprisings and revolutions are sparked less by political events than by economic changes. Two weeks ago people woke up one morning to find that the price of fuel had gone through the roof. Government-subsidized gasoline went from 1500 kyat (about US$1.20) a gallon to 2500 kyat. Government-subsidized diesel went from 1500 to 3000 kyat. Compressed natural gas, a popular fuel for taxis and buses, went from 50 kyat a litre to 250 kyat a litre, a 400% increase. Bus fares tripled overnight; a typical ticket went from 50 kyat to 150 kyat (4 cents to 12 cents), which doesn’t sound like a huge increase until you realize that most workers here earn about 1000 kyat a day. If your daily bus fare goes from 100 kyat to 300 kyat, you’ve just lost 20 percent of your daily wage. People were incensed, not least because they had had no warning at all.

For the first time since I’ve been here, there’s been a sequence of protests. It began out in an industrial suburb where workers at a garment factory staged some sort of strike the day after the fuel price increases. There are different stories going around: some say that lots of workers didn’t show up for work because they couldn’t afford the new bus fares, while other people say that they walked out for a day to demand higher pay. Official figures for anything are hard to come by, and official economic figures that make any sense are harder still to find, but the best estimate I’ve heard is that inflation here was running at 35% before the fuel price increases, so unless workers get a pay increase, they will have lost 35% of their purchasing power in the last year.

After that, on the first weekend after the fuel price shock, a sizeable protest march wound its way from the northern suburbs almost to the downtown area, walking quietly along a main road, gathering members from passing buses who realized a protest against the fuel hikes was going on. That went off peacefully, and I hear that there were 500 participants or so. There were calls for a larger nation-wide protest on the following Wednesday, but nothing came of it. However, since then there have been almost daily protests, mostly small and low-key.

I’ve been checking out the various news sources to see what I can glean from the world press. The local media hasn’t been too forthcoming about protests, although they’ve played up the arrests that they’ve made of various dissidents and political leaders. Interestingly, they haven’t even reported the price increases; only good news appears in the government press. So I’m left in the ironic position of only knowing what’s going on inside the country by reading what’s published outside its borders. This is what I’ve picked up so far.

A week and a half ago, on Tuesday, August 21st, the government struck to forestall the next day’s planned protests by arresting 13 prominent dissidents, including Min Ko Naing, Min Zeya and Ko Ko Gyi, the most prominent members of the 88 Generation dissident movement, and after Aung San Suu Kyi probably the best-known anti-government figures. Min Ko Naing was in prison for over a decade until 2004, and is again now, locked up in the notorious Insein Prison. Aung San Suu Kyi is world-famous thanks to her Nobel Peace Prize, but these brave figures continue the struggle for human decency and human rights in relative obscurity. I hope that the Nobel committee one day (it’s not too late for this year!) honour some of these brave souls who dare to stand up and be counted. All of them face up to 20 years in prison for endangering the security of the state, as well as a high likelihood of being beaten and tortured while in police custody.

The protests continued on a small scale that week, and the government initiated a new tactic to deal with them. Rather than have police do the dirty work, members of a shadowy pro-government militia known as the Swaan Aah Shin have been stationed at places where protests are supposed to take place. When marchers congregate, the tough guys in the militia, armed with bamboo sticks and broom handles, wade into the crowd and rough up the marchers before the police load them into waiting trucks. There are reports that the government has released a number of violent non-political prisoners to swell the ranks of the militia, rather like the Romanian government used to truck in coal miners to beat up demonstrators.

This militia has been more prominent in recent years. The infamous attack on Aung San Suu Kyi’s convoy in 2003 (in which up to 70 people may have died and which may have been an assassination attempt on The Lady) was carried out by this militia, which is under the control of the Orwellianly-named Union Solidarity and Development Authority, a vast pro-government network with tentacles extending into every village. The government is trying to deal with this year’s protests in a less overtly bloodthirsty manner than it displayed in 1988-90, in which thousands of peaceful demonstrators were gunned down in the streets, in a foreshadowing of what was to come in neighbouring China in the 1989 Tian An Men massacre.

On Sunday, August 26th, a week ago, the government swooped again, detaining Htin Kyaw, a man who had already been detained several times earlier this year for organizing the electricity protests. After further small-scale protests on Monday and Tuesday, there was a further series of arrests on Wednesday night as police searched for some of Htin Kyaw’s dissident colleagues. There are reports of house-to-house searches in some neighbourhoods, and of pictures of wanted activists being circulated to all guest houses and bus stations as the government tries to close the net on those organizers still at large.

So who has evaded the government’s tender mercies? Su Su Nway, a labour organizer, narrowly escaped a thrashing and arrest on Tuesday and is now underground. Two of her labour colleagues, Ma Mee Mee and M Nee Lar, are also underground. Aung Moe Min, one of the organizers of the recent protests, is still at liberty, and giving interviews by mobile phone to the world press. Mie Mie, one of the Generation 88 leaders, has not been captured yet. Another prominent Generation 88 figure, Htay Khwe, is underground and is reputed to have made his way to Thailand. Somewhere between 50 and 100 dissidents and activists haven’t been so lucky, though, and are being put through the wringer by police as I write, probably undergoing beatings and torture before they are sent to prison.

What about the rest of the country? There have been reports from Sittwe, in the west, of a large march of up to 300 Buddhist monks a few days ago. Bago, the old Mon capital 80 kilometres north of Yangon, saw a demonstration as well, as did Pathein, the major city of the Irrawaddy Delta. Anti-government posters have appeared in central towns like Taunggok. Not exactly a tsunami of protest, but the fact that it exists at all is a huge surprise and a testament of the fundamental strength of the human desire for decency and fairness.

The large Burmese communities living in Singapore and Bangkok have not been quiet. There were protests outside the Burmese embassies in those cities; the Singapore protests were suppressed after a few days to avoid embarrassing a fellow ASEAN country.

Meanwhile the streets seem very much as they were three weeks ago, with scant evidence of protest or discontent. What I have noticed is that there are more bicycles, pedestrians and cycle rickshaws in evidence; I think that some folks have given up on the expense of public transport or taxis and are using human power rather than fossil fuels to get around.

So small-scale marches and protests continue, 20 or 50 people walking quietly along to protest economic grievances, displaying great bravery in the face of the risk of arrest, beating and torture. It’s hardly on a scale to make the government quake in fear, but the fact that it’s taking place at all is amazing given the machinery that exists to crush dissent here. Let’s see what the next few weeks and months bring.

PS Just as I was posting this, I saw a report that a planned 200-km protest walk from the Irrawaddy Delta to Rangoon was quashed at the outset, with three protestors carted off. As well, the government has a Top 8 Most Wanted list, which includes those dissidents mentioned above.

SBY declines Bush's climate change invitation

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Sydney

Political opponents including former president Megawati Soekarnoputri have accused President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of being controlled by western countries, especially the United States.

On Monday, the President proved that he could say, "No," to U.S. President George W. Bush when domestic interests are at stake.

Later this month his opponents will closely watch how Yudhoyono handles an invitation to Bush's private ranch in Texas, along with other regional leaders.

Yudhoyono, the host of the December UN conference on climate change in Bali, is scheduled to fly to New York to attend a special United Nations session on the issue.

In a media briefing before lunch with Australian Prime Minister John Howard here, the President disclosed that he had politely turned down Bush's invitation. So have the other leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The refusal came just after Bush offered US$20 million in aid to rehabilitate Indonesian forests.

While saying that Bush's invitation needed to be discussed further with his fellow ASEAN leaders, Yudhoyono emphasized there were places other than Texas if the American president wanted to meet his ASEAN counterparts.

"Should we come to the United States for such a meeting ...? There are so many international fora where we can also meet," Yudhoyono said.

A senior Indonesian official said the invitation would create domestic and regional consequences. By going to Texas, the public could perceive leaders of Indonesia and other ASEAN nations were reporting directly to the American leader.

In the meantime, it is clear that Bush will exclude Myanmar from his guest list. While ASEAN shares international concern over human rights abuses in Myanmar, they insist that the Myanmar issue be resolved by ASEAN itself.

Bush conveyed the invitation to ASEAN leaders when he invited them for a lunch on Friday, before they attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Saturday and Sunday here. Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei and Thailand are members of APEC, while Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are not.

ASEAN leaders have expressed disappointment with Bush's failure to come to a planned meeting in Singapore just before the APEC summit in Sydney. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also skipped the annual ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting with her counterparts in Manila in July. As a consolation Bush appointed a special envoy to ASEAN.

President Yudhoyono himself met with Bush on Saturday.

Myanmar pro-democracy group vows to keep up resistance

BANGKOK: A Myanmar-based pro-democracy group involved in rare protests against the country’s military rulers on Monday vowed to continue resisting the junta despite a crackdown on its members.

Seventeen members of the 88 Generation Students group, made up of former student leaders who led an uprising against military rule in 1988, have been arrested since an August 19 rally in Yangon over a massive hike in fuel prices. Human rights groups have said at least 100 more people have been detained in a violent crackdown on dissent over the past three weeks.

“We believe that no Myanmar people ... will accept these acts of political violence by the military government,” the 88 Generation group said in a statement emailed to media in Thailand over the weekend. “We, the 88 Generation Students, together with people including monks, students, workers and farmers, will continue our efforts to remove the military dictatorship by firmly resisting any kind of arrest and torture.”

The group said their aim was to peacefully take a stand against the junta and economic hardships in impoverished Myanmar, where the economy has been run into the ground by more than 45 years of military rule. Amnesty International estimates that about 150 people have been arrested across Myanmar after the biggest anti-junta march in at least nine years. afp

UN to send envoy to Burma

New York (dpa) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday his special envoy will visit Burmain mid-October to pursue UN efforts to bring democracy and human rights to that nation.

Ibrahim Gambari last visited Myanmar in 2006 as the chief UN political advisor, but will return there as Ban's envoy following a round of discussion he had held recently with several Asian governments on ways to improve conditions for people living under an authoritarian military regime.

"I am fully committed to working toward the full democratisation" of Burma, Ban said.

"Let's hope that the government in Myanmar will fully democratise their country, and respect and uphold the aspiration of international community, particularly the release of Madame Aung San Suu Kyi," Ban said.

Myanmar is the name given to Burma by the military regime.

Suu Kyi, leader of the National League of Democracy, has been kept under house arrest by the military regime for more than a decade since she won a presidential election.

The UN has criticised the Burmese regime for excluding opposition political parties in national dialogue and in the drafting of a constitution.

The military authorities have rejected repeated UN appeals for the release of Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democracy fight in Burma.

Myanmar’s Protests Trigger Reform Hopes

September 11, 2007

Prepared by:	Jayshree Bajoria

Pro-democracy activists banded together in Yangon, Myanmar, but police arrested many in their ranks. (AP Images)

A series of protests (CSMonitor) by Buddhist monks and students in Myanmar summoned memories of much larger anti-government demonstrations nearly twenty years ago. The country, which until recently was known as Burma, responded to 1988 protests by launching a bloody crackdown and suppressing budding pro-democracy movements. Shortly thereafter, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested and her party’s victory in 1990 elections was never acknowledged.

Despite this history, democracy activists in Myanmar remain hopeful the latest disturbances, triggered by fuel price rises, could heighten international pressures (TIME) on Myanmar’s military regime. Reports indicate the rush of bad publicity (IHT) generated after the crackdown may have led to the release of a political prisoner. At the same time, however, officials moved to tighten restrictions (AP) on activists and blamed the unrest on Western support for democracy groups.

The timing of the protests is significant. The military junta recently wrapped up a fourteen-year constitutional convention, which the government cites as proof of its sincerity (Myanmar Times) in pursuing reforms. The Economist disputes this conclusion, however, saying the convention only further entrenched the regime’s rule.

Myanmar’s disturbances also revived concerns in Washington, which earlier this year led a push for UN Security Council pressure on Myanmar’s government. But Russia and China vetoed the proposed measures, saying the situation did not warrant Council action. Now it is unclear whether Bush will seek to revive Security Council pressures, though he did respond sharply (AP) to the government’s crackdown on protestors.

Myanmar has long been cited by human rights groups for severe abuses. A 2003 Council Task Force report deemed the country “one of the most tightly controlled dictatorships in the world.” The latest disturbances highlight a less-discussed problem—the plummeting of the country’s economy under a succession of military regimes since 1962. A UN index of human development standards in 2006 ranked Myanmar 130 of 177 countries.

Despite U.S. and EU sanctions, Myanmar’s junta has been bolstered by ties to India and China. Beijing and New Delhi compete for access to Myanmar’s giant offshore gas fields and natural resources such as timber and minerals. A recent report says China’s diplomatic support of Myanmar appears to have played a role in winning a gas contract for PetroChina.

Beyond energy, India also seeks strengthened ties with Myanmar’s regime on counterterrorism and defense as part of its “Look East” policy (WorldPress.org). Given these circumstances, a working paper (PDF) by the United States Institute of Peace says the United States and EU countries may find greater success if they work through Myanmar’s economic partners to apply additional pressure on political and human rights reforms.

US demands access to Myanmar's prisoners amid brutality claims

Myanmese activists shout slogans during a protest in the northern outskirts of the capital Yangon, August 2007. The United States demanded Tuesday that Myanmar's military junta allow international access to prisoners following reports that many arrested pro-democracy protestors have been brutally beaten.

Related News

• US: Provide Access to Detained Burmese
  The Associated Press - 19 hours ago
• US urges humanitarian access to Myanmar prisoners
  Reuters India - Sep 11, 2007

Full coverage »

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States demanded Tuesday that Myanmar's military junta allow international access to prisoners following reports that many arrested pro-democracy protestors have been brutally beaten.

More than 150 Myanmar citizens have been detained as the military launched a violent crackdown on a rare string of anti-government protests, which erupted on August 19 in anger at a large hike in fuel prices.

"We are concerned for (their) well-being," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, referring to the jailed protestors.

"Multiple reports indicate that many of these protestors have been brutally beaten and interrogated," he said in a statement.

The United States, he said, called on the junta "to allow access to prisoners by international humanitarian organizations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross."

Washington also renewed its call for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Its military generals, who have ruled since 1962, do not tolerate even the slightest show of public dissent.

Among the latest detainees was Min Ko Naing, considered Myanmar's most prominent pro-democracy leader after detained opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Min Ko Naing and 12 activists were sent to Myanmar's notorious Insein prison in northern Yangon, home to some of the nation's estimated 1,100 political prisoners. Rights groups say torture is rampant at Insein.

Amnesty International said the new detainees were "at risk of torture and other ill-treatment, which is commonly reported during interrogation and pre-trial detention in Myanmar."

"The authorities should also ensure that none are tortured or ill-treated in detention, and provide medical care for those injured during the violent break-up of demonstrations," the rights group said earlier this month.

Several of the detained protesters had launched a hunger strike to demand medical treatment for a colleague whose leg was broken when he was arrested after a protest on August 28.

They ended the hunger strike last week after the victim was finally granted treatment.

U.S. urges humanitarian access to Myanmar prisoners

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States demanded on Tuesday that Myanmar let humanitarian groups visit people arrested in recent protests against fuel price increases, citing unspecified reports they have been brutally beaten.

More than 150 people have been arrested since August 19, when the fuel protests began in Myanmar. The military has ruled the country, formerly known as Burma, for the past 45 years, and the authorities have long been accused of human rights abuses.

"We are concerned for the well-being of the more than 150 Burmese citizens detained since August 19 for their participation in a series of peaceful protests against dramatically increased fuel prices in Burma," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.

"Multiple reports indicate that many of these protesters have been brutally beaten and interrogated," he added. "We call upon the Burmese regime to allow access to prisoners by international humanitarian organizations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and renew our call for the immediate release of all political prisoners."

The latest crackdown in Myanmar has been one of the harshest since the army crushed a nationwide uprising of monks, students and government workers in 1988, when around 3,000 people are thought to have been killed.

The United States has labeled Myanmar an "outpost of tyranny" and imposed economic sanctions, but the junta has avoided total isolation by using its vast natural gas reserves to befriend energy-hungry China and India.

Rights of expression and association must be protected: UN

Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

September 11, 2007 - Appreciation of the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and association are vital to any successful democratic transition and national reconciliation inside Burma, according to a ranking United Nations official.

"There will be no progress in Myanmar's political transition unless people have space to express their views openly and peacefully," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said in a statement issued on Friday.

Recognition of the freedoms of expression and association are the "touchstones of human rights", continued Arbour.

The High Commissioner also repeated her call for the Burmese government to release all political prisoners, over 150 of who have been detained since protests began on August 19th in response to rising energy, transport and commodity costs.

Arbour spoke critically of the propensity of the regime to mete out violence against the protestors, singling out the poor treatment shown toward monks.

Meanwhile Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, at a press conference yesterday and in reply as to whether or not he intended to follow through on Laura Bush's request for the Secretary General to involve himself more directly in seeking action on Burma, told reporters of his intent to "soon" dispatch his Special Advisor on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, to the country.

Giving no indication that his approach to addressing Burma is about to change, Ban went on to say, "Let us hope that the Myanmar Government will fully democratize their country, respecting and upholding the aspirations and wishes of the whole international community, particularly the release of Madame Aung San Suu Kyi."

Gambari had recently commented that he expected to return to Burma as early as next month.

The United Nations Human Rights Council commenced its sixth session yesterday. Burma is not party to the Council.

ASEAN at 40: Coming of age or midlife crisis?

Asian Outlook Ralph A. Cossa

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia » ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, turned 40 this summer. Is it facing a midlife crisis? Or is it on the verge of maturing into a more cohesive, more relevant organization capable of promoting peace and stability not only within Southeast Asia but beyond, given its self-proclaimed "driver's seat" role in East Asia community building?

Only time will tell, but there are some encouraging signs that ASEAN could be coming of age, beginning with the creation of an ASEAN Charter to add a "legal personality" and a greater degree of cohesiveness and clarity to earlier efforts to build an ASEAN Community.

ASEAN's Eminent Persons Group had provided the assembled leadership a draft charter at the 2006 annual ASEAN Summit (which was weather-delayed until January 2007) in Cebu, Philippines. Since then an ASEAN High-Level Task Force (HLTF) has been hard at work, refining (read: toning down) some of the more dramatic suggestions -- the controversial section recommending sanctions, including expulsion from ASEAN for those violating the charter, has reportedly already been dropped. The EPG also had recommended that ASEAN relax its style of decision making by full consensus; it remains to be seen if this suggestion, and one opposing "extra-constitutional" methods of changing government, will make the final cut.

One controversial provision that apparently did make the cut when ASEAN's foreign ministers reviewed the task force's work last month was the establishment of a Human Rights Commission, over initial objections by Myanmar (Burma), among others. While the final version has not yet been seen -- it is scheduled to be unveiled and approved at the November 2007 ASEAN Summit in Singapore -- the charter is expected to "accelerate ASEAN integration" while making it a more "rules based" organization.

More good news came in the naming of former Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan as ASEAN's next secretary general, effective Jan. 1. Surin, a Muslim, is seen as a proactive supporter of greater constructive engagement both within ASEAN and between ASEAN and its neighbors. There is no questioning his energy, enthusiasm and commitment; what remains to be seen is how much of a collective voice he will be able to employ, and to what end.

As part of its coming-of-age process, ASEAN is also developing a plan of action to further enhance its 10-year-old Treaty of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, which prohibits the development, testing or basing of nuclear weapons within its territories, while permitting nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. I would offer a suggestion to those tasked with drawing up the implementation plan: namely, an amendment to the SEANWFZ that would prohibit reprocessing or enrichment activities within the region, thus closing one of the current Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty "loopholes" that has contributed to the current difficulties with North Korea and Iran. This should increase the treaty's attractiveness to those non-states parties, including the United States, that have not yet acceded to the treaty.

Meanwhile, Washington's relations with ASEAN have never been deeper or appeared more shallow. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, at last month's annual ASEAN Regional Forum meeting, marked the 30th anniversary of U.S.-ASEAN relations by further refining and strengthening the Enhanced Partnership Plan of Action signed between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her ASEAN counterparts in July 2006.

The enhanced partnership complements a U.S.-ASEAN agreement that established a regular and formal dialogue on trade and investment matters and a joint work plan to enhance two-way trade that exceeded $168 billion last year. Collectively, ASEAN is America's fourth-largest trading partner; to date, U.S. companies have invested nearly $90 billion in ASEAN countries.

That's the good news. Unfortunately, when it comes to U.S.-ASEAN relations, form has not matched substance. Secretary Rice missed her second ASEAN regional meeting this year, and President Bush canceled the full U.S.-ASEAN Summit. As a result, Bush's third summit with the "ASEAN Seven" -- the ASEAN members of APEC (less Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar) -- appears to be a consolation prize, rather than another significant step forward, and one frequently hears the accusation that Washington is "neglecting" Southeast Asia, despite the above-cited significant advancements.

To correct this perception, and given that Bush has yet to make his first trip to Asia this year, he should consider visiting Asia coincident with this year's Singaporean-hosted East Asia Summit, to underscore Washington's support for ASEAN's coming-of-age process. It would permit Bush to be invited as a special guest to the EAS while skirting tricky membership questions, thus showing support for East Asian community building as well.

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Ralph A. Cossa is president of the Pacific Forum CSIS, a Honolulu-based nonprofit research institute, and senior editor of Comparative Connections.

Myanmar junta reported to extend watch on monks to stave off protests

YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's junta was reported Tuesday to have extended its watch over Buddhist monasteries in the bustling township of Bago, in an attempt to keep monks from taking part in the most sustained anti-government protests in a decade.

Myanmar's government is facing worldwide condemnation for its hard-line handling of demonstrations that began Aug. 19 to protest fuel price hikes and a rise in the cost of consumer goods. Scores of people have been detained for taking part in demonstrations, which have been broken up by pro-government toughs.

In northern Myanmar last week, monks — angry at being beaten up for protesting — temporarily took officials hostage and later smashed a shop and a house belonging to junta supporters.

According to Mizzima News, a Web site run by exiled Myanmar journalists, monasteries in the city of Bago, also known as Pegu, have been put under close watch by security forces, who also have put members of the opposition National League for Democracy party under surveillance.

It said monks had been prevented from leaving their monasteries in Bago, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Yangon, and one of the country's biggest cities.

Dozens of protesters marched peacefully through Bago last month calling for a cut in prices.

The report could not be independently confirmed, but authorities had already taken similar surveillance measures in Yangon and Mandalay, according to witnesses.

Monks have said they may refuse alms from the military and ignore junta officials and their supporters at official functions if the government does not apologize by next week for their rough treatment in the northern town of Pakokku, according to The Irrawaddy, an independent Thailand-based news magazine that reports on Myanmar, and the pro-democracy group U.S. Campaign For Burma.

The monks — reportedly under the banner of a new organization called the National Front of Monks — are also demanding that authorities cut fuel prices, release all political prisoners and begin negotiations with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratic leaders, the U.S. Campaign For Burma said.

It was impossible to independently verify the front's existence or demands.

Historically, monks in Myanmar, also known as Burma, have been at the forefront of protests — first against British colonialism and later military dictatorship. They also played a prominent part in the failed 1988 pro-democracy rebellion that sought an end to military rule, imposed since 1962. The uprising was brutally crushed by the military.

Myanmar's junta, meanwhile, pleaded with its citizens to stop protesting and to instead express their views through a promised referendum on a new constitution.

"Myanmar's democratic transition is in its infancy, so the nation should take great care to avert possible undesirable consequences," said a commentary in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, which closely reflects official viewpoints.

People should make their stances known when they have a chance to approve a new, yet-to-be-drafted constitution in a national referendum to be held "soon," the paper said.

The government has promised to eventually hold elections.

Earlier this month, the government wrapped up a 14-year national convention to draw up guidelines for a new constitution, the first stage of its seven-step "road map to democracy."

Critics have called the entire process a sham, saying the guidelines ensure the military a prominent role in politics and bar Nobel laureate Suu Kyi from holding elected office.

The junta held general elections in 1990, but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's NLD party won. Suu Kyi has been detained under house for more than 11 of the past 18 years.