Reuters

Tue 4 December 2007

YANGON – Myanmar’s military junta has freed more than 8,500 prisoners, including at least 10 political detainees, official media and opposition sources said on Tuesday.

The releases, which began on Nov. 16 and ended on Monday, were aimed at “forging the national solidarity in the country and cooperation with international communities, including the United Nations,” the New Light

of Myanmar said.

An opposition source said 10 political prisoners were among those freed, but there were no details. Thirty-three Thais were also granted amnesties, the New Light of Myanmar said.

It was not clear if any of 8,552 released were arrested in connection with protests in August and September against soaring fuel prices.

National police chief Khin Yi told a news conference on Monday that 2,927 people, including 596 monks, had been arrested in the crackdown on the biggest anti-junta protests in nearly 20 years.

Eighty people, including 21 monks, remained in detention pending further investigations, he said. Unspecified “legal action” would be taken against those found guilty.

Tue 4 December 2007

WASHINGTON – Myanmar’s Buddhist monks are prepared to face another bloody confrontation with the ruling military junta if the international community fails to force the generals to accept democratic reforms, an exiled monk with links inside Myanmar said on Monday.

US-based Ashin Nayaka, a key member of the International Burmese Monks Organization, said monks were a “symbol of hope” for reforms in Myanmar but were “forcibly disrobed, assaulted and killed” by the junta.

“If this continues unaddressed, further bloody confrontation is unavoidable,” he told a hearing of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a non-partisan panel appointed by the US president and leaders of Congress.

“The very existence of monastic life is being destroyed by the evil military regime and it will face bloodshed again, if the international community, including the UN Security Council, cannot find a collective and effective way to stop this evil regime from killings and arrests,” he said.

Nayaka, a visiting scholar at Columbia University, said he had been working closely with U Gambira, the leader of the Alliance of All Burma Buddhist Monks and key leader of the September protests arrested by the junta last month.

He expressed regret that pressure by the international community on the junta had eased even as serious questions remained over the number of monks forcible disrobed, imprisoned and killed following the protests.

“Where has the global outcry gone? This should be of grave concern for all governments worldwide. This is a moral crisis that Americans must stand for,” he said.

1 Dec 2006

A neighbouring country, Burma, has for years now suffered the turmoil of being in civil war and being dictated by a military regime.

A group of parliamentarians from neighbouring countries, seeing the political stalemate in Burma, have decided to join forces in encouraging its governments to urge the military dictatorship to uphold ASEAN’s principles and practices of democracy.

Now, six representatives of the organisation, the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), will travel to Manila from the 3rd – 6th of December to engage with its partners in the Philippines on the Myanmar (Burma) issue.

The lobby trip, scheduled to take place before the ASEAN Summit, is organised to discourse with the Philippine government, as the current Chair of ASEAN, about the situation in Burma and to advocate for support for the Burmese pro-democracy movement.

The delegation also plans to lobby with legislators (Senate and the House of Representatives) and political parties for continued support for democracy in Burma.

The Philippines, a vibrant country inside Southeast Asia, with a series of political reforms since the popular non-violent EDSA Revolution in 1986, is a great example of democracy-at-work in the region and of continuous efforts for consolidation. As these endeavours are ongoing within the nation, the Burmese peoples’ struggles for democracy and human rights should also be supported and promoted.

Among the dignitaries and officials that the delegation is seeking to meet are President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Cory Aquino, Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Jose C. De Venecia, Jr and Senate President Manny Villar

Among the delegates to Manila are AIPMC MPs; Dr. Buranaj Smutharaks from Thailand, Dr. Muhammad AS Hikam from Indonesia and Mr. Inderjit Singh from Singapore.

For media enquiries please contact;

Roshan Jason (AIPMC Executive Secretary) – +6012-375 0974 or
Congressman Mario ‘Mayong’ Joyo Aguja – +63-9178 5496 33