Indonesian foreign minister urges Myanmar not to renew Suu Kyi’s house arrest

The Associated Press

Published: May 27, 2008

MANILA, Philippines: Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda urged Myanmar’s junta Tuesday to release detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi amid the good will the world has shown in helping the cyclone-devastated nation.

Wirayuda said, however, he was not optimistic that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate would regain her freedom soon, given the junta’s past rejection of such calls from the international community.

Suu Kyi’s five-year house arrest expires Wednesday, Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League of Democracy, said in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon. The junta was expected to decide on her fate Tuesday.

“I hope for the best but to be frank I’m not optimistic,” Wirayuda told The Associated Press during a two-day visit to Manila.

Freeing Suu Kyi would be a “positive gesture to the good will of the international community,” which has helped the junta and Myanmar’s people deal with the massive devastation and loss of life wrought by the recent Cyclone Nargis, he said.

Suu Kyi’s detention has been at the center of friction between the secretive junta and many countries around the world, including Myanmar’s fellow member countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

ASEAN, a 10-country political and trade bloc, has constantly nudged Myanmar to rapidly move toward democracy and to free political prisoners including Suu Kyi — a futile call that has often dominated the group’s annual meetings.

Despite a bedrock policy of noninterference in each other’s domestic affairs, some ASEAN members — including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines — have increasingly voiced frustration over Myanmar’s intransigence.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo slammed Myanmar at a summit of ASEAN leaders in Singapore last November, warning that Filipino legislators could find it difficult to ratify the bloc’s landmark charter if the junta will not restore democracy and release Suu Kyi.

Arroyo and other ASEAN leaders adopted the charter, which aims to transform the group into an EU-style bloc, at that summit. The pact will collapse if one country fails to ratify it.

ASEAN’s members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It admitted Myanmar in 1997 despite strong opposition from Western nations.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/27/asia/AS-GEN-Philippines-Indonesia-Suu-Kyi.php

World Focus on Burma (27 May 08)

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Myanmar police detain Suu Kyi supporters

AP –

Aljazeera.net

Foreigners enter cyclone-hit delta, testing Myanmar’s promise AFP – YANGON (AFP) – Foreign aid workers Tuesday pressed into Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta, testing the junta’s pledge to open up areas where one million people have yet to receive aid three weeks after the cyclone. Donors press Myanmar for access Seattle Times Donors pledging Myanmar cyclone aid The Associated Press Reuters – Wall Street Journal – Monsters and Critics.com – Reuters all 6,232 news articles »

Canada.com

Myanmar generals claim referendum win Canada.com – YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar declared victory Monday for a military-backed constitution, pressing ahead with its political agenda despite the devastation caused by the cyclone that left 133000 dead or missing. State radio reports Myanmar constitution approved in cyclone-hit areas The Canadian Press House arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi coming up for renewal International Herald Tribune The Australian – Euronews.net – South China Morning Post (subscription) – The Statesman all 458 news articles »

In Myanmar, Loss, Grief and, for Some, Resignation New York Times – AP A family in Pyapon, in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta, on Monday. Few delta residents have received aid since the May 3 cyclone.

Sydney Morning Herald

Aid Agencies Test Burma’s Pledge to Allow Access to Cyclone Hit Areas Voice of America – By VOA News Aid agencies say they are sending relief teams into cyclone-hit areas of Burma Monday to test the military government’s pledge to allow unrestricted access to their workers. UN boss hopeful over Burma Scotsman Donors urge Burma to live up to commitments CTV.ca Progress Leader – Melbourne Herald Sun – Deutsche Welle – Scotsman all 1,098 news articles »

stv.tv

Myanmar film industry takes on cyclone disaster Reuters UK – YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military rulers have been slammed for their slow response to Cyclone Nargis, but the same cannot be said of the country’s tiny film industry, which is already busy turning the devastating storm into myth. Japan sends team to cyclone-hit Myanmar: officials ReliefWeb (press release) Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis OCHA Situation Report No. 20 ReliefWeb (press release) all 7 news articles »

Voice of America

Burma must open up to aid experts: US Sydney Morning Herald – May 25, 2008 “The United States is prepared to offer much more, and we know that we must act quickly to prevent further loss of life,” she told the conference, where Myanmar is expected to ask for more than 10 billion US dollars in assistance. 45 countries pledge aid, insist on Burma access Bangkok Post South-East Asia makes half-hearted attempts to help Burma Daily Nation Inquirer.net – Reuters – Voice of America – Bangkok Post all 97 news articles »

Journal of Turkish Weekly

Aust committed to Burma relief effort ABC Online – May 25, 2008 “Australia’s expressed its views about the regime in Myanmar (Burma) and the Foreign Minister’s expressed our views about the referendum and the process and the constitution,” Mr McMullan said. Australia to monitor its $25m Burma aid Sydney Morning Herald McMullan to travel to Burma The Age TeleText – ReliefWeb (press release) – ABC Online – Sydney Morning Herald all 60 news articles »

Boston Globe

Burma diverts ship carrying aid Boston Globe – Ban offered no details, according to reporters from news agencies who were permitted to accompany him in Burma. “There is good reason to hope that aid to the worst affected areas of Myanmar will increase significantly in the coming days,” Ban said, …

Harper government backtracks, allows longer time for Burma donations The Canadian Press – The offer excluded all the donations that poured in immediately after the devastating May 2 cyclone in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and the May 12 earthquake in China. Humanitarian groups say the flow of donations is typically greatest within the …

The Associated Press

Conditions ripe for disease in Myanmar The Associated Press – DEDAYE, Myanmar (AP) – Myint Hlaing’s family bathes and draws cooking water from an irrigation ditch fouled by human waste and a rotting cow carcass.

Xinhua

Fire at Myanmar embassy in Thailand; no injuries reported International Herald Tribune – AP BANGKOK, Thailand: Fire ripped through part of Myanmar’s embassy in Thailand on Monday, closing the visa section and dashing the hopes of many aid workers anxiously waiting to enter the cyclone-ravaged country. Fire at Myanmar embassy in Bangkok destroys consular offices Xinhua Fire hits Myanmar embassy in Thailand Inquirer.net Times Now.tv – France24 – AHN – GulfNews all 33 news articles »

Myanmar junta tightens security near Suu Kyi home Reuters – YANGON, May 27 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military rulers tightened security around the home of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, the day her latest year-long stretch of house arrest is due to expire.

PRESS TV

Burma constitution approved Independent Online – Yangon – Myanmar declared victory on Monday for a military-backed constitution after a second round of voting in regions hit by the cyclone, claiming nearly 93 percent endorsed the charter, state media said. Burma junta declares referendum victory Radio Australia Burma’s charter sails through referendum ABC Online Bombay News all 9 news articles »

AFP	Myanmar tightens security around Suu Kyi’s home, party AFP – YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar tightened security Tuesday around Aung San Suu Kyi’s home and her party’s offices, witnesses said, as the regime is believed to be preparing to extend her house arrest.

Burma’s junta stalling relief workers: Costello ABC Online – World Vision CEO Tim Costello says Burma’s ruling military junta is still not allowing disaster relief experts access to cyclone-ravaged areas.

Foreign Relief Workers Begin to Arrive in Burma Washington Post – By Amy Kazmin BANGKOK, May 26 — Foreign relief workers began filtering into Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta on Monday, as aid agencies tested whether the ruling military junta would keep its promise to permit a major international effort to help the 2.5 …

Aid agencies to test Burma’s new openness guardian.co.uk – Aid agencies, whose international staff have been barred from the areas of Burma worst-hit by Cyclone Nargis, were yesterday preparing to test the Burmese regime’s new openness following the UN’s apparent diplomatic breakthrough.

Voice of America

Analysts Say ASEAN Tries to Bridge Burma’s Trust Issue With West Voice of America – “One would imagine it took a while for them [Burma’s government] to open up and come to the meeting and meet the whole group,” said Caballero-Anthony .

Myanmar prelate says cyclone set Church back decade Reuters – By Phil Stewart VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The tiny Roman Catholic Church in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar is struggling to do its bit to help cyclone survivors, with parishes so damaged that it could take a decade to rebuild, its leader said on Monday.

Christian Science Monitor

Burma (Myanmar) opens door for aid, but remains wary Christian Science Monitor – Bangkok, Thailand – A drumbeat of diplomatic pressure on the military rulers of Burma (Myanmar) has cracked open the door for more international aid to reach cyclone survivors after weeks of scattershot deliveries.

ႀကိဳးေၾကာက္တဲ့ နအဖ

Download file: burmese-junta-having-a-fear-of-strings

ဖံုးၿပီးေတာ့လိမ္၊ လိမ္ၿပီးေတာ့ ေတာင္း၊ ေတာင္းၿပီးေတာ့….

Download file: blackout-lies-ask-for-aid-and-then

ကပ္ဆိုးႀကီး ခံရပံုခ်င္းတူေပမယ့္ ကယ္တင္ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ပံုခ်င္း ကြာျခား

Download the file: same-but-different

Burma: Cyclone updated top news (27 May 2008)

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PRESS TV

Myanmar to Consider Extending Detention of Pro-Democracy Leader

New York Times –
By SETH MYDANS BANGKOK – Almost lost in the clamor over Myanmar’s devastating cyclone, the house arrest of the charismatic pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, reaches a deadline for its annual renewal Tuesday.
Myanmar generals claim referendum win Canada.com
State radio reports Myanmar constitution approved in cyclone-hit areas The Canadian Press
ITN – The Australian – Democratic Voice of Burma – guardian.co.uk
all 437 news articles ».

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Monsters and Critics.com

Burma’s junta stalling relief workers: Costello

ABC Online –
World Vision CEO Tim Costello says Burma’s ruling military junta is still not allowing disaster relief experts access to cyclone-ravaged areas.
Foreign Relief Workers Begin to Arrive in Burma Washington Post
Aid agencies to test Burma’s new openness guardian.co.uk
Scotsman – Toronto Star – BBC News – Radio Australia
all 1,011 news articles »

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Radio Australia

Aid offered but concerns remain over Myanmar

Euronews.net –
British International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said: “We’ve not taken any options off the table, but the burden of responsibility rests with the government here in Burma (now Myanmar). It is clear that the international community has …
Aid groups prepare to enter Myanmar Aljazeera.net
Myanmar cyclone meeting more about access than aid Reuters

Burma asks for $11bn to rebuild The Australian
Burma political prisoner set to be released Washington Times

The Irrawaddy News Magazine – Bloomberg – AFP – New York Times

Dispatch Online – San Jose Mercury News – The Associated Press – BBC News
all 1,203 news articles »

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All American Patriots (press release)

Aid agencies to test Burma’s new openness

guardian.co.uk –
Aid agencies, whose international staff have been barred from the areas of Burma worst-hit by Cyclone Nargis, were yesterday preparing to test the Burmese regime’s new openness following the UN’s apparent diplomatic breakthrough.
Aid Agencies Test Burma’s Pledge to Allow Access to Cyclone Hit Areas Voice of America
UN boss hopeful over Burma Scotsman
Toronto Star – BBC News – CTV.ca – Inverell Times
all 1,018 news articles »

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CNN-IBN

UN: More boats, helicopters to Myanmar

The Associated Press –
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) – Aid soon will be able to reach the more than 1 million cyclone victims still waiting for their first assistance if Myanmar’s military regime quickly allows foreign experts into the affected areas, a UN official said Monday.
Donors press Myanmar for access Seattle Times
Aid offered but concerns remain over Myanmar Euronews.net
Aljazeera.net – Zenit News Agency – PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) – The Associated Press
all 5,308 news articles »

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Conditions ripe for disease in Myanmar

AP – Mon May 26, 7:38 PM ET

AP Photo: A family of cyclone survivors sit together in a hut they built for temporary…

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DEDAYE, Myanmar – Myint Hlaing’s family bathes and cooks with water from an irrigation ditch fouled by human waste and a rotting cow carcass.

His 10-year-old daughter drinks bottled water donated by aid groups, but she still suffers from diarrhea. Meanwhile, his family and other cyclone survivors endure daily rains in tattered thatch huts as the monsoon season nears.