Myanmar Monks Take Local Officials Hostage

[Mid]

RPT-Myanmar monks demand apology for crackdown-reports

11 Sep 2007 11:49:55 GMT

Source: Reuters

YANGON, Sept. 11 (Reuters) - Buddhist monks in army-ruled Myanmar are threatening to shun the military unless the junta apologises for a crackdown on monks who joined anti-government protests last week, media reports said on Tuesday.

A previously unknown group said it would urge monks to refuse to accept alms from members of the regime or tend to the religious needs of their families if its demands were not met by next week, the reports said.

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[Mid]

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

11.09.2007 14:17:10

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - 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.

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(live-PR.com)

[mark lamai]

whats it got to do with Thailand?

well if all the Burmese go home, who is going to build your your new house or condo,

construction costs will go up if they have to pay thai wages,

who will be working in the Mae Sot sweatshops for a pittance.

and on the fishing trawlers, and being gardeners for rich Thai people for 2000 baht a month... etc..

And all the Thai commercial deals (Shin sat etc) done with a Junta could be reviewed in a free Burma.

China (supplying money) and Russia (supplying arms) are the only reason the Junta have been able to survive.

The wider world does not care enough about Burma.

the APEC conference just finished in Sydney had all the neccessary leaders in one place (Bush, Putin, Jin Thao (spell check) ),

i bet Burma was never mentioned.

was there last month and got spied on quite often coz i was carrying a fancy looking video camera,

but no problem when they saw i was only shooting tourist stuff.

one day the peaceful silence of Maymyo (Pyin Oo lwin) was broken by the thumping noise of boots and "chanting" of soldiers out on drill,

that was kinda scary just to see them in that large a number for the first time.

(there is a fairly new , very big, army training college in the town now)

I hope those brave souls protesting are not doing so in vain,

i guess us cowards can at least say a prayer for them.

[Mid]

US urges Myanmar to provide access to political prisoners

The Associated Press

Published: September 12, 2007

BANGKOK, Thailand: The United States has demanded that Myanmar provide access to scores of activists who were detained following the worst protests against the military government in a decade, following reports that many of them have been beaten in prison.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement late Tuesday that the American government was concerned about the "well-being" of more than 150 citizens jailed since the Aug. 19 demonstrations began.

snip

iht.com

[Mid]

info is little at the best of times ,

gotta wonder if those locals speaking out via phone are still on the streets .........................

Can't handle dissent much can they?

Democratic Voice of Burma: Pakokku residents arrested for foreign media contact

Tue 11 Sep 2007

Pakokku authorities have arrested four town residents for allegedly providing foreign media with information on the protest staged last week by monks over poor economic conditions, according to local residents.

Four Pakokku residents; U Thant Shin, U Nay La, U Sein Linn and U Thar Aung, were arrested by authorities on Friday evening and held at the police station but were later sent to the police station jail.

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burmanet.org

[phazey]

It's very worrying times, that's for sure.

[Mid]

Burmese people evacuate coastal area in fear of Tsunami

Nyein Chan & Phanida

Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

snip

"Last night, I even forgot to drum the pots (as a demonstration against the junta), I was so concentrated on the tsunami news," said a Sittwe resident Ko Myo Aye.

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mizzima.com

[Mid]

Phones Cut at Myanmar Opposition HQ

The Associated Press

Thursday, September 13, 2007; 11:58 AM

YANGON, Myanmar -- The telephone line has been cut at the headquarters of Myanmar's top opposition party, the National League for Democracy, a party spokesman said Thursday.

The action, taken Wednesday, presumably at the behest of the military government, came as the junta has been facing the most sustained protests in a decade against its rule.

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washingtonpost.com

[Mid]

Visiting Indian hits storm of Burma critics

BREAKING NEWS

(dpa) - Visiting Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee was grilled Friday on his country's close relations with Burma's military regime after delivering a speech in Bangkok on India's "Look East" policy.

Both the US and British ambassadors to Thailand, who attended the academic gathering at Chulalongkorn University's Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS), questioned India's close ties with the Burmese ruling junta and refusal to pressure the regime to introduce democratic reforms.

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The Post Publishing Public Co

[Mid]

Myanmar junta cuts phones to curb protests

Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:39am BST

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta has cut off the phones of 50 activists or organisations, including the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), in an apparent attempt to halt weeks of protests, sources said on Friday.

"They have cut off the telephone line to my home and to our headquarters," NLD spokesman Myint Thein told Reuters.

Other dissident sources said that, in all, 50 mobile and landline telephones had been cut off, possibly to prevent contact with the foreign media or exile news organisations whose reports are broadcast back into the former Burma on shortwave radio.

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uk.reuters.com

[Mid]

Burma Ranks 'Zero' in Worldwide Governance Indicators

By Violet Cho

September 14, 2007

Burma has been ranked ‘zero,’ the worst government in the world according to the amount of freedom citizens have to voice opinions and select a government, according to the latest Worldwide Governance Indicators report.

Countries with the best overall rankings included Denmark, 100; Canada, 94; and Australia, 93.

Countries with the worst overall rankings included Burma 0, China 4 and Vietnam 8.

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irrawaddy.org

[Mid]

BURMA: Poppy Farming Cuts - 'UN Praise Misplaced'

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

Credit:www.shanland.org

Poppy Field in Shan State

BANGKOK, Sep 14 (IPS) - Praise from the United Nations for continued drop in poppy cultivation in military-ruled Burma paints a false picture of success, say members of the Shan ethnic community and human rights activists. What cannot be ignored, they add, is how profitable the narcotics trade remains for the local commanders of the junta.

Plans to eradicate poppy cultivation will fail until this connection is addressed, says Khuensai Jaiyen, editor of the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), a news outlet based in Thailand that covers the Shan, a people who come from Burma’s north-eastern Shan state. ''The root cause of the problem is the same: the Burmese army is involved in the drug trade.’’

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ipsnews.net

[Mid]

a Burmese boy holds a picture of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi duirng a protest at Burmese Embassy in Bangkok

nationmultimedia.com

[Mid]

Myanmar dissidents corrupt young monks: state media

YANGON

16-Sep-07

MYANMAR'S state media yesterday labelled leaders of recent anti-junta protests "devils" and accused them of trying to corrupt young monks, some of whom joined the rare demonstrations.

A senior Buddhist monk wrote in a junta-run newspaper that clergy should stay away from the rallies, which began on August 19 after an unexpected rise in fuel prices.

Protest organisers were "devils" who had "spoilt the pure mind of some young monks who started to make street protests," the monk wrote in the New Light of Myanmar article.

"It is so disgusting that those destructive elements have tried to tarnish the noble and pure minds of young monks," he wrote, under the pen name "Yadanasi Sayadaw".

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bruneitimes.com.bn

[Mid]

Demonstrations in Burma

By Shah Paung

September 17, 2007

More than 600 monks in the central and upper areas of Burma have taken part in peaceful demonstrations in preparation for refusing alms from the families of military personnel on Tuesday, September 18.

Buddhist monks make their daily rounds in Rangoon [Photo: AP]

A senior monk at Ledi Monastery in Chauk Township in Magwe Division told The Irrawaddy on Monday that about 300 monks had demonstrated peacefully in Chauk from 5:30 a.m. to around 7 a.m. that morning. The monks had marched around the city market and on to Sasana Beikman, the city’s religious hall. The monks recited “paritta sutta” (a prayer for protection from evil or harm) during the demonstration.

However, the monks in Chauk have not enforced “patam nikkujjana kamma” (refusing alms) from the military regime and its supporters as they have not yet received an official letter from the “The Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks”, a senior monk said.

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irrawaddy.org

highlight mine

[Mid]

Myanmar monks defy junta, protest

Tue, 18 Sep 2007

Hundreds of monks on Tuesday marched peacefully through Myanmar's main city Yangon, defying the military regime and chanting Buddhist prayers in protest.

More than 300 monks tried to march to the famous Shwedagon Pagoda, but authorities sealed off Myanmar's most important landmark as well as the city's two other main pagodas, forcing them to march through downtown Yangon.

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iafrica.com

[Mid]

Hundreds of Buddhist Monks Protest Burmese Military

By Luis Ramirez

Bangkok

18 September 2007

Hundreds of Buddhist monks have taken to the streets of Burma's main city, Rangoon - the latest in a wave of demonstrations against the military government during the past month. VOA's Luis Ramirez reports from our Southeast Asia bureau in Bangkok.

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A group of about 1000 monks march against the Burmese military government in Rangoon, Burma, 18 Sep 2007

Burmese Buddhist monks protest against the military government in Rangoon, Burma, 18 Sep 2007

voanews.com

[Mid]

Junta to hold quarterly meeting despite unrest

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Mungpi

Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

September 19, 2007 - The Burmese military junta will hold its routine quarterly meetings despite the on going protests in the country. It will meet in September 24, sources said.

The junta has instructed all its commanders to reach the new jungle capital Naypyitaw on Friday, September 21, for the meeting, giving rise to speculation of its intentions, said Win Min, a Burmese analyst based in Thailand.

snip

Hundreds of monks today staged demonstrations in Rangoon and other parts of Burma following the junta's failure to concede to their demand for an apology for its high handedness on monks in Pakhokku during a brief demonstration on September 5.

Authorities in Sittwe today fired teargas to disperse about 2,000 monks and civilian protesters

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mizzima.com

[Mid]

'Tear gas used' on Burma monks

Tuesday, 18 September 2007, 13:18 GMT 14:18 UK

Unlike in Sittwe, the protest in Rangoon remained peaceful

Military officials in Burma have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of monks holding a rally in the north-west city of Sittwe, reports from the area say.

Some of them were beaten and several were arrested, eyewitnesses say.

Large numbers of monks have also held protests in at least five other towns and cities across the country, including the former capital Rangoon.

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bbc.co.uk

[Mid]

Buddhist Monks Protest in Myanmar

2 hours ago

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Hundreds of Buddhist monks protested Wednesday outside the locked gates of Myanmar's most revered temple, challenging the country's military rulers in the most sustained wave of demonstrations in a decade.

About 500 monks found the gates locked at the Shwedagon pagoda, a golden temple atop a hill dominating Yangon, the Southeast Asian country's biggest city.

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ap.google.com

[Mid]

Burmese monks in pagoda protest

Thursday, 20 September 2007, 07:44 GMT 08:44 UK

Earlier this week, the gates to the pagoda were locked

Hundreds of Buddhist monks have marched around Burma's most revered temple, in a third consecutive day of protests against the military government.

The monks were allowed into the Shwedagon Pagoda, which dominates the former capital, Rangoon, for the first time since their protests began.

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news.bbc.co.uk

[Mid]

Myanmar under international pressure over protests

49 minutes ago

Members of Myanmar's pro-democracy party the National League for Democracy (NLD) offer alms to Buddhist monks at the party's headquarters in Yangon, in May. Myanmar's military junta came under growing international pressure Friday as it faces the most sustained challenge to its rule in nearly two decades, led by Buddhist monks.

Myanmese activists in Yangon protest against a massive fuel price hike in August. Myanmar's military junta came under growing international pressure Friday as it faces the most sustained challenge to its rule in nearly two decades, led by Buddhist monks

YANGON (AFP) — Myanmar's military junta came under growing international pressure Friday as it faces the most sustained challenge to its rule in nearly two decades, led by Buddhist monks.

Britain and the United States said they were "appalled" at its handling of peaceful protests which have spread across the country.

More than 1,300 monks took to the streets Thursday in Myanmar's main city Yangon, drawing thousands of supporters in the largest anti-junta rally there since the protests first erupted.

The rallies, which began a month ago amid anger at a huge fuel price hike, have snowballed into the most prolonged show of dissent since a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 was crushed by the military.

The US and British ambassadors to the United Nations on Thursday expressed their concern about the growing turmoil, urging the junta to allow a visit by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari "as soon as possible."

"We certainly are appalled by the steps the (Myanmar) regime has taken to silence peaceful protest and to clamp down on dissent," British Ambassador John Sawyers said.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the regime "poses a threat to regional peace and stability."

Sawyers said Gambari should be allowed to meet all the nation's political leaders, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for most of the past 17 years.

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections in 1990, but the junta never recognized the result.

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afp.google.com

[Mid]

Burma monks issue defiant message

Friday, 21 September 2007, 10:40 GMT 11:40 UK

Monks have been holding a series of anti-government protests

Leaders of protests by Buddhist monks in Burma say they intend to continue their peaceful demonstrations until the military government collapses.

The statement by the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks came as 1,500 monks took to the streets of Rangoon in their biggest protest yet.

This is the fourth straight day of marches by monks in protest at recent government attempts to silence critics.

Diplomats at the United Nations have expressed concern at the crisis.

In a strongly-worded statement, seen by the BBC, the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks described the military government as "the enemy of the people".

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bbc.co.uk

[Mid]

Burma anti-junta protests spread

Saturday, 22 September 2007, 09:34 GMT 10:34 UK

Thousands of monks have taken to the streets of Burma in a sixth day of anti-military government protests.

Two thousand monks went on the march in Mandalay, while at least 1,000 rallied in Rangoon. Protests were also taking place in five townships across Burma.

It comes a day after the leaders of the demonstrations vowed to continue until the military government collapsed.

They want the Burmese people to pray in their doorways for 15 minutes at 2000 on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

In Rangoon, the monks converged on Burma's most revered temple, the Shwedagon Pagoda, before continuing their march watched by plain clothes security officials.

In Mandalay, a monastic centre of Buddhist learning, they marched peacefully through the Payagyi district.

There were also demonstrations on Saturday in the townships of Chauk, Shwebo, Mongwa, Taung Dwin Gyi and Ye Nan Chaung.

There were no reports of any violence

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news.bbc.co.uk

[Mid]

Yawdserk salutes Burma's monks

last modified 2007-09-21 05:25

Col Yawdserk, leader of the anti-junta Shan State Army (SSA) South, has voiced his support for the monks who had since 18 September declared the patta-nukkujjana kamma (the act of overturning the bowl) to Burma's military rulers.

"They haven't asked for anything that is unwarranted," said the 50-year old fighter this morning in response to S.H.A.N.'s question.

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shanland.org

[Mid]

Overturning the bowl

Overturning the bowl is a symbolic phrase signifying the refusal to accept offerings from a particular person.

The origin story for this transaction is a variation on the origin story for Sg 8. The followers of Mettiya and Bhummajaka incite Vaddha the Licchavi to accuse Ven. Dabba Mallaputta of having raped his wife. (They show no imagination, and instruct him to phrase his accusation in the same terms they taught Mettiya Bhikkhuni in the story to Sg 8: "The quarter without dread, without harm, without danger, is (now) the quarter with dread, with harm, with danger. Where there is calm, there is a windstorm. The water, as it were, is ablaze. My wife has been raped by Master Dabba Mallaputta.") The Buddha convenes a meeting of the Community, at which Ven. Dabba — who attained arahantship at the age of seven — states truthfully that, "Ever since I was born, I am not aware of having engaged in sexual intercourse even in a dream, much less when awake." The Buddha then instructs the Community to overturn its bowl to Vaddha, so that none of the bhikkhus are to associate with him. (This, according to the Commentary, means that none of the bhikkhus are to accept offerings from his household.) Ven. Ananda, on his alms round the following day, stops off at Vaddha's house to inform him that the Community has overturned its bowl to him. On hearing this news, Vaddha falls down in a faint. When he recovers, he goes with his relatives to confess his wrong-doing to the Buddha. The Buddha accepts his confession and tells the Community to turn its bowl upright for Vaddha, so that the bhikkhus may associate with him as before.

accesstoinsight.org

[Spee]

What's This Got to Do With THAILAND ??

Well, let's see.

- It is widely accepted that democracies offer the best opportunity for personal and economic freedom and right to choose one's own destiny.

- Thailand has a democratic constitution, albeit a fragile one.

- Thailand is surrounded by non-democratic regimes of Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, China AND Myanmar.

- Many refugees from Myanmar are in western Thailand. What happens if or when the whack-job Myanmar government starts taking greater exception to Thailand being a refuge?

To me, it has EVERYTHING to do with Thailand. The people of Myanmar being able to live in freedom would do nothing but benefit Thailand in the long run.

[Mid]

What's This Got to Do With THAILAND ??

Well, let's see.

- It is widely accepted that democracies offer the best opportunity for personal and economic freedom and right to choose one's own destiny.

- Thailand has a democratic constitution, albeit a fragile one.

- Thailand is surrounded by non-democratic regimes of Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, China AND Myanmar.

- Many refugees from Myanmar are in western Thailand. What happens if or when the whack-job Myanmar government starts taking greater exception to Thailand being a refuge?

To me, it has EVERYTHING to do with Thailand. The people of Myanmar being able to live in freedom would do nothing but benefit Thailand in the long run.

confused why you choose to quote me ?

other than that , I concur ...........................