Myanmar charter 'washes away' Suu Kyi victory: state media

[The Smoking Man]

An absolute disgrace built on lies.

Supported by 92% of the voters in a 98% turnout???

So the 60% of the people who have not received aid yet voted?

The people who were kicked out of the school being used as an aid station so it could be used as voting station ... were they counted?

Myanmar charter 'washes away' Suu Kyi victory: state media

Tue Jun 3, 1:18 AM ET

A referendum approving a new military-backed constitution for Myanmar has "washed away" the victory claimed by Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party in 1990 elections, state media said Tuesday.

Her National League for Democracy won by a landslide 18 years ago, but the military never recognised the result and has kept the Nobel peace prize winner under house arrest for most of the years since then.

The government mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar said Tuesday that the NLD's election mandate was "outdated" after the constitution was approved last month in a controversial referendum -- held while the impoverished nation was still reeling from the devastating effects of Cyclone Nargis.

"What will those who claimed themselves to have the mandate of the people according to the 1990 election results have to do? Will they have to throw the mandate down the drain?" the English-language paper asked.

"Now, their hope was washed away along the current of the vote of the people," it added.

The paper, which did not refer to Aung San Suu Kyi or the NLD by name, said the party would now have to seek a new election mandate in polls promised for 2010.

"If they want to have the mandate of the people in the new nation with the new system, they should stand for election in accordance with the rules and regulations" and display a sense of discipline and democracy, it added.

The NLD has rejected the result of the referendum, which Myanmar claims was approved by more than 92 percent of voters on a 98 percent turnout.

The party condemned the junta for holding the vote instead of focusing on the humanitarian crisis, and accused officials of rigging the outcome.

The cyclone left 133,000 dead or missing when it pounded the country on May 2-3, flooding entire villages and devastating the Irrawaddy Delta.

But the newspaper dismissed "the complaints of those who cling on to the outdated mandate," and warned that they should not "build castles in the air while ignoring the prevailing situations."

Myanmar says the constitution will clear the way for democratic elections, but the NLD insists it will merely enshrine military rule.

The new charter bans Aung San Suu Kyi from holding elected office, while reserving one quarter of the seats in parliament for serving soldiers.

The junta has come under fierce international pressure for its response to the cyclone, notably for sweeping restrictions on foreign aid designed to help some 2.4 million people the United Nations says are in dire need of shelter, food and medicine.

UN officials estimate 60 percent of them still have not received any help.

[The Smoking Man]

Myanmar says democracy leader's detention is legal

1 hour, 37 minutes ago

A state-controlled newspaper said Wednesday that Myanmar's military rulers were breaking no laws by holding pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for a sixth straight year.

The junta's recent decision to extend Suu Kyi's detention by one year sparked international outrage, with her party and defense lawyers arguing the junta could only legally hold her for five years.

But a commentary in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said detentions are allowed for up to six years under the 1975 "Law Safeguarding the State from Dangers of Subversive Elements."

Yearly extensions must be approved by the Council of Ministers and then by the Central Body, which includes the home, defense and foreign affairs ministers, the newspaper said.

Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia in 1991 for her nonviolent efforts to promote democracy and Myanmar's ruling generals have long regarded her as the biggest threat to their power. Her party is the country's largest legal opposition group.

The military regime extended Suu Kyi's house arrest May 27, despite international pressure to set her free. She has been detained for more than 12 of the last 18 years at her home in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party denounced the extension as illegal and urged the regime to open a public hearing on the case. Jared Genser, a U.S. lawyer hired by Suu Kyi's family to push for her release, also condemned her continued detention as illegal.

"Adherence to the rule of law is not their forte, and the junta remains deeply concerned about her appeal to the Burmese people," Genser said in May.

How the opposing sides interpreted the same 1975 law differently could not be immediately explained.

The extension came as the junta faced worldwide criticism for refusing to accept many offers of international assistance after Cyclone Nargis, which struck May 2-3.

[Polly]

Relax, China must have donated tonnes and tonnes of food and equipment to Burma in secret immediately after the cyclone.  Burma is too important to her.

[The Smoking Man]

Relax, China must have donated tonnes and tonnes of food and equipment to Burma in secret immediately after the cyclone.  Burma is too important to her.

Bullshit.

China doesn't do 'secret aid' ... they always make it with great fanfare.

Let's remember the endless parade of African nations last year.

[Polly]

Huh?  You didn't know the Vietnam War was actually fought between Vietnam, China and Russia (initially) on one side and America on the other?  China could not afford to "rip off face" with America, so she gave all sorts of weapons and intelligence to Vietnam in secret.

A lot of political deals are done under the table, we potatos only see what we are allowed to see (unless you look really hard )

[The Smoking Man]

Huh?  You didn't know the Vietnam War was actually fought between Vietnam, China and Russia (initially) on one side and America on the other?  China could not afford to "rip off face" with America, so she gave all sorts of weapons and intelligence to Vietnam in secret.

A lot of political deals are done under the table, we potatos only see what we are allowed to see (unless you look really hard )

Yes ... we all knew exactly what was going on.

Do you think the inspection tour of the area including the flyover of the area by the head of the UN was an elaborately staged plot to discredit the Myanmar government???

Are the illuminati on your heels again, Polly???

Will those people with the mark of the beast upon them never leave you and your pride and joy in asia alone!?

Now fuck off and feed some people will you.

[The Smoking Man]

Pssst ... Did you also know that China helped NORTH Korea too!!!

I kid you not!!!


OOO OOO OOO ....

And the FRENCH were in Vietnam too!!!

[/sarcasm]

[The Smoking Man]

The one thing you always fail to look at here Polly is that there was a legal election in this country and the rightfully elected president has been in jail or house arrest for the last 18 years.

That is the 'popular vote' in that country ... what the PEOPLE wanted and voted for.

It was the 'legal' result.

Anything done by the military rulers since that time and all their legislation is ILLEGAL because they are NOT the legal rulers of the country.

Think about it ... The elected ruler of the country is held on laws created by the illegal regime to enhance their rule. Use a little logic.

Do you understand that Polly, or is the only type of rule you understand that which is done from the wrong end of a gun or a bayonet up your ass?

[Polly]

In history, unless and until the political system attains a level of sophistication, regimes are invariably changed by brute force.  As late as the colour revolution in Eastern Europe, regimes were changed by a show of force.  Before that we had Russia and France when the kings were brutally murdered and their monarchy done with.

Force has been a big part of political system as Deng himself had said regime springs from gun barrels.

If the Burmese are dissatisfied with the junta, it is up to them to do something.  But until they do, there is very little we can do other than contemplating ways to engage with it constructively.  Because it is their country and their country alone.

[The Smoking Man]

In history, unless and until the political system attains a level of sophistication, regimes are invariably changed by brute force.  As late as the colour revolution in Eastern Europe, regimes were changed by a show of force.  Before that we had Russia and France when the kings were brutally murdered and their monarchy done with.

Force has been a big part of political system as Deng himself had said regime springs from gun barrels.

If the Burmese are dissatisfied with the junta, it is up to them to do something.  But until they do, there is very little we can do other than contemplating ways to engage with it constructively.  Because it is their country and their country alone.

Yes and that is what Ms. Albright is talking about when she is suggesting that we go with the 2005 UN resolution and force aid when massive crimes against humanity are being comitted.

Placing the leader under huse arrest is not grounds for invasion but the deaths of a potential 2.4 million people due to neglect IS because it is a crime against humanity.

You tend to look to history and yet isn't the UN created so that we don't have to repeat history?

Are you sanctioning another Holocaust because the devastated population of a country can't defeat a massively armed Military Junta with bamboo, tarps and fish nets?

The UN is supposed to be man's statement that we have headed into a new era where the people of the world are protected and looked after regardless of the assholes at the heads of their countries.

I'm afraid that rule by force of arms is a thing of the past and these people do not need to die due to some false historical logic held by Luddites like yourself.

You need to pull your head out of your ass and realize that there is a better way and that the people do not need to die just because of falsely clinging to old ways of doing things.

Do we have the right to stop slavery in Shanxi??? It too is a traditional way of life for the Chinese people. Why should we punish THEM for doing what was 'traditionally' an acceptable way of doing things?

[The Smoking Man]

Look at it this way Polly, Mugabe and the Rulers in Myanmar have their own private little countries and they are enjoying themselves immensely.

The only thing that is ruining it for them are all these pesky little people that seem to keep getting in the way.

Wouldn't it be so nice if they could make them all go away?

And so it is that Burma thought they had the answer.

Neglect them to death.

Now you can sit there in front of your computer screen typing little missives about the cheapness of these human lives because of what you see as historical justice ... or you can take up that religion you brandish when it is convenient for you and try to offer some semblance of sympathy, justice, enlightenment or whatever you can struggle to push out and at least appear to be human in origin.

Even Sharon Stone managed an apology a little while after making a stupid statement.

[The Smoking Man]

My grandmother set me straight when I was about 4 and I was staring at a person who at that time was known as a 'spastic' ... a person not in control of their muscles... what we now know as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and affects Stephen Hawking.

She simply said to me "You might be like it yourself someday." ... I wish you could hear it with her Yorkshire accent.

I have never viewed the plight of others as simply 'what others are going through'.

I put myself in their position and fight for them.

[The Smoking Man]

Just a reminder Polly. This was two weeks ago:

http://chinathetimes.com/forum/index.php/topic,2544.msg13102.html#msg13102

[shan]

   
 From his fierce criticism to the government/ruling party of almost all the countries in the world ,Smokie seems to be the best presidential candidate for his country , let's vote for him , he will make his administrator above board, clean and fair and serve the people wholeheartedly., he will make his people extremely happy and well off.

he definately has the insights to lead a country to the road of a success and common prosperity .
 

[shan]

I have never viewed the plight of others as simply 'what others are going through'.

I put myself in their position and fight for them.

how many nightmares do you have to go through every night then ?