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Darkness descends on Burma’s Lady by the Lake

Larry Jagan
BURMA'S charismatic pro democracy leader. Aung San Suu Kyi is set to remain in detention for at least another five years, according to diplomats based in Rangoon. Her trial will conclude soon in yet another secret session inside Insein prison. Meanwhile the international outcry and protests throughout the world, since she was arrested and charged in May, shows no signs of subsiding.
In fact General Than Shwe's masterplan to make sure the country's iconic democracy leader is in no position to "sabotage" his scheme, intended to introduce a civilian government dominated by the military after next year's scheduled elections, has badly backfired.
Instead of a quiet trial and sentencing, the international community is up in arms. "With one fell swoop, Than Shwe has undermined his own strategy of trying to sideline Aung San Suu Kyi," a senior western diplomat who knows the opposition leader well told the Daily Star. "There is now an international furore now that we haven't seen since Aung San Suu Kyi was detained six years ago. Than Shwe's actions have proved once again that she remains in everyone's mindsinside and outside the countryas Burma’s real leader."
The Burmese authorities are so worried by the possibility that the UN may bow to western pressure to step up sanctions and other measures against the regime, that they have launched a diplomatic offensive at the United Nations in New York and many of the world's capital to deflect international pressure. Although the Security Council adopted a weakened press statement more than a week ago voicing concern over Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial and calling for the release of all political prisoners, the regime knows that a guilty verdict later this week will only fuel demands for tougher action against them attheUN.
Already Burma's generals have realised that their treatment of its pro-democracy leader has put increased pressure on them at international and regional ministerial gatherings. The issue dominated the Asian and European foreign ministers meeting in Hanoi a week ago and again at EU-ASEAN foreign ministers summit in Phnom. Penh later in the week. The Burmese foreign minister skipped both meetings because he wanted to avoid being criticised and left it to the deputy foreign minister Maung Myint to deal with the issue.
Again on the weekend, at an international defence ministers' gathering in Singapore, Burma's deputy defence minister, Major General Aye Myintwho is attending the security conference because General Than Shwe, who is both the country's top general and the defence minister, has refused to attend international meetings for nearly six years now to avoid being chastised about the situation in the
countryfelt it necessary to defend his government's actions against Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The legal action against Aung San Suu Kyi is merely the internal affairs of Myanmar, taking action through its legal system in accordance with domestic law," the deputy defence minister told (he annual forum of defence ministers, annual fonun of defence ministers, academics, analysts and experts.
"If offenders are not (prosecuted), anarchy will prevail, and there will be breach of peace and security," Maj-Gen Aye Myint said. She is guilty of "committing a cover-up of the truth by her failure to report an illegal immigrant," he added.
Aung San Suu Kyi is facing five years in prison if she is convicted of the charges that she broke the conditions of her current house arrest by allowing an uninvited visitor, an American Vietnam war vet John William Yettaw, who secretly swam across the lake to her back door earlier this month, to stay and gave him food and drink. She insists she is innocent. "1 am not guilty because I have not committed any crime," Suu Kyi said when she gave her testimony to the court more than a week ago, according to her lawyer.
The opposition leader is accused of accepting books and other materials from her guest, who originally swam to her residence last November and left the gifts then, including a religious text of his faith, the Book of Mormons, two black robes worn by Muslims, sunglasses and a flashlight. Aung San Suu Kyi insists that the detention order prohibits her from sending out material, but not of receiving it, according to her lawyer. The authorities are responsible for the security at the house and should have prevented the intrusion; if anyone is at fault, it is the local police, he added.
The trial is anything but transparent, and most observers believe that she will be convicted and sentenced to prison. "The court was a surreal scene, ail the actors in place, with the end already scripted," Mark Canning, Britain's ambassador to Burma, told The Daily Star. He attended the court hearing on the only two days diplomats were allowed in to observe the proceedings.
"I'm sure they will jail Daw Suu," said Aung Thein, a prominent lawyer who was helping prepare her defence when his law license was revoked on the eve of the trial opening a week ago.
Human rights groups believe revoking Aung Thein's right to practice law was the latest "blatant attempt" by the regime to intimidate lawyers who are working on political cases. More than a dozen lawyers are currently in jail for working "sensitive"
cases, including defending top monks and former student leaders arrested during the September 2007 protests that were crushed by the military.
Burma's deputy defence minister told his audience in Singapore that other countries "should refrain from interfering in [Myanmar's) internal affairs that will affect peace and security of the region." He went in to warn the international community that continued interference in Burma's internal affairs "may possibly affect mutual understanding and friendly relations [with other countries)."
This is the crux of the Burmese government's attempt to deflect international criticism. "The present situation is purely a domestic matter and legal action has been
taken in accordance with the laws of the land against violation of the law," Burmese ambassadors around the world have been instructed to say. "This situation does not in anyway affect international peace and security and thus is not the concern of the UN Security Council."
Burma's military regime's real fear is the UN Security Council. "The only body that the junta really fears, is the Security Council," the former UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told the Daily Star. "I have personal evidence of this. So the Security Council must address this immediately as a matter of absolute urgency," he said. Larry Jagan is a former Current Affairs Editor, Asia. BBC World Service.