Malaysia urged Burmese drop preconditions talks with pro-democracy

October 8,2007-The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported the latest arrests are nearly 1,000 people and holding in detention centers. According to the junta, a total of 135 Buddhist monks remain in custody.

But dissident groups and foreign governments say more than 6,000 people have been locked up after last month’s protests, the biggest in nearly two decades against 45 years of brutal military rule. Soldiers opened fire on demonstrators, who were led by monks, on Sept. 26 and 27, bringing to an abrupt end all resistance.

Accordingly, a relentless crackdown in Myanmar on pro-democracy activists showed no sign of easing with the junta announcing on Sunday that 78 more people have been detained in spite of global outrage and new sanctions.

It is reported by New Light of Myanmar today Lieutenant General Myint Swe of the defense ministry yesterday distributed about $US8000 ($8877) in cash and huge amounts of rice, cooking oil, toothpaste and medicine to 50 monasteries and a nunnery in northern Rangoon. The donations were made on behalf of military members and their families, and were accepted by the monks.

In Buddhism, refusing to take alms is regarded as a snub akin to effective excommunication, and acceptance of the gifts would indicate the soldiers have been brought back into the faith. Buddhist monks last month declared a boycott on donations from soldiers and their families as they spearheaded protests which brought as many as 100,000 people onto the streets of the nation's main city.

The military government's violent crackdown on the pro-democracy protests sparked international condemnation. But the international community remains divided on how to deal with the junta.

Malaysia is the latest country to urge the Burmese military to drop his preconditions for talks with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said, the move was necessary if Burma was to avoid stronger international pressure, on October 7, 2007.

It is reported that hundreds of people have attended the funeral of a Japanese journalist killed during protests in Burma. Kenji Nagai, 50, who was shot as he filmed demonstrations in Rangoon on 27 September, was buried in Tokyo today, October 8, 2007.