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5: RELIEVE POVERTY & RELEASE POLITICAL PRISONERS

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To: Military Regime of Burma

As the situation of the lives of people of Burma are further worsened by recent dramatic increases in petrol and other fuel prices, the people on the brink of starvation in Burma are starting to express their concerns. Many hundreds of well-wishing people on 19.08.2007 made a silent and peaceful marching through the streets of Burma?s biggest city, Rangoon, to demonstrate their anxieties concerning the sky high inflations and utter poverty which was deteriorated further by recent fuel price hikes.

There was again a small protest on 21.08.2007. And at midnight 21.08.2007 more than a dozen leaders and organizers of this anti-inflation movement were arrested by military authorities in Rangoon. But some of the yet un-detained leaders went on with their plans of demonstrations on 22.08.2007, which was participated by hundreds of people.

Nearly 50 pro-democracy protesters launched a new rally again on Thursday, 23.08.2007, against hyper inflations in Burma induced by military government’s fuel price hikes. Most of the protesters were members of National League for Democracy (NLD). Just five minutes after the protesters began their march, a group of about 20 supporters of Myanmar’s ruling junta blocked their path. The two sides began shouting at each other in a tense standoff, and about 10 protesters were loaded into a truck and driven away.

So here we express our sympathy for the suffering of tens of millions of our fellow citizens in Burma; and we also like to give our unreserved support for those demonstrators who bravely risked imprisonment and other cruelties by military authorities by peacefully marching through the streets of Rangoon as a form of protest on fuel price increases and over all inflations in the prices of all essential commodities.

And to relieve the worsening poverty and sufferings of the people of Burma we request the military regime of Burma to reverse their cruel decision of dramatically increasing fuel prices by multiple folds.

And we also demand the military regime of Burma to release all political prisoners right now.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

An Urgent Appeal to the World

I am Amyotheryei U Win Naing, a seventy year old pro-democracy activist in Burma. On 19 August two of my associates and me were attacked by a group of government thugs on our way back from a rice distributing trip to the starving people in suburban quarters of Yangon, Burma.

Three days later people came out onto Yangon streets demonstrating against rising food prices and hike in gas and patrol prices. They were attacked by the government's thugs too. Still people continue to come out on the streets.

In the last seven days, seventy to one hundred Burmese citizens through out the country have been forcibly taken into custody by thugs acting in collaboration with military government officials.

Burma is under thugs' rule now.

We are not protected by laws or ethical or moral practices any longer.

Burmese people have become the most vulnerable people in the world against inhuman attacks by the officially sponsored gangsters-like goons.

I most urgently appeal to the world to come to the Burmese people's protection.

People are now taking to the streets asking for adequate living conditions and survival. They are not asking for removable of the present military government.

There are estimated one hundred thousand families inYangon sub-urban area alone who are missing meals. Many are trying to survive on one meal a day. Some on boiled rice liquid alone because they could not effort to have enough rice to feed every member of the family.

My group and I tried to help these starving people by donating rice to them as many as possible, as much as possible and military government's goons with the support of the officials are stopping us.

I am appealing to UN and the world governments to do something about this. I want to go back to the needy people and provide them with rice and basic food. I have donors to back me up and what I now need is protection from the government's goons who have already attempted on my life and my associates' lives as well.

This morning I received a report that a young man in Hlaingtherer quarters about eight miles from downtown

Yangon hanged himself because he could not have rice for his family. May be I could have stopped him from hanging if I were allowed to provide rice to him and others. This is just one incident of its kind and I am very much concerned that more would follow.

Please help me and my group to resume our philanthropic works. Make the ruling military government allow me to donate rice freely to the needy people.

I am doing this on humanitarian grounds and my action is not politically motivated.

It is just a simple act of helping people from dying of starvation.

I need your help now. We all need your help now.

Thank you.