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The European Parliament has denounced Burma’s May 10 constitutional referendum as a farce designed to cement the military junta’s hold on the country.

On April 24 MEPs adopted the non-binding resolution calling for increased sanctions against the country’s military junta. The resolution will be forwarded to the April 28-29 meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg for action. Burma’s “constitutional referendum process is devoid of any democratic legitimacy, as Burmese citizens lack all basic democratic rights that would allow them to hold an open debate on the constitutional text, amend it and subsequently freely express themselves through a referendum,” the MEPs said.

Speaking to the Southern Daily Echo upon his return from Burma following the February installation of the new Anglican Archbishop of Rangoon, the Bishop of Winchester the Rt. Rev Michael Scott-Joynt said the “situation is just as we have read it to be in our newspapers. Burma is a place where the regime is very much in control.”

“There are a lot of people who are very poor and for whom it is a real struggle to get the necessities of life. It is really not a place where any opposition to the regime can flourish,” he observed.

“I have talked to some clergy and it is a very demanding place for everybody and quite a frightening place,” Bishop Scott-Joynt said.

Copies of the 194-page draft constitution were also released for the first time on April 24. Under its proposed terms, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the formal name of the military junta led by General Than Shwe, will retain power through the set aside for the army of 25 percent of the seats in both houses of Parliament and in state assemblies. Any change to the constitution will requires a greater than 75 percent supermajority-giving the army veto power over the any changes.

The proposed constitution will also ban Nobel laureate and democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi from holding political office as “a person who is entitled to the rights and privileges of a foreign government, or a citizen of a foreign country” may not serve in the government. Suu Kyi’s late husband, Michael Aris, was British.

The leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Suu Kyi has been repeatedly place under house arrest since she won the 1990 general elections. The NLD has called for a “no” vote on May 10, but foreign monitors and correspondents have been banned from observing the election, and wide spread fraud is expected.

On March 19, the All Burma Monks Alliance—organizers of last year’s pro-democracy protests in Rangoon—called for a boycott of the referendum, saying religion could not prosper under a military regime that “kills and arrests monks and desecrates religious buildings.”

The military junta “continues to subject the people of Burma to appalling human rights abuses, such as forced labour, persecution of dissidents, conscription of child soldiers and forced relocation,” the European Parliament said last week. It urged the EU foreign ministers to “renew its targeted sanctions, and to broaden them, focusing on restrictions on access to international banking services” and to “campaign actively for a worldwide embargo on arms exports to Burma.”

The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma) has elected a new Primate and Archbishop of Rangoon.

The Rt. Rev. Stephen Myint Oo Than, Bishop of Hpa’an, was elected from amongst a field of five candidates at a meeting of general synod on Jan 15 at Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Elected Bishop of Hpa’an in 2005, Bishop Myint was educated at Trinity Theological College in Singapore and served as a parish priest before taking up the post of lecturer, then dean of Holy Cross Theological College in Rangoon in 1993.

As Archbishop of Rangoon, he will serve as Primate of the Province and metropolitan of the Church’s five other dioceses: Hpa’an, Toungoo, Mandalay, Myitkyina, and Sittwe. Archbishop Myint will be installed as Archbishop of Rangoon and enthroned as Myanmar’s sixth Anglican Primate on Feb 17 in succession to the current Archbishop, Samuel San Si Htay.

Archbishop Myint is married to Nan Myint Yi and they have three sons: Sa Sai Naw Aye, Sa Sai Luker and Michael Wyne Myat San.

The foundations of the Church of the Province of Myanmar were laid by SPG missionaries who first came out to Burma in 1854. The Diocese of Rangoon was formed in 1877 as part of the Province of Calcutta.

In 1966 the seventh Bishop of Rangoon, the Rt. Rev. Victor G. Shearburn along with all foreign missionaries were expelled by the Burma’s ruling military junta, and Suffragan Bishop Francis Ah Mya became the first ethnic Burmese diocesan bishop. Bishop Mya oversaw the move to independence from the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon and became the first Archbishop of Rangoon and Primate of Burma in 1970.

Golfing legend Gary Player should be banned for his ties to the military regime in Burma, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said last week.

Last Sunday, the former Archbishop of Southern Africa and Nobel laureate told the Weekend Argus he backed the call made by imprisoned democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi for a boycott of overseas firms doing business in Burma.

Based in Florida, the Gary Player Group designed and built the Pun Hlaing Golf Club in 1999 on a one-time rice paddy, 45 minutes outside of the capital Rangoon. Democracy activists charge the project violated the 1997 the Clinton Administration ban on new investment by US companies doing business in Burma.

An Oct 2 opinion article by George Monbiot published in the Guardian sated in Burma golf was the sport of the generals “who conduct much of their business on the links” and asked whether the course had been built with forced labour or on land expropriated from peasants.

Player responded that he was “very disappointed” that his “integrity and support for human rights” had been questioned and stated his firm’s involvement in the Burmese project had “been taken entirely out of context.”

The work in Burma began during a thaw in the regime’s relations with democracy activists and it “seemed as though real political change was in the air” the Player Group said in a statement released Oct 8.

Building the golf course was “actually humanitarian” in that it was paid its expenses only and “encouraged the developer to put the money toward creating jobs, as well as the establishment of a caddy and agronomy program” he said.

“Let me make it abundantly clear that I decry in the strongest possible terms the recent events in Burma and wholeheartedly support Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu in his efforts to bring peace and transition to that country,” Player said.

Archbishop Tutu’s push for sanctions against Burma’s military regime has put him at odds with the ANC government of South African Thabo Mbeki. In February while chairing the United Nations Security Council, South Africa voted against a motion brought by Britain to condemn the Burmese generals for their human rights abuses.

Church leaders in Burma have pleaded with the leader of the ruling military junta to end the violence against pro-democracy activists.

On Sep 28, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Yangon, Msgr. Charles Bo and the Anglican Primate and president of the Myanmar Council of Churches, Archbishop Samuel San Si Htay wrote to General Than Shwe (pictured) calling for an end to the crackdown of pro-democracy activists.

Burma’s churches were united in prayer for the peace and reconciliation of Burma and “especially praying for the people and the leaders of the country.”

All Christians “greatly desire and are contributing all their best for unity, peace, justice, and the overall development of the country,” the message said. “All the respective leaders of the Churches are also giving proper guidance to the faithful.”

The statement said that “Based on the teachings of the religions on love, truth, righteousness, forgiveness and reconciliation, and considering the current situation of the country, we would like to earnestly appeal to you” that there might be “stability, peace and non-violence, which are also the desire of the people.”

Speaking from his summer residence outside Rome, Pope Benedict XVI said he had been following events in Burma with “great trepidation.”

“I wish to express my spiritual closeness to that dear people in this moment of sorrowful difficulty that they are experiencing” he said on Sept 30 according to the ZENIT news agency, adding that he hoped a “peaceful solution can be found for the good of the country.”

Archbishop Anders Wejryd of the Church of Sweden asked the military regime to honour the safety of the Buddhist monks leading the protests as they “are part of a multi-religious tradition that upholds human life and dignity,” he said.

In a message to pro-democracy activists rallying in Trafalgar Square on Oct 6, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain “will not tolerate the abuses that have taken place.”

“I want all the other leaders of the world to work with us, to achieve the progress that all of you people want to achieve in Burma - an end to abuse of human rights,” the statement to the rally said.

“We want the violence to stop against the people of Burma, and we want to move forward with a process of democracy and reconciliation,” the prime minister said.

Archbishop Samuel San Si Htay of Myanmar (Burma) Photo from Global South Anglican

Church leaders have joined the chorus of support for pro-democracy activists in Burma, adding their voices to the denunciation of the military regime’s crackdown on protesters.

On Friday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the government’s violent attacks upon unarmed protestors, and called for the international community to intensify diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the crisis. The “word is watching” he said.

In a statement released by Downing Street, Mr. Brown said the protesters had been exercising “great bravery” by protesting peacefully. “I had hoped that the Burmese regime would heed the calls for restraint from the international community.

“But once again they have responded with oppression and force. This must cease,” he said on Sept 28.

The Anglican Primate of Burma, Archbishop Samuel San Si Htay of Rangoon told ENI, “We pray for peace and the future of the country.”

Archbishop Si Htay said a meeting had been planned with the country’s Roman Catholic bishops to forge a common front in response to the week of street protests in Rangoon and Mandalay. The Associated Press reported that on Sept 24 over 100,000 protesters led by Buddhist monks filled the streets of Rangoon staging the largest protest in 20 years to military rule.

The Bishop of Colombo, Duleep de Chickera called upon Burma’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, delivering an open letter deploring the violence. “As a fellow religious leader, I wish to express my solidarity with the commendable leadership provided by the Buddhist monks of Myanmar to this mass agitation.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Sept 25 released a statement from Cape Town likening the marches to the non-violent protests against the apartheid regime in South Africa.

“It is so like the rolling mass action that eventually toppled apartheid,” the Nobel laureate said. “We admire our brave sisters and brothers in Burma and want them to know that we support their peaceful protests to end a vicious rule of oppression and injustice.”

Archbishop Tutu, who along with former Czech president Vaclav Havel has led the international campaign to bring Burma before the UN Security Council, called upon the military regime to release jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and restore the rule of law.

“Victory is assured. They are on the winning side, the side of freedom, justice and democracy,” Archbishop Tutu said.

On Saturday however, the AP reported Rangoon’s streets were empty, with democracy activists awaiting further international support.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and the Burma Campaign UK have called for a national day of prayer on Sept 9 in response to the Rangoon government’s recent crackdown on democracy activists. The British government has also issued a strong protest and called for international action on Burma.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he “deeply deplore[d] the Burmese government’s violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations,” and called upon the government to release “all those detained merely for protesting at the hardship imposed on them by the government’s economic mismanagement and failure to uphold fundamental human rights.”

The Prime Minister’s Sept 2 statement restated the British government’s call for the release of “all political prisoners, including Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi who has now spent almost 12 years of her life under house arrest.”

The government stated that it would ask the UN Security Council to take up the issue “at the earliest opportunity.” “It is time for the UN human rights bodies to give this alarming situation the attention it so patently deserves,” he said.

CSW reports that hundreds have marched “almost every day since 19 August in protest at the military regime’s decision to raise fuel prices by 500 per cent.”

The peaceful protests had been met with a “brutal crackdown,” it said. “Demonstrators, including women, have been beaten up with iron rods and bamboo sticks by the police and the junta’s proxy mobs. Almost all the leading pro-democracy activists have been detained, and may be sentenced to up to 20 years in jail.”

CSW’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, said “We are calling for Christians around the country to join in a special day of prayer” on Sept 9 “in solidarity with the people of Burma who continue to show extraordinary courage and dignity, risking attack, arrest, torture and even death to protest peacefully at the injustice of the military regime.”