ABC foreign affairs editor Peter Cave went into Burma under-cover to investigate how this brutal repression is still affecting the country.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2375782.htm

Burma repression continues
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 26/09/2008

Reporter: Peter Cave

With the anniversary of the so-called saffron revolution in Burma this
weekend, foreign affairs editor Peter Cave went into Burma under-cover
to
investigate how this brutal repression is still affecting the country.

The ABC advises that this story may contain disturbing images.

Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: This weekend marks the first anniversary of the
brutal repression of the so-called Saffron Revolution in Burma. Last
September, security forces shot and killed more than 30 Buddhist monks
and
other protesters calling for democratic reform. Since then, the military
junta has ignored world opinion and the United Nations and forced
through
constitutional amendments entrenching its power.

Foreign Affairs editor Peter Cave went in to Burma undercover to film
this
story. The identities of those he interviewed have been concealed for
their
own safety. And a warning: this story contains images that may disturb
some
viewers.

PETER CAVE, REPORTER: A woman begging for money sings a painful lament
on
the street outside Rangoon's Scot market in the city centre. It was
here, 12
months ago, that security forces opened fire on protesters, most of them
Buddhist monks. A Japanese freelance cameraman was amongst those killed
in
the bloody repression of the peaceful protest.

On the surface, the city appears relaxed and peaceful, but at night the
raids continue, opponents of the regime simply disappear. Troops sit in
trucks in quiet parks and side streets and police in riot gear are on
constant patrol.

It's not possible to film openly on the streets of Rangoon: the
Government
has eyes everywhere and even the pagodas and the monasteries have been
infiltrated by Government informers.

This monk, who took part in last year's protest, came to my hotel room
in
plain clothes, changing cars twice and donning his saffron robes only
after
he arrived. He told me that the monks were being kept locked down by the
military. Right now, the position is hopeless, he told me. The soldiers
have
guns and the monks are not allowed to gather outside the monasteries in
groups. He said in time there'd be more demonstrations by the monks, but
right now, that was impossible.

Traditionally, the Buddhist religion has been at the heart of wealth and
power in Burma. The Shwedagon Pagoda covered in tons of gold and
precious
gems is testament to this. It dominates the skyline of the former
capital
from every angle.

What happened in Burma a year ago was a struggle between the moral power
of
Buddhism and the power of the guns and the wealth of the generals who've
left Rangoon to set up a new seat of power in their newly-built, remote
and
largely isolated capital of Naypyidaw.

We've driven one hour out of Rangoon to a wildlife reserve to meet two
student activists; one from the 1988 uprising which saw an estimated
3,000
demonstrators killed by the military.

When do you think there is going to be change?

STUDENT ACTIVIST: I think two years or three years.

PETER CAVE: He tells me that change will have to come from within the
country, not from the outside.

"I don't know exactly when it will happen," he tells me. "It depends on
the
people. All businesses are suffering, so are the people and eventually
there
will be another uprising."

This student went into the streets with the monks last year. He hopes
the
revolution can be restarted.

STUDENT ACTIVIST II (translation): Government control everything. The
monks
have no arms. Government have arms. That's why people and monks are
afraid
of arms. That's why we can do nothing.

PETER CAVE: So, how do you think change will come about?

STUDENT ACTIVIST II (translation): Some people, they are imprisoned for
20
years and 30 years. That's why the people afraid of them, that's why
they
think nothing change, nothing can move now, but the people want to
change,
but they can't.

PETER CAVE: The wealth and power of the junta is based on their control
of
the country's abundant natural resources. Teak ripped from the
rainforests
as well as minerals and precious stones. But overall, it's the natural
gas
and petroleum that sustains them. After last year's killings, the United
Nations sent in a special envoy to try to negotiate with the generals,
but
ultimately his mission failed. Influential neighbours like China and the
ASEAN countries have been accused by supporters of Burmese democracy of
being more interested in the country's energy wealth than applying
pressure.

Even politicians from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
are
reluctant to show their face on camera these days. He says the UN tried
but
the UN's ideas and the ideas of the Opposition were not the same.

Is that why Aung San Suu Kyi didn't talk to the UN special envoy when he
came last time? "Six times Dr Gambari came to visit Burma," he says,
"But
during that time there were no developments." And because nothing
happened,
she saw no point in meeting him the last time.

The junta has marked the anniversary by releasing 9,000 prisoners, but
the
Opposition says that most are common criminals; only a handful of
high-level
political prisoners have been freed.

So, 12 months after the Saffron Revolution, very little has changed in
Burma. If anything, the junta's iron grip on the country is even
tighter.

Peter Cave, Lateline.