 The Power Behind the Robe
The mass demonstrations so brutally suppressed by the Burmese regime were led at first by the country’s monks, who then felt the full brunt of the junta’s anger. The junta had good reason to fear the power of the monks, as Aung Zaw explains.
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 No Soft Touch
Women activists were prominent in the protest demonstrations, continuing the role they have always played in Burma’s political history. Kyaw Zwa Moe pays tribute to the strong women of Burma, many of whom have been imprisoned for daring to speak out against injustice.
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 The Lost Boys of Sabah
Photojournalist Greg Constantine visited Sabah State in Malaysian Borneo and returned with striking and disturbing images depicting the hardships suffered by its stateless child laborers, the “lost boys of Sabah”.
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 Pipeline Politics
The Burmese junta controls huge natural resources, but inefficiency, incompetence and “bizarre priorities” keep the rewards from reaching the people, writes William Boot.
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 Walking a Stony Path
The pro-democracy activists who first took to the streets in the lead up to the mass demonstrations knew in advance that they faced arrest, imprisonment and possible torture. Many of them were well prepared for the ordeal, however, after serving many years in prison following the 1988 uprising, writes Yeni.
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BOOK REVIEW
 Bridging Cultures in Ethnic Burma
Bertil Lintner reviews a collection of writings on Burma’s ethnic diversity, and recommends that some of the authors should “come down from their ivory towers if they want to be taken seriously”.
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