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financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> we are a nation of explorers. we seek new ways of living, of thinking, and of expressing ourselves. we take risks. we learn from experience and we keep moving forward. that's why we encourage and celebration the explorer in all of us. >> and now, bbc "news night". >> under cover in burma. a special report. this week as foreign observers are banned from witnessing the elections in one of the world's

most secretive military regimes, our reporter goes undercover in burma to find out whether democracy can prevail in a country that thousands of people look to escape from every year for fear of human rights abuses. >> if they do not give their vote to the big party, they will lose their home, and some voters, they have a warning that if they do not vote the big party, they will lose their shops in the market, you know, something like that. so, you know, this kind of pressure, the suffering, it's right now. >> hello. there are elections in burma this weekend. i repeat that. there are elections in burma this weekend. they'll be the first since the

people of that country made the mistake of voting for aung san suu kyi and her national league for democracy 20 years ago. this vote won't be what you call free and fair, and this -- there certainly won't be journalists there. our reporter is posing as a tourist. >> despite what the generals want outside -- the sights that the generals want to see. contented and orderly monks. a far cry from the uprising three years ago when angry monks led an exasperated people in a nationwide protest against their military government.

to prove to the outside world that the rebellion is over and the country is going about its normal business, the generals are holding an election. i found people inside the country somewhat underwhelmed. ask about the elections in a busy market and he suddenly has urgent business to attend to. the sight of anyone on the campaign trial is rare and doesn't draw a crowd. there is apathy in the town. and traveling the length of the country, i found indifference in the countryside.

and can you blame them? 20 years ago, these people flocked to the polls and voted for democracy, and the generals are not going to allow that to happen again. this time, the generals have organized the elections according to the new constitution to insure however people vote, they remain in control. welcome to elections, burmese junta style. the constitution guarantees the burmese military as a leading role in the new parliament with a veto over all legislation. aung san suu kyi, whose party won the 1990 election, is under house arrest again until after the election. she's called on the people of burma to boycott the poll.

following the uprising and the brutal crackdown by the military three years ago, more than 2,000 of her supporters remain in prison. with everything ready for what the generals call the strution of -- introduction of disciplined democracy, they announced that no foreign journalists would be invited into the country. every day the numbs carry a public health warning, telling people not to listen to the bbc, among others, because we're sowing hatred among the people with our killer broadcast. it doesn't exactly make one feel welcome, and i set out with caution.

taking tea in a leafy rangoon suburb with three ladies whoom people here call the three princesses. they're all friends of aung san suu kyi and, like her, their fathers were all political leaders, prime ministers after independence in 1948. >> but they're all defying their friends' call for a boycott and standing as prospective parliamentary candidates. why? >> because this election represents only the beginning of process of fostering democracy because according to the 2008 constitution, votes or no votes, the new government will be formed. if the democratic forces won't participate in this election,

the military and their cronies or proxies, they will rule this country for another 100 years. >> now, you were a childhood friend of aung san suu kyi. don't you feel you might be betraying her? >> no, not at all. we love her personally. she's like a sister to me. so whatever we are doing it's for the sake of the people and our country, not for us or our families. i'm sure she will understand. >> hundreds of pro-democracy candidates are defying the boycott, arguing that at least the elections could give them a voice in the new parliament, though campaigning in elections junta style is not easy. they have to fund their own campaign. they're not allowed to criticize the current government. and they must get permission for any meeting of more than five people.

we caught a glimpse of one such gathering through a car window. all election meetings are by invitation only, with the men from military intelligence checking that no one is there who is not on the list. and was it deliberate to have the election campaign coincide with the rainy season? meetings indoors can only be held in government-approved buildings, costing hundreds of dollars an hour to rent. only the government party, the big party as it's called here, can afford such luxuries. and the party is accused of intimidating voters. >> if they do not give a vote to the big party, they will lose their home and some voters

they have a warning that if they do not vote the big party, they will lose their shops in the market, you know, something like that. so, you know, this kind of, you know, pressure is suffering right now. >> those elected will come here to burma's new capital. where foreigners are not encouraged and taking pictures of government buildings is forbidden. we filmed eight-lane highways and modern town planning seen nowhere else in the country. huge ministry buildings are separated from one another by acres of jungle plain on which the city is still being built. we took these, the first pictures of the vast new

parliament building where over 100 of the 450 seats are reserved for the military and many more mr. go to the government-approved party. -- will go to the government-approved party there are smart accommodations for the civil servants, who apparently complain about living here. there are bus stops in the city but no buses. no mobile phone signals either. but at 99 meters high, there is the tallest pagoda in the country. so why build an expensive new capital in one of the poorest countries of the world? many would argue it's just another example of the man who's been burma's military dictator for nigh on 20 years now and his supreme -- extreme paranoia and meg al owe mania -- megalomania.

>> when the uprising occurred you could see the whole people, the whole country uprising against these people, the, especially the generals. so they must have been very unsafe and scared living among the ordinary burmese people. so they cut off themselves from the people, their own people and left and built a new city there, a grand city where they can enjoy themselves from the ordinary people. so i think they feel very safe there. >> the city's name means "the abode of kings." the statues here of three of burma's famous medieval warrior kings to whom they say the 77-year-old dictator likes to compare himself. he is accused by many of

nurturing a personality cult in the manner of his ally, kim jong il of north korea. on the road from the capital to mandalay i record how throughout history burma's rulers have built pagodas. traditionally to appease the gods for crimes committed against their people. mandalay, the former capital of burma, is littered with pagodas. the new capital is determined not to be outdone. just outside the city we found it's -- its own personal pagoda. maybe playing a "my pagoda is bigger than your pagoda" game, it is the highest of any built by an individual ruler in the country's history. but the city needs -- but the leader needs to be seen with

the guardians of the faith here to give him legitimacy, a sight seen regularly on state television. monks willing to be filmed with the generals who killed and imprisoned so many of their number in the uprising three years ago -- who are they? >> they are not genuine buddhists. they would betray the buddha himself if they had to. >> these monks, who collaborate with the generals, are given special favors. if any of them rebel they are removed. the generals are afraid that the manks -- monks and the people might join together again, but if they can discredit the monks by association with them, then there will be divisions between the monks and the people and the monks won't be able to lead any more. >> this senior monk is one of the few leaders who managed to

avoid arrest after the 2007 uprising. it doesn't stop him condemning the regime. not least because it's the monks who have to feed the people. millions of whom are going hungry. at this monastery in mandalay, leftovers are given to those who come begging at the gates. children who should be in school spend their days scaveenging for food. in a country which spends 40% of its wealth on the army and 1% on health and education. >> the standards of education in the country are very low. they don't educate people, so that the ordinary people are unable to analyze the gravity of the situation, and than helps the current government stay in power. >> and is this a deliberate policy? >> yes.

>> if the people were properly educated, they'd rebel. >> so with the monks who led the revolt three years ago in hiding or fled from the country, other political opponents in prison or under house arrest and potential troublemakers quy hescent -- quitescent or corrupted, it looks as though the generals have the election sewn up, but they're taking no chances. we flew 1,000 kilometers north to a state which borders china, one of the ethnic states which make up some 60% of the country. we made our way to a remote

area only open to tourists because it's considered a local beauty spot. the confluence of rivers from china and india forms the irawaddy river, which flows the length of the country, but people here told us that this and 200 -- other villages in the area are to be flooded to create a dam to sell power to china and they're being ordered to move out. the villagers have never had running water, let alone electricity, and now their homes are too -- to be washed away. for them the forthcoming elections are hardly a priority. >> we don't know whether we'll vote or not.

nobody's been here to explain to us how to vote. anyway, as things are, i'm too worried about whether or not i'll have a home. >> in the capital, the government is refusing to allow local ethnic political leaders to stand in the elections, those who might speak for local grievances. we tried to reach them on the phone and went to their houses after dark, but no one would talk. nearly half the people in this state are christian. and church leaders sell -- tell you that they've been persecuted for years and now

would-be political leaders are getting the same treatment, though no one will speak openly. the progressive party has been excluded from participating in these elections. people here tell you it's because they represent the ethnic people, which ties in with a pattern from the ethnic areas of burma where local parties and entire regions are being excluded from these elections. from the state in the north through the shan to the modern states in the southeast, local political parties have been forbidden to participate and entire townships have been told they can't vote, leaving hundreds of thousands of people unrepresented and disenfranchised in these elections junta style. nearly all the ethnic states in burma are at war with the junta and support local rebel

arblies. -- armies. we joined one army whose soldiers submit -- admit they were no match against recent burmese army campaigns to destroy hundreds of villages in the state. the inhabitants fled for their lives. >> the government soldiers started burning the village, and then they opened fire with machine guns. there was shooting everywhere. it was the old people and the small children who were killed first. everyone was terrified, running in all directions, trying to escape the bullets. they said we did not deserve to live because we support the rebel army. those of us who survived ran into the jungle and then started walking.

>> a local cameraman joined the mass exodus of people to record the flight of entire villages heading to refugee camps across the border in thailand. they walked for days. many fell sick and died for lack of food and medical care. >> i had a bag on my back and a baby in each arm when i fled. for the pregnant women, it was worse. some had to stop on the way to give birth. when the government soldiers caught up with them, they killed them. we all had to keep moving. some women were so pregnant

that they could barely balk -- walk, so they got stones and beat their stomachs to miscarry so they could escape from the government soldiers >> soldiers have noted more units of the burmese army closing in, the nearest on a neighboring hilltop. and the arrival of foreign engineers. all this activity, they say, is to construct a network of dams in the state. >> with this dam project here, the government have brought in chinese experts to supervise the construction and they've built military bases for protection. they've laid mines everywhere, which are really dangerous for the local people. as soon as the project is finished, they will sell the electricity to thailand. the government will get the

money but there will be nothing for us people. >> the burmese generals aren't stupid or they wouldn't have helt -- held on to power for so long. the program of demolishing villages and building dams in the state is being repeated. wherever there are ethnic rebel arblies, the junta is sweeping away the villages who support them. no wonder here, too, the elections are an irrelevant. >> for the ethnic people and the burmese people alike we will all still be treated like slaves and be even more downtrodden. this election is only to legitimize the generals so they can hold on to power.

>> back among the pagodas of mandalay, student monks will always come up to talk to you. they want to improve their english. but no one will talk about politics in a public place. as dusk falls over this magical city, it makes a refreshing change to find a couple who have no such inhibitions. the two mustaches offer their version of a traditional burmese folk opera, interspersed with allusions to the regime that go very close to the bone.

which is why they've both been jailed and are now only allowed to perform to tourists in english. >> in the slammer. in the clink three times! >> after their show i asked what he thinks about the elections. do you vote? are you going to vote? >> no. i stay at home. because -- because we did already out vote many years ago. everybody loved her. >> he met aung san suu kyi 20 years ago and like so many, was smitten. his is an opinion you hear often. we voted for the one in 1990. she can't stand in these elections, and so why bother?

burma's most famous prisoner still dominates the political scene. the lady, as they call her, was born on a tuesday. at the pagoda in rangoon, the plinth representing tuesday attracts a constant stream of admirers. for the past 20 years, burmese politics have been dominated by the struggle between the lady and the generals. whether people obey her call for a boycott or vote in these elections junta style could be

their fiercest contest yet for the hearts and minds of the people of burma. >> see the news unfold. get the top stories from around the globe. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth reporting of bbc world on line. >> funding for this spram made about possible by -- funding for this presentation was made possible by freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, the newman's own

foundation, and the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation and une bank. union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> i'm julia stiles. >> i'm kevin bacon. >> i'm kim cattrall. >> hi, i'm ken burns. >> i'm lili taylor. >> i'm henry louis gates, jr., and public broadcasting is my source for news about the world. >> for intelligent conversation. >> for election coverage you can count on. >> for conversations beyond the sound bites. >> a commitment to journalism. >> for deciding who to vote for. >> i'm kerry washington, and public broadcasting is my source for intelligent connections to my connections to my community.