Myanmar Times & Business Reviews

BURMA Headlines

2008-05-03T08:43:00.001-07:00

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2008-04-26T13:38:00.001-07:00

Burma Headlines

Stop The Unjust And Inhuman Arrests And Detention Of Refugees

2008-04-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

Women and children refugees are leaving their homes and moving deeper and deeper into the jungles to escape arrest and detention by RELA and the Immigration authorities. Gripped with fear and uncertainty, hundreds of refugees face the risk of lack of food and of diseases in the jungles.

During the last few weeks, the Malaysian government has stepped up intensive raids, especially in areas which have a high density of refugees and asylum seekers. These raids are well planned and organized. They happen during the day, in the wee hours of the morning or very late at night, when the authorities are certain that the refugees will be indoors or returning from work.

The raids often take place for several hours at a time. During the arrests, refugees run for their lives leading many to face injuries as a result of falls or accidents. Many flee their homes, with babies and little children in tow, leaving behind all their belongings, running for refuge in whatever form that may be. To be constantly vigilant and on the move is a persistent reality they face when running from being unjustly detained.

Reports from community members who have managed to escape arrests say that even children, whose parents may not be around at the time of the raid, are arrested. Upon arrests, the refugees are then placed in Immigration Detention Camps. The camps are already packed with refugees and undocumented migrants, thus the influx of arrests in these past few weeks could only lead to an increase in over-crowding and further deterioration of the conditions in the camp.

Children have also been separated from their parents, particularly if the child is arrested without his or her mother. As one woman shared, her 2-year old son is now in a detention camp, as he and his father were arrested during a particular raid. We are particularly concerned over the detention of infants and young children without their mothers as they tend to be uncared for particularly in regards to the special needs of infants and children. The refugee parents are concerned that they may never get their children back.

After the arrests, refugees are kept in overcrowded immigration detention centres. The majority of them are then charged under the Immigration Act for being an illegal immigrant in the country. The detained refugee is then sentenced to imprisonment and many of them have been caned or whipped. There was even a case of a 15 year old boy who was whipped as part of the sentence.

The root cause of the problem is that the Malaysian government has refused to recognize refugees and asylum seekers. Malaysia has not signed the Convention on Refugees. Consequently their status in Malaysia is the same as an “illegal” immigrant or undocumented worker.

After their sentence, the refugees are deported to the Thailand-Malaysia border. Ex-detainees have shared how, many make a payment in order to be released quicker. If they are unable to pay, either in the detention camp or at the border, they face a strong risk of being sold to traffickers, or are forced to work without pay, usually on fishing trawlers. There is a growing concern that such raids may increase the trafficking of refugees as bonded workers.

The recent raid on the Zomi organization is of grave concern for the refugee community and organizations working with refugees. The refugees have also organized, through their own initiative, their own support and care groups to sustain themselves and help each other. Is this the beginning signs of organized arrests of community leaders and the dismantling of service-centred organizations?

Due to the ongoing raids, it is becoming more and more difficult for humanitarian support to continue as refugees are not able to participate in programs. They become invisible and difficult to reach and thus become increasingly vulnerable.

Refugees and asylum seekers must be recognized and given a special status with the right to stay and work. Basic fundamental rights with humanitarian principles must form the basis and approach to manage the refugee issues and concerns in Malaysia. The Malaysian government has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Yet, the State continues to violate the rights of women and children and justify the discriminatory practices against refugees. It is therefore important that you express your protest on the inhumane treatment and unjust arrests of refugees and asylum seekers.

*burmadigest.info

Myanmar warns embassies ahead of referendum

2008-04-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar’s military government Thursday warned foreign embassies not to support Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party, as the nation gears up for a referendum on a constitution opposed by her supporters.

The warning carried in the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper came the morning after the regime announced that the referendum would be held on May 10.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party is urging voters to reject the constitution, which they say will not bring democracy to the country which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

“Certain foreign powers, with the intention of interfering in the internal affairs of Myanmar, are now … aiding and abetting some local political parties to destabilise the country,” the paper said.

“Some diplomats of certain foreign embassies in Yangon regularly visit NLD (headquarters), hold talks and give directives to harm the interests of the nation and the people,” the paper said.

“The embassies should stop such activities,” the government mouthpiece said.

The ruling junta says the new constitution will help create a “discipline-flourishing democracy,” with multiparty elections set for 2010.

But critics say the constitution will give the generals a dominant role in government, even after the polls.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the NLD to a landslide victory in elections in 1990, would be barred from running in new polls. The military never recognised NLD’s election win, and has silenced the Nobel peace prize winner by keeping her under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.

One quarter of the seats in parliament would be reserved for soldiers, appointed by the commander-in-chief. The military would also have broad powers to declare a state of emergency and take direct control of the government.

Amending the constitution would be almost impossible without the military’s consent. Three-quarters of parliament must approve any changes, which then must go to voters in a referendum.

Although the NLD and other pro-democracy groups are calling for a “No” vote, they have little ability to campaign effectively because the regime has outlawed speeches and leaflets about the referendum.

Dissidents have no access to the media, which is tightly controlled by the regime.

Copies of the constitution were only released to the public on Wednesday, when they were put on sale in government bookstores for nearly one dollar — a price far beyond the means of most people in this impoverished country.

Thailand-based Myanmar analyst Win Min said that by placing the date for the referendum only one month away, the regime left voters with little time to understand the 194-page document.

“They are worried that if they make it longer, the movement for holding a ‘No’ vote will get some momentum, and people will be more likely to vote ‘No’,” Win Min told AFP in Bangkok.

“They are giving little chance to the opposition to organise,” he said.

The regime may also have sought to avoid scheduling the referendum too close to the symbolically important date of May 27, which will be the 18th anniversary of the 1990 elections won by the NLD, he said.

That is also the date when the military is due to renew Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest.

In Washington, President George W. Bush said he was disappointed with the pace of democratic reforms in Myanmar.

“I would urge the military leadership there to open up and respond to the will of the people,” Bush said.

The United States and the European Union have tightened sanctions on Myanmar since a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in September.

At least 31 people were killed while 74 went missing, according to the United Nations. More than 700 people are still behind bars over the protests, according to Amnesty International.

burmadigest.info

Myanmar sentences activist

2008-04-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

Yangon - A veteran activist who staged a solo protest last year against Myanmar's military junta has been sentenced to life in prison for sedition, his lawyer said on Thursday.

Ohn Than, a member of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, was found guilty of demonstrating last year outside the US Embassy in Yangon, said Aung Thein, who will represent the convicted man at his appeal.

In Myanmar, a life sentence is a maximum of 20 years in prison, Aung Thein said. Ohn Than, who is in his mid-60s, was sentenced on Tuesday at a trial inside Yangon's Insein Prison, he said.

Ohn Than represented himself at his trial. He was arrested for standing outside the US Embassy on August 23 with a placard calling for the military regime that has controlled the Southeast Asian nation since 1988 to give up power.

The ruling junta held general elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power to the National League for Democracy when it won.

His solo protest came the same week that anti-government activists launched a series of street protests against fuel price increases and mismanagement of the economy.

Despite government efforts to quash them, the protests evolved by September into the largest anti-government demonstrations in almost two decades. The military halted the pro-democracy protests with a violent crackdown, killing at least 31 people by UN estimates and detaining thousands.

According to Aung Thein, Ohn Than argued during his trial that the authorities had tolerated and protected pro-junta demonstrators who staged protests outside US and British embassies early last year. The US and British governments are among the military regime's top critics.

Ohn Than has been jailed several times for his dissident activities. He served two years in prison for taking part in a solo protest outside a UN office in Yangon in 2004, and was detained in February and April last year after taking part in other protests.

The ruling junta tolerates little public dissent, sometimes sentencing dissidents to long jail terms for violating broadly defined security laws. The UN estimates there are more than 1 100 political prisoners in Myanmar, not including those who were detained in the September 2007 crackdown.

*news24.com

Disillusioned Burmese hope monk makes sense of killings

2008-03-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

Members of New Zealand's Burmese community are hoping one of their revered religious leaders, Venerable Abbot U Pannya Vamsa, can help them make sense of the killings in Tibet during his visit to Auckland this week.

Venerable Vamsa is considered the Burmese equivalent to the Dalai Lama, said Naing Ko Ko, a former political prisoner of Myanmar's military government, who came here as a political refugee last year.

"Many of us Burmese can feel the same pain when we hear about what happened in Tibet because we were in the same situation just a few months ago.

"Many Burmese are disillusioned by the New Zealand Government's soft response on the Tibet issue and we are hoping Venerable Vamsa can help us make sense of it all," said Mr Naing, who last Wednesday organised a protest outside Prime Minister Helen Clark's electorate office against the free trade agreement with China.

Last September, at least 31 people including Buddhist monks were killed when Myanmar rulers broke up pro-democracy demonstrations.

Although this is Venerable Vamsa's fourth visit to New Zealand, it will be his first as leader of the International Burmese Monks Organisation (IBMO), an organisation set up last October after monks were killed in the violence in Myanmar.

Mr Naing said many Burmese hoped that he could help them see the violence happening in Tibet and at home in a Buddhist light.

During his three-day visit from Wednesday, the 83-year-old abbot plans to meet MPs, other religious leaders, supporters and the local Burmese community. He will discuss a way forward in making peace a reality in Myanmar and putting the situation in Tibet into context.

"It is not only the Buddhist and Burmese who are looking forward to his coming; many locals and people of other religions too are looking to him in hope to help us find a direction," said Rev Sumanasiri, a Burmese monk and IBMO member based at the Yadanadipa temple in New Lynn.

Historically, Buddhist monks in Myanmar have always been at the forefront of protests including those against British colonialism and military dictatorship.

Last month, the Myanmar government unveiled what it called a "road map to democracy" saying it will hold a referendum on a draft constitution in May and a general election in 2010.

But it has been widely dismissed by diplomats, dissidents and human rights group as a sham

"The referendum is just window dressing by the military government and designed to keep people like detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from standing," Mr Naing said.

*nzherald.co.nz

Myanmar man in critical condition after self-immolation - diplomats

2008-03-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

Yangon - A 26-year-old man was in critical condition in hospital after setting himself on fire in an apparent protest against economic hardships in the country, Western diplomats and security sources said Sunday, citing eyewitness accounts.

In the incident which took place Friday evening, the man poured petrol over himself in the country's holiest temple, the Shwedagon Pagoda, then set himself alight, security sources said.

The man was identified as Thaw Zin Naing, with witnesses reporting they heard him cry out against economic hardship and the stress of living in a broken economy. He is now in critical condition in Yangon General Hospital.

Although security is tight at what has often been an important gathering place, he was already badly burnt before officials could put the flames out, the witnesses said.

While foreign currency payments from the sales of offshore oil and gas help a military regime that has ruled since 1962, ordinary Burmese without special contacts find life hard, said diplomats contacted Sunday.

Country people who can grow their own food do better than city folk who are a prey to inflation, miserable pay and widespread petty corruption, said one Western diplomat.

The National Leaugue for Democracy, the key opposition organization, said Sunday that Thaw Zin Naing was not a member.

*monstersandcritics.com

Monks in exile urge people to boycott and rise against junta

2008-03-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

By vusi | Abitsu

Mizzima News - Nay Thwin : In a major development, for the first time since the September 2007 protests, a monk’s organization has exhorted people both inside and outside Burma to rise against and boycott the Burmese military junta and its seven-point road map including the referendum. The call is being dubbed “a battle cry by the monks”.

The call comes from the Burmese monks’ organization in exile and the statement is signed by Badanta Kawida Biwuntha (Masoyane monastery senior abbot) of the All Burma Monks Association (ABMA) or Sasana Moli. It urges both the people and monks inside Burma and monks and pro-democracy activists in exile to join hands and boycott the regime and its plans from April 26, 2008.

Ashin Pyinyar Zawta, who was the ‘Taikot’ abbot of Maggin monastery in Thingangyun Township, Rangoon and is now living on the Thai-Burma border said, “The monks have expressed their dislike of the referendum to be held in May. We have communicated our position to other organizations, political parties and pro-democracy forces. We alert and remind them to remain prepared.”

Ashin Pyinyar Zawta, the senior abbot, is a patron of the ABMA and played a key role in preparing the ground before the saffron revolution.

The statement released on Thursday urged members of the ABMA across the world, pro-democracy forces, various organizations, the monks inside Burma, students and people, workers, farmers and genuine people’s soldiers that they should raise the banner of revolt on April 26 bravely, and simultaneously go for a boycott inside and outside the country along with the Sasana Moli.

Ashin Pyinyar Zawta said, “The people are divided on how to oppose the junta. Some are calling for a ‘NO’ vote, some want a boycott of the referendum. These options are being considered. We have presented an alternative plan. The monks have pointed out to the people that there is an alternative way to protest against the junta’s plans. These are neither boycott nor ‘NO’ vote. We will show the alternative way where the people should take to the streets and chant slogans.”

U Sandaw Bathasara from ABMA New York, US Chapter said, “We are still observing the Ex-communicative boycott against the regime. This means we cannot recognize what the regime is doing. So we urge the people in Burma to join hands with the Sasana Moli in protesting against the national referendum. In this way, the stage of boycotting or casting ‘NO’ vote will not be reached otherwise it will seem as if we are assisting the regime in their game plan. Thus we believe that we cannot let the referendum take place. An uprising is badly needed before the referendum stage is reached”.

“This is a battle cry by the monks. We are pleased to see that monks are actively participating in this national struggle. We recognize them for their activities. We prefer coordination with the pro-democracy forces in every action of ours”, he added.

Sasana Moli was formed in Los Angeles, California State, US on October 27, 2007. Now chapters have been formed in US, UK, Europe, Canada, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India totaling over a dozen countries.

The US based Sasana Moli HQ will chant paritta in front of UN office in New York, preaching sermons, holding religious observance for fallen martyrs among monks and people who sacrificed their lives and hold a peaceful protest march in procession on April 26.

'Happy Birthday' virus attacks Burmese opposition computers

2008-03-21T15:02:00.001-07:00

Phanida
Mizzima News
March 21, 2008

Chiang Mai – Computers used by several Burmese opposition groups based on the Thai-Burma border came under attack by a virus widely known as 'Happy Birthday'. About 30 computers in several offices came under attack paralyzing work.

The act seems to have been engineered deliberately. The virus destroyed the computers in the offices of Burmese pro-democracy activists including the office of the National League for Democracy – Liberated Area, Burma Lawyer's Council, Forum for Democracy in Burma, Yaung Chi Oo labour organization, Mae Tao clinic, Ahlinndan Library, Burmese Women's Union and National Health and Education Committee.

Ko Zan, a Burmese blogger in the Thai-Burmese border town of Mea Sod said, "At least 30 computers came under attack by the virus today. And this 'Happy birthday virus' is really fast in infecting one computer after another."

"It is like somebody has purposely directed the attack," he added.

According to the blogger, the virus is usually transmitted from external memory sticks including thumb drives, CDs and external hard disks. After the virus silently enters the computers, it shows a popup message on the screen saying 'Happy Birthday' and the computer will fail to reboot.

Similar virus threats were detected last month in Rangoon, when a few desktop publishers and photo printers complained of being unable to use their computers after the virus attack.

UN envoy says his latest Myanmar mission was disappointing

2008-03-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN troubleshooter Ibrahim Gambari expressed disappointment Tuesday with his latest mediation in Myanmar as did Western envoys who vowed to keep the crisis in the UN Security Council’s spotlight.

“Whereas each of my previous visits produced some result that could be built upon, it is a source of disappointment that this latest visit did not yield any immediate tangible outcome,” Gambari told the 15-member council.

US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad was equally downbeat.

“We are disappointed by the lack of any concrete achievement” during Gambari’s last visit to the southeast Asian country from March 6 to 9, he told reporters after Security Council consultations on the issue.

“The regime has not responded appropriately to Gambari’s initiative,” he added, describing as “flawed” plans by Myanmar authorities to hold a referendum on a new constitution in May and multi-party elections in 2010.

His British counterpart John Sawers said Gambari gave a “not very encouraging briefing” on his latest mission to promote national reconciliation between Myanmar’s military government and the opposition led by democracy icon and Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

He said the world community’s best tool to sway the ruling junta was “the power of persuasion” and keeping the issue “in the spotlight.”

France’s UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert meanwhile expressed alarm that the draft constitution unveiled by Myanmar authorities contained provisions aimed at preventing Aung San Suu Kyi from running in the elections.

“That is not acceptable,” he added.

But Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, whose country is a major trade partner and arms supplier of Myanmar, insisted Gambari’s mission had achieved some progress.

“One can argue whether the glass is full or the glass is half full,” he told reporters, adding: “The situation (in Myanmar) now is better than last August and September” when the military junta crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years.

Myanmar’s envoy to the UN Kyaw Tint Swe told the council that “given the complexity of the challenges that Myanmar faces, the government has come a long way and has made significant strides in our seven-step political roadmap.”

“Myanmar has been cooperating and will continue to cooperate with the United Nations,” he added.

Gambari insisted that unity among the Security Council members was “the best way” to shore up his good offices mission.

“The United Nations is the only outsider to maintain access to both the government and Aung San Suu Kyi and to act as go-between between the two,” he earlier told the council.

“Encouraging the Myanmar authorities to reverse a policy mindset that has lasted this long can be challenging,” he added. “But it is imperative that we continue to do so with persistence and patience, and with legitimate expectations of tangible results from the process of engagement.”

Earlier this year, he urged the ruling junta to make the constitutional process “inclusive, participatory and transparent” and to engage in a substantive and time-bound dialogue with relevant parties.

But on his third visit to Myanmar earlier this month, Gambari was rebuffed twice by the generals.

The junta refused to amend the constitution and rejected an offer of UN technical assistance and foreign observers during the referendum.

Gambari had two meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi but was unable to see General Tan Shwe, the head of the ruling junta. He said he had no immediate plan to make a return visit.

At least 31 people died in September’s unrest, according to the United Nations, although Human Rights Watch put the toll at more than 100. The world outcry was swift and unified — a consensus that has since fractured.

*burmadigest.info

ABFSU Leader Kyaw Ko Ko Arrested by Burmese Military Intelligence

2008-03-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

Kyaw Ko Ko, the leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, was arrested and taken from his hiding place on 17March 2008 by Military Intelligence personnel.

With the help of supporters, Kyaw Ko Ko twice had previously escapedarrest. Nyan Linn Aung, another ABFSU leader, was arrested together withKyaw Ko Ko. It is not known where theywere taken.

The Assistance Association forPolitical Prisoners is very concerned about Kyaw Ko Ko and Nyan Lin Aung. Military authorities are notorious fortorturing political prisoners, and often the most severe treatment occursduring the interrogation stage following the arrest.

Background:

Kyaw Ko Ko is a student who is attending in Economic Universityfrom Yangon for a master degree. He is 25years old and a son of U Kyaw Gyi. He isa leader of All Burma Federation of Student Unions which was reestablished on 28 August 2007.
Burma’sfirst student union, the RangoonUniversity Students’ Union, was founded in 1931 by national independence heroGen Aung San and his friends.

The group was renamed the AllBurma Students’ Union in 1936 before switching to the ABFSU in 1951.FollowingGen Ne Win’s military coup in 1962, the office of the ABFSU in Rangoon was demolished and hundreds of students werekilled by the army.

During the nationwide pro-democracy 8888 uprising, the ABFSU resurfaced under the leadership of Min Ko Naing and other prominent student leaders on 28 August 1988.

Nowadays, during th SuffaronRevolution…. “Today we reestablish the ABFSU to take on
the shifting roles of former students in a new generation to fight for freedom,
justice and the building of a democratic country,” Kyaw Ko Ko said on 28 August 2007 when the fighting peacock flag was raised again.

“I hereby encourage all students across the country to accept the shifting responsibilities on behalf of our former brothers and sisters,” he added.
The influential All Burma Federation of Student Unions has resumed its struggle against the country’s military government .

“Student unions must exist for the studentsin Burma,” said Kyaw Ko Ko.

More info

*burmadigest

Thai-Burma pact

2008-03-15T14:11:00.001-07:00

BangkokPost.com, TNA
Naypyidaw, Burma - Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has committed Thailand to an investment accord with Burma under which Thailand will try to boost the economy and help the military regime.

Mr Samak and his Burmese counterpart Gen Thein Sein witnessed the signing of the investment pact during Mr Samak's one-day visit to Burma on Friday.

The agreement was kept secret until Mr Samak arrived back in Thailand.

The accord reportedly protects Thai investors, although Mr Samak's aides have not presented details on that part of the still confidential agreement.

Thailand will discuss taking part in Burmese plans to built a deep sea port at Tavoey opposite Thailand's Andaman Sea coast, and commits the Thai government to press Thai business leaders to invest in the port project and other unspecified projects sponsored by the military regime.

It was a major step forward to helping the so-called State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) rulers. Previous Thai governments have not opposed investment in Burma, but have seldom committed the country to directly aiding Burmese government projects.

Thailand is already one of Myanmar's largest investors and trading partners, with Thai state-owned energy firms being the largest buyers of natural gas from that country.

Mr Samak and Gen Thein Sein witnessed the signing of the agreement after holding bilateral talks soon after his arrival in the new Burmese capital. Prior to the signing, Mr Samak met SPDC chairman Senior General Than Shwe at the Bayintnauang Yeiktha Building in Naypyidaw.

Mr Samak later presided at the opening of a new office building in the Thai embassy in Rangoon, the biggest Burmese city and former capital.

The pemier said during the opening ceremony that he had ordered Thai ambassadors worldwide to operate a "one-stop service" to facilitate foreigners wishing to invest or explore investment possibility in Thailand.

Before returning to Bangkok, Mr Samak presented his government's policy to "Team Thailand" officials at the embassy, then met about 500 Thais, mainly from the business community, hotel staff and personal care workers and beauticians.

Mr Samak told a TNA reporter that he had received sufficient information from Snr Gen Than Shwe on military-ruled Burma's plans for its self-designated "roadmap to democracy".

The Thai premier said he would inform the leaders of European countries when he visits them in future and that he would speak at the UN General Assembly in September.

Leaders of military-ruled Burma last month made a surprise announcement that it would hold a referendum in May on a draft constitution and would hold a general election in 2010. These alleged elections have won strong endorsement from the Thai government.

The elections will be the first since detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy to a landslide victory in the 1990 elections, but the party's victory was never recognised by the junta.

"The information is vital for countries interested (in Burma) and Snr Gen Than Shwe also expressed during the talks that he wanted to see peace in the country," said Mr Samak.

*bangkokpost.com

China arms Myanmar military

2008-03-15T14:10:00.001-07:00

China arms Myanmar military
By vusi | March 15, 2008

UPI Energy - Andrei Chang : China has exported two 16 PA6 shipborne diesel engines to Myanmar to be fitted on its navy’s indigenous patrol ships, a representative of the German MAN Diesel Co., which designed the original engines, has confirmed.

The PLA navy’s 054A missile frigate uses four 16 PA6 engines, produced by China under license from MAN Diesel. MAN Diesel was originally the SEMT Pielstick Co., under French ownership, but changed its name following restructuring last year.

China’s export of these engines will help Myanmar upgrade its patrol vessels. Since 1998, Myanmar has built three Sinmalaik-class patrol vessels, with help from China in the design and construction of the vessel hulls.

The Sinmalaik-class patrol vessel has a full-load displacement of 1,000 tons and is not fitted with ship-to-ship missiles. The Myanmar navy apparently has plans to develop its own light-duty offshore patrol vessels with China’s assistance, and China’s provision of the 16 PA6 engines is likely related to this plan.

Most of the major surface combatants of the Myanmar navy were supplied by China, so the navy resembles the PLA navy in many respects. It has acquired Chinese 40-kilometer-range C-801 ship-to-ship missiles along with 037-G high-speed missile patrol boats. The Myanmar navy altogether has four 037-G fast missile boats, which were all delivered between 1995 and 1997.

China officially issued an export license for its new C-802A ship-to-ship missiles six months ago, intending to promote sales to South and Southeast Asian countries. The C-802A has a range of 180 kilometers and is a replacement for the earlier C-801 and C-802 SSMs.

Not only the Myanmar navy but also its army and air force are equipped with massive Chinese military equipment. For the past 10 years, China has been the largest supplier of arms to the country. Japanese television news broadcast during last September’s military crackdown on Buddhist monks showed Myanmar soldiers using Chinese-made Dongfeng trucks and even wearing Chinese helmets.

The army has been equipped with more than 100 Chinese T-69-II main battle tanks and 55 new T-90 armored personnel carriers. A Google Earth satellite photo shows that at least two Chinese A5M attackers have been deployed in the northern city of Mandalay, which can be used for assaults on rebels in the northern part of the country.

China sold more than 22 A5M attackers and at least 50 F-7 fighters to the Myanmar air force in 1991 and 1993. Satellite photos have also shown two Chinese-made Y-8 transporters at the Yangon airport. Also, 12 Chinese Lang Chang K-8 jet trainer aircraft have been sold to the country in the past seven years, the same type sold to the Sudanese air force.

For its part, China is actively pursuing access to Myanmar’s natural resources, especially its oil and natural gas. Last year China won a bid to extract natural gas from Myanmar’s biggest offshore field, believed to hold as much as 7.7 trillion cubic feet of gas. The gas is to be delivered by a pipeline, yet to be constructed, via Mandalay to China’s southern province of Yunnan.

(Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto.)

*ABITSU

Chinese presence in Myanmar uneasy

2008-03-14T05:42:00.001-07:00

Few people can claim justifiably to understand the relationship between Myanmar's secretive military rulers and China, their key trading partner, arms supplier and diplomatic ally.

But if the man on the street in Mandalay is anything to go by, it will be one ranging from mistrust to resentment to outright loathing, suggesting Beijing's much-vaunted "influence" over its pariah neighbour may be smaller than imagined.

Even though the former Burma's second city is one of the few places where the economy appears to be going somewhere, thanks mainly to Chinese capital and enterprise, most locals feel they are on the wrong side of a deeply exploitative equation.

"The Chinese give us plastic, and they take our teak and gems," one senior Buddhist monk in Sagaing, a town 20 km west of Mandalay, told Reuters. "They give us one thing, but then take two."

Lu Maw, one of Mandalay's famed "Moustache Brothers" comedy trio, reflects the views of many when he says the city, now home to as many nondescript Chinese hotels as ancient Buddhist monasteries, should be renamed "Capital of Yunnan", China's nearest province.

"I don't want to discriminate against the Chinese, but..." he says, before launching into a series of jokes accusing businessmen from southwest China of making millions selling heroin or doing dodgy deals with even dodgier Burmese generals.

General xenophobia?

Whether street-level xenophobia translates into official outlook and policy is, of course, a moot point, especially when it comes to reading the minds of Myanmar's military junta, one of the world's most closed regimes.

The only clues are hearsay and anecdote, such as that of the junta's number two man Maung Aye, who has spent much of his military career fighting Beijing-backed communists, ordering shop signs to be taken down if Chinese lettering appeared above the Burmese.

But the question of anti-Chinese sentiment is an important one, given the West's almost total reliance on Beijing since September's anti-junta protests to coax the generals towards political and economic reform after 46 years of military rule.

Beijing is also acutely aware of the issue as it tries to buy billions of dollars of Myanmar natural gas - gas that most of its 53 million people think should be used to address the chronic energy shortages that sat at the heart of last year's protests.

An acquiescent and stable Myanmar is also strategically vital to Beijing's plans for an oil pipeline running from the Andaman Sea via Mandalay to Yunnan to mitigate China's reliance on crude shipments through the Strait of Malacca.

"Our policy is to encourage Chinese companies to 'go out', whether it's to Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar or wherever," Yunnan Communist Party chief Bai Enpei told Reuters on the sidelines of China's annual parliament meeting this month.

"Historically in Southeast Asia there has been a problem in places where there are a lot of ethnic Chinese. But relations are gradually getting better," he said.

"We cannot just go in and earn other people's money, selling stuff and taking over projects. It must be win-win."

Kept in dark

At the height of September's crackdown, Yangon-based diplomats say China did indeed pull out all the stops to get United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari into the country.

Beyond that, the amount of pressure Beijing can bring to bear on Myanmar's recalcitrant generals is open to question.

China's curious admission last May that it had been kept in the dark about the junta's 2005 move to a new capital - and its distinctly unflattering account of the place - fuelled speculation that Beijing may not enjoy privileged access.

Some diplomats also dispute the argument that the generals should or could use the Chinese Communist Party's establishment of a free market without ceding any political control as a blueprint for reform.

"The ability of China to influence the junta is way overplayed," one Yangon-based diplomat said. "People say they should get the generals to 'do a China or a Vietnam' and relax their grip over the economy without ceding any political power.

"But they forget that it's the junta's stranglehold over every single money-making enterprise in the country which is their power," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

"They control everything, right down to the number of cars imported each year."

*tvnz.co.nz

Thai premier going to Myanmar, but human rights off the agenda

2008-03-13T11:57:00.001-07:00

By vusi | Abitsu

www.earthtimes.org : Bangkok - Thailand’s new Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej will pay an official visit Myanmar Friday where he will avoid sensitive topics such as internal affairs, human rights and conflicts with minority groups, a government spokesman said Thursday. Samak, who became Thailand’s 25th prime minister on January 28, will depart for Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s new military capital, on a special Thai Air Force flight from Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport at 7:45 local time Friday, said government spokesman Lieutenant General Wichienchote Suchoterat.

He will meet with Myanmar’s military supremo Senior General Than Shwe and hold talks with the junta about Thailand’s business interests in natural gas and hydro-electric dams.

“He will not discuss Myanmar’s internal affairs, human rights nor conflicts with minority groups although these issues may be raised at the upcoming ASEAN summit,” said Wichienchote.

Bangkok will host the annual summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) later this year.

While in Naypyitaw, which is situated 350 kilometres north of the old capital in Yangon, Samak will also witness the signing of an investment protection agreement between the two countries, a foreign ministry source said.

The agreement is designed to encourage more Thai investment in Myanmar and strengthen cooperation between the two neighbouring countries.

Thailand currently ranks as Myanmar’s third largest foreign investor, with investments reaching 1.34 billion dollars as of last year. The United Kingdom ranks first with 1.56 billion dollars worth of investments in Myanmar, while Singapore comes second with 1.43 billion, according to figures compiled by Thailand’s Foreign Trade Department.

Thailand also ranks among Myanmar’s leading trade partners.

In 2007, Thai imports from Myanmar (primarily natural gas), amounted to 80.03 billion baht (2.5 billion dollars), up 9.8 per cent on 2006 figures, while Thai exports to the country amounted to 33.06 billion baht (1.05 billion dollars), a 14.6 per cent rise.

Thailand’s close economic ties with the regime are in stark contrast to those of most Western democracies, such as the US and the European Union, both of which have imposed new economic sanctions on the country in the wake of its brutal crackdown on anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks last September.

Such sanctions are deemed ineffective as long as Myanmar’s main economic allies Thailand, India and China, refuse to follow suit.

Veteran journalist calls for people power to oust regime

2008-03-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

By vusi | Abitsu

Irrawaddy - Violet Cho : Less than a week after an unsuccessful visit to Burma by UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, one of the country’s most respected journalists has made an extraordinary appeal for a “people power” uprising to end the ruling regime’s stranglehold on power.

In a recorded message addressed to Burmese both inside and outside the country, Ludu Sein Win, a prominent journalist and former political prisoner, said that he believed that force was the only way to end more than four decades of military rule.

“In the entire history of the world, there has never been a dictator who willingly gave up power once he had it firmly in his hands,” he said in his message, recorded in the former capital, Rangoon.

“And there are no countries in the world which have gained liberation though the help of the United Nations,” he added, in apparent reference to the failed efforts of the UN special envoy, who left the country on Monday after being chastised by the ruling generals for “bias” in favor of the democratic opposition.

Describing the deepening political, social and economic crisis facing the country, the sixty-eight-year-old veteran journalist warned the Burmese people that it was futile to pin their hopes for a better future on the diplomatic efforts of the international community.

“Don’t waste your time dreaming about dialogue and considering help from the UN Security Council,” he said. “We already have the power to force out the military dictatorship. That power is the force and strength of every Burmese citizen.”

In the wake of last September’s monk-led protests, which attracted worldwide attention, the time is right to launch a renewed effort to overthrow military rule, the veteran journalist insisted.

Ludu Sein Win has experienced more than his fair share of trouble at the hands of the country’s ruling dictators.

He began his distinguished career as a young reporter for the Mandalay-based left-wing newspaper, Ludu (”The People”), launched in 1946. As the publication’s Rangoon bureau chief, he was arrested at the age of 27 and sentenced without trial to 13 years in prison, during which he was tortured by the authorities. He then spent an additional two years confined on Coco Island, a penal colony located about 430 km southwest of Rangoon in the Indian Ocean.

He is one of Burma’s most outspoken advocates of independent media, and is the author of many books on the basic theory and ethics of journalism. He is also popular as a prolific writer of books on issues relating to young people.

Burma: Thousands of Karen civilians displaced in fresh attacks

2008-03-11T14:46:00.001-07:00

London, 12 March, (Asiantribune.com): The Burma Army has launched fresh attacks on civilians in northern Karen State this month, causing the displacement of over 2,100 villagers.

According to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organisation working in the conflict areas of eastern Burma, the attacks are “the largest against civilians in northern Karen State since the Burma Army completed the re-supply of its camps and construction of roads at the end of 2007.” Over 30,000 people are displaced in northern Karen State, and it is estimated that there are over one million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Burma altogether.

The Burma Army attacked several villages in northern Papun District, Karen State, on 4 March, according to the Free Burma Rangers. Nine homes and three farm houses were burned down in Ga Yu Der village. The Burma Army also fired eight mortar rounds into Tay Bo Kee village. In both cases villagers fled before the troops came, and are now on the run in the jungle. The Free Burma Rangers report that the Burma Army is pursuing those who fled, “seeking out villages and pockets of IDPs and destroying homes, food and property.”

These latest reports follow the recent visit of the UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Burma. The ruling military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), rejected the envoy’s proposals to amend the draft constitution to allow Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, currently under house arrest, to contest elections. Mr Gambari failed to meet the SPDC’s Senior General Than Shwe, and the regime refused to allow UN monitors to observe the planned referendum on the constitution in May.

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), said: “The regime’s brutal offensives against civilians in Karen State, the continuing gross violations of human rights throughout the country, and the failure of the UN envoy’s visit to bring any change at all mean that the time has come for the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take personal charge of efforts to address the crisis in Burma. He should visit Burma as a matter of urgency to facilitate meaningful dialogue between the regime, the democracy groups and the ethnic nationalities, with the backing of a binding Security Council resolution. We call upon the UN Security Council to impose a universal arms embargo on Burma and to refer the Burmese regime to the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity. We also urge the EU to strengthen its Common Position on Burma next month, by imposing targeted banking sanctions on members of the regime and their cronies. The regime has proven that it is not interested in dialogue or reform, and so it is imperative that the international community now act.”

- Asian Tribune -

Political prisoner dies in Bago prison

2008-03-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

By vusi |Abitsu
D V B : Political prisoner and National League for Democracy member Ko Win Tin died on 6 March aged 35 while serving a 27-year prison term in Tharawaddy prison, Bago division.

Ko Win Tin, also known as Anue, was sentenced to 27 years’ imprisonment in 1999 under article 5(j) of the emergency law, among other charges, for planning to incite nationwide mass protests on 9 September 1999.

U Myat Hla, a member of Bago NLD and elected representative of the people’s parliament, said he was informed about Win Tin’s death by his wife on Thursday.

“We had been hearing news about him being in bad health for quite a while before we heard about his death today,” said Myat Hla.

“We were told the sad news by his wife who went to the prison.”

Myat Hla said Win Tin had been an enthusiastic member of the NLD in Bago township since it was formed when he was about 14 years old.

“He and his sister were with us since the beginning and they participated enthusiastically in our party’s activities,” he said.

“We loved him so much and we regard his death as the loss of a family member.”

UN envoy fails to meet Burma head

2008-03-10T13:33:00.001-07:00

The UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, has ended his latest visit to the country without meeting military leader Than Shwe.
He did meet detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but requests for talks with top generals were denied.

Mr Gambari has been pressing Burma's authorities for political reforms, but with little apparent progress.

Burma has rejected his call for independent observers to monitor a referendum on the new constitution.

It also refused to consider changing the constitution to allow Aung San Suu Kyi to take part in proposed elections.

Little progress

This was Mr Gambari's third visit to Burma since September's brutally suppressed pro-democracy marches.

He met Aung San Suu Kyi twice, as well as the information minister, Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, and several junior ministers.

There has been no word as yet on the content of the talks, but analysts say there is likely to have been no significant breakthrough - especially as Mr Gambari was not granted an audience with Than Shwe or other senior officials.

During his trip, Mr Gambari had hoped to discuss the junta's recent announcement that it would hold a referendum in May on its plans to move towards democracy.

The process is due to lead to democratic elections in 2010, although opposition groups have cast doubt on whether the government will stick to its pledges.

Pro-democracy activists say the proposals will leave the military largely in power.

A quarter of seats in parliament would be reserved for the armed forces under the plans.

After leaving Burma, Mr Gambari flew to Singapore, en route to meeting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Africa to report on his mission.

*bbc

Burma generals reject UN’s reform plans

2008-03-10T13:32:00.001-07:00

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN’s special envoy to Burma, left the military-ruled country empty-handed on Monday after the generals rebuffed his proposals for political reform and offers of help for a forthcoming constitutional referendum.

The evident failure of Mr Gambari’s mission – the envoy was not even granted a meeting with the junta’s top leader – leaves the international effort to engage Burma’s generals, and nudge them towards dialogue with opposition forces, in disarray.

“It’s almost a dead end now,” Win Min, a lecturer on Burmese politics at Thailand’s Payap University, said of a UN process that gained urgency after the junta’s bloody crackdown on mass anti-government protests in September.

“The generals were not serious about this UN process from the very beginning,” he said. “They just accepted it because of the pressure from China. It’s becoming more and more clear it was just for public relations.”

During Mr Gambari’s visit – his third since September – Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, the information minister, publicly accused the envoy of “bias” and of exceeding his mandate by conspiring with Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained democracy advocate.

Mr Gambari was dispatched to Burma after the crackdown to foster dialogue among the generals, Ms Suu Kyi and ethnic minorities. But the few subsequent meetings between Ms Suu Kyi and a junta “liaison officer” never touched on substantive matters, prompting the Nobel laureate to express her “dissatisfaction” to party colleagues permitted a rare visit in January.

Then last month the regime announced plans for a national referendum in May on a controversial new constitution – which critics say would in effect legalise military rule – followed by general elections in 2010. The generals have made it a crime, punishable by up to three years in prison, to criticise the referendum publicly.

Mr Gambari proposed that the regime consider amending the draft charter to ensure the interests of the opposition were protected, but Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan ruled out any changes. He also rejected a UN offer of technical advice for the referendum, and the idea of international election observers to monitor the process.

“It appears that the military is not inclined to listen to any of the suggestions from the good offices of the UN to make its process more credible and gain more international legitimacy,” said Shari Villarosa, the US charge d’affairs in Rangoon. “They seem to be rebuffing the good offices of the UN.”

Mark Farmaner, an activist with the Burma Campaign UK, said the failure of Mr Gambari’s mission, the 35th visit to Burma by a UN envoy in years, should persuade the international community to get tougher with the generals. “It’s about time that the UN worked out that this softly-softly approach isn’t working,” he said.

*ft.com

U.N. envoy leaves Myanmar as fails to convince junta

2008-03-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - A U.N. envoy left Myanmar on Monday after seeing detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi twice in three days but without making major progress in convincing the military junta to implement democratic reforms.

U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari spent 50 minutes with the Nobel laureate, who was taken from the state guest house where they met on Monday back to the lakeside Yangon villa where she has been under house arrest since May 2003.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave no details of Gambari's meeting with the detained dissident but indicated he was disappointed after Gambari's visit to the country.

"There was some progress but we have not been able to achieve as much we had hoped," Ban told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York at a news conference on Africa and the global fight against poverty.

Ban said Gambari did not meet with senior general Than Shwe but was able to see "many senior people, even including the constitution drafting or review committee members."

"That was unusual," Ban said.

He said he would "continue to press the reform issue so that Myanmar will meet the expectations of the international community toward democratization."

Among the officials Gambari met was Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, the highest-ranking official he saw on the trip.

In this meeting Gambari was told the junta would not deviate from its own "roadmap to democracy" despite international pressure after last year's protests.

"To speak frankly, the road we have been taking is the correct and most suitable one for our country," Kyaw Hsan told Gambari in a meeting broadcast on state television.

His words squashed hopes the generals would include Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in their much-criticized plans to restore civilian government after more than four decades of military rule.

"We are firmly convinced that it is the best way and it will ensure a smooth and peaceful transition to democracy for our country," Kyaw Hsan, a brigadier general, said.

GENERALS REJECT POLL MONITORS

Shortly afterward, the Nigerian diplomat left for Singapore, ending his third visit to the former Burma since authorities brutally crushed pro-democracy marches in September.

During his four-day visit, the generals made it clear they would not entertain any changes to the constitution they have drafted, despite Western concerns it is a blueprint for the military hanging on to power.

Gambari's offer of election monitors for a May referendum on the charter and a planned 2010 election was rejected, boosting worries about the freedom and fairness of both polls.

The generals said they had no need for external expertise in running the elections, saying they had "enough experience".

The last time they allowed a poll, in 1990, they decided to ignore the result when Suu Kyi's party won over 80 percent.

The crackdown against last September's protests sparked worldwide outrage and a major diplomatic push for political reform in the former British colony, which has been under military rule since 1962.

However, with veto-wielding U.N. Security Council members China and Russia unwilling to see the imposition of binding international sanctions, the generals have refused to budge from a roadmap that the West derides as a sham.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at United Nations)

China says Dalai Lama is an Olympic saboteur

2008-03-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top official in Tibet on Friday accused the Himalayan region's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of seeking to sabotage the Beijing Olympics.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Communist rule, told Britain's ITV network in January that during the Games Tibet supporters should protest peacefully in China against Beijing's rule.

"The Beijing Olympics is the focus of world attention and the people are exalted ... but even a grand gathering like this, he is engaging in sabotage and threatening to cause trouble," Zhang Qingli, Communist Party boss of Tibet, said without elaborating.

"How can this not be called engaging in splittism?" Zhang told a news conference on the sidelines of parliament when asked by Reuters why China will not believe the Dalai Lama does not advocate independence and what he needs to do to convince China.

Five groups claiming to represent tens of thousands of exiled Tibetans are planning a march from India into Tibet ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics as part of a series of actions to try and embarrass China into ending its rule in the Buddhist region.

But the groups said they would not seek approval from the Dalai Lama, who has a more moderate line and says he wants autonomy for Tibet, not outright independence. The groups have said it would be difficult and dangerous to cross into China.

Zhang's lieutenant, Qiangba Puncog, the top government official in Tibet, said the activities of the Dalai Lama "clique were the main factors of instability in Tibet."

"They will not succeed. We are fully prepared and have full confidence. We will definitely ensure the Olympics and Olympic-related events in Tibet proceed smoothly," Qiangba Puncog said, apparently referring to the Tibet leg of the Olympic torch relay that is due to scale Mount Everest.

March 10 marks the 49th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's exile, but he remains the single most important figure in Tibetan life. The atheist Communist Party has competed against him for the loyalty of his people.

On Thursday, President Hu Jintao told Tibetan members of parliament that stability in the occasionally restive Himalayan region has a bearing on the stability of China as a whole.

"Tibet's stability has to do with the entire country's stability, Tibet's safety has to do with the entire country's safety," Hu said.

Critics say China continues to repress Tibetans' religious aspirations, especially their veneration for the Dalai Lama, who won Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Periodic rioting by monks has been brutally crushed.

China has defended itself, saying it has poured billions of dollars to develop Tibet and improved the living standards of the impoverished region.

Asked by Reuters if China would court the Dalai Lama, Zhang said China would welcome him if he matched his words with deeds.

"No matter who it is ... as long as you love your country, as long as you don't engage in splittism and as long as you commit yourselves to building China, we welcome (you)," Zhang said.

Hu, who is also Communist Party and military chief, praised the hard work of cadres in Tibet in a sign Tibetans would not be given more say in their own affairs. The Party should "fully trust" Han Chinese cadres sent to Tibet, he said.

(Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng; Editing by Chris Buckley)

Murder bullets manufactured by Defense Industry

2008-03-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

By vusi / abitsu

Mizzima News : Bullets used in the recent Rangoon murder case which killed five are the product of the Defense Industry, according to sources close to government.“They erased the serial numbers but they are with certainty DI (Defense Industry) products,” said one source.

On March 3, four family members and a housemaid at a residence under tight security, near to the home of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were shot dead in broad daylight.

Burma under military rule strictly controls the possession of firearms by ordinary civilians and there is rarely an incident involving civilian use of a gun.

Businessman Charlie (Saw Kyipha), aged 60, and his wife San San Myint, 58, along with their two daughters, Mya Sanda, 36, and Hnin Pwint Aye, 27, and their housemaid Alphaw, 15, were all shot in the head inside the residence at No.126 Seinlaekanthar Street, Kamaryut Township.

The culprit, or culprits, is still at large and a police source says cash totaling at least $90,000 was missing from the victim’s home.

Mizzima has learnt that Charlie sold a villa on Thanlwin Street of Bahan Township for approximately $1.3 million just a couple days before the murders took place, for which he had reportedly received an initial installment of $365,000.

The incident apparently came as a shock to the military government, as the police chief visited the crime scene the following day.

On Thai border, a rare refuge for Burmese children

2008-03-07T12:24:00.001-08:00

By vusi / Abitsu

www.csmonitor.com : Sangkhlaburi, Thailand - In a whitewashed office, a young Burmese mother cradles a sleeping baby. Ni Lar Win is waiting to hear if she can leave her 2-month-old son at the “House on the Hill” in this Thai border town.

Her husband left six months into her pregnancy, she says, and now she wants to move to the city for work, so she can repay some debts and help her sick mother. That means finding someone to take in her newborn. So Ni Lar Win has come to find the foreigner at Baan Unrak (Home of Joy) to ask if there’s room for her son, at least for a while. “I heard it’s good for children here. They can stay here and study. There’s no need to worry.”

Ni Lar Win’s plight is one Dulci Donata hears of often: debt, poverty, illness – and an unwanted child. In 1991, Ms. Donata founded Home of Joy as a sanctuary for destitute kids, mostly ethnic minorities fleeing war and political upheaval in Burma (Myanmar). Now, she has more than 140 children in her care, crowding a three-story building on a hillside above a steep ravine.

But Donata proposes something else: Ni Lar Win should take a job at Home of Joy and bring her mother and baby to live there.

As Ni Lar Win, an ethnic Mon, heads back to her village to consider the offer, Donata explains that by taking in struggling single mothers, she hopes to keep mothers and children together and help the mothers to rebuild their lives. Most children here aren’t strictly orphans, but are born into broken, demoralized families. “To serve mothers is to serve babies,” she says.

Serving others is second nature to Donata, an Italian nun in Ananda Marga (Path of Bliss), a spiritualist movement founded in India. Every morning, she rises at 5 a.m. for meditation and spends the rest of her day taking care of the children and managing the house, which relies on donations to cover its expenses, which exceed $1,500 a month.

At night, Donata, whom everyone calls Didi (”sister”), shares her sparsely furnished bedroom with several children. When it gets too noisy, she rolls out a mat on the floor in her office. Her only breaks are occasional trips to Bangkok, six hours away, to browbeat government officials into untying red tape that thwarts undocumented migrants.

After two decades of humanitarian work here, initially providing relief services to Burmese refugees after a failed 1988 uprising, her determination has won her many friends. “When I came here, people doubted me. There’s not the mentality of pure service [to humanity], so they couldn’t understand.… [Now] I get respect, prestige.”

Located on a lake created by a downriver hydropower dam, Sangkhlaburi has a population of 26,000. Ethnic Karen and Mon outnumber Thais, and migrants continue to cross over from Burma, along a route where Japan built a notorious “Death Railway” using prisoners of war during World War II. Today, the town sees an influx of weekend Thai tourists.

In 2005, Donata opened a primary school in town, which also enrolls nonresident Thai and Burmese students. For migrant children, a Thai education is a route out of poverty, but few public schools offer remedial classes to pupils who lack Thai language fluency, as Home of Joy does.

At the home, Donata applies a “neohumanist” philosophy. All but the smallest children attend twice-daily meditation and yoga classes. All meals are vegetarian, homeopathic medicine is practiced, and organic food is grown. She also deters mothers from taking “immoral” earnings from prostitution and insists that employees and guests don’t drink or smoke and remain celibate. “This is an immoral society, everyone is cheating. Now they see us trying to follow a straight line,” she says.

Children aren’t put up for adoption, but nurtured into adulthood, while mothers are encouraged to stay involved. As Donata’s children have grown up, their horizons have lengthened: nine are currently attending high school elsewhere in Thailand, paid for by sponsors. Four have gone on to university.

Boonsom Pangsiri is hoping to be next. Two years ago, she graduated from high school in Bangkok, and is living there while she applies for a university program that begins in June. In between, she has lobbied government officials to improve the electricity supply to Home of Joy.

Ms. Boonsom dreams of studying in Canada after university. She already has a career plan: working for Donata, whom she loves “as a real mother.” Sometimes she goes back to visit her birth mother, but finds she has little in common with her other siblings. Asked about Donata, her eyes light up. “Didi is very special. She has a good heart and never thinks of herself. She always sacrifices for others. I see it. Even when she’s very tired, she’s still working, serving people.”

US Politician Wants Ban on Officials Attending Olympics

2008-03-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

By vusi / Abitsu

Irrawaddy - By ANNE FLAHERTY / AP WRITER/ WASHINGTON DC : A Republican congressman—chafing over President George W. Bush’s plan to attend this year’s Beijing Olympics—wants to legally prohibit other US government officials from using federal money to go.

Rep. Frank Wolf cited concerns about China’s record on human rights during a congressional hearing on Thursday and said Bush’s presence would be akin to President Franklin D. Roosevelt sitting in the same stands as Germany’s Adolf Hitler in 1936.

“Ronald Reagan would have never gone to the Olympics. I guarantee you that. Never gone,” said Wolf, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Wolf, who co-chairs a congressional caucus on Sudan, blames China for not using its close ties with the Sudanese government to end the violence in Darfur. Wolf also charges that China has sold weapons to US enemies, jailed countless political prisoners and tried to spy on America’s high-tech industry, including companies in his district.

Wolf’s legislation would not specifically prohibit the president from attending, which the congressman said would be tough to impose on a commander-in-chief. Instead the bill would focus on barring diplomatic and other federal officials.

Any American seen waving in the stands “will go down in history as cooperating in the genocide Olympics of 2008,” Wolf said. “And history will never, ever, ever forgive them.”

Last month, Bush said he planned to raise worries about human rights abuse in China with President Hu Jintao when he attends the games in August.

Bush was asked about reports that a laid-off Chinese factory worker faces subversion charges for saying human rights are more important than the Olympics.

“I am not the least bit shy of bringing up the concerns expressed by this factory worker, and I believe that I’ll have an opportunity to do so with the president and, at the same time, enjoy a great sporting event,” Bush said.

Wolf said the administration is missing its opportunity to deal with the crisis in Darfur.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who was testifying on foreign aid programs, responded to Wolf’s comments by saying only that “there is no greater spokesman for human rights in the world than our president.”

Faces of Burma's Refugee Children Behind the Prison Bars

2008-03-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

By Ahmedur Rahman Farooq

On Feb 14, 2008, Saw Yan Naing of The Irrawaddy News ran a report along with an AFP's picture of some children of Burma standing behind bars with other detainees in a crowded detention cell in Mae Sot, Thailand, saying that thirty-one Burmese illegal migrants—including three children and 18 women—were arrested by Thai police on Feb 12 after smugglers transported them to Ranong Province in Thailand.

It is not a question whether to put these children in a crowded detention centre is legal or illegal - but the point that raises a grave concern at the first sight is - why these children are there. Everybody knows, Burma is burning. About 57.6 million people of this resource-rich country of 678,500 sq. km are groaning in the reign of terror of unbroken military rule for nearly half a century. The military rulers have burnt down the hopes and aspirations of tens of thousands of people into ashes. Hundreds of men, women and children run everyday to neighboring countries either to escape the brutalities of the army or to get rid of hunger. They do not know what awaits their fate in exile. But everyday they flee their motherland which has been turned into an earthly hell under the gun control.

They know, their journey to the unknown destination is full of dangers ranging from starvation, thirst, detention, drowning or death, but the flow of escape of these distressed human beings continues unabated in search of safety and food. Sometimes, these ill-fated men, women and children cross the border in heavily loaded cargo boats of smugglers and sometimes in the tank of oil transport trailer without having a fresh air or water or food. There are innumerable cases of tragic deaths of those fleeing people onboard due to the lack of food and water in the deep sea after being adrift for many days or weeks due to the failure of engine boat or due to the loss of travelling direction.

In a free world, childhood connotes happiness and innocence. A child brings endless bliss and joy for a family and a ray of hope for a nation. Children are considered there as the future of a nation. There are enough mechanisms in a free world for children to let them grow spiritually, materially and physically so that they can become worthy citizens of a country. If they are healthy, if all of them receive education and live within a comfortable and safe environment, these elements will indicate that a nation has progressed.

Children need a world where they can laugh, they can play and they can grow with all qualities which make a worthy citizen of a country and when grown up, they can bring peace and prosperity for themselves, for their family, for their society or for their country. They need to live in a world where their voices are being heard. They need a world which is fit for children from all aspects and where all children will have the same rights and are of equal worth, where every child will have the right to have his or her basic needs fulfilled, where every child will have the right to protection from abuse and exploitation and where every child will have the right to express his or her opinion and to be respected.

In fact, these are the things which have been codified into different international laws or conventions. Through, the ratification of 1989 UN Convention on Rights of the Child, the international community agreed that some basic rights of children must be guaranteed. It is a very comprehensive document with regard to every aspect of rights of a child. The core of the Convention is described in Article 3: " In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare organizations, courts, administrative authorities, or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary concern."

The above paragraph demonstrates that all agencies of the state and private sectors must consider and accord priority to the interests of the child. Although the Convention does not define the interests of a child, it indirectly indicates that a child should have an upbringing in an environment in which a child can develop his/her full potentials in adult life.Common sense dictates that the fundamental interests of a child lie in the right to nutritious food, shelter, primary health care and education. If all these aspects of a child are cared for, the child will emerge as a worthy citizen.

But the faces of these children in the picture stir a sense of extreme helplessness. It makes clear that they are the children of a country which is not fit for children to lead a normal life. In fact, Burma is a country where innumerable children are living in a state of utmost miseries, cruelties and inhumanity. In other words, it is the grinding militarism which has pushed them to the worst level of wretched life - a situation which has compelled them to be illegal immigrants or break the law or whatever.

The rights of children are interconnected with economic progress of a country. So long a country is riddled with political unrest, social anarchy and grinding poverty, abuse of rights of children will turn out to be a common phenomenon. These children are from Burma where they are deprived of the very basic rights. Most of the children live there through an ordeal that is devoid of an iota of bliss. They get no scope for positive learning experiences they need to grow up happy and confident.

In Burma, there is no environment where the majority of parents can feed their children at home or where there is no "right to food to live" as literally can be said. Whenever people in extreme hopelessness and despair, facing nothing but repression, try to get themselves out of this situation, the military rulers strike them from all directions. They have destroyed the livelihoods of the majority of people in Burma. Only a handful that are close to the military regime and others who take part in keeping the machinery of repression alive obtain some benefit from the situation. Together with destitution, destruction of livelihoods and widespread poverty there has also been the destruction of the entire political system and the administration of justice.

It is a country where there is no scope for majority of parents to safeguard the rights of the children even within the purview of the family. Their parents can not save them from starvation and can not find ways for medical treatment when they are sick. The cases of associating children with baby food and innocent smiles are a matter of rarity there. Children die at the lap of their parents due to hunger and malnutrition. The tears of the parents roll down the cheek seeing their crying children, battered and bruised, physically and emotionally, every other day, but they have no way to prevent it.

While the people in the state organs of the military rulers do everything to protect their own children, they do not consider those of the common peopl as human beings. And at the same time, they kept no door open for the common people to let them know how to raise, not to mention care for, their children. From being made to sit on the floor at school in many cases as semi-human beings, to being punished or beaten inhumanly, children get the raw end of every deal. The mechanisms which can sow the seeds of inspiration in the minds of the children have been devastated.

People go to the zoo to find entertainment looking at the animals in the cage and they do not usually feel sorry for the animals for being put in the cage. But here the case is a little bit different. These children are in the same type of cages like zoo. But people who see their faces feel sorry and there may be many of those whose hearts bleed to see the plight of these children who have been chained by a set of law which determined them as illegal immigrants. Children who are considered to be the hope for a safer world, have been pushed to a state where they can not laugh, can not sing or can not play.

Only time can speak when these children can return to a position where they can fall asleep in the lap of their mothers in peace and without fear, where they will find a place which they can call their home, where they will get a school where they will learn all the lessons of civilized human society, where they will get a world which will be free of terror or screams of traumatized human beings and where they will find a world as has been portrayed by the English Poet William Blake in his poem "A Cradle Song":

A Cradle Song

Sweet dreams form a shade,
O'er my lovely infants head.
Sweet dreams of pleasant streams,
By happy silent moony beams

Sweet sleep with soft down.
Weave thy brows an infant crown.
Sweet sleep Angel mild,
Hover o'er my happy child.

Sweet smiles in the night,
Hover over my delight.
Sweet smiles Mothers smiles,
All the livelong night beguiles.

Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,
Chase not slumber from thy eyes,
Sweet moans, sweeter smiles,
All the dovelike moans beguiles.

Sleep sleep happy child,
All creation slept and smil'd.
Sleep sleep, happy sleep.
While o'er thee thy mother weep

Sweet babe in thy face,
Holy image I can trace.
Sweet babe once like thee.
Thy maker lay and wept for me

Wept for me for thee for all,
When he was an infant small.
Thou his image ever see.
Heavenly face that smiles on thee,

Smiles on thee on me on all,
Who became an infant small,
Infant smiles are His own smiles,
Heaven & earth to peace beguiles.

Ahmedur Rahman Farooq, Chairman, Rohingya Human Rights Council (RHRC).

- Asian Tribune -

Myanmar Junta Rejects reform Calls From UN

2008-03-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar’s military government rejected U.N. suggestions for political reform Friday in a meeting with a visiting special envoy, state radio and television reported.

Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan, who met with U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, said it was “impossible” to revise a government-drafted constitution that will be submitted to a national referendum in May, the evening news reported.

He also said the government had done enough to hold a dialogue with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the opposition National League for Democracy party.

Gambari arrived Thursday on his third trip to Myanmar since the junta’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters in September sparked a global outcry.

His visit came amid growing concerns that the government is ignoring calls for political reform and is tightening its grip on power.

It was unclear whether Gambari would be able to meet with either Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, or junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe.

He met Friday with a group of government officials designated to hold talks with the U.N. envoy in place of Than Shwe.

Kyaw Hsan, the group’s leader, was quoted as saying that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had suggested in a Feb. 19 letter to Than Shwe that the junta open up the constitutional drafting process and hold a substantive dialogue with Suu Kyi.

“It is impossible to review or rewrite the constitution which was drawn with the participation of delegates from all walks of life. The draft constitution will be adopted in accordance with the decision by the people in the May constitutional referendum,” Kyaw Hsan said.

Suu Kyi was not allowed to participate in a government-led commission that prepared guidelines for the new constitution, including a clause that prevents her from running for office.

Referring to suggestions that a timeline be set for progress in the dialogue with Suu Kyi, Kyaw Hsan noted the government had appointed a ministerial-level official to deal with her and had announced that Than Shwe would be willing to meet her if she gave up her “confrontational attitude” and stopped calling for sanctions against the junta.

The junta said last month that it would hold a constitutional referendum in May and general elections in 2010 - the first specific dates for steps in a previously announced “roadmap to democracy.”

Dissidents, diplomats and human rights groups have dismissed the roadmap as a sham designed to allow the perpetuation of military rule.

Kyaw Hsan said the junta will not accept any efforts to stall or derail the roadmap but will welcome “constructive participation” by the U.N. in its implementation. He did not elaborate.

Kyaw Hsan also accused Gambari of a breach of trust by releasing a statement from Suu Kyi after visiting her in November.

He expressed unhappiness with Gambari’s trips to other countries in the region seeking their support for political reform in Myanmar, and warned that his role as an “impartial adviser” would be brought into question if he follows suggestions from Western nations.

Most Western countries shun the junta for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to Suu Kyi’s party after it won the last general elections in 1990. Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

*burmadigest

Myanmar Monk Tells Story of Killings

2008-03-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A Myanmar monk called for a global weapons embargo on his country, telling human rights activists and foreign governments Thursday the junta's military leaders must not be allowed to use guns against his people again.

U Awbata said he struggles to shake memories of Myanmar soldiers opening fire on fellow monks, stomping on their heads and pummeling them with batons during protests last September.

"It doesn't matter how many tears I shed," U Awbata said, speaking on behalf of dozens of monks who fled after the military crackdown and live in exile. "I cannot erase these images from my mind."

Monks initially took to the streets of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, to oppose a state-imposed fuel price hike, but their protests quickly escalated into the biggest anti-government rallies in two decades, with tens of thousands turning out.

The United Nations estimated at least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained after troops were deployed to restore order. Hundreds remain in detention.

"The military generals have used their guns to crush and kill their own people," U Awbata said.

He called on the international community "to work together and urge those countries selling arms to Burma to stop doing so." Myanmar is also known as Burma.

The United States, which like the European Union had a weapons embargo and financial sanctions in place before the 2007 unrest, broadened restrictions after the crackdown.

U Awbata was speaking in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, at a three-day gathering bringing together activists, Myanmar exiles, and embassy officials seeking ways to increase the role of Southeast Asian countries in improving human rights in Myanmar.

Regional neighbors have condemned the Myanmar government's use of excessive force, but have a policy of engagement with the country and have shunned sanctions.

"Violence and repression is still rampant in Burma but is no longer making media headlines," conference organizer and rights group Kontras said in a statement. The world must increase pressure on the regime "to democratize and put an end to its mass abuses."

Three people arrested for comments on referendum

2008-03-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

By vusi / Abitsu

Irrawaddy - Wai Moe : Three Rangoon men were arrested on Friday for casual comments they made about the Burmese referendum and general election, according to sources.

A businessman who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Irrawaddy on Monday that three car brokers at the Rangoon car market were taken away by Burmese special police after they made casual comments in support of the main opposition National League for Democracy.

“Members of the USDA [Union Solidarity and Development Association, the pro-junta mass organization] came and talked about the new constitution and referendum at the car market on Friday,” said the source.

“Then the brokers told the USDA members in joking that they ‘should not waste their time’ because in the final days people would vote as recommended by the NLD [led by Aung San Suu Kyi]. Later the special police came and arrested three of them.”

The Burmese military government has scheduled a referendum on a draft constitution in May and a general election in 2010, as the fourth and fifth step of its “road map to democracy” process.

Aung Thein, a lawyer in Rangoon, said the arrests may be the first such cases since the junta passed a new decree on February 26 forbidding negative comments about the referendum, which allows a sentence of up to three years imprisonment.

“But we don’t know if the people arrested will be charged under that decree,” he said.

He said that authorities have an option to charge people who speak out against the constitutional process under emergency acts 3 and 4 under decree 5/96 announced in 1996, barring negative comments. Anyone found guilty under that decree could receive up to 20 years in prison.

Meanwhile, five people, mostly family members of 88 Generation Students group members, were arrested last week.

They are Thanda Win, the wife of Mya Aye, a leader of the 88 Generation Students group; Hla Moe, the husband of 88 group member Mie Mie; Kanet, the brother of Marky, an 88 group member; and Naing Htwe and May Mie Lwin.

No reasons for the arrests are known at this time among the Rangoon activist community.

Detained 88 student activist sealed-off in dark cell

2008-03-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

By vusi/Abitsu

Mizzima News - Maung Dee : Four political prisoners, including prominent 88 generation student, Markee have been locked away in dark cells in the notorious Insein prison in Rangoon by prison authorities, activists sources said.

The prison authorities have sealed off an 88 generation student Markee, Kyi Phyu and Myo Thant from the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP) network, and Htin Kyaw, who led protests last year against the rising commodity prices, for various charges, the source, who is also on the run from the ruling junta, said.

Markee was locked away for sending a letter to relatives visiting him in the prison and Kyi Phyu was put away about a month ago on charges of violating prison rules, said the source. However, the reason for confining the other two – Htin Kyaw and Myo Thant – is unknown.

Thi Thi Soe, sister of Myo Thant, who visited the prison, said, “I can’t meet my brother and I can’t even send parcels. And when I asked the reason, a prison guard said he has violated prison rules. But he did not say anything when I asked how he had violated the rules.”

She added that she is worried about her brother Myo Thant, who in his 40s and is suffering from lung and cardiac problems.

Sealing off prisoners in cells is one of the worst punishments given to prisoners by authorities. The prisoners, who violate prison rules and regulations, are locked up in a small cell of about 12 ft square, which has no other openings but a small window of about six by 12 inches. The rooms, which are also called dark cells, have no bathroom or toilet and prisoners are forced to defecate in the room.

A former political prisoner in Rangoon retold Mizzima of his experience in the dark-cell saying, “we had no access to a bathroom or toilet and defecated in the room. We remained without taking a bath. It is inhuman to be kept in such a room.”

“Since we did not get fresh air and we had to stay with our own excreta, people are likely to develop mental problems, not to say physical problems,” added the former political prisoner.

Sources in the activist community said, authorities on February 28, arrested Kenneth, brother of Markee, Thandar Win, wife of detained 88 generation student Mya Aye, Hla Myo, husband of detained 88 generation student Mie Mie.

Free Burmese Journalists Petition

2008-03-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

Dear Reader

Two Burmese journalists, chief editor Thet Zin and manager Sein Win Maung, from the Rangoon-based weekly publication "Myanmar Nation" were arrested on 15 February 2008, without any justification being offered. They are now in Insein jail, facing 10 years imprisonment.

Burmese Bloggers are appealing to United Nations mediator Ibrahim Gambari to condemn the arrest of these two journalists which could be linked to the presence in the newspaper's office of a copy of a report by his UN colleague, Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.

If you would like to act for the immediate release of Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung, as well as author Lay Lay Mun (alias Phu Ngong) of "Teenage Magazine", blogger and author Nay Phone Latt, and poets Min Han, Nay Htet Naing and Ko Ko Maung (alias Zaw Lu Sein), who were also arrested in 2008 please click here.

*whoiswhoinburma.blogspot.com

The Cyber Dissident

2008-03-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

Abitsu/ By vusi

Irrawaddy - Aung Zaw : Burma’s generals may have underestimated the power of the Internet during the 2007 uprising, but they are now playing catch-up.The Burmese military government has found a new enemy—the growing number of “cyber dissidents” who are gaining popularity both inside and outside the country.

The bad news is that the junta usually finds a way of defeating each new enemy.During the September 2007 uprising in Burma, citizen reporters and bloggers played a key role in exposing the junta’s brutality.

Burma’s state-controlled media and privately owned journals operate under tight controls and, understandably, shy away from accurately reporting the situation in the country.And so it fell to citizen reporters—equipped with cell phones, digital cameras and memory sticks—to connect with the exiled and international media.

Digital technology facilitated a fundamental contrast between the two mass uprisings in recent times—1988 and 2007.In 1988, millions of Burmese took to the streets. However, the international community, the media and the people of the world had only a vague idea of what was truly happening on in Burma.

Although about 3,000 demonstrators were killed between March and September 1988, images of casualties were scarce. In those days, a person walking the streets with a camera would be suspected of being a spy or informer and be picked up immediately.

Now, thanks to cell phones (still very expensive in Burma at around US $1,500 for a SIM card alone), satellite phones, the Internet and e-mail in the hands of eyewitnesses, thousands of images came out of Burma during the 2007 uprising.

News traveled very fast; photographs and accounts arrived at our desks in The Irrawaddy office within seconds, and we were able to tell the world what was really going on inside the country. In 1988, the protesters on the streets stood alone.

The vivid images of the September 2007 uprising were unforgettable, such as the barefooted monks marching in the rain with their alms bowls turned upside down. Consequently, the amount of airtime devoted to Burma by BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera, was startling.

Suddenly, Burma was attracting the full attention of the international media, world leaders and ordinary people around the globe. The success of the grassroots media invigorated the demonstrators—they knew the world was watching and what they were fighting for.

Just before last year’s uprising, a group of bloggers inside Burma began communicating and occasionally meeting in person—almost as if they were anticipating the events and bloodshed that were to follow.

The virtual forum linked activists inside Burma with those outside the country and strong bonds were established.

Several young Burmese who had been studying in Singapore returned home, bringing with them new technology, ideas and, most importantly, proxy settings.

Although less than one per cent of the total population have access to the Internet in Burma, the effective use of Google and proxy Web sites were instrumental in the exchange of information during September’s crisis.

Until then, the Myanmar Blogger Society had about 1,000 members. On September 1, 2007, they held a seminar at Myanmar Information and Communication Technology Park in Rangoon. They mostly posted personal opinions about romance, skyrocketing prices and the electrical blackouts in Burma. But it was rare for anyone to get overly political.

After the demonstrations began, the bloggers went underground and a new group was born—“Bloggers without Borders.”

These “chat room” blogs overnight became virtual news agencies providing news (and sometimes rumors) to international publications. Images of the demonstrations, the crackdown, indiscriminate killings and reprisals were all captured digitally and sent abroad.

The regime effectively barred professional journalists and photographers from entering Burma during the crisis. However, it was powerless to stop the citizen reporters.

During the September uprising in Burma, as with Hurricane Katrina, the Asian tsunami, 9/11 and the London bombings, citizen reporters showed that they were able to send some of the most effective messages and pictures that the world would see.

The footage and images may not have been as well framed or steady as the ones taken by trained, professional photojournalists, but they definitely proved to be newsworthy and appeared as powerful statements of political dissent and people’s aspirations for change and a democratic society.

Traditional news agencies are no longer the sole gatekeepers of breaking news. The participation of the public is astounding—the ordinary people who don’t just sit back and watch the news on TV, but who go out into the streets and actively report the events that can shape the flow of news to the world.

During the uprising, a handful of journalists working for international news agencies, such as The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse produced professional work. Citizen reporters, however, follow their own rules; often the reports were accurate, other times wildly exaggerated and based on word of mouth.

But, thanks to citizen reporters, we now have more information, more voices, more interviews, more images and more sources on the ground.

More significantly, the young people of the blogger generation are entirely different from those in 1988. They are computer literate and are connected with the outside world. Many have been to neighboring countries such as Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, if not to the West.

Digital technology brought in from these countries has enabled activists, young journalists and computer geeks to bypass the Burmese authorities’ strict censorship.

However, despite the generation gap in technology, the old Burmese generals refused to sit idly by. They fought back.

The Internet Blackout—A Counterattack

Before the monk-led demonstrations in September, the Burmese generals underestimated the potential of the Internet and soon realized they were being defeated in the media.

The regime moved to cut the flow of information. Nonetheless, a reporter with a news agency in Japan was shocked to learn how little knowledge police officers in the Burmese special branch had of the Internet.

During his interrogation in Rangoon, officers repeatedly asked how live video footage had been smuggled out of Burma so quickly and appeared on international broadcasts by BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera.

“They didn’t realize that the Internet was doing all the miracle work,” he said.

Finally realizing that these lines of communication were essential for journalists and the democracy movement, the Burmese authorities belatedly cut off mobile phone services and Internet lines, preventing citizens and journalists from reporting instantly from the field. Internet cafés were shut down.

People with cameras were singled out and chased down by soldiers. Under shoot-to-kill orders, Japanese cameraman Kenji Nagai lost his life.

Burma observers speculated that the junta’s intelligence apparatus had lost technological sophistication since the downfall of Gen Khin Nyunt, the feared head of the secret police, in October 2004.

To activists and bloggers, the internal wrangling among the top leaders and the dismantling of Khin Nyunt’s powerful spy agency was a blessing.

If Khin Nyunt were still in power, most young Burmese bloggers estimate that the spy chief would have ordered Burma’s sole Internet provider, Bagan Cyber Tech, to shut down its connections at the first sign of unrest.

Indeed, Khin Nyunt would most certainly have pulled the plug before ordering troops to shoot demonstrators. However, the current regime unwittingly allowed the Internet to operate during the early days of the uprising.

A journalist in Burma told The Irrawaddy in 2001: “Intelligence officers are standing behind Bagan Cyber Tech, keeping a close eye on everything we upload.”

Perhaps not close enough in light of the citizen reporters’ successes in 2007. Nonetheless, the authorities have now moved to reduce Internet speed and bandwidth, making it more difficult to send and receive high resolution images or bulky files.

Bloggers in Burma are increasingly paranoid about Internet surveillance. Rumors circulate of Russian experts hired to monitor messages and analyze e-mail accounts. A girl in her early 20s said, “They are checking my e-mails; I’m too scared to send anything.”

Owners of Internet cafés have been forced to record the personal details of all users and to program automatic screen “captures” every five minutes on each computer. A blogger Nay Phone Latt was arrested in January.

The regime has also recruited its own propaganda specialists to counter cyber dissidents.

Since early last year, apologists for the regime have been setting up blogs to counter the pro-democracy bloggers.

Aside from personal attacks, the junta’s bloggers leak false news and propaganda, such as support for the seven-point “road map to democracy” and the regime’s “Three National Causes.”

The junta is now keeping a close eye on bloggers like the mysterious “OA6,” who suggested that 2007 be declared the “Year of the Blogger.”“In political terminology, we are like a democracy—you can write freely and criticize freely,” OA6 wrote. The Burmese junta’s cyber police will undoubtedly be working to prove OA6 wrong.

Burma - Blogger Begins Second Month of Detention, Internet Closely Monitored

2008-03-03T09:40:00.001-08:00

Abitsu/ By vusi

www.redorbit.com : Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association today condemned increased government monitoring of the Internet and a deterioration in online connections, as well as the continuing detention of Nay Phone Latt, a blogger and owner of two Rangoon Internet cafs who was arrested on 29 January.

“Nay Phone Latt has been unjustly held for a month,” the two organizations said. “He was initially accused of undermining morality under the Emergency Provision Act, a very vague charge that allows the military government to arrest anyone spreading ideas that challenge its policies. He is now alleged to have been in possession of a film it considers contrary to its ideology and faces up to three years in prison. We call for his release.”

He was initially charged under section 5 (J) of the 1950 Emergency Provision Act, which punishes anyone who “causes or intends to disrupt the morality or the behaviour of a group of people or the general public, or to disrupt the security or the reconstruction of stability of the union.”

But according to his family, a new charge has been brought against him under the Television and Video Law (http://www.blc- burma.org/html/myanmar%20law/lr_e_ml96_08.html) that gives the government control over political content and provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison for offenders.

It appears that Nay Phone Latt has been charged under section 32 b of this law, which punishes “copying, distributing, hiring or exhibiting videotape that has no video censor certificate,” because he had a video of a traditional Burmese play called A-Nyeint performed by the theatre company Thu-Lay-Thi. Its performances are currently banned in Burma.

Meanwhile, in a move to step up control of internet cafes, owners have been required since January to keep the records of their clients’ online activity and deliver them each week to a special police unit at the department of information. At the same time, according to Irrawady (http://www.irrawaddy.org/), a publication produced by Burmese exiles in Thailand, “the Burmese regime’s network of informers are now focusing their attention on Internet cafes, which are replacing traditional teashops as places where people can discreetly share their views with others.”

Internet connections have also become much slower, possibly to discourage Internet users from downloading large files such as photos and videos. Observed for the past few weeks, this slowness also prevents the use of software designed to circumvent censorship.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association also call on the authorities to explain the continuing detention of Myanmar Nation editor Thet Zin and his office manager, Sein Win Maung. Police arrested them during a raid on the magazine’s office on 15 February after reportedly finding they had downloaded forbidden documents from internet but no official reason has been given. The office has been closed.

Lawyer says detained Myanmar activists face new charge carrying 20-year jail term

2008-02-29T14:51:00.002-08:00

YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's military junta has charged about 20 pro-democracy activists under a security law that carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, a lawyer said Friday.

The dissidents were detained in connection with last year's mass pro-democracy demonstrations, which were violently suppressed in September by the government.

The detained dissidents, being held at Yangon's notorious Insein prison, were earlier charged with violating the Printing and Publishing Act, for which they face a maximum seven years imprisonment, said defense lawyer Aung Thein.

They include prominent activists Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi of the 88 Generation Students group, whose demonstrations against economic hardship helped spark the broader September protests.

No trial has yet been scheduled, he said, adding that he has not yet been able to meet his clients.

The authorities must file charges in order to continue to hold the prisoners, and may not necessarily prosecute them on those charges if and when their case come to trial.

Members of the 88 Generation Students were at the forefront of an abortive 1988 pro-democracy uprising and were subjected to lengthy prison terms and torture after the rebellion was brutally suppressed by the military.

The new charge comes under the so-called 5/96 law declaring that anyone who demonstrates, makes speeches or writes statements undermining stability will face up to 20 years in prison. The exact date it was filed against the activists was not clear.

Min Ko Naing and more than a dozen other activists were arrested on Aug. 21 after staging a street protest against a massive fuel-price hike. Other activists were arrested in late September after peaceful protests led by monks were violently quashed.

The U.N. estimates at least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained in the crackdown.

Arrests of journalists, activists and bloggers continued after the September crackdown.

In late January, the human rights group Amnesty International said that at least 700 people who were arrested as a result of the September protests remain in prison, while 1,150 political prisoners held prior to the protests have not been released. More than 80 others remain unaccounted for since September, the group said.

*iht.com

Junta continues to quash Burma's media

2008-02-29T14:51:00.001-08:00

BANGKOK, Thailand, The latest attack on Burma's media took place Feb. 15, when the military junta raided offices of the Myanmar Nation weekly journal in Rangoon. Editor Thet Zin and manager Sein Win Maung were arrested after officials confiscated a human rights report by U.N. Special Rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a contribution on the Panglong Agreement by a veteran Shan politician, videos of anti-government protests during the Saffron Revolution and handwritten poems. The police also seized hard disks from the computers which stored news reports and photos to be used in the weekly journal.
Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association condemned the arrest of the two men. The Honolulu Community-Media Council of the United States also joined the BMA, international journalist and human rights organizations in condemning the continued crackdown on the Burmese media by the military regime.

Burma is trapped in a murky era where freedom of expression has been completely lost. The more control the junta has over the media and the Internet, the higher the menace for the civilized exchange of ideas. The junta is abusing the media as its tool to close peoples' eyes and ears by giving them false news and ideas.

It is sad that this country sees no sign of freedom even in this Global Information Age. The junta controls all media access now. Since the monk-led protests known as the Saffron Revolution of last September, all news media in Burma is strictly censored and tightly controlled by the military junta. All daily newspapers, radio and television stations are under the regime's supervision.

During the brief Saffron Revolution, people in the former capital of Rangoon and all other provincial cities received up-to-date news footage through Al-Jazeera, the BBC, CNN and DVB TV. Besides, some IT activists put footage of the dissent on compact discs and delivered them to people with no access to satellite dishes. Such actions allowed many Burmese citizens to see news footage of the mass anti-government demonstrations, and the brutal crackdown that ensued.

The military regime has constantly mistreated journalists since Sept. 27. On that day Japanese video reporter Kenji Nagai was killed by a soldier in downtown Rangoon, at the height of the demonstrations. Japanese officials have constantly said that Nagai, 50, was evidently shot at close range, not hit by stray bullets as the SPDC officials explained. The Japanese government has demanded the return of the journalist's video camera and tapes, which are believed to have captured the shooting, and is investigating his death.

The military censorship branch, known as the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, is now harassing editors to publish propaganda produced by the junta in their journals and magazines. Scores of writers and journalists suspected of sympathizing with the Saffron Revolution have been banned from contributing to publications.

Members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a junta-backed militia, have kept up their attacks on journalists. Photographers were beaten by USDA thugs while taking photos during the monks' protests. Numerous civilians holding cameras or mobile phones were temporarily arrested and tortured. More than a dozen journalists were beaten or treated badly during the demonstrations. In addition, several young amateur journalists or civilian journalists were also detained and their cameras and mobile phones were confiscated by the militia.

Burma's military exercises tight controls over the Internet, banning access to news websites such as Yahoo or Hotmail. The regime was frustrated by bloggers and civilian journalists during the anti-junta protests, as they provided detailed consecutive accounts of the bloodshed and helped spread the news. The junta disconnected the nation's Internet links at the height of the violence to cut off the information flow about the crackdown.

A popular Myanmar blogger, Nay Phone Latt, was arrested on Jan. 29. His blog was written in Burmese and in a creative writing style. He used it as a forum to discuss the difficulties of daily life, such as the electricity shortages and the swelling cost of living.

In the 1950s, Burma was at the forefront of press freedom in Southeast Asia. The country enjoyed a free press without censorship. As many as three dozen newspapers, including English and Chinese dailies, existed between 1948 and 1962 under the civilian government. Even the prime minister's office was never closed to journalists in those days. They were also free to set up relations with international news agencies.

The situation changed in 1962, when the military seized power. All newspapers were nationalized by the junta led by Gen. Ne Win. The junta established a Press Scrutiny Board to enforce strict censorship on all forms of printed matter, including advertisements and obituaries. Since then, the military junta's censorship and self-censorship are commonplace, and have severely restricted political rights and civil liberties.

The Press Scrutiny and Registration Division is a major oppressive tool of the incumbent military regime. Not surprisingly, Burma stands downgraded from a free state to a prison state. No printed matter can be published without the PSRD's permission. Photos, cassette tapes, movies and video footage also need the censor's stamp before reaching the people. At the same time, the military concentrates to stop the flow of uncensored radio news in Burmese available from international broadcasting stations.

Moreover, the junta has come to dominate the media industry through publication companies owned by generals and their cronies. The radio, television and other media outlets are monopolized for propaganda warfare by the military regime and opposition views are never allowed. The regime does not even allow religious discourse.

The media is a special tool for the military regime with no space for the opposition party. Political debates are always inhibited, even at the National Convention, which has completely lost its credibility and is regarded as a sham.

Foreign periodicals have not been seen on newsstands since October as the junta has been blocking reports on Burma. The owners of Internet cafes have been forced to sign an agreement to follow restrictions by the authorities, and dare not allow users to breach the regime's filters. Moreover, the owners have to report details of their customers to military intelligence.

Currently, the situation of the press in Burma is getting worse and worse. Media-related people are feeling defenseless, and the voices of the people are constantly blocked.

The press is the fourth estate of democracy after the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. But in Burma the Parliament has been debarred by the military. The judiciary is automatically defunct under military supremacy. In that case, it is clear that the fourth estate cannot escape from the grip of the military dictatorship.

The lifeblood of democracy is the free flow of information. Burma needs regional cooperation to attain press freedom. Journalists in Burma are hoping for more assistance, morally and practically, from international media groups. Without press freedom a nation cannot enjoy the taste of social equality.

*upiasiaonline.com

In Myanmar, a resistance hero on the run

2008-02-28T07:49:00.000-08:00

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK - Somewhere in the dilapidated city of Yangon is a man on the run since August last year. He has sheltered in over 10 homes so far. But he expects to continue avoiding arrest by Myanmar's dreaded military or intelligence forces.

When Tun Myint Aung shifts from one safehouse to another, he goes armed with two items that have become indispensable. They are a mobile phone and a portable, Chinese-made radio, to listen to such anti-junta stations like the Democratic Voice of Burma, based in Oslo, Norway.

"The phone and the radio are very important now. I always take them wherever I go. They are next to me when I sleep," said Tun

Myint Aung during a recent telephone interview with Inter Press Service from his current safehouse in the former capital. "Through them I stay in touch with people outside, my friends, and follow the news about events in the country."

But his Tecsum shortwave radio has taken on added value in military-ruled Myanmar's current oppressive climate. "The radio has become a social weapon for me and for our movement," added Tun Myint Aung over the phone, an act that could get him jailed. "It is how the messages against the military regime are broadcast by us and others against them."

The "us" he refers to is the "88 Generation Students", a highly respected group of former university graduates who have been at the vanguard of peaceful protests against the country's repressive military leaders. The group gets its name from leading a pro-democracy popular movement in 1988, which was brutally crushed by the military, leaving some 3,000 protesters dead.

Until August 2007, Tun Myint Aung worked in the shadows of "88 Generation" leaders like Min Ko Naing, who to many Myanmese is the most respected person in the country for his democracy crusade after Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate. But that month, the junta arrested Min Ko Naing and other prominent leaders of the group to curb the protests they called for after the regime raised the price of oil by 500% without warning.

Tun Myint Aung, who will be turning 40 this year, had to flee his home to avoid arrest. It was an escape, forcing him to "run and run", sometimes having to spend nights on the streets with no place to hide, that has consequently propelled him to be a new leader of the "88 Generation". With him at the helm are two other activists of the same group, also on the run, Nilar Thein and Soe Htun.

His first month as a leader was overshadowed by the rage against the junta that poured on the streets of Yangon and other cities in September. Tens of thousands of people, led by the countries maroon-robed Buddhist monks, staged peaceful protests. They raised a cry against the unbearable economic woes, the arrest of the "88 Generation" leaders, and the continued imprisonment of political activists, including Suu Kyi. But the junta responded with force, killing scores of demonstrators, including monks, and jailing hundreds.

The events, since then, have proved as formidable: the junta recently announced plans to conduct a referendum in May to seek approval for a controversial new constitution. And mounting a political campaign against that plebiscite from underground is a challenge.

"There are 11 organizations we are working with to inform the public that the new constitution was not drafted by the people's representatives. We are also warning that the referendum will not be free and fair," says Tun Myint Aung. "But if people want to vote, we are urging them to vote 'No'. They have to oppose the military's plan to get its political life extended legally."

A mass movement against the referendum is also being discussed. "We want a nation-wide silent movement against the military. We have been contacting people in our network, through the phone and other ways, to get this message out," he reveals. "Our actions are to get as many people to lead this silent protest. That is how we have always worked. It is never been based on only one person."

The anger that the new leaders of the "88 Generation" have towards the regime was displayed in mid-February, when they released a statement saying that the planned May referendum is a "declaration of war by the military regime against the Burmese people". Another has followed since, denouncing the Chinese government for "bankrolling" the junta and calling for a boycott of this year's Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Despite the odds, Tun Myint Aung relishes his new role of leading the opposition from within the country. "It is a very heavy task that we have, but it is exciting," he says. "I am not depressed; I am eager to try as many actions as we can against the military. This is the way to help our people and to help my brothers, our comrades, in jail."

Even the solitary hours that he sometimes has to endure to avoid arrest barely gets him down. For he has experienced worse: he was arrested in 1990 and jailed at the notorious Insein Prison in Yangon for three years. At the time, he was studying geography at Rangoon University. His "crime" was to be a protest leader in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising. Then, in 1998, he was arrested again and jailed until 2005. Once again, it was for his political activism.

"I have not talked to my parents for many months; I cannot contact them, because our home in Rangoon [Yangon] is under watch by the intelligence," he admits, after a pause. "I miss that. I miss talking to my nieces and nephews. But they are used to not seeing me at home."

At times, however, the strain of struggling to remain free from the junta's grip leads to restless nights. "If I hear strange sounds on the road, too many dogs barking at night, I wake up," he says. "What is it?"

And visits to a hospital or clinics are out of the question for him: "I cannot get sick. It is too risky to go to a clinic. I am always taking care of my health now."

Yet there is a reason that weighs in his favor if he had to call on a doctor. His face remains a mystery to the junta; it had not been in the glare during the dissidents' public campaign. "It is fortunate. I avoided having my photos taken during the protests last year," says Tun Myint Aung.

But that spell of anonymity may not last long, he concedes. "The junta wants to arrest all our leaders. I cannot foretell my future: if I go to jail or not."

*atimes.com

Myanmar bans public speeches

2008-02-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

YANGON: Myanmar's military rulers said Wednesday they would imprison anyone caught giving public speeches or distributing leaflets about a constitutional referendum set for May.

The junta announced earlier this month that it would hold the referendum in May to set the stage for elections in 2010, a process critics say will only entrench military rule.

A new law enacted to oversee the balloting allows for up to three years in prison for "attempts to destroy the referendum by giving a speech in public and leafleting," the official Mirror newspaper said.

"Whoever breaks these restrictions or attempts to break them, whether found breaking them or helping to break them, can be sentenced to not more than three years' imprisonment or a 100,000 kyat ($85) fine," it said.

Tampering with the ballot box and ballot papers was also declared a crime. Myanmar announced that it had enacted the law and set up a 45-member commission to organise the referendum.

The law said the date for the referendum would be announced at least 21 days before the balloting.

*timesofindia

Myanmar changes referendum law to allow free voting

2008-02-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

Ians & AP
Yangon, Feb 27 : Myanmar's constitutional referendum law has made provisions for transparency in voting and vote counting to ensure a free and fair nationwide referendum in May on a draft Constitution.
The law allows secret ballot and counting of votes immediately after voting in the presence of the voters, the state-run daily Myanmar Alin reported. The law warned against acts aimed at undermining the referendum, banning public speeches and disseminating of leaflets and posters in an attempt to disturb the smooth running of the referendum.
Law-breakers will be punished with a prison term of up to three years or a fine in cash up to 100,000 Kyats (nearly $100), the referendum law said.
Anyone who distributes leaflets or makes speeches against Myanmar's constitutional referendum can be imprisoned for three years under new rules governing the May vote published by state media today.
The constitutional referendum law also allows for voting to be postponed or canceled in places affected by a “natural disaster, security breach or other harm that could endanger the holding of a free and fair referendum.”
(thestatesman)

Junta bans slash and burn farming near Naypyidaw

2008-02-26T15:35:00.001-08:00

Feb 26, 2008 (DVB)–The Burmese government’s Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation has imposed a ban on slash and burn agriculture in ethnic Kayan villages near the new capital Naypyidaw.

Farmers from the Bow Ma and Tae Su village groups, which are located about 20 miles from Naypyidaw and consist of about 40 small villages populated by ethnic Kayan people, have been making their living through slash and burn farming for generations.

A resident farmer from one of the villages said the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation recently made an announcement banning slash and burn agriculture in the area from the start of February.

"We have been hearing rumours about it since the middle of 2007,” said the farmer.

“In first week of 2008, they issued orders through our village leaders about restrictions on slash and burn farming because of the government’s plan to save the environment," he said.

"The order came directly from Naypyidaw. They said anyone who violates the ban will be punished by law."

The restriction zone covers about 100 acres of the villagers’ lands, and means they will face a struggle to maintain their livelihoods.

A local Kayan woman said the locals are now planning to move to Karen, Karenni (Kayah) or Shan states where slash and burn farming is still allowed by the government.

"This is not fair to us. We are very angry and saddened by the government's decision," she said.

“Now we are going to move somewhere else where we can do our work.”

The Myanma Agricultural Department in Naypyidaw was unavailable for comment.

Reporting by Htet Yazar

Burma Army's oppression increasing in Mon area: Villagers

2008-02-26T15:31:00.001-08:00

Mi Kyae Goe, IMNA

The Burmese Army with the full sanction of the military junta ruthlessly oppresses people in the country. In Southern Mon State villagers have alleged that the oppression of the Burmese (Myanmar ) Army battalions has increased compared to pervious years.

Toe Thet Ywar Thit Village from Khaw-za Sub Township , Mon State said that "the villagers from my village have to apply for travel documents for each person in their homes". Even if they have five people, they have to apply for each member.

In pervious years, villagers did not need to register each family member with the local Burmese military battalions. Last year they had to register for one travel document per house, said Toe Thet Ywar Thit villagers.

The cost of registration is 1,000 Kyat per book this year compared to last years cost of about 200 Kyat. Other villages are not subject to the new registration regulations in Khaw-za.

On February 22 Burmese Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No-31 torched about 20 plantations around Yin-ye and Yin-Done villages because they could not capture Mon rebels of Monland Restoration Party (MRP), formerly named Hongsawatoi Restoration Party (HRP), alleged Nai Chan Done, the party operations officer.

"Not only did they (Burmese Army) burn down the villagers' plantations, but they also beat up some villagers," Nai Chan Done said.

The Burmese soldiers set on fire the plantation using only a lighter, but the grass in the plantation was so dry that the fire spread fast from one plantation to another, he added. Most of the plantations produced lemons, nipa palm, areca palm, pepper, pomelo, and lime. MRP party is currently trying to find out who was involved in torching the plantations.

The LIB No-31 has this year begun forcing rubber plantation owners in his village of Toe Thet Ywar Thit to pay 166 Kyat per rubber plant, a villager said.

In addition, LIB No-31 forcibly relocated some Kyone-kanya villagers into an area close to a newly planned road where they have to buy valuable roadside plots from them. The road is still under construction.

"Currently, they (Burmese soldiers) have banned villagers from going to the plantations," said Nai Chan Done.

Myanmar Times to go daily

2008-02-25T15:22:00.001-08:00

Myanmar Times to go daily
Feb 25, 2008 (DVB)–The publisher of the weekly Myanmar Times newspaper, Myanmar Consolidated Media Company, is to publish a daily newspaper from May this year, according to one of the company’s employees.

The Myanmar Times employee said a printing workshop for the daily newspaper is now being set up in Rangoon's New South Dagon township with technicians from Australia, and a training process for reporters has been developed.

A journalist in Rangoon said the 20-page newspaper will be printed in Burmese and the first edition is expected to come out in May this year, after the national referendum.

"They have been recruiting reporters for the daily newspaper for the past two months. Anyone who is interested in journalism can apply for the training programmes," said the journalist on condition of anonymity.

The Myanmar Times daily newspaper, if approved by the government, will be the first private newspaper to be published daily in Burma since general Ne Win's military government took over national power in 1962.

Reporting by Nay Htoo

Toll collected by police for bodies in Maungdaw

2008-02-25T15:19:00.001-08:00

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Police collected toll for two bodies in Maungdaw Township. While one person was killed by an elephant another drowned in a shrimp dam on February 21.
Md. Amin (3), son of Imam Hussain from Dodan east village of Maungdaw Township drowned on February 21, at around 2:30 pm while he was playing near a shrimp dam. The Bawli Bazaar police station was informed and the police took kyat 50,000 along with 12 bags of cement for permission to bury the body. One cement bag is sold for kyat 11,000. In total, the parents of the victim had to pay kyat 182,000, said a relative of Md. Amin.

Md. Noor (50), son of Zohali, hailing from Mea Zin village of Lone Done village tract in Bawli Bazaar, Maungdaw Township was killed by a wild elephant on February 20, at about 10 am, when Noor accompanied by another villager were clearing bushes in a deep forest for hill cultivation. The other person managed to flee. Noor was sent to Bawli Bazaar hospital but he died on February 21, according to the widow of the victim.

The relatives of the victim had to pay kyat 50,000 to the police for permission for burial and also kyat 20,000 to the hospital doctor for not conducting an autopsy. The family is very poor man and managed get the money by selling their property, said a relative of the dead.

*kaladanpress

Harassment by police, Nasaka and Sarapa in northern Arakan

2008-02-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Rohingya community in northern Arakan is being harassed by the police, Nasaka (Burma's border security force) or Sarapa (Military Intelligence) everyday. All these law enforcing agencies extort money from the people. Some instances mentioned below.
On January 23, Maungdaw police and Sarapa jointly arrested Goffar, son of former police Moghul, belonging to Myo Thu Gyi village in Maungdaw Township on the allegation of being involved in politics. They extorted kyat one million for his release, said a schoolteacher who had recorded the events systematically.

On February 2, Anis, son of Deen Mohamed from Myoma Ka Nyin Tan (Shiddar Para) in Maungdaw Township was arrested by Maungdaw police on the allegation of exchanging money (Burmese and Bangladesh currency) and fleeced kyat 500,000 for being set free.

On February 7, the commander of Nasaka area No. 4 in Maungdaw Township extorted kyat 1.3 million from Zibin Chaung village Madrasa (religious school) for renovation of its floor with cement without permission. The commander went to the Ziban Chaung village Madrasa and fined the committee members of Madrasa for the renovation.

In northern Arakan, renovation of houses, religious building including mosques and Madrasas, even cattle sheds are not allowed without permission from the concerned authorities. This rule is only for the Rohinga community while other communities are excluded, said a local villager.

Again on February 7, Hasina Begum, daughter of Kalu (car owner) from Myoma Ka Nyin Tan village (Shiddar Para) in Maungdaw Town was arrested by Maungdaw police on the allegation of having a mobile phone. She had to pay kyat 600,000 for her release.

Moreover, on February 8, at about 2:30 am Noor Bosher (30), son of Shobbir, from Mayazin Para (village) of Bawli Bazaar in Maungdaw township was arrested by Nasaka personnel from Nasaka area No. 5 on the allegation of having a mobile phone and asked to pay kyat 2 million for his release. But, he was not able to pay such a big amount and he is still in the detention centre. Major Kyi Hlaing, the commander of Nasaka area No. (5) is well known for his notorious activities.

Besides, on February 12, Mostafa Kamal(22), son of Jaffor from Bawli Bazar of Maungdaw Township was arrested by Bawli Bazaar police on suspicion that he went to Bangladesh. But, he went to Maungdaw town. He showed them the guest list of where he stayed in Maungdaw during his visit. But police officer San Min extorted kyat 50,000 for his release.

"There are many unreported events of extortion by State Peace and Development Council or SPDC authorities. If this kind of extortion continues, there will be no money in the hands of the Rohingya community. The concerned authorities have been conducting this harassment to the Rohingya community. We have never seen this kind of harassment before and what is the reason for the discrimination. Is there any country like Burma in the world?" asked a Rohingya elder in Maungdaw town.

"We believe that this method will push Rohingya community into acute poverty and will force them to flee to neighbouring countries as political refugees not as economic refugees," said another village elder.

Concerned authorities arrest and torture Rohingy people for extortion on false and fabricated cases. If a man commits any crime, he will be punished, according to the law, if so; it is not a problem for us. It is very difficult to take punishment without committing any crime. We are arrested, tortured and fleeced, said a politician in Arakan.

Anybody who is arrested will not be released without paying money whether he is guilty or not. He is detained and tortured until and unless money is paid. As a result, the arrested man has to give money to be released. If not there is no one to come forward to save them. The SPDC authorities extort money from the Rohingya community by making arbitrary arrests, said a local trader.

*kaladanpress

Military abducts 15 children in Tharawaddy

2008-02-24T13:27:00.001-08:00

Abitsu/By vusi

DVB - Naw Say Phaw : Fifteen children from Tharawaddy township in Bago division were abducted by government troops about 10 days ago and forced to join the army, local residents said.

The children were in the forest collecting wood when they were taken by soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion-35.

A Tharawaddy resident said the children were threatened with imprisonment if they would not join the army.

“The children were abducted by LIB-35 about 10 days ago when they went into the forest to collect bamboo,” the resident said.

“They were then taken to the barracks where the military officers apparently told them they had to choose between joining the army and being sent to prison, but the children all said they would prefer to go to prison.”

The children were taken to Tharawaddy police station about three days ago, as the LIB-35 battalion commander was due to come to the barracks and officers were reportedly worried they would be reprimanded for having the children there.

But the police refused to press charges against the children or to keep them in detention, and so the military took them back to the barracks.

The Tharawaddy resident said the police were also worried about action against them if they kept the children at the station.

“Maybe they’re afraid that they’re going to get into trouble for having these children,” he said.

“The police also used to make some money from people who went to the forest to cut wood, but since the military has been discouraging people to go there they are not getting money any more.”

Other local residents said that soldiers from the military recruitment division led by lieutenant Saw Win have taken people from the forest on several recent occasions.

Three Pa-O ceasefire leaders detained

2008-02-24T13:21:00.001-08:00

Abitsu/By vusi

Irrawaddy - Saw Yan Naing : Three ethnic Pa-O ceasefire group leaders were summoned and detained for questioning by the Burmese army following a clash in the Shan State capital that killed two Burmese soldiers.

The leaders of the ceasefire group, known as the Shan State Nationalities Peoples’ Liberation Organization (SSNPLO), are Chairman Ta Kalei, Vice Chairman Sein Shwe and Soe Aung Lwin, one of the organization’s officers.

The leaders were summoned on February 18, one day after a clash with a splinter group known as the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO).

The clash took place in Sesai Township in Taunggyi, the Shan State capital, according to PNLO sources.

The SSNPLO, which has about 100 members based at its headquarters in Naung Tao, in southern Shan State, is one of the ethnic ceasefire groups that have been pressured by the Burmese regime to disarm since 2006. It signed a ceasefire agreement with the military government in 1994.

Col Khun Thurein, the general secretary of the PNLO said, “They [the Burmese army] will likely take this opportunity to accuse the group [SSNPLO] of having relationships with other rebel groups and pressure the group till it disarms.”

The area where the clash occurred was patrolled by troops from Light Infantry Battalion 423 under Military Operations Command 7.

The SSNPLO disarmed once in 2004 but again split into two groups.

A splinter group of SSNPLO, numbering about 130 people with 35 soldiers, led by Col Chit Maung disarmed in June 2007.

The PNLO split from the SSNPLO in late 2007, said the group’s leader, Col Khun Thurein.

The military government pressured many ethnic ceasefire groups, including the United Wa State Army and the Kachin Independence Army, to disarm before the formation of the National Convention in 2007.

Will Mahn Sha’s Killers Ever Be Brought to Justice?

2008-02-24T13:20:00.001-08:00

Abitsu/By vusi

Irrawaddy - By AUNG ZAW / MAESOT : The high-profile killing of the third-ranking Karen leader Mahn Sha in Mae Sot indicated that the Thai-Burmese border town, once a stronghold of Karen and Burmese pro-democracy forces, is no longer a safe place.

The brazen assassination, committed in broad daylight, showed that infiltrators of the regime and rivals of the Karen National Union (KNU) are gaining ground in a Thai town once controlled by the KNU and its sympathizers.

I visited Mahn Sha’s rented house a day after the killing. Burmese friends of the Karen leader believed that the assassins had conducted reconnaissance surveillance of the area and gathered intelligence before they walked into his house and shot him dead.

Mahn Sha had received death threats via cell phone calls. Some of his colleagues said the Karen politician had not taken security measures even though he knew assassins were roaming the town. The question is, however: could he have taken measures to protect his life?

Karen leaders living in Mae Sot and border villages, including the late Gen Saw Bo Mya, usually guard their homes with bodyguards and sentries, even if they are not armed.

Mahn Sha’s neighbors were no strangers to him as he lived close to other opposition members’ houses. They usually lived in a group, fearing possible attack in a border town where it is difficult to distinguish friend from foe. Diplomats, journalists and Burmese often visited Mahn Sha’s house.

Since the fall of the KNU’s Manerplaw headquarters to Burmese troops in 1995, the KNU’s influence in Mae Sot and border villages has gradually waned. Following the fall of Manerplaw, soldiers of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Association (DKBA), backed by Burmese troops, made daring attacks on Karen refugee camps on Thai soil.

In 1997 and 1998, Huay Kaloke refugee camp, about 10km from Mae Sot, was attacked and burned down by Karen rebel forces. I remember visiting the camp in 1998 a day after the attack and finding a deserted, destroyed settlement, the refugee residents, including children, having been gunned down by the rebel army.

In past years, the DKBA, other Karen splinter groups and Burmese informers have slowly infiltrated Mae Sot, gathering information about the location and movements of dissident leaders and NGO offices that assist refugees and exiled groups. Over the past five years, the presence of Karen splinter groups has been more and more visible in Mae Sot.

The Burmese government has long accused Thailand of harboring Burma’s most wanted rebels and dissidents—who now include several monks who led the September demonstrations and fled into hiding on Thai soil. Thailand is no safe haven for Burma’s dissidents, but it’s certainly preferable to Insein Prison in Rangoon.

Like many other Burmese dissidents living discreetly in Thailand, Mahn Sha knew how uncertain an existence he was leading in view of Thailand’s relationship with its unpredictable neighbor. He and other Burmese dissidents moved regularly from house to house to evade enemies and informers.

Nevetheless, there was little reason for Mahn Sha to fear for his life in Thailand. He was a prominent Karen leader who merited protection.

After the start of the Cold War, Bangkok enforced a “buffer zone policy” with respect to its neighbors. Ethnic Burmese minorities such as the Karen, Mon and Shan rebels enjoyed relative freedom in Thailand, and—most importantly—access to arms, which they then shipped back into Burma to rebels fighting for autonomy.

But this is no longer the situation. Thailand’s “buffer zone” policy in relation to Burma is no longer in place.

Thailand is now a major trading partner of Burma, dealing mostly in gas, teak and other natural resources. Karen, Mon and Shan rebels who once offered lucrative trade deals with Thai merchants are no longer formidable forces.

I noticed massive construction work on the proposed Asian Highway behind Mahn Sha’s house—and I wondered what Mahn Sha had thought about the project.

Meanwhile, Thai authorities have closed all border checkpoints near DKBA-controlled areas following the killing. Only the Friendship Bridge linking Mae Sot and the Burmese border town of Myawaddy remains open for trade between the two countries.

Police in Mae Sot have begun an investigation into the murder. According to a KNU official, local authorities in Mae Sot have arrested a Thai man suspected of lending his car to Mahn Sha’s killers.

Despite a pledge from Thai police that they will find the assassins, KNU leaders say they don’t expect much success to emerge from the investigations.

“As neither the victim nor the gunmen were Thai citizens, I don’t think the Thai authorities will take this case seriously,” said KNU spokesman David Taw, who acknowledged that it would be difficult for Thai police to catch cross-border killers.

Some Burmese colleagues said Thai police and officials were worried that Burma would accuse Thailand again of harboring dissidents. “This is a big piece of evidence for the Burmese,” said a friend of Mahn Sha with a note of irony.

The new, democratically elected government in Bangkok has been unusually silent on the killing, leading many Karen to wonder if the culprits will ever be brought to justice.

British Unionists Calls for End to Lonely Planet’s Burma Guide

2008-02-24T13:18:00.002-08:00

Abitsu/By vusi

Irrawaddy : Britain’s biggest labor group, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged the publishers of the Lonely Planet guidebook to drop its Burma edition, saying it encouraged people to visit a country they might otherwise avoid.

“The very existence of a travel guide to Burma encourages people to visit a country they might not otherwise consider,” TUC General-Secretary Brendan Barber said in a statement. “We want to see the travel industry drop Burma from their list of destinations, and taking the Lonely Planet guidebook off the shelves would help enormously.” The Lonely Planet series is now published by Britain’s BBC, which said it had no plans to withdraw the guide. The Burma Campaign-UK, an organization that lobbies for human rights and democracy in Burma, has also been pressing for the withdrawal of the Burma edition. Britain’s TUC has a membership of 60 unions, representing more than 6 million workers.

Computer Virus Attacks Burmese Opposition Groups

2008-02-24T13:18:00.001-08:00

Abitsu/By vusi

Irrawaddy : Burmese opposition groups are being targeted by a new virus that attacks their computers and destroys their files. The virus, which carries the name “Happy Birthday,” is circulating mostly in offices in the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot, but has also appeared in Rangoon.

Among the affected organizations are the Burma Lawyer Council (BLC), Political Defense Committee (PDC), Karen National Union (KNU), Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP) and Dr Cynthia Maung’s clinic. A PDC technician said the virus “starts working as soon as you start opening the computer. It will ask you to restart the computer when opening the window.” PDC had lost all its files because of the virus, and the systems of other groups were also being damaged, the technician said.

Indian company to explore gas in Myanmar inland block

2008-02-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

Abitsu/ By vusi

Xinhua - Bi Mingxin : Indian oil company, the Essar, will start drilling test well to explore natural gas at an inland block in Myanmar’s western coastal Rakhine state during this year under a production sharing contract with Myanmar initiated more than two years ago, the leading local weekly Yangon Times reported Wednesday.

The drilling will be undertaken at Block-L in Sittway of the state.

Block-L stands one of the two blocks which the Indian company is to explore gas under the contract signed with the state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise in May 2005. The gas exploration on another block A-2 lying off the Rakhine coast will follow later, the report said.

The Essar is another Indian company engaged in oil and gas exploration in Myanmar after the ONGC Videsh Ltd of India and the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), both of which are being involved in similar activities since 2000 at Block A-1 and A-3 in the same offshore area in partnership with South Korea’s Daewoo International Corporation and South Korea Gas Corporation. The consortium is led by Daewoo.

In September last year, the ONGC signed separate production sharing contracts with Myanmar to explore natural gas in three deep-sea blocks of AD-2, AD-3 and AD-9 in the Rakhine offshore areas, according to earlier official report.

Myanmar has abundance of natural gas resources especially in the offshore areas. With three main large offshore oil and gas fields and 19 onshore ones, Myanmar has proven recoverable reserve of 18.012 trillion cubic-feet (TCF) or 510 billion cubic-meters (BCM) out of 89.722 TCF or 2.54 trillion cubic-meters (TCM)’s estimated reserve of offshore and onshore gas, experts said, adding that the country is also estimated to have 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserve.

According to the Central Statistical Organization, in the fiscal year 2006-07, Myanmar produced 7.707 million barrels of crude oil and 13.039 BCM of gas. Gas export during the year went to 13.028 BCM, gaining 2.03 billion U.S. dollars.

The latest figures indicate that in the first half (April-September) of 2007-08, the country’s crude oil production amounted to 3.857 million barrels, while its gas output 6.74 BCM. Gas export was registered at 9.17 BCM during the period, obtaining 1.531 billion dollars.

More statistics reveal that foreign investment in Myanmar’s oil and gas sector had reached 3.243 billion dollars in 85 projects as of the end of 2007 since the country opened to such investment in late 1988, standing the second in the country’s foreign investment in this sector after electricity industry.

Currently, 13 foreign oil companies, mainly from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Russia, are involved in oil and gas projects in Myanmar, according to official sources

U Gambira faces new charges

2008-02-21T09:56:00.001-08:00

Abitsu/ By vusi

DVB - Aye Nai : U Gambira, the leader of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance who was detained in November for his role in public demonstrations last year, has been charged with at least one new offence.

U Gambira had already been charged with violating section 17/1 of the Unlawful Associations Act, and will now also be charged under section 13/1 of the Burma Immigration (Emergency Provisions) Act for illegal movement across borders.

U Gambira’s brother U Aung Kyaw Kyaw has also been charged with both offences, as well as article 5(j) of the Emergency Provisions Act.

Ma Khin Thu Htay, U Gambira’s sister, said that the full charges against the monk were not yet clear.

“There have been rumours that they are going to charge them both under section 5(j), but we won’t know for sure until Monday,” she said.

U Gambira and U Aung Kyaw Kyaw were charged by Alone township court and also had their remand extended.

Burma agrees to UN envoy visit in March

2008-02-21T09:55:00.001-08:00

Burma agrees to UN envoy visit in March
Feb 21, 2008 (AP)–Burma will allow UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari to visit the country in early March, Indonesia's foreign minister said Thursday.

Gambari is currently on a tour of Asian nations seeking their support in helping achieve democracy in military-ruled Burma.

"The Myanmar government has agreed to receive Gambari in the first week of March," Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said before meeting the UN diplomat in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Wirajuda said Burma's foreign minister had informed him of the decision at a recent meeting with other Southeast Asian ministers. He gave no more details.

Earlier this month, Burma announced it would hold a May referendum on a constitution written under military guidance and multiparty elections by 2010, the first specific dates for steps in an earlier-announced "roadmap to democracy."

The plans have been widely criticized for failing to include any input from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. As they stand, Aung San Suu Kyi would not be allowed to contest the vote because she once was married to a foreigner.

Wirajuda said Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries "still had hopes" Suu Kyi would be allowed to contest the vote. He gave no more details.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won general elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take power.

Myanmar refugee focuses on rights abuses

2008-02-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

By MARY SWIFT

FEDERAL WAY'S Steve Dun makes his living at a boat-repair business in Ballard.

It's his job, but Dun will tell you it's not his most important work. His priority is focusing attention on human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

The country has been ruled by a military regime for decades. Minority ethnic groups have found themselves under attack. Protests by students, monks and other groups are met with swift, often bloody, reprisals. Terror is common.

Dun knows that from experience.

Born in Rangoon, the 44-year-old Dun is the son of a marine engineer father and a schoolteacher mother. He was 10 when the country's military regime forced his family to flee to a remote village on the border of Thailand.

"Both my parents' papers were confiscated by the military regime," he says, "because both my parents were educated Karen (one of the country's minority ethnic groups that has opposed the military regime)."

It was in that village "in the middle of nowhere" that Dun grew up. Then, in 1994, came a moment that would alter Dun's life. He was traveling up the Moei River, the boundary between Thailand and Myanmar, in a diesel-powered "long-tail boat" when it collided with one coming the other way.

"We crashed," he says, his tone unemotional. "I got caught in the middle -- jammed between the two boats -- and injured my spinal cord."

Left a paraplegic and forced to use a wheelchair, Dun knew he couldn't return to his parents' village. It lacked resources he needed, and mobility would have been impossible.

He stayed with a friend living in a city in Thailand and found a new focus for his energy. He helped "set up electronic news -- Burmanet. It's the work of a whole bunch of people all over the world trying to shine a light on what is happening in Burma."

Eventually, he says, friends in the United States suggested he emigrate.

"Nice idea," thought Dun, who arrived in 1997 intending to attend Indiana University. "But I came in the middle of the quarter and couldn't get into any program, so I moved to California, took a course in data networking at UCLA and spent a year and a half getting a certificate."

He moved to Seattle in 1999 when he was offered a job.

His accident and the resulting injury have done nothing to quiet his voice or erode his resolve.

"Right now, the military regime has been making a push to get people out of areas they would like to see developed or invested in," he says.

"In the Karen state, there's a lot of teak, so they're pushing people out in order to harvest the teak."

Since 2007, the Seattle area has been receiving Myanmar refugees, he says.

Dun, whose parents now live in Texas, has testified before Congress on several occasions about conditions in Myanmar. In June, he was part of a coalition of ethnic leaders who made the rounds in Washington, D.C.

"I got to meet with Laura Bush, a sharp lady, very interested in children's education and health care," he says.

He also has been involved in World Aid Inc. of Seattle, a small, volunteer-run organization that provides medical supplies, food, blankets, plastic tarps and other items for Myanmar refugees in Thailand and internally displaced people inside Myanmar. The U.S. has been "on the forefront of sanctions" against Myanmar, he says.

"Sanctions are just words. But for the people of Burma, there's a lot of hope thinking that people in the U.S. are standing with us."

He says that "in the midst of all the bad stuff -- the attacks, the stepping on mines, the burning of villages, is that the human element in Burma is very loving and very caring. I really miss it."

Not, he says, that he is likely to see his native country again any time soon.

"Because of my activities, my name has come up as an enemy of the state," he says matter-of-factly.

"We just want the world to know the situation there. Citizens need to keep the light on Burma and not let it be forgotten."

*seattlepi.nwsource.com

Burma's Arrest of Journalists Highlights Junta's Intolerance

2008-02-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

BBSNews 2008-02-19 -- New York (HRW) The Burmese government's arrest of two journalists and its decision to extend the detention of a prominent opposition leader demonstrate its continuing contempt for political freedoms despite its preparations for a constitutional referendum in May, Human Rights Watch said today.

Burmese authorities arrested journalists Thet Zin and Sein Win Aung of Myanmar Nation magazine at their office in Thingan Gyun township in Rangoon on the night of February 15, and have since detained them without charge in a nearby police station. Thet Zin, a prominent dissident, and his colleague were collecting material on the government's crackdown on protests in Rangoon last September and the United Nations' response to the events.

"Burma's military regime has once again shown its intolerance toward different political viewpoints by arresting journalists who were doing nothing more than reporting news and opinions," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "How can the Burmese authorities create even the semblance of a credible constitutional referendum in May when it won't allow journalists to report the news?"

The nongovernmental organization Reporters Without Borders, in its annual report issued last week, documented nine prominent journalists in detention in Burma, including 78-year-old U Win Tin, who has been imprisoned since July 1989. The arrest of Thet Zin and Sein Win Aung bring to 11 the number of journalists known to be detained in Burma.

Burma's government continues to sharply restrict media freedoms through a draconian system of press scrutiny that requires all domestic copy to be vetted and approved by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division of the Ministry of Information (formerly controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs). Journalists are routinely banned from publishing if their stories are thought to contain material critical of the military or positive towards the political opposition. Telecommunications, the internet, and even mobile phones are regulated to deter the free dissemination of information, both domestically and internationally.

"Burma's generals refuse to tolerate any criticism, however well-intentioned," said Adams. "The arrests of journalists and repression of access to information deny the Burmese people any real opportunity to debate the proposed new constitution."

In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs on February 13 informed U Tin Oo, one of the leaders of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), that his house arrest order would be extended for another year. The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) prolonged U Tin Oo's house arrest a year ago. A former Army chief of staff who was purged in the late 1970s, U Tin Oo joined the NLD in 1988 and was arrested following the brutal government crackdown on NLD members in Depayin in late May 2003. He also spent much of the 1990s in prison and under house arrest.

The Burmese government has continued to arrest political activists in the wake of its crackdown against monks and political activists in August and September 2007. More than 1,800 political dissidents remain in prison in Burma for their involvement in peaceful political activities, a dramatic increase from a year ago. Many of the leaders of the '88 Generation Students group, such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and other veteran activists from the mass protests in 1988, have been in custody since August.

Human Rights Watch has grave fears for the health and welfare of prominent political activists such as Hkun Tun Oo, the leader of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), arrested in 2005 after criticizing the SPDC's flawed constitution-writing process. He is reportedly seriously ill with diabetes and prostate complications in Putao prison in Kachin State. The labor activist Ma Su Su Nway, who was arrested in Rangoon in November 2007, also remains in detention despite a serious heart condition.

Human Rights Watch has serious concerns about access to adequate health care for both activists and called on the government to allow access to independent and competent doctors to determine whether the two, who in any case be should released, require better medical treatment. The International Committee of the Red Cross has not been permitted unfettered visits to Burma's prisons since late 2005, and has suspended its visits.

This week, the United Nations special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, is scheduled to visit China, India, and other Asian countries to gather support for his efforts to foster political reform in Burma. The SPDC has been delaying a trip by Gambari to Burma. The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, has still not been granted a visa to conduct his final research mission before he reports to the UN Human Rights Council in March.

"Despite plans for a constitutional referendum in May, the Burmese authorities are pursuing a policy of repression rather than reform," said Adams. "Neighboring countries like China, India, and Thailand need to start putting serious public pressure on the Burmese authorities to end these serious human rights abuses."

The Human Rights Watch news release, "Burma: Referendum a Sham Unless Repression Ends" is available online.

The Human Rights Watch report, "Crackdown: Repression of the 2007 Popular Protests in Burma" is available online.

The Burma chapter of Human Rights Watch's World Report 2008 is available online.

*bbsnews

Nobel Laureates Demand Arms Embargo on Burma

2008-02-20T11:01:00.000-08:00

irrawaddy/ Nine Nobel laureates led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama urged the UN Security Council and individual governments on Monday to impose an arms embargo on the Burmese military junta.

They said in a joint statement: “We appeal to the members of the Security Council and the international community to take action quickly on measures that will prevent the sale of arms to the Burmese military, including a ban on banking transactions targeting top Burmese leaders, as well as state and private entities that support the government’s weapons trade.”

Besides Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, other signatories to the joint statement are Shirin Ebadi, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Elie Wiesel, Betty Williams and Jody Williams. More Nobel laureates are expected to join the group.

The statement singled out China, Russia, India, Ukraine and Poland as providers of arms to Burma.

“Many of the arms used by Burma’s military regime to retain its hold on power have been sold to the regime by foreign governments. This is not acceptable – no nation should sell arms to a regime that uses weapons exclusively against its own people,” the statement said.

The statement also regretted the lack of progress towards national reconciliation in Burma. “In spite of the overwhelming desire of the Burmese people for political change the regime has made no overtures and no progress on national reconciliation,” it said.

The statement described the regime’s recently announced timeframe for a referendum on the draft constitution and general elections as flawed. Tutu called it a complete sham.

The government’s “road map” failed to include participation by the National League for Democracy (NLD). “The NLD and Burma’s ethnic nationalities must play an inclusive role in determining a negotiated settlement and transition to democracy,” the Nobel laureates said.

Referring to the arms embargo clamped on the apartheid regime in South Africa, Tutu said: “Now it is time for the UN and individual countries to immediately impose [an] arms embargo and targeted banking sanctions on Burma following the ‘Saffron Massacre’[the crackdown on the September 2007 demonstrations].”

Myanmar to bar Suu Kyi from 2010 polls

2008-02-20T11:00:00.001-08:00

SINGAPORE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to take part in elections proposed by the country's military leaders in 2010 because she had been married to a foreigner, the Straits Times reported on Wednesday.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said his Myanmar counterpart told a regional meeting on Tuesday that the new constitution barred Suu Kyi from the polls because of her marriage to Briton Michael Aris, who died in 1999, and because their children held foreign passports, the newspaper said.

Yeo said foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) told Myanmar's representative, Nyan Win, that the move was "not in keeping with the times".

"He was quite clear that in the new constitution, a Myanmar citizen who has a foreign husband or who has children not citizens of Myanmar will be disqualified, as it was in the 1974 constitution," Yeo said, according to the paper.

Earlier this month, Myanmar's ruling generals announced a referendum in May on a new constitution, to be followed by an election in 2010.

The generals last held elections in 1990, but ignored them when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent more than 12 of the past 18 years under some form of detention.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by David Fox)

In Burma, local authorities raid weekly's office; editor, manager detained; distribution halted

2008-02-19T10:14:00.001-08:00

The editor and the manager of a Rangoon-based weekly were picked up for interrogation by local authorities on 15 February 2008 and have been detained at the township's police lockup since then.

At about 5 p.m. (local time) that day, Thingangyun Township law enforcement officers came to the office of "Myanmar Nation" and searched the place for three hours before bringing chief editor Thet Zin and manager Sein Win Maung to the police station for interrogation, a source told Mizzima News.

The reason for their detention has not been made known. However, the officers found and seized a copy of the Burmese translation of UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Paulo Sergio Pinheiro's Burma report, a video disk of the September 2007 demonstrations led by monks and a copy of the book by Shan ethnic leader Shwe Ohn, called, "Let's build an inseparable union".

On the morning of 18 February, an officer from the Thingangyun police station led a team of six to search the office again for three hours. This time, they seized data from the chief editor's computer. In the evening, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Board called the permit holder of the publication to hold off distributing the journal as it is being reviewed, a source who wished to remain anonymous told Mizzima News.

Thet Zin's wife, Khin Swe Myint, said she has not been told why her husband and his colleague have been taken away.

"I asked the policemen who came and searched the office this morning again. They only said that they came under instructions from higher authorities and they will submit their report following the search. They just said they would let me know about the case later," she told Mizzima.

"I can't imagine why they were taken away from their office. This journal is being published officially after clearance from the censorship board. They didn't do anything that violates any rule or law. I asked (my husband), too. He also doesn't have any idea why he was being interrogated," she said.

According to Mizzima News, Khin Swe Myint was allowed to meet her husband the same night he was taken away and the day after to bring him food. She visited him again on the morning of 19 February, putting to rest fears that he would be transferred to the notorious Insein prison.

The Burma Media Association, the global organisation of exiled Burmese journalists, has called for the immediate release of Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung besides author Lay Lay Mun (a.k.a. Phu Ngong of "Teenage Magazine"), blogger and author Nay Phone Latt, and poets Min Han, Nay Htet Naing and Ko Ko Maung (a.k.a. Zaw Lu Sein).

*seapabkk.org

'Rambo' hits close to home: Film's depiction of Burma 'true,' refugees say

2008-02-18T11:28:00.000-08:00

BY TRACEY O'SHAUGHNESSY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

In its 25th year, Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo" franchise has become so formulaic it is dismissed as what one critic called "intentional camp."

But when four Burmese refugees who now live in Waterbury watched Stallone's latest saga, "Rambo," based in Burma, they were moved to tears. The movie, the fourth in a series, is set on the Burmese-Thailand border. It focuses on the ethnic struggle with the Burmese military.

"Is true," said Ku Soe, 23, of the violence, torture and despair. "All true."

For the four refugees, the movie, which the San Francisco Chronicle called "90 minutes of flying, dismembered limbs and explosions of blood," was a poignant evocation of the plight they have escaped by gaining refuge in America.

Aid workers say the Karen, largely of eastern Burma, and other ethnic groups have suffered 500,000 cases of forced relocation. Thousands more have been imprisoned, tortured or killed. Many, like Toe Toe Po, 58, were used as forced laborers, carrying food and munitions for Burmese soldiers. Their diet: two cups of rice a day.

Wednesday, Toe Toe Po, who had never been to a movie theater before, sat riveted on the edge of his seat at the Brass Mill Stadium theater, elbows on his knees and chin in his hands as he watched scenes of marauding Burmese soldiers lay waste to a Karen village.

"When he saw it, he hate the Burmese soldiers," Toe Toe Po's son, Ler Bweh, 25, said. "This true story. This is really happening." After a month of "portering" and abuse by the Burmese military, Toe Toe Po escaped. He was shot in the leg as he fled. His son, Ler Bweh, said "Rambo" brought back memories of that assault.

"He was afraid," Ler Bweh said of his father. "He remember his accident." Ler Bweh, too, served as a porter for a day, taking the place of his great aunt, who he said was too old to work. "Burmese soldiers very cruel to me."

"Rambo," which The New York Times called "a bloodbath punctuated by occasional bouts of clumsy dialogue," concerns the world-weary Vietnam veteran John Rambo's involvement with ethnic struggle in Burma. Although many ethnic rebel groups have fought Burmese governments for greater autonomy since it gained independence from England in 1948, the chief armed group is the Karen National Liberation Army. The human rights group Christian Aid calls the Karen struggle the world's longest running civil war.

Sitting around the family's dinner table in Waterbury, Ler Bweh scooped soup — cold water, sea salt and lemon — into his mouth as he explained the Burmese army's practice of tearing children from their parents and forcing them into service. "They must become soldier," says Ler Bweh. "Their parents don't know nothing. Only 15 years old. Maybe younger."

Burma has the highest number of children soldiers in the world, according to Human Rights Watch. The overwhelming majority of Burma's child soldiers are found in the national army, which forcibly recruits children as young as 11. "Burma's army preys on children, using threats, intimidation and often violence to force young boys to become soldiers," said Jo Becker, advocacy director of the Children's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. "To be a boy in Burma today means facing the constant risk of being picked up off the street, forced to commit atrocities against villagers, and never seeing your family again,"

"Everything is true," said Drucie Bathin, a Karen who has been here since 1999 and saw the movie last week.

"That's what I live with. It's just like flashbacks for me all the time. That's why it's hard for me to live a normal life."

Bathin is a part-time worker with the International Institute of Connecticut. She has served as a case worker and translator for the 60-plus Karen who relocated to Waterbury last summer.

Her father, Saw Bathin, is a leader of the Karen National Union, a political opposition group.

"It's happening every day so you can't really find peace, even here. Anybody who can forget that, I don't think they are really human," she said.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Stallone said he intentionally made this "Rambo" the bloodiest ever.

"I said, 'Guys, this is happening today — and if we're ever going to do something that responds, where art has the ability to influence people's awareness and impact the lives of these people, don't dilute it, don't water it down. Don't cut away too soon. Let it sink it. I want people to feel it.'

"To their credit, they allowed this film to be as truthful as it could," Stallone said.

In fact, the actual situation in Burma was "even worse," he said.

Ku Soe, Toe Toe Po's son, was nearly speechless after the film, tears running down his caramel-colored cheeks.

"Cannot say," he kept repeating. "Cannot say."

But the next day, Ku Soe said he wanted to see the movie again. Other Karen, like Paw Mu Nah, who recalls fleeing from his village when he was 5 as Burmese soldiers invaded it, say they cannot wait to see the movie.

Lay Moo, Toe Toe Po's 14-year-old son, a student at West Side Middle School, gave one explanation. "I like Rambo because Rambo kill Burmese soldiers."

*rep-am.com

Burma: Ruling junta to blame for murder of top Karen leader, says ITUC

2008-02-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

(ITUC OnLine):As evidence mounts of the Burmese junta’s involvement in last night’s murder of a top Karen political leader on the Thai-Burma border, the ITUC today expressed its horror and disgust at the assassination of Phado Mahn Sha, General Secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), representing Burma’s second-largest ethnic nationality group. Mahn Sha, aged 64, was killed last night, 14 February, by two Karen-speaking assailants who entered his house in Maesod, a town situated inside Thailand on the Burmese border. According to the Federation of Trade Unions – Burma (FTUB, an ITUC associate organisation), the 4x4 vehicle used by the assassins belongs to a Thai business partner of the DKBA, a proxy Karen militia controlled by Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The attackers reportedly climbed the stairs to Mahn Shar’s flat while he was finishing his meal, greeted him in the Karen language, then drew their guns and shot him twice in the chest. The victim died on the spot.

Mahn Sha was considered as the top leader of the KNU, an ethnic political movement supporting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) and other democratic opposition parties in Burma. The KNU, which has struggled for decades to secure increased recognition of Karen peoples’ rights inside the Burmese federation, is widely known for sheltering and assisting victims of forced labour and other egregious human rights violations committed by SPDC and its proxy Karen militia, the DKBA. The so-called Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a para-military structure armed and controlled by the SPDC, has for over 10 years been denounced by the ITUC and its predecessor organisation, the ICFTU, as being responsible for murders, torture, rape, imposition of forced labour and forced recruitment of child soldiers in Burma’s Karen State, which borders Thailand.

“This wicked murder must be fully investigated by Thai authorities and the relevant international agencies and its authors, both material and intellectual, brought to justice, as soon and wherever possible”, said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. ”If, as we have every reason to believe, the SPDC is ultimately responsible for it, this killing should help prove to the international community that Burma’s corrupt and murderous regime is not in the least interested in bringing about even the slightest degree of democracy to the country and its citizens, whether through a bogus referendum, so-called national elections or any other deceptive method”, he added. The SPDC has last week-end declared it would hold a “Constitutional referendum” next May and organise national elections in 2010, an announcement widely denounced by Burma’s democracy movement and many foreign governments as a scam designed to relieve mounting international political and economic pressure on the junta.

The ITUC said Burma’s neighbours, particularly India, China and ASEAN member countries now had to face up to their historic responsibilities towards Burma and its 47 million people. China, in particular, has come under strong criticism in international circles for using its veto power to block UN Security Council resolutions aimed at compelling Burma’s ruling junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners and engage in a genuine dialogue with the democratic opposition and representatives of ethnic nationalities. In the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, Burmese groups around the world have also increasingly drawn parallels between the situation in Sudan’s western Darfur province and Burma, pointing at China’s reluctance to use its considerable influence over both Sudan and Burma over their respective human rights crises.

The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates. Website: http://www.ituc-csi.org

*albawaba.com

Japan to accept Burma refugees: report

2008-02-18T10:31:00.002-08:00

Japan will accept a small number of the roughly 140,000 refugees from Burma now sheltering in Thailand, a rare move for a country known for keeping its gates tightly closed to asylum seekers, a newspaper has reported.

Dozens of refugees will be allowed into Japan next year from among those who had fled across the border to Thailand, fearing persecution in their homeland, the Yomiuri Shimbun said on Monday.

An official at the Immigration Bureau said the matter was under consideration and nothing had been decided.

Accepting refugees from a third country may deflect criticism of Japan for what activists say is overly strict assessment of asylum cases.

Last year Japan approved 41 of 816 applications from asylum seekers and allowed a further 88 applicants to stay for humanitarian reasons, although they were not officially recognised as refugees.

In the same period, France accepted about 10,900 refugees, the United Kingdom 6,300 and the United States 23,296, according to the United Nations.

Though extremely low in comparison with other industrialised countries, Japan's figures have risen sharply since the 1990s, when the number of refugees accepted annually remained in single figures for almost a decade.

Last week, Burma rebel leader Mahn Sha was shot dead at his home in Mae Sot, a Thai border town that has become home to many refugees. The UN estimates that about 140,000 refugees have fled to Thailand.

*theage.com

Russian company gains right to explore for minerals in Myanmar

2008-02-18T10:31:00.001-08:00

Abitsu/By vusi | February 18, 2008

Reuters - By Aung Hla Tun : YANGON: A Russian company has won exploration rights for gold and other minerals in Myanmar, the official media reported, in the latest business deal between the Southeast Asian nation’s junta and one of its few international friends.

The Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration Department of Myanmar and the Victorious Glory International of Russia signed a deal Friday for exploration for “gold and associated minerals” in the mineral-rich country, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Saturday.

The agreement covers an area along the Uru River in northern Myanmar, between Phakant in Kachin State and Homalin in Sagaing Division, the newspaper said, with no further details.

Phakant is in a region known as the “Land of Jade,” while the Homalin area is known for deposits of gold, which reached a record high level of $936.50 an ounce in early February.

The military, which has ruled the impoverished Southeast Asian nation since 1962, relies on sales of gemstones like sapphires, pearls and jade as crucial sources foreign exchange. More than 90 percent of the world’s rubies come from Myanmar.

International outrage over the brutal crackdown by Myanmar’s ruling generals on pro-democracy rallies in September brought calls for tougher sanctions against the military regime, including a boycott on Myanmar gems and minerals.

Western nations led by the United States imposed tougher measures, but Russia, China and Myanmar’s Southeast Asian neighbors opposed sanctions as they competed for natural gas, timber and mineral resources.

Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council members, have resisted tough measures against the regime, which they support. They also supply arms to the junta.

A Myanmar military delegation visited Russia last October, two weeks after the junta crushed the protests, to discuss buying air-defense missile systems, the Russian media reported. In 2001, Russia sold 10 MiG-29 fighters to Myanmar.

Moscow and Beijing have also shown growing interest in energy cooperation with the regime, with companies from both countries receiving rights to explore for natural gas and oil.

In May last year, the Russian atomic energy agency, Rosatom, set international alarm bells ringing when it announced a deal to build a nuclear research center for Myanmar, which will include a 10 megawatt nuclear reactor with low enriched uranium.

There has been no official word on the deal from the junta, but Myanmar technicians are believed to be receiving training in Russia.

Banned ‘Rambo’ a hot commodity in Myanmar

2008-02-18T10:28:00.000-08:00

Abitsu/By vusi | February 18, 2008

(AFP) - Hla Hla Htay : YANGON (AFP) - Police in military-run Myanmar have banned DVD vendors from selling the new “Rambo” film about a Vietnam war veteran fighting the junta’s soldiers, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying to buy it.

“Many customers keep asking about ‘Rambo 4′ but I dare not to sell it. Police have warned me I could go to jail for up to seven years if I sell the latest Rambo film,” said one vendor, who declined to be named.

Another seller said at least 20 customers asked him each day whether he had a copy of “Rambo.”

“I don’t even know what kind of movie it is. I too want to see it but even among sellers it is very difficult to get copies,” he said.

Starring Sylvester Stallone, the blood-splattering follow-up to the classic 1980s film trilogy sees war veteran John Rambo fighting Myanmar forces to rescue captured Christian missionaries helping ethnic Karen villagers.

The film, which portrays Myanmar’s military as sadistic and depraved, opened recently in the United States and Singapore against a backdrop of the junta’s ongoing persecution of Karen minorities.

Just on Thursday, a top leader of Myanmar’s largest Karen rebel group was assassinated at his exile home in Thailand by two gunmen, fueling speculation among Myanmar exiles that Pado Manh Sha could have been killed by the junta.

In Yangon, the banned Rambo film has become one of the most sought-after DVDs, creating underground buzz among movie fans.

“Many people are talking about this movie, but I cannot buy it anywhere,” complained a 30-year-old business man, who declined to be identified. He said he also tried several times to download the film from the Internet.

“I have asked a DVD seller where I can buy the movie, but he told me I can buy anything — including banned porn videos from India, China, Japan and South Korea — but not ‘Rambo 4′,” he shrugged.

One 45-year-old pro-democracy activist was among a lucky few to watch it.

“I watched the movie at home with my family, and gave it to my friends because I wanted them to see it,” he said.

“I like the movie very much because Rambo fought against Myanmar soldiers,” said the activist, who declined to be named. He refused to say how he had obtained the copy.

In Myanmar, sales of pirated DVDs, mostly from neighbouring China, are illegal, but police rarely crack down on the thriving street business.

One DVD disc costs around 1,500 kyats (1.25 dollars) at roadside shops. South Korean soap operas and Hollywood blockbusters are among the most popular.

For 25-year-old university student Mu Mu, the latest Rambo holds no appeal — her choice is South Korean dramas.

“I am not interested in watching ‘Rambo.’ I am only interested in buying Korean drama series,” she said.

“Thanks to China, we can buy easily DVDs at a low price,” Mu Mu said.

Vendors said there were some Rambo copies smuggled from Singapore, but said the audio and video quality was not good. They advise eager Myanmar customers to wait for pirated DVDs from China.

“Once this movie hits China, I think there will be a way for us to see it with much better quality,” one vendor said.

Burma: Underground Artists Survive…Just

2008-02-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

The junta’s Orwellian paranoia maybe everywhere in Rangoon but the city still supports an independent, but wary, artistic community.

Below is an article published by Jacob Baynham of Newsweek:

In a simple studio tucked into the shadows of a wealthy Rangoon neighborhood, a leading member of Burma's underground political art movement lights a Red Ruby cigarette, smoke curling into the hollows of his cheeks. Thein Soe (not his real name) is 61 years old and probably weighs less than 100 pounds. The paintings spread across the studio walls, desk and floor could bring a prison sentence in this military dictatorship, where freedom of expression has not existed for 46 years, since the military took power in a coup. "It's very difficult to show our inner sense, our expression," says Soe. "There are many censors for art here."

Things took a turn for the worse in September [2007], when an uprising of monks and civilians was crushed by the military. Poets, bloggers and comedians have been targeted in the last few months for their political commentary. Arrests are more frequent. Despite the crackdown, Burma's underground political art movement is growing. In secret, artists buy and sell portraits of the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and share ideas and inspiration. Young artists are also joining the fold. For lack of traditional materials, several youths have turned to installation and performance art to speak their minds. One young man recently walked a busy street with a birdcage on his head before dropping it and fleeing. "We paint what we suffer and what we feel," says Soe, speaking for a group of a dozen or so master artists. "It's very dangerous for us."

Across town Rangoon's latest music sensation, emcee J-Me, also deals with daily censorship of his work. Spoon-deep in a bowl of pasta at a trendy café, J-Me is proof that Burma's xenophobic government is no match for the globalization of popular culture. Officially, U.S. sanctions prevent American exports to Burma, but hip-hop is difficult to stop at the borders. "It's a big thing for us," says J-Me, who is dressed in baggy shorts and a T-shirt, with a fake diamond bling watch and a crucifix around his neck. "It may not be a big thing for everyone outside, but we've created the Myanmar Hip-Hop Association. Not the sissy-ass songs that you dance to on TRL [a pop hits show on MTV], you know what I'm sayin'? The real Wu-Tang stuff."

Burmese hip-hop may be slightly old-school in style and struggling to define itself, but it's sweeping the nation nevertheless. Teashop stereos that were locked into '80s hair metal for two decades are now thumping a different beat. The rapping of J-Me and his friends is revolutionary in that unlike other musicians who sing in refined, polite Burmese, these emcees rap in the slang of the streets.

For the hip-hoppers, of course, political lyrics are out of the question. "Hip-hop just started here," says J-Me's fellow emcee Bigg-Y. "If we go and rap about politics, they'll stop us." Rapper G-Tone was arrested two months ago [December 2007] when he revealed a tattoo on his back that included images of folded palms and prayer beads. G-Tone insists the design was inspired by the Joker hip-hop clothing line, but the police thought it was a symbol for September [2007]'s monk-led Saffron Revolution. They let him go but banned him from performing for a year. Censors are paying particular attention to lyrics after September [2007]'s uprisings. "They watch my lyrics with a big magnifying glass," J-Me says.

The government mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar, ran an editorial in January [2008] denouncing the Western influences changing the face of Burma. It warned the youth to "stay away from decadent costumes, words incompatible with Myanmar [Burmese] custom, and behaviors that lack modesty." The booty girls in Burmese hip-hop videos, which are bought and sold in pirated copies on the streets of Rangoon, dance with their midriffs and miniskirts digitally blurred.

The U.S. Embassy in Rangoon has helped the artists' underground. In December [2007] the embassy sponsored an art exhibit that featured Burmese and American painters. Diplomats, local artists and members of the public came. (The same exhibit will be shown later this year in San Francisco, where it will feature politically themed paintings that would not be tolerated by the censorship board in Burma.) Although the scope of U.S. Embassy projects is limited inside Burma, the Embassy carries on cultural exchange programs that feature American art and music. "We have good relations with the people of this country," says the U.S. chargé d'affaires for Burma, Shari Villarosa. "We want to have a full, open relationship with this country."

Last winter [2007], Villarosa hosted a hip-hop show on the grounds of her private residence in Rangoon. The American hip-hop group Timeless Voices of America performed, as part of the State Department's Rhythm Road program, which sponsors American music abroad. J-Me and some of his friends rapped alongside. "Basically, we don't censor art in the United States," Villarosa says. "This is a means of communication for the artists with the people. They have something to say, and we're interested in what they have to say."

Even with government censors looking over their shoulders, Burma's artists have found ways of getting their message through. Some political art pieces are made in private and sent out of the country to be displayed in international galleries. Other pieces are just subtle enough to escape censorship. One artist recently made a clay sculpture of a lock and key—"the key that will be used to unlock Burma's future," he says. He plans to tell the censors it signifies men and women. But the consequences of being found out are serious. In January [2008] a poet was sent to jail for a hidden message in a love poem he printed in a Rangoon daily newspaper. The message read: "Gen. Than Shwe is crazy with power."

Every painting displayed in a gallery or shop in Burma must first pass the scrutiny of the ministry of information's censorship board. Any sign of discontent or disloyalty to the government, or an unseemly political message can shut down the gallery and land the artist in jail. Musicians have to explain their lyrics to the censorship board before they can record. Policemen attend concerts to make sure nothing unsavory slips out onstage. The censors' scrutiny is especially severe after September [2007]'s Saffron Revolution. Many artists, however, remained determined. "Artists have a responsibility to their people and country to express what happens," says one artist in Rangoon whose brother was jailed for 11 years and whose uncle died behind bars, both for their political poetry. "We are not angry; we are sad. All of these years have been wasted time."

*unpo.org

Burmese delegation attends military expo

2008-02-18T10:26:00.002-08:00

Mungpi
Mizzima News
February 18, 2008

Burma's military junta is seeking to expand military relations and negotiate future arms contracts at Asia's largest arms exhibition, DEFEXPO 2008, being held in New Delhi.

Sources say a Burmese delegation is reportedly attending seminars on new weapons technology and meeting prospective arms trading partners as well as negotiating future arms contracts.
Russian Company displaying weapons
at DEFEXPO 2008, in Pragati Maiden,
New Delhi, India

The DEFEXPO, February 16 to 19, is being attended by 475 companies from 45 countries cross the globe, each showcasing their defence products, according to the Indian Defence Exhibition Organization, the main sponsor of the fair.

While the size of the Burmese delegation is unconfirmed, Aung Myo Min, who did not want to reveal his position in the government, said he is leading the team with fellow delegate Aung Myint.

"More of our friends are joining us later, as of now only two of us have arrived," Aung Myo Min told Mizzima on Saturday.

The DEFEXPO's relations officer added, "Only two official delegates are registered with us but others will be joining as unofficial delegates to the fair."

While details of negotiations between the Burmese team and arms companies are unknown, the delegates are believed to be capitalizing on the opportunity to expand its trading partners and negotiate for the future supply of military hardware.

Amnesty International, which revealed India's secret supply of defence equipment to Burma's military junta in a report last year, said India, which claims to be supporting democratic reforms in Burma, should not give a platform to the junta to expand its contacts with military hardware producing companies.

"India should stop all relationships with Burma in regard to the supplying of arms and military hardware, including the participation of Burmese delegates at the DEFEXPO," says Mukul Sharma, director of Amnesty International in India.

Meanwhile Russia, one of Burma's closest allies, which reportedly supplies military hardware to the junta and has signed a contract to develop a nuclear reactor in Burma, said it will not rule out any possible negotiations with Burma.

"We will deal with anyone who is interested in our products," an executive at the Shmel showroom said.

The executive, though, declined to elaborate on any ongoing negotiations with the Burmese team.

The Shmel company, which produces a flame throwing rocket, is one of several Russian companies showcasing their products, under Rosoboron export State Corporation, Russian, at the fair.

However China, one of Burma's biggest arms suppliers, reportedly declined an invitation to the fair, which is conducted biennially.

UN Envoy: Myanmar in 'Critical Phase'

2008-02-18T10:26:00.001-08:00

BEIJING (AP) — A U.N. special envoy told Chinese diplomats Monday that the world community must prod Myanmar's ruling junta toward democratic reforms.

Ibrahim Gambari, on the first stop of a regional tour, said he told Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi that it is crucial that the international community moves quickly to lobby the generals to pledge changes.

"I believe we are now in a critical phase in terms of development in Myanmar, in terms of Myanmar's relations with neighboring countries, with ASEAN, with the international community," Gambari said.

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has called repeatedly on fellow member Myanmar to hold talks with opposition leaders, including detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Gambari's visit follows a rare street protest last week by Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, complaining that the junta's recent moves toward reform were not enough.

On Feb. 9, the government announced plans for a May referendum on a new constitution written under military guidance and general elections in 2010, the first specific dates for steps in an earlier-announced "roadmap to democracy."

The plans have been widely criticized for failing to include any input from Suu Kyi's party, which won general elections in 1990 but was not allowed by the military to take power.

In a statement Monday, the party said the junta's unilateral announcement could affect peace and stability and aggravate the country's "political, economic and social woes."

China is a key stop on Gambari's sweep through the region because Beijing is an important trading partner and arms provider for the generals who run the country.

China objects to Western criticisms of Myanmar's military regime, saying conditions in the country have improved dramatically since a violent crackdown on peaceful protests in September.

China has expressed little interest in seeing a democratically elected government take power on its southern flank and is reportedly seeking access to Myanmar's offshore natural gas deposits.

However, China has been credited with convincing Myanmar's generals to issue visas for Gambari to visit. While the junta has yet to approve another visit by the envoy, Wang said it was important that Gambari was visiting China ahead of any future follow-up trip to Myanmar.

Gambari also is to travel to Indonesia, Singapore and Japan.

Myanmar has been under international pressure to make democratic reforms, especially since its quashing of anti-government protests last September. The U.N. estimates at least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained in the crackdown.

Russian, Myanmar officials to meet on military co-op

2008-02-18T10:25:00.001-08:00

MOSCOW, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- A Russian military delegation will visit Myanmar on Monday to discuss further military cooperation, according to reports of Itar-Tass news agency.

"During the visit, the two sides will consider the status quo and prospect of their military cooperation," said Colonel Igor Konashenkov, the assistant to the Commander-in-Chief of Russian Land Forces.

The talks, in particular, will focus on the continuation of training of Myanmar's military cadres at educational institutions of Russia's Land Forces, he said.

The delegation, headed by Commander-in-Chief of Land Forces Lieutenant-General Valery Yevnevich, will stay in Myanmar until Feb. 23.

The delegation will take part in the festive events marking the60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Russia and Myanmar.

During its visit, the Russian delegation plans to meet with Myanmar's top military leaders, including the commanders-in-chief of Land Forces, the Air Force and the Navy, according to Konashenkov.

*xinhuanet.com

Myanmar arrests two journalists working for news magazine

2008-02-18T09:53:00.000-08:00

YANGON, Myanmar: Authorities have arrested two Myanmar journalists in the military-ruled country and the reason for their detention was not immediately known, their colleagues said Monday.

Police arrested Myanmar Nation magazine's editor in chief Thet Zin and manager Sein Win Maung at their office Friday, several colleagues said on condition of anonymity, citing fears of official reprisal.

The colleagues said police searched the magazine's office in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, before the arrests, but did not explain why the two journalists were taken away.

Myanmar Nation is a private weekly magazine with a very small circulation.

Aung Din, executive director of the Washington-based U.S. Campaign for Burma — an anti-junta lobbying group — said police found and confiscated the arrested men's mobile phones, a copy of a report on Myanmar by a senior U.N. Human Rights official, a book by an ethnic group leader on federalism and some video CDs containing images of a government crackdown on pro-democracy activists last September.

Troops last September crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks, killing dozens of demonstrators. They also raided monasteries and arrested thousands of people.

Several Myanmar journalists working for publications in Yangon were beaten up by police and soldiers while attempting to cover the demonstrations.

The regime said 10 people were killed during the crackdown, but human rights groups say the death toll was far higher. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a senior U.N. human rights official, said in a report at least 31 died in Yangon.

Police also confiscated poems by Sein Win Maung that were critical of the junta when they searched the magazine's office, Aung Din said, citing witnesses in Myanmar.

Ex-activist Thet Zin has heart and lung problems. He was arrested and tortured in 1988 for involvement in student pro-democracy protests at Rangoon University, and was occasionally detained and interrogated by officials throughout the 1990s, Aung Din said in an e-mail message.

He wrote poems and short stories for magazines under the pen name of Maung Zin and worked as a reporter and editor for several weekly journals before founding Myanmar Nation in 2006.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962 and has not had a constitution since the last one was scrapped in 1988, when the army violently suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations and the current junta took power.

*iht.com

Myanmar allows octogenarian prisoner a heart checkup

2008-02-17T03:13:00.000-08:00

( dpa )- Myanmar's ruling junta on Sunday allowed a heart specialist to make a house call on political prisoner Tin Oo, 81, who has been under detention in his Yangon home for almost four years, sources said.

Tin Oo, vice chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, requested a medical checkup shortly after authorities sentenced him to another year under house arrest starting February 13, political activists said.

On Sunday, Doctor San Lwin, a heart specialist, visited Tin Oo at his Yangon home. The diagnosis on Tin Oo's health was not announced.

Tin Oo, a former army officer once involved in a foiled coup against former military strongman Ne Win, is the second most powerful opposition figure in Myanmar, also known as Burma, after Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the NLD.

Both Suu Kyi and Tin Oo have been under house arrest since May, 2003, after they led an NLD tour of the Myanmar countryside that was ended by an attack on their convoy by army-backed thugs, who beat the two opposition leaders and killed several of their followers.

It is rumoured that Suu Kyi and Tin Oo will remain under house detention until a few months before the next general election, now scheduled for an unknown date in 2010. The NLD won the last general election of 1990 by a landslide.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, was under house arrest during the 1990 polls, which she was barred from contesting because of her status then as the wife of a foreigner, her late husband Michael Aris, a British Oxford professor.

*trendaz.com

Myanmar Leader sha assassinated by Professional

2008-02-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

Myanmar leader assassinated by Professional

Pado Manh Sha could have been killed by a Karen splinter group or assassins ordered by the military as reported in the media.Political analyst says,It could be KNU internal problems as the Christian KNU and Buddhist groups battles with splinter group called the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

KNU is in embattled with Myanmar"s rulers from last six decades in one of the world"s longest-running insurgencies.KNU is the largest rebel group battling Myanmar"s armed forces and one of the few remaining ethnic insurgencies yet to sign a peace deal with the junta.
KNU once controlled broad swaths of eastern Myanmar but presently is reduced mainly to small bases pressed against the Thai border.

Six decades of continuous war with military junta has destroyed eastern Myanmar, more than 500,000 people have been displaced by violence, according to reports by Human Rights.

In this eastern Thai border of Myanmar more than 150,000 Karen refugees live in camps along Thai"s border with Myanmar. Many of them have been there for more than 20 years.
he was also a critical link between the rebellion and the pro-democracy movement inside Myanmar.

KNU spokesman David Thaw said the group"s leadership would gather Friday in Mae Sot to make funeral preparations and try to unravel the mystery of his killing. “There"s a lot of confusion,"
“At the moment we think that it must be someone trying to create problems for the Karen, to create more disunity and divisions among each other," he said.

“It might be a professional killer, so someone might have hired this gunman. It is a very cold-blooded killer who can kill Pado Manh Sha at his house," he said.

“The gunshot was very accurate for someone to die instantly," he added.

Thai police said they were combing through Pado Manh Sha"s double-storey house to search for clues but admitted they were struggling to find a solid lead.

“We are investigating to look for more evidence," a senior provincial police officer said.

A Thai military officer in Mae Sot said on condition of anonymity that investigators believe the killing was likely committed by a Karen splinter group like the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

Most Karen are Christians, but the DKBA has broken away and aligned itself with Myanmar"s military, which has ruled the country since 1962.

*nksagar.indiainteracts.com

Amnesty Welcomes Rambo Film Focus on Burma

2008-02-16T13:28:00.001-08:00

The latest installment of the Rambo franchise hits Scottish cinema screens on February 22nd. In Rambo IV Sylvester Stallone takes on the Burmese military junta in an attempt to rescue human rights activists trapped near the Thai border.

With the internet and phone lines severely restricted, a true picture of what is really happening in Burma is hard to come by.

Amnesty International researchers have just returned from neighbouring Thailand and their initial findings make disturbing reading.

Burma came into the spotlight last September, when thousands of monks took to the streets to protest against the ruling regime. The response was brutal and the United Nations now believes at least 31 people were killed.

After being put under intensive political pressure, the military junta made promises back in November that they would fully cooperate with the United Nations and stop its politically-motivated arrests and trials.

However, Amnesty International is aware of at least 96 new arrests since then – all related to the demonstrations last autumn. A further 80 individuals remain unaccounted for.

At least 700 people arrested during and since the September protests remain behind bars, while 1,150 political prisoners held prior to the protests have not been released.

John Watson, Amnesty International’s Scottish Programme Director, said:

“Few will forget the courageous actions of the monks in September. People took to the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh in solidarity and when two Burmese activists visited the Scottish Parliament 56 MSPs turned out to meet them, including the First Minister. This film puts the spotlight firmly back onto Burma – and hopefully the international community will use this opportunity to raise the pressure once more on the military junta. While Amnesty welcomes the diplomatic efforts of some countries, now is not the time to ease up.

“In January, the United States, the UK and France jointly expressed their disappointment that none of the UN Security Council’s earlier demands had been met. They called for a fully-fledged fact-finding mission to Burma and Amnesty International supports such a mission.

“However, to be a success, the mission’s remit would have to go far beyond looking simply at last autumn’s crackdown. It should include the hundreds of other political prisoners, the numerous crimes against humanity and the other human rights abuses perpetrated against ethnic minorities in Burma.”

*allmediascotland.com

Ban Ki-moon Briefs Bush on Burma

2008-02-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

Abitsu/By vusi

Irrawaddy News - LALIT K JHA / UNITED NATIONS : The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefed US President George W Bush on Friday on the latest developments in Burma following the military government’s announcement of a constitutional referendum and general elections in the country.

UN diplomatic sources told The Irrawaddy that Burma was one of the topics discussed on Friday during the meeting of the two leaders at the White House in Washington.

“On Myanmar [Burma], the secretary-general briefed President Bush on the work of his special adviser, Ibrahim Gambari,” said Marie Okabe, a spokesperson for the secretary-general.

In brief remarks to reporters after the meeting, Bush said: “I appreciate your [Ban’s] tireless work to help solve some of the real humanitarian crises that we face, such as the crisis in Sudan, [and] the issues in Burma.”

In an October statement, the UN Security Council urged the military junta to release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, start a dialogue with pro-democracy groups and include opposition groups in the constitution drafting process. None of the criteria has been met by the military junta so far.

This was the first discussion between the two leaders since Burma announced last week its decision to hold a referendum in May and multi-party general elections in 2010.

Last week, the Bush Administration imposed additional sanctions on supporters of the military government in Burma.

More Leaders Targeted for Assassination

2008-02-16T13:16:00.001-08:00

Abitsu/ By vusi

Irrawaddy - Saw Yan Naing : Two more senior military leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU) are on Karen splinter groups’ hit lists, according to KNU sources.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone on Friday and Saturday, a KNU senior officer said that Gen Mu Tu, commander in chief of the KNU’s military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and Brig-Gen Jonny, commander of KNLA Brigade 7, were targets for assassination by both the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council.

The claims follow the assassination of Mahn Sha, general secretary of the KNU, on Thursday.

“Ever since Htain Maung defected, he has always planned to kill the KNU’s top leaders,” said a KNU source who works closely with the KNU leadership.

Maj-Gen Htain Maung led some 300 soldiers from Brigade 7 in defecting to the Burmese army in February 2007. His splinter group is now known as KNU/KNLA Peace Council.

Another KNU source said that speculation had been rife that Mahn Sha was assassinated by the DKBA, which who split from the rebel coalition in 1995.

Mahn Sha was secretary general of the KNU, an ethnic rebel group that has been fighting for independence since 1949.

The source said that two days ago before Mahn Sha’s assassination, a DKBA member named Soe Myint, also known as San Pyote, called a friend of hers who was living in the same house as Mahn Sha and asked for the address of his home. San Pyote said that he was interested in buying Mahn Sha’s car.

San Pyote belongs to the DKBA Battalion 999.

However, a DKBA source has denied the accusation.

He said, “It is not possible—the DKBA split from the KNU more than 10 years ago. After Mahn Sha was killed, even some of the DKBA’s leadership called me and asked me what happened.”

Mahn Sha had received phone threats before his assassination, said Blooming Night Zar, an acting contact person regarding the death of Mahn Sha.

She said, “On Karen Revolution Day, an unknown man phoned Mahn Sha and said to him, ‘I will come and shoot you!’”

KNU sources claim that prior to Thursday’s assassination, about 20 spies from the DKBA were assigned and deployed in the Mae Sot area for purposes of assassination. Sources believe the plot to kill Mahn Sha was well planned weeks in advance.

Assassinations among the KNU, the DKBA and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council have increased since the defection of Htain Maung’s faction.

After the assassinations of Lt-Col Kyi Linn, a commander of the KNLA, in August 2007, who met secretly with Lt-Col Min Chit Oo of the Burmese Southeast Military Affairs Security department, and Col Ler Moo, the son-in-law of Htain Maung, who was killed last month, Mahn Sha and Jonny were blamed for masterminding the plots and were targeted for assassination, a KNU source said.

Meanwhile, opposition groups in exile have accused the Burmese military regime of being responsible for Mahn Sha’s assassination.

In November 2007, San Pyote tried to kill Brig-Gen Jonny, a KNU official from Brigade 7.

“All this is enough to make the Burmese government very happy,” Brig-Gen Jonny told The Irrawaddy. “We Karen people should be unified. If we are divided, we will never achieve self-determination and the rights we demand.”

Russian company to explore gold in Myanmar

2008-02-16T13:15:00.001-08:00

ABITSU/ By vusi

IANS : Yangon, Feb 16 (Xinhua) A Russian company will conduct gold exploration in Myanmar’s northernmost Kachin state and northwestern Sagaing division with the cooperation of Myanmar’s mining authorities, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Saturday.

An agreement was signed Friday between the Victorious Glory International Pvt Ltd of the Russian Federation and the Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration Department of the Myanmar Ministry of Mines in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw.

The Russian company will undertake gold exploration along the Uru River between Phakant of the Kachin state and Homalin of the Sagaing division, the report said.

Myanmar has also been encouraging the country’s private sector to mine gold, allowing more such engagement by them at many prospective gold mining blocks across the country.

Till last year, 380 small blocks for gold mining had already been granted to private entrepreneurs, according to the state-run Myanmar Mining Enterprise (MME).

Besides the two divisions, small blocks in Kachin, Mon and Bago states and divisions are also under exploration.

As set by the state, private enterprises are allowed to conduct gold exploration activities on mining blocks under a lease term with the MME for at least three years, the sources said.

Official statistics show that foreign investment in Myanmar’s mining sector has amounted to about $534.19 million till 2007, since the country opened to such investment in late 1988.

Other foreign firms engaged in mineral exploration in Myanmar include those from Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the US.

Myanmar warns against more blasts

2008-02-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

ABITSU/ By vusi

IANS : Yangon, Feb 16 (Xinhua) Authorities in Myanmar have warned against more sabotage in the country in the wake of a series of bomb blasts early this year, reported the state-run New Light of Myanmar Saturday.

‘Internal and external destructive elements are scheming together to detonate bombs again in some important places and busy places in the nation and they are sending trained destructionists into the nation,’ said the newspaper, calling on people to expose the saboteurs and explosives.

The authorities have urged people to promptly provide information if they notice any suspicious activities of people.

There have been a number of bomb blasts in Myanmar since January this year, killing three people and wounding five.

The authorities accused insurgents of sending terrorists and explosives to the country across the border to carry out sabotage to undermine the stability of the state, community peace and prevalence of law and order, and killing innocent people and creating public panic in the country.

Since the government adopted a policy of national reconciliation in 1989, 17 main anti-government armed groups have made peace with the government under respective ceasefire agreements, except the largest anti-government ethnic armed group, Kayin National Union.

Karen leader's assassination a blow for Myanmar's democracy movement

2008-02-15T09:42:00.000-08:00

Bangkok - The assassination of a senior Karen rebel leader on the Thai-Myanmar border has dealt a severe blow not only to the Karen insurgency but also for the country's pro-democracy movement, observers said Friday.

Karen National Union (KNU) general secretary Mahn Sha was gunned down in his home in Mae Sot, Thailand, Thursday afternoon by unknown assailants.

'A black-coloured vehicle parked in front of his house at about 4:00 pm and one man came out with a bouquet of flowers,' said Blooming Night Zan, secretary for the Karen Women's Organization.

'He greeted Mahn Sha in Karen, saying 'good evening uncle,' and then shot him,' Zan told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa from Mae Sot, 380 kilometres north of Bangkok.

A second assassin from the car, which had a Thai licence plate, then shot Mahn Sha twice in the body, leaving him dead.

Thai police found the car parked near the Moei River, which defines the Thai-Myanmar border, but have yet to identify the assailants.

Karen sources suspect the gunmen were members of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a Karen splinter group that broke with the KNU in 1995 and is now allied with the Myanmar army.

The slaying of Mahn Sha was seen as a great blow for the KNU, an insurgency that has been fighting for the autonomy of the Karen State for the past six decades, and for Myanmar's pro-democracy movement.

'For the Burmese audience Mahn Sha was the second most popular Karen leader after Bo Mya,' said Win Min, a Thailand-based Myanmar scholar.

'His death is a loss for the Burmese pro-democracy movement as a whole, since Mahn Sha was one of the few Karen leaders who was accepted by the various groups within the movement, especially those acting in exile,' said Win Min.

But more specifically, his murder was another blow for the KNU.

Bo Mya, the military leader of the Karen National Liberation Army, died in December 24, 2006, from illness. His demise was a major blow for the insurgency and a source of further splits within the remaining forces,

In February 2007, the KNU's 7th Brigade split off from the main force and entered into peace negotations with Myanmar's junta.

The 7th Brigade is one faction of the more active forces within the KNU, which has been waging a guerrilla struggle against the central government for the independence of the Karen State since 1949.

There are an estimated 4,000 KNU troops still in the field against the junta.

The KNU is one of the last ethnic minority insurgencies that has refused to enter into a peace agreements with the ruling junta, which has monopolized politcal power in the country since 1962.

Mahn Sha's murder has at least highlighted the plight of the Karen, whose struggle has often been overlooked by the international community, Win Min noted.

In Washington DC, US Congressman Joe Pitts, in a statement on Mahn Sha's death, said the assassination should draw world attention to the ongoing persecution of the Karen and other ethnic minorities by the Myanmar regime.

'For too long, the plight of the people of Burma has either been ignored or discussed ad nauseam with little or no action on behalf of the people,' said Pitts.

'With over 1.5 million internally displaced persons and refugees as a result of the brutal attacks by the dictatorship's army, it is time for change. The international community must ensure that what happened to Mahn Sha does not happen to any other ethnic, democracy, or religious leader in Burma,' he added.

Myanmar's junta has been carrying out a large-scale offensive against the KNU for the past two years, forcing about 30,000 Karens to flee their homes and seek shelter in camps for 'displaced persons' along the Thai border, while thousands of others continue to lead a precarious existence in their homeland.

*monstersandcritics.com

Slain Myanmar rebel predicted rising tensions

2008-02-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

By Ed Cropley

BANGKOK, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Only three days before he was shot dead in his home on the Thai border, a top Myanmar rebel leader predicted heightened tension with the ruling military junta in the run-up to a May constitutional referendum.

In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Karen National Union (KNU) secretary general Mahn Sha Lar Phan said the junta's plan to push through its army-drafted charter would meet opposition not just from the former Burma's many rebel groups.

"They will face many difficulties with this referendum, because people know this referendum will make them slaves," the soft-spoken 64-year-old history graduate said, sitting in the same wooden seat where he would be shot dead three days later.

Dissident groups are already campaigning for a "no" vote, saying the as yet unfinished charter is an attempt by the junta to legitimise its grip on power after 46 years of military rule.

Even though Mahn Sha's assassination could be the result of an internecine vendetta, the predominantly Christian KNU leadership was quick to accuse Yangon's military regime of orchestrating the hit via a loyal Buddhist Karen splinter group.

"This is the work of the DKBA and the Burmese soldiers," his son Hse Hse said, referring to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

According to Mahn Sha's neighbour, the two gunmen spoke Karen.

The Karen, an ethnic minority of about 7 million people, have been fighting for independence since 1949, one of the world's longest-running guerrilla conflicts. They are one of only three rebel militias not to have signed a ceasefire with the junta.

There had been no contact between the KNU leadership, based on the Thai border, and Myanmar's generals for a year, Mahn Sha said, adding that there appeared to be little immediate prospect of peace. His death makes the chances even more remote.

"If the regime declared a nationwide ceasefire, there would be no need to fight," he said. "But now, we need to protect our people and to protect ourselves."

Having graduated from Rangoon University in 1966 with a degree in history, Mahn Sha threw himself into the Karen liberation movement, rising to became its secretary-general in 2000.

"His determination for freedom and democracy lives on within us and within the Karen people," his four children said in a statement issued by the Burma Campaign UK, an activist group.

"He did not live to see freedom for our people, but his dream will be fulfilled. The Karen, and all the people of Burma, will be free".

Myanmar has been under military rule of one form or another since 1962, during which time it has been riven by dozens of ethnic guerrilla wars, funded in large part by revenues from opium sales from the notorious "Golden Triangle". (Editing by Darren Schuettler and Alex Richardson)

Police and army personnel inspect the body of a suspected militant after an encounter in Thailand's southern province of Pattani February 12, 2008. One suspected Islamic militant was killed in the incident, police said.

REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom (THAILAND)

Myanmar gains in leader's death

2008-02-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

By Brian McCartan

CHIANG MAI - The killing of Mahn Sha La Pan, the 64-year-old general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU) rebel group, represents a substantial loss to the movement - which at 58 years running represents the longest armed struggle for independence anywhere in the world - and promises to undermine the wider ethnic and democracy struggle in Myanmar for years to come.

Mahn Sha was killed on Thursday in an assassination in the Thai-Myanmar border town of Mae Sot. Although sources vary about the details, it appears he was killed by two men who entered his house at about 4:30pm. The assassins went upstairs where Mahn Sha was resting on his balcony, greeted him, then shot him one time each with 9mm pistols.

Independent accounts say he was shot once by one assailant

and then shot again while on the ground by the second. The two men then fled the house and got into a waiting pickup truck which a third man drove off at speed.

Neither the KNU-breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army. nor the Myanmar junta's military intelligence service can be ruled out as possible culprits. However, KNU insiders believe Mahn Sha's assassination was most likely carried out as a revenge killing by members of the KNU/KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) Peace Council, an armed splinter group loyal to former KNLA 7th Brigade commander General Htain Maung, which broke away from the KNU in January 2007.

Statements from the Peace Council often vilified Mahn Sha and blamed him for many of the verbal and military attacks later launched against them. One of the leaders of the group, Saw Ler Mu, the son-in-law of leader General Htain Maung, was killed on January 29 when a bomb was placed under the hut in which he was sleeping. It was widely estimated, though never proven with corroborating evidence, at the time to have been carried out by the KNU.

Another member of the Peace Council, spokesman Maung Kyaw, has been missing for several days and thought by many to have also been killed by the KNU. Sadly, the one person who could have served as a unifying agent for both the Karen and the political opposition was likely assassinated by his own people in the cause of furthering disunity.

Mahn Sha first joined the KNU in 1966 and his subsequent duties within the KNU took him to the insurgent areas of the Shan, Karenni and Kachin, which gave him a broader appreciation for the struggles of the other ethnic groups than many of his Karen leadership peers.

Following a visit to the headquarters of the Burmese Communist Party in 1986 and the conclusion of an agreement to establish a joint military alliance with the communists, Mahn Sha was demoted to private and sent to the frontlines by an angry General Bo Mya, then the leader of the Karen and then a staunch rightwing anti-communist.

Mahn Sha, however, proved his worth and rose quickly back up through the ranks to become Bo Mya's personal secretary in 1988. At the KNU's 12th Congress in 2000 he was elected general secretary, the number three position in the KNU. He was reelected to the position in the 2004 Congress and also was a member of the secretariat of the National Council of the Union of Burma, a political umbrella organization of ethnic political organizations and the democracy movement.

This respect and sympathy for other ethnic groups and his willingness to work with the democratic opposition made him a unifying figure in Myanmar opposition politics. In a milieu where many ethnic minority and Burman-majority leaders are often more interested in gaining advantage for their own nationalist or political causes - sometimes to the point of racism - Mahn Sha made strenuous efforts to build consensus. During the funeral for his wife several years ago in Mae Sot, representatives from many of the other ethnic insurgent organizations and political opposition came to pay their respects.

Leadership vacuum
Although officially number three in the KNU, serving behind both president Saw Ba Thin Sein and vice president Saw Tamala Baw, the president's ill health and the vice president's advanced age had in recent years left Mahn Sha in real terms holding the reigns of power. He was definitely the public face of the KNU, being the most frequently sought after official for press interviews.

The KNU now faces the difficult task of filling his leadership shoes, just over one year since the December 2006 death of former charismatic KNU leader Bo Mya. Although there are other capable leaders in the organization, the complex nature of Karen politics means that before a new general secretary can be chosen there must be some form of consensus. This will be difficult to achieve in an organization where clique politics plays an important role and the Cold War-era ideological struggle between communists and non-communists still plays a role in internal Karen politics.

Mahn Sha was also a Buddhist and an ethnic Pwo Karen in an organization which since its creation has been overwhelmingly controlled by Christians and Sgaw Karen. The majority of Karen are Buddhists, although the large percentage of Christian leaders within the organization has lead to the movement being erroneously represented as a Christian group. Simmering anger over the perceived privileged positions of Christian leaders and their families resulted in a serious split in 1994 and the formation of the DKBA.

Sources in Mae Sot close to the Karen say that Mahn Sha was one figure who could unite Buddhists and Christians, communists and non-communists, Pwo Karens and Skaw Karens, and maintain peace between the different power cliques. For consensus on policy and important decisions to be reached within the KNU, all sides have to be balanced and Mahn Sha was uniquely qualified as a mediator.

He was however unable to stop the 7th Brigade's commander and some of his soldiers splitting from the KNU over issues surrounding whether to maintain the ceasefire with the junta. The split was largely contained and very few joined the new group, but the damage to the KNU's reputation had already been done.

Further splits within the KNU, even if they are internal ideological ones, are not something the rebel group can afford if it hopes to continue to fend off the Myanmar army and engage the junta in future negotiations. Some analysts believe that Mahn Sha's death will serve to embolden the ruling State Peace and Development Council's attempts to further divide and rule the KNU.

While it is unlikely that Mahn Sha was killed on the direct orders of the military regime, it is certainly to their benefit. He was known to be a tough negotiator and the junta expressly requested that he not be included in the ceasefire negotiations of 2003-2004. It was felt by those close to the Karen struggle that this was because Mahn Sha could not be enticed by promises of personal enrichment or the lure of economic concessions - a tactic that several other ceasefire ethnic groups in Myanmar have been frequently accused of succumbing to.

The Myanmar Army's renewed offensive in early 2006 in the northern Karen State and eastern Pegu Division is two years later slowly eroding the last remaining areas under Karen control. The army's scorched earth tactics are also causing serious hardships for the civilian population of the region. Mahn Sha was never in support of the ceasefire agreed between the KNU and the junta and which many now believe was simply a diversionary tactic by the Myanmar military to prepare its frontlines for the offensive.

Mahn Sha's support for continued military resistance to the junta until the military regime is willing to hold an honest political discussion with the KNU made him unpopular with some who felt that the Karen should have peace. Mahn Sha's stance, however, was seemingly vindicated with the army's renewed military activity against KNU strongholds.

The Karen are also suffering from something of a crisis of resolve with many seeking to emigrate as refugees, including members of the KNU and KNLA and large numbers of young people. Mahn Sha was a leader that the younger generation of Karen could look up to and his death may further diminish hopes for a people already in crisis.

More than most ethnic or democratic opposition leaders, Mahn Sha was willing to put aside his nationalism and try to form united fronts. While this cost him support in some Karen circles, due to feelings that he may have been appeasing other groups at the cost of Karen issues, it made him invaluable for uniting ethnic opposition to the military regime.

At this January's Karen new year celebrations, Mahn Sha stated, "The KNU will also cooperate with opposition groups inside and outside the country in matters relating to change in Burma [Myanmar] and increasing the progress of the democracy movement."

Cooperation is something the opposition is going to need to counter the junta's new plans for a referendum on its new constitution and follow-on elections. Unity, however, is something the ethnic and democracy struggle in Myanmar has historically lacked, making the loss of a leader who inspired people across ethnic and political divides that more tragic.

*atimes.com

Myanmar rebel leader killed by ‘hitman’

2008-02-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK: A top leader of Myanmar’s rebel Karen National Union was likely killed by a professional hitman hired by a rival group, a KNU spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman said the rival group probably ordered the assassination of Pado Manh Sha to sow divisions in the already weakened rebellion that has been battling Myanmar’s rulers for nearly six decades.

Two gunmen shot dead Pado Manh Sha, the KNU’s secretary-general based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, at his home on Thursday, according to Thai police.

One of the most prominent figures in the KNU, he was also a critical link between the rebellion and the pro-democracy movement inside Myanmar.

KNU spokesman David Thaw said the group’s leadership would gather Friday in Mae Sot to make funeral preparations and try to unravel the mystery of his killing.

“There’s a lot of confusion,” he told Agence France-Presse by telephone. “At the moment we think that it must be someone trying to create problems for the Karen, to create more disunity and divisions among each other,” he said.

“It might be a professional killer, so someone might have hired this gunman. It is a very cold-blooded killer who can kill Pado Manh Sha at his house,” he said. “The gunshot was very accurate for someone to die instantly.”

Thai police said they were combing through Pado Manh Sha’s double-story house to search for clues but admitted they were struggling to find a solid lead.

“We are investigating to look for more evidence,” a senior provincial police officer said.

A Thai military officer in Mae Sot who asked not to be named said that investigators believe the killing was likely committed by a Karen splinter group like the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

Most Karen are Christians, but the DKBA has broken away and aligned itself with Myanmar’s junta, which has ruled the country since 1962.

The KNU is the largest rebel group fighting Myanmar’s armed forces and one of the few remaining ethnic insurgencies yet to sign a peace deal with the junta. The group once controlled broad swaths of eastern Myanmar but now is reduced mainly to a string of bases pressed against the Thai border.

Myanmar began a bloody offensive against the Karen two years ago, which activists say has targeted ordinary villagers rather than rebels. Decades of fighting have devastated eastern Myanmar, where 500,000 people have been displaced by violence, according to Human Rights Watch.

*manilatimes

Karen Rebels Vow to Continue Fighting Against Burma Junta

2008-02-15T09:32:00.001-08:00

CHIRAVUT RUNGJAMRATRASAMI / AP WRITER / MAE SOT : The Karen National Union (KNU), a leading ethnic rebel group in Burma, named a new leader following the mysterious murder of its chief and vowed Friday to continue its decades-long struggle against the country’s military junta.

KNU General Secretary Mahn Sha was shot by two gunmen Thursday at his home in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, according to Thai police.

“We lost one of our leaders but nothing will affect our movement,” said Ba Thin Sein, president of the KNU, who blamed the killing on troops loyal to the junta. “The struggle for our cause will continue.”

Thai police who investigated the shooting said the murder may have been the result of internal differences in the rebel group.

The KNU’s No. 2 official, Htoo Htoo Lay, 61, automatically became the group’s new leader, according to the KNU’s constitution, Ba Thin Sein said.

The killing came less than a week after Burma’s military government announced plans for a referendum on a new constitution in May, to be followed by a general election in 2010. The plans have been denounced by the KNU and other opponents of the regime as a sham devised to perpetuate military rule.

The KNU is one of more than a dozen armed ethnic groups who for decades have sought greater autonomy from Burma’s central government.

Since 1988, many other groups have signed formal ceasefires with the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), but the KNU has not reached a formal agreement to lay down their arms.

The KNU, which has been fighting for more than five decades, once had a powerful guerrilla force in Burma’s eastern border region. But Burma army offensives, coupled with divisions within the organization, have reduced the group’s military presence over the past decade.

Burma’s military continues to carry out sweeping counterinsurgency operations in Karen areas along the border with Thailand, displacing thousands of civilians, many of whom join some 100,000 of their countrymen in refugee camps in Thailand.

Mahn Sha, 64, took over leadership of the KNU in 2000 from his ailing predecessor, Bo Mya, who died in 2006. He had been with the KNU since 1963, becoming joint general secretary in 1995 before taking the top post.

Mahn Sha’s funeral was expected to take place over the weekend at a location in Burma being kept secret due to security concerns, Ba Thin Sein said.

*abitsu

Latest information on Padoh Mahn Sha assassination

2008-02-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan, 64,a leader of the Karen National Union, one of the biggest ethnic groups fighting Myanmar’s military government, was killed by gunmen on 14.02.2008 at his home in Maesot, Thailand, police said.

KNU General Secretary Mahn Sha was shot at his home in Mae Sot by three men who arrived in a pickup truck, Thai police Col. Pasawat Tangjui said. He said the killing may have been the result of internal differences in the rebel group.

Mahn Sha’s son Hse Hse, another senior member of the predominantly Christian Karen rebel movement, blamed a Buddhist Karen splinter group which brokered a truce with the Myanmar junta in the mid-1990s. “This is the work of the DKBA and the Burmese soldiers,” Hse Hse said, referring to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

Mahn Sha, 64, took over leadership of the KNU in 2000 from his ailing predecessor, Bo Mya, who died in 2006. He had been with the KNU since 1963, becoming Bo Mya’s personal assistant and joint general secretary in 1995 before taking the top post.

His neighbor Kim Suay told Reuters at the scene that Mahn Sha Lar Phan, secretary-general of the Karen National Union (KNU), died instantly after beong shot at his two-storey wooden home by two men who arrived in a pickup truck. “One of them walked up to the house and said in Karen ‘How are you, uncle?’ Then the other man joined him after parking the truck and they both shot him with two pistols,” she said, her voice shaking with emotion.

The assassination was immediately blamed on troops loyal to the former Burma’s military junta. The Karen have been fighting for independence in the hills of eastern Myanmar(Burma) for the last 60 years, one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies.

Thai police said they had the registration number of the truck of the assassins and were setting up roadblocks around Mae Sot, a “wild west” frontier town of refugees, illegal migrants and gem dealers, to try to catch the two killers.

*burmadigest

Karen Myanmar leader assassinated by Junta

2008-02-14T12:57:00.002-08:00

A leader of Myanmar's biggest ethnic armed groups has been killed at his home in Mae Sot, a border town in neighbouring Thailand.

Mahn Sha Lar Phan, secretary-general of the Karen National Union (KNU), was reported shot dead at about 4:30pm on Thursday at his two-storey wooden home by two men who had arrived in a pickup truck.

Kim Suay, his wife, told Reuters news agency: "One of them walked up to the house and said in Karen 'How are you, uncle?' Then the other man joined him after parking the truck and they both shot him with two pistols."

The killing was immediately blamed on Myanmar's military government.

In an interview on Monday, the Karen leader had predicted a possible increase in violence ahead of a constitutional referendum in Myanmar in May.

Karen divisions

However, the KNU and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), are riven by internal feuds and lethal vendettas.

His son Hse Hse, another senior member of the predominantly Christian Karen rebel movement, blamed a Buddhist Karen splinter group which brokered a truce with the Myanmar government in the mid-1990s.

"This is the work of the DKBA and the Burmese soldiers," Hse Hse said, referring to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

Thai police said they had the registration number of the truck and were setting up roadblocks around Mae Sot - a frontier town of refugees, illegal migrants and gem dealers - to try to catch the two killers.

The Karen have been fighting for independence in the hills of eastern Myanmar for the past 60 years.

The group once controlled areas of eastern Myanmar, but now is reduced mainly to a string of bases pressed against the Thai border.

Border conflict

Myanmar began a bloody offensive against the Karen two years ago, which activists say has targeted ordinary villagers rather than separatists.

Decades of fighting have devastated eastern Myanmar, where 500,000 people have been displaced by violence, according to Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights group.

Up to 150,000 Karen refugees also live in camps along Thailand's border with Myanmar. Many of them have been there for more than 20 years.

Rape, forced labour, summary executions and land grabs remain widespread, while the military also forced villagers to act as human minesweepers, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report last month.

*aljazeera

Proposed referendum a hoax: Altsean

2008-02-14T12:57:00.001-08:00

Mizzima News
February 14, 2008

A Bangkok-based pro-human rights and democracy group is the latest body to strip the junta's proposed referendum of any claim to legitimacy.

The Alternative ASEAN Network (Altsean) on Burma issued their opinion today in a media release, referring to the referendum as a "last-ditch attempt to stave off growing domestic and international pressure for genuine democratic reforms."

A true referendum, representing the desire of the people, cannot be held in an oppressive atmosphere of continuing rights violations, believes Altsean.

"The international community should not be conned into giving the regime
another two years to cause more suffering. The regime is notorious for its history of empty promises," says Debbie Stothard, Coordinator for Altsean-Burma.

"Anyone who believes the referendum will be free and fair probably believes in the tooth fairy," added Stothard.

The regime has announced that they plan to hold a constitutional referendum in May of this year, followed by a general election in 2010.

Junta extends arrest of opposition leader

2008-02-14T12:56:00.002-08:00

Mizzima News
February 14, 2008

Burma's military rulers on Wednesday extended the house arrest of the Vice-Chairman of the National League for Democracy, Burma's main opposition party.

Sources close to the Ministry of Home Affairs said junta officials went to the residence of Tin Oo on Wednesday and read out an order extending his house arrest for another year.

Retired Commander-in-Chief General Thura Tin Oo was placed under house arrest after being attacked by a junta-backed mob in Depayin on May 30, 2003, while accompanying party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on a political tour in upper Burma.

Nine Burmese journalists remain behind bars

2008-02-14T12:56:00.001-08:00

Mizzima News
February 14, 2008

Imploring Western governments and international rganizations to increase their support for freedom of the press, a rights group says nine Burmese journalists remain incarcerated.

"The spinelessness of some Western countries and major international bodies is harming press freedom," are the strong words of Reporters Without Borders Secretary-General Robert Menard.

Reporters Without Borders yesterday released its 2008 Annual Report, in which systematic abuses of freedom of the press inside Burma are chronicled.

According to the group, the working conditions for journalists in Burma significantly deteriorated from mid-August of last year, when the first protests materialized in response to unannounced energy price hikes.

The report notes that 15 journalists were arrested as a result of covering the protests, while Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai was killed and other foreign correspondents closely monitored.

Raising the cost of a satellite license from five to 800 dollars, pulling the plug on the Internet and restricting the sale of foreign periodicals in the days and months following the protests are all listed in the year's summary as examples of infringements against media rights.

Additionally, Reporters Without Borders is concerned as to restrictions on mobile phones, used during the protests and subsequent crackdown to take pictures and video.

Nine journalists are listed as remaining in detention, including the 77-year old Win Tin, who has languished in a cell since 1989.

Others still behind bars include Ko Aung Gyi, former editorial head of 90 minutes, along with Ko Win Maw and Ko Aung Aung, all of whom are being held on suspicion of distributing pictures and information to international media sources during the 2007 uprising.

Burma Dangerous for Journalists

2008-02-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

Reporter Without Borders, a French-based media watchdog, has listed Burma as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists following the killing of a Japanese reporter and the detention of about 15 Burmese journalists during the military crackdown on peaceful demonstrations last year.

The media watchdog listed several other Asian counties, including China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan as dangerous zones for members of the press. Iraq was ranked the most dangerous country in the world with 47 journalists killed in 2007.

According to the annual report by Reporters San Frontières (Reporters Without Borders) released on Wednesday, since the beginning of 2008, eight Burmese journalists were detained in prison, including Aung Gyi, the former editor of a sports magazine who is suspected of giving an interview to the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB).

RSF also noted that citizen “media contributors,” Win Maw and Aung Aung are also currently being held in prison.

During the nationwide monk-led protests in Burma last year, Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai was gunned down in the street in Rangoon. Foreigners entering the country on tourist visas during that time were closely watched under suspicion of being journalists.

Despite the fact that Burmese military authorities censored the publication of news concerning the military crackdown, many journalists covered the demonstrations and sent photos, news footage and reports through agencies in other countries. The authorities usually cut the telephone lines of known journalists to prevent them relaying messages and reports.

Since the September 2007 crackdown, 15 Burmese journalists have been arrested, including: Win Ko Ko Latt, a reporter from Weekly Eleven journal; Nay Linn Aung from 7-Days journal; and cameraman Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, all of whom were imprisoned in Rangoon. Thu Ya Soe, a reporter for European news agency EPA, had to go into hiding after taking photos of a demonstration.

If the security forces are unable to find the people they seek, the authorities often arrest and detain their families instead.

The Burmese military regime has long been infamous for suppressing press freedom. The country’s most renowned journalist, Win Tin, who is now in his late 70s, has served 18 of a 20-year prison sentence.

*irrawaddy

Top Burmese Rebel Leader Killed

2008-02-14T10:26:00.001-08:00

A Burmese rebel leader who was an outspoken critic of the country's military government has been shot and killed at his home near the Thai-Burmese border.

A reporter for VOA Burmese Service says Karen National Union secretary-general Pado Mahn Sha Lap Han was killed Thursday in the Thai town of Mae Sot.

Two unidentified men carried out the apparent assassination. No one has claimed responsibility.

Pado Mahn Sha Lap Han was also a top leader of the National Council of the Union of Burma, a Thai-based group which opposes military rule in Burma.

The Karen National Union has been fighting for autonomy in eastern Burma for decades. It is the only major ethnic rebel group to not sign a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government.

The predominantly Christian KNU frequently clashes with its splinter group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which has links to the Burmese military.

The DKBA reached a peace agreement with Burma's military-led government in the mid-1990s.

*VOA

Cartoon: Than Shwe funeral

2008-02-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

Tribute to U Khun Htun Oo, Shan NLD Leader in Burmese Jail

2008-02-13T10:26:00.001-08:00

U Khun Htun Oo

Khun Htun Oo, Chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, is currently serving a 93 year prison sentence in remote Puta-O prison in northern Kachin State … Nothing is more revealing about the situation of human rights in a country than the existence of political prisoners.

He was sentenced to 93 years Jail term because he dared to disagree with Military Junta of Burma. Latest news said he was suffering from hypertension and diabetes with coronary artery disease.

Putao is a small town in Northern tip of Burma’s Kachin State with extreme weather condition.

This Blogger used to read and listen to U Khun Htun Oo’s comments and interviews relating to Burmese Politics before he was arrested. He was a very intelligent man with the vision of democratic Burma.

From this small insignificant blog, this blogger would like to pay a tribute to U Khun Htun Oo for his courage . He is among the unsung heroes of Burma who has attained the status of “Freedom from Fear.”

This blogger wish for the best of his health, while keep on thinking of a 62 years old gentleman who may be lying frozen in a small dark room of Putao Jail.

Sit Mone

Than Shwe of Burma said, there will be regular elections in future Burma?

2008-02-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

Burmese Senior General Than Shwe has accused western nations, trying to derailing the road to Modern, Disciplined, Democratic Burma in his Union Day Speech.

According to AFP News, Than Shwe was unable to attend the Union Day Ceremony in the remote Jungle Capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

Following is the excerpt of his speech read out by a Senior Junta Official

“They are imposing sanctions against the nation to create a large-scale disruption to national progress,”

The regime’s foes are “driving a wedge among national races, misleading the people, and aiding and abetting anti-government groups to weaken and break up the union,” it said.

Than Shwe’s statement also said that the people of Myanmar were

“pursuing the state’s seven-step road map with a solemn determination in harness with the government for a transition to a modern, developed democratic nation with flourishing discipline.”

However, Mr Creator, who has created so many popular enhanced graphics of Senior General Than Shwe, viewed his speech like this…

*burmasitmone

Activists flee Myanmar crackdown to Thailand

2008-02-13T10:16:00.001-08:00

By Ed Cropley

MAE SOT, Thailand (Reuters) - Defying international calls to relent, Myanmar's junta is still hunting down activists involved in September's monk-led protests, causing scores to flee to Thailand, fugitives and aid workers said on Wednesday.

"They will not stop," said one 36-year-old former political prisoner who arrived in the Thai border town of Mae Sot on January 1 after three months in hiding in Yangon, the old capital and hub of the pro-democracy demonstrations.

His account of a dramatic escape to Thailand exposes as a lie the junta's assurances to United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari in November that it had stopped its arrests.

As Gambari was passing on the generals' promises to the U.N. Security Council, police were holding the man's mother for a week to force her to reveal the names, addresses and phone numbers of her son's friends and relatives, he said.

"Gambari may tell them to stop arresting people but they just carry on," he told Reuters in an interview. He asked not to be named as his wife and children remain in Yangon. She has to report to the authorities every week, he said.

Having been imprisoned twice two decades ago for taking part in a failed 1988 uprising, the activist knew he would be a target of the junta's crackdown last September, and decided to go to ground immediately.

"I stayed in friends' houses -- a new house each week -- but the authorities got to know all the houses," he said. "On December 25, I decided I had to flee. If I had been arrested, I would have been sent to prison for a long time."

Knowing he was on a wanted list, he evaded military checkpoints on the road to Thailand by hiding in a truck beneath crates of fresh crabs. The driver bribed soldiers not to search the vehicle, saying any delay would ruin the meat, he said.

"LIKE A DEATH SENTENCE"

Even though the crackdown started more than four months ago, a steady trickle of fugitive men, women, children and Buddhist monks are turning up in Mae Sot as their bolt-holes are slowly uncovered.

"Some people left immediately but some went into hiding and are only coming out now," said Nay Tin Myint, a senior member of the 1988 student-led uprising who spent 15 years in prison -- seven in solitary confinement -- before fleeing in May 2007.

Along with an exiled branch of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, he said he was helping 83 people, including 22 monks, who had fled since September.

"We have new-comers all the time," he said.

A worker at another refugee agency in Mae Sot, who asked not to be named, said four times as many fugitives were now crossing the Thai border compared to before the crackdown.

With Bangkok refusing to allow the United Nations refugee agency to start the asylum process for new arrivals, all those who make it across the border live in constant fear of arrest and deportation as illegal migrants.

"It would be like a death sentence for me," Nay Tin Myint said. "They have accused me of being a terrorist. I would be sent to prison for a very, very long time."

(Editing by Darren Schuettler)

UN: Security Council should act against child recruiters

2008-02-13T10:10:00.001-08:00

Harsher Measures Needed to Discourage the Use of Child Soldiers in Armed Conflict

(New York, February 12, 2008) – The UN Security Council should impose sanctions against government and rebel forces that persist in using child soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today. The Security Council is holding an open debate today on children and armed conflict.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has identified 58 governments and armed groups that recruit and use child soldiers in violation of international law. Of these, 14 parties to armed conflict are repeat violators that have been named in five consecutive reports from the secretary-general between 2002 and 2008. These forces include the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the FARC and ELN guerrillas in Colombia, the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, and the government forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar.

'Both government and rebel forces have recruited and used child soldiers year after year in defiance of both international law and repeated appeals from the Security Council,' said Jo Becker, children's rights advocate for Human Rights Watch. 'The Security Council must show that it's serious about holding these forces accountable for their exploitation of children.'

In resolutions adopted in 2004 and 2005, the Security Council stated it would consider targeted measures, including arms embargoes, against parties to armed conflict that refused to end their use of child soldiers.

Nevertheless, the Security Council has imposed sanctions against only one individual for the use of child soldiers. In February 2006, its sanctions committee for Cote d'Ivoire imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on a former commander from Cote d'Ivoire, Martin Koukakou Fofie. The remaining violators remain untouched by the Security Council.

'The Security Council can't afford to keep making empty threats,' said Becker. 'Military commanders must know that if they continue recruiting children into their ranks, they will face sanctions or an arms embargo.'

The secretary-general's most recent report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict was issued publicly on January 29. It lists 58 parties to armed conflict in 13 countries that are in violation of international standards prohibiting the use of children in armed conflict. Of the 58 parties, the 14 that have been listed in each of the secretary-general's reports since 2002 are: Parti de libération du peuple hutu (Palipehutu)-Forces nationales pour la libération (FNL) (Burundi); Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) and Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) (Colombia); Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC), Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR), Front des nationalistes et integrationalistes (FNI), and the Mai Mai (Democratic Republic of Congo); the Myanmar national army (Tatmadaw Kyi) (Burma/Myanmar); Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (Nepal); Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and New People's Army (NPA) (Philippines); the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) (Sri Lanka); Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) (Sudan); and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) (Uganda).

*reliefweb

Myanmar authorities extend detention of deputy opposition leader

2008-02-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

YANGON (AP) - Myanmar's military government on Wednesday extended by another year the house arrest of the deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's party, despite calls by the democracy leader's party and the international community for his release.

The National League for Democracy party called the extension of Tin Oo's detention "meaningless and unjust."

The order came just four days after the ruling junta announced it would hold a constitutional referendum in May and a general election in 2010.

The junta's announcement was the first time it had set dates for applying its so-called roadmap for democracy, a process from which the country's pro-democracy movement has so far been excluded.

*philstar

Perino: Myanmar's words, deeds don't match

2008-02-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The administration of U.S. President George Bush Monday added its name to the list of skeptics expressing doubt about the planned general election in Myanmar.

"Than Shew's regime continues to arrest, prosecute and imprison peaceful political activists," a U.S. State Department statement said. "No referendum held under these conditions ... can be free, fair or credible."

The military government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, recently announced plans to conduct general elections in 2010 and work toward a new constitution beginning in May.

"The Burmese junta's announcement that it will hold a referendum on a new constitution in May demonstrates its lack of seriousness about an open and fair process for the restoration of democracy," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said during a media briefing.

Perino said the constitution's drafting process neither incorporated opposition views nor allowed enough time for adequate debate. Also, the constitution "has not yet been shared with the Burmese public," she said.

The move toward a democratic government in Myanmar follows more than four decades of military rule.

*upi.com

Dissidents line up to fight Myanmar constitution referendum

2008-02-12T08:49:00.000-08:00

By Ed Cropley, Reuters

MAE SOT, Thailand -- A referendum on an army-made constitution in Myanmar will be a "major battlefield" between the junta and a people wanting to be rid of military rule, the country's biggest dissident group said on Monday.
In a statement given to Reuters in the Myanmar-Thai border town of Mae Sot, the "88 Generation Students" -- named after a brutally suppressed 1988 uprising -- called on the former Burma's 53 million people to reject the charter in the May vote.

"The regime is attempting to legalize the military dictatorship with a sham constitution," said the group, whose leaders were jailed in last year's protests.

"This is a declaration of war by the military regime against the people of Burma."

The army, which has run Myanmar under various guises since 1962, announced the referendum on Saturday, saying it would be followed by "multi-party, democratic elections" two years later.

The elections would be the first since 1990, when opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a huge landslide only to see the generals ignore the result. Suu Kyi has spent most of the interim under house arrest.

The NLD has called the junta's proposal -- part of a seven-step "roadmap to democracy" unveiled in 2003 -- "erratic" and highlighted the irony of announcing an election even before the result of the referendum.

Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner now living in Thailand, said that having been denied any chance of contributing to its creation, the NLD would be forced to reject a charter that appears to yield little ground to civilian rule.

Although not yet completed -- let alone published -- snippets in state-controlled media suggest the army commander-in-chief will be the most powerful figure in the country, able to appoint key ministers and assume power "in times of emergency."

Bo Kyi said the 88 Generation and, in all probability, the NLD would campaign for a no vote to tell the generals they could not get away with introducing reform on their terms only, to the exclusion of all other points of view.

*chinapost

Myanmar says dissidents tearing country apart

2008-02-12T08:47:00.000-08:00

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta accused pro-democracy and dissident groups on Tuesday of trying to tear the country apart, and urged the public to back its "roadmap to democracy" in a referendum on a new constitution in May.

"Subversive elements with negative attitude are resorting to diverse means and ways such as driving a wedge among the national races, misleading the people, and aiding and abetting anti-government groups to weaken and break up the Union," Senior General Than Shwe said in a national "Union Day" address.

The former Burma's official name is the "Union of Myanmar".

The 75-year-old military supremo's message was carried in all official newspapers and broadcast on television from the new capital, Naypyidaw, although a power blackout in the old capital, Yangon, ensured few people there got to see it.

His exhortation to the nation's 53 million people to "make endeavours for the emergence of an enduring State Constitution" comes three days after the announcement of a referendum on the army-drafted charter in May and elections in 2010.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a 1990 election only to be denied power by the military, boycotted the constitution-drafting process because of the continued house arrest of its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Caught out by the surprise announcement of an election timetable, the NLD has struggled to come up with a response. "We have nothing to say yet," spokesman Nyan Win told reporters.

Although not yet completed, snippets of the charter revealed in state-controlled media suggest the army commander-in-chief will be the most powerful figure in the country, able to appoint key ministers and assume power "in times of emergency".
It also gives the military a quarter of seats in parliament and a veto over decisions made by legislators.

The "88 Generation Students", a group of leading dissidents from a failed 1988 uprising, have already dismissed the charter as an attempt by the generals to legitimise their iron grip on power, and have urged people not to endorse it.

It was also rejected by the underground All Burma Monks Alliance, which played a role in September's pro-democracy protests that evolved from small demonstrations against shock fuel price rises.

The group vowed to "keep on fighting by all means in order to help the entire people get over poverty and destitution".

IT'S A START, SAYS ASEAN

The United States says the referendum will be a sham conducted in a "pervasive climate of fear". The United Nations, which is trying to foster talks between the generals and Suu Kyi, has been more cautious in its criticism.

The 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has been frustrated at the generals' foot-dragging on reform since they joined in 1997 but which has refused to get tough, called it a "clear, definite beginning".

"We have to begin somewhere. I personally welcome it," ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told Reuters in Bangkok.

"We have to see how things transpire and whether that direction of development is going to meet the expectation of the people of Myanmar."
The February 12 "Union Day" dates back to a 1947 agreement between the Burmese majority and minority groups to demand independence from Britain.

The country has been under military rule since 1962 and has been riven by dozens of guerrilla conflicts with ethnic militias, mostly in the mountainous border areas abutting Thailand, China, Bangladesh and India.

(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan in BANGKOK)

(Writing by Ed Cropley, editing by Darren Schuettler)

Elation Over A Murder?

2008-02-11T14:49:00.000-08:00

By Goldie Shwe

I was just skimming through the DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) for Burma’s daily news when I saw that report of the murder of a member of USDA (Union Solidarity and Development Association) - junta's paramilitary wing of 'social welfare' organization. I had hardly finished reading the summary before I started smacking my own arms; the Burmese style war dance and challenge, similar to Maori Haka. My own reaction surprised me and made me think why I naturally reacted with elation and triumph.

Not only was I brought up as a Buddhist, it was also my choice of religion and I have great and fundamental respect for Buddha's teaching. I learnt the 'Five Precepts', the most important basic rules of Buddhism, at an early age. The first of those was not to kill, and have respect for all life. The Buddha said, "Life is precious to all beings. They have the right to live the same as we do." We should respect all life and not kill anything. Killing ants and mosquitoes is also breaking this precept. We should have an attitude of loving-kindness towards all beings, wishing them to be happy and free from harm.

Although I cannot boast that I am one of the most religious and decent of people, I try my best to follow the Five Precepts, most of all not to kill. So why then was I so jubilant, why did I jump up and down in celebration over a horrible murder case?

I have been angry. I have been extremely angry since September 2007. When all the protests and the crackdown of them happening I was unhappy, sad, frightened for people who would be tortured and killed. Eventually my feelings have changed. Everywhere I turned I saw reports of bullies, torturing and killings that junta is doing to innocent and vulnerable civilians in Burma.

I was angry that 400 children die everyday in Burma, either through hunger or diseases related to malnourishment.

I was angry that a monk was tortured, killed and his body thrown into a river.

I was angry that monasteries were raided at night, monks killed, or locked up in prisons.

I was angry that so many elected politicians are locked up in prisons long-term, and denied access to basic medical treatment.

I was angry that many poor unknown people were locked up in prisons and tortured while their families made to travel many miles to visit them.

I was angry that Nilar Thein is on the run, while her husband is in jail and their baby separated from her.

I was angry that United Nations could do nothing to protect innocent people of Burma.

I was angry that the junta's thugs bully and blackmail local people so that they cannot support the members of National League for Democracy Party, which won the landslide election victory in 1990.

I was angry that Aids (HIV) sufferers are denied treatment in hospitals, the monastery which provided their free accommodation was stripped and sealed off, the monks chased away from the place, and their care manager Phyu Phyu Thin is also on the run, and was unable to be with her dying father or at his funeral.

I was angry that street children have been abducted by the junta's thugs and sold to serve in the military and for the girls become prostitutes.

I was angry that the junta's generals and their sycophants are robbing all the country's natural resources, to stuff their own over-full bank accounts.

I was angry that so many ethnic groups have been wiped out by the junta.

I was angry that human rights abuse and forced labour records and reports are so long and depressing that I was too upset to continue reading.

Every item of news and report that I find about Burma has been nothing but intimidation, bullying, torture and the killing of the people by cowardly junta. I have become unable to feel anything other than cold anger, indignation, outrage at the appalling record of the junta.

The feeling of revenge and some satisfaction therefore seemed quite natural when I read about the killing of one of the junta's thugs.The DVB reported that the man, a member of the USDA of Hlaing Tharyar, one of the poorest and most repressed areas of the capital Rangoon, was notorious for his arrogant and threatening behaviour towards the residents. His head was left on public display by unknown assailants in a primitive display for the losers of the fighting or a war. His headless body found nearby was lacerated all over, each cut reflecting the people’s long pent-up hatred for the junta and its minions.

The fact that neither head nor the mutilated body were hidden but left on public display has sent a very clear and loud message to junta and their thug followers that the people will not, and cannot, forget or forgive their treatment for so many long decades. The chilling nature of the murder must have sent shockwaves across the country - the first clear response indicating that the breaking point of the people may be near.

The repugnant Than Shwe and his shameless group of cowardly generals and their families might be residing in huge heavily-guarded estates in Pyin Manar Nay Pyi Daw, enjoying the wealth they have robbed from the country and giving orders to their thugs on how to repress the public and still keeping the most revolting grins on their faces but even they must have seen the first batch of dark clouds that is now beginning to loom over their heads.

For junta's thugs, who were given a share of power and equipped with weapons to control the public, life has been very easy and pleasant. Apart from intimidating and threatening people with their junta-backed power, and occasional arrests and tortures, life has been easy. On top of the benefits of delegated power and weapons, these men have been well paid, with performance bonuses and rewards, and exclusive access to gadgets like mobile phones and video cameras not available to the public. This has all been icing on a very nourishing cake for those official members of junta's many paramilitary organizations.

The report also stated that, following the chilling murder of one of their number, the teams of junta thugs seem to have been rather quiet. More interestingly, the public found that gone is the hitherto haughty and pompous behaviour, to be replaced by a slightly more considerate attitude. The most obvious outcome, immediately after the murder, has been that the thugs have abruptly abandoned their habit of intimidating and harrassing the general public.

The rewards and bribes they receive from the junta for carrying out the practicalities of repressing the public have been good, especially when they can have real power over the lives of many poor and struggling people. Suddenly they are under threat themselves and have to think about the possible price of their activities to themselves and possibly their relatives? At least locally, their demeanour has changed dramatically in the face of these life- threatening issue of a popular fight-back spreading more widely.

Every action provokes its own reaction. The people of Burma have been suffering for too long. Their suffering and distress have been too great that they have been left with no option but to take the law into their own hands.

Yes, we are Buddhist. And yes, the Lord Buddha told us not to kill. And yet, I applauded the cruel murder. My own reaction has shocked me so I had to decide to give myself some time to reflect. After a sleepless night, thinking through every aspect, I still feel exactly the same. I still strongly believe that the murdered junta thug thoroughly deserved his fate. It seems to be the only way that people of Burma can get some form of justice. The ordinary people of Burma are at war with the cruel bullies, torturers and killers of the junta, and this murder somehow seems a fair response to the decades of abuse and robbery. The fight-back may have begun.

And for my own peace of mind, I decided to record my satisfaction and triumph over this horrible murder to be very honest with myself and others, because if I don't, I will only be breaking another of Buddha's Five Precepts - No Lying.

*whoiswhoinburma

Activists reject Myanmar charter

2008-02-11T14:48:00.001-08:00

Pro-democracy activists in Myanmar on Monday warned the ruling junta could unleash a new wave of violence to ensure victory in a constitutional referendum, urging voters to reject the regime's charter.

The junta late Saturday made a surprise announcement that it would bring its proposed constitution before the public for approval in May, setting the stage for elections in 2010.

If held, the elections would be the first since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory that was ignored by the junta.

The 88 Generation Students, a coalition of leading democracy activists, said the regime was trying to use the referendum to abolish the 1990 election results and legalise its dictatorship in the country formerly known as Burma.

The group branded the referendum as a "declaration of war" against the people, accusing the junta of planning to use security forces and state-backed militias to intimidate and even beat the population into approving the charter.

"The upcoming constitutional referendum will be a major battlefield between the military regime, which wants to rule the country forever, and the people of Burma, who want to be free from the military rule," the group said in a statement.

"The regime is attempting to legalise the military dictatorship with a sham-constitution.

"This is the declaration of war by the military regime against the people of Burma, who want to uphold the 1990 elections results and honour the will of the people," it said.

Many of the leaders of the 88 Generation Students were arrested in August, after they started holding small demonstrations in protest at an unannounced hike in fuel prices.

After their arrest, Buddhist monks began leading the protest movement, which swelled into the biggest challenge to military rule since 1988.

With more than 100,000 people in the streets, security forces launched a violent crackdown in late September, when the United Nations estimates at least 31 people were killed.

The group's latest statement, distributed by overseas activists, was signed by three of its top members who have been in hiding since the crackdown.

They said that the United Nations should take a greater role in mediating among the military, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the armed ethnic groups that have battled the government for decades.

"We also urge the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to visit Burma as soon as possible. He needs to meet with General Than Shwe," the statement said, while calling on western nations to tighten sanctions targeting the regime's leadership.

In Yangon, a pro-junta party urged Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD to accept the military's timetable for the referendum and elections.

"The people would suffer if (the NLD) goes the wrong way and organises some nonsense instigation" regarding the balloting, said Khin Maung Gyi, general secretary of the National Unity Party.

"They should have political maturity. They need to consider the real situation," he told a press conference at his party's headquarters, not far from the home where Aung San Suu Kyi has been kept under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.

Analysts have warned that the junta's election promises will mean little if Aung San Suu Kyi and the leaders of the 88 Generation Students remain locked away, saying the polls could be a ploy to ease international pressure over the crackdown in September.

*hindustantimes

Ban urges Myanmar to promptly receive UN envoy

2008-02-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

( dpa )- United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called on Myanmar's military government to receive the UN's envoy Ibrahim Gambari "without delay" and to hold talks with opposition leaders well before planned general elections in 2010.

Ban acknowledged the decision by the junta last week to set dates for a constitutional referendum in May and multi-party democratic elections in 2010. The junta also said it would free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi six months before the elections.

But Ban called on the junta to engage in substantive and time-bound talks with Suu Kyi and other political parties to advance the process of national reconciliation. Suu Kyi, leader of the National League of Democracy, has been under house arrest for more than a decade.

Gambari has been seeking to make a third visit to Yangon to pursue discussions on democratic reform in Myanmar. His previous visits took place after the military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in August and September.

.trendaz.com

White House Criticizes Burma Referendum Plan

2008-02-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

The White House says the Burmese government's plan for a constitutional referendum in May and general elections in 2010 is not sufficient. VOA's Paula Wolfson reports the Bush administration says the plan is neither open nor fair.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino says the election plan is flawed.

"The problem is not with the setting of a date for elections, but with the non-transparent and exclusive processes being promulgated by the regime," she said.

Perino says Burma's military leaders have been drafting a new constitution in closed meetings without any input from opposition leaders or minority ethnic groups.

She says the details of the draft constitution have not been shared with the Burmese public. And she says reports on its contents are troubling.

"The proposed constitution reportedly has many non-democratic features," said Perino. "For example, Aung San Suu Kyi would be banned from running for office because of her marriage to a foreigner."

Perino says the Burmese government must comply with the United Nations' call last October for an open and inclusive process that gives all the people of Burma a fair say in the structure and form of their new government.

Burma's military leaders announced the election plan on Saturday. Human rights groups have warned it may be a ploy to ease international pressure for reform, which intensified after a crack-down on pro-democracy demonstrations last year.

At the State Department, Spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that the military government continues to arrest and imprison peaceful political activists. He stressed there is a pervasive climate of fear, and said no referendum held under these conditions can be free, fair and credible.

*VOA

Aung San Suu Kyi’s party ’surprised’ by junta’s promise of elections

2008-02-10T11:03:00.001-08:00

Aung San Suu Kyi’s party ’surprised’ by junta’s promise of elections

YANGON (AFP) - Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party was “surprised” by the announcement of plans for a constitutional referendum and then democratic polls in Myanmar, saying it was “still early to talk about an election.”

“I am surprised that they set a date for an election,” said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).

He said that it was premature to plan for national elections when no one has seen the final version of Myanmar’s proposed constitution, which the junta announced would be brought to voters for approval in May.

“We have to see the results of the referendum on the constitution. How can they know if it will be a success? It is still early to talk about an election.”

The military government announced in state media late Saturday that after the referendum it would hold multi-party democratic elections in 2010.

*burmadigest

Myanmar to Host Gem Show in March Despite International Boycott

2008-02-10T10:58:00.001-08:00

Myanmar will host its annual gem show in March despite an ongoing boycott of the country's precious stones.

The 45th annual Myanmar Gems Emporium will take place March 9-to-12, 2008, the state-run New Light of Myanmar reported.

The 12-day event will showcase quality gems, jade, pearls and jewelry produced in Myanmar, and the items will be sold both through competitive bidding and at fixed prices, the newspaper said.

The United States and the European Union implemented economic sanctions against Myanmar, also known as Burma, to protest the country's human rights abuses.

NGO's, including the World Jewelry Council (CIBJO,) also called for a boycott of the country's gems to protest Myanmar's human rights transgressions, recruiting top jewelers, including Tiffany, Bulgari and Cartier, to refuse to sell the country's stones.

The sanctions were mainly a response to the government's suppression of pro-democracy protests in September last year, which left an estimated 31 people dead.

Strong demand in the Far East, however, has kept Myanmar’s gem trade stable despite the boycott, evident when 600 lots were sold at a five day auction in January for an undisclosed amount. A previous auction in November reportedly generated $150 million.

Last year’s 44th Annual Gems Emporium in March raised approximately $185 million as 3,652 lots of jade, gems and pearls were sold out, the New Light of Myanmar reported.

*diamonds.net