Cemetery seized by TPDC in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State (KPN): The Township Peace and Development Council, (TPDC) chairman of Maungdaw Township has seized a Rohingya Muslim cemetery in the Township for use though there are many vacant places for the authorities to set up camps or other buildings, said a local elder on condition of anonymity.

On July 1, the Maungdaw TPDC Chairman along with other officers went to Basara (Thawin Chaung) village in Maungdaw Township and ordered the villagers not to bury their dead in the cemetery. If anyone did not comply with the order, he or she would be fined Kyat 50,000.

The authorities destroyed some Kobors (file of the soil of bodies in the cemetery) and the fence of the cemetery which was established a long time ago near the village. Recently, a Nasaka outpost was set up close to the cemetery on the north.

The villagers were asked to bury new bodies at the bottom of a mountain on the eastern side of the village, a mile away.

Villagers do not know why the authorities seized the ancient cemetery of the villagers, although vacant places are available, said a local trader requesting not to be named.

A village trader said, “There are many vacant lands to build government buildings. Why did they have to seize the cemetery of the Muslims? What are the reasons? Is there any country in the world which seizes cemeteries?”

In 2008, the authorities also had seized the cemeteries in Baggona and Gora Khali villages of Maungdaw Township.

Earlier, in Buthidaung Township, the authorities seized Buthidaung Town cemetery, Taung Bazaar cemetery, the Thiganet cemetery though there were many places to construct government buildings, said a local elder from Buthidaung Township.

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Counter people with people: Home Minister

by May Kyaw

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Home Minister of the Burmese military junta had at a point of time exhorted the staff members of the General Administration Department at a meeting to ‘counter people with people and counter politics with politics’.

In the Home Ministry’s directive, a copy of which has been leaked and is with Mizzima, the Home Minister Maj. Gen. Maung Oo had given such a blatant instruction to officials of the General Administration (GA) Department at a meeting in Naypyitaw Home Ministry’s Meeting Hall on 20 January 2007.

“Counter people with people, counter politics with politics. There is no need to get involved personally. Do it carefully and do it daringly,” he had directed.

In the six-page directive, he had instructed organizing of NGOs so as to be pro-government, to mobilze people, not to confront the army, to go in for fund raising for the welfare of the Home Ministry staff members and to monitor the activities of the ‘National League for Democracy’ (NLD).

Moreover Maj. Gen. Maung Oo had also said that the staff of the Home Ministry should use their power for their livelihood instead of begging.

“Regarding smuggling, arrest them. Report to the authorities, anything you seize from them, either a car or a motorcycle. Surrender them to the customs department. You will get 50 per cent reward money from these goods. So you don’t need to beg, but arrest them for your living,” the directive says.

He had also talked of the junta’s plan of holding mass rallies against the opposition forces in late 2007 to senior officials in the GA Department across the country.

Following the saffron revolution in September 2007, protest rallies were organized by the junta backed civilian organisation - ‘Union Solidarity and Development Association’ - in some States and Divisions across the country.

The meeting presided by the Maung Oo was also attended by the Burmese Deputy Home Minister and Director General of the General Administration.

During the meeting, Deputy Minister Brig. Gen. Phone Swe advised GA officials to build trust and win the respect of ethnic people in their respective regions and to prepare for joining a political party.

Director General Myat Ko also informed the ‘District Peace and Development Council’ (DPDC) Chairmen and ‘Township Peace and Development Council’ Chairmen to thoroughly scrutinize before giving recommendations to establishment of social organizations and to make office expenses frugally.

The DPDC and TPDC are under the jurisdiction of the Home Ministry’s GA Department. While most Chairmen of DPDC has military backgrounds, a few are selected from the civilians and there are a total of 62 districts in the Burmese administration.

Divisional and State level PDC are controlled and are under the charge of the commander of the military regional command in their respective regions.

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Ethnic Burmese among world’s ‘most threatened’

(DVB)–Nine ethnic groups in Burma have been ranked fifth on a table measuring groups of people throughout the world deemed to be most under threat of genocide, mass killing and other systematic violent repression.

Burma’s myriad ethnic groups, thought to number 137 in total, have long been marginalized by the ruling State Peace and Development Council, which is made up predominantly of the Burman group, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of Burma’s population.

The conflict between government forces and the ethnic opposition Karen National Union (KNU), which appears to be nearing an end, is thought to be the world’s longest running, and has forced 140,000 Karen into refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border.

Burma stands out in the Peoples Under Threat 2009 table, compiled by Minority Rights Group International (MRGI), as being one of only three countries in the top ten where Islam is not the dominant religion.

It is the threat of conflict in Muslim countries, in the context of Western countries tackling Islamic extremism, that dominates the top of the table.

Burma also takes a surprisingly high place given that, unlike Iraq, Afghanistan and, to an extent Pakistan, who rank second, fourth and sixth respectively, Burma faces no external interference.

Several prominent authorities on Burma, including British MPs, senior judges and a former advisor to the International Criminal Court, have said that state-sanctioned human rights abuses in Burma could now warrant charges of war crimes.

An Early Day Motion put forward by over 60 British MPs in May urged the UN to act on the campaign of ethnic cleansing that the ruling State Peace and Development Council is carrying out against ethnic nationalities.

The plight of Burma’s ethnic population was thrown into the spotlight earlier this year when around 1000 Rohingya refugees washed up in boats on Thailand’s shores, only to be towed back out to sea and set adrift by Thai authorities.

The Rohingya, who are a minority Muslim population, are not recognized by the Burmese government and suffer frequent discrimination due to their lack of legal status.

Reporting by Francis Wade

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KIA lance-corporal disappears on way home

Lance-corporal So Ba Du of the Special Gorkha Squandron of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) disappeared while returning home from the squandron base in Laiza headquarters to Myitkyina in Burma's northern Kachin State on June 7, said KIA sources.

by KNG

The incident comes at a time of mounting military tension between Burma's ruling junta and the KIA after the latter was pressurized to transform to a battalion of the Border Guard Force (BGF) by the regime.

Lance-corporal So Ba Du is a Gorkha (Nepali). He was returning home in Myitkyina to attend a relative’s wedding after he was given leave by the KIA, said Laiza KIA sources.

Lance-corporal So Ba Du was detained on the Balaminhtin Irrawaddy River Bridge and was checked because he was a Gorkha soldier of the KIA by Burmese soldiers at the bridge checkpoint, KIA Laiza sources said.

According to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, the Burmese junta does not like the close relationship and cooperation between the KIO and Gorkhas. The Gorkha soldiers in KIA are always monitored by the junta, added KIO sources.

In April, Gorkha families in Myitkyina were summoned and checked by agents of the junta's military intelligence, the Military Affairs Security Unit (Sa Ya Pha). Young girls were put in prison cells for over a week following their return from Laiza after attending the May Daw festival, said sources close to them.

KIA sources said, KIA soldiers are being harassed in different ways while traveling. It has no idea how many KIA soldiers have been secretly arrested by Burmese troops.

The KIO informed the ruling junta on June 21 that it would like to transform the KIA to a "State Security Force" instead of a "Border Guard Force" as proposed by the junta.

Local reliable sources said, the KIA and Burmese troops are both on high alert and are on standby in the event of a resumption of civil war.

At the moment, the three other smaller Kachin ceasefire groups which split from the KIO/A--- the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) and Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group in Kachin State, and Kachin Defense Army (KDA) in northeast Shan State have agreed to transform their forces to the "Border Guard Forces", said sources.

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Farmers' Loans Reserved for Model Villagers

Maungdaw (Narinjara): The Burmese military junta has allocated 600 lakh kyat for farmers in Maungdaw District for agricultural loans, but the district authorities are preparing to lend the money to model villagers in 27 model villages instead, said a senior clerk from the district office on the condition of anonymity.

He said, "The military authority allocated 600 lakh kyat to our district but the farmers in our township are unable to get the loans because the local authority is arranging to lend the money to model villagers."

The military junta has allocated 2,000 lakh kyat for agricultural loans for all of Arakan State this agricultural season. Of that amount, 600 lakh has been allocated to Maungdaw District.

There are four districts in Arakan State - Sittwe, Kyaukpru, Thandwe, and Maungdaw - and the remaining 1,400 lakh has been set aside for the remaining three districts in the state.

"The authority has collected the list of farms owned by model villagers in the township. Later the list will be transferred to the agricultural bank in Maungdaw to withdraw the loans to them," he said.

Agricultural loans have recently been provided by the government's central bank to farmers through the agricultural bank, but local authorities in Maungdaw are neglecting to distribute the loans to Arakanese farmers in the district.

"I think the authority does not want to make loans to Muslim farmers because they are not citizens in Burma, so the authority decided to loan to the model villagers," the clerk said.

According to a local farmer source, the authority is only making loans to model villagers from Burma proper, and is not making loans to either Muslim or ethnic Rakhine, Dynet, and Khami farmers.

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SPDC Extends Ethnic Radio Program for Propaganda

Sittwe (Narinjara): The Burmese military junta has extended its ethnic radio programs to one hour long in order to propagate its strategies and activities among the ethnic nationalities of Burma.

One listener said, "The ethnic radio program for seven major nationalities in Burma was being aired through Myanmar Broadcasting Service in Naypyidaw and each nationality gets one hour on air per day in their respective languages."

The seven major nationalities that are represented in the radio program are Arakanese, Mon, Kachin, Shan, Karen, Kayah, and Chin.

"The Arakanese program is aired every day from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Most of the time is used for Arakanese national songs. But the radio airs the policies of the military junta between the songs, one after one, using up nearly 30 minutes," the listener said.

The Burmese military authority did not allow the airing of Arakanese nationalist songs in the past, but is now attempting to draw Arakanese to listen to the radio program.

According to a local source, even though the Arakanese radio program airs Arakanese songs through the Myanmar Broadcasting Service, the program is less popular than the BBC, VOA, and RFA. The majority of people are still listening to the BBC, VOA, and RFA to get accurate and unbiased news stories about Burma.

When asked over the phone about Sittwe FM radio, a monk told Narinjara that Burma Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan once told a senior monk in Sittwe that the Burmese military junta has been defeated in the media war with opposition groups, despite the junta having the upper hand in other sectors.

The military junta recently set up a FM radio station in Sittwe to propagate its policies. Before the radio program, the junta had set up a printing house in Sittwe to publish its newspapers - Kaymon and New Light of Myanmar - for local distribution to Arakanese. However, these attempts to target people with media have apparently failed to gain the support of Arakanese.

Radio Free Asia (Burmese) and the Democratic Voice of Burma also air programs every day in the various ethnic languages, and all major ethnic nationalities in Burma receive nearly 30 minutes a day of programming in their language.

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