Popular Vietnamese Blogger Fired by Newspaper

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Irrawaddy News

HANOI — one of Vietnam's most popular and boldest bloggers has been fired by his newspaper after the ruling Communist Party complained to editors about his writings.

Huy Duc, who writes his blog under the pen name "Osin," was dismissed this week because his postings did not reflect the editorial positions of Saigon Tiep Thi, said Tran Cong Khanh, an editor at the newspaper.

Huy Duc sits reading a newspaper in downtown Hanoi. (Photo: Getty Images)

Khanh cited a recent Osin posting that praised the fall of the Berlin Wall and criticized the former Soviet Union's Communist leaders, saying their rule had led to years of misery for the people of Eastern Europe. Duc referred to the wall as "the wall of shame."

"The attitude of his entry did not reflect that of our newspaper, and we can't use him anymore," Khanh said.

Khanh said the newspaper made the decision to dismiss Duc on its own, without direct pressure from the government, which strictly monitors Vietnam's state-controlled media.

But he acknowledged that the Propaganda and Education Commission, the Communist Party's media watchdog, had complained about roughly 100 of Duc's blog postings and newspaper stories.

Duc's Osin blog has tested the limits of free expression in Vietnam, frequently featuring articles critical of government leaders and their policies.

He has chided leaders for chartering Vietnam Airlines planes to fly abroad, and criticized a controversial bauxite mining project in Vietnam's Central Highlands which critics say could devastate the environment of the region, home to many of the country's 54 ethnic minorities.

Vietnam has about 700 news outlets, all of which are state-controlled. While some newspapers have grown more aggressive in their coverage of issues such as corruption, they rarely challenge the government. Saigon Tiep Thi is published three times a week by Ho Chi Minh City's Trade and Investment Promotion Center. Duc had worked there for several years.

The Vietnam Journalists' Association, whose members work for the state-controlled media, declined to comment on Duc's dismissal.

Duc also declined to comment Thursday.

But on his blog, he wrote that he has lost many newspaper jobs during his 21-year journalism career. He said he plans to work on a book and hopes to eventually find a job at another paper.

"The media, although under state control, belongs to society," Duc wrote. "It must be a place for truthful articles, analysis and criticism."

Last year, authorities arrested reporters from two major newspapers, Thanh Nien and Tuoi Tre, after they reported aggressively on a major corruption case.

This year, the government tightened its rules for bloggers, who have proliferated in Vietnam. The new rules say bloggers must restrict themselves to writing about personal, not political, matters.

A blogger known as Dieu Cay was charged with tax evasion and sentenced to 30 months in jail after encouraging people to protest at the Olympic torch ceremonies in Ho Chi Minh City shortly before last summer's Beijing Olympics.

He criticized China's policies in Tibet and the Spratly islands, an archipelago in the South China Sea that is claimed by China, Vietnam and several other countries.

READ MORE---> Popular Vietnamese Blogger Fired by Newspaper...

Burmese IT Contest to Aid Junta?

By ARKAR MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Burmese IT technicians and bloggers suspect a Burmese search engine contest was designed by the Burmese military junta in order to increase its internet restriction technology and ability to control websites and blogs.

The Myanmar Computer Professional Association (MCPA) invited individuals and groups to compete for the title of MCPA Challenge Winner 2009 in the Myanmar Engine Contest, sources within the MCPA said last week.

The research-based contest is being held with the aim of “encouraging the development of the country’s information and communication technology (ICT), expanding the use of the Myanmar (Burmese) language in the ICT sector and enhancing the youth’s interest in the creation and ICT research,” according to an MCPA statement.

“Building such a search engine is like creating a small version of Google,” said a Rangoon-based IT expert speaking to The Irrawaddy. “It would take at least six months to create an engine that would be useful to governmental departments searching through data. Such an engine could help Burmese authorities find relevant information very quickly.”

Contestants must register by Aug 30 and will be given six months to develop the engine after they have submitted an initial application. The winner will be announced in June 2010 and will be awarded US $3,000.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Rangoon-based activist Blogger Kamikaze said: “I am rather doubtful about this search engine contest. We need to carefully consider whether to compete in this contest because the military junta can use it to exploit IT technicians and control IT technology. They already block blogs and Web sites like Yahoo and Youtube, but most IT technicians and bloggers can overcome these obstacles.”

The regime has been constructing a “Silicon Valley” called Yadanabon Cyber City near Maymyo in Mandalay Division, since June 2006. According to state-run newspapers, the facility is intended to serve as the sole nationwide internet service provider (ISP) in Burma.

Currently, Burma has three ISPs: the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), which operates Myanmar Info Tech; the semi-government-owned Myanmar Teleport Company Ltd (formerly Bagan Net); and Hanthawaddy National Gateway.

In 2005 the Burmese military junta became more sophisticated in censoring online material after the introduction of a new firewall supplied by the US-based company Fortinet.

According to the Norway-based Pandia Search Engine News, the new search engine contest could have two purposes.

One could be to identify young Burmese with computer skills and prevent them from developing technology that threatens the regime.

“We know of activists that have managed to get around the walls of the censors,” Pandia said, “The opposition often use proxy servers and special software to get access to information.

“Another [purpose] could be to get the winners of the competition to serve the regime by developing a search engine that can be used to block any kind of unwanted information.

“It seems like the competition is open for non-Burmese as well, which means that they could hope to enlist politically naive computer experts in their fight against democracy. There is only one possible conclusion in our mind: a total boycott of this competition,” Pandia said.

READ MORE---> Burmese IT Contest to Aid Junta?...

Indonesian Government Attempts to Stop Burma Democracy Meeting

By Katie Hamann

(VOA) -Burmese democracy leaders have successfully concluded a meeting in the Indonesian capital Jakarta to push a plan for transition to democracy in Burma. The Indonesian government earlier attempted to prevent the conference from taking place, dispatching local police to the hotel where the delegations had planned to meet.

Members of the Burmese government in exile and a coalition of pro-democracy groups and ethnic leaders came to Jakarta to officially launch their 'Proposal for National Reconciliation' in Burma, an alternative to the current regime's so-called "roadmap to democracy."

Indonesian Parliamentary member Eva Kusuma Sunardi was among those who lent their support to the conference. She says the department of foreign affairs was given several weeks notice of the conference and made no objections, until a letter arrived from the embassy of Burma, which now calls itself Myanmar.

"On the 4th of August the foreign ministry accepted a letter, the objection letter from the embassy of Myanmar, asking the foreign ministry to stop this event on the argument that this is illegal and it will potentially damage the relationship between the two countries," Eva Kusuma Sunardi. "So the foreign ministry asked the police actually using the letter from the Myanmar embassy."

But Indonesian foreign affairs spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said his government's objections had nothing to do with the letter from Burma.

"As a matter of principle the Indonesian government cannot allow its territory to be used for activities by the so-called government in exile while Indonesia and other ASEAN countries as well as the members of the United Nations recognize Myanmar as well as the government of Myanmar. So it's not in our tradition to allow such political activities, political campaigns in our territory," the spokesman said. (JEG's: this is to show next meeting has to be kept under wraps until is completed like any ordinary meeting away from nosy ears)

Despite police threats to lock the delegation out of their hotel meeting room, the Burmese delegation continued their program at alternative venues in the capital Jakarta, including Indonesia's House of Representatives.

They met with Indonesian political leaders, diplomats and civil society groups to share their 'Proposal for National Reconciliation'.

Presented as an alternative to the Burmese regime's so-called roadmap to democracy, their plan demands the immediate release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, a nationwide ceasefire with rebel groups and a review of the 2008 constitution.

Burma's Prime Minister in exile Sein Winn was asked about the demands and said they must be met and a dialogue begun before next year's elections. "This election is tied to the constitution. And this constitution making process as well as the results are so biased and screwed [up] that according to this constitution, we will never get democracy," he said.

VOA: Assuming the regime or if the regime doesn't yield to your demands in this transition plan, will you participate in the elections in some capacity?

Sein Winn: "No, no, we will not participate as it is. That is why we are saying we have to review the constitution; you have to release the political prisoners. This is the bottom line."

But Jason Abbott, a specialist on Southeast Asian politics at Britain's University of Surrey, says the refusal of leaders of Burma's democracy movement to negotiate on certain points, particularly the question of Aung San Suu Kyi's participation is also thwarting progress.

"While it may be significant that so many groups are coming together for this meeting this week, until there is a change in their demands that shows a willingness to compromise with the regime, then it's only going to continue to be ignored by the junta. There will be no dialogue until there is movement from one side, the junta doesn't need to revise the constitution, the junta doesn't need to change the rules of the election, it will go ahead," he said. (JEG's: if the constitution is cutting democracy-freedoms then what is to compromise?)

The exiled leaders conceded that the military junta is unlikely to yield to their demands. They urged the United Nations Security Council to draft a binding resolution on Burma and for partners at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to exert more pressure on the Burmese leadership.

READ MORE---> Indonesian Government Attempts to Stop Burma Democracy Meeting...

DKBA meeting with UN chief ‘scripted’ by junta

(DVB)–An official from a Burmese pro-junta militia who met with UN chief Ban Ki-moon last week said the meeting was orchestrated by the government, who scripted all questions put to the Secretary General.

Representatives from seven pro-government ceasefire groups, including the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), met with Ban Ki-moon in the capital Naypyidaw during his trip to Burma last weekend.

The DKBA have been supporting the government in their offensive against the opposition Karen National Union, which has forced thousands of refugees into Thailand over the past month.

A DKBA official told DVB under condition of anonymity that their group’s representatives were not allowed to speak to Ban independently, but only could say what government had told them to say to him.

“Our representatives told us when they came back from [Naypyidaw] that there was no outcome [from the meeting] as they were not allowed to say what they had in mind to say,” the official said.

DKBA representatives had planned to discuss strategies to restore peace along the border areas in Karen state to prevent more fighting, said the official.

“But when they arrived [in Naypyidaw], government officials there gave them a piece of paper and told them to only say what was written on it.”

Representatives were unable to freely answer Ban’s question about the ongoing fights along the border, said the official, who added that state-run newspaper would then frame the meeting as a successful attempt at dialogue.

Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday that he was “deeply disappointed” with his two-day visit to Burma, having had his request to meet with imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi denied twice.

Observers have said that not enough emphasis was placed on tackling the issue of the relationship between Burma’s myriad ethnic groups and the predominantly Burman ruling State Peace and Development Council.

Reporting by Naw Noreen

READ MORE---> DKBA meeting with UN chief ‘scripted’ by junta...

New rules for musicians performing abroad

by Solomon

New Delhi (Mizzima) – With instances of artistes seeking asylum in host countries going up, the Myanmar Music Association (MMA) has introduced a new regulation for singers and musicians, who go abroad to perform.

Maung Thit Min, Secretary (2) of the MMA, also known as “Gita Asiayone”, in Rangoon, said a new regulation has been introduced for singers and musicians, who wish to go abroad to perform. It is now mandatory for them to fill up a form and sign a pledge that they will perform decently and will return after their visa expires.

“We introduced the new regulation about three months ago, to warn singers and musicians to perform decently in keeping with Burmese culture and to return home after they conclude their performance,” Maung Thit Min said.

He said, singers and musicians “Who want to go abroad to perform will have to inform us of their exact schedules, details of their trip and performances and sign a commitment that they will return to the country,” he added.

But he said while the MMA has no authority to take action against singers even if they break the rules, the regulation is designed to remind them that they have signed a pledge.

“At present, a lot of singers are going around the world, so we need to make rules for them,” he said. However he added that, if the singers seek asylum in the host counties it is their “personal matter.”

In recent months, a Burmese pop singer Aung Yin was reported to have got asylum in England after visiting for a show for the Burmese community in London, he said.

Dr. Naing Win, a Burmese activist living in London confirmed that Aung Yin had come to England and had applied to the British government for asylum.

“He was granted asylum about three months ago,” Dr. Naing Win told Mizzima.

He said Aung Yin has been in London for several months but he is not aware of the purpose of his stay. But lately, he said, he was told that Aung Yin has been granted asylum by the British government.

While Aung Yin is the first Burmese singer to be granted asylum in United Kingdom, Dr. Win Naing, said there are about 3,000 Burmese asylum seekers in UK.

While it is not clear under what circumstances Aung Yin had applied for asylum, sources said his family remains in Rangoon.

The Burmese Pop singer came to limelight in the early 1990s, when he co-produced an album ‘Akyinna Einmet’ with the deceased popular singer cum composer Htoo Win Thinn.

While not wanting to comment on Aung Yin’s case, Maung Thit Min said, with the Burmese community spread out in several countries including UK, USA, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia, more and more singers and musicians are wanting to go abroad for performances.

READ MORE---> New rules for musicians performing abroad...

High Court hears Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers' arguments

by Mungpi

New Delhi (mizzima) - Burma’s High Court on Wednesday heard defense arguments for allowing two more witnesses in the controversial trial against pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but did not make any ruling on the matter.

Nyan Win, a member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team, said the defense team argued it is in accordance with the law to allow the remaining two witnesses – Tin Oo, Vice-Chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), and Win Tin, a veteran journalist and Central Executive Committee member of the NLD.

“The High Court doesn’t make immediate decisions and will take some time before announcing their decision. And we don’t know when that announcement will be,” Nyan Win said.

However, Nyan Win added that the High Court judges told them it might be impossible to accept Tin Oo as a witness as he is currently under house arrest.

The judges further explained, according to Nyan Win, that as Win Tin has given several interviews to the exile-based Democratic Voice of Burma, BBC and Radio Free Asia, in which he demonstrated a distinct difference of opinion to that of the authorities, he may not qualify either.

But Kyi Win, Aung San Suu Kyi's primary lawyer, said the law prescribes that in finding the truth even criminals serving a death sentence can be brought as witnesses.

“My instinct told me that this will be the kind of excuse they would use to reject Tin Oo. But the law permits the accused to call anybody as a witness, as long as the witness has relevance,” Kyi Win said.

He added that during his experience as a lawyer he has seen judges order a commission be sent to prisons to hear the testimony of prisoners claimed as witnesses for the accused.

With regard to the judges' complaint concerning Win Tin, Kyi Win elaborated that everybody has the right to have their own opinion and having a different opinion to the government is not a crime.

“What we are fighting is for equal representation in front of the court and since the lower court [at Insein prison] has not mentioned any reasons for rejecting the defense witnesses, it is against the law [to exclude the candidates],” he added.

The Insein prison court where Aung San Suu Kyi is facing trial originally scheduled the hearing of the second defense witness– Khin Moh Moh – for Friday. But Kyi Win said there would be no hearing until the High Court makes the decision on whether to allow more witnesses.

The Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate, who has been under some form of detention for more than 13 of the past 19 years, is currently facing trial under charges of breaching her previous term of detention by ‘harboring’ an American man for two days at her lakeside home in early May.

Observers and opposition elements believe the trial, which could see Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to up to five years of further imprisonment if found guilty, is a pretext to continue detaining her in order to further clear the way for the junta’s planned 2010 general election – the country's first since the military annulled a 1990 ballot, which saw the NLD emerge the clear winner.

READ MORE---> High Court hears Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers' arguments...

21 Arakanese Protesters Released from Bangladesh Custody

Dhaka (Narinjara): 21 Arakanese protesters were released from Bangladesh police custody yesterday after ten hours in the police lockup, said Ko Aung Naing, one of the detained protesters.

"Police released us at 8:30 pm and we arrived at home safely around midnight yesterday," he said.

The group was arrested by Bangladesh police in front of the Indian embassy in Dhaka while they were staging a protest against the Indian government for the illegal detention of 34 Arakanese and Karen freedom fighters.

"We were staging a demonstration in front of the Indian embassy in Dhaka at 11 am, shouting slogans against the Indian government. At that time, the Bangladesh police came to the spot and arrested us. Afterward the police detained us at Gulsan police station," Aung Naing said.

The protesters arrested were primarily UNHCR recognized refugees, including children and monks, so it is believe the police released them without charges to avoid any potential international criticism.

According to a police source, they were arrested after the Indian embassy lodged a complaint with police and requested their arrest. (JEG's: can they do that? police follows "requests" for arrest? Is it legal to protest in B'desh? obviously diplomatic cooperation was enforced here)

June 22 was a global day of action for the 34 Arakanese and Karen freedom fighters, and many Burmese in exile staged protests to demand their release in at least 20 countries, including Thailand, India, Bangladesh, and Britain.

In February 1998, members of the Arakan Army and Karen liberation army led by Major Khaing Raza went to an Indian island in the Andaman Archipelago to set up a new naval base in accordance with an agreement with the Indian army to watch Chinese military activities in the Andaman Sea.

When they arrived at the island, Indian soldiers killed Bo Raza and five other senior leaders in the group in cold blood. The 34 freedom fighters were arrested and have been in custody since then. They are currently being detained in a prison in Kolkata.

READ MORE---> 21 Arakanese Protesters Released from Bangladesh Custody...

Warning to members is a threat to party: Win Tin

by Salai Pi Pi

New Delhi (Mizzima) - The National League for Democracy (NLD) is faced with a new threat with the ruling junta having warned and restricted it from issuing statements, an executive member of the party said on Monday.

Win Tin, a veteran journalist and Central Executive Committee (CEC) member of the NLD, said the junta’s warning to party leaders and youths came in the wake of a statement issued last week by the Youth Working Group. It is a new threat to the party and also signals an increasing crackdown on party activities.

The NLD Youth Working Group on June 2 issued a statement condemning the ongoing trial of party leader Aung San Suu Kyi saying that the junta is applying an ineffective law of the 1974 constitution to sue her and to continue to detain her.

The youth group also said that the trial was not free and fair as the defendant was only allowed one witness while the prosecution presented 14.

In a vindictive response to the statement, the junta authorities on Friday summoned the NLD CEC members along with leaders of the Youth Working Group and warned them. They made them sign a pledge not to repeat such accusations.

The junta, in its mouthpiece newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, on Saturday said the statement by the NLD youth was “misleading and was disturbing the court’s proceedings,” in Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial.

“It is a threat to us as our members, including youths, have been warned about issuing statements, which we as a legal political party used to issue and have the right to,” Win Tin said.

“It is also a restriction of freedom of expression,” Win Tin added.

On June 4, the authorities called members of the NLD youth wing Hla Thein, Myo Nyunt, Hla Oo and Aye Tun and on June 5 called CEC members Than Htun, Nyunt Wei, Hla Phe and Soe Myint and warned them against issuing statements.

“When we were summoned, they read out a paper the content of which was similar to the context in the newspaper. They said, we had broken the law,” a youth member told Mizzima.

“After they finished reading, they told us to sign the paper as a confession that we had committed a crime,” he added.

READ MORE---> Warning to members is a threat to party: Win Tin...

Junta clampdown on exiled radio listeners

(DVB)–The Burmese junta has clamped down on the rising numbers of unlicensed radio owners in a move that media experts see as restriction on the freedom of media and access to pro-democracy broadcasts.

The ruling junta yesterday issued a warning in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper that those listening to radio without holding a license could be prosecuted under the Wireless Act.

The warning carried no information on why people would be prosecuted nor why numbers of listeners are increasing, but a Burmese journalist on the China-Burma border said the increase was linked to the political crisis.

“People tend to buy radios when there is a stir in politics,” he said.

“[The 2007 protests] was like it is now. As soon as it was like that, people bought radios. During 2003 Depayin (massacre), people bought [radios]."

He added that sales of shortwave radios manufactured by China, which are used by exiled Burmese media groups to broadcast, were also on the rise.

Coverage of the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi by domestic Burmese media is heavily controlled.

Heavily censored private newspapers and journals are restricted from publishing any information that isn't covered in the state-run publications.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders last month criticised the trial reporting as one-sided.

“Even with limited access, the Burmese public is not being properly informed as the military’s prior censorship prevents any independent coverage.”

The chairman of the exiled Burma Media Association (BMA) said the move is an attempt to restrict the freedom of media and a means to arrest listeners of exiled media.

"The military government's…legal actions on radio listeners who do not pay license fees… is an effort to hamper the people of Burma who have been depending more and more on foreign radios lately,” said Maung Maung Myint.

“Let's say, if they want to take action on listeners of foreign radios, they want to create a scenario in which they could arrest them not for listening to the radio but for not licensing their radios."

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

READ MORE---> Junta clampdown on exiled radio listeners...

Suu Kyi party warned over trial criticism: media

YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar authorities have summoned members of Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party to rebuke them for provoking "unrest" over a statement critical of her trial, state media reported Saturday.

Four senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) met officials for 30 minutes late Friday after comments by the party's youth wing were leaked to the website of a prominent blogger, the New Light of Myanmar said.

"Though NLD has rights for freedom of speech, the announcement... has harmed peace and stability and prevalence of law and order in the country and disturbed the trial proceedings of a court," the paper reported in English.

"That can mislead the people into misunderstanding the government, incite activities that may harm the public respect for the government, and cause unrest," it said.

Aung San Suu Kyi faces up to five years in jail on charges of breaching the conditions of her house arrest after a bizarre incident in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside home in May.

The NLD's youth members had circulated an internal document criticising the trial for being held mostly behind closed doors and highlighted international condemnation of the proceedings.

But the comments ended up on the "Niknayman" website, which is blocked in Myanmar as it is run by a well-known activist, and the New Light said their publication constituted a breach of the country's publishing laws.

The paper said the statement had falsely accused authorities of not allowing public reporting of the trial.

Local journalists and two Chinese reporters have been allowed in court along with diplomats to cover two of the 10 days of hearings being held inside Yangon's Insein prison, so far.

The four NLD members ordered to meet officials Friday were Than Tun, Nyunt Wai, Hla Pe and Soe Myint. They signed a document to acknowledge a formal warning by the authorities.

On Friday Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers presented appeal documents to a Yangon divisional court, asking the court to overturn a ban on three of four witnesses whom she called to give evidence at her trial.

A judge said a decision on the appeal would be given on Tuesday, June 9, three days before her prison trial reconvenes after a week-long adjournment.

US President Barack Obama has described the court proceedings as a "show trial" while Myanmar's usually reticent Asian neighbours have expressed strong concerns.

Japan's deputy minister for foreign affairs, Kenichiro Sasae, urged Myanmar's junta to listen to the concerns during his trip on Thursday and Friday to the capital Naypyidaw, the Japanese ministry said.

The Myanmar side replied that the government could not interfere in the trial, it added.

Sasae also said Tokyo hopes Myanmar will go ahead with establishing a democracy in line with international expectations, the ministry statement said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. Aung San Suu Kyi's party won 1990 polls but was never allowed to take office. She has been imprisoned for 13 of the past 19 years.

Elections are planned for next year but critics say they are designed only to entrench the military's power.

READ MORE---> Suu Kyi party warned over trial criticism: media...

NLD Accused of Violating Electronics Act

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Members of Burma’s main opposition party have been warned that they could be charged with violating the country’s infamous electronics act for publishing a statement about the trial of party leader Aung San Suu Kyi online, Burma’s state-run media reported on Saturday.

According to a report in The New Light of Myanmar, youth members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were told that posting a party statement about Suu Kyi’s trial on the Internet constituted a violation of Electronic Act 33 (A).

The law, which forbids unauthorized use of electronic media, was used against many pro-democracy dissidents in trials held at Insein Prison late last year, resulting in lengthy prison sentences for critics of the ruling regime’s crackdown on monks in 2007 and its response to Cyclone Nargis last May.

The report also suggested that the youth members may have broken other draconian censorship laws by posting the statement on the blog http://www.niknayman-niknayman.co.cc/ on June 3.

“Without seeking permission for publication, the announcement has reached the public. Therefore the announcement is against the printing and publishing registration law,” the newspaper reported.

However, the NLD youth members denied that they intended to post the statement on the blog, which is run by a Burmese exile. They said that it was merely being circulated among members of the party.

In the statement, the NLD youth members said they were saddened by the junta’s failure to respond to international calls for the unconditional release of Suu Kyi, and expressed doubts about the legality of her trial. They pointed out that the trial is being carried out under provisions of the 1974 constitution, which was abolished when the current regime seized power in 1988.

“The act of saying that the 1974 constitution has been dissolved without showing any firm proof is a lawless act,” the report in The New Light of Myanmar claimed.

The report also said that NLD central executive committee members would be held responsible for the actions of the party’s youth members because they had authorized the online publication of the statement.

The authorities warned the CEC members yesterday that the statement “harmed peace and stability and prevalence of law and order in the country and disturbed the trial proceedings of a court.”

According to The New Light of Myanmar, the NLD leaders were instructed to sign a statement showing that they had been warned about the situation. However, NLD spokesperson Han Thar Myint said that the NLD leaders refused to sign anything.

READ MORE---> NLD Accused of Violating Electronics Act...

Site of Collapsed Pagoda Sealed Off

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

Burmese authorities have banned the general public from entering the area of the collapsed Danok pagoda, local residents report.

People of Danok model village in Rangoon’s Dalla Township, where the pagoda is located, have also been warned not to talk about the accident. Local residents have been threatened with imprisonment if found talking to independent journalists.

In this photo taken on May 7, Danok pagoda is being renovated by Buddhist devotees and workers. (Photo: AP)

Burmese authorities have also banned reports in the media about the collapse of the ancient pagoda.

The 2,300 year-old pagoda, located in Danok model village in Rangoon’s Dalla township, collapsed last Saturday, killing at least 20 people and injuring about 150.

The wife of junta leader Than Shwe, members of their family and relatives of senior military officials had attended a ceremony at the pagoda on May 7, at which a sacred golden umbrella was hoisted to the top of the structure.

The association of Than Shwe’s wife, Kyiang Kyiang, and members of their family with the pagoda gave rise to a flood of speculation about the mystical significance of the accident.

The pagoda was being repaired at the time, however. The work was being carried out by the Shwe Than Lwin Company, owned by Burmese tycoon Kyaw Win.

No news about the collapsed pagoda has appeared in the official media, and one Rangoon journalist said a report written for her journal had been suppressed by the censorship board.

Local people, including family members of the victims, had been warned by the authorities not to talk to the press or even among themselves about the accident, said one resident. They were told they could face imprisonment of up to three years if they ignored the warning.

A man walks past the collapsed pagoda on May 31. (Photo: AP)

Fortune tellers were quick to find significance in the collapse of the pagoda, and elderly residents talked about the mystic powers the ancient structure was said to possess. Some said the pagoda shook when it disapproved of any visiting pilgrim. One local monk said the accident was a bad omen.

According to local lore, the pagoda was built by a Mon king. Its original name was said to be Dar Hnote, which means in Burmese “Take the knife back”—a reference to the site’s original use as a royal place of execution.

READ MORE---> Site of Collapsed Pagoda Sealed Off...

Veteran politician laments Burmese independence

(DVB)–In a poignant reminder of the extent to which democratic development in Burma has been crippled by the current junta, a veteran politician said yesterday that the political climate under British rule was markedly freer.

Speaking yesterday at a ceremony to mark his 93th birthday, Thakin Thein Pe, a formerly active member of the Burmese struggle for independence from British colonisation, said that quality of life for Burmese citizens has spiralled since 1948.

“When we fought for our independence [from the English], the English gave us freedom for our [political] movements,” he said.

“But now under the Burmese government, we are in misery. Independence is not always good to gain.”

The speech was observed by politicians, including members of the opposition National League for Democracy party, whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi is currently on trial, and a number of ethnic leaders.

The political climate under the current ruling junta has been thrown into the spotlight in the last month as the iconic opposition leader faces a possible five year prison sentence under spurious charges of breaching house arrest conditions.

Burma currently holds upwards of 2,100 political prisoners, and ranks poorly on a number of political freedom barometers.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders last year placed the country 170 out of 173 in its Press Freedom Index, while Transparency International gave it the penultimate spot, alongside Iraq, in its Corruption Perceptions Index.

Similarly, the World Health Organisation in 2000 ranked Burma’s healthcare system second worst in the world, and a number of political analysts, lawyers and former Burmese politicians have said that human rights violations carried out by the junta warrant intervention from the International Criminal Court.

Britain first gained control of Burma in 1824 and occupied until independence in 1948. It was not until 1962 however that a coup heralded the start of military rule and the end of a civilian government.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

READ MORE---> Veteran politician laments Burmese independence...

Police warn locals to stay silent about pagoda victims

(DVB)–Burmese government troops in Rangoon’s Dala township deployed to maintain security after a ancient pagoda collapsed on Saturday have warned locals not to talk about victims of the accident.

The 2,300-year-old Danok pagoda mysteriously collapsed whilst construction workers were carrying out renovation work, with various sourcing estimating up to 20 deaths. It stands at over 50 metres and is said to hold two Buddha relics.

A local in Dala, south-west of Rangoon, said police and military security was tight around the pagoda following its collapse.

“There are about 60 to 70 soldiers in the pagoda’s premises and they are telling people to say no one was killed or hurt when someone asks,” he said under condition of anonymity.

“About fifty people are still trapped underneath the debris.”

Most of the people trapped are navy soldiers who were volunteering in the renovation.

Locals said the army was using bulldozers to clear the debris yesterday while family members of the missing awaited news about their relatives.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

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Civil Servants Briefed on Suu Kyi ‘Scandal’

By AUNG THET WINE
The Irrawaddy News

RANGOON — The Burmese military government has ordered its civil servants in Naypyidaw not to criticize the junta and not to get involved in anti-government demonstrations, according to sources close to government officials in Naypyidaw.

In May, at governmental monthly meetings in Burma’s remote capital, Naypyidaw, all ministry officials instructed department heads to tell their subordinates to obey the order. Otherwise, they were told they would be punished or forced to resign.

A deputy director who works at a government ministry in Naypyidaw and who didn’t want to be named said that department heads were instructed to read out an order to their staff and to inform them about the Aung San Suu Kyi “scandal.”

Naypyidaw sources said that the content of the statement that was read out to government employees went along the lines of: “... Suu Kyi had an affair with an Indian gardener while she lived in India. After moving to England, she lived with a Burmese man before she got married to Michael Aris. The British government paid the travel costs for her return trip to Burma.”

The statement also alleged that some members of her party, the National League for Democracy, didn’t like her.

With regard to the current trial of Suu Kyi, ministry heads were reportedly ordered to tell their staff that the government had warned her many times about creating political instability in the country. However, she hadn’t heeded the warnings and was, therefore, being held in detention.

The statement went on to say that the military junta planned to release her on May 27; however, she accepted an American citizen into her house and so she was charged in accordance with the law.

The internal statement also reportedly included a denial by the junta that it had anything to do with the Depayin Massacre in 2003 when dozens of NLD supporters were beaten to death.

Department heads were told to conclude the statement by telling staff that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is a puppet of Western nations and that the West will put more pressure on Burma’s civil service if she is sentenced to jail. That is why, government employees were told, they should not become involved in the matter.

The ministry deputy director who wished to remain anonymous said that department heads were instructed to remind staff to concentrate on their own work and not get involved in the Suu Kyi trial. Otherwise, he said, they were told they would be fired.

The military government has also alerted the ministries for education, health, and science and technology to pass word down to the authorities at institutes, universities, colleges and state high schools that no demonstrations should be allowed to happen within their areas of responsibility, according to an associate professor at a Rangoon-based university.

The government also ordered educational authorities to prepare for more security guards within their grounds.

“The ministry officials told us if we found political campaign materials or discovered political activists at our universities, we had to inform the school authorities,” said the associate professor.

According to a source in Naypyidaw, some of the military officials in the capital are unsatisfied with the recent government charges against Suu Kyi. He said that even though the government was trying to restrict information being passed around the civil service, many government workers continue to talk about it.

Burmese pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi was last week brought before judges at Insein Special Court charged with violating the rules of her house arrest by allowing American intruder John William Yettaw to stay overnight at her Inya Lake home on May 3-5.

The trial is due to reconvene on Friday.

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Staff of Rangoon Journal Summoned by Censor Board

By ARKAR MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Senior editors and staff of the True News Journal in Rangoon were summoned to appear before the censor board of Burma’s military regime on Monday following the distribution of the publication at Insein Prison, the location of Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial.

The Press Scrutiny and Registration Board told the publication that it objected to the headline on a story written by Ludu Sein Win, an outspoken, veteran journalist, which said: “Newsmen dare express the truth and risk arrest.”

An unidentified staff of the journal apparently sold copies of the journal to people in the crowd outside the prison last week and displayed a small sign saying, “The True Journal which dares to report the truth,” according to sources.

The staff who sold the journal in front of the prison was arrested in the journal’s office on May 28, sources said, and later released.

According to World Report 2009 by Reporters without Borders, a global media watchdog group, “Burma is a paradise for censors, one of the very few countries where all publications are subjected to prior censorship. After China and Cuba, it is the world's largest prison for journalists and bloggers.”

The junta sets out to physically and psychologically break imprisoned journalists by sending them to prisons far from the capital, according to political activists.

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Thailand’s Crisis: Lessons for Burma

By PAVIN CHACHAVALPONGPUN
MAY — JUNE, 2009 - VOLUME 17 NO.3
The Irrawaddy News

Power-holders must learn that the voice of the majority is the true voice of democracy

WHAT does Thailand’s protracted political crisis tell its neighboring countries? What are the lessons to be learned from the Thai experiences? And what is the most vital message for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which Thailand is a member, as the organisation moves toward a greater regional integration?

The current political stalemate in Thailand is the work of two competing networks: one that supports former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the other the old establishment.

Thaksin is represented by the red-shirt movement which comprises the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the poor in far-flung regions and underprivileged Thais. The old establishment is supported by the Bangkok elite, part of the military and big business. Its proxy agent is the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose members wear yellow shirts that symbolize the king’s color.

The battle between the two political networks has been ferocious. When red-shirted protesters forced the cancellation of the Asean summit in Pattaya on April 11 and raged in the streets of Bangkok days later, it signalled that at least one side of the network was willing to engage in a warlike fight to undermine its opponent. In the process, leaders of both networks claimed to act for democracy. But their brands of democracy have so far failed to untie the political deadlock.

The deep turmoil in Thailand reveals certain realities that have long existed in the countries of Southeast Asia. Yet, leaders in the region have pretended not to see them. This time, as Thailand found itself on the brink of becoming a failed state, a few lessons could be learned by its neighboring countries.

First, the continuing crisis and escalating violence imply that democracy has remained a fragile commodity. A decade ago, Thailand was praised for its rapid economic development and progressive democratization. Today, its political domain is transformed into a battlefield between two powerful forces possessing different ideologies.

The Thai case shows that an elected government with excessive power, living on corruption and lack of respect for human rights, can be vulnerable; that traditional power-holders must face up to modern-day reality whereby the voice of the majority is the true voice of democracy; that the military has to be depoliticised for the sake of democracy; and that violent means employed to serve political purposes only further alienate democracy.

The rise of the red-shirt movement has the potential to unleash a new political wave in certain Southeast Asian states where people have been denied democratic rights. Not every member of the red shirts supports Thaksin. Some have participated in the rallies genuinely for the return of real democracy.

Second, although the power struggle is a part of Thailand’s democratic evolution and this proves that the country has come a long way since the political transition in 1932, its political drama does not necessarily encourage positive changes in certain parts of the region. It could send out the wrong message.

The message, for example, that anti-government activities must not be tolerated because stability is more precious than democratic rights; that challenges to the ruling regime must not be allowed; and that Western democracy is not really compatible with Asian societies—a canard fostered by Asian leaders for generations.

In other words, the Thai conflict could convince illegitimate regimes elsewhere, including Burma, to tighten their grip on power in fear of public disobedience and uncontrollable situations.

Third, Asean has been led to believe that the sole major obstacle to regional integration stems from the widening gap between the more and the less economically developed members. Unless Asean closes this economic gap, regional integration will remain largely elusive.

Yet, Asean leaders have overlooked the fact that a widening political gap, in terms of different levels of democratic development, has also affected the process of regionalism. The Thai political unrest has already delayed Asean gatherings. The political storm has held back the Thai leadership in Asean. The organisation has been operating on autopilot since last year. Its slow response to the global financial crisis proved this point.

However, this is not Thailand’s problem alone. The gap in the levels of democratization in the region has so far tarnished the good work Asean has achieved in other areas.

This existing political gap has produced different mentalities and attitudes among Asean leaders as they look ahead into the future. Some are enthusiastic about Asean’s newborn regionalism. Some are using Asean as merely a symbol of their duplicitous embrace of international norms and practices.

Both Thailand and Asean have a long way to go to meet their objectives. The crisis in Thailand can be used to remind its neighbors that true democratization is an extremely arduous process. But its postponement would only make this exercise even more excruciating and troublesome.

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Media Watchdog Criticizes ‘One-Sided’ Coverage of Suu Kyi Trial

By ARKAR MOE
The Irrawaddy News

The international media watchdog organization Reporters Without Borders released a statement on Thursday condemning Burma’s ruling military junta for allowing only one-sided coverage of the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a press release dated May 28, the group urged the regime to lift all restrictions on coverage of the trial, in which the Nobel Peace Prize laureate faces charges of violating the terms of her house arrest for allowing an American intruder into her home.

Since the trial began last Monday, Burmese journalists from Rangoon-based publications have complained that they cannot report on it freely due to heavy restrictions on press freedom.

They added that they have been told by the authorities to base their reports on “official” accounts contained in state-run publications such as The New Light of Myanmar. They have also been instructed not to print photos of Suu Kyi.

“We are permitted to publish reports about this news in similar terms to those of the state-run newspapers,” said an editor working with a leading journal in Rangoon, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday.

“We cannot report or quote what we want,” he added. “We can only report [what we’ve been told].”

In an apparent response to complaints about the lack of transparency surrounding the trial, on May 26 the regime allowed 25 Burmese journalists into the courtroom inside Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison. Ten of the journalists worked for Burmese media and 15 were local journalists working for international news agencies.

Ten journalists were previously allowed to attend the trial on May 20.

However, this slight concession to international pressure has done little to convince Suu Kyi’s supporters that she will receive a fair trial.

Nyan Win, a spokesperson for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy on Friday: “Burmese newspapers are controlled by the military government, and it was the government that charged Aung San Suu Kyi. So we cannot expect a free and fair trial.”

Reporters Without Borders was also unimpressed with the junta’s gesture, which came amid a growing outcry from Western governments and even some of Burma’s Asian neighbors, who have traditionally been reluctant to speak out about the country’s “internal matters.”

“The military government’s gestures of openness towards the media are inconsistent,” said Reporters Without Borders. “Burmese journalists are or are not allowed into the trial at the military’s whim, while foreign journalists are carefully kept away.”

“The Burmese public is not being properly informed as the military’s prior censorship prevents any independent coverage. The lack of transparency makes a fair verdict even more unlikely,” said the group in its press release.

The ban on unauthorized coverage also extends to so-called “citizen journalists,” who have been warned by police stationed outside the prison not to take photos of Suu Kyi or her supporters.

A Burmese journalist in Rangoon who is working with a foreign news agency told The Irrawaddy that he is constantly confronted with difficulties when confirming details deemed by the Burmese authorities to be “sensitive matters.”

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PHOENIX entertainment journal suspended this week

by May Kyaw

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burma’s censor board suspended the publishing license of the ‘PHOENIX’, an entertainment journal for this week’s issue after it published some censored news.

The censor board under the Burmese Ministry of Information suspended the publishing of this week’s issue of this journal. It is published every Thursday.

The censor board also reminded the journal authorities to publish only entertainment news.

“They have no time to edit when the journal is being censored. The censor board can give them permission to publish only on Wednesday. But they already published the journal by that time,” a person belonging to the censor board circle said.

The journal fraternity said that they do not have enough time to make necessary changes if the censor board sends its censored and finalized draft copy on Wednesday for the Thursday issue.

This journal reported the news of objection by the ‘Eleven Media Group’ against the ‘Lucky Eleven’ advertisement by Yangon Media Group in its 27 May issue by carrying out interviews on legal ground.

Though the economic impact on the journal due to a week’s suspension is not too heavy, its marketing will be hit for the newly published journal.

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Internet users watched in northern Burma

Written by KNG

The Burmese military junta’s surveillance of internet cafés has given cold feet to internet users in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in Northern Burma, a source said.

A local internet user said the secret police in plainclothes drop into internet cafés and look around. They stand or sit beside internet users to monitor which website they are surfing.

“I saw a police woman using the internet sitting beside me and she was checking what I was surfing all the time. Initially, I didn’t know that she was a policewoman but later I understood when I saw her police identity card beside her chair,” an internet user told KNG.

She added that in internet cafés, not many users surf banned websites but they view other sites also. If the police keep checking every time, it disturbs them.

There are less than 10 internet cafes in Myitkyina downtown and the charges for surfing are 1,000 kyats equivalent to about US $1 for an hour. Not many internet cafés are safe to use in town, she added.

This year in February, the police detained two Kachin local internet users from Yuzana quarter for surfing websites banned by the ruling military junta, said a resident.

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