Burma Newscasts

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Myanmar says Suu Kyi refused to meet liaison minister

YANGON: Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has refused to meet with the minister assigned to organise the junta's contacts with her, the government announced in state media on Tuesday.

In a television broadcast hours after United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari left the military-ruled nation, the regime accused the democracy icon and her party of setting impossible conditions for dialogue with the generals.

"After your previous visit, we proposed two times for dialogue between relations minister Aung Kyi and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but she did not accept it," a broadcaster quoted information minister Kyaw Hsan as telling Gambari.

"Regarding to the dialogue between the government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, our side is always opening the door for dialogue," the broadcaster said, using the honorific "Daw" to refer to Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung Kyi's appointment to coordinate junta contacts with Aung San Suu Kyi in October 2007 was seen as a major sop to the West after the violent suppression of massive anti-junta demonstrations in September that year.

But their last meeting was in January 2008, and Aung San Suu Kyi said soon after she was "not satisfied" with the way the dialogue was progressing.

Instead, the junta has forged ahead with its own "Roadmap to Democracy" which its says will lead to multi-party elections in 2010 but which dissidents deride as a sham as it does not include Aung San Suu Kyi.

Gambari met with the Nobel peace laureate on Monday. She refused to meet the Nigerian diplomat on his previous visit to Myanmar in August 2008, apparently after he failed to secure any concrete reform pledges from the regime.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party said soon after her meeting with Gambari on Monday that she was frustrated with the lack of progress in Myanmar toward genuine dialogue between the junta and opposition.

The NLD also reiterated that the party - which won 1990 elections subsequently ignored by the junta - would only sit down for dialogue if all political prisoners were released and the 1990 election results were honoured.

Kyaw Hsan accused the NLD of being unrealistic.

"(Dialogue) cannot succeed by asking for the impossible without standing on the reality," he was quoted as saying. (JEG's: reality, what is Burma's reality? the largest poorest jail in SE Asia? maybe the fattening of the generals on account of the poor citizens? Burma's reality is the advanced development of corruption)

"If she abandons these demands, even the head of state himself will meet directly with her ... dialogue cannot be done by only one side."

He also defended the harsh jail sentences handed down to at least 270 democracy activists at the end of 2008, most in connection with the September 2007 protests led by Buddhist monks.

"Regarding those who were imprisoned, it was done in accordance with the law. Those who were sentenced have the right to appeal according to the existing laws," state TV quoted him as saying. (JEG's: but who is going to defend the appeals when the solicitors are also being imprisoned for not supporting the junta)

Human rights groups have decried the jails terms - some as long as 104 years - as an effort by the junta to suppress any dissenting voices ahead of their much-trumpeted 2010 elections.

Gambari left Myanmar on Tuesday after a four-day visit during which he failed to meet any of the senior junta leadership including head of state Senior General Than Shwe, despite his aim to foster dialogue.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been kept under house arrest for most of the last 19 years, enraging Western governments which have imposed sanctions on the regime. - Channel New Asia-AFP/de

Burma demands end to sanctions

YANGON (Bangkok Post-AFP) - Burma's prime minister on Tuesday asked visiting UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari to push Western nations to end their sanctions if they wanted to see political reform, state media reported.

The United States and Europe have a raft of economic sanctions against the military-ruled nation to protest against human rights abuses and the long-running detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The UN should try to remove economic sanctions (on Burma) if it really wants a stable political situation with economic development,'' a television newscaster quoted Prime Minister Thein Sein as telling Gambari.

"The political situation can be stable if the economic situation is stable. We have been trying amid many kinds of difficulties, but you cannot ask us to run by tying the legs with rope. You need to release the rope,'' he added. (JEG's: this sounds like an echo from Mr Obama)

Thein Sein met Gambari on Tuesday on the last day of the Nigerian diplomat's four-day visit to Burma aimed at nudging the junta toward democratic reform.

Their meeting also touched upon a rumoured visit to Burma by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"The visit of the UN secretary general depends on the time and conditions,'' state media reported the premier as saying.

During a separate meeting with Gambari on Monday, Aung San Suu Kyi told the envoy that any visit by the UN head should be conditional on the release of her and all other political prisoners.

Gambari left Burma on Tuesday after failing to meet any of the senior junta leadership including head of state Senior General Than Shwe.

Thein Sein is thought to exert little control over the country, as all real power lies with Than Shwe and the military junta.

NCUB Applauds British Minister Bill Rammell for his criticism of Burma's 2010 sham elections

Bangkok, 04 February, (Asiantribune.com): The National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) applauds Britain’s Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Bill Rammell, for his strong criticism of the Burmese military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The NCUB implores other members of the international community to heed Bill Rammell's important message and reject the junta's sham and one-sided elections scheduled for 2010.

The NCUB calls on the international community to actively support the Burmese citizens who have suffered under the SPDC's brutal military regime for decades and reject the faux elections the junta is using to entrench military rule in Burma.

The junta continues to refuse to recognize the results of Burma's free and fair 1990 General Elections, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory, and it is going to use the 2010 sham elections to solidify its rule and create a civilian façade for it. Whatever the pretences, the SPDC is not moving toward democracy and, on the other hand, it continues to viciously violate basic democratic principles.

The SPDC must end its military attacks against ethnic population in Burma and begin a national reconciliation process with Burma's political stakeholders. As long as the junta continues to refuse a meaningful, time]bound political dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic nationalities the international community must refuse to recognize the 2010 elections.

- Asian Tribune -

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Authorities restrict permits for internet cafes

By Ahunt Phone Myat

(DVB)–Residents of Shan state's Kalaw township have complained that local authorities have refused to grant permits for new internet cafes, leaving the owner of the sole internet shop with a monopoly on prices.

A Kalaw resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, told DVB the only internet cafe in town was located in the government’s Defence Services Command and General Staff College compounds and was run by a man with close ties to the authorities.

"We don't get permits for internet cafes in Kalaw because that guy who owns the only shop is friends with the head of the university," he said.

"It costs 2000 kyat [to use the internet]. Can you believe it?"

He said five town residents had applied for permits to open internet cafes since late last year and had paid all the necessary fees but the permits had still not been granted.

"They want to keep the business for themselves so they won't give anyone permits," the resident said.
(JEG's: they want to have control on what goes out and what comes in, that is the reason for the restrictions)

The Myanma Post and Telecommunications department was unavailable for comment.

No Concrete Results for Gambari

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

United Nations Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari on Tuesday concluded his seventh official visit to Burma after a meeting with Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein in Rangoon. However, the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win said that there had been no developments during the envoy's visit.

"During our meeting with Mr Gambari, the NLD made a stand and he listened carefully to what we said. However, we have not received a response to our demands. So far, we cannot see any developments from this trip."

UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari (2nd L) meets senior leaders of the opposition National League for Democracy party at the state guesthouse in Rangoon on February 2. Pictured are (L-R): Personal assistant to Gambari, Gambari, NLD Central Executive Committee member U Than Tun, CEC member U Soe Myint, NLD Chairman U Aung Shwe, CEC member U Hla Pe, CEC member U Nyunt Wai and Aung San Suu Kyi. (Photo: Reuters/ MNA)

Aye Win, an official with the UN Information Centre in Rangoon, said on Tuesday that the Nigerian diplomat left Burma at about 4:30 p.m. local time. He added that Gambari had not flown to the Burmese regime's new capital, Naypyidaw, nor met with other high-ranking generals or junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

“Today Mr Gambari met with Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein at 2 p.m. for about one hour,” he said on Tuesday. “The envoy also sat again with the government’s 'spokes authoritative team' today.”

Aye Win said Gambari was able to meet all the persons who were on his itinerary before the trip.

He said Gambari also held meetings on Tuesday with pro-junta political groups, such as the so-called "88 Generation Students and Youth (Union of Myanmar)" group and the Wintharnu NLD, a splinter group from the NLD.

Aye Win confirmed that the UN envoy had met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and senior members of her party, the NLD, on Monday.

“In past trips, Mr Gambari met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD separately. But yesterday's meeting was with the NLD and her together. It was the first time in the envoy’s seven visits,” he said.

Burma analysts questioned whether the Nigerian diplomat would make an eighth trip to Burma as he has only been granted an audience with Than Shwe once in seven visits.

“This could be Gambari’s final trip," said Larry Jagen, a Bangkok-based British journalist who focuses on Burma. "He is unlikely to return to Burma in the near future."

He said that Gambari had only achieved limited objectives: he was able to meet Suu Kyi and he laid the groundwork for another visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; but still he was unable to meet with Than Shwe.

Meanwhile, the Burmese authorities refused to allow recently released political prisoners Win Tin and Khin Maung Swe join the five other members of the NLD who met with Gambari and Suu Kyi, sources within the party said.

Win Tin, 79, an executive member of the NLD and a former journalist, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that before the meeting with Gambari, the Special Branch of Burma's police force told the NLD that he and Khin Maung Swe could not attend the meeting.

Win Tin was Suu Kyi’s close aide in the late 1990s before he was arrested. He has spent some 19 years in prison. Observers say Win Tin was the mastermind behind the NLD’s civil disobedience movement in 1989.

"Preventing us meeting with a UN envoy who is here to discuss political issues in the country demonstrates that political rights in Burma have vanished," said Win Tin.

The other barred NLD central committee member, Khin Maung Swe, was twice arrested and has served lengthy imprisonments.

Win Tin and Khin Maung Swe were both released in September. Soon after their release, they resumed their political activities within the party.

State-run media and private weekly journals were recently coerced by the authorities to publish articles attacking Win Tin and Khin Maung Swe, according to journalists in Rangoon.

NLD sources said that at the meeting with Gambari, Suu Kyi reiterated her call for the release of political prisoners and spoke about her disappointment in Burma’s legal system, reflected in the heavy prison sentences, one of 104 years, handed down to dissidents, as well as the harassment of activists' lawyers by security forces.

Win Tin said Suu Kyi had also endorsed the NLD’s four demands for a political solution in Burma:

* freedom of political prisoners (including herself);
* a genuine dialogue between the ruling junta and the opposition;
* convening the parliament;
* and the forming of a committee to review the constitution.

Suu Kyi healthy but concerned over absence of rule of law in Burma

By Than Htike Oo

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, still under house arrest, is healthy but is concerned over the absence of rule of law in Burma.

The Nobel Peace Laureate expressed her concern to her colleagues – the five members of National League for Democracy (NLD) party Central Executive Committee' (CEC) - during the 15-minute meeting with them at Seinle Kantha government guest house in Rangoon on Monday.

"The first message is about her health situation. She is healthy. The second point is intra-party affairs. Regarding these, Daw Suu said that she supported the party CEC on their current position and on their political attitude, political stand, political history among others," U Win Tin, a party leader, told Mizzima.

"The third message she gave us is on 'the rule of law in Burma'. She pointed out that the most crucial factor in Burma is the rule of law. She also said that this is the prime work we have to do," he added.

After the meeting with CEC members -- Aung Shwe, Than Tun, Thakin Soe Myint, Nyunt Wai and Hla Pe, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had a meeting with UN special envoy Mr. Gambari separately along with her five CEC members which lasted about one and-a-half hours.

They reiterated their position to the visiting UN envoy regarding putting pressure on the Burmese regime to release all political prisoners, reviewing the new constitution, honouring the 1990 general election results and convening parliament on its basis.

Mr. Gambari arrived in Burma on January 31 on a four- day visit and he first met junta's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win and officials of UN offices and UN agencies in Rangoon.

Subsequently, he met the junta's Relations Minister Aung Kyi, Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw San, Minister of Health Dr. Kyaw Myint, Referendum Commission, junta-backed 'Union Solidarity and Development Association' (USDA) and Rangoon based diplomats.

On the final day of his visit, he met junta's Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Sein and left Rangoon today.

Burma's opium poppy growers return to their fields

By Larry Jagan

(Mizzima) -Opium poppy cultivation in Burma has increased alarmingly in the past two years amid fears that region's worsening economic crisis will encourage an even greater spurt in growth, warns the United Nations.

Falling international commodity prices and increase political instability in Burma's border area has fuelled fears that many of Burma's poppy farmers will find it impossible to resist the temptation to return to their old ways. In the past few years there has been a dramatic fall in the area under poppy cultivation and opium production, but these gains have been reversed in the past two years, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) annual survey just released.

"The problem of poppy production in the region has been contained but not solved," the UNODC chief in Bangkok, Gary Lewis told Mizzima. "There have been significant increases, especially in Myanmar, which are threatening to rise further because of the worsening economic conditions faced by former poppy farmers."

More than ninety percent of the poppy grown in south-east Asia – Burma, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam – is grown in Burma's north-eastern Shan State, though significant strides have been made in Burma over the past decade to dramatically reduce the cultivation of poppy and the production of opium.

Poppy cultivation has fallen from more than 120,000 hectares under poppy cultivation to around 30,000 in 2008 in Burma. Opium production has fallen from more than 1300 metric tonnes to 410 during this period. This is the equivalent of producing 40 tonnes of heroin. This reduction has been largely the result of international pressure on two of the largest opium producers in Burma's Golden Triangle – which borders China, Laos and Thailand -- the Kokang and the Wa. Both are rebel ethnic groups, with large guerrilla forces, but have ceasefire agreements with the Myanmar government.

The Kokang virtually ceased opium production in 2003 and the Wa in 2006. But in the past two years both poppy cultivation and opium production have begun to grow again. "The trend is certainly upwards with a significant increase in the land under cultivation in Myanmar," said Leik Boonwaat, UNODC chief in Laos, who has also been stationed in Myanmar. "For former opium farmers who already live in dire poverty are facing twin levers of increasing opium prices and falling commodity prices that may encourage them to reduce poppy growing."

The prices of most commodities grown or produced in Burma as alternatives to poppy, particularly maize and rubber, have fallen by more than fifty percent, according to the UN's annual drug report. Tens of thousands of former poppy farmers are facing a bleak future, according to an ethnic leader in northern Burma, who declined to be identified. They are almost certain to resume growing poppy, simply to survive, he said.

Most of the Wa and Kokang's alternative crops -- tea, rubber and fruit – are sold to traders across the border in China. But these merchants are no longer interested in buying these products from Burmese producers as demand in China has all but dried up.

Chinese traders are not even buying jade from the Pangsan market. There are even tougher times ahead for the Wa in particular, a source in their capital told Mizzima on condition of anonymity. The leaders are really worried about the future, he added.

"The price of opium has more than doubled in the past few years – from $153 a kilogramme in 2004 to $ 301 currently on the Myanmar market – making it hard for former opium growers to ignore this incentive to return to poppy cultivation," Leik Boonwaat told Mizzima.

With declining prices for their substitute crops and soaring market prices for opium, thousands of former poppy growers are at risk of returning to their traditional crop to produce the extra cash income they need.

Already there are significant signs that Burma's poppy growers are returning to their old trade. In the past two years there has been a distinct upward trend, according to the UN's latest annual report. Although opium production fell a little last year compared to the year before, this is because the yield was worse.

The greatest increase has been in Southern Shan state, where the Wa leadership is in the hands of the Chinese gangster Wei Xiao Gang – who is wanted on trafficking charges in the United States.

While the UN survey suggests that in the main Wa area – Wa Special Region 2 – there has been no resumption yet of poppy cultivation, there has been a steady increase in both eastern and northern Shan state. More worrying is the steady increase in poppy cultivation in both Kachin and Kayah states.

The fragile situation in the northern Wa areas is also of great concern to international anti-drug agencies, according to senior Thai intelligence officers. So far the Wa ban on poppy production, punishable by death, is holding but this may not be the case in the year.

Wa leaders have always know that the situation remained precarious – the ban was never a popular move – and depended on the poor Wa farmers having greater food security and an alternative source of a cash income.

"The Wa leaders may even be forced to renege on their promises to the UN and international community if the economic and security situation deteriorates further," a UN drugs official familiar with the problems in Shan state told Mizzima, but declined to be identified.

The current political problems in Burma – the planned elections in 2010 and the junta's efforts to disarm the ceasefire groups, especially the Wa -- is dramatically increasing instability in the border regions, which have been traditional opium producing areas and this mounting uncertainty is also going to increase the pressure on former opium growers to return to their poppy fields.

Aware of these problems – and the danger of more former growers resuming poppy cultivation, the UN believes there is an even greater need now to step up action against the drug smugglers.

"Already there are important measures in place for the cooperation and exchange of intelligence between drug enforcement agencies in the region – through the border liaison offices that were established several years ago," said Mr. Lewis.

Smuggling routes have changed in the past few years, with tighter border controls especially along the Myanmar border with China. "Certainly traffickers have had to change their transport methods and routes – much is now being moved through Laos from Myanmar, to meet the demand of the drug addicts in southern China, Thailand and Vietnam," said Mr. Boonwaat.

But some of the Golden Triangle opium production is heading out to India, Europe and the United States through the Rangoon port, according to Burmese government officials.

Last week the authorities seized some 118 kilogrammes of heroin stowed away on a ship, the Kota Tegap, headed for Italy via Singapore. It was hidden between planks of timber that was part of an export consignment.

The ship is owned by the ethnic Chinese Burmese businessman, Kyaw Sein and left the Asia World terminal, owned by the son of the notorious former drug baron Lo Hsing Han. Tun Myint Naing is also targetted by US sanctions. So far no arrests have been made, but investigations are continuing, according Burmese officials.

The ship had actually sailed, before it was ordered to return to port. It was Chinese intelligence who alerted their Burmese counterparts.

"This type of intelligence sharing is happening on a regular basis," Pithaya Jinawat, the deputy Secretary general of Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) told Mizzima.

"The Chinese have tipped off the Thai authorities and Lao officials on several occasions in the past couple of years that have resulted in seizures of illicit drugs and the arrest of many traffickers," he said.

"There is no room for complacency," said Mr. Lewis "There is much more that needs to be done." In particular, to combat the money laundering of the proceeds of illegal activities and the illicit drugs trade.

Not all countries in the region have put anti-money laundering legislation in place. But then law enforcement agencies, judges and advocates all need to be trained. In this regard Asia has a long way to go.

But perhaps UNODC's biggest problem in trying to stamp out drug production and trafficking in the region is the lack of funds. The agency needs more financial support from donors to be able to effectively carry out all its work – especially in Myanmar," Mr. Boonwaat confided.

For the donors who provide these funds, there is a much greater concern: the spiralling growth in meta-amphetamines (ATS). As the UN tireless tackles the problem of opium production – the Chinese gangsters in the Golden Triangle have turned increasingly to yaa baa (as ATS is commonly known in this region).

Our fear is the production of yaa ba has become the most effective crop substitution for the Red Wa and the Chinese gangsters who back them," said a Thai military intelligence officer on condition of anonymity.

Junta builds weapons factory in central Burma

By Zarni

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Burma's ruling military junta has completed construction of nearly half of a new factory that will produce military weapons and tanks, sources said.

The source, close to the construction company, said the new weapons factory was being built in central Burma's Magwe division in Seatottaryar Township, by the 'Chan Aye' construction company.

"The construction has been going on for about two years, and about half of the factory has been completed so far. As far as I know, the factory will produce weapons as well as tanks," the source, who declined to be named for fear of reprisal, told Mizzima.

The Chan Aye Construction Company is a joint venture between several ex-military servicemen and is engaged in various military constructions.

Reportedly, local residents near the area of the factory construction said several acres of their farm lands, had been seized by the government, without providing any compensation.

"I had about 20 acres of land in the area and cultivated beans and other vegetables on it. But, the authorities destroyed my crops with a bulldozer and cleared my land for construction," a local resident told Mizzima.

More boat people, three media reports

Three articles on Rohingyas set adrift by the generous, kind and loving Thai Navy/authorities, pushed out of their homes by the so generous, Bhuddhist, loving Than Shwe and the loving, caring Indonesia trial them and threat with deporting them back to the root of the drifters' problems. If this is love, we must show them the real meaning of LOVE, KINDNESS and CARING for HUMAN BEINGS.

* 200 migrants found adrift
* Boat people set adrift by Thailand land in Indonesia
* Nearly 200 Myanmar migrants found off Indonesia

200 migrants found adrift

BANDA ACEH (Indonesia) - A WOODEN boat with nearly 200 Myanmar migrants on board was found drifting off Indonesia's Sumatra island, a local navy official said on Tuesday.

The migrants, from Myanmar's minority Muslim Rohingya community, told their rescuers they had been adrift for three weeks after being towed out to sea and abandoned by Thai security forces, navy lieutenant Tedi said.

Read recent related stories from ST's correspondent:

Cows that wander have more rights than Rohingya tribe. Driven out, and barely surviving.

A region squeezed between two worlds He told AFP that the migrants said 20 people had died at sea during their journey to Sumatra.

'Fishermen found a wooden boat without an engine drifting in the sea with 198 Myanmar migrants. They said Thai authorities towed them out to sea and set them adrift,' Mr Tedi said.

'They were drifting for about 21 days. Most of them are in critical condition and are receiving treatment at a local state hospital in East Aceh district.'

The migrants said they had left their homes in Myanmar's western Arakan state because they were being forced to embrace Buddhism.

Myanmar's military rulers effectively deny citizenship rights to the Rohingya, leading to discrimination and abuse and contributing to a regional humanitarian crisis as hundreds try to flee the country by boat every year.

About 1,000 Rohingya were allegedly abused by Thai security forces and dumped at sea in recent weeks, but so far only about 650 have been found in Indonesian and Indian waters, leading to grave fears for the rest.

'Some of them are families. They have been driven out of Thailand.

Communication is still difficult as most of them don't speak English,' Tedi said.

Indonesia found about 170 Rohingya migrants adrift off Sumatra on January 7 and has said they probably will be repatriated to Myanmar despite their fears of persecution if they are forced to return. -- AFP

Boat people set adrift by Thailand land in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia: An Indonesian navy official says 198 boat people from Myanmar have been picked up off the coast of Aceh in critical condition.

Officer Tedi Sutardi, citing witness accounts, said Tuesday that 22 passengers died on a 21-day voyage from Thailand.

The small wooden boat was found by fisherman Monday drifting off northern Sumatra.

Sutardi says it had no engine and that the passengers had run out of food and water.

It is the second load of Rohingyas, a stateless Muslim group facing decades of persecution in Myanmar, to arrive in Indonesia in a month.

Sutardi says the survivors recounted being beaten and set adrift by Thai authorities.

Nearly 200 Myanmar migrants found off Indonesia

Rohingya migrants outside Ranong police station

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: A wooden boat with nearly 200 Myanmar migrants on board was found drifting off Indonesia's Sumatra island, a local navy official said Tuesday.

The migrants, from Myanmar's minority Muslim Rohingya community, told their rescuers they had been adrift for three weeks after being towed out to sea and abandoned by Thai security forces, navy lieutenant Tedi said.

He told AFP that the migrants said 20 people had died at sea during their journey to Sumatra.

"Fishermen found a wooden boat without an engine drifting in the sea with 198 Myanmar migrants. They said Thai authorities towed them out to sea and set them adrift," Tedi said.

"They were drifting for about 21 days. Most of them are in critical condition and are receiving treatment at a local state hospital in East Aceh district."

The migrants said they had left their homes in Myanmar's western Arakan state because they were being forced to embrace Buddhism.

Myanmar's government effectively denies citizenship rights to the Rohingya, leading to discrimination and abuse and contributing to a regional humanitarian crisis as hundreds try to flee the country by boat every year.

About 1,000 Rohingya were allegedly abused by Thai security forces and dumped at sea in recent weeks, but so far only about 650 have been found in Indonesian and Indian waters, leading to grave fears for the rest.

"Some of them are families. They have been driven out of Thailand. Communication is still difficult as most of them don't speak English," Tedi said.

Indonesia found about 170 Rohingya migrants adrift off Sumatra on January 7 and has said they probably will be repatriated to Myanmar despite their fears of persecution if they are forced to return.

- AFP/yt

More Burmese 'boat people' rescued after being cast out of Thailand

A Rohingya Muslim from Burma is taken to a hospital
after being rescued off the coast of Indonesia
Photograph: Stringer/indonesia/Reuters

Ian MacKinnon, south-east Asia correspondent
Guardian Co

Survivors say 22 migrants from Burma's Rohingya Muslim minority died at sea

Fishermen have rescued another 198 starving Burmese "boat people" after their vessel, which had no engine, was towed out to sea by Thai security forces and cast adrift, an Indonesian naval officer said today.

Survivors packed on board the fragile wooden boat, which was spotted drifting near Aceh, off the northern coast of Sumatra, said they had been in the open sea for about three weeks, during which 22 of the migrants from Burma's Rohingya Muslim minority had died.

Some of those on board – including a 13-year-old boy – were in a critical condition when they were discovered late yesterday. At least 56 were treated at Idirayeuk hospital for severe dehydration, while the rest were being cared for at the town's district office.

The Rohingya said they were part of a group of 1,000 migrants who had been working illegally in Thailand when they were detained last month, put into eight or nine boats and towed out to sea.

The latest incident isthe second case of a boatloadof Rohingya migrants to be picked up off Aceh in less than a month, allegedly after being cast adrift with little food and water by the Thai military. On 7 January 193 people were discovered near Indonesia's Sanbang island. Indonesia's foreign ministry insists they will be deported to Burma as they are economic migrants, despite their fears of persecution.

Others have washed up on India's Andaman islands , but more than 330 are missing, feared drowned.

Under intense international pressure, the Thai prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, promised to investigate the scandal. But he gave the task to the very unit accused of the abuses, the controversial Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc).

The vessel in which the latest migrants were discovered had been lashed together with rope. They had not eaten for a week and were so tightly packed that they only had room to stand.

"Fishermen found a wooden boat without an engine drifting in the sea with 198 Myanmar [Burmese] migrants," said the Indonesian navy officer Tedi Sutardi. "They said the Thai authorities towed them out to sea and set them adrift.

"Their boat was small. It's only 12m [40ft] long and 3m wide. It had almost come apart and was held together with ropes. They were standing in the boat for 21 days because there was no space to sit. It's a miracle they survived."

According to Sutardi, the survivors recounted beatings by the Thai security forces after their arrest for illegal entry.

The Rohingya – a stateless minority with few rights – say they left Burma to escape brutal treatment at the hands of the military junta.

Thousands cross into neighbouring Bangladesh during the dry season when seas are calmer. From there they board rickety boats in the hope of reaching Thailanden route to Muslim countries such as Malaysia or Indonesia, guided by people smugglers who charge up to £500 each.

Rohingya Face More Hardships at Home, Abroad

By LAWI WENG
The Irrawaddy News

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will talk to 66 Rohingya boat people on Tuesday, after a Thai court convicted them of illegally entering the country, a UNHCR spokesperson said on Monday.

The UNHCR was granted access to 12 teenagers from a group of 78 Rohingya detained last week.

Kitty McKinsey, the regional spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Asia, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the UNHCR will meet members of the group to determine if some want to seek political asylum in Thailand.

The Thai-English newspaper Bangkok Post reported on Monday that the Thai Defense Ministry permanent secretary Gen Aphichart Penkitti told that the UNHCR and Thailand should devise ways to work together on the Rohingya issue.

The Thai government and the UNHCR might work together to resolve issues of political asylum requests, McKinsey said.

The latest batch of detained Rohingya arrived in Thailand with claims that they were beaten and tortured by the Burmese army after their boat was intercepted at sea by the Burmese navy. Many had wounds on their backs and were treated at a hospital in southern Thailand. Other Rohingyas are believed to have perished at sea.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim ethnic minority who face harsh treatment by Burmese authorities. They are prohibited from travelling outside Arakan State and are further marginalized by other discriminatory laws imposed by the military regime.

The Burmese regime maintains that Rohingya are not part of the 100 ethnic groups in Burma.

Last week, a Burmese state-run newspaper, Myanmar Ahlin, carried a story that said it will be complicated if Thailand repatriates Rohingya who did not come from Burma, said the report.

The Rohingya issue has created a heated debate among Burmese inside and outside the country. Many Arakanese people and politicians have voiced similar opinions about the provenance of the Rohingya.

Aye Tha Aung, an ethnic Arakanese and a senior member of the Committee for Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP), said the Rohingya are not among the ethnic groups in Burma.

“How could they claim that they came from Burma when in fact they come from Bangladesh,” the Arakanese politician told The Irrawaddy. (JEG's: arrogance dictating the birthright of Rohingyas)

Many Burmese proudly claim that Arakan State serves as a wall to prevent an influx of Rohingya and Bangladeshi from migrating deeper inside Burma. Burmese military forces usually push back Rohingya refugees, and there have been reports of indiscriminate killings and human rights violations taking place along the border with Bangladesh. (JEG's: how sad, there is plenty for everybody but the mememe are ruled by greed)

The regime usually wins the hearts and minds of people in Arakan State whenever they crackdown on Rohingya.

According to Thailand’s English-language daily, Bangkok Post, 4,880 Rohingya were arrested last year for illegally entering Thailand and 90 percent are still waiting to be repatriated.

A rising tide of Rohingya refugees has been fleeing Burma to the neighboring countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Their numbers usually increase after November, when the seas are at their calmest. One hundred Rohingya illegal migrants recently were arrested by Indonesian authorities in Aceh.

Many seek to escape the economic hardship of their restricted lives and turn to brokers to help them find work outside Arakan State.

The World Food Program reported last year that the area faces food shortages. The condition has forced hundreds of Rohingya to depart on the sea in leaky vessels and head for Malaysia, but many end up on Thailand beaches or drown in the stormy waters of the Andaman Sea.

Taking a UNITED Stand

The Irrawaddy News

The Irrawaddy spoke recently with Brig-Gen Johnny, the commander of the 7th Brigade of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the military wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), about the challenges facing the Karen struggle after 60 years of resistance to Burmese rule.

Brig-Gen Johnny
(Photo: Zarny Win/The Irrawaddy)

A ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of Karen Revolution Day was held at the base camp of KNLA Brigade 7 in Karen State on January 31.

Question: What is your resolution for 2009?

Answer: We have to work together with Buddhist monks, students and opposition groups inside and outside Burma to boycott the junta’s election in 2010, because if the Burmese regime wins the election, we will remain under the military’s boot for a long time. So all ethnic groups, monks and students should be united and fight to overthrow the Burmese regime.

Q: How do you plan to achieve this goal? By military means?

A: Political conflicts must be solved by political means. So, [the KNU] has always kept the door open for talks with the Burmese regime. But so far, the regime has ignored this approach. So we must continue to bear arms and fight against them.

We are not holding weapons to fight against Burmans, but to fight against the rule of the dictatorship and against Burman chauvinism. That is why we believe we have to work together with Burmese opposition forces.

We will continue to fight back militarily in any way that we can. If the Burmese army attacks us, we will fight back.

Q: What are your views on the divisions within the KNU?

A: Our weakness is that we don’t understand each other. We don’t have unity. And due to the long period of the resistance and manipulation by the Burmese regime, many of our comrades have split and surrendered to the Burmese regime.

Our enemy tries to divide us everyday. We know that, but we still allow ourselves to be divided. For example, Htein Maung [leader of the breakaway KNU/KNLA Peace Council], knew that the enemy wanted to divide us, but still, he played along. It’s not that our enemy is clever; it’s because we are not clever that this is what happens.

But in the end, the KNU will write its own history.

Q: How do you think that unity within the KNU can be restored?

A: First of all, we must always be careful, because our enemy is constantly trying to divide us. We don’t need to listen to them. We have our own policy. If we follow our policy, we will definitely reach our goal.

Our leaders, like [slain former KNU Secretary General] Padoh Mahn Sha, have done a lot for their people. We who are alive have to carry on with our unfinished duty. If we don’t, we will betray our leaders and our comrades who have sacrificed their lives for the Karen people.

Q: In your opinion, what do the Karen people need most to reach their goal?

A: We have to be united. We have to understand and respect each other. And we must not listen to our enemy. If we work together with love, we will definitely reach our goal.

Q: What do you think about diplomatic efforts to achieve change in Burma?

A: The international pressure is right. But we also have to do our duty. We are the key to freedom in Burma. We can’t rely on the international community alone.

It is the duty of all the repressed people of Burma to become involved in the democracy movement. If we all realize that it is our responsibility to take part in the democracy movement, the goal of our struggle will not be far away.

Gambari Meets NLD Executive Members, Including Suu Kyi

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations special envoy to Burma, and executive members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) at a government guest house today.

It was the first time that Suu Kyi, who habeen under arrest for 13 of the past 19 years, was permitted to meet with members of her party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) during a visit by the UN envoy.

Aung San Suu Kyi met UN Special Envoy and her party members in Rangoon. Suu Kyi and Gambari discussed the issue of political prisoners as well as demand for the release of all political prisoners. (Photo: AFP)
The meeting took place on Monday morning after Suu Kyi was taken from her lakeside home on University Avenue to meet with Gambari and the NLD members, including party chairman Aung Shwe and senior members Nyunt Wai, Than Htun, Hla Pe and Soe Myint.

Details of the meeting were not available, but NLD spokesman Nyan Win said: “The landscape of his [Gambari’s] current trip has changed. It is the first time that the NLD CEC has held talks together with Gambari and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”

However, he cautioned that it was still too early to say if the visit would yield any positive results. It is believed that Gambari and the NLD executives discussed the arrest and detention of opposition members and activists, as well as NLD demands for the release of all political prisoners.

The meeting lasted about an hour and a half, said Nyan Win. During the meeting, the opposition leaders told the UN envoy that his efforts to broker reconciliation talks would yield tangible result only if all political prisoners are released.

According to reports, Suu Kyi told Gambari that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon should visit Burma only if she and other political prisoners are released.

Ahead of Gambari’s visit, rumors that the ruling regime would release Suu Kyi later this year intensified. Such a move has long been expected, as the junta has often used prisoner releases as a means of deflecting international criticism and to win support for its political agenda. (JEG's: and to attract voters to junta's purpose)

Gambari, who arrived in Rangoon on Saturday, is scheduled to fly to Naypyidaw on Tuesday, said Nyan Win. It was unclear if he would be able to meet the regime’s paramount leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Some political analysts said that it was unlikely he would meet the senior leader during his four-day trip, but in a statement, the UN said that Gambari hoped to have “meaningful discussions with all concerned.”

Burma’s top leaders usually shun the UN special envoy. During his last visit to the country in August, Gambari also failed to meet with Suu Kyi. It is not known why she snubbed the UN envoy, but the move was widely interpreted as an expression of frustration with the lack of progress in UN-brokered talks.

On Sunday, Gambari met with Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan and other members of the regime’s “Spokes Authoritative Team” in Rangoon.

The UN envoy also held talks with other senior officials, including Aung Kyi, the junta’s liaison with the NLD, Foreign Minister Nyan Win, Culture Minister Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint, Health Minister Kyaw Myint and Thaung Nyunt, a member of the commission for holding the nationwide constitutional referendum, as well as foreign diplomats.

Aung Naing Oo, a political analyst living in Thailand, said little political progress could be expected from Monday’s talks, but they would give Suu Kyi’s supporters a chance to hear her opinions, the news agency Agence France-Presse reported.

“It’s good that they have met. At least the UN knows what she’s thinking about, or what the NLD has been thinking about, because it has been a big question mark for the past year,” he added.

This is Gambari’s seventh visit to Burma since he was appointed special envoy in 2006.
Analysts believe that during the trip, he will also sound out the opinions of regime leaders regarding a possible visit by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who last visited Burma in May 2008 after a deadly cyclone slammed the country’s delta region.

During his visit, he met with Than Shwe. However, the trip was heavily criticized as Ban did not raise the issue of political prisoners or national reconciliation.

Gambari will reportedly also meet with members of the pro-junta National Unity Party and the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament, a group consisting of winners of the last election in 1990, which was won overwhelmingly by the NLD.

Meanwhile, the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), based in Burma, submitted a letter to Gambari suggesting that he broker talks between the regime, the political opposition led by Suu Kyi and leaders of ethnic minorities.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Is there a holistic approach to Burma’s refugee problem?

With the Rohingya boat people washing up almost daily on Thai shores, it is appropriate and as well, a welcome initiative for the Thai government to call for a conference, involving and consulting all concerned countries, including Burma, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and India to find durable solutions. In other words, applying a holistic or comprehensive approach, like an opinion piece on 26 January of The Nation rightly pointed out.

By Sai Wansai
Shan Herald Agency for News
29 January 2009

The heart of the Rohingya problem is the Burmese military regime’s denial of rights to exist officially as an accepted ethnic group, within the larger national context of Burma. The bulk of Rohingya’s population, mostly a Muslim ethnic group, resides in northern Arakan state of western Burma

It is believed that 800,000 Rohingya live in Burma, but have not been granted citizenship.

Around a half-million Rohingya fled military crackdowns in 1978 and 1991, the majority moved to Bangladesh and many remain exiled in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and Malaysia

While the Rohingya problem has aroused willingness for the concerned states to look for solution in a comprehensive and holistic way, it should also be noted that the woes of the refugees stemming from Shan, Karen, Karenni and Mon states bordering Thailand are identical, where oppression, ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses are concerned.

According to Thailand Burma Border Consortium’s (TBBC) conservative estimate count in eastern Burma - Shan, Karen, Karenni and Mon states -, the internally displaced persons population is said to be 500,000. Grand total refugees from Burma for all sites within Thailand is numbered 1 44,455.

Thus, it is quite clear that all these illegal migration spreading out in all directions across the regional is fast becoming a transnational issue and multilateral approach is the only way out.

But what is actually the root cause of such illegal migration?

The answer lies in the Burmese military regimes failed policies and its entrenched racist mind-set.

In other words, its failure to recognise that Burma is a multi-ethnic state and that the Union of Burma is a newly developed territorial entity, founded by a treaty, the Panglong Agreement, where independent territories merged together on equal basis.

The successive military dominated regimes, including the present ruling State Peace and Development Council, see Burma as an existing unified nation since the reign of Anawratha thousands of years ago. As such, all other non-Burmans – Shan, Kachin, Chin, Arakanese, Mon, Karen and Karenni - are seen as minorities, which must be controlled and suppressed, lest they break up the country.

To achieve its goal, the Burmese military goes about with its implementation of protecting “national sovereignty” and “national unity” at all cost. This, in turn, gives way to open conflict resulting in more suppression and gross human rights violations. The intolerance of the military to and its inspiration to “racial supremacy” and to political domination and control has no limit and this could be seen by its refusal to hand over power to the winners of 1990 nation-wide election, the National League for Democracy (NLD), Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and other ethnic parties. The genuine federalism platform, which the NLD and ethnic nationalities embrace, is a threat to its racist mind-set and obsession of domination and control.

In short, the Burmese military regime must come to term that its zero-sum game plan of “total elimination” of the opposition parties, racial supremacy implementation and gross human rights violations are not working to its advantage. Instead, it should opt for real democratisation process, all-inclusiveness and equality to create a better future for the country and its people.

If there is anything that could underpin the condition for holistic approach regarding the Rohingya issue and illegal migration in general, it will be creating a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere within Burma. And the concerned stakeholders should coax or persuade the ruling generals to pave way for such positive change. Otherwise, the refugee problem, stemming from Burma, affecting neighbouring countries will continue to exist for a long time to come.

(Sai Wansai is the General Secretary of the exiled Shan Democratic Union - Editor)

UN chief should only visit if prisoners freed: Suu Kyi

YANGON (Khaleej Times-AFP) - Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Monday that United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon should only visit the military-run nation if she and all other political prisoners are released, her party said.

In a meeting with visiting UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, the Nobel peace laureate also criticised the recent slew of harsh prison sentences handed down to more than 250 dissidents.

Gambari, who arrived here Saturday for a four-day trip aimed at pushing the junta toward democratic reform, met with Aung San Suu Kyi and five members of the Central Executive Committee of her National League for Democracy on Monday.

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD CEC members gave advice that Mr Ban Ki-moon should consider coming to Myanmar only if U Tin Oo, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners are released," said NLD spokesman Nyan Win.

Ban visited the former Burma after a cyclone devastated large parts of the country in May last year, killing tens of thousands of people. He did not meet Aung San Suu Kyi during the trip.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the last 19 years locked away at her lakeside Yangon home, while her deputy Tin Oo has spent nearly six years in prison or under house arrest.

Nyan Win said Aung San Suu Kyi also raised the plight of about 270 pro-democracy activists recently jailed for prison terms of up to 104 years, which she blamed on a lack of rule of law.

"She pointed out that the long prison sentences, such as 65 or 100 years, were handed down with no defence and no lawyers allowed -- even lawyers themselves were sentenced," Nyan Win said.

On Gambari's last visit to Myanmar in August 2008, Aung San Suu Kyi refused to meet the Nigerian diplomat in what was seem as a snub because of his failure to get any concrete pledges for reform from the ruling generals.

Nyan Win said Aung San Suu Kyi explained to Gambari during their meeting on Monday that "she is always ready to meet" with visiting UN officials, but was not willing to hold talks unless there were tangible results.

Arrest warrants issued for six defence lawyers

(DVB)–Authorities have issued arrest warrants for six lawyers who have been involved in cases defending political activists, according to a source close to the lawyers.

The six lawyers are Kyaw Ho, Myint Thaung, Maung Maung Latt, Aung Than Myint, Khin Htay Kywe, and Nyi Nyi Hlaing.

A Rangoon resident who is close to the lawyers said the authorities were trying to intimidate lawyers into not taking political cases.

“The lawyers are from the National League for Democracy so they offer their legal services in political cases,” the resident said.

“When they do so, they openly express their legal arguments as permitted under the law,” he said.

“[Lawyers] U Aung Thein, U Khin Maung Shein, and Ko Pho Phyu were arrested for that. The authorities want to scare lawyers away from people who are involved in politics.”

The resident said the issuing of arrest warrants against the defence lawyers was also likely to hurt political activists now in detention.

“Political activists who are currently being detained are bound to suffer from the authorities' action against lawyers,” the resident said.

“Political activists have been oppressed for many years now and they are serving long prison terms in distant prisons and their families are suffering,” he said.

“The issuing of arrest warrants against their lawyers is meant to weaken their resistance.”

Kyaw Ho said he had not heard anything about an arrest warrant being issued against him.

This is the latest case of the authorities’ harassment of lawyers dealing with political cases.

Lawyer Pho Phyu, who was taken into custody on 15 January, is still being detained in a police cell in Magwe.

Three other lawyers who have defended political activists – Nyi Nyi Htwe and Rangoon Supreme Court lawyers Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein – are currently serving prison sentences.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

School demolished by education authorities in Bago

(DVB)–Bago authorities have demolished two school buildings in Phoe Yoe Su village, Kawa township, to make way for a new construction project, forcing children to attend classes in gazebos in the local monastery compound, a villager said.

Educational ministry staff and the school’s headteacher demolished two school buildings, worth around 40 million kyat, without consulting parents and elders, the villager said.

Angry parents demanded an explanation for the demolition, but the headteacher was unable to give a valid reason, according to a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Association.

"The parents tried to stop it but they had no chance,” the USDA member said.

“It was done on the instructions of the education department, they said."

Around 200 pupils from kindergarten to sixth standard level were studying at the school.

Villagers are preparing to report the incident to the relevant authorities with the help of rights lawyer Aye Myint of the Guiding Star legal aid group in Bago.

Aye Myint said action should be taken against those who try to make profit from communal land.

Reporting by Arnt Phone Myat

HIV/AIDS patients sent home without treatment

(DVB)–Thirty HIV/AIDS patients from across Burma who had come to Rangoon to wait for medicine have been ordered to return home by local authorities without receiving treatment, members of the group said.

Five health workers visited the patients at a monastery near Webagi hospital where they had been taking refuge and asked them detailed questions on their background and condition.

During the visit, a police car was parked outside the monastery, patients said.

The following day, 20 of the patients were taken to the hospital but ten days later they were ordered to return home immediately and were still not told when they would receive their medicine.

The hospital refused to give a reason why the patients had been sent home.

Five children and their parents and eight adults were waiting for anti-retroviral treatment, and some of the patients need weekly hospital treatment.

Two of the families who were staying at the monastery now have nowhere to go as their homes were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis.

The monastery has been a lifeline for HIV/AIDS patients, who are forced to come to Rangoon twice a month at their own expense for ARV treatment because the government does not issue the medicines outside the former capital.

The monastery is now facing pressure from the authorities not to accept any HIV/AIDS patients, forcing some of them to go into hiding in Rangoon.

"The government is not helping the patients and is harassing those who are helping them – it is like helping the disease to spread," said a volunteer who did not want to be named.

In November 2007, authorities also sealed off Maggin monastery, which used to help HIV/AIDS patients, in connection with the monk-led uprisings in September of that year.

Reporting by Aye Nai

Burma’s Drugs Trade Unaffected by Global Slowdown

By YENI
The Irrawaddy News

A series of recent raids in Rangoon has again thrown the spotlight on the narcotics trade and the roles played by high profile businessmen and members of the Burmese military regime.

In one raid, two weeks ago, at least 28 kilograms of heroin were found in a container on the Singaporean-flagged ship Kota Tegap, which was docked at Rangoon's Asia World Port Terminal.

The terminal is owned by Tun Myint Naing, the son of former drug kingpin and militia leader Lo Hsing Han, whose name is on the US Treasury Department sanctions list. The container, which was bound for Singapore, is reportedly owned by the Myanmar Timber Enterprise, a government-owned business that is also on the US sanctions list.

Sources in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy that in a subsequent sting operation, the anti-narcotics police force also discovered another large cache of heroin in FMI City, an upscale residential area in the city’s Hlaing Tharyar Township, and arrested Kyaw Kyaw Min, a crab exporter in Bogalay Township, Irrawaddy Division, for attempting to smuggle 32 kilograms of heroin out of the country aboard a container ship.

The police special intelligence department, known as the Special Branch, is now questioning the port employees, high-ranking government officials and prominent businessmen in connection with the case.

Unconfirmed reports said that the owner of Rangoon's popular club BME, a Kachin-Chinese businessman, known as Hsaio Haw, who has close links with leaders of the infamous United Wa State Army, is implicated, together with some family members of the Burmese ruling generals.

The case follows the leveling of charges against Maung Weik, one of the richest men in Burma and a powerful friend of the country’s ruling military elite, and his associate, Aung Zaw Ye Myint, son of the chief of the Bureau of Special Operations No. 1, Lt- Gen Ye Myint, for drug abuse and involvement in trafficking.

Burma uses the occasion of the annual International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking to announce drug seizure statistics and to expose offenders. But high-profile cases are never publicized.

At the governmental level, Burma emphasizes its engagement with such neighbors as China, India and Thailand in efforts to control drug trafficking, and its implementation of a 15-year plan (1999-2014) to totally eradicate poppy growing in three phases, each running for five years. (JEG's: but it is going unnoticed into Singapore's hub... so much for SP's honesty)

The drugs, however, continue to flow across Burma’s borders in all directions. Tough suppression campaigns by neighboring countries such as Thailand and China have led to drug traffickers turning increasingly to maritime routes to smuggle drugs out of Burma.

According to a report by Washington-based Radio Free Asia, Interpol in Singapore asked the Burmese police to seize the Singapore-flagged ship at the Asia World Port Terminal. Without the intervention of Interpol, it’s unlikely that the authorities would deal effectively with the problem.

At a news conference last year, the US Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, David Johnson, charged that the military government has done little to deal with what has become Asia’s largest illegal drug industry.

“Their efforts to reduce demand, interdict drug shipments and combat corruption and money laundering continue to be lackluster,” he said.

In their book "Merchants of Madness," Bertil Lintner, one of the most-respected analysts of Burma's drugs trade, and Michael Black, a security writer with Jane's Intelligence Review, have also noted that Burma's production of illicit drugs such as methamphetamines and heroin could not proceed without at least the involvement, if not active participation, of the Burmese military rulers.

It’s a bitter irony—while Burma’s exports such as rice, teak, beans, rubber and palm oil have obviously suffered from the falloff in trade due to the global economic slowdown, the demand for Burmese-produced drugs, an export that doesn’t figure in the national income accounting, is still buoyant.

Flow of migrant workers to Thailand undaunted as Kingdom's economy flounders

(IMNA)-Dire economic circumstances continue to drive Burmese workers to seek employment in Thailand, in spite of the country's worsening economic situation and unusual numbers of unemployed workers leaving the Kingdom.

According to checkpoint officials and brokers responsible for smuggling migrant workers into Thailand, the number of workers seeking employment in the Kingdom has not changed, though the number of available jobs is decreasing.

"The number of workers [leaving for Thailand] this year and last year is the same," said a New Mon State Party official from the Tadein checkpoint along the Three Pagodas Pass to Thanbyuzayat (Thanpyuzayart) road. The road is the primary dry-season link between the Three Pagodas Pass border crossing and interior Mon and Karen states.

"I think the number of workers entering Thailand is the same this year as last year. I don't know exactly how many people, but my business is the same as before," said a broker in Three Pagodas Pass. Two other brokers also working in the Three Pagodas Pass area independently agreed.

Job prospects in Thailand, meanwhile, are at all time lows. The country's overall economy is sliding backwards, with UBS, one the country's most respected brokerage firms, recently estimating that growth rates will drop to negative 2% in 2009. The slowdown is being felt amongst migrant workers, and news agencies like the Irrawaddy began reporting in November the layoffs of thousands of Burmese workers.

The number of workers returning to Burma appears to be on the increase. A broker based in Mae Sot, Thailand, told IMNA that, in the past, he regularly returned three groups of workers to Burma each week. Now, he said, he is returning a group of workers every day.

Weak job prospects and the flow of unemployed peers heading home does not seem to be daunting outward-bound workers, however. "People know in Thailand there are fewer jobs than before. But there are jobs still because there are things the Thai citizens do not want to do, so Burmese people can find a job," a broker in Three Pagodas Pass explained.

Workers from Mon State describe an economy shell-shocked by plummeting rubber and paddy prices. Rubber and paddy and Mon State's two primary products, and with rubber worth just a 25% of its 2008 value and paddy 75%, the economy is in shambles.

"The economy is not good for our family. In our village, we just have the paddy fields and the paddy price is down. So we have many problems. My mother who is already working in Thailand called me to come work with her, so I have to go," a 15-year-old boy from Mon State on his way to work in Thailand told IMNA.

"We have to rely on our plantations. Now rubber and betel nut prices have gone down, but food still costs the same," said a woman from Mon State, 30, interviewed near Three Pagodas Pass as she and her husband made their way to Thailand. "We cannot earn enough to eat. So even though we hear that there are fewer jobs in Thailand, we still think it will be better than here. We may not want to go, but we have to go."

Rohingya a regional issue - Editorial

(Bangkok Post) -The government and security forces lingered too long before they finally took a positive and helpful measure last week in the controversy over Rohingya illegal migrants. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva correctly allowed access to a detained group of 78 Rohingya by the United Nations. It was, in retrospect, a major step in regaining the confidence of a very sceptical international community. The usual Thai methods, in this age of instant communication, of stonewalling the media and international organisations are simply impossible to maintain. The internet requires that in an era of fast-flowing information, it is vital the country protect its reputation by full disclosure.

Because of the incredulous and prevaricating statements that emanated when this shocking scandal caught the world's attention, the government has been forced to play ''catch up'' in order to regain some sort of credibility. Press reports from other countries and witnesses agree the Thai security forces failed in their basic duty of treating illegal migrants with the due measure of respect and compassion. It put the prime minister and his government on the defensive. Mr Abhisit's pronouncement that the country will expel illegal migrants seems hardly adequate _ the international community demands more answers.

Thailand is under no obligation to accept organised groups of illegal migrants. There are internationally-accepted rules and would-be immigrants must follow them. The Rohingya, reputedly, pose a security problem, especially in the South, where relations between the government and the Muslim community, in which the Rogingya can assimilate fairly easily, remain unresolved.

But without doubt, the security forces and the government cannot abrogate their responsibility to treat the illegal migrants with basic respect for their human rights. There is no justification for physical abuse. Despite the premier's claim to the contrary, there is no ''humane'' way to force large groups of people back to sea in boats with little food and water and no means by which they can propel themselves to other shores.

The core issue, though, is not the way Thailand treats illegal immigrants. Amnesty International acknowledges the nub of the problem _ Burma persecutes the Rohingya and virtually forces the men to migrate to seek better conditions. It is unfortunate that governments and most media ignore this part of the tragic equation. If Burma were to stop its abysmal treatment of the people of Arakan, it could help to resolve the problem of Rohingya boat people.

It is important the Rohingya who have landed in Thailand are not considered refugees. They are in search of honest employment to care for their families. They are not seeking resettlement, nor do they wish to bring their women and children with them. It is shameful that conditions in Burma are so terrible that thousands must risk so much merely to feed their families. But the Rohingya trying to pass through Thailand are not like the Hmong, the Karen and other minorities seeking new homes because of a well-founded fear of death if they are returned to their home countries.

Officials of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees should have a better picture of the problem by now. It is not just a human rights question that is merely Thailand's alone.

Mr Abhisit, then, has the right idea in forming a council of concerned countries and organisations on this issue. Thailand must be firm in rejecting the migrants, but others share responsibility for putting the Rohingya at such terrible risk.

Burma stonewalls Suu Kyi visit

Rangoon (Bangkok Post)- The UN's top envoy to Burma on Sunday met the minister tasked with liaising with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi - but not the democracy leader herself.

Ibrahim Gambari's last trip to the military-ruled nation in August 2008 ended in deadlock, with Aung San Suu Kyi refusing to meet the Nigerian diplomat and her party dismissing the visit as "a waste of time."

On this four-day trip which began Saturday, the United Nations has said Gambari wants "meaningful discussions with all concerned on all the points raised during his last visit."

But Gambari is not expected to be granted a meeting with the reclusive head of state Senior General Than Shwe, and it is not yet clear whether Aung San Suu Kyi will consent to meet with the UN negotiator.

On Sunday morning, Gambari met officials including Information Minister Kyaw Hsan and Foreign Minister Nyan Win in the commercial hub Rangoon.

"He also met with relations minister Aung Kyi," said a government official who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media. He refused to reveal what was discussed.
AFPAung Kyi is the minister tasked with liaising with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
©AFP/File AFP

Aung Kyi's appointment to coordinate junta contacts with Aung San Suu Kyi in October 2007 was seen as a major sop to the West after the violent suppression of anti-junta demonstrations in September that year.

But their last meeting was in January 2008, and Aung San Suu Kyi said soon after she was "not satisfied" with the way the dialogue was progressing.

Instead, the junta has forged ahead with its own "Roadmap to Democracy" which its says will lead to multi-party elections in 2010 but which dissidents deride as a sham as it does not include Aung San Suu Kyi.

Gambari later Sunday met with representatives of a commission which organised a referendum on Burma's new constitution in May last year.

The regime says the constitution passed with nearly 93 percent approval in a vote held days after the deadly Cyclone Nargis, although critics say the poll was not free and fair and the new charter simply enshrines junta rule.

Gambari also met with the International Committee of the Red Cross and foreign diplomats, Burmese officials said.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained by the junta for most of the last 19 years, and surprised observers in August by refusing to meet Gambari, a move interpreted as a snub after he had failed to secure any political reform.

Burmese officials have said Gambari will likely meet with the Nobel peace prize winner on Monday, echoing the expectations of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. (AFP)

29 children suffer from physic nut poisoning

Rangoon (Mizzima) – Twenty-nine children from State Middle and Primary Schools from Thaketa Township in Rangoon Division, suffered from food poisoning after eating physic nut seeds, according to the Township Education Officer's Office.

Twenty nine students from the State Primary Schools No. 41, 22 and State Middle Schools No. 1 and 7 ate dried physic nut seeds after school in the evening on Jan 28. They picked these dried seeds from physic nut plants grown in their school premises.

"There are 29 students and the rest are from outside. Most of the children are students of State Primary Schools No. 41, 22 and State Middle School No. 7. Most of the students are from SPS No. 41. They ate these dried nuts after school. They suffered from uneasiness and vomiting. That's all," an official from Thaketa Township Education Officer's Office said.

A student's mother told Mizzima that she saw the children suffering from diarrhea, and when asked, they replied that they had eaten dried physic nuts. Several children in the neighborhood ate those nuts on that day.

"We realized that the children from almost every household in our ward were suffering from food poisoning, when many children visited the nearby clinics. Their blood pressure was too low at 50/30 mm Hg when they reached the clinic. The doctors put them on a drip in Thaketa and another 3 bottles of medicine were given to them in Rangoon Children's Hospital. Now they are much better," she said.

The dried physic nuts are rich in taste and the children think they are edible. They picked the dried seeds from the plants and ate together, a 4th Grader student said.

"We were given these seeds by our friends living in 1st Lane. We tasted it and found it had rich taste. Then I picked a (polythene) bagful of the nuts and shared them among our friends. Then we suffered from uneasiness and vomiting," he said.

The children were admitted at local clinics and Thaketa Hospital. Some critical patients were admitted at the Rangoon Children's Hospital on the same night. Most of the children were admitted at the local Thaketa Hospital and were discharged the next day.

"All the children were discharged from the hospital and are back home. They are feeling much better. Those, who were admitted at Rangoon Hospital, were also discharged. Our Director General himself visited them on Sunday. Their condition has improved," an official from the Basic Education Department said.

There are two types of toxins in physic nuts. The symptoms of physic nut food poisoning are nausea, uneasiness, stomach pain, low blood pressure and exhaustion with continuous diarrhea. The condition of such a patient will normalize if proper treatment is given within 48 hours, a leading doctor from Rangoon said.

Similarly, 2 students from SPS No. 38 suffered from physic nut food poisoning in the end of last year. They had to take medical treatment for two days.

There were 27 physic nut food poisoning cases in 2007 and 69% of them were school children.

Under the fuel self-sufficiency scheme, the government has launched nationwide physic nut plantation projects since December 2005.

Reporting by Mizzima correspondent in Rangoon and written by Phanida

Truth about delaying 2010 elections

By Moe Thu and Htet Win

(Mizzima) -A general election proposed by the military government to be held in 2010 is likely to put off, not because of some reasons it has come up with, but because of its motive to prolong staying in power, according to sources close to regime.

"A government minister hinted about the junta's continuation in power for 10 more years in the late 1990s, and it turned out to be true," said a long-time Burma watcher. "Besides, army officers can't whimsically say those things about delayed elections, as they must have been instructed along this line from above," he added.

There was last Thursday a media report carried by Thailand based Shan Herald, quoting informed sources as saying that a high ranking military officer said the proposed 2010 elections could be put off for several reasons including the fact -- disruptive activities by dissidents both inside and outside the country .

Lieutenant-Colonel Tin Maung Shwe, the military commander in southern Shan State did not elaborate. Referring to the government's consecutive inability to unearth culprits in several recent bombings in the commercial city Rangoon, a local business writer said the military government was mostly believed to create such disruptive activities, while continuously blaming political opponents inside and outside the country.

"The government usually blames them, but never comes up with any evidence," the Yangon-based writer said, adding that the junta was itself creating an unstable situation in Burma for the sake of military power.

Another informed source based in Naypyitaw said the military government conducted a training programme to produce several dozens of instigators.

"Probably, it is under a unit with the Ministry of Home Affairs," the source said.

"Using such instigators, the military government has planned to spark communal riots between Bamar and local Indian community (known as Kular) in a couple of months, a means the Burmese military government uses to divert the general public's political/development attention," the source said.

Whatever means [it] would be used in order to postpone any elections as long as the process favours the army, the sources said.

The military government's motive is to stay in power.

"Military-dominant governments so far -- Burma Socialist Programme Party and State Peace and Development Council -- would have reformed the country's leadership, if they really loved the country," said a young Burmese academic.

"They continue to create just a show-off area of development, but the people will continue to suffer. The haves will have more. The have-nots will lose more," he said.

He said the poor would not only be materially impoverished but also intellectually. The poor may only get a few trickle-down benefits. Aides and investments may finally flow in, but Burma will remain a sweat shop with little respect for human rights, labour rights, and political dissent, "

That is the way any military government has tried to tone down the general public's urge for a democratic leadership, a change in high demand in Burma.

Another thing that bars the change from taking place is that the government's ambivalence to include what kinds of representatives in a future parliament.

Major General Htay Oo, the Secretary General of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, whose patron is the Sr. Gen Than Shwe, the head of the junta, is said to be upset with the lack of reliable civilian partners in the future parliament.

And the Third Force that is referred to individuals inside Burma, who are seeking their own ways to a democracy, argues that the army needs civilian collaborators to make changes. They argue that those military-turned-civilians will need civilian partners who are willing to cooperate. Corporation of the moderate people from both sides will solve out the dilemma in evolution but to accept the junta road map. However, they admit that there is still risk and the every decision is now only from Than Shwe.

Meanwhile, the army does not trust veteran politicians that pursue conventional ways forward. Some of the veteran politicians are those in the scene in the late 1940s.

Regarding one of the four reasons that could delay the coming elections -- tension with Bangladesh over gas exploration, the Rangoon-based writer said it was just an excuse.

"It is a routine between or among countries, which most countries work out through a pragmatic approach, taking time," he said, adding that the two countries' maritime dispute need not be an issue to postpone the elections.

Another person, familiar with the relation between the two countries, said Burma was on the right side for most border and immigrant issues.

"However, Burma has political and/or image problems in the international arena, and its neighbour Bangladesh is intent on exploiting the situation," he said.

He said Rohingya were no less a problem for Bangladesh than Burma, and Bangladeshis had also mistreated them. And both countries are yet to identify how many and which Rohingya are from either. Some are Bengali economic refugees.

The other two reasons the military government has made up are: Incomplete census and problems in the drug eradication programme.

For those, the military government refuses time and again more assistance from the international community, who is willing to offer so.

Another reason, cease-fire ethnic groups, particularly Wa and Kachin are refusing to surrender arms and only later announced their agreement on the 2010 election plan.

United State Wa Army or UWSA is the armed wing of United State Party with an estimated 20,000 soldiers. Wa started mentioning "Wa State Government Special Region" in their official papers amidst the Burmese government wanting them to continue as " Shan State Special Region 2".

Kachin Independence Organization itself will not take part in elections but there will be a political party of the Kachin state at least to contest in the elections.

Pa Os have not made an official statement in 2010.

However, Aung Kham Hti of Pa O gets on well with the regime. He is even one of the patrons of USDA Southern Shan State. His group is called PaO National Army (PNA).

Meanwhile, some more major nationalities including Chin, Mon and Shan are yet to be organised to come along with the junta's political road map.

Regarding the Shan front, the junta in 1990s begun exercising a divide-and-rule approach on Shan state.

"The military government has favoured Pa Os population at the detriment of the Shans in areas like Taunggyi, the capital of the Shan stae," the long-time watcher said.

He said there was Pa O-Shan rivalry in southern Shan state, adding that Pa Os, except red Pa O that borders the Karenni State, never got on well with the Shans.

It is head of state Than Shwe's hypocritical announcement that Burma is building a modernised nation based on national unity.

The process of the elections laws should have been made by now, in order to allow political parties to be prepared.

There was talk in circles close to the military government around last August that election laws would have been prescribed by the end of last year. So far it is yet to be done.

Whatever reasons the junta is coming up with, it is found failing to take up a workable option, which must include all stake-holders such as the political opposition groups, cease-fire groups and civilians. That way, many more problems are in front awaiting the military elite and the 55-million-population of the country.

Monk dies in prison - Ahnanda

By Myint Maung

New Delhi (Mizzima) – A revered Buddhist Monk, Ahnanda, 62, who was arrested and imprisoned for participating in the 2007 monk-led protest by reciting Metta Sutra, died in the prison last month, sources said.

Ahnanda a monk from Thitsa Tharaphu monastery in Rangoon's North Okklapa Townhsip, died while he was serving his four years and three months prison term in Insein prison. He had been into monk hood for 40 years.

"The prison authorities informed North Okkalapa police station about his death, which in turn conveyed the message to the Township Sangha (monk) organization. The Sangha informed the Thitsa Tharaphu monastery where he lived," a source close to the relatives of the Monk said.

A Thailand-based documentation section of the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP-B) also confirmed his death saying the monk might have suffered severe tortures.

"As far as we know, he died on 22 December 2008, while he was serving his prison sentence in Insein prison," Min Min of the AAPP-B said, adding that he suffered a fatal stroke.

While taking part in the 2007 protest by reciting Metta Sutra on the streets of Rangoon, a total of 14 monks and nuns from the Thitsa Tharaphu monastery including Ahnanda were arrested on January 18 last year.

They were charged in three counts, including insulting the religion and distributing pornographic books by the North Okkalapa Township Court on 24 October 2008.

They were denied access to legal counsel at the trial court and sentenced to four years and three months in prison each by North Okkalapa Township Court.

Too early to say 'positive', NLD on meeting with UN envoy

By Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burma's detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party – the National League for Democracy – on Monday said their meeting on Monday with visiting United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari cannot be considered a 'positive step' as they need to assess the overall result of his visit.

Nyan Win, the NLD spokesperson, told Mizzima that Aung San Suu Kyi and five NLD CEC members on Monday met Gambari for about an hour at Seinle Kantha Guest House in Rangoon.

"We cannot consider the meeting a positive step, because we need to assess the overall result of the visit," Nyan Win told Mizzima.

Nyan Win said Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD CEC members, during their meeting, reiterated the need to apply more pressure on the government to release all political prisoners, to review the constitution, to recognize the 1990 election result and to convene the parliament based on it.

"The NLD has maintained the four points that we demand but Daw Suu and the five CEC members told him that the release of all political prisoners would be the minimum condition," Nyan Win said.

The NLD leaders, however, said the release of all political prisoners would be the minimum condition that could be called a tangible progress to a question raised by Gambari on what would be the minimum condition for Ban Ki-moon to consider visiting Burma, Nyan Win added.

The world body chief late last year announced that while he would like to consider visiting military-ruled Burma, it will not be possible unless there are signs indicating that there are positive changes, beginning with the release of political prisoners.

On Gambari's question on the 2010 election, the NLD leaders said they do not consider it legitimate and thus do not feel it necessary to discuss it.

"There is no reason for the NLD to talk or discuss the 2010 election," Nyan Win said.

Nyan Win, however, said the NLD considers their separate meeting with detained leader as a positive step, as they could discuss party policies and activities ahead.

"The NLD leaders were able to discuss alone before the meeting with the envoy and that is really good for us because they were able to discuss party matters. But we cannot talk about anything yet," he added.

The meeting on Monday, however, did not include veteran politician and senior party leaders Win Tin and Khin Maung Swe, who were released from prison in September 2008.

According to a source, the Burmese Ministry of Home Affairs categorically asked the NLD not to include Win Tin and Khin Maung Swe among the five CEC that were allowed to meet.

Gambari on Tuesday will be leaving for Naypyitaw, but it is still uncertain whether he can meet junta supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe, who also did not meet Gambari during his last visit in August.

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