Burma Newscasts

Saturday, February 14, 2009

The Truth and Legality of the Panglong Agreement

Shan Herald Agency for News

According to the state-run news paper, New Light of Myanmar Than Shwe’s message on the 62nd.anniversary of Union Day said that the Union Day marks the signing of the 'Panglong' agreement between Burmese independence architect General Aung San and ethnic leaders to form the Union of Burma in 1947 and urged the people to nurture the Burmese spirit regardless of where they were.

Only the Union Spirit is true patriotism that will ever protect and safeguard all the national races," the paper quoted Than Shwe as saying.

Has anyone ever wonder why Than Shwe gave such a speech?

Is he admitting that the Union of Burma was formed because of the Panglong Agreement, after being in denial for decades?
Is he admitting to the legality of the Panglong Agreement?
Is he beginning to realise that he cannot break up the Union and glue the pieces together by force?
Is he in trouble, and now needs the loyalty of all ethnic nationalities
Or could this be his first step towards reconciliation with the ethnic nationalities? If it so, wonder will never cease
Has he misunderstood the meaning of Panglong Agreement altogether?
If he meant to accept that the Union of Burma was formed due to the principes of the Panglong Agreement is he willing to accept all the clauses that are contained in the Agreement? For instance

All ethnic nationalities are to be treated as equal partners, with equal status and opportunities?
All states have the right to self-determination?
Each state has the right to secede after ten years? And etc.

The Panglong Agreement is a whole package with many built in clauses. Bogyoke Aungsan and the Ethnic Leaders signed an agreement to all the clauses that made up the Panglong Agreement. The Panglong Agreement is a fact and legal

It has been decades since the military regime has been in conflict with citzens of Burma. It is about time the Generals realise that conflict can be resolved only through talking with all Leaders of the Opposition? It is about time they release all political prisoners. The citizens are tired and weary with this unresolved dire situation.

S.n. Oo
The author is from the former illustrious State of Lawkzawk in the Federated Shan States, as today's Shan State of Burma was known until 1948. Opinions expressed here are those of the author – Editor

Another boat laden with refugees ready to leave for Malaysia

Kaladan Press

Teknaf, Bangladesh: A boat filled with refugees is ready for departure to Malaysia, within two days from the Bangladesh coast near Nafit Khali village of Chakoria police station under Cox's Bazaar district, Hakim from the border area said.

The broker is Habi Ullah (42), son of Nazir Ahmed, and hails from Kol-loon (Thinn Baw Gwe) village of Maungdaw Township. He fled from Burma 10 years ago and now lives in Oliabad village of Teknaf Union. He is the son in-law-of Ali Ahmed of Teknaf. Therefore, he has a lot of influence in the local area and continues trade in human trafficking for his personal benefit.

He collects refugees from Arakan, from refugee camps and border areas of Bangladesh, who have been living in Bangladesh illegally. He has collected Kyat 20,000 per head for the trip to Malaysia through the sea route

Most of the people, who died in the Andaman Sea in the last two months, were sent to Malaysia, under the broker-ship of Habi Ulla. However, he is again preparing to send refugees to Malaysia, through the risky sea route. After the death of nearly 300 people in the Andaman Sea, the concerned authorities of Bangladesh have been taking action against the people, who are involved in human trafficking. In such a situation, broker Habi Ullah still dares to send people to Malaysia, a refugee said.

On the other hand, how the new refugees were again daring to go to Malaysia by the sea route, despite knowing about the current situation through the radio, TV and the print media, was surprising, according to a Rohingya elder from Arakan.

When contacted, a new refugee, who intends to go to Malaysia by boat said, "We know very well the situation of the boatpeople, who reached Thailand, Indonesia and India. We have no alternative except to flee the motherland by sea as we have been locked in a big cage, without sufficient food, movement restriction, without work, marriage restriction, while the torture and political persecution is still continued by the military junta. It is better to die at sea, I think."

According to a trader from the border area, the authorities need to stop the boat laden with refugees before it leaves for Malaysia, or the refugees will face tremendous hardships.

Thailand has been accused of mistreating up to 1,000 Rohingya boatpeople, hundreds of whom were rescued off India and Indonesia last month, claiming that they had been beaten by Thai soldiers and dragged back to sea, with little food and water and left to die, sources said.

Consul General Ye Myint Aung wrote to his fellow diplomats in Hong Kong yesterday, explaining that the Rohingya were not actually Burmese and were not accepted as one of the ethnic groups of his country, or indeed as citizens. He wrote "You will see in the photos that their complexion is 'dark brown' and "ugly as ogres" in contrast to the complexion of Burmese, which was "fair and soft, good looking as well," according to the South China Morning Post dated 11 February 2009. But, ARNO, a political group stated on her statement dated February 13, 2009, “We know and everybody knows, the skins of the people of Burma – not the skins of Rohingya alone - have been daily faded under the iron heel of U Aye Myint Aung and his tyrannical military regime...”

According to history “until 10th century, the people of Arakan were Indians similar to that of East Bengal”. The Rohingya are the only people who look like people of East Bengal or Bengalis. The then Chairman of the Burma Historical Commission Col. Bashin stated from 1430 to 1531, for more than one hundred years, Arakan was virtually ruled by the Muslims. It is a gross lie to say that the Rohingya have no ‘historic right’, the right of the first occupier of Arakan.

In spite of clear affirmation of Rohingya as an indigenous group by the former parliamentary government (1948-1962), U Bo Hla Tint described Rohingya issue a matter of political complication in all three periods of U Nu, U Ne Win and SPDC and it has to be decided by the would-be parliament. This view contradicts the NCGUB’s earlier statement, expressed in its “Position paper on Persecution of Muslims in Arakan State” dated September 24, 1992, submitted to the United Nations, affirming “Muslim Rohingyas have lived in Arakan for centuries; Muslims Rohingyas are Burmese citizens; Muslim Rohingyas have the same rights and privileges as other citizens of Burma regardless of their ethnic beliefs or ethnic background.”, according to ARNO statement dated February 13, 2009.

Burmese group deported to Bangladesh by BSF

By Mithu Choudhury
Mizzima News

Guwahati/Assam - A group of 10 alleged Burmese nationals, including 4 children, have been arrested and detained by the police at Badarpur Railway Station in Southern Assam's Barak Valley in Northeastern India, on Tuesday, according to the police.

According to Additional Superintendent of Police, Himanta Kumar Das, of Assam state's Karimganj district, they have arrested and detained the Burmese nationals, who arrived in the north-eastern state from neighbouring Bangladesh, on February 10, 2009.

He said the Bardarpur police, after identifying them, had sent them back to the Border Security Force (BSF) in the Indo-Bangla border area of Mahisasan, and was awaiting the response of Bangladesh's Border Security forces to accept them.

Citing a victim's confession, Das told Mizzima that the 10 foreigners had crossed into Bangladesh from Burma's western state of Arakan. They had made their way into India, through the border state of Tripura.

Das said the police sent the group back to the Indo-Bangla border on Friday night and they were still in the custody of the BSF in Mahisasan town.

According to their confession the Burmese nationals were lured by a Bangladeshi agent, who allegedly took Rupees 35,000 and promised them better paying jobs in northern India's Rajasthan state.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Kachin refugee status seekers increase in Burma's neighbouring countries

Written by KNG

The number of ethnic Kachin in Burma seeking refugee status has gradually increased in the two neighboring countries --- Malaysia and Thailand since 2005, said Kachin refugees in the two countries.

Kachin refugees from northern Burma in Malaysia

Till date over 3,000 Kachin refugees and refugee/asylum seekers have arrived in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur and in the three refugee camps (Mae La, Nu Po and Umpiem) along the Thailand-Burma border, said Kachin refugees.

There are fewer Kachin refugees and those seeking refugee statuses in Malaysia and Thailand when compared with thousands of refugees from Burma in these countries, said Kachin refugees in the two countries.

According to Kuala Lumpur based Kachin Refugee Committee (KRC), the number of Kachin people seeking refugee status has now risen to nearly 3,000 from some 500 till 2003 in Malaysia. During 2003-2008, over 300 Kachin refugees in Malaysia departed to third countries like Canada, United States of America, Denmark, New Zealand and Norway.

On the other hand, there were no Kachin refugees or those seeking refugee status in refugee camps along the Thailand-Burma border before the year 2000, but there are now over 40 Kachin refugees and some 500 refugees status seekers in these camps, said a Kachin refugee called Lamung Brang Gam who is waiting to leave for a third country for 10 years in Nu Po camp.

About a dozen Kachin refugees from the camps along Thailand-Burma departed to third countries during the past four years, added Lamung Brang Gam.

Most Kachin refugee status seekers in these countries have economic problems in their areas in Burma rather than political problems with Burma's ruling junta, added refugees.

Refugee and refugee status seekers live an unsafe life in Malaysia and Thailand because the two countries do not recognize the 1951 Geneva Convention related to the Status of Refugees.

In Malaysia, refugees and refugee status seekers have to live and work and hide from being sent to jail and are expelled by Malaysian authorities whereas refugees and refugee status seekers on the Thailand-Burma border have to live only in refugee camps, added refugees in the two countries.

For the first time, Kachin refugees started to resettle in third countries Europe and North America after the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) signed a ceasefire agreement with Burma's ruling junta in February 24, 1994.

During the civil war from 1961 to 1994 between the KIO and the ruling junta in Kachin state and Northeast Shan state, thousands of Kachin people had their homes burnt and lost their live stock when the Burmese Army launched operations but they had to hide within the states.

Two elected MPs jailed for 15 years

(DVB)–Elected members of parliament Dr Tin Min Htut and Nyi Pu were sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment today by Insein prison court, according to Dr Tin Min Htut’s son.

Khaing Win Hlaing, son of Dr Tin Min Htut, said his father and Nyi Pu were sentenced at 4.40pm this afternoon.

Kyaw Hoe, the lawyer for the two MPs-elect, was barred from attending the court proceedings right up until the sentencing.

Nyi Pu is the elected representative for Gwa township and an Arakan National League for Democracy organising committee member, while Dr Tin Min Htut is an elected MP from Panatanaw township in Irrawaddy division.

Khaing Win Hlaing said he expected to find out more details when he visits his father tomorrow.

The two men were among five elected MPs who signed a letter to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon at the end of July last year, along with Pu Cin Sian Thaung, Thein Pe and Dr Myint Naing.

In the letter, the five declared their opposition to the 2010 elections and called for the 1990 election result to be honoured and for tripartite dialogue.

Dr Tin Min Htut and Nyi Pu were arrested by police special branch soon after the letter was sent, in the early hours of 12 August.

They were charged with disrupting the national convention, causing a public disturbance and offences under the electronic communication law.

Reporting by Aye Nai

Mizzima's correspondent released - Kyaw Moe

By Nem Davies

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Mizzima's Bangladesh-based journalist was released on Wednesday, after being detained for a year and four months in a jail in Kolkata city.

Kyaw Moe, who was arrested in September 2007, under the Foreigners Act and detained at Dum Dum jail, has been finally acquitted. He was deported to the Bangladesh border, from where he had originally crossed the border into India.

"Two days ago, the jail authorities told me that Kyaw Moe would be released within two-three days. I was called on Wednesday and told that he was being deported to Bangladesh," Anil Sharma, Defense Counsel of Kyaw Moe, told Mizzima.

Kyaw Moe, alias Nyein Chan, a Burmese journalist based in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, is a news stringer for Mizzima News, a Burmese independent news agency based in New Delhi. He was arrested by the Indian Border Security Force near the Indo-Bangladesh border, while returning from Kolkata after a journalism training course, organized by Mizzima in September 2007.

On May 26, 2008, after pleading guilty to the terms of the Foreigners Act, Kyaw Moe was sentenced to a term of 250 days in prison.

Despite being a recognized refugee by the Bangladeshi office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), he was charged under the Foreigners Act for illegally crossing the border.

The Solidarity Committee for Burma's Freedom Fighters, a committee formed to advocate on behalf of the 34 Burmese rebels arrested in February 1998 by Indian authorities at Andaman and Nicobar Islands, took up the case of Kyaw Moe and appealed for his early release.

Despite efforts by Mizzima, activists and the UNHCR, Indian authorities continued to detain him and a request by Mizzima for his bail was also turned down.

Although he had completed his jail term, the West Bengal government, however, did not deport him to Burma, where he would face a distinct threat of persecution if he was deported, but sent him back to Bangladesh as requested by the UNHCR, Mizzima and activists.

The activist cum journalist was finally reunited with his wife and three children yesterday, after being separated for over one year.

"I feel like a person, who has won a lottery," Kyaw Moe's excited wife told Mizzima.

Skin Color and Prejudice Endangers Rohingya

By KYAW ZWA MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Unbelievably in this day and time, skin color has become an issue in the case of the Rohingya boat people.

While much of the world has moved beyond discrimination due to the color of one’s skin (think President Obama), pockets of prejudice still exist, including in Southeast Asia.

“You will see in the photos that their complexion is dark brown,” said Burmese Counsel Ye Myint Aung in Hong Kong, in a letter to fellow diplomats, referring to the Rohingya boat people. He went on to describe the complexion of Burmese as “fair and soft, good looking as well.”

His own complexion, he said, was typical of a Burmese gentleman and his fellow diplomats could easily contrast their diplomatic colleague with Rohingya.

“Rohingyas are as ugly as ogres,” he said.

In essence, what he said was that Rohingyas couldn’t qualify as Burmese citizens because of their appearance, and they are not recognized as an ethnic group of Burma.

Thousands of Rohingyas have fled their homes in Burma and Bangladesh to Thailand and Malaysia in recent years. In 2008 alone, reports estimated 4,880 Rohingyas were arrested for illegally entering Thailand.

It’s fairly clear now that no country in Southeast Asia is willing to accept the desperate Rohingyas who wash up on their shore or enter a country by other means.

One reason is that they don’t look like ordinary economic migrants or refugees. They take to the ocean in dilapidated boats, reminiscent of the Vietnamese boat people, who also were desperate to leave an unforgiving land and would do anything—even risk their lives—to escape. In addition, they are Muslims, another strike against them in some people’s eyes.

The boat people have become an irritant for many countries in the region, especially Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Compounding the problem is the unwillingness of Burma and Bangladesh to recognize the Rohingya as citizens.

When various groups of Rohingya boat people were arrested in Thailand recently, they were beaten and tortured by Thai authorities, according to reports, and eventually towed back out to sea and set adrift with inadequate water and food in boats without working engines.

Earlier, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was quoted by reporters as saying, “They [the Rohingyas] are not refugees. Our policy is to push them out of the country because they are illegal migrants.”

More than 1,000 Rohingyas were towed out to sea and set adrift late last year by the Thai navy. Fortunately, they were rescued by Indonesian and Indian authorities. Unknown numbers, however, disappeared at sea.

Recently, the Thai premier changed his tune to acknowledge the claims of human rights groups, telling CNN in an exclusive interview, “It’s not exactly clear whose work it is.” He added, “All the [Thai] authorities say it’s not their policy, but I have reason to believe some instances of this happened, and if I can have the evidence of who exactly did this, I will certainly bring them to account.”

Clearly, the issue is now a regional issue, and the Thai government is feeling the heat of world opinion. Even a simple statement in support of the Rohingya boat people made by Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, who is also a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations, during a visit to Thailand last week drew a curt response from Thai foreign ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat, who pounced on her remarks, saying, “It’s not her role to comment on the matter.”

Thailand’s army commander is now scheduled to visit Burma next week to discuss the Rohingya issue with the military government.

Really, the issue would be best addressed in a regional forum with the gravity that it deserves.

The secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Surin Pitsuwin, said in an interview: “This is not an issue for a particular country. It is a regional issue. It is also an issue for the international community.”

When Asean leaders gather for the regional summit which is scheduled to be held at the end of this month in Thailand, Surin and other Asean leaders must responsibly address the Rohingya issue.

If they fail to do so and paper over the issue with rhetorical flourishes, they will bring further discredit to the region.

Burma’s Rice Exports Soar, While Millions Remain Malnourished

Burmese farmers plant rice near new capital Naypyidaw. (Photo: AP)

By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy News

Driven by strong demand from Africa and Bangladesh, Burma’s rice exports have increased rapidly since the beginning of this year, according to traders in Rangoon, who say that sales in January have already nearly quadrupled the total for the first half of the current fiscal year.

“Exports to Africa, Mauritius and Bangladesh have gone way up,” said a rice exporter from Rangoon, adding that export prices remain unusually low, while domestic prices are continuing to rise.

“The increase in rice exports is having an impact, making rice more expensive locally,” he said.

According to a Reuters report, Burma has exported around 400,000 tons of rice so far this year. A Burmese agricultural official told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the country’s exports over the period from April to September 2008 amounted to around 100,000 tons.

One reason for the strong sales has been the cheap price of Burmese rice on the international market. Burma is selling 25 percent broken rice at US $270-$280 per ton, compared with $348-US$353 quoted for a similar Vietnamese variety.

Speaking early last December, Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein said that Burmese rice exports could reach as high as three million tons in 2009. “Myanmar is to strive for ensuring local self-sufficiency in rice and [exports of] about three million tons of rice annually,” he was quoted in the state-run media as saying.

However, some Burmese agricultural experts said they didn’t expect the country’s rice surplus to exceed two million tons, far short of the three million projected by the government.

A senior official from the Myanmar Rice Traders Association said that rice production would likely decrease as a result of lower prices, as farmers say they could end up selling at a loss because of the high price of inputs.

“Fertilizer, seeds, pesticides and equipment such as pumps and ploughs are all very expensive,” he said, adding that the impact of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Irrawaddy and Rangoon divisions last May, would also be felt for some time.

“Total rice production was about 18 million tons last year, including summer paddy,” he said. “In the coming fiscal year, rice production will fall at least 20 percent.”

Meanwhile, a joint report by the World Food Program and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, released on January 22, said that there are more than five million people below the food poverty line in Burma.

The report also said that two divisions and five states were found to be a priority for emergency food assistance, requiring 186,000 tons of food aid.

The report pointed out that after Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy delta—an area known as the “Rice Bowl” of Burma—last May, rice harvests in the affected townships fell by about a third.

In Chin State, near Burma’s border with India, at least 30 children were reported to have died as a result of a famine caused by a plague of rats that has been devouring rice stocks since December 2007. According to exiled Chin rights groups, at least 100,000 ethnic Chin, or 20 percent of the state’s population, has been affected by the food emergency.

Mahn Sha’s Spirit Lives On

General Secretary Mahn Sha (right) of KNU pictured with
Gen Bo Mya at Karen Revolution Day in 2004.
(Photo: Htain Linn)

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

On February 14 last year, two unknown men pulled up in a pick-up truck outside Mahn Sha’s house in Mae Sot. He was upstairs resting on the balcony at the time, family members say. The men walked into the house armed with shotguns. They marched up the stairs and a series of loud gunshots was heard. The gunmen ran downstairs and escaped. The Karen National Union (KNU) general-secretary lay dead in a pool of blood.

On Saturday, Karen people around the world, Burmese opposition leaders, international Burma watchers and exiled Burmese will pay respects to Mahn Sha, considered a visionary Karen leader—a man respected by all, especially his adversaries.

Ceremonies of remembrance to Mahn Shah, who was 64 when he died, will be held on Saturday in Norway and other countries around the world.

Mahn Sha was born in Irrawaddy Division on July 5, 1944. After majoring in history at Rangoon University in 1962, he joined the Karen movement at its jungle headquarters, Manerplaw, on the Thai-Burmese border.

He was involved in ceasefire talks with the Burmese military regime, which came to see him as a strong leader who repeatedly called for genuine political dialogue. He was regarded by many as one of the leading lights in the KNU and was being groomed to take over the troubled KNU leadership.

In its six-decade war for autonomy, the KNU never signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese armed forces and, in recent years, had to contend with the splinter Karen group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, as an enemy too.

With so many enemies, it has never been confirmed who ordered the Karen leader’s assassination.

Brig-Gen Johnny, commander of the Karen National Liberation Army’s Brigade 7, said that Karen youth should look at Mahn Sha’s example and the way he sacrificed his life for the Karen people.

Brig-Gen Johnny said, “Mahn Sha didn’t work for his own family. He worked for his people. He didn’t even possess any belongings of worth when he died.”

The current general-secretary of the KNU, Zipporah Sein, said she encouraged Karen youths to learn from Mahn Sha as he was the one who always supported education and politics, and even prompted youngsters to get involved in the democracy movement.

Burmese opposition leaders in exile also spoke out in support of Mahn Sha’s vision. Most agreed that the death of Mahn Sha was a huge loss for the Burmese democracy movement as no one in the KNU leadership could substitute for him.

Aung Moe Zaw, the chairman of the Thailand-based Democratic Party for a New Society, said that Mahn Sha was an ethnic leader who spoke for the whole Burmese democracy movement, including ethnic people and the Burmese opposition.

The secretary-general of the Forum for Democracy in Burma, Naing Aung, agreed that Mahn Sha was a strong ethnic leader who knew and understood the history of the Burmese opposition alliance and who dealt harmoniously with the Burmese opposition groups.

In Norway on Saturday, a posthumous award will be presented to Mahn Sha as well as four other ethnic leaders for their efforts toward national reconciliation in Burma.

The four others are Khun Htun Oo, Aye Tha Aung, Cin Sian Thang and Nai Ngwe Thein.

Mahn Sha’s daughter, Zoya Phan, will receive the award on her father’s behalf.

Burma Extends Detention of NLD Leader - Tin Oo

By AP and THE IRRAWADDY

Burma's military government on Friday extended the house arrest of Tin Oo, the deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party.

Several policemen were seen visiting Tin Oo's house to inform him that the restrictions had been extended, according to a neighbor who asked not to be named for fear of government reprisal.

Photo: Tin Oo, the deputy leader of NLD.

The extension was for one year, said a government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release such information. Burma's junta tightly controls the release of all news.

Tin Oo, 82, the vice chairman of the National League for Democracy, was arrested with Suu Kyi in May 2003, when a pro-government mob attacked their motorcade as they were making a political tour of northern Burma. Both party leaders have been in either prison or under house arrest since then.

Meanwhile, two elected members of parliament from the NLD were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on Friday by the notorious Insein Prison special court, according to their family members.

Nyi Pu, a elected member of parliament from Gwa Township, Arakan State, and Dr Tin Min Htut, a elected member of parliament from Pantanaw Township, Irrawaddy Division, were convicted of three charges, including the State Offence Act 505 B, said Khine Win Hlaing, one of Dr Tin Min Htut’s sons.

The two parliamentary members were arrested and detained on August 12 last year.

“No lawyer was allowed to represent them in the special court,” Khine Win Hlaing said.

According to Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners—Burma, 2,137 political activists and their supporters are currently being held in prisons across Burma.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Ethnic groups: No Panglong Agreement, no Union of Burma

“Non-Burmans could struggle on their own,
but no one can predict how long it will last.
But if you join hands with the Burmese,
independence at the same time is assured,”
--Aung San, at the Panglong Conference, 12th February 1947

By Hseng Khio Fah
Shan Herald Agency for News

The exile Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) released a statement marking the 62nd anniversary of the historic Panglong Agreement today that were it not for the Agreement, there would not have been the Union of Burma.

“The statement reflects the background of how the Union Day come into being,” said Saw David Taw, ENC Joint General Secretary.

The said treaty between the non-Burman leaders and Aung San was the basis for the Union, he added.

Aung San and his delegation had gone to England in January 1947 to demand Independence. As a result, Burma was promised freedom which did not include the Frontier Areas, as the non-Burman States were known at that time.

He returned to Burma to convince the ethnic leaders to join hands for Independence. On 8 February evening he delivered a speech at Panglong promising adequate safeguards for non-Burman rights should they decide to join Burma.

Aung San said, “Non-Burmans could struggle on their own, but no one can predict how long it will last. But if you join hands with the Burmese, independence at the same time is assured,” according to a SHAN report in 2000.

Later on 12th February 1947, the Panglong agreement was signed between leaders of the Frontier Areas and Aung San to unite and jointly fight for independence, and to establish a sovereign country, composed of co-independent equal states, in accordance with the principle of the Right of Self-determination.

Likewise, Shwe Ohn, 87, a participant at the Panglong Conference, wrote in his Toward the Third Union of Burma (1993), to the following effect:

What would have happened if the Panglong Agreement was not signed?
The answer is clear. The country would have been divided into two parts: Burma and the Frontier Areas. The former would become independent in 1948, while the latter would continue to remain under British rule.

How long would that rule be?

The Federated Malay States, also under British rule, became independent in 1957 without having to fight for it. By the same taken, I believe the Frontier Areas, in which Federated Shan States was a part, would also be an independent country by now.

Warning by Britishers to Kachins comes true

"Don't take independence together!", the British had warned ethnic Kachin leaders and this has come true today, the 62nd anniversary of the Union Day in Burma, which commemorates the ethnic Shan, Kachin, Chins leaders and Burmese (Burman) leader General Aung San signing the Panglong Agreement for forming the multi-ethnic Union of Burma on February 12, 1947.

Kachins have lost their autonomous rights since Burma's Independence Day on January 4, 1948 during successive Burmese-national leaderships---from the first elected Prime Minister U Nu to Senior General Than Shwe, current chairman of the military junta's so-called State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Now it is the worst phase.

Kachin Duwa Wabaw Zau Rip

Written by KNG

It was a historic mistake where Kachins lost political rights when Kachin leaders decided to take independence together with Burmese and form the Union of Burma in 1946 under the leadership of the two Kachin Duwas (leaders) in Myitkyina --- Sama Duwa Sinwa Nawng and Duwa Wabaw Zau Rip, said Duwa Maran Zau Awng in Florida in the US of the National League for Democracy, NLD's People Representative of Waingmaw Township in Kachin state and Awng Wa, the former 88 Kachin students' leader on the Sino-Burma border.

On August 15, 1946, Mr. Stevenson, officer of Burma's Frontier Areas Administration and Mr. North, special commissioner of Bhamo and Myitkyina met about 100 Kachin Duwas from Myitkyina, Bhamo, Danai (Tanai), Putao and Lashio in Myitkyina and warned them not to claim independence together with the Burmese.

Mr. Stevenson warned Kachin Duwas in a meeting held in a football field in Manhkring primary school in Myitkyina, "So, We are to give independence to Burmese soon, you (Kachin) don't take independence together with them. If you receive it together, you may be depressed by the Burmese someday."

Mr. Stevenson had continued, "We'd like to rule continuously for 10 years and give you independence. As we'd like to be grateful to you for your great help in fighting against Fascist Japan in northern Burma during WW II, we'd like to teach you and educate you 'how to rule country'.

Sama Duwa Sinwa Nawng angrily stood first and fought back with words against Mr. Stevenson saying "If Burmese depress us, we'll slaughter them again. We have slaughtered them in the past."

Duwa Wabaw Zau Rip had complained regarding the promise of political education programs for Kachins by the two British officers, "You did not build any school in Bhamo in 75 years of rule, Myitkyina during 50 years of rule and Putao in 35 years of rule. We don't believe you."

All Kachin leaders in the meeting raised their hands and rejected the warning and the offer of the two British officers as soon as they heard the voices of Duwa Sinwa Nawng and Wabaw Zau Rip, said Duwa Zau Awng who was teenager at that time and informally attended the meeting.

Duwa Zau Awng added, Kachin leaders at that time had also thought of forming the People's Republic of Kachin as the next step in the future after independence together with Burmese.

The London-based Duwa Mahkaw Hkun Sa, general secretary of Kachin National Council accused Burma's ruling junta pointing at Article 9 (c) under Chapter (1) in the junta's newly drafted constitution which was forcibly approved in the public referendum in May, 2008, "The Burma's ruling junta is trying to delete the name 'Kachin state' from Burma."

Now, all Kachin leaders believe that the lost rights of Kachins following Burma's Independence Day will be regained if a democratic system is ushered into Burma, first.

Lawyers denied entry to Insein prison court

(DVB)–Six members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions and four others who were arrested after helping victims of Cyclone Nargis appeared in Insein prison court without their lawyers on 10 February.

Phyo Phyo Aung, her father Dr Ne Win, Shein Yarzar, Aung Thant Zin Oo, Aung Kyaw San, Phone Pyit Kywe, Yin Yin Waing, Tin Tin Cho, Ni Mo Hlaing and Myat Thu were arrested for collecting rotting corpses in the aftermath of the cyclone and burying them.

Kyaw Hoe, Khin Htay Kywe and Maung Maung Latt, the lawyers representing the ten people, were not allowed to enter the court on the orders of special branch, a lawyer said.

Lawyer Kyaw Hoe said that MPs-elect Nyi Pu and Dr Tin Ming Htut had also appeared at the court without legal representation.

Kyaw Hoe said it was special branch, not the prison authorities, who had barred him from attending.

The lawyers wrote a letter to Tin Htut, the presiding judge at Western Rangoon district court, but he also rejected their appeal on the orders of special branch.

National League for Democracy legal advisor Thein Nyunt insisted that action should be taken against those who interfere with court procedures.

"If we are to maintain the right to a free trial, the court has a duty to prevent outside interference," he said.

"It won't be a free trial if lawyers are not allowed to represent their clients; this should be reported to the court. Their relatives should also report it to justice ministry."

NLD members Ma Cho and Theingi were also denied legal representation on 11 February, when their lawyer Myint Thaung was refused access to the court to defend them, according to party spokesman Nyan Win.

The two women were arrested five months ago and charged with having contact with illegal organisations.

Reporting by Nan Kham Kaew and Aye Nai

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Equal rights essential to revive Union Spirit: Ethnic leaders

By Salai Pi Pi

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burma's ethnic leaders have said the essence of Unions Day has been degraded and have urged the ruling junta to revise the Constitution to ensure the rights of ethnic people, which will re-establish the true spirit of Union Day.

Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong, Vice-president of the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) in exile, said the revision of the Constitution and tripartite dialogue with the National League for Democracy (NLD) and ethnic nationalities could revive the true spirit of the Union Day in Burma.

"If the regime wants to see unity, they must revise the junta drafted and endorsed Constitution to ensure the rights of ethnic nationalities," Dr. Sakhong told Mizzima, adding, "The junta should also call for tripartite dialogue with NLD and ethnic groups."

However, in order to hold a tripartite dialogue, Sakhong said, "Initially, the regime must release all political prisoners, including Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Shan ethnic leader Khun Htun Oo."

The ethnic leader's call came following Burmese military supremo Senior General Than Shwe's message on the 62nd anniversary of Union Day, published by the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar yesterday.

In his message, Than Shwe said the Union Day marks the signing of the 'Panglong' agreement between Burmese independence architect General Aung San and ethnic leaders to form the Union of Burma in 1947 and urged the people to nurture the Burmese spirit regardless of where they were.

"Only the Union Spirit is true patriotism that will ever protect and safeguard all the national races," the paper quoted Than Shwe as saying.

Sakhong, however, said the Union Spirit could not be obtained in the absence of equal rights for ethnic nationalities. "Words are not enough, and action needs to be taken," he said.

Meanwhile, veteran Arakanese politician Aye Thar Aung said, with the military junta's Constitution, which largely fails to recognize the rights of ethnic nationalities, unity among all nationalities in Burma is be a dream, which cannot be realized.

"The Constitution will not lead to unity as it failed to include self-determination rights of ethnic groups," said Aye Thar Aung, who is also the Secretary of the Committee Representing People's Parliament (CRPP), a group formed with the Members of Parliament elected in the 1990 election.

"If they [the junta], really want to build unity, the Constitution must include the equal rights of ethnic nationalities," Aye Thar Aung added.

He added that the regime by refusing to accept proposals from ethnic representatives on equal rights at the National Convention, proved their unwillingness to recognize the rights of ethnic nationalities.

Burma, on February 12, will mark the 62nd anniversary of the Union Day, on which date General Aung San and ethnic leaders in Panglong Town of Shan state, signed the historic 'Panglong Agreement' to form the Union of Burma.

General Aung San along with his eight other colleagues were assassinated on July 19, 1947. However, Burma gained independence from the British colonial rule on January 4, 1948.

Barely a month later, the ethnic Karen group began to revolt demanding rights of self-determination. Burma has been plagued with civil war since then.

The ethnic nationalities' aspiration of a federal state was further crushed in 1962, when General Ne Win took over in a military coup and re-wrote the Constitution in 1974. The new Constitution introduced a unitary system and denied the existence of a multi-party system, giving way only to Ne Win's Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP).

"We do not want a unity that is forcibly built without regard for the rights of ethnics' self-determination," Sakhong said.

Humanism is more important than the term 'Rohingya': NCUB

By Ko Wild

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – There is debate among Burma's military regime, some activists and some sectors of the ethnic nationalities on the existence of 'Rohingya' in Burma.

The Rohingya reached Thailand, Indonesia and India from Burma by crossing sea in small boats. They claimed that they took the risk of their lives for seeking a better life after suffering unbearable racial, religion, social and economic repression inflicted upon them by Burmese junta.

Despite the denial by the Burmese junta on the existence of Rohingya as an ethnic race in Burma, Thai government is now saying it wants to discuss the issue of Rohingya coming from Burma informally at ASEAN meeting to be held in Thailand in the last week of this month.

Mizzima reporter Ko Wild interviewed an exiled umbrella orgnization 'National Council of Union of Burma' (NCUB) Joint General Secretary (1) Myint Thein on his opinion on the use of term 'Rohingya' and how to treat them and how to tackle the consequences of the boatpeople. This interview:

Q: The Rohingya boatpeople coming from Burma and Bangladesh arrived in Thai, Malaysia, Indonesia and India. The news reports said some of them were arrested and some tortured. And also we can see some countries do not want to accept them. What is the opinion of NCUB on this issue?

A: Whatsoever they said, they are human beings. They are not animals regardless of their name, Rohingya or whatever they are. I would not like to focus on this term. We should focus on this issue on the fundamental causes such as why they suffer, why they face such an unfortunate situation etc. The fundamental causes mean these people are seeking their way out by all possible means under the current circumstances of objective political situation, crises and difficulties they are facing. This is the main point.

Many of them faced trouble in Thai territory recently. Some of them died. This issue is really a humanitarian issue. We should rescue them on the basis of humanitarianism. And also the fundamental and root causes of this issue should be searched in a concerted effort among all the countries concerned, Burma and regional countries, through negotiation and consultation.

Moreover the UN Human Right Commission should take all necessary action by emphasizing on this issue. We see this issue like not on Rohingya, Muslim and Buddhism. We don't want to see this issue in this way.

Q: One of the ethnic leaders in the democracy struggle told Mizzima that the 'Rohingya' appeared only in 1950s based on 'Mujahit' rebels from western Burma. But nowadays the media, UN and other countries use the term 'Rohingya'. What is your opinion on the usage of the proper term?

A: As for NCUB, we have not yet adopted concrete policy on this issue of Rohingya, the usage of the term Rohingya and whether they are Rohingya or not. But in our opinion, there are many ethnicity and racial issues in Burma inherited from the past and history, some of which were deliberately created by sowing confusion and complexity. All these issues can be resolved only when we can restore genuine peace in our country. If we emphasize these unresolved issues first, we will ignore and overlook the ground reality of people who are currently in trouble. We should not see this issue based on racial and religious grounds. We must do our best to resolve the current sufferings they are facing. This is the common phenomenon for the people who are migrating between two countries to and fro then later produced confusion and complexity on their ethnicity. By focusing and overemphasizing on this issue in this way, we will lead to communal riot. It should not be like that.

Q: Both naturalized citizen in Muslim faith and those who have not yet been granted citizenship living in Rakhine State are suffering severe repression unleashed by the SPDC. What type of works the humanitarian workers should do to stop racial hatred and repression?

A: This is the work we are consistently doing. Any raceregardless of where they are living, in Burma or in any other country, should not lose their fundamental rights. All human beings shall enjoy the human dignity and all human rights they are entitled to. Resolving their racial issue left by history is another case. All these issues will remain unresolved until they can exercise the democratic procedure in resolving these issues. I think UN should handle all these disputed ethnicity issues.

Q: Currently the Rohingya reports are making headlines in the media. There are both optimistic and pessimistic views on them and heated debate among them. Under these circumstances, do you think SPDC can start a communal riot by exploiting the current situation?

A: We absolutely believe the SPDC will do whatever things which will benefit to them in perpetuation of military dictatorship and clinging to power. If they see the current situation and circumstances are the best opportunity for them, they will exploit them certainly. That's what I see in this situation.

Q: Like other fallouts of Burma problems and controversies such as refugees and migrant workers, do you think the Rohingya issue has also become the regional issue and regional threat?

A: It's difficult to say exclusively on the Rohingya issue. But it is very clear to see that under the current situation and circumstances in Burma, there are many refugees who take refuge on foreign soil, millions of migrant workers working in Thailand alone and illegal and undocumented immigrants in those countries. All of them are of different faiths and races. All of these illegal migrant people will certainly be a burden to the host countries to some extent. We cannot say who will give trouble to the host countries and who will not. We see the root cause of all these problems originated from the problems in Burma.

Rogue Agent betrayed Burmese rebels

By Salai Pi Pi

New Delhi (Mizzima)- India's leading Human Rights lawyer Nandita Haksar said there are more political motives than legal reasons for India to have detained 34 Burmese rebels, who are currently lodged in Kolkata's Presidency jail. They have been in Indian jails for the past 11 years.

Haksar, who have been advocating the case of the Burmese rebels, said, "I have tried to explore the politics of this case, I don't think that they are in jail for legal reasons but for political reasons."

Haksar's comment came in a form of a book, titled 'Rogue Agent', which details the case of the 34 Burmese rebels and the politics behind their arrest and accusations of India's betrayal to the rebels.

Speaking after the formal release of her book by Burmese exiled Member of Parliament, Dr. Tint Swe, Haksar said an Indian military intelligence officer had played a vital role in betraying the Burmese rebels, who were arrested by Indian authorities in February 11, 1998 at Landfall Island of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

"It is India's military intelligence officer, who betrayed the Burmese freedom fighters," said Haksar adding that the rebels on Wednesday completed 11 years in detention without proper trial.

Gathered at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar Park near the Parliament, at least a hundred Burmese pro-democracy activists on Wednesday staged a protest demanding India provide a fair trial to the Burmese rebels and release them immediately.

Leech Operation
The rebels, belonging to Burma's Arakan and Karen ethnics, said they were betrayed by Indian Military Intelligence, who promised them a base at Landfall Island in Andaman and Nicobar.

According to the rebels, six of their key leaders were killed brutally by Indian Military Intelligence upon arriving at the landfall and the rest were arrested.

The Indian defence ministry later claimed that a huge consignment of arms and ammunition were seized during a joint operation codenamed 'Operation Leech' and charged the rebels with gun running.

The rebels were then kept at Port Blair without trial for eight years. But later in 2006 October, the Supreme Court of India, after the rebels' petition, ordered the rebels to be transferred to Kolkata and to conduct a day-to-day trial.

The Rogue Agent
Haksar, who has tirelessly followed the case of the 34 rebels, in her book – 'Rogue Agent' – reveals that an Indian Military Intelligence officer named Lt. Col V.S. Grewal as the man masterminding the plot to betray the Burmese rebels.

According to her Grewal had negotiated with the rebels, mainly the Arakanese resistant group, to allow them a base in an Island in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in return for monitoring Chinese naval bases in Coco Island.

But Grewal, who also had good relationship with the Burmese military regime, betrayed the rebels on their arrival at the Landfall Island and killed six of their leaders in cold blood and arrested the others.

According to the book, Lt. Col V. S Grewal, who is a resident of Chandigarh, is being spotted in Rangoon and is enjoying the military government's favour after the operation against the rebels.

Haksar, however, said with the Indian military establishment turning down requests to allow access to Grewal, he cannot be working alone in his plot to betray the Burmese rebels.

"If Grewal had been working alone why would the Indian Army want to protect him? Would it not be better to hand him over and put the blame on one rogue agent rather than get into this long-drawn controversy?" Haksar asked in her book.

Haksar in her book also details how India had switched its stand on Burma and abandoned its support to Burmese pro-democracy movement under its claimed 'National Interest'.

The Rebels
The 34 Burmese rebels, who are now on a trial in a court in Kolkata, reportedly went into a hunger strike on Wednesday to protest against 11 years of detention.

The trial, according to one of their lawyers Akshay Kumar Sharma, is nearing a close as the prosecution has several times failed to produce key witnesses as demanded by the court.

But with their case drawing to a close, the lawyer said the rebels will need a refugee status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or will likely be continued to be detained or face deportation to Burma under India's Foreigners Act.

Earlier the Czech Republic and East Timor has in principle agreed to accept them in their country but that would still require the UNHCR's recommendation.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Last call for forests in Northern Burma

By Phyusin Linn

(Mizzima) -Forests in Northern Burma, some of the last frontiers of Asia's rain forests, are facing a chronic threat.

Logging is back in Kachin State under a new mask. Logging no longer will be the illegal business in one of the world's biggest green regions that houses most of the teaks left on earth. Logging this time has returned into the region with bigger ambition and the safer shield under the title of agro-forestry development projects.

For decades, deforestation in Kachin State was traditionally carried out by agricultural farming industry of the local people and Asia's one of the longest civil wars in the nation. High speed massive illegal logging was introduced to the region only by logging companies from neighbouring Yunnan Province only after China's economy started roaring in 1990s. And it remarkably escalated in 1998 when China banned logging in its nation after facing serious floods in their home land. Forests in northern Burma were dwindling quickly in early 2000 and Kachin State became a hottest target for all the international watchdogs. But, finally, loggers have found a new and safest way to continue their business with a higher speed.

Everything started in 2006 when the government began promoting a nation wide bio fuel campaign to grow a castor oil across the nation as a state crop. Although state sponsored project of growing castor oil plants only kept the people busy in other areas, but in Kachin State, it killed the forests that once survived from the hands of the loggers in early 2000. Companies cleaned the forests to grow the castor oil in a massive scale. As a result, logs and other forest products, as usual, were brought and sold to the Chinese logging companies.

Companies got enlightenment, copying the model of castor oil projects, to expand the logging business in the region on a massive scale. They said castor oil should not only be the state crop, there are several other important crops that the state should focus on in a large scale in the region. And the companies said they will dutifully serve those noble endeavours to develop the region.

Under the forest regulations issued in May, 2008, companies who want to run an agro-forestry project can rent the forest areas from the Ministry of Forests with a 30-year deed.

Companies borrowed the loans from the banks in Yunnan Province. Banks and logging people in Yunnan were enthusiastic to help their neighbouring friends' decision to develop the massive farming industries.

More tractors, dozers of cars and other machineries were ambitiously brought to the region. The roads between Kachin State and Yunnan were reconstructed again. Roads became even much better than the Yangon-Mandalay highway.

A Kachin local remarked, "the better road we have the more trees we lose".

And finally companies take their share dividing the forest areas in Kachin state. There are four major crops that the companies are growing in Northern Burma such as sugar cane, rubber, tapioca and castor oil. Each company takes an average of 200,000 acres of forest land in the region.

Needless to say, they all cut the trees, again, to clean the forests before they started growing the state crops. But this time the scale is larger and lethal to the trees left in the region. A forest official said that the major reason of deforestation in northern Myanmar is expanding the agricultural projects. He concluded that the best way to maintain the forests is to conserve the present forests rather than reforestation. Because to see the success of reforestation in the future is not so certain, he continued.

How good are the reforestation projects in Kachin State?

There are some reforestation projects in the region where forestry officials are trying to grow teak and other trees to re-green the land. But unfortunately the scale and the timing is no match to counter the loggers' projects.

Forests in northern Myanmar were registered by the British government as the Permanent Forests Estates (PFE) for the first time since 1895. But after independence, the first time the Burmese government registered one forest as PFE was only in 2005.

The speed of logging is far beyond the speed of reforestation.

Trucks loaded with Burmese logs are still passing the border to China.

Trees are dwindling in the region.

And the impact on environment has been escalated.

This is a call not only to the people in Burma but to everyone in Asia.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Revealed: Burma's human exports

It echoes the slave trade –
in the hotels of Rangoon a smart woman is busy
selling people for work abroad, reports Phoebe Kennedy

(Independent) Her glasses were Gucci and her bag YSL. The smart Burmese businesswoman was perched neatly on a sofa in the lobby of a Rangoon hotel, delivering her sales patter to a small group of businessmen. Her product? Human beings. "We supply only strong bodies," she says crisply. "That is our guarantee."

I am sitting at the next table using the hotel wi-fi, and, as she speaks in clear English, I am drawn into a world of desperation and exploitation. The woman is a supplier of workers for deep-sea trawlers, and her stock of men come from Burma's beautiful but impoverished Inle Lake area, where fishing the tranquil waters no longer makes enough to feed a family. "These are just simple fishermen; they are not educated, but what we promise you is strong bodies," she says, using a phrase she repeats again and again.

It appears that the businesswoman's potential customers are middlemen, probably Chinese. Through a translator, they discuss placing the men on boats in the South China Sea, trawling for tuna. First, they will be flown to a Chinese city. In echoes of the slave trade, she describes a selection process worthy of a livestock market. In a 21st-century twist, she does so with the aid of pictures on her laptop.

"We make them stand in the sun for one hour," she says. "In the middle of the day when it is very hot. We see how they manage, if they look uncomfortable." The group leans in to see the pictures on her computer. "We make them carry 20 kilos, like this," she continues, showing them photographs I cannot see. "For deep-sea fishing, they may need to carry very big fish for long distances across the ship."

Then comes the seasickness test. "We put them in here," the woman says, but I can't see the picture. I think it must be an enclosed truck or some sort of container on water. "Then we start to move them around. If they are sick or find it hard to breathe we don't select them. This is how we select the best bodies."

The group nods. The images of Burma's Rohingya boat people, fleeing oppression only to be allegedly abused and cast adrift by the Thai military, has drawn international attention to the plight of one of the world's most downtrodden people. The Muslim Rohingyas face particular persecution in military-ruled Burma, but throughout the country, impoverished men and women who see no future at home are embarking on risky journeys abroad in search of an income for their families.

During the eavesdropping session, I learn more about the business. The fishermen are to earn $2,400 (£1,600) a year, an enticing wage in Burma, where average rural incomes are about $300 a year. But their rights are few, and they are expected to work very long hours for their money. "During the high season, they can work 23 hours a day," says the saleswoman. "Then in the low season they can relax a little and rest." Any fee the agent wishes from the salaries is up to them, the woman says, and the fishermen should only be paid every six months "in case they fall sick, or violate the contract".

Finally, one of the businessmen appears to ask a question about the welfare of the fishermen. The saleswoman suggests there should be an area on board the ships for the fishermen to live and cook, and says that those who operate machinery should get a bonus. "We hope they can make money to help their families," she says, smiling, and the group nods again.

Hit by the global recession and the mismanagement and neglect of Burma's ruling generals, in power for nearly five decades, the country's farmers and fishermen are suffering as never before, say aid workers.

"The agricultural sector, which employs 80 per cent of the population, is imploding," said Kerren Hedlund, an adviser to a consortium of aid agencies in Rangoon. "People are getting into greater and greater debt to finance a livelihood that's not possible."

In the cities, there is high unemployment, frequent power cuts and ever-climbing prices for food and basic goods. Most people try to scratch a living in the informal economy or the black market.

Lack of opportunity has driven millions of Burma's young people on dangerous journeys to South-east Asia's wealthier nations. They sneak across the border to Thailand, to work illegally as domestic helps, labourers, or in the fish-processing industry. Many young men make perilous sea voyages in the hope of reaching Malaysia, paying agents hundreds of dollars for places on rickety boats. If they make it, construction work is relatively well-paid, but migrant workers run the risk of abuse at the hands of employers and the authorities.

The migrants live simply, and try to send all the money they can back home. "There is a huge exodus of people from Burma," said Debbie Stothard, of the Bangkok-based Burma lobby group Altsean. "It is a land of no opportunity. The only way people can survive is to have a family member overseas, sending money home."

Rebels to combat Burma polls

(Bangkok Post) -The Shan State Army has vowed to fight to oppose the country's general election planned for next year, the group's chief Colonel Yod Serk said on Saturday.

Col Yod Serk said at least 10 out of 17 opposing groups had reached a conclusion to thwart the junta's plans for holding the election because of the regime's lack of transparency and cronyism.

"Even groups who laid down their arms join with us to hinder the voting because the Burmese government lacks transparency and drafts a constitution for its own interest. That's not democratic,'' he said.

He added that the United Wa State Army, known as a close ally of the junta, also opposed the upcoming election.

As long as the power was in the hands of a few military officials and not the people who were still under oppression, Burma faced a dead end for its sought-after democracy, Col Yod Serk said.

"The junta announced the upcoming election, but never let the opposing parties run in the race. What about detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi?,'' he said.

Col Yod Serk said the electorate in Shan state were urged to cast no vote. The state has more than eight million people.

Among them, more than four million are illegible to cast their ballot because they do not have identity documents.

Fight against drug menace with synergy

By Mizzima News

The apparently rising drug production is bad news and a menace not only for Burma, but the whole world. All organizations must tackle this problem with synergy.

The declining prices of crop substitutes, the domino effects of global financial crisis, the falling demand of these substitute crops in Chinese market severely affected the former poppy farmers compelling them to return to their poppy fields because of these irresistible factors.

Burma, the second largest drug producer in the world after Afghanistan, achieved some victories in drug its eradication programme in the past. The sown acreage of poppy was 120,000 hectares at the peak which declined to only one fourth of that amount in 2008. The poppy production also declined to just over 400 metric tons. After achieving all these successes, we are seeing the sign of returning to the previous situation.

A UN survey found that the poppy cultivation rising in eastern and northern Shan State, Kachin and Kayah States. Moreover the current political tension might turn to rearmament of 'United Wa State Army' (UWSA) which will encourage poppy growing in these UWSA controlled areas besides the rising production in ATS drugs such as 'Yaa baaa'.

In fact the drug problem is closely linked with politics in Burma. The military regime, which assumed power by killing peaceful demonstrators brutally in the 1988 nationwide uprising, survived because of drug money of drug kingpins and heavyweights, allowing them free investment and free money laundering. This drug money helped much in building and arming its growing army.

The pressure on Burma for drug eradication is being mounted only after this menace overshadowed not only the US and Europe, but also neighbouring countries, especially China.

The recent big haul of 118 kilograms of heroin from a ship owned by Chinese-Burmese hybrid businessman U Kyaw Sein after the vessel left Asia World port was the result of a tip off by Chinese drug enforcement agencies directly to Burmese Prime Minister's Office.

The port and drug authority recalled the ship to the jetty when it was anchoring at a buoy waiting for the rising tide. They found a lot of white, golden and brown poppy and narcotic drugs packed with newsprint, carbon paper and lead foil in the outermost layer, hidden in container carrying logs and wood conversions.

Two similar tip-offs in the past to Burmese drug enforcement agencies didn't work due to alleged non-cooperation by the Burmese side an evidence of the possible nexus between the authorities and drug gangs, and corruption in junta's administrative machinery.

Now we are witnessing the drug menace reemerging which will take the lives of many people again in Burma. Only the synergy efforts by regional countries can deter money laundering and ensuring the rule of law, an independent justice in the region.

The end of the UN may be at hand

By L. Jayasooriya

(Asian Tribune) -The tough words against Israel used by the Secretary General against Israeli action in Gaza could prompt Israel to tell America that the previous time the Secretary General was an Asian from Myanmar he was anti-Israeli and now when it came for the turn of another Asian he has also demonstrated that he is anti-Israeli and therefore America whether she could do it or not, should either remove him or make sure that in future no Asian will be the Secretary General.

If America that exercises hegemony over other members of the UN except China and Russia and hence in the end controls the UN were to agree then it could be a blessing in disguise because the world that has never been happy about the injustices against humanity that have been allowed to take place all over the world would be forced to look for alternatives. It is therefore not without reason why the whole world had shown so much interest in American elections hoping that Obama would make this planet a better place to live in where justice prevails and nations are not de-stabilized, patriotic leaders killed, puppet regimes installed and Africa, Asia and South America exploited.

If Obama were to take a tough stand on Israeli aggression against the Palestinians and were to make a statement that he is seeking a compromise solution where Israel withdraws from Palestinian lands to an extend that satisfies the neighbouring Muslim countries then that compromise solution can be put into effect whether Israel agrees to it or not even if America physically keeps out of it. If Obama can bring about dignity peace and independence to the Palestinians then the rest of the world would have faith in him to undo American policy that has antagonized the whole world against her but if he fails in the Israeli problem, Asia with the exception of Japan and India would turn their heads away from America and try to see what they could make out with China and Russia.

It would be an easy matter for all Asian countries including China and Russia to form a United Nations of Asian Countries without Japan and India and with the protection of China and Russia, not to interfere with any outside country but to seek protection with strength from the domineering countries of the West. With the hand of Chavez considerably strengthened as a result he could very well seek to form a United Nations of South American countries, again not to interfere with outside countries but to secure independence from America. (JEG's: Unfortunately, China, Russia, Japan and Chavez are a bit short on Human Rights, they must start practicing at home first to make a UN Asian group workable - just an illusion with this thought)

Africa will have to wait a little longer but a beginning would have been made for a natural change in world order which would be stronger than what Obama could bring about single handed even if he had the will to bring about the change for the better that we have interpreted to be not just for America alone but for all peoples of this planet.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Indonesia Criticizes Thailand for Towing Burmese Muslims Out to Sea

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda speaks at a press conference in Jakarta, 06 Feb 2009

Hassan Wirajuda said it was now time for "countries of origin" to stop abusing minorities and refugees, in accordance with principles of human rights set out in the new charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

By Katie Hamann

(Voice of America) -Indonesia has criticized Thailand for towing hundreds of Burmese Muslims out to sea in boats and demanded an end to persecution of minorities in the region. Almost 400 Rohingya refugees have been rescued in boats of the coast of Indonesia in the last month. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda says the men have a clear case for applying for refugee status.

Speaking on Friday Indonesia's foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda directed several thinly veiled comments towards regional countries guilty of human rights violations.

Without naming Burma, Wirajuda said it was now time for "countries of origin" to stop abusing minorities and refugees, in accordance with principles of human rights set out in the new charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The charter was officially passed into law in December last year.

In a later interview foreign affairs spokesman Teuku Faizasyah repeated the minister's message. "We look at these problems of the boat people arriving on our shore related to the problems in countries of origins," he said. "That's why we call to countries of origins to respect the rights of the minorities."

And there was also this message for countries that refugees travel to as a transit point.

"We call on the countries were the boats pass, to treat them well and not to allow them to arrive in other regional countries so it becomes a regional problem," said Faizasyah.

A local Acehnese woman helps a Rohingya refugee in a small hospital after being rescued by Acehnese fishermen in Idie Rayeuk, Aceh province, Indonesia, 03 Feb 2009

The Thai government has vigorously defended the decision by its navy to tow more than 1,000 Rohingya men out to sea. Those who have been rescued claim they were deserted without engines and little food or water.

Thailand says the men are economic migrants and a threat to Thai jobs. In recent weeks Indonesia also claimed that the Rohingya had left their country seeking better jobs and could therefore be deported under Indonesian law.

But in the wake of the arrival of a second boatload and renewed claims of torture at the hands of the Burmese military regime, foreign minister Wirajuda said was now considering granting the Rohingya refugee status. He said the United Nations High Commission for Refugees would be invited to assess their situation.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Grassroots activist pressured by police - Than Soe

(DVB)–Grassroots activist Than Soe, who helped local farmers in Magwe’s Aung Lan township report land seizures, has gone into hiding after being threatened with arrest by the police.

Than Soe, a resident of San Kalay village in Aung Lan provided legal support to local farmers seeking justice after their farms were seized by local authorities who were seeking a monopoly on sugar cane production.

A resident of Aung Lan said Than Soe had recently been harassed by township police special information branch officers, who came to his home and threatened to arrest him for having connections with political activists.

"Aung Lan special police officer Nyi Nyi Aung kept going to his house constantly and told family members the authorities wanted to question him as they believed that he had given refuge to 88 Generation Students members hiding from government arrest," said the Aung Lan resident.

"He said the authorities would try to catch him if he didn't turn himself in soon."

The resident said Than Soe had gone into hiding to avoid arrest but Nyi Nyi Aung was still showing up at his house frequently, pressuring his family to turn him in.

"Than Soe, who is a farmer himself, was enthusiastically providing assistance to his fellow farmers who were being abused and now authorities are trying to throw him into prison," he said.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

Opposition slams junta’s refusal to free prisoners

(DVB)–Pro-democracy groups have criticised the ruling State Peace and Development Council’s refusal to release political prisoners and accused them of stalling national reconciliation.

During the recent visit of United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to the country, Burmese government ministers said prisoners already had access to an appeal process.

Regime leaders also called for sanctions to be lifted to allow Burma to develop.

Arakan League for Democracy leader Aye Thar Aung, who is also secretary of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament, said the regime was only focused on its own aims.

"The refusal shows in a way that the SPDC is not interested in national reconciliation," Aye Thar Aung said.

Tate Naing of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said the release of political prisoners was vital for progress in Burma.

"With what is happening now in Burma, the essential thing is the release of political prisoners," he said.

Military and political analyst Htay Aung of the Network for Democracy and Development said "We can say that the SPDC's refusal to take basic steps shows that it has no desire for national reconciliation,” he said.

“They might also be worried that the release of political prisoners might ruin their election plans."

Nyo Ohn Myint of the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) said the regime’s insistence that sanctions be lifted and refusal to release political prisoner meant there could be no compromise with the opposition.

"There would be no economic sanctions if all political prisoners were released; the blockade arose from their human rights violations,” Nyo Ohn Myint said.

“Therefore the SPDC needs to release all political prisoners," he said.

"It is necessary to negotiate with groups inside the country for the release of political prisoners and to solve the problems of Burma."

Aye Thar Aung said the opposition needed to work together to pressure for the release of political prisoners.

"To solve the problems of the country, the NLD and ethnic parties and armed groups should work together in unity,” he said.

“Instead of just making demands, it is more important to start to do what needs to be done,” he went on.

“It is necessary for the people and political parties to work together to make them release political prisoners."

Reporting by Nan Kham Kaew

Generation Wave launches new campaign

(DVB)–Underground youth activist group Generation Wave began a new campaign in Rangoon yesterday, spraying graffiti and distributing posters and leaflets calling for a new government.

The group called their campaign Change New Government, which shares the initials CNG with the compressed natural gas stickers the authorities have put on cars.

Generation Wave spokesperson Moe Thway said group members had distributed leaflets in crowded places and put up posters on walls in South Okkalapa, Yankin and Kaba Aye.

"We did it early in the morning, at Dagon-1 high school, on the bridge near the Yuzana Garden Hotel and on the walls of diplomatic residences, and we sprayed paint near the zoo and the armoured carriers battalion base," he said.

Moe Thway said the project was intended in part to make fun of the government.

"The military government put CNG stickers on cars; they forced people to change from petrol to CNG,” he said.

“This is a way of raising awareness by using their own brand, and changing the meaning to make people think that they need a new government whenever they see the CNG sign."

Moe Thway said that the new generation in Burma wanted to bring about change and a better future.

Generation Wave was formed on 9 October 2007 and is made up of the younger generation of students and artists.

Twenty members of the group are currently in prison, including hip-hop artist Zayar Thaw of the band Acid.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

Indonesia backtracks on Burmese migrants

(The Age) -Indonesia says it will consider granting refugee status to hundreds of Muslim migrants from Burma allegedly abused and dumped at sea by Thai security forces.

In an about-turn from the government's previous line that the Rohingya men were economic migrants, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda admitted they could have claims to refugee protection.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) would be allowed access to the roughly 400 men who were rescued in desperate conditions off northern Sumatra in two boats in recent weeks, he said, reversing an earlier refusal.

"We did not allow the UNHCR earlier because our early findings were that they (the boat people) were economic migrants," he said on Friday.

He said Indonesia now accepted the possibility the migrants "faced some threats in the legal system from their countries of origin due to religious politics, among others."

"We do not reject that the boat people in Sabang and Idi Rayeuk left their countries due to reasons that were more political in nature," he added.

His comments will likely rile fellow Southeast Asian countries Burma and Thailand, which have denied any wrongdoing after boats full of migrants began appearing in Indian and Indonesian waters last month.

The men from mainly Buddhist Burma's minority Rohingya Muslim community have said they were among about 1,000 migrants who landed illegally on Thai territory late last year.

They say they were beaten for days by Thai security forces and then towed out to sea in around nine engineless boats and set adrift with little food and water.

About 850 have been found but rights groups fear that scores and possibly hundreds could still be missing at sea, feared dead.

© 2009 AFP

A Journey to another World

Scenes of everyday life in the Karenni Refugee Camp-1, near Mae Hong Son.
(Photo: Kyaw Zwa Moe/The Irrawaddy)

By KYAW ZWA MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Mae Hong Son, Thailand – The journey took only 30 minutes or so but it brought me into a different world. The old motorcycle, bouncing along on a rough, unpaved path, sent up clouds of dirt that penetrated my mask and scarf. It was a rollercoaster ride, through steep mountain slopes that dropped away on either side.

Small groups of people made way for us and children looked enviously at the motorcycle, as if dreaming that one day they perhaps could also drive one home.

The snarling machine maneuvered its way stubbornly upwards until another world opened up before me. A world of tiny huts, people carrying bamboo and timber poles, others waiting for their rations, children in soiled clothes playing in the dirt in front of their makeshift school.

Many of the adults wore longyi, the traditional Burmese sarong, and their lips were stained scarlet from chewing betel nuts.

Thousands of huts huddled on the hillsides, cut off from the outside world. No permanent building was to be seen, no power lines, no telephones, no paved roads, only a few motorcycles negotiating the rough paths.

Welcome to Karenni Refugee Camp-1, located only 15 km from Mae Hong Son, a bustling resort town in northern Thailand. The camp houses more than 20,000 ethnic Karenni from Burma’s Karenni (Kayah) State in eastern Burma. A further 4,000 Karenni refugees live in a second settlement, Camp-2.

The camps—and eight others along the Thai-Burmese border—are products of the decades-long rule of Burma’s oppressive military regime. More than 148,000 refugees live in the 10 camps, which are supported by the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, a non-governmental humanitarian relief and development agency financed by 11 charities and other donors.

Across the nearby border, other Karenni refugees—estimated at the end of 2007 to number some 81,000—are living rough or in relocation sites, classed as internally displaced persons, or IDPs. Fighting between government forces and ethnic rebel groups such as the Karenni National Progressive Party uprooted them and sent them seeking the safety of the jungle.

More than 30 percent of the 300,000 Karenni population are refugees or IDPs. As today’s IDPs are the refugees of tomorrow, Camp-1—like the others along the Thai-Burmese border—is preparing to take in more in the future.

The refugees have dramatic and heartbreaking stories to tell.

A teacher told me how his brother was arrested and tortured to death by government troops. He died in the early 2000s shortly after visiting his brother in Camp-1.

“Our family lost him,” said the soft-talking teacher. “I felt so sorry for my brother.”

Many young people in their 20s know no other world than the camp. They were born and grew up here, educated in the camp schools and starting families of their own. A few had managed to visit Thai towns beyond the camp gates.

Kay Mehl, 23, was born in the jungle, daughter of a Karenni rebel soldier. She can’t even imagine what her homeland looks like. “I’ve never seen the Salween river,” she said—referring to one of Burma’s biggest rivers, which runs close to the border.

As hope fades of ever seeing her homeland, Kay Mehl wants to be accepted for resettlement in the US.

Her aim is shared by many refugees. Five hundred residents of Camp-1 have been resettled in western countries so far, while others have been waiting for up to 20 years—living in the hope that one day their turn will come.

Young people were happily playing chinlone and football in the late afternoon sunshine as I left the camp. The images and the questions played in my mind on the rough ride back to the comforts of Mae Hong Son—how long will they have to wait before they lead normal lives, how long will the refugee camps be in existence? How long, indeed, until Burma’s leaders create a country where every citizen can live happily in peace and freedom?

A peek into brutal Burma

By: Nicholas D Kristof

Bangkok Post - Before entering Burma from Thailand, you scrub your bags of any hint that you might be engaged in some pernicious evil, such as espionage, journalism or promotion of human rights. Then you exit from the Thai town of Mae Sot and walk across the gleaming white "friendship bridge" to the Burmese immigration post on the other side. Entering Burma, you adjust your watch: Burma is 30 minutes ahead - and 50 years behind.

Already Burma's government is one of the most brutal in the world, and in recent months it has become even more repressive. A blogger, Nay Phone Latt, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. A prominent comedian, Zarganar, was sentenced to 59 years. A former student leader, Min Ko Naing, a survivor of years of torture and solitary confinement, has received terms of 65 years so far and faces additional sentences that may reach a total of 150 years.

"Politically, things are definitely getting worse," said David Mathieson, an expert on Burma for Human Rights Watch living on the Thai-Burmese border.

"They've just sent hundreds of people who should be agents of change to long prison terms."

A new American presidency is a useful moment to review policy toward Burma, and the truth is that the West's approach has failed. The Burmese junta has ruled despotically since 1988, ignoring democratic elections. Since then, sanctions have had zero effect in moderating the regime.

I have vast respect for Aung San Suu Kyi, the extraordinary woman who won a Nobel Peace Prize for standing up to the country's thugs. But the best use of her courage right now would be to accept that the trade sanctions she advocated have accomplished nothing more than further impoverishing her own people. As with Cuba and North Korea, isolating a venal regime usually just hurts the innocent and helps the thugs stay in power. (JEG's: can anybody explain that the sactions have always been against the generals' pockets not the people)

Instead, the best bet is financial sanctions that specifically target individuals close to the regime - and, even more, a clampdown on Burma's imports of arms. "It would be very difficult to get an arms embargo through the Security Council, but that's something that really goes to the heart of any military regime," Mathieson said. "You lock them out of the tools of their own self-aggrandisement and repression."

President George W Bush tried to help Burmese dissidents, but he had zero international capital. The Obama administration, in contrast, has a chance to lead an international initiative to curb Burmese arms imports and bring the regime to the negotiating table.

Burma's weapons have come from or through China, Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Singapore, and Russia is even selling Burma's dictators a nuclear reactor, Mathieson said.

In crossing from Thailand to Burma, you pass through a time warp. You leave the bustle and dynamism of Thailand and encounter a stagnating backwater of antique cars and shacks beside open sewers. I found it difficult to interview people in Burma, because I was travelling as a tourist with two of my kids (and my wife is sick of me getting our kids arrested with me in dictatorships). But we dropped in on the Myawaddy hospital, which was so understaffed that no one stopped us as we marched through wards of neglected patients.

The most flourishing business we saw on the Burmese side belonged to a snake charmer who set up temporary shop outside a temple. The moment a crowd gathered, an armed soldier ran over in alarm - and then relaxed when he saw that the only threat to public order was a cobra.

In Mae Sot, Thailand, I visited with former Burmese political prisoners, like the courageous Bo Kyi. They are at risk of being killed by Burmese government assassins, yet they are campaigning aggressively for change. Equally inspiring are the Free Burma Rangers, who risk their lives to sneak deep into the country for months at a time to provide medical care and document human rights abuses.

One gutsy American working with the group, who asked that his name not be used for security reasons, communicated with me by satellite phone from his hiding place deep inside Burma. He knows that the Burmese government will kill him if it catches him, yet he stays to gather photos and other evidence of how Burmese soldiers are drafting ethnic Karen villagers for forced labour and are raping women and girls. One recent case described by the Free Burma Rangers involved a 7-year-old girl who was raped, and then killed.

The courage of these people seeking a new Burma is infectious and inspiring. In this new US administration, let's help them - and see if with new approaches we can finally topple one of the most odious regimes in the world.

Nicholas D Kristof is a New York Times columnist.

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