News & Articles on Burma-Sunday, 26 February 2010-uzl

News & Articles on Burma Sunday, 26 February 2010 ----------------------------------------------- Why does the Burmese army act against the country’s peace plans? China asks Myanmar to tighten border security Killings and attacks between DKBA and BGF drives villagers from their homes India unprepared for new Myanmar Lady of Yangon Suu Kyi draws large crowds in Kachin State Ruili working conditions tough on Burmese women ------------------------------------- Why does the Burmese army act against the country’s peace plans? By Zin Linn Feb 26, 2012 9:29PM UTC President Thein Sein led Burmese government and the Shan State Army to sign a ceasefire agreement as a major breakthrough at Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State, on 2 December 2011. However, armed conflicts between the Burmese army and the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) cannot stop simply since Burmese soldiers have been combating uncontrollably so far. The dilemma is that even though there is a truce between the Burmese government and SSA-S, the Burma army becomes visible to move more actively particularly in the Eastern Shan State, where its Triangle Region Command headquarters is based in Kengtung. According to the Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.), the Burmese army makes use of the ceasefire to renovate its strategic roads and garrisons on the Thai-Burmese border. Its units are also raking through the countryside to drive the SSA forces to their bases. As a result, the two armies encountered one another in a village-tract outside of the Tachilek township, which lies on the border with Thailand. Major Sai Lao Hseng, spokesperson for the SSA-S, said to the Democratic Voice of Burma that the fighting broke out after the Burmese army pressured the group to pull back its troops to the border. He claims, however, that there had been no provision for its withdrawal from the Mongtaw and Monghta regions in the ceasefire agreement. “They threatened to open fire on us if we didn’t leave and then actually did fire at us,” he said. Two personnel from the SSA–S and three Burmese soldiers died in action. Homong and Monghta have been designated as main offices for the SSA in keeping with the 16 January agreement, Shan Herald Agency for News said. Moreover, the agreement does not include anything about its forces outside the territory. It also emphasizes that the president’s peacemaking envoy, Aung Min, had agreed that Burma army units would be responsible for security on the main roads and towns, and the SSA the rest – at least for the time being. Furthermore, any difference between the two sides should be resolved through negotiations and not by force, S.H.A.N. reported. However, there were unavoidable armed clashes between Burmese armed forces and SSA–S troops that refused to be hard pressed. At least 11 clashes have taken place between the two, with 7 of them in the Eastern Shan State; three battles in Mongiang and four in Tachilek also took place. And the clashes in Tachilek, as each day passes, are growing into a long-lasting battle, reports S.H.A.N. Another inexcusable story has occurred in the northern Shan State. According to S.H.A.N., Lt. Ta Long of SSA was invited to dinner by the Hsipaw-based Infantry Battalion 23 at its foothill camp near the village of Haikwi on 17 February. Candidly, he had appeared there with his wife and their three-year-old son on a motorbike. Ta Long was ambushed by soldiers from IB 23 on his way back. His wife was killed. As for his son, his whereabouts are unknown, while Kawli Media says that he is believed to be at the Lashio regional HQ. Due to that cunning plot, at least two clashes have taken place between the two sides since the ambush, one on 17 February and one two more days later. Those clashes after the ceasefire accord spotlight the government’s peacemaking deals to be untrustworthy. While the government is working towards peace deals, its armed forces are doing inconceivable damage. It is suitable to quote the viewpoint of Shan Herald Agency for News on Friday. It says, “The obvious question therefore is: Are the government and the army playing good guy and bad guy against the armed resistance movements? Or, is the army bent on discrediting the government whenever and wherever the opportunity is given?” Since the government has publicly declared its reform plans including national reconciliation, it must conscientiously control its armed forces to support the peacemaking efforts. But, right now, the Burma army seems to be disobeying the peace plan made by head of its government. If it was a made-up story, the people would blame the president as an anti-reformist. The consequences of the army’s contradictory acts will push the country into another abysmal of misfortune. According to some analysts, the government’s democracy plan is similar to imaginary words that do not go with its visible dealings such as overlooking to restore law and order, neglecting to allow creation of trade unions, not allowing public protests and so on. However, the government should not mislead the people’s hope for change. The ethnic armed groups do not completely trust the government’s peace talks. The fact is that while offering the peace proposal, the government has been increasing its deployment of armed forces in the conflict zones. Above and beyond, the Burma army has been constantly carrying on combating the ethnic rebels which may lead to damaging the president’s reform aspiration. http://asiancorrespondent.com/76801/why-does-burma-army-go-against-governments-peace-plan/ ------------------------------------- China asks Myanmar to tighten border security1 Beijing–China has urged Myanmar to ensure security along their common border following attacks on river shipping and inflows of refugees fleeing fighting with ethnic minority militias, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. China, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand began joint Mekong River patrols in December after 13 Chinese sailors were killed along a section of the river flowing through the Golden Triangle region, which is notorious for drug production and trafficking. Members of Myanmar’s Kachin ethnic group also have fled across the border amid fighting between militias and the army.“It’s in both countries’ interests to maintain border peace and stability,” China’s chief government adviser Jia Qinglin was quoted as saying at Thursday’s meeting with the speaker of Myanmar’s lower house of parliament, Thura Shwe Mann, in Beijing.“China respects Myanmar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and sincerely hopes Myanmar will find peaceful means to appropriately resolve issues of ethnic reconciliation and protect the long-term peace and order of the China-Myanmar border region,” he said. China was a loyal diplomatic ally and source of arms and investment for the Myanmar long-ruling junta, but ties have soured in recent months after the military established a nominally civilian government and opened contacts with the West.One major sign of Myanmar’s change of course was the abrupt suspension of a heavily criticized dam project that would have provided hydroelectric power to China’s southwestern province of Yunnan. Jia did not mention any sources of friction by name, but said China-Myanmar relations face “unprecedented opportunities, but also challenges.”—AP http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=142000 ------------------------------------ Killings and attacks between DKBA and BGF drives villagers from their homes February 24 | Author: By Saw Thein Myint (KIC) Tension between soldiers from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and Border Guard Force troops has forced at least 50 villagers from Mae Tha Waw village, Hlaingbwe Township to seek temporary refuge across the border in Thailand. A Mae Tha Waw villager explained their situation to Karen News. “We have fled from our village on February 19, during the night. People say the situation is not good to stay. All the village schools are closing now.” Villagers say they are now taking refuge with relatives or friends on the Thai border and have yet to receive any humanitarian support. According to a DKBA soldier from Maw Tha Waw village, on February 20, a BGF sniper shot and wounded a DKBA major at his camp compound in the Myaing Gyi Ngu. A DKBA soldier told to Karen News that recent clashes have created added more tension to an already tense situation. “We have our orders to shoot at BGF soldiers if they go through our territory. We’ve defined our no-go line starting at the waterfall near Mae Tha Waw village and will shoot if they cross that line.” The DKBA source warned that their soldiers based in the conflict area are now on emergency alert. “The fighting probably will happen at any time as the BGF have also prepared their soldiers. The BGF soldiers are going to be busy if they do not return our weapons that they recently took from us.” On 19th February, a BGF Battalion 1011 attacked the DKBA in the Myaing Gyi Ngu area and disarmed 23 fire guns. The DKBA launched a counter attack against the BGF battalion on the same day killing five BGF soldiers. The Commander of the Karen National Union Brigade 7, Brigadier General Saw Jonny said the “the fighting is not a concern of ours, it is happening between soldiers under the command of the Myaing Gyi Ngu monk, [also known as U Thuzana].” According to the new DKBA structure, there are two military strategic units known as Klo Htoo Wah and Klo Htoo Lar operating to the DKBA Klo Htoo Baw Headquarters. The Klo Htoo Wah strategic unit led by Colonel Saw Kyaw Thet and active in the Kawkariek, Myawaddy and Kyarkdon areas and Major Saw Beeh’s fighters operate in the Hlaing Bwe and Myaing Gyi Ngu area. The DKBA’s Klo Htoo Baw Headquarters recently reached a ceasefire arrangement with the Burma government and on Novermber 2011 at Pa-an Town. http://karennews.org/2012/02/killings-and-attacks-between-dkba-and-bgf-drives-villagers-from-their-homes.html/ ---------------------------------- India unprepared for new Myanmar ReutersBy Satarupa Bhattacharjya and Frank Jack Daniel | Reuters – Sunday, 26 February 2010 MOREH (Reuters) - As dusk falls on a lonely police station in the eastern tip of India, a young policeman nervously keeps an eye on the Arakan hills above him, dotted with poppy fields. Just 22 bumpy miles from the capital of Manipur, he and his colleagues are outnumbered by gunmen from a faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, one of half a dozen insurgent groups operating near India's border with Myanmar. Last year, six policemen were killed a few miles away in an ambush authorities blamed on them. Small groups of men with machetes on their belts can be seen in the winter twilight, openly climbing steep paths through the poppy fields, where valuable seed heads will later be harvested and taken to Myanmar for processing into heroin. "There are many poppy fields in the hills here," the policeman said in a hushed voice, refusing to give his name to Reuters for fear of reprisals from the men he said were armed rebels patrolling the fields above his office. Growers will either sell the seed heads to agents or openly in the local market , he said. Opium and insurgency can make for a profitable if exotic business model, but it is not what India had in mind when it launched its "Look East" policy 20 years ago to link its markets to those of booming Southeast Asia. Now as resource-rich Myanmar emerges from decades of isolation under military rule, India should be a natural partner, with ties stretching back to 3rd Century BC Buddhist emperor Ashoka and, more recently, a shared experience of British colonialism and World War Two. Map of border area: http://link.reuters.com/zux66s BRIDGE TO SOUTHEAST ASIA "Myanmar is India's only bridge to Southeast Asia," Myo Myint, Myanmar's deputy foreign minister, told Reuters last week at a meeting of Southeast Asian diplomats in New Delhi to look at ways to speed up road, rail and telecoms connections with India. "India needs to come forward with assistance." Myanmar sits at Asia's crossroads, sharing a western border with India, and a northern one with China. Thailand is its neighbour to the east and the Malacca Strait is on its southern flank. The country of nearly 60 million people has emerged from a half-century of military rule and is courting the West while trying to wean itself from dependency on China for trade and investment. But despite a recent flurry of high-level visits between the two countries, India appears ill-placed on the ground to exploit Myanmar's opening. Reuters journalists on a recent trip to the Myanmar-India border in Manipur found a region where rebel groups deeply influence politics and business. Opium poppies are grown openly. Cross-border gun-running remains big business. Manipur and the three other Indian states sharing the 1,640- km (1,020-mile) border with Myanmar were supposed to be India's "Gateway to the East". Instead, the area has become India's Wild East. Legal trade on the border has dwindled in the last five years to just 0.15 percent of total commerce between Myanmar and India. Checkpoints by security forces and rebel group supporters make the 120 km (75 mile) journey along rutted Highway 102 through the hills from Manipur's capital Imphal to Moreh on the border a painstakingly slow -- and expensive, too, from the "taxes" they impose on traffic. NO CRIME HERE The sleepy border town of Moreh had dreams of being a major international trading centre, a key station on the ambitious Trans-Asia Railway that will enable containers from East and Southeast Asia to travel overland across India to Europe. But work on the $900 million, 125 km (77 mile) stretch of the railway is already two years behind schedule and has only progressed a short distance. Costs are soaring. At first glance, Moreh seems to be a quiet bazaar of traditional wooden stilt houses, frontier hotels and stores where Myanmarese Buddhist monks and tribespeople in traditional dress and sandal-paste painted faces mingle with traders from across India. The town of 15,000 people has one bank. "There is no crime here," acting police chief Akbar Hussein said, chewing on a lump of betel nut at his outdoor desk. "There was only one case registered this month, and that was a road accident." Opened in 1995 to great fanfare, the Moreh crossing was supposed to be a major trading post by now. Only some small-scale merchants conduct legal trade. Much of that is on a barter system, exchanging flour and soy products for betel, a mild stimulant popular in India. Despite the police chief's boast, Moreh is a major smuggling centre where outlaws move around freely. Heroin from the Golden Triangle, guns and gem stones go westward; raw opium, tiger bones and rhino horn move east. "Since 1995, nothing substantial has taken place. The border area is like a 17th-century tribal village," said N. Mohindro, an expert on trade in the state. "It's all about drugs and guns. People can make money so easily." Some of this business is in the hands of Indian insurgents who run their operations from the Myanmar side of the border. Several of Myanmar's own rebel groups are also based in the area. A U.S. diplomatic cable from 2006 released by Wikileaks described local politicians either in league with the rebels or supporting them for financial reasons. Local residents say security forces are also deeply involved in trafficking but a senior officer of the police intelligence branch in Imphal denies that. "The dense forest cover in this open border region is a nightmare for us," the officer said of an unfenced 63 mile stretch running from Moreh, adding that "the easy availability of weapons inside Myanmar has worsened the situation". IMAGINARY ROAD It wasn't always this way. Until the early 1990s, Myanmarese flocked across the border to buy Indian-made consumer goods. But as China's workshops cranked up and offered cheaper, more durable products, the market shifted to the other side of the fence. Now, traders from Imphal endure the serpentine journey along bumpy Highway 102 and its checkpoint shakedowns to visit the Namphalong bazaar on the Myanmar side of the Moreh border gate. Their pick-up trucks are piled high with Chinese mattresses, refrigerators and TVs to sell back in India, returning along the same road that brought Japanese troops in World War Two through then Burma in an attempt to invade India. The trip from the border to Imphal carrying such contraband can involve payoffs along the way amounting to several hundred dollars. Highway 102 was supposed to be part of a road network linking up with Mandalay, Myanmar's main city in the North, and on into Thailand. But the only notable improvement on the Indian side is a short patch running through the Manipur chief minister's home town. "People had plans to open eateries, motels and shops along the Asian highway. Now, the trans-national road is imaginary. It does not exist here," said Lunminthang Haokip, a senior state government official for Moreh's Chandel district. "The Look East policy is no more than power-point presentations in Delhi." The complaint is voiced often here by residents in Manipur who have suffered decades of rights abuses under draconian emergency powers including "shoot-to-kill" orders aimed at curtailing the insurgencies. Residents say New Delhi acts like a colonial power, with much of its mistrust of the region stemming from its relative proximity to China. "The overwhelming presence of military, paramilitary and police officers contributed to the impression that Imphal was under military occupation," the U.S. embassy cable said. "The Indian civil servants were also clearly frustrated with their inability to stem the growing violence and anarchy in the state, feeling their efforts to effectively control the insurgencies was hamstrung by local politicians either in league with or at least through corruption, helping to finance the insurgents." India, which fought a border war in 1962 with China, has watched with mounting concern as Beijing steadily increases its influence around the rim of the Indian Ocean. "You can't leave the whole region under an iron curtain just because they look Chinese," said rights activist Babloo Loitongbam, in a restaurant left dark by one of the chronic power cuts in Imphal. "You have to constantly prove you are not anti-national." Ten years ago India's foreign minister proposed reopening a World War Two highway to the north of Manipur called the Stilwell Road, which connects India's far eastern region, known as the Northeast, with Myanmar and China. Worried that the road risked strengthening China's influence and the flow of militants and arms to the region, India dragged its feet and Myanmar turned to China's Yunnan Construction Engineering Group instead. India also missed out on the natural gas from two fields in Myanmar it has a stake in, when the government chose to pipe it to China. During long years of self-imposed isolation, Myanmar's only major economic partner was China. India realised in the 1990s that Chinese investment in Myanmar's military and infrastructure was giving Beijing a strategic advantage in a nation that borders five countries, straddles busy Bay of Bengal shipping lanes and has large oil and gas reserves. New Delhi quietly dropped its backing for the opposition party of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who went to school and university in India. Ties have strengthened since then, with President Thein Sein just the latest of Myanmar's leaders to call on New Delhi on a visit to India last year. Rajiv Bhatia, who was India's ambassador to Myanmar until 2005, says India is still more concerned with its South Asian neighbours, including Bangladesh and Pakistan, and could miss the moment. "In pure geopolitical terms, Myanmar is hugely important to India. We are now getting a historic opportunity to recover our relationship," he said. " But it is still not a priority for our politicians." (Editing by John Chalmers and Bill Tarrant) http://in.news.yahoo.com/indias-wild-east-unprepared-myanmar-022803097.html ------------------------------------ Lady of Yangon Looking for William Lady? www.Facebook.comFind William Lady on Facebook. Sign Up Free Shankar Acharya : Sat Feb 25 2012, 03:51 hrs I picked up this latest biography of Aung San Suu Kyi with some scepticism. There have been several books, and films, about this remarkable lady, including the substantial biography by Justin Wintle in 2007. What was there left to say? Happily, my scepticism was wholly unjustified. Peter Popham has crafted a very fine and sympathetic account, which contains a great deal of new information, analysis and insight. The basic outline of Suu Kyi’s life is well-known: the daughter of Aung San, the founder of modern Burma (now Myanmar) who was machine-gunned in a cabinet meeting of the provisional government in July 1947 a few months before full independence, Suu spent her early years in Rangoon (now Yangon); then moved to Delhi in 1960 at age 15 when her widowed mother became Burma’s ambassador and Suu spent four years in school and college, followed by three years in England at Oxford for a degree in politics, philosophy and economics; then romance and marriage (1972) to budding Tibet scholar Michael Aris; and the next 15 unremarkable years in Oxford as a don’s wife, rearing two young sons and trying fitfully to resume academic interests. Then came the fateful return to Rangoon to tend her dying mother in March 1988, when Suu Kyi found herself swept up in the extraordinary tumult of that year as Ne Win’s 26-year-old military rule ended; her charismatic speech at the Shwedagon pagoda on August 26, which made her the natural leader of the democracy movement; the founding of the National League for Democracy (NLD) just before renewed repression ushered in a new military government in September; house arrest in 1989 along with imprisonment of NLD’s top leadership; the elections of 1990 in which the NLD and allies won 94 per cent of the seats, a result ignored and later annulled by the military government; the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and many other honours, which did not alter the terms of her detention until 1995 when she was released, only to be rearrested in 2000, released in 2002, incarcerated again in 2003 and released in November 2010, a week after the new, carefully “managed” elections which the NLD could not contest and were won by the military-sponsored party. Popham tells the tale with verve and empathy. He does full justice to the most dramatic episodes, such as the Shwedagon speech, Suu Kyi’s legendary facing down of soldiers at Danubyu in April 1989 and the ruthless military-sponsored attack on her convoy at Depayin, 100 miles north west of Mandalay, in May 2003, which killed around 70 of her supporters, wounded many and which Suu survived thanks only to luck and the skill of her driver. He also brings new information to bear, for example, the detailed diary accounts of 1988-89 of her lively personal assistant, Ma Thanegi, who accompanied Suu on all her campaign trips, including the one to Danubyu. These diary entries, kept at Aris’s request, reveal much about Suu’s personality and emotions in this first phase of her political involvement: her untiring commitment, her quiet courage and determination in the face of adversity, her fretting over the competing obligations to country and family, and her puckish humour. Suu Kyi has been accused sometimes of obduracy in dealing with the military government. Popham says she did hold substantive negotiations with the government on the only occasion they were offered, in 2002-04, when the head of military intelligence (MI) and prime minister Khin Nyunt, deputed Brigadier-General Than Tun to conduct the talks. Popham cites senior MI defector Aung Lyn Htut, who obtained asylum in US in 2005, and other “insiders” to support the view that a draft agreement was reached in May 2004 to reengage the NLD in the political process. But it was rejected by the ruling general, Than Shwe, who placed Khin Nyunt under house arrest in two months’ time. The central conundrum of Suu Kyi’s life is what transformed a charming, dutiful 43-year-old housewife of an English Tibet scholar into an iconic, Mandela-like crusader for democracy and freedom in her homeland for the next 23 years, two-thirds of which were spent in detention? This book provides some pieces of the puzzle: her lineage as daughter of the legendary Aung San; the accident of timing, which took her back to Rangoon in 1988 when the country was in unprecedented ferment; her long-held belief that if her country called, she had to answer (in a 1971 letter to her betrothed, Michael, she wrote “ I only ask one thing, that should my people need me, you would help me to do my duty by them”); her innate courage, commitment and charisma, which swept her into natural leadership of the democracy movement and kept her there; her Buddhist principles and outlook, honed by years of meditation in house arrest; her commitment to non-violence (it is no accident that Gandhi’s favourite Tagore poem-song, “If they answer not your call, walk alone…” was also hers); and perhaps, above all, her enduring bond with the people of her land. The book has a couple of flaws. There is perhaps a little too much of the “Beauty vs Beast” syndrome. Suu is undoubtedly beautiful and the military government was often beastly. But to dismiss the reforms of the last 15 months in terms of “fake elections and fake parliament” seems unduly harsh. After all, Suu Kyi herself is campaigning for by-election seats in the same parliament. Second, the book sheds little light on the impact of evolving geopolitics on the Myanmar’s polity. What was the impact of Western sanctions or Asian “constructive engagement”? Did China’s tightening economic and political embrace spur the government to reengage with the West and others? Bottom line: Read this gripping account about the extraordinary life of an exceptional person who has changed Myanmar forever. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/lady-of-yangon/916348/0 --------------------------------------- Suu Kyi draws large crowds in Kachin State Friday, 24 February 2012 11:59 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Aung San Suu Kyi told supporters in Kachin State on Thursday that she will work in Parliament to create a genuine federal union in Burma with rights for all ethnic people. “One of the reasons for the NLD to contest in this election is to establish a genuine federal union with a genuine union spirit. Since its inception, the NLD’s main objective is for unity of all ethnic people,” Aung San Suu Kyi told supporters in Namti Township. Some estimates said the turnout to greet her numbered 50,000 people. Reiterating a familiar campaign theme, she said unemployment is too high and people should support NLD candidates such as Khin Kyi, who campaigned with Suu Kyi. She noted that the NLD has fielded many women candidates in the by-election, and it is an important step for the country in terms of equal gender rights. “Our country will not develop to the level it should unless we fully use the strength of our women,” she said. “The population of women is slightly higher than the male population in the country, and we must include women in over half in our party. We selected women candidates as much as we could for this election.” A total of 12 NLD female candidates including Suu Kyi are running in the by-election. The NLD has fielded candidates in all 48 open seats. After the Namti rally, Suu Kyi’s caravan proceeded to Mogaung Township, and she told supporters at the Odan football grounds that voters should ask candidates questions and make the candidates explain why voters should support them. She returned to Myitkyina at 7:30 p.m. to attend a banquet with Kachin leaders. She will speak at a rally on Friday at 8 a.m. at the Manau grounds in Sitapu Ward. This is her third visit to Kachin State. She visited in 1989 and 2003. In 1989, she met with Duwa Zau Rip, who took part in the drafting of the Panglong agreement with Suu Kyi’s father, General Aung San, and other ethnic leaders. In other political news, a group of 88-Generation student leaders arrived in Myitkyina to attend an all-faith prayer meeting on Friday, to mark the suspension of the Myitsone Dam project. http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6647-suu-kyi-draws-large-crowds-in-kachin-state.html ------------------------------------------ Ruili working conditions tough on Burmese women Friday, 24 February 2012 20:58 Kyaw Kha E-mail Print PDF Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Chinese border town of Ruili is booming – party because of Burmese working women – but the jobs are often hazardous, low paying and Burmese workers have no legal rights, according to a report by the Thailand-based Burmese Women’s Union (BWU). A Burmese woman works in construction in Ruili, China, a border town where many Burmese women have found low-paying, hazardous jobs. Photo: BWUThe report, “Forgotten Workforce,” is based on interviews with 32 Burmese women, including women in the sex industry. Other women are employed in low-paying jobs in construction and in factories without legal status, according to the report. “For example, in some factories women polish petrified wood and the air is contaminated with dust and particles. The workers should wear masks. The dust and gases can damage their health. Construction workers have encountered similar problems,” BWU General-Secretary Noe Noe Htet San told Mizzima. Most Chinese do not want to do such work, Burmese workers told interviewers. “I have to sit on a hard chair and work all day, so my haunches are covered with calluses. It’s the same with all the workers,” the report quoted a female worker as saying. “The job exhausts us. And the atmosphere is contaminated. The Chinese don’t want to do this job. Some workers had X-rays and found that they have lung problems. When we polish the petrified wood, we inhale bad smells and chemicals and the chemicals cause nasal polyps and coughing.” Burmese women in the sex industry are often forced to have unprotected sex and some have been sold as wives to Chinese men, the report said. Because of a lack of jobs in Burma, many women chose to work in Ruili to earn a regular income and to support their families, said Noe Noe Htet San. The BWU survey found that there are more than 100,000 Burmese workers in Ruili, most with low salaries and no workers’ rights or health care. “Chinese people will not work if they do not get a basic monthly salary, as much as US$ 1,000. But Burmese workers have to work at a salary of about US$ 200 to 300 per month. If there are accidents in the work place, most are not given compensation or health care,” Noe Noe Htet San said. Mu Mu, an interpreter, told Mizzima that some Chinese employers in Ruili also look for ways to cheat Burmese out of their wages. “There are many problems,” he said. “They pay monthly. When they pay, for instance, a worker should get, say, 600 but the employer just pays 400. The employers often keep the remaining 200 as the worker’s ‘deposit.’ The remaining 200 will be returned after six-month service or one-year service,” Mu Mu told Mizzima. “But they cheat in many ways. If a worker gives up the job before one-year’s service, they will not get the deposit money back. And if a worker resigns a job in a middle of a month, the worker will not get the salary for the month. The working hours are from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.” Most Burmese workers do not have a work permit from the Chinese government, so they cannot complain to the authorities, and there are no workers’ rights organizations in the area, according to the report. The BWU has urged the Chinese government and local authorities in Yunnan Province to pay Burmese workers fair wages, to provide work permits, suitable health care and to let Burmese organize workers’ organizations. http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/6652-ruili-working-conditions-tough-on-burmese-women.html

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