http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081007/EDITORIAL/810070329
Recently, there have been some concerns about the influx of Burmese newcomers who are scheduled to come to Fort Wayne. Because of its scale, the local media and people have their eyes on this group.
The Burmese community is not a new face in Fort Wayne; it actually has been here since the early 1990s. For years, there has been very minimal assistance for the newcomers, but their resilience, friends and families have helped them to start living in this new country, providing translation, transportation, job search, food and more. Typical Burmese work 12/7 to build their lives and would continue to do well if many area factories would not have closed. For years, the Burmese have contributed to Fort Wayne’s economy. They are taxpayers, homeowners, college students and voters.
But now there are concerns regarding health care issues that strain the city and county resources. Questions asked include: Is it true that they bring disease with them? Will they become a burden on public assistance? How can they work if they cannot speak English? Who are these people? How can we afford to help them when we have no funding? The lack of knowledge about the group has created many misunderstandings and stereotyping.
The confusion, unclear messages and news coverage about the Burmese newcomers have not only caught the attention of local residents, but also become the center of discussion at various social events in the Burmese community itself. Many are questioning how the news articles impact the Burmese community as a whole. They are asking themselves: Who are those “refugees” they’re talking about? Why do they call us refugees? Are there really refugees on American soil? Do my fellow citizens understand the term and definition of the word “refugee”? Do they really have correct information when talking to reporters? Are they aware that a complete health screen is an important step in obtaining a U.S. visa?
Many of my fellow countrymen have been left behind because of the health concern. Do they believe that commercial airlines would let TB patients get on board? Please realize how much damage can happen when these allegations are made toward many innocent people. The people of Fort Wayne deserve the right to hear the truth that will help bring the community together. This knowledge will help to clear all the doubts about Burmese newcomers so the community can actually open its arms to welcome them and help the group to become productive citizens and get on their feet.
The Burmese are here to start new lives. Being dependent on government assistance won’t give them the lives they want (i.e. house, car, job and education for their children). They know hard work will make it happen; many others have already set the example. They have spent many years in refugee camps and depend upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) services. They didn’t know what tomorrow would bring them. A refugee’s world is a life with not much hope, no opportunity, no certainty and no country. We have been called “displaced persons.”
It was a hard life, but many have no choice. The life in Burma was even harder. In the dark of night, Burmese soldiers raged through the villages and raped the girls and women, killed the men and the elderly and took the boys away, training them to be “child soliders.” In Burma, the poor get poorer, and if you relate to the regime you will always be rich. Even now people are jailed in their own country. There is no freedom.
There are not many Burmese who make it to the United States, and those who do make it do not want to forget their refugee memories. They will certainly pass their stories on to their children so they will appreciate this great nation and feel that they are blessed to live in a democratic society. Now the question is, should one continue calling them Burmese refugees? Is it fair to label all Burmese refugees? Isn’t it offensive? America is the land of the free; there are no refugees here. She has welcomed immigrants from everywhere around the world and let them pursue the happiness of freedom. Do the Burmese deserve the same opportunity? Some say, “In America, we’re all immigrants.” The Burmese newcomers are the new immigrants.
“It upsets me when people call me a refugee; it seems like they put me down,” said Ma So Nilar Aung, who left Burma in the early 1990s and lived in Japan 13 years before she won a lottery visa to the United States in 2005.
“I don’t like it,” said Zaw Naing Win Han. He spent 15 years working in Japan. He was granted permanent residence in this country through marriage.
“I’ve never been a refugee in my life. I am an immigrant,” said Tin Tin Pyone Win, a mother of two who shared that her husband visited Burma and met and married her. She left Burma for America in 2000 on an American spouse visa. Both their children were born here. She spent only one night at the Thai airport for her transit flight to the United States. “I was one of the many,” she added. “There are many mothers, fathers, wives, sisters and brothers who got here on a family visa.”
Their U.S. family members had to work for years to save money for reunion expenses such as passports, plane tickets and travel.
“I don’t think they have the right to call all Burmese refugees, especially the children. They are American-born kids,” Win said.
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Kyaw T. Soe is a graduate student and founder and coordinator of the IPFW New Immigrant Literacy Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. He immigrated to Fort Wayne from Burma in 1993.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Burmese newcomers not refugees, but America's new immigrants
Ban asks Myanmar to show progress in reform programme
Asia-Pacific News
Oct 7, 2008, 19:40 GMT
New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he would cancel a planned visit to Myanmar unless the government there shows progress in democratization and humanitarian programmes.
Ban last visited Myanmar in May in the wake of the destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis in a bid to convince the military government to accept international relief aid and admit foreign workers. The government did soften its stance against international aid workers by loosening up visa restrictions.
But Ban has not yet made a return trip to make sure that funds and relief goods were used properly.
He said his plan for a new visit remains, but is dependent on whether Myanmar has carried out democratic reform, national reconciliation and the release of all political prisoners as demanded by the UN.
'I would be willing to make a return visit to Myanmar at an appropriate time, but you should also know that without any tangible or very favorable result to be achieved, then I may not be in a position to visit Myanmar,' Ban said.
'I'm now in the process of making some groundwork which may allow me to consider my own visit, but I need some more time,' he said. 'I will have to consider all the circumstances, and when it would be appropriate timing for me to visit.'
The Myanmar government has so far refused to release Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, who has spent more than 10 years under house arrest for demanding democracy. The military has ruled the impoverished nation for more than four decades.
U.S. recognizes universal jurisdiction over child soldier cases
by Mizzima News
Monday, 06 October 2008 17:18
United States President George Bush, on Friday, signed into law a bill which empowers United States courts to prosecute members of any nationality for their role in the recruitment of child soldiers anywhere in the world.
The legislation makes anyone present in the United States who has been involved in the conscription of children under the age of 15 into the armed forces of any country or group liable to federal prosecution within the United States judicial system.
According to Human Rights Watch, Burma may have more child soldiers than any other country, with estimates running as high as 70,000 – a vast majority of whom serve in Burma's state army.
Passage of the Child Soldiers Accountability Act will ensure, according to Senator Patrick Leahy, "that those who commit human rights violations cannot come to this country [United States] as a sanctuary from prosecution"
Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, greeted the Senate's passage of the bill with the words: "During the last five years, America's reputation has suffered tremendously. Some of our ability to lead on human rights issues has been needlessly and carelessly squandered…We should do everything we can to stop this offense [recruitment of child soldiers] to human rights and human dignity."
Human Rights Watch's (HRW) Jo Becker added, "This new law is a breakthrough because it no longer leaves the prosecution of child recruiters to international tribunals and the national courts of conflict-affected countries."
HRW, along with other international rights groups such as Amnesty International, has long been a vocal advocate in insisting that states maintain a moral obligation to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity in accordance with a principle of "universal jurisdiction."
Employment of child soldiers was first recognized as a war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in 1998. The authority of the ICC is supplemented by several individual countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada and Belgium, which also maintain laws permitting domestic courts to prosecute persons charged with war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.
Yet an idea of "universal jurisdiction" remains a highly divisive subject on the international stage.
Initially coming to prominence on the international stage with the Nuremburg Tribunal regarding Nazi atrocities during World War II, the concept of "universal jurisdiction" postulates that all states have an obligation in bringing justice to the perpetrators of particular crimes of international concern, regardless of where the crime was committed or the nationalities of those involved.
However several countries, including China, have objected to "universal jurisdiction" on the basis that such a doctrine directly interferes with the right and concept of state sovereignty.
To some degree reflecting states' concerns over forfeiting national sovereignty, the Rome Statute of the ICC – dealing with the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity – remains unratified by numerous influential countries, including the United States, Burma, Russia, India and China.
Of the 108 countries that have acceded to the terms of the Statute, a mere nine are from Asia, with Cambodia the only ASEAN member to do so.
Burma's ruling military junta has repeatedly denied that it actively recruits child soldiers, claiming to have prosecuted dozens of persons found to be illegally involved in such an undertaking and returning over 200 children to their respective parents between the years of 2002 to 2007.
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Democratic Voice of Burma: A new constitution for a blossoming political society – Aung Htoo
Mon 6 Oct 2008
Filed under: News, Opinion, Other
The last demand set out in the National League for Democracy’s 27 September statement was the right to freedom of organisation, existence and movement for political parties.
It is obvious that such a demand is intended not only for the benefit of the NLD but also for all existing political parties in Burma. It is understood that there will be no stability and development in a country without the free existence and organisation of political parties and civic organisations and strong movements. The NLD takes this issue very seriously that’s why it included this demand in its statement.
The NLD’s demand is for all political parties and organisations. It is relevant to every ethnic group and region in the whole country.
If you look at all the countries in the world, you will observe different political systems in different countries. However, you will notice that stable and developed countries have powerful political parties and civic organisations and strong social movements. There is no country in the world that has long-lasting stability and development because of the capacity and leadership of a handful of military generals.
If you look at the background to the military coups in Burma’s history, you will learn that the army staged a coup in 1962 because of the lack of power and ineffective efforts of political parties then. The army had the opportunity to take over power when the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League, a popular front organisation that played a key role in Burma’s independence movement, split into ‘the Clean’ and ‘the Stable’ factions. After the general elections in 1960, the then election winning party, the Union Party, split again into ‘the U-Bo’ and ‘the Masters’ groups.
In his history book ‘Burma in the Darkness’, author Win Tint Htun mentions that U Nu, the then chairperson of the Union Party Caretaker Committee, highlighted the internal disputes and divisions within the party at the UP’s National Conference held in Kabaraye Hill on 27 January 1962 as follows:
“How is everything with you, Ko Shwe U-Bo and Ko Shwe Masters? Are you not tired from fighting each other? The fight between U-Bo and Masters is a very good one to watch. If I may use boxing language, they both use feet, heels, kneels, elbows, fists, heads, chins, finger nails and everything they have to defeat each other. It is a serious fight. I think Ko Shwe U-Bo and Ko Shwe Masters have become quite exhausted. Aren’t you tired yet?”
In India, a contemporary of Burma’s in its independence struggle during the British colonial era, the political parties that were established even before independence are still in existence and powerful. Due to the wide influence of political parties and civic organisations, the very strong Indian army has never been able to take over the country’s power. There is no prospect of a military coup in India in the near future.
Nowadays, the Communist Party of Burma is the only political party left in Burma which was actively involved in the independence movement. However, it can no longer operate above ground for a number of reasons. Other political forces from that time such as the We Burmans Association, Burma’s Freedom Bloc, the People’s Revolutionary Party and the Socialist Party do not exist any more.
As for the Burma Socialist Programme Party founded after the military coup in 1962, it was merely a superficial grouping formed by military dictators to cling on to power and was thus consigned to the trash bin of history during the 1988 ‘8888’ people’s uprising.
The NLD came into existence in a country with political party background outlined above. Considered a civic party, the NLD has become a political party that has received enormous support from the nation since the military coup in 1962. As is the nature of a political party, the NLD may have had mistakes in its strategy. However, we have to acknowledge that it has a rightful political claim.
Why can we conclude the NLD has a rightful political claim?
Firstly, the legitimacy of the result of the 1990 May elections was accepted by not only the people of Burma and the international community but also the State Peace and Development Council.
The military regime has never said that the 1990 May elections result is illegitimate. The NLD has been constantly calling for the convening of the parliament based on that result.
Secondly, the NLD pointed out that the procedure of drafting the 2008 state constitution was wrong. It also pointed that the military regime had used different methods such as threats, intimidations, lies, deceptions and power abuses in order to adopt the constitution by force.
Thirdly, the NLD strongly rejects and states that it cannot accept the SPDC-sponsored magic show, the election, to be held in 2010.
In the midst of the NLD’s struggling for existence based on its righteous political stance amid incredible hardships and severe restrictions, key party leaders U Win Tin, U Khin Maung Swe and Dr Than Nyein were released from prison.
There is a saying in Burmese that “a boy comes for the good”, a metaphor for someone who can bring hope for the future to others. As for those three people, we have to say that it is the older people who have come for the good. Why?
These three leaders are very old now. U Win Tin is almost 80. They had to spend many years in prison and their health deteriorated throughout their prison terms. They could be rearrested and thrown into jail at any time if they say the wrong thing. Former army captain Win Htein, who was granted freedom on the same day these three were freed, was rearrested the next day.
Nonetheless, within a few days of being released from prison U Win Tin, U Khin Maung Swe and Dr Than Nyein announced that they would take assignments and continue serving the NLD.
People tend to say that appreciation and honour should be given only after someone has died as human beings can have many different faces. But these three people should be publicly honoured as democracy heroes even before they die for their announcement that they would steadfastly continue serving the NLD amidst severe restrictions alone.
I hope there will be 30, 300 or more democracy heroes in the NLD like these three people.
There is no shortcut to bring freedom, peace, justice and development to individual and to society as a whole. The only possible way to ensure them is by allowing the formation of strong and powerful political parties and civic organisations. To reach that end, party and organisation building should become a focal point and the persons who build these organisations should become key players.
U Win Tin, a very old man who values the NLD’s rightful political stance and will steadfastly continue serving the NLD, cannot be traded with a million youth who don’t understand any stance and work for the dictators. Political parties and civic organisations with rightful stances can be strong only if there are people like U Win Tin in these organisations.
We will be able to build a country that enjoys long-lasting freedom, peace and development only if there are a variety of political parties and civic organisations actively playing their roles like the various types of flowers are blooming in a garden.
The present SPDC constitution only allows political parties if their aims include non-disintegration of the union, non-disintegration of national solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty. It is certain that the growth of genuine political parties and civic organisations will be terminated under such a constitution.
Therefore, the only thing we have to do is to get rid of the SPDC constitution packed with nonsensical articles and to bring about the emergence of a new constitution that permits the right for political parties and civic organisations to enjoy their freedom of organisation, existence and movement. Beautiful flowers will then blossom.
Japan Says Economy `Deteriorating' as Indicator Dives (Update1)
By Keiko Ujikane and Jason Clenfield
Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's government said for a third month that the world's second-largest economy is ``deteriorating'' after an indicator of current conditions fell the most ever.
The coincident index slid to 100.7 in August from 103.5 in July, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The 2.8 point drop was the biggest since the gauge was first compiled in 1980.
The word ``deterioration'' signals ``the chance of a recession is high,'' the government said, acknowledging the country may have slipped into the first downturn in six years. Crude oil's 38 percent decline since reaching a record in July probably won't be enough to spur Japan's economy as the U.S. financial crisis saps growth in the country's export markets.
``We think the economy has entered a recessionary phase'' since the first quarter, said Takehiro Sato, chief Japan economist at Morgan Stanley in Tokyo. ``The recent pullback in energy prices is a positive development, but we see increasing downside risks to our scenario, given feedback from the financial markets to the real economy.''
The three-month moving-average of the index, which the government uses to make its monthly assessment, fell to 102.2 in August from 103.2 in July, today's report showed.
The Bank of Japan today acknowledged that a recovery in the world's second-largest economy may be delayed, saying there are ``substantial uncertainties'' about the outlook.
``Economic growth has been sluggish and these conditions may persist for some time given that the slowdown in overseas economies is becoming clearer,'' the bank said today after leaving the benchmark rate at 0.5 percent in a unanimous vote. It said the economy will pick up ``in the longer run.''
Japan's largest manufacturers turned pessimistic for the first time since 2003 and factory output fell at the fastest pace in at least five years in August, reports showed in the past month.
To contact the reporter on this story: Keiko Ujikane in Tokyo at kujikane@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 7, 2008 01:42 EDT
Japan's opposition leader hospitalised: party
Tue Oct 7, 1:03 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, who has struggled to portray himself as fit to be prime minister ahead of elections, checked into hospital for several days with a bad cold, his party said Tuesday.
Ozawa, 66, who has had a history of health problems, went to a Tokyo hospital late Monday after his voice grew so hoarse he had trouble speaking.
"I presume he's taking two or three days off as a break," Yukio Hatoyama, the secretary general of Ozawa's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), told reporters.
The DPJ declined to provide details. Jiji Press reported that Ozawa was receiving fluid from a drip and resting.
In recent days, Ozawa has been seen at party meetings wearing a scarf and a small mask over his mouth.
A former heavy smoker, Ozawa was hospitalised for 10 days last year due to fears of a relapse of a heart ailment.
The DPJ is hoping for a landmark victory in upcoming elections against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for all but 10 months since 1955 but has gone through four prime ministers in the past two years.
Newspaper polls show that the DPJ has taken a narrow lead in voter preferences. But Ozawa lags far behind Prime Minister Taro Aso as the public's choice to the next leader.
Ozawa, a former ruling party stalwart who defected in 1993, has a rough public image. He has won the nickname "The Destroyer" for his passion for battles in parliament.
Last week he presented to parliament an outline of a DPJ-led government, promising to fix Japan's ailing pension system, close the widening gap between rich and poor and curb the powerful bureaucracy.
Aso took office on September 24 with a mission to lead his party into elections. But Aso said Monday he would not call snap polls immediately, hoping instead to focus on reviving the economy.
Burma Demands Attention: General Assembly President
The 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters. (Photo: AP)
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By LALIT K JHA / UNITED NATIONS Monday, October 6, 2008
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UN General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann said Burma “is certainly one of the areas of our world that demands our attention and our solidarity."
Brockmann made his remarks during a briefing at the conclusion of the general debate of the UN General Assembly. He said his "solidarity with the people of Myanmar" remains, in response to a question on Burma.
Since he assumed the presidency of the General Assembly this session, Brockmann so far has maintained a silence on Burma, making no comments regarding violation of human rights, restoration of democracy or continued arrests of political activists in Burma.
When asked specifically what his plans were for Burma as the General Assembly president, he said: "We do not come here with a pre-conceived plan, or with the idea that the president of the General Assembly is going to solve all conflicts and they are going to have to accept my preconceived recipes for peace."
However, Brockmann, who is never shy of reflecting his anti-US agenda at the UN, said he is working on the Burma issue by getting the best and most reliable information from various sources.
"My job as president is to work with the General Assembly members, to gather [them] and come at some viable way of helping our brothers and sisters in Myanmar in whatever the difficulties are," he said.
"It is premature to tell you what exactly what those steps would be," he said. Discussions are currently in an initial, consultative phase that allows member states to gather objective information on the situation, he said.
Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, called for the release of Burma's political prisoners including detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"We believe that there are still 2,000 political prisoners in Myanmar," said Pilly on Thursday during her first press conference since taking office. "We are asking the authorities in Rangoon to free them."
The high commissioner also called the detention of Suu Kyi "completely illegal, even in respect of the country's law."
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Credential Challenge to Continue, Say Exiled MPs
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By LALIT K JHA / UNITED NATIONS Tuesday, October 7, 2008
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The Members of Parliament Union (Burma), an exiled group of elected MPs who are heading the campaign to challenge the credentials of the Burmese military junta at the United Nations, have said that they are not deterred by the initial negative response from the UN, and that they would "intensify" their drive to have the junta denied recognition by the world body.
In addition, the “credential challenge campaign” of the Members of Parliament Union (Burma) has hired the services of two eminent US law firms, which will aid and advise it on the legal path to be followed, said Vice-president San San.
In his original letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on September 8, San San challenged the credentials of the military junta to represent the people of Burma at the UN.
Asserting that the Members of Parliament Union (Burma) are the legitimate, democratically elected leaders of Burma, San San said they had appointed Thein Oo as their representative to the UN and as such he should be considered Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
The office of the secretary-general responded to the letter about a fortnight later, which was interpreted by many that the request had been rejected by Ban.
However, a copy of a letter signed by a senior UN official on behalf of the UN secretary-general indicates that Ban's office has raised technical points regarding legal requirements.
"The secretary-general's role is limited to a technical role in reviewing the formal criteria for credentials set forth in the Rules of Procedure,” said the senior official.
The procedure for the execution, submission and examination of credentials of representatives is set out in rules 27 through 29 of the Rules of Procedures of the General Assembly.
Rule 27 provides inter alia that "the credentials of representatives and the names of members of a delegation shall be submitted to the Secretary-General,” while Rule 28 provides that a committee “shall examine the credentials of representatives.”
"As such, the Secretary-General has decided not to take any action on your letter as it does not comply with the formal legal requirement set out in rule 27," the letter said.
"The Secretary-General, however, has taken note of the contents of your letter which together with its attachments, will remain on file with the Office of Legal Affairs, available for perusal by any member of the Credentials Committee at their request," the UN official said.
Members of Parliament Union (Burma) Secretary Ko Ko Lay said members of the campaign committee are not at all disappointed with the response from the UN.
He said that his team was now aided by a battery of eminent attorneys who were looking into how they can fulfill the legal requirements set out in rule 27.
"Credential challenge is only the first step in a new initiative to use all available international legal and political mechanisms to challenge the legitimacy of the regime and bring to light the multitude of abuses the regime commits against Burmese people," he said.
Encouraged by the support the Credential Challenge Campaign has been receiving from the international community, especially from Western nations, Ko Ko Lay said he was hopeful that they could achieve their goal within a few years.
At the same time, he conceded that none of Burma’s neighbors have been willing to support the committee on the issue.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Burma's IT Generation Combats Regime Repression
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By YENI Tuesday, October 7, 2008
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A truck carrying a squad of police pulls up in front of a Rangoon's Internet café. The police burst into the café and shout to the customers sitting at the computer terminals: "Hands off!" Then they tour the terminals and check every screen, asking users to describe what they are looking at.
If anyone is found using G-talk, the police inquire further—"Who are you chatting with?" "Where do they live?" Customers who come up with wrong or suspicious answers can be arrested.
Burma’s Internet cafes are becoming subject to severe surveillance by the police. (Photo: AFP)
This scenario is a common one in Rangoon's Internet cafes nowadays—in this era where tech-savvy young Burmese chat away on G-talk, check out the social-networking sites Facebook, Hi5 and Friendster, surf exiled Burmese websites and blogs and even share information about how to slip past regime censors by using proxy servers.
Since the September 2007 uprising, the Internet has shaped the way they think, relax and communicate in their isolated, military-ruled country. The Internet has created a virtual community and a new arena for freedom of expression.
"The uprising in Burma is ultimately an example of a protest where digitally network technologies played a critical role," researcher Mridul Chowdhury reported in his paper "The Role of the Internet in Burma’s Saffron Revolution," a case study for the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
Equipped with cell phones and digital cameras, and with access to the Internet, determined young Burmese are communicating with each other and the outside world as never before.
During last year’s monk-led demonstrations, known as the Saffron Revolution, Internet users also became publishers of text, audio, and video files illustrating what was happening inside the country. Suddenly, Burma was attracting the full attention of such international media as the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera. Condemnation of the regime’s repression of the protests followed from many governments.
Burma’s IT generation had a chance to flex its muscles before the generals pulled the plug on the Internet at the height of their crackdown on the September protests.
The junta has prevented Burmese citizens from using services like Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail and to block Web sites and blogs set up by exiled Burmese critics of the regime. But Internet cafes responded by installing foreign-hosted proxy servers to circumvent the government restrictions.
Risking arrest, imprisonment and torture, young Burmese—notably journalists and bloggers—have continued to play a crucial role in informing the outside world of the true situation in Burma.
They are more likely than ever to see the Internet as a means of achieving freedom of expression with the advent of information technology. In their blogs and chat rooms, they have been demonstrating the active role they play in sharing information and debating important issues in politics and other areas of domestic concern.
This is the reason why, one year after the Saffron Revolution, Internet cafes are becoming subject to severe surveillance by the police. Cafe owners are forced to take screenshots of user activity every five minutes and deliver these images to the authorities on a regular basis.
The owner of one Internet cafe in downtown Rangoon said the local authorities and police intelligence officers had issued orders to provide ID information about customers.
According to Internet cafe owners and users in Rangoon, Internet speeds have slowed down considerably since mid-September, making it impossible to upload large files such as photos or videos.
Meanwhile, the Web sites of the exile-run, Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and New Delhi-based Mizzima News were hit in July by DDoS attacks, shutting them down for several days.
Another DDoS attacks were again in September launched against The Irrawaddy, DVB and the Bangkok-based New Era Journal. The Web site of Mizzima News was hacked on October 1 with a cross-site scripting, making it inaccessible.
According to Chiang Mai-based freelance journalist Brian McCartan, two community forums Mystery Zillion and Planet Myanmar—Web sites providing information and instruction on how to circumvent the regime's control—were also disabled and shut down by similar attacks in August.
This kind of action by the regime, however, may indicate that the Internet has had an influence not only on ordinary users but also on the government’s overall response to the street demonstrations, the experts argue.
"While any number of deaths is unacceptable, it is also possible that the government actually exercised restraint in the use of force against civilian protesters because of the Internet and international media attention," Chowdhury wrote.
He pointed out that at least 3,000 demonstrators were killed in the nationwide uprising in 1988, while the official death toll in the crackdown on the 2007 demonstrations was far lower—31.
"It is plausible that the military felt it was under greater scrutiny because of the Internet, and that it was therefore more restrained in its use of force," Chowdhury said.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
NLD Seeking to Negotiate ‘Democratic Reforms’
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By SAW YAN NAING Tuesday, October 7, 2008
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The National League for Democracy (NLD) is seeking to negotiate “democratic reform” with the Burmese generals if they will establish a constitution review committee, a NLD spokesperson said on Tuesday.
“If we get those chances, we will hold bilateral negotiations and go on based on our agreement,” said Nyan Win, an NLD spokesperson. “Our idea is for ‘democratic reform.’ We willingly want to negotiate with them [authorities].”
Other NLD members said that if the military government is willing to review the constitution, the opposition NLD party may be willing to take part in the national elections in 2010.
The junta held a referendum in May on the constitution, which was drafted by its hand-picked delegates. After the referendum, it announced that more than 92 percent of the voters approved the constitution. Critics and opposition groups inside and outside the country called the constitution and referendum a sham.
The constitution guarantees the military continues to dominate the country’s political future by assigning its own representatives seats in the people’s parliament without contesting in elections.
On September 22, the NLD released a statement calling for a review of the constitutional process, calling the draft constitution “one-sided” and lacking the participation of the 1990-elected members of parliament.
Nyan Win did not discuss any details it might propose regarding the constitution. The Burmese authorities have not responded to the request
Some observers said they were pessimistic the junta would review its own constitution.
Cin Sian Thang, the chairman of the Zomi National Congress, said he didn’t think the generals would agree to a review because they are in the middle of their “seven-step road map” to democracy.
“Even if we [ethnic leaders and NLD leaders] didn’t agree with the junta’s road map, they [Burmese authorities] are likely to continue. If they finish their process, the situation in Burma will only worsen,” he said.
The UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari earlier this year also asked the junta to review the constitution but Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan told the envoy in March, “It is impossible to review or rewrite the constitution which was drawn with the participation of delegates from all walks of life.”
Thakin Chan Htun, a veteran Burmese politician in Rangoon, said the general election should be free and fair and the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi should be allowed to participate.
To be a free and fair election, he said, the junta should first release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi.
All Burmese citizens should be allowed to vote in the multi-party election and the international community, including UN representatives, foreign observers and journalists, should be allowed to freely report on the general election, said Thakin Chan Htun.
The state constitution is step three of the regime’s seven-step “road map.” The fifth-step is the 2010 general election.
On September 25, after releasing a statement calling for a review of the constitution, the NLD was warned by the head of Burma’s police, Brig-Gen Khin Yi, to withdraw the statement. The authorities said it might motivate citizens to undertake activities critical of the military government and undermine the security of the state.
The NLD, the main opposition party in Burma, won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in 1990. However, the current Burmese government, led by Snr-Gen Than Shwe, ignored the election results and refused to transfer power to Suu Kyi’s NLD.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Monday, October 6, 2008
Struggling Japan PM says no snap elections now
by Shingo Ito
Mon Oct 6, 4:20 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso on Monday brushed aside talk of calling a snap election, vowing instead to concentrate on revitalising the ailing economy as he struggles to win over voters.
Speaking in parliament just two weeks after taking office, Aso indicated he was not minded to put his government to the test just yet, amid poll ratings which have disappointed ruling party leaders.
"Our priority is to let the supplementary budget pass. Therefore, I don't have dissolution (of parliament) in mind at this stage," Aso said.
"I presume that what people are most concerned about right now are the prospects for the economy," he said.
Aso was speaking to a parliamentary committee which is looking at an extra 1.81 trillion yen (17 billion dollar) budget that he has proposed to help the world's second largest economy cope with rising prices.
He is also looking at additional funding to help stimulate Japan's economy, which is teetering on recession as the global financial crisis saps foreign demand for its exports.
The former foreign minister took over as premier on September 24 from Yasuo Fukuda, who resigned amid sagging popularity after raising medical costs for elderly people to ease the budget burden.
But Aso's initial poll ratings disappointed strategists in his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who hoped he could call an election quickly to contain a rising opposition, which controls one house of parliament.
The latest opinion poll by the Asahi Shimbun showed public support for the Aso cabinet has slid even further, falling to 41 percent now from 48 percent immediately after he took office.
Ominously for Aso, 40 percent of voters said they preferred a government led by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan against 34 percent who favoured the LDP, which has been in power for all but 10 months since 1955.
The liberal newspaper surveyed 1,036 eligible voters on Saturday and Sunday.
"Let's say a doctor comes to a person whose heart isn't beating well and proposes to improve his health. That won't mean anything if his heart stops," Aso explained.
"We have to do a lot of things such as cardiac massage or drip infusion," he added. "The economy is in a considerably severe situation. If we fail to take action right now, something terrible may happen."
Akira Nagatsuma, a senior opposition lawmaker who has aggressively pushed the government on social issues, went on the offensive in parliament, accusing welfare ministry officials of deliberately falsifying information about pension payments to cut costs -- a potentially criminal offence.
"If we take over, we will put an end to such cold governance," Nagatsuma said.
Elections to the lower house of parliament must be held by September next year but the opposition has stepped up demands for an early vote.
Aso has broken ranks with recent LDP premiers such as Junichiro Koizumi by supporting government spending to boost the economy, downplaying free-market reforms that the opposition charges has widened the gap between rich and poor.
A separate survey by the Nikkei business daily found 69 percent of Japan's major companies agreed that Aso's priority should be economic stimulus rather than cutting the national debt, which is the worst among rich nations.
In the parliament session, Aso also pressed for a renewal of a naval mission in the Indian Ocean providing fuel and other logistical support to the US-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan.
"Using common sense, it's impossible for me to fathom that Japan alone would withdraw in the middle of the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan," Aso said.
The opposition forced a temporary halt to the operation last year, arguing that Japan -- officially pacifist since World War II -- should not take part in "American wars."
Burma Ruby ban starts 26 October
The phase 1 plan of implementation of "Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act of 2008" has been issued by the U.S. Customs & Border Protection.
After the implementation of the ban, no jadeite and rubies of Myanmar origin can be imported into the United States. The ban includes all Burmese origin jadeite and rubies, even those that are taken to Thailand or elsewhere and transformed substantially.
A statement issued by the Jewelers Vigilance Alliance informed about the 30-day grace period that has been established whereby importers and exporters that may not meet all mandatory requirements can still import and export non-Burmese goods until Oct. 26.
After the implementation of the ban, a harmonized Tariff System code, issued by the customs, is to be used for all non-Burmese rubies and jadeite and jewelry containing these gemstones imported into the U.S. Phase 2 of the plan would be developed later on to support additional verification of export controls and to streamline the process chalked out in Phase 1.
For further clarification, importers and exporters can contact U.S. Customs at jade.act@cbp.dhs.gov.
Backlash From Tainted Milk Scandal Spreads to Burma
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, October 6, 2008; 9:23 AM
TOKYO, Oct. 6 -- Thanks to tainted milk, China's product-safety reputation is plumbing new depths. Even Burma -- where one of the world's most repressive and isolated military governments relies on trade with China -- has now warned its people to steer clear of all Chinese dairy products.
The generals who run Burma are sealed off from much of the world by economic sanctions, following a bloody military assault last year on Buddhist monks and democracy protesters. They increasingly depend on China for everything from military hardware to consumer goods.
Still, the Burmese government has publicized its destruction of 16 tons of Chinese baby food tainted with melamine, the industrial chemical that was mixed with milk products, leading in China to the deaths of four infants, the sickening more than 54,000 babies and a Chinese government crackdown on 22 dairy companies.
"Authorities concerned have urged the people not to consume milk and dairy products," the state-run New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday in Rangoon, the Burmese capital.
The anomaly of consumer protection in Burma points to the scale and severity of China's global public-relations disaster in the wake of what appears to have been a long-standing, industrial-scale scheme to adulterate infant formula and other milk products.
Dairy operators add melamine to milk products to increase its protein levels -- and their profits. The chemical often causes kidney stones when consumed by babies in infant formula.
A global backlash to the milk scandal continues to burp up melamine-tainted foods, from "Chocolate Pillows" sweets in Osaka, Japan, to a milkshake in Austria to White Rabbit Creamy Candies in West Hartford, Conn.
The scandal has touched some of the world's largest food companies, with Nestle, Cadbury, Mars and Kraft Foods recalling products or suspending sales. Imports of Chinese dairy products have been halted from Brunei to Burundi, Cambodia to Russia.
"China is overwhelming other countries with its ability to produce things at a cheaper price," said Yoko Tomiyama, head of the Consumers Union of Japan, where paranoia about Chinese food products is now ubiquitous. "As long as this globalized consumer system prevails, there will always be the next melamine."
Over the weekend, China announced the arrest of six more people suspected of producing and selling melamine. They were detained in northern China, where the country's milk industry in based.
Trying to contain damage from the scandal, China announced Sunday that no traces of melamine were found in a large test of milk products sold across the country. Chinese newspapers reported Monday that the tests were conducted in 27 cities on more than 600 batches of milk and that they found no melamine.
It was the second time in a week that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has said that tests have found no contamination.
The stock price of three of China's largest dairy companies rose Monday in trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai, after government tests cleared some of their products of contamination.
Complaints by parents about sick children first surfaced last December in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province. Doctors there also issued warnings.
But the scandal did not become public until Sept. 11, when a journalist posted an item on a Chinese social Web site about the sick children. It mentioned Sanlu Dairy Co., a 50-year-old firm that health officials say covered up the complaints of worried parents.
Hundreds of police have since conducted raids on pastures, breeding farms and milk-purchasing stations in the Shijiazhuang area.
The agriculture ministry said over the weekend that it was trying to help dairy farmers whose businesses have been ruined by collapsing demand for milk. In a statement posted on its Web site, the ministry said:
"On the one hand, we must crack down on illegal behavior, but on the other hand, we must protect the interests of the dairy sector."
Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
As China rises, pollution soars
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/25/asia/26china.php
BEIJING: No country in history has emerged as a major industrial power without creating a legacy of environmental damage that can take decades and big dollops of public wealth to undo.
But just as the speed and scale of China’s rise as an economic power have no clear parallel in history, so its pollution problem has shattered all precedents. Environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party. And it is not clear that China can rein in its own economic juggernaut.
Public health is reeling. Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death, the Ministry of Health says. Ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water.
Chinese cities often seem wrapped in a toxic gray shroud. Only 1 percent of the country’s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union. Beijing is frantically searching for a magic formula, a meteorological deus ex machina, to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics.
Environmental woes that might be considered catastrophic in some countries can seem commonplace in China: industrial cities where people rarely see the sun; children killed or sickened by lead poisoning or other types of local pollution; a coastline so swamped by algal red tides that large sections of the ocean no longer sustain marine life.
China is choking on its own success. The economy is on a historic run, posting a succession of double-digit growth rates. But the growth derives, now more than at any time in the recent past, from a staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization that requires colossal inputs of energy, almost all from coal, the most readily available, and dirtiest, source.
“It is a very awkward situation for the country because our greatest achievement is also our biggest burden,” says Wang Jinnan, one of China’s leading environmental researchers. “There is pressure for change, but many people refuse to accept that we need a new approach so soon.”
China’s problem has become the world’s problem. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by China’s coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo. Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles originates in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research.
More pressing still, China has entered the most robust stage of its industrial revolution, even as much of the outside world has become preoccupied with global warming.
Experts once thought China might overtake the United States as the world’s leading producer of greenhouse gases by 2010, possibly later. Now, the International Energy Agency has said China could become the emissions leader by the end of this year, and the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency said China had already passed the milestone.
For the Communist Party, the political calculus is daunting. Reining in economic growth to alleviate pollution may seem logical, but the country’s authoritarian system is addicted to fast growth. Delivering prosperity placates the public, provides spoils for well-connected officials and forestalls demands for political change. A major slowdown could incite social unrest, alienate business interests and threaten the party’s rule.
But pollution poses its own threat. Officials blame fetid air and water for thousands of episodes of social unrest. Health care costs have climbed sharply. Severe water shortages could turn more farmland into desert. And the unconstrained expansion of energy-intensive industries creates greater dependence on imported oil and dirty coal, meaning that environmental problems get harder and more expensive to address the longer they are unresolved.
China’s leaders recognize that they must change course. They are vowing to overhaul the growth-first philosophy of the Deng Xiaoping era and embrace a new model that allows for steady growth while protecting the environment. In his equivalent of a State of the Union address this year, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao made 48 references to “environment,” “pollution” or “environmental protection.”
The government has numerical targets for reducing emissions and conserving energy. Export subsidies for polluting industries have been phased out. Different campaigns have been started to close illegal coal mines and shutter some heavily polluting factories. Major initiatives are under way to develop clean energy sources like solar and wind power. And environmental regulation in Beijing, Shanghai and other leading cities has been tightened ahead of the 2008 Olympics.
Nuclear bond for North Korea and Myanmar
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JJ04Ae01.html
By Norman Robespierre
YANGON - A recent flurry of high-level contacts between North Korea and Myanmar raises new nuclear proliferation concerns between the two pariah states, one of which already possesses nuclear-weapon capabilities and the other possibly aspiring.
At least three delegations led by flag-level officers from Myanmar's army have traveled to Pyongyang in the past three months, hot on the heels of the two sides' re-establishment last year of formal diplomatic relations. According to a source familiar with the travel itineraries of Myanmar officials, Brigadier General Aung Thein Lin visited North Korea in mid-September.
Before that, other Myanmar military delegations visited North Korea, including a group headed in August by Lieutenant General
Tin Aye, chief of the Office of Chief Defense Industries, and another led in July by Lieutenant General Myint Hlaing, the chief of Air Defence.
The rapid-fire visits have gone beyond goodwill gestures and the normal diplomatic niceties of re-establishing ties. Rather, the personalities involved in the visits indicate that Myanmar is not only seeking weapons procurements, but also probable cooperation in establishing air defense weaponry, missiles, rockets or artillery production facilities.
The secretive visits are believed to entail a Myanmar quest for tunneling technology and possible assistance in developing its nascent nuclear program. Tin Aye and Myint Hlaing, by virtue of their positions as lieutenant generals, are logical choices to head official delegations in search of weapons technology for Myanmar's military, while Brigadier General Aung Thein Lin, current mayor of Yangon and chairman of the city's development committee, was formerly deputy minister of Industry-2, responsible for all industrial development in the country.
Prior to 1998, the minister of Industry-2 also served as the chairman of the Myanmar Atomic Energy Committee. This came to an end when Myanmar's Atomic Energy Act of 1998 designated the Ministry of Science and Technology as the lead government agency for its aspirant nuclear program. However, the Ministry of Industry-2, by virtue of its responsibilities for construction of industrial facilities and the provision of equipment, continues to play a key supporting role in Myanmar's nuclear program.
Myanmar's stagnant nuclear program was revitalized shortly after Pakistan's first detonation of nuclear weapons in May 1998. Senior general and junta leader Than Shwe signed the Atomic Energy Law on June 8, 1998, and the timing of the legislation so soon after Pakistan's entry into the nuclear club did little to assuage international concerns about Myanmar's nuclear intentions. Some analysts believe the regime may eventually seek nuclear weapons for the dual purpose of international prestige and strategic deterrence.
Myanmar's civilian-use nuclear ambitions made global headlines in early 2001, when Russia's Atomic Energy Committee indicated it was planning to build a research reactor in the country. The following year, Myanmar's deputy foreign minister, Khin Maung Win, publicly announced the regime's decision to build a nuclear research reactor, citing the country's difficulty in importing radio-isotopes and the need for modern technology as reasons for the move.
The country reportedly sent hundreds of soldiers for nuclear training in Russia that same year and the reactor was scheduled for delivery in 2003. However, the program was shelved due to financial difficulties and a formal contract for the reactor, under which Russia agreed to build a nuclear research center along with a 10 megawatt reactor, was not signed until May 2007.
The reactor will be fueled with non-weapons grade enriched uranium-235 and it will operate under the purview of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. The reactor itself would be ill-suited for weapons development. However, the training activities associated with it would provide the basic knowledge required as a foundation for any nuclear weapons development program outside of the research center.
Constrained reaction
The United States' reaction to Myanmar's nuclear developments has been somewhat constrained, despite the George W Bush administration referring to the military-run country as an "outpost of tyranny".
After Myanmar's 2002 confirmation of its intent to build the reactor, the US warned the country of its obligations as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). After the contract was formally announced in May 2007, the US State Department expressed concerns about the country's lack of adequate safety standards and the potential for proliferation.
The warming and growing rapport between Myanmar and North Korea will likely further heighten Washington's proliferation concerns. Myanmar broke off diplomatic relations with Pyongyang in 1983, after North Korean agents bombed the Martyr's mausoleum in Yangon in an attempt to assassinate the visiting South Korean president, Chun Doo-hwan.
The explosion killed more than 20 people, mostly South Korean officials, including the deputy prime minister and the foreign minister, and the South Korean ambassador to Myanmar. Four Myanmar nationals perished and dozens more were wounded in the blast. Myanmar severed ties with North Korea after an investigation revealed the three agents responsible for planting the bomb spent the night at a North Korean diplomat's house before setting out on their mission.
However, common interests have brought the two secretive nations back together. The famine in North Korea in the late 1990s and Myanmar's military expansion ambitions, including a drive for self-sufficiency in production, have fostered recent trade flows. While Myanmar has the agricultural surplus to ease North Korean hunger, Pyongyang possesses the weapons and technological know-how needed to boost Yangon's military might. There is also speculation Myanmar might provide uranium, mined in remote and difficult-to-monitor areas, to North Korea.
As testament to Pyongyang's willingness to supply weapons to the military regime, more North Korean ship visits have been noted at Thilawa port in Yangon, one of the country's primary receipt points for military cargo. During one of these visits in May 2007, two Myanmar nationals working for Japan's News Network were detained outside Yangon while covering a suspected arms delivery by a North Korean vessel.
Growing bilateral trade has helped to heal old diplomatic wounds and eventually led to a joint communique re-establishing diplomatic relations in April 2007. The emerging relationship is also a natural outgrowth of the ostracism each faces in the international arena, including the economic sanctions imposed and maintained against them by the West.
While it is possible the recent visits are related to Myanmar's nascent nuclear program, the evidence is far from conclusive. Nevertheless, Myanmar has undoubtedly taken notice of the respect that is accorded to North Korea on the world stage because of its nuclear weapon status. Unlike North Korea, Myanmar is a signatory to the NPT.
Myanmar has publicly stated it seeks nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes, such as developing radio-isotopes for agricultural use and medical research. Yet two well-placed sources told this reporter that North Korean and Iranian technicians were already advising Myanmar on a possible secret nuclear effort, running in parallel to the aboveboard Russia-supported program. Asia Times Online could not independently confirm the claim.
The lack of participation by Myanmar's Ministry of Science and Technology in the recent trips to Pyongyang would seem to indicate that nuclear developments were probably not the primary focus of the high-level meetings. The regime is also known to be interested in North Korea's tunneling technology (see Myanmar and North Korea share a tunnel vision, Asia Times Online, July 19, 2006) in line with the ruling junta's siege mentality and apparent fears of a possible US-led pre-emptive military attack.
The junta and others have no doubt noted the extraordinary problems tunneling and cave complexes have caused US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the success North Korea has enjoyed in hiding underground its nuclear facilities. Bunkers are rumored to underlie several buildings at Naypyidaw, where the regime abruptly moved the national capital in 2005. The ongoing construction of a second capital, for the hot season, at Yadanapon, is also believed to have tunnels and bunkers integrated into its layout.
Whether the visits are related to arms procurement, military industrial development, tunneling technology or nuclear exchange, they foreshadow a potentially dangerous trend for Myanmar's non-nuclear Southeast Asian neighbors and their Western allies, including the US.
As the true nature of the budding bilateral relationship comes into closer view, the risk is rising that Pyongyang and Yangon are conspiring to create a security quandary in Southeast Asia akin to the one now vexing the US and its allies on the Korean Peninsula.
Norman Robespierre, a pseudonym, is a freelance journalist specializing in Sino-Asian affairs.
(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
Aftermath of a Revolt: Myanmar Lost Year
Khin Maung Win/Agence France-Presse ・Getty Images
THE ECONOMY Burmese jade, boycotted in the West, remains in demand in Asia.
October 5, 2008
The World
Aftermath of a Revolt: Myanmar’s Lost Year
By DANIEL PEPPER
NEW DELHI — Myanmar is a country of uncommon beauty, full of dilapidated colonial structures slowly crumbling amid the damp swelter of the tropics, each surface and crevice losing ground to the organic pastels of mosses and molds. At night, on low stools beneath the crowded umbrellas of Yangon’s downtown teashops, men sit closely and strum loud acoustic folk melodies, their songs filled with tradition rather than protest. Usually, the only things exploding are the stall piles of papayas, pineapples and mangoes in the heat.
One year ago a social upheaval, sparked by a rise in fuel prices, inspired hope that a chapter would be closing on the world’s longest-running military regime. But the Buddhist clergy and common citizens were quickly beaten back with batons and bullets, and the world moved on.
Last week was the anniversary. During it, a bomb explosion in downtown Yangon wounded four; Web sites run by dissenters and exiles were attacked and shut down; and about 100 monks filed silently through the streets of a western fishing town to commemorate the crackdown. But this seems hardly dramatic enough to undo the disillusionment that set in after the defeat of the Saffron Revolution. In some ways, it only underscores it.
Two years ago — 11 months before the monks’ rebellion — I sat in one of the few, cramped Internet cafes in Yangon, the former capital, and glanced at my neighbors’ screens — all soft-core porn and foreign news Web sites. When I returned this summer, I found the cafes had become diverse and diffuse, packed with young people gabbing away on G-talk, checking out the social-networking sites Orkut, Hi5 and Friendster. Signs posted openly, even in small towns, explained how to circumvent government censors through proxy servers hosted at www.yoyahoo.com and www.bypassany.com.
Myanmar is like that. Change perspectives and its lost-in-time quality suddenly shifts as well, with a lurch forward. As always against the backdrop of the 2,500-year-old golden Swedegon Pagoda, teenagers now post photos on Facebook while Korean soap operas compete with English Premier League soccer for people’s attention. Cellphone stores proliferate, despite the cost of new connections — $1,500 — from the single, government-owned provider, Myanma Post and Telecommunications. (Black market connections start at about $2,500.)
But the spirit of protest is almost silent.
In fact, the State Peace and Development Council, as the military government renamed itself in 1997, is stronger now than a year ago, having profited from high global food and fuel prices. A few signs of conspicuous consumption by the small urban middle class — satellite TV dishes, hip-hop music and fashions — are seeping down from the much smaller class of multimillionaire businessmen directly tied to the junta’s chairman, Than Shwe.
Meanwhile, the broad mass of 50 million people remain among the poorest in the world. Myanmar ranks 132 out of 177 countries in the 2007 United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index. Most experts, who doubt the government’s statistics, think the reality is worse.
Myanmar is also one of the only countries to be publicly denounced for human rights abuses by the otherwise confidential and neutral International Committee of the Red Cross. According to Amnesty International, more than 2,100 political prisoners languish in Myanmar’s jails, about 1,000 having been locked up in the past year.
But more than ever, satellite TV and the Internet are making people aware of their government’s glacial pace of progress. One young woman told me that during last year’s uprisings, she was on the streets one day, shouting antigovernment slogans, and the next day stayed in, fearing a stray bullet, as she watched the blood-soaked crackdown live on Al Jazeera television.
Democracy advocates in exile hold out hope that China, which is Myanmar’s largest trading partner and its ally on the United Nations Security Council, could become the linchpin for changes in the regime.
But most Burmese I spoke with on my two-week visit didn’t think China would ever yield to Western pleading for it to play such a role. Business with China is booming, in fact, partly because tighter Western sanctions have made the junta more dependent on China for diplomatic support, as well as arms and consumer goods.
Despite being awash in foreign currency, Myanmar’s government has yet to invest heavily in manufacturing. Instead, Myanmar’s big-ticket industries are based on extracting natural resources. Last year, sales of natural gas brought in about $3 billion, sales of jade an estimated $400 million. But the major enterprises operate in deep secrecy, and recently Transparency International once again listed Myanmar as one of the world’s most corrupt countries.
In essence, the country runs like a mafia, from the languid tea shops of Yangon to the remote jungle areas of Kachin state in Upper Burma, where the mining town of Hpakant provides much of the world’s jade. There I met Sai Joseph, a gregarious and entrepreneurial family man who manages one midsize jade company. “There are only a few wealthy people in Myanmar,” he told me, “those who get in with the political people, the authorities who have power.”
Hpakant is connected to the outside world by a single crumbling road, 16 hours through the jungle to the closest transport hub during the rainy season. Along the way abandoned wooden oxcarts litter the road between shuttered towns. Red road signs announce, like a cruel joke, “Government has arranged for road repair from each company in Hpakant.”
Hpakant itself is set among denuded hills that are slowly eaten away by the mining town machinery. Green plant life bursts forth where it can among these scars, but most of the landscape is an excavation site, undulating for miles, with perhaps 3,000 separate mines. More than 450 private companies operate there, as well as about 100 joint ventures, most of them owned by Burmese of Chinese heritage. Like many once-illegal activities, jade mining now enjoys the full support of the junta, which takes a cut of the profits while leaving miners diseased and destitute. As I tried, without success, to confirm reports that jade miners are paid in heroin, I was quickly apprehended, marched back to the regional capital and eventually deported.
In one sense, things have improved in recent years. Once a scene from Dante’s hell — the few outsiders who visited sometimes described thousands upon thousands of half-naked men, women and children clawing into the rock in search of jade — the mining is now a largely mechanical process executed by industrial backhoes and dump trucks. A few mines still employ human diggers, and earlier this year one such site collapsed, killing 20.
Just before the Beijing Olympics, President Bush signed the Burma Jade Act, adding Myanmar’s jade and rubies to the long list of goods that cannot be imported legally to the United States. But jade sellers in Yangon largely shrugged off the ban, citing booming business with China, India, Thailand, Singapore and Arab Gulf states.
Late last month, Earth Rights International, a Thailand-based environmental and human rights organization, issued a report detailing the investments of 69 Chinese multinationals in 90 hydropower, oil, gas and mining projects. “The regime has successfully convinced these companies that nothing will compromise its grip on political power,” says Matthew Smith, an Earth Rights project coordinator.
So for now, Myanmar’s people struggle with their daily lives, negotiating the labyrinth of power and money. New gadgets and fashions filter through to a few people in the main cities, but even they, like the bulk of Burmese, simply work and wait, patient and passive.
Who, after all, could be expected to choose the immediate prospects of a firing squad over the distant promise of an MP3?
Daniel Pepper is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi.
JAC-WEEKLY MOVEMENT-29-09-2008 TO 05-10-2008
(29-09-2008) IKEBUKURO (15;00 ~ 17 ; 00)
( BDA )
(30-09-2008) IKEBUKURO (15;00 ~ 17 ; 00)
(ALD )
(1-10-2008) SHINJUKU (15;00 ~ 17 ; 00)
( LDB )
(2-10-2008) SHINJUKU (15;00 ~ 17 ; 00)
( DPNS-JPB)
(3-10-2008) SHIBUYA (15;00 ~ 17 ; 00)
( NLD-LA-JP )
(4-10-2008) SHIBUYA (15;00 ~ 17 ; 00)
( SND )
(5-10-2008) IKEBUKURO (15;00 ~ 17 ; 00)
( CNC )
JAC
( 28-09-2008)
'No regrets' for Myanmar dissident after record jail sentence
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jv53_i-d0admC-ZitPtAxG4sRxXg
YANGON (AFP) — With the colour fading from his hair and lines wrinkling his face, Myanmar's newly freed political prisoner, Win Tin, still manages to defy his 79 years.
Despite suffering numerous serious ailments while locked away for 19 years in Yangon's notorious Insein prison, the former journalist remains spry and said he has never regretted his move into politics.
"I never regret leaving journalism to become a politician," Win Tin told AFP in an interview at his friend's home where he is staying.
"The passion for informing people, for wanting their prosperity and to free them of problems is the same. Both require sacrifice. So I have no sorrow at all," he said with a smile.
Win Tin was Myanmar's longest serving political prisoner when the military junta released more than 9,000 inmates from its jails on September 23 in an amnesty ahead of elections promised for 2010.
He became a newsman in 1949, aged 19, working as a reporter and sub-editor for national and international newspapers, and turned to politics during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising against the ruling military that has governed the country since 1962.
Win Tin was one of the founders of the pro-democracy opposition National League for Democracy party together with Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains detained at her lakeside home.
But he never witnessed the party's landslide victory in 1990 elections -- a win never recognised by the junta -- because he was imprisoned in July 1989 for his role as Aung San Suu Kyi's advisor, and for his letters to the then-United Nations envoy to Myanmar.
Nineteen years locked away have taken their toll on Win Tin's health. He now suffers from heart disease, a hernia, and has lung and eye problems, yet he said he will continue to work for the NLD.
"I have no health problems recently. I have to keep my spirits strong," he said.
He said he was tortured in prison -- hooded during long interrogations, deprived of sleep and subjected to beatings. He had been kept in solitary confinement since 1996, only seeing his family for 15 minutes every fortnight.
On his release last month the NLD welcomed him to their 20th anniversary meeting, chanting "Long Live U Win Tin" as he arrived.
The NLD ruling committee invited him to rejoin the board, and while he has not yet decided to accept, he said he will stay in politics.
"I'm now a politician. I have to continue my duties inevitably," he said. "I have my duty as I founded a political party, I cannot leave it. I had to apply my beliefs and spirit during my 19 years in prison."
Campaigners say around 2,000 dissidents remain in Myanmar's prisons and Win Tin now wants to focus on their release.
"Many people have sacrificed their lives. Many people are still in prisons. I can not tolerate my sorrow for these people," Win Tin said.
"We have to continue our mission. We have to acknowledge their gratitude, sacrifice and fighting," he said.
"I have told the authorities they can re-arrest me if they do not like what I am saying."
But Win Tin believes dialogue between the authorities and the pro-democracy group is the best way to secure the prisoners' release and pursue democratic reforms ahead of 2010 elections.
The junta won a widely-criticized national referendum in May, allowing the government to change the constitution and paving the way for 2010 elections that bar Aung San Suu Kyi from standing. She has been under house arrest for most of the past two decades.
Win Tin said he would seek the help of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon in pushing for the prisoners' release and securing talks with the junta, when he visits Myanmar in December.
"Dialogue is the only way forward ahead of 2010 (elections). If the elections go ahead as planned, it cannot be a success," he said.
Lose weight without dieting
http://www.self.com/health/articles/2008/09/0922loseweightwithoutdieting?printable=true¤tPage=all
Nine ways to drop a dress size and not stress over a single bite
By Hallie Levine Sklar
From the October 2008 issue
Great news! You can ditch your diet for good and still hit your happy weight. Science has finally proven what you've probably suspected for years—that following a restrictive food plan can make you more likely to overeat. Researchers at the University of Toronto tempted a group of women who were cutting their calorie intake with a plate of cookies and then put the same treats in front of women who weren't trying to lose. Not only did the dieters dig in, but they ate 66 percent more goodies than their nondieting peers. "Women end up feeling so deprived on weight loss plans that they break down and binge," says Tracy Tylka, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University at Marion. We at self have a better way to slim down: nine simple lifestyle switches that will help you shrink your waist effortlessly!
Eat more good stuff
Instead of obsessing about tasty bites you want to banish, focus on healthy foods you can feast on. Women who do so tend to lose more weight than those who ruminate on restricting calories. Fill up with fiber-rich fruit, vegetables and whole grains. "High-fiber foods expand in your stomach, so you're less likely to overeat," says Madelyn Fernstrom, Ph.D., director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Weight Management Center. Fiber also inhibits your body's absorption of fat, says Dave Grotto, R.D., author of 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life (Bantam Books). There are easy ways to sneak in more fiber: Stir 1 tablespoon of flaxseed into oatmeal, add 1/2 cup of beans to a green salad or snack on small portions of dried fruit and nuts.
Go to the dogs
Volunteering at the pound could help you lose pounds. People who signed up to walk shelter dogs for an hour a week lost about a pound in four weeks, early research from the University of Missouri at Columbia showed. That's 12 pounds a year you could shed without skipping a single dessert! In fact, other research by study author Rebecca Johnson, Ph.D., revealed that people who walked a dog (either their own or a loaner hound) 20 minutes a day for five days a week lost on average 14 pounds after a year. Best of all, dog walking turns out to be an easy commitment to keep. "We had a 72 percent adherence rate, which is unheard of in most exercise programs," Johnson says. "Some volunteers enjoyed it so much, they stayed longer to walk more animals." Find a shelter near you at PetFinder.com.
Sleep it off
Getting enough shut-eye can keep your body from storing fat, scientists at Laval University in Quebec note. Night owls who log fewer than six hours of sleep are 35 percent more likely to gain weight—on average, 11 pounds over six years—than those who get seven to eight. "Sleep deprivation increases cravings for sweets and starches," says James Gangwisch, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. "It also causes your body to produce more of the stress hormone cortisol, which is linked to belly fat." To snag more sack time, set a radio alarm to sound 30 minutes before you want to go to bed, suggests Michael Breus, Ph.D., author of Beauty Sleep (Plume). When it goes off, head to your room and relax with stretches or light reading (avoid anything agitating, such as the news). After a half hour, it's time to dream of a slimmer you.
Spice things up
Cooking your meals with garlic and pepper could help curb overeating, according to research presented at The Endocrine Society's annual meeting in San Francisco. Overweight people who sprinkled their food with zero-calorie spices lost an average of 30 pounds in six months, compared with 2 pounds in a control group. "The flavors made people focus on the sensory characteristics of the food—its smell and taste," explains study author Alan Hirsch, M.D., founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. "The foods were more enjoyable, so people felt fuller faster and didn't eat as much." Sniffing the dishes was key, Dr. Hirsch says, because 90 percent of what you taste is determined by what you smell. The spices used in the study tasted like cheddar, onion, ranch dressing, taco sauce and Parmesan, but many no- and low-calorie seasonings in your kitchen, such as garlic and horseradish, will work as well, he says. To maximize the slimming impact of these ingredients, spend a moment enjoying the aroma of your food before every bite.
Give yourself props
You raked leaves all afternoon? Pat yourself on the back. It might sound hokey, but simply applauding your everyday calorie-burning activities can help you shed pounds. Researchers at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, told half a group of female hotel housekeepers that their job provided enough exercise to improve their health and left the other half in the dark. A month later, those in the know had lost an average of 2 pounds, lowered their body fat percentage and blood pressure and improved their waist-to-hip ratio, compared with those who were clueless about their calorie burn. What's more surprising? "The women did not make healthier choices because of the information—there was no change to their eating or working habits," study author Ellen Langer, Ph.D., says. "The only difference was the women's mind-set." Previous research suggests that having a positive attitude may help reduce overall stress levels—which can make eating healthy easier. So tell yourself that you're burning calories all day when you deliver a message in person, scrub the tub or walk from store to store in search of beautiful new boots.
Eat when you're hungry
Think suffering with a growling tummy is the way to drop pounds? Wrong! Women who eat when hungry and stop when satisfied have a lower average body-mass index than those who eat for other reasons, a study by Tylka finds. Try to tune in to your body's signals. "If your hunger comes on suddenly, then it's probably being triggered by an emotion or event," Tylka says. Instead of raiding the fridge, ask yourself what you're truly feeling. If you're stressed, call a friend or hit the gym for a fun class. Bored? Start a Sudoku puzzle or plan your next vacation. And give yourself a little love. Other research by Tylka concludes that women who are satisfied with their body are more likely to eat when they're hungry, and vice versa. Each morning when you look in the mirror, praise (out loud) one thing you like about your body, instead of focusing on flaws.
Breathe away weight
Inhale, exhale and then step on the scale. Women who took a weekly meditation class shed about a pound a week, say scientists from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. "People often eat when they're stressed and sleepwalk through an entire meal," study author Brian Shelley, M.D., explains. Meditating before and during meals helped the dieters eat less and enjoy their dishes more. A one-minute trick: Before you dig in, sit and take a few deep breaths. Notice the food and think of it as nourishment, not as calories. Take a bite and focus on the food's taste and texture. After you swallow, take a deep breath. There's no need to consume all your meals this meticulously, but starting off with a few mindful bites could help curb overeating.
Surrender the saltshaker
Salt may be calorie-free, but it can still contribute to body fat—and not only because it piggybacks on greasy snacks such as fries and chips. A review in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases reports that as salt intake increased by more than 50 percent in the United States since 1985, so did consumption of sweet beverages such as soda and juice. Salt leads to thirst, which Americans tend to quench with big sugary drinks. Seek out packaged products labeled low-salt or low-sodium, which means they have less than 140 milligrams per serving. (Your daily limit is 2,300 mg.) And if you indulge in something salty, wash it down with sparkling water or unsweetened iced tea instead of sweet sips.
Savor a good laugh
Consider this license to be a couch potato: Cracking up at Kenneth on 30 Rock can help you trim down. Watching a funny show caused adults to experience a 20 percent jump in heart rate and resting metabolism in a study at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. "Laughing uses up a lot of energy because it engages a variety of muscle groups, including your abs," study author Mac Buchowski, Ph.D., says. The metabolic boost that comes from chuckling for 15 minutes a day could add up to 14,600 more calories burned per year. Watch funny movies and sitcoms, read irreverent blogs and chitchat with pals and coworkers to fit in your 15 minutes and laugh off the pounds for good.
Levi Brown
Body of Work: Walk it off
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/body-of-work-walk-it-off-276973/
by Anne Fitzgerald, Elastic Waist, on Thu Oct 2, 2008 7:35am PDT
It took a few days before I figured out what it was--why I felt so tired, why my legs were kind of sore, my ankles felt a little throbby, my butt was looking a little more taut, maybe, or that could have been wishful thinking, and I was so very, very tired all the time. The walking. All the walking I did. I haven't walked like that, and sometimes in four-inch heels, since, well, since I lived in a city where you can walk everywhere and to everything.
Bike riding is marvelous and it gets you everywhere quickly, but there is really nothing in the world like your own two feet, heaving your butt all the way through the world. There's a reason doctors recommend weight-bearing exercise as the most healthful and calorie burning, and that is because your carcass is a big damn chore to haul across the surface of the earth. Your legs have to not only pump and move and propel you forward, but they've also got to support you and keep you upright and balanced and provide finely tuned direction and steering. Your arms are there for stability and extra momentum, your ankles are taking on a lot of the weight and much of the steadying chores, and your shoulders are moving and your entire body is engaged in the process of throwing you forward and out into the world and up the hills and down the street and it is hard damn work.
Turn your typical walking workout into supercharged steps by adding a few smart strength moves.
I walked from the car when E dropped me off at the airport, through to the check-in terminals over to baggage and through the security line, down the concourse and from store to store, stocking up on supplies and trying to decide between magazines and a book, candy or chips or maybe both or maybe just pretzels or perhaps a bowl of soup and let's go back and check this store and oh, they're boarding and all the way back at a gallop to the gate, down the ramp and through the mysterious halls of the SLC airport and across the tarmac and up the stairs. Then a break, and all over again, out of the plane and up the ramp and through the airport to baggage claim, over and through the parking lot to the AirTrain to the BART, and then from BART to the MUNI, from the MUNI stop down a block and up a hill and over a block and up the stairs and through hugs and bouncing a baby and out the door for coffee and hanging out and shopping.
You walk a baby when the baby is fussy, through the living room and into the kitchen and back around through the bedroom and then you strap her into a baby sling and take her out around the block and out for more coffee and up to meet her daddy when he gets off the bus from work. You walk your bags out of the house, down the stairs, back down the hill to the train and off the train and up the escalator and then the stairs and into the hotel. You stand in line at check in, you walk over to the baggage check and then you walk back out the door and down the street to meet people you miss, then walk back to the hotel and then back out the door to the next destination, and the next and the next. (Just how many calories are you burning with all this walking? Find out here.)
You walk to all the coffee dates and all the parties and you walk around the parties. You walk to the corner to catch a cab, but then you spend the rest of your night on your feet, walking up and down the stairs, dodging other guests and thinking that your feet are like cumulus clouds swollen with pain and your knees ache and your hips haven't seen this much swiveling since college and maybe the human body wasn't designed to be this mobile and all you really want in the world is maybe a Segway or a piggyback ride and what the heck is going on, and oh, yeah, right, you haven't sat down for more than ten minutes at a time for a week and no wonder you are hungry every ten minutes.
It's good for me and healthy to be happy and mobile and up and about and full of energy, but all I can think about is how sitting on a plane for two solid hours, doing nothing at all, sounds like a beautiful dream, and then oh, how I will spend the rest of my week perfectly still and silent and at rest.
Related: 9 ways to avoid beating your feet
7 anti-aging super foods
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/7-anti-aging-super-foods-272163
Healthy LivingSunday, October 5, 2008
Subscribe to This BlogAdd to My Yahoo!RSS7 anti-aging super foods by EatingWell Magazine, on Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:53am PDT Read More from This Author » 80 Comments Post a Comment Report Abuse
Chocolate & Nut Butter Bites
A few weeks ago I was using my flat iron and when I looked in the mirror to admire my ’do, I discovered my first gray hair (gasp!). It was the first time I was visibly confronted with the reality that, surprise, I will age, and I’m not 18 anymore no matter how good I feel.
I already have the exercise part down, so on my quest for a fountain of youth I’m paying more attention to research on how to eat to age healthfully. The best information I’ve found? 7 anti-aging super foods and recipes to enjoy them in, from Peter Jaret’s James Beard Foundation award-winning article in EatingWell Magazine, “The Search for the Anti-Aging Diet.”
Read on to find out more about the 7 foods to keep you young:
Chocolate
The Kuna people of the San Blas islands, off the coast of Panama, have a rate of heart disease that is nine times less than that of mainland Panamanians. The reason? The Kuna drink plenty of a beverage made with generous proportions of cocoa, which is unusually rich in flavanols that help preserve the healthy function of blood vessels. Maintaining youthful blood vessels lowers risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and dementia.
Get sweet satisfaction in seconds with delicious chocolate recipes, such as Chocolate & Nut Butter Bites (which include two of the 7 anti-aging super foods!):
Chocolate & Nut Butter Bites
8 1/4-ounce squares of bittersweet chocolate
4 teaspoons almond, cashew or pistachio butter
Top each chocolate square with 1/2 teaspoon nut butter of your choice (almond, cashew, pistachio). Two sandwiches make one serving.
Per serving: 79 calories; 6 g fat (2 g sat, 1 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 9 g carbohydrate; 1 g protein; 1 g fiber; 12 mg sodium; 20 mg potassium. What you get: Magnesium, copper, chromium. 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving. Exchanges: 1/2 other carbohydrate, 1 fat.
Blueberries
In a landmark study published in 1999, researchers at Tufts University’s Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging fed rats blueberry extract for a period of time that in “rat lives” is equivalent to 10 human years. These rats outperformed rats fed regular chow on tests of balance and coordination when they reached old age. Compounds in blueberries (and other berries) mitigate inflammation and oxidative damage, which are associated with age-related deficits in memory and motor function. Eat more blueberries with healthy blueberry recipes.
Fish
Thirty years ago, researchers began to study why the native Inuits of Alaska were remarkably free of heart disease. The reason, scientists now think, is the extraordinary amount of fish they consume. Fish is an abundant source of omega-3 fats, which help prevent cholesterol buildup in arteries and protect against abnormal heart rhythms. Eat some tonight with a healthy fish recipe.
Nuts
Studies of Seventh-Day Adventists (a religious denomination that emphasizes healthy living and a vegetarian diet) show that those who eat nuts gain, on average, an extra two and a half years. Nuts are rich sources of unsaturated fats, so they offer benefits similar to those associated with olive oil. They’re also concentrated sources of vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals, including antioxidants.
Wine
Drinking alcohol in moderation protects against heart disease, diabetes and age-related memory loss. Any kind of alcoholic beverage seems to provide such benefits, but red wine has been the focus of much of the research. Red wine contains resveratrol, a compound that likely contributes to its benefits-and, according to animal studies, may activate genes that slow cellular aging.
Olive Oil
Four decades ago, researchers from the Seven Countries Study concluded that the monounsaturated fats in olive oil were largely responsible for the low rates of heart disease and cancer on the Greek island of Crete. Now we know that olive oil also contains polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that may help prevent age-related diseases.
Yogurt
In the 1970s, Soviet Georgia was rumored to have more centenarians per capita than any other country. Reports at the time claimed that the secret of their long lives was yogurt, a food ubiquitous in their diets. While the age-defying powers of yogurt never have been proved directly, yogurt is rich in calcium, which helps stave off osteoporosis and contains “good bacteria” that help maintain gut health and diminish the incidence of age-related intestinal illness.
By Michelle Edelbaum
Michelle is the associate editor of interactive for EatingWell Media Group. In between editing and writing, she enjoys sampling the tasty results of the easy, healthy recipes that the EatingWell Test Kitchen cooks are working on.
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